In a Civilized Manner

Standing amidst Room 604 with a ticking clock and an "unrequited love" who was bleeding profusely on his bed, Edris fell deep in thought.

Indeed, how did he end up in this situation?

Two minutes were left until the curfew check. Since the incident with No. 39, the academy had altered the rules for professors to perform the inspections in person rather than the automatic detection system they'd used up until now.

Edris strode over the puddle of blood and peered at Owein, who was face-planted in his pillow. Placing two fingers over the man's neck, he narrowed his eyes.

Weak pulse, but still alive.

He glanced at the clock. Less than a minute left until the assigned curfew.

Without a second to lose, Edris yanked out a tube from his [MEDICAL PACK], squeezed open Owein's jaws by squishing his cheeks, and dumped the liquid down his throat.

Light-hearted steps echoed throughout the hallway, approaching their direction.

Pinching his bloody duvet with two fingers, he then yanked it over the man's head and threw another blanket over it to cover up the crimson.

The next moment, the rectangular slit on top of the door frame flipped green, and the door flung open.

"Curfew check~!" Aureolin sang as she burst into the room, only to see the dark-haired man with his back facing her, leaning against his chair and legs resting atop the study table.

At the voice, Edris shifted his body to look at her. He gave her a nonchalant smile.

"Good evening, professor."

Golden irises glinting under the lamplight, she shifted her gaze from the dark-haired man to the bed beside him. Two blankets lapped over each other on the mattress, but even that wasn't enough to hide the silhouette of a body protruding from beneath.

“…”

Aureolin raised an eyebrow.

"What's this? You look like you're preparing for a funeral."

It might turn into one at this point, if you don't leave soon.

Edris blinked innocently. "I don't know what you mean by that."

He already used a tube in the [MEDICAL PACK] on the man, which was capable of restoring both health and affinity—but seeing how Owein still wasn't waking up, just how bad were his injuries?

Perhaps noticing her presence wasn't received well, Aureolin puffed up her cheeks and attempted to stride in.

Edris stepped in front of her. He bent over, gazing at her at eye level.

"My roommate is already asleep. He's been preparing too hard for the finals." He sighed. "Professor, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"You're acting suspicious." She crossed her arms. "Is that really No. 10?"

Edris didn't immediately respond to her skepticism. Instead, he strolled over the bed and folded the duvet just enough to reveal his face. Fortunately, although the rest of his body was covered in patches of blood, his face was clean.

"Happy now?" He glimpsed her, tone slightly annoyed. "Now if you don't mind, I still have to practice my love letter for my unrequited love."

To his surprise, the woman puffed out an exhale after seeing Owein's face.

A breath of relief?

"Hey." Aureolin glanced at him. "Who's your unrequited love?"

Edris blinked twice. "Why do you care?"

"It's not 004, is it?"

The man almost choked at her words.

"Pardon me?"

"Am I wrong? Then why are you two always together? Don't think I haven't noticed it. You call it tutoring sessions, but what a lie. You don't care to go to class!" Aureolin stuck her tongue out.

Edris just stared at her.

"Do you like him or something?"

Then at a rate discernible by the human eye, the woman flushed pink.

"What ridiculous things are you spewing out right now? Don't think everyone is a helpless romantic like you!"

No way, she really fell for Ace?

That blunt, scary man?

Edris blinked twice.

Maybe looks were everything after all.

"In any case, don't think you can get away with anything just because you're on the donor's list." Aureolin shot him a glare. "You're not even that pretty."

"I never said I was."

Aureolin grew an entire shade redder. Edris watched as the petite woman spun around and stomped out, yanking the door close behind her.

"…What a character."

Waving the woman off, Edris immediately put away his plastered smile as her figure disappeared from the doorway.

He headed to the bed and lifted the duvet. Examining the man, who was almost as pale as he was, Edris let out a soft sigh. Even after a full tube capable of restoring thirty affinity points, Owein still seemed not to have regained consciousness.

He withdrew the [MEDICAL PACK] from the [CARD SLOT], pulled out the third tube, and after a two-second pause, poured the content down the man's throat.

Edris bent over and examined his condition. Only after a whole sixty-affinity worth of liquid did Owein's face regain some of its original colour.

"Two tubes," Edris drew out a long breath. "What did this guy do for his affinity to drop so low?"

As for the reason why Edris decided to use his entire [MEDICAL PACK] on Owein—it was quite simple:

How could he carry out his confession if his unrequited love was dead?

If it were any other situation, Edris would ruminate intensely on even giving Owein one of his healing tubes. In fact, he'd give it a second thought even if the man was only losing affinity, but…

Edris narrowed his eyes at the man on his bed.

With a body battered like this, he rightfully suspected that if left alone, his "unrequited love" would skip right past the assimilation stage and march into the afterlife.

As if hearing his internal thoughts, Owen's eyes flew open, making straight eye contact with Edris.

Three seconds of silence ensued.

“…”

“…”

Edris was the first to break the silence.

"Slept well?"

With a gentle smile, he watched as Owein stared dazedly at him. His gaze trailed from himself to the blood-drenched duvet weighing on his body. Under Edris's watchful gaze, Owein opened his mouth.

"This is not my bed."

"No, it is not." Edris smiled wider. "It's mine."

"You saved me."

"You can say that."

Owein glanced up at him. "Why?"

"I don't like people dying on my bed," Edris said. "Is that good enough of a reason?"

Owein gazed at him, trying to see through his intentions. However, Edris merely endured his scrutiny with a smile. An intrigued but distant smile.

"It is." Owein withdrew his gaze. "Everyone has something they dislike."

He pulled himself up from the bed, meticulously folding the duvet into itself, forming a rectangular shape. He glanced up.

"May I wash this?"

"Do as you wish."

"You're not going to ask how I ended up like this?"

Edris shrugged. "If you wish to say, I'll gladly listen."

When it came to dealing with peculiar ones like Owein, the best course of action was to leave them hanging, feign passivity until they willingly took the bait.

Frankly, Edris wasn't all too interested in probing the details, but if Owein were to disclose more information about himself, he'd welcome it with open arms. After all, he had nothing to lose.

As expected, after a short moment of hesitation, Owein began talking.

"Are you familiar with the notion of equivalent exchange?"

Edris blinked.

"Pardon me?"

"Once you gain something, you're bound to lose another. That is the driving law of this world."

This sounds awfully familiar…

Unaware of the man's bubbling premonition, Owein continued on. "People wait for each Tip of Crescent in anticipation, hoping that maybe they'll be chosen to enter the Labyrinth. With some skill, some luck, a minority will survive and return with a lifetime worth of affluence, but without all memories of how they'd ever attained these."

"And that's the general consensus about Labyrinths," Edris said.

"General consensus... I guess it is." Owein lowered his gaze. "Some people put their lives on the line for this 'once-of-a-lifetime opportunity,' for the slim chance of return to the real world. Random pulls or tokens, they wanted to take a gamble, placing their bets on their own survival.

"But there were others who didn't have a choice.

"We didn't have a choice."

Edris narrowed his eyes.

"We?"

Come to think of it, this must have been the first time since meeting Owein that he'd heard him talk so much. With his personality, Edris thought it'd be much more challenging to get the man to open up.

It was then he was hit by another thought.

"Owein," Edris said, getting the man to look up at him. "What is your affinity right now?"

Owein glimpsed him through his lashes. The next moment, Edris received a notification on his profile interface.

Player [OWEINKTUV] would like to share his complete profile with you.

[ACCEPT]   [DECLINE]

PLAYER ID

Oweinktuv

LABYRINTH

#53

PLAYER STATUS

Abnormal

ROLE DESCRIPTION

You are a student who entered MW Academy through the professor's letter of recommendation to the Principal! Congratulations on your admittance!

Although you enjoy learning and going to the academy, your family encourages you to use your spend your time on more practical matters and prohibits you from going to class. Their only wish is for you to obtain the prestigious diploma at the end of graduation.

As for your time here, you like to immerse yourself in crafts and exercise. You have a habit of running ten kilometres every morning and knitting every afternoon. You prefer quiet places over crowded locations.

AFFINITY LEVEL

65%

CARD SLOT

[FRUIT KNIFE]

[EMPTY]

[EMPTY]

Edris's mouth parted. To think he'd saved the man when he was at his last five affinity points.

No, more importantly…

"Abnormal player status?"

"Someone used their card on me," Owein said. "They call it [TRUTH SERUM]. It's supposed to last an hour."

“…”

No wonder the man was acting this way.

"Who?" Edris asked.

"I don't know. I couldn't see their face."

"So you're only allowed to speak the truth until the card's effects pass?"

Owein nodded.

Despite Edris's contemplative look, there was a dim glow behind his eyes.

For once, luck seemed to be on his side.

"How did you know about the door behind Sky's portrait?"

At his question, the man kept quiet, twirling his hair with his bloodied fingers. Contrary to previous times, dirtiness seemed to be the last thing on his mind right now.

Lifting his head, Owein stared straight at him.

"I remember it—from other Labyrinths."

Edris's eyes widened.

"We call the skill Lucid Recall. It's something that's been inherited in the clan for centuries now." Owein played with the pillow in his lap. "They called it a blessing."

"This Lucid Recall… it allows you to retain the memories you have from the Labyrinths?' Edris asked. "I thought the Labyrinths were all different."

"They are. But that room, I call it the Labyrinths' constant. It appears in every Labyrinth, yet doesn't seem to be a part of the Labyrinth itself," Owein spoke softly, without a ripple in his voice. It felt as though he was telling a distant story. "But the scope of recall depends on the person. The younger you are, the more you remember. Once you pass a certain age, you lose the ability."

"So… a cheat?" Edris raised an eyebrow.

"No." Owein corrected him. "An exchange."

He turned his head, gazing toward the purple moon hanging out their window.

"Everything comes with a price. Because of Lucid Recall, because of our above-human abilities that came with it, members of the clan are bound to the Labyrinths for as long as they live. It is our fate to enter every Tip of Crescent and try to survive. And even if we do, we would gain no such things as rewards, because it would disrupt the balance of the Labyrinths."

Owein paused. "No. I guess there is a reward."

He nodded to himself.

"Survival—that's our reward.

"That is the curse of the Lucid Clan."