Milosh's dopamine levels shot through the roof the moment he finally stepped outside.
He'd been dreading this test for so long—
how he'd have to kneel for all that time, how humiliating it would be.
But in the end…
it was over.
Unexpectedly.
He was still in a daze.
So instead of sitting alone on a bench in the garden like some lost soul,
he decided to head to the medical clinic to see Dr. Melody.
He'd thank her for lending him the phone—
and maybe apologize for how defensive he'd been before.
After walking through the mostly empty corridors...
where only a few workers and one or two students who'd finished early were limping their way to the infirmary, still recovering from that cursed kneeling position...
Milosh finally reached the same room he'd been in on his very first day here.
The day he'd fainted.
After a short walk more, he finally stopped in front of the clinic door.
He took a deep breath… and knocked gently.
Then waited.
"Who's there?"
Milosh gasped at the sound of her voice, his mouth twisting as he suddenly forgot what he'd planned to say.
"It's me… it's, uh… me."
"Oh… come in, then."
The voice from behind the door was soft and calm.
It seemed he wouldn't have to face another round of crippling embarrassment this time.
And judging by the quiet, he'd come at the perfect momen...
the place was probably empty enough for him to sit down and actually talk to her in peace.
He wouldn't have to worry about embarrassing himself by walking in on her.
When Milosh finally stepped forward and opened the door, he wore a slightly nervous smile.
His eyes widened the moment he saw her.
There she was, standing in the corner beside one of the beds in the infirmary and speaking to someone.
At first, he could only see her from behind.
"Doctor, are you—"
Before he could finish, Melody turned halfway around.
"Student William Caesar, how are you? Do you need something?"
But Milosh wasn't listening to her.
He froze, his breath catching in his throat, as his gaze locked onto Eleanor, who was lying on the bed in front of Melody.
Their eyes met at the same instant, and both of their mouths fell open in shock.
The strange part was...
Eleanor's face, arms, and legs were covered in blue and red bruises and visible burn marks.
Milosh's heart pounded violently.
He stood there, motionless and expressionless, teetering on the edge of madness.
His thoughts screamed inside his skull:
What happened to Eleanor?
His mind boiled as thoughts flashed and collided until they all converged in a single, furious point.
Was it him? That bastard Lauren?
It didn't matter anymore. He had to know what happened. Whoever did it, he would crush them.
Meanwhile, Lauren's face hardened as his eyes landed on the protagonist.
His expression tightened, and his gaze pierced Milosh.
What was he doing here..
Wasn't he supposed to stay inside for another four days.
Was he really so weak that he couldn't endure it. Or had he discovered the trick behind the test.
When did he leave, and why did he come here. Does he know Melody.
Her thoughts had been scattered and fragmented ever since the loyalty test ended.
Seeing him again caused them to spiral into chaos once more.
At that moment, Lauren remembered what kind of trouble she had faced after leaving the testing room, and why all of this had happened to her.
A few hours prior to this current moment... Lauren, with her unmatched cleverness—which she believed she possessed in abundance at the time.
After straightening her back from the squatting position, she gazed at the smoke from the fire battling to reach the ceiling and fill the room with carbon dioxide.
Lauren smiled with a sense of non-existent mercilessness and the euphoria of self-satisfaction towards the ceiling as the smoke filled it.
"I won't leave, I won't leave... Even if I suffocate, genius must endure, even if only in memory."
Like an obsessive fan scrutinizing details, Lauren found pleasure in sitting and watching the picture burn before her.
When she finally felt the heat and the suffocation, and realized the ventilation duct wasn't enough...
"That's enough. Thinkers should not be harsh on themselves."
After walking with exaggerated steps and finally deciding to open the door...
...
..
She finally decided to walk properly, reached out her hand, and opened the door.
The door opened...
"Wait, don't finish that. The door isn't opening."
She tried opening the door again to confirm the information.
Cough... cough.... cough...
Lauren felt heavily suffocated inside.
She had no choice but to use her magic power to break the door.
A punch...
Another punch...
Her fist was hurting her.
She had invested all her points in endurance, and she hadn't thought she would fall into this difficult situation.
She tried to stay calm so as not to rapidly inhale the carbon dioxide.
"Activate Battle Fairy Magic Mode!"
"What... no use... Activate Battle Fairy Magic Mode!"
She attempted to activate Lauren Matthews' magical abilities, but she seemed unable to concentrate even for a moment, and her attempts to pour out magical energy, time after time...
...were completely wasting her mana reserves to no avail.
"Combat Spirits!"
Five small Combat Spirits appeared, floating and hovering around her, and she tried using them to pull the handle of the ventilation duct to let the carbon dioxide out.
Meanwhile, she rained down blows with her foot on the flames to extinguish them, but instead, they stung her like an idiot.
And in her lack of focus...
One of the Fairies fell into the flames.
Causing the fire to surge higher and higher, steadily growing much larger.
Just as the flames began to draw near and sting Lauren, who was on the verge of suffocating and collapsing...
The door suddenly burst open behind her...
"What is happening here? Are you alright, Student? What is going on here?"
When the assigned soldier behind her looked at the raging fire and the Combat Spirits hovering over the flames as if they were a mocking spectacle of the situation...
And Lauren's casual sitting posture, as if she were enjoying a fire show in front of her...
When she felt the frozen guard behind her, she spun her face around in a foolish smile, looking into the guard's face.
"Finally, someone noticed!"
It was as if she were enjoying the burning picture in front of her and was delighted that someone else had come to enjoy it with her.
Lauren finally tried to stand up completely after feeling the ventilation and the poisonous air clear away from around her.
After dusting off her clothes completely...
She sighed in relief.
Thank God, she survived today.
When she raised her head to look at the guard holding the doorknob...
who was staring at the floor...
Lauren was surprised by the lack of any reaction, despite the situation being completely out of control.
She paid no attention to this.
And walked forward with finally triumphant steps.
But suddenly, as she was approaching the exit...
"Wait..."
"What?"
Punch ~
Another Punch ~~
Two rapid punches were delivered quickly.
The face and the stomach.
Lauren was thrown into the fire after feeling overwhelming pain and a powerful backward shove from the impact of the blows.
As if fate intended to fuel his anger, the flames opened their jaws to welcome her, and she felt her clothes catch fire, sensing the constant burning.
Her shoulder... the back of her head... her neck...
And her clothes, which were now burning.
"Spy... you are a spy..."
Lauren hurled herself out of the fire, directing accusations at the guard in front of her, whose veins were about to burst.
"How dare a student like you exist..."
"Oh, you defiler of His Majesty the Great Ruler's glory... you are dead! How dare you do that?"
Another uppercut was aimed, but Lauren fell to the ground, grabbed the guard by his feet, and tried to transfer the fire to him.
"You idiot patriot! It's just a picture!"
But suddenly, with his knees, he lifted her up, delivering a greeting to Lauren's now colored face.
Lauren tried to hold her ground amidst the pushing and attacks, amidst the flames eating her back and flaring up behind her.
She struggled...
She head-butted...
She pounced...
And she wrestled until she completely passed out for a second.
But she awoke instantly.
And gave a final push with all her strength.
She dragged her legs, rapidly ran outside, and slammed the door shut behind her on the angry guard, who immediately broke the door down as she raced through the dark, underground corridors.