How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

Living as an orphan, it’s not uncommon for people to treat me as a lesser being.

Pity, ridicule… I’m tired of those condescending gazes.

“As a student of the Guardian Academy, I demand that you treat the person in charge of the field practice properly.”

So I want to make my demands clear, even if it’s not the image of the good kid I’ve been portraying until now. Perhaps it’s because I’m more relaxed without the trickster around.

After a moment of silence, Shin Barun replied, “That’s a valid point. It seems I was mistaken.”

Shin Barun’s eyes met mine. She smirked and said, “I look forward to working with you, Kang Na-hyun, Min Jae-yoon.”

Then she turned around and shouted, “I’ll guide you to your accommodations! Follow me!”

We silently followed Shin Barun, passing by the sidelong glances of other hunters.

“What on earth is Lord Yggdrasil thinking?”

“No matter how stable things have become recently, sending the descendant of the Black Dragon…”

The hunters lined up around us whispered while looking at Min Jae-yoon. It wasn’t in a good way.

Moreover, I unexpectedly locked eyes with “that very familiar face” I had seen earlier behind Shin Barun.

That person waved casually as if nothing were wrong, but I pretended not to see. We hadn’t parted on good terms, after all.

I was definitely feeling more agitated than I had anticipated because of that person; the past nightmares resurfaced.

While I was lost in thought, Dum Dum quietly approached me and spoke.

“You were impressive. And… I’m glad you seem to be more comfortable than before.”

He handed me a long-shaped bag.

“It’s a gift.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I smiled gratefully as I received the gift, but his casual words still bothered me.

I had braced myself for reactions like unfamiliarity or, “That’s not like you.”

“Stop dawdling and follow me!”

Anyway, without the trickster around, I had been a bit too lax lately. I needed to pull myself together.

I pushed aside my distracting thoughts, slung the bag I had just received over my shoulder, and walked along with the group of hunters.

Before long, we arrived at our accommodations.

Shin Barun, who had been pale the whole time, seemed somewhat relieved only when we reached the lodging and it was time for Shin Barun to leave.

The good thing for me was that she was so tense that she didn’t have the mental space to notice my subtle behavior.

Min Jae-yoon, Shin Barun, and I were assigned to the same room.

When Min Jae-yoon went to the bathroom, I began to unpack and took the opportunity to ask Shin Barun.

“By the way, the captain is your sister, right?”

She smiled weakly and replied, “Yeah. She’s my sister.”

Then she tried to justify her response by adding various things.

“She can be a bit strict, but she’s capable… and not a bad person…”

I smiled brightly and responded, “Yeah, she seems amazing! That’s her, right? The Rising Hunter! Commander of Light, Shin Barun! I saw her on TV!”

I actually learned about her through the novel.

At my words, Shin Barun’s face lit up.

“Yeah! My sister is really incredible!”

Shin Barun beamed and began to sing her sister’s praises proudly.

“Since she was little, she’s been much more amazing than someone like me! She did everything well! So—”

To the extent that Min Jae-yoon, who usually would have come rushing over, quietly withdrew at the sight. Jae-yoon, I’m so happy to see you growing independent…

While I quietly listened to her words, letting them go in one ear and out the other, I heard a knock on our door.

“Kang Na-hyun, are you there?”

A voice that was all too familiar.

It was that person.

Noticing my slightly stiff expression, Shin Barun asked what was wrong. I dismissed it as nothing and responded to the call for me.

Choi Ga-ram.

A friend of my deceased mother.

And…

No, let’s not think about this right now.

“Yes, I’m here. What’s the matter?”

“Our captain is looking for you.”

“Captain?”

“Hunter Shin Barun.”

Why does Shin Barun want me? I stepped outside the room, feeling puzzled.

However, the person in question led me away in silence for a while.

After a period of awkwardness, Choi Ga-ram finally stopped walking and broke the silence.

“It’s been a while, kid.”

“Yes.”

I paused for a moment and then asked the question that had been on my mind.

“Have your hands healed now?”

“Yeah. That’s why I can appear confidently in front of you now.”

I thought so. I replied nonchalantly, “Well, feel free to drop by anytime.”

Then, he chuckled softly, pulled his hat down, and resumed walking. A small voice carried on the wind.

“…Yeah.”

That made my heart feel a little lighter.

“But you seem to have changed a bit, right? Or are you doing it on purpose?”

Choi Ga-ram suddenly launched a mental attack. I was flustered and coughed awkwardly.

“…Ahem. Um, please pretend you didn’t notice that. It’s a long story.”

He chuckled as if teasing me and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure.”

After that, we didn’t exchange much more conversation.

We walked in silence, and when we arrived at a certain door, he told me this was the place and quickly disappeared.

As I hesitated for a moment,

[Oracle’s presence detected near Meta System user.] [Entering component analysis for updates.] [Analyzing transmission pathways using fragments of previously acquired stories.]

A system window popped up with strange words.

Oracle!

It didn’t exist in the original game, but it appeared in the novel as the trickster’s collaborator. I swallowed hard.

At the same time,

“Come in.”

A gentle voice came from beyond the door.

Staying here wouldn’t lead to anything significant. I nervously opened the door.

Inside the room was,

“Nice to meet you, Irregular.”

Someone was sitting there who was not Shin Barun, but had taken over Shin Barun’s body.

“I am Oracle. I am the guardian of this world.”

I held onto the doorknob, wary of Oracle, who had possessed Shin Barun’s body. Oracle smiled sweetly and said gently,

“Please come in and have a seat. I mean no harm.”

Feigning ignorance, I asked, “Who are you? Why did you come to see me?”

Oracle leisurely took a sip of tea and rolled the teacup in his hand.

“I have already answered who I am.”

His oddly colored eyes curved as they looked at me.

“You have a general idea of why I came, don’t you? Soul of the Otherworld.”

So, he knows.

Moreover, he knows that I am aware of something.

It’s not surprising. After all, Oracle can see and hear everything in this world, except for the Tower and the Gate.

“Once again, I assure you, I mean no harm. Please have a seat.”

“…”

I am currently a colleague of the trickster, and the trickster has developed a fair amount of fondness for me. There’s no way Oracle doesn’t know this.

Since Oracle wants to maintain a friendly relationship with the trickster, he cannot harm me, someone the trickster likes.

For now, let’s trust that point.

I stared intently at Oracle, then released the doorknob and approached the sofa across from him to sit down.

“What do you want?”

Oracle widened his eyes at my question and then chuckled softly.

“You’re quite the impatient one.”

“We’re not exactly on friendly terms where we can discuss trivial matters, are we?”

In response to my words, Oracle replied with a playful tone.

“That could change if you continue to cooperate with our player.”

“…Are you referring to Na Yu-han?”

I asked about the fact I had been guessing all along. Oracle readily confirmed it.

“Yes. That’s correct. He is the one we summoned from the Otherworld to purify this realm. He is our player.”

I fell silent for a moment and then posed another question.

“What about me? You call me an ‘Irregular,’ but I wasn’t summoned by you, was I?”

“You are not someone who was called by either side. You are merely a variable who has accidentally reached this world.”

“…Ah, I see.”

I had thought that perhaps Oracle summoned me and brought me into this world.

In the end, I was just a being who stumbled into this world without any fateful calling.

I felt the expectation I had for the secret of my reincarnation, which no longer existed, dying out once again.

“Would you like some tea?”

Oracle poured tea and extended the cup towards me. The warm steam from the tea rose into the air.

I stared into the teacup and saw my reflection. It was a drastically different appearance from my past life.

Having been born here by chance, I had somehow lived a messy life up to now.

So I had to keep struggling to survive.

I fiddled with the teacup for a moment before asking the most important question.

“Oracle, do you intend to cooperate with me?”

Whether Oracle brought me into this world or not, I knew I would approach the Otherworld’s fate sooner or later. What mattered was the intent behind that approach.

A moment of tranquil silence filled the space.

“We cannot predict variables.”

The deep silence was shattered by Oracle’s unexpected remark.

I lifted my gaze from the tea to look at Oracle.

“Since we cannot predict variables, we must control them. Especially if the variable is close to something that is crucial.”

Oracle’s profound gaze was fixed on me.

“You are currently cooperating with our player, but the future is uncertain.”

“That’s true. I might switch sides depending on the circumstances.”

In fact, in the past, I had dealt with the Black Scales, one of the creators of the Tower.

But I had no intention of antagonizing Oracle. Rather, I thought of mutual benefits—

“Thus, we deemed a leash necessary.”

“…A leash?”

What on earth does that mean?

“We have been observing you since the moment you awakened and became a significant variable.”

Oracle continued speaking calmly.

“It seems you hold a considerable regard for the children from the same orphanage, even if some of them are byproducts of the Tower.”

A chill ran down my spine. This guy, could it be…?

I clenched my fist tightly, my teeth gritting involuntarily.

“Are you threatening me?”