Hunter Ruse walked calmly across the hall. His footsteps were so quiet that I could hardly believe I heard him before he entered the room.
The blue glow of the torches cast shifting shadows across his face, but his eyes remained as cold as ever.
If he found out I was here now, what would happen? I had already witnessed the horrible things he was capable of doing to achieve his goal. Hunter Ruse was not someone to mess with, even though I knew how good his heart could also be.
The issue here was that Hunter Ruse was about to find an irregularity never shown in the original story of The Journey to the Beyond—another person with system privileges.
Although I didn't know how many transgressions this version of Hunter Ruse had already committed — forced to return to the beginning of the story every time he died — I knew the character Brandon S. Oneal, the life I currently inhabited, had never held any great relevance in any timeline. Appearing in a pocket dungeon would make me an anomaly to be exterminated.
"Shit, shit, shit! Did this encounter really have to happen right now?" I thought, breaking out in a cold sweat.
My hiding place wasn't perfect. The space between the fallen bookcase and the wall was narrow, but it offered me enough cover to avoid a casual glance. Still, everything inside me screamed it wouldn't be enough.
Hunter walked over to the pedestal where the Necronomicon lay and stopped in front of it.
Suddenly, he tilted his head slightly. My heart pounded. Had he noticed me?
It was then that a system notification flashed before my eyes. At first, I thought it was a danger alert, but then more messages appeared in succession.
[Condition activated: The reader has found the original protagonist.]
[Starting system guideline update...]
[Process: 1%... 5%... 12%...]
The succession of messages took me by surprise. Normally, my first reaction would be to examine everything immediately, but at that moment, instinct for survival spoke louder. This was not the time for that. I couldn't take my eyes off Hunter.
Still, more messages kept popping up in my peripheral vision:
[Process: 34%... 47%...]
I gritted my teeth. Was this ever going to stop? Apparently, finding another player in the system triggered a unique reaction. But my only concern was escaping unnoticed.
[Update at: 92%... 100%!]
[Update complete.]
[Starting update integration protocol]
[Synchronizing information records...]
[Success!]
[New Unique Ability Unlocked: "Character List."]
My brow furrowed. What the hell was that?
"That doesn't help me much here!" I shouted mentally.
However, I knew that if I stayed calm and didn't move, the chance of him noticing me wouldn't be high. So I decided to stay still, holding my breath.
Hunter stayed in the room for a few more seconds, looking around and searching for the Necronomicon, which I had accidentally picked up and stashed away in the short time I had to make those decisions.
With a short sigh, Hunter turned and began walking toward the rusty iron door through which he had entered.
"He's leaving? That easy?"
I waited a few seconds after hearing the door close. I held my breath once more and counted mentally.
One, two, three... Five... ten... fifteen seconds. There was no doubt: he was gone.
With extreme caution, I left my hiding place. I remained crouched while quickly checking the room, making sure I was really alone. My senses were sharp, my attention completely focused. Hunter had truly left.
I slowly exhaled and stood up. "If I leave quickly, I can escape this dungeon before he does."
I still couldn't believe my luck. I had just escaped unharmed from an encounter with Hunter Ruse.
With my heart racing, I put my hands on my knees and caught my breath. Being in this guy's presence was overwhelming. Hunter wasn't a bad person, but there were very few situations where I could manipulate him to help me or predict what he would do, and I knew this wasn't one of those opportunities.
[Your understanding of the character Hunter Ruse has increased.]
I raised my head, looking at this new system window.
'Understanding? What does that even mean?'
In fact, in the midst of all that tense situation, I had almost forgotten that I got two new things. The first was this: I looked at my right hand, where the Necromonicon was, and then used my left hand to enter my Skill Chest.
'And the second is this skill called [Scholarly Reader].'
Clicking on the skill name, a new window overlapped the [Skill Chest]:
+
[Skill Details!]
Skill Name: Character List.
Description: A unique and exclusive skill granted to you thanks to your high level of Avid Reader. A list of all the characters from 'The Journey to the Beyond' that you know will appear before you. On each character's sheet, there is a short description, details, characteristics, and summaries of possible destinations for the character.
Rank: Exclusive.
Cooldown: None.
+
I widened my eyes as I read the description of this skill. I was a big fan of Journey to the Beyond, but I wasn't a genius who could remember everything that happened to all the characters during the more than 3,000 chapters. Having a skill like this was incredibly useful.
I smiled with relief, knowing that I was the one being helped by the system this time and not just Hunter Ruse gaining one skill after another.
Despite this, I didn't let my guard down until the moment I passed through the portal to return to the normal world.
When I came across the hallway of the wing where I had infiltrated, completely empty, I took a deep breath.
Immediately, a pop-up message appeared:
[Dungeon 'Macabre Library (Rank E)' Successfully Completed!]
[No additional rewards have been granted.]
I scratched the back of my head. "No more rewards? Well, what else could I expect from a Rank-E Dungeon, right?"
"Hey! You!" A voice echoed from the end of the hallway.
My heart raced, but when I looked up to see who had called me, I saw that it was just a library guard with a classic blue security uniform impeccably ironed.
"What are you doing here?! This is a restricted wing!"
I raised both hands in the air as he blinded me with a flashlight. "Sorry, sir. I was looking for a bathroom and got lost."
"You got very lost! Now come with me! You need to get out of here. They'll kill me if they find out someone came in here while I wasn't looking."
So, I was kicked out of the Main Reading Room by the guard. Luckily, the guard seemed more concerned with keeping his job than punishing me, so he just gave me a warning and nothing else.
I exited through the front door of the Lovikalen National Library without incident.
Somehow, time outside the Dungeon seemed to have moved much faster than I had perceived.
It was already mid-afternoon, meaning I had spent my whole birthday away from home without telling anyone.
"Damn... My mom is definitely going to give me an earful," I thought out loud, being more Brandon this time than someone who had been reincarnated.