As I walked out of the conference room, I felt a presence approach me.
"Stop there".
I turned around and saw a familiar person. It was the Asian person who couldn't read the room and interrupted the speech.
"What do you want?" I asked.
I was getting pretty tired of what happened today, so I just wanted to rest. Therefore, I answered a little rudely.
"I heard you were one of the first ones to arrive at the battle." He said, as a frown appeared on his face.
"Yeah, so?".
"I knew it."
In an instant, he was right in front of me. I saw a blue flash come from his fist, and I instinctively tried to block.
But I was too late, as I felt a force hit my cheek, and I crashed into the wall.
Cracks appeared on the wall, and the castle shook a little.
The punch didn't hurt that much, but I was shocked by the sudden attack.
"To think you almost blocked that. But that just makes me even more angry that you were that strong."
"Why did you punch me?" I asked.
A frown appeared on his face again.
"Why did I punch you? You still don't have any idea why I punched you?"
He approached me and grabbed me by the collar.
"Rylan, tell me, what rank are we?."
Did he really need to punch me to ask that question? And how was I supposed to know why he punched me?
Does he think I can read minds?
These f*ckers were not giving me a single break today.
First, the monsters, and now him.
I grabbed his hand, which held my collar.
"Let go or else."
His eyebrows furrowed.
"Or else-"
I exerted more force on his hand as I tried to remove it from my collar.
At the same time, I felt him use more force, as he didn't want to let go of my collar.
"As a senior to a junior, let me teach you something."
He used his other hand to grab my collar as he threw me to the wall next to us.
Cracks appeared on the wall. But strangely, it didn't hurt at all.
If it were my normal body, I would have gotten serious injuries. But because I possessed Rylan Ashencroft, those attacks were as soft as pillow attacks.
"When the elders are speaking, you should sit and listen." He said.
"Rylan, I will ask you again. What rank are we?"
'Why does he keep asking that?'
His eyebrows were furrowed, and he had a frown on his face. No matter how I looked at it, he was in a bad mood.
I turned around and saw multiple cracks on the wall, but the walls were not destroyed.
Even though he was so angry, the walls weren't destroyed. I also didn't feel pain from where he hit me.
It wasn't because he was weak.
No. He was, in fact, very strong. Even now, as I stand here, I can feel the massive strength coming from him.
He was multiple times stronger than the SS-rank monsters I fought.
Yet he is still controlling his strength so as not to destroy the place.
'I need to relax.'
"We are SSS rankers."
He nodded his head.
"Exactly, we are SSS rankers. And what do we stand for?"
I don't know what we are standing for.
Seeing my puzzled face, he continued.
"Did you forget, or maybe it was never in your mind? Honestly, it's making me very angry."
He clenched his fist.
"If we were not at the castle or you weren't a SSS ranker yourself, I would have beat the sh*t out of you a long time ago."
"Rylan, we are SSS rankers, the ones chosen to protect humanity against monsters. The strength we have is not our own; it's for the people."
He gritted his teeth.
"But what happened today? Even as countless other soldiers died, you stood still, doing absolutely nothing. These are people who will never see their family again!" He shouted.
He approached me and grabbed me by the collar.
I didn't stop him, as I saw the anger in his eyes.
"No matter what, never stop moving! Every time we stop, another person dies on the battlefield. We can't rest until every monster is dead!"
I felt frustration build up inside me.
Why was he blaming me?
I was just a normal person a few days ago, and now I was supposed to fight for people who I didn't know?
'Don't f*ck with me.'
Don't blame me. Blame the real Rylan Ashencroft, who didn't give a single memory to me.
Just because I possessed his body did not mean I also had to do his job.
"Rylan, do you listen? As a SSS ranker, every death is on us!"
My eyebrows furrowed.
Why was he talking so much? It's not like I saw him on the battlefield.
"Why are you blaming me? It's not like I saw you fight there."
His eyes widened, and he released his grip around my collar.
"Don't you think I know that?"
He clenched his fist and punched the wall.
"Motherf*cker I am not just blaming you. If I was just a little faster, I could have saved so many more people."
He turned around and looked deep into my eyes.
"But I don't see you having the same feeling." He said.
The scene of the blonde knight and the SS ranker dying in front of me appeared in my mind.
I clenched my fist and punched him in the cheek.
"What are you, a f*cking psychologist? Can you read my mind?" I shouted.
Who was he to say that I was not blaming myself?
I have been blaming myself every minute since I saw people die.
"Of course I am angry. Countless people died today, and it wasn't just because of monsters. It was because of me!"
"You are angry because you weren't there. But! Imagine being there and people still dying!"
After I finished shouting, his frown disappeared, and a small, hopeless smile appeared on his face.
"You are right. I can't read minds."
He patted my shoulder.
"Rylan, I wasn't putting all the blame on you. A person close to me died today, and I wasn't even there to see his final moments."
"I was just angry at myself for not even being there to save him."
He took a deep breath.
"He was an SS ranker, but he still died because of a SS rank monster."
"As SSS rankers, we will always see people close to us die, but we can always count on other SSS rankers to survive."
"You heard the news today. The monster attack today will not be the last. People are counting on us to kill all the monsters because we are SSS rankers."
He turned around.
"So while you still can, try to get some rest."