Ray is now silent, confused by a young boy with orange hair who is now in front of him. He looks at the person carefully while waiting for him to catch his breath, which is irregular due to exhaustion from running hastily.
The boy with orange hair suddenly speaks, forcing himself, "R-Ray... Ray... Listen to me, listen... Calm down first."
"You should be the one to calm down, take a rest for a moment and calm yourself."
"I am calm, wait... Earlier... Earlier..."
"I told you to calm down first, take a deep breath and exhale! Calm yourself down, you're still panting."
The boy with orange hair follows Ray's advice and starts to calm down. His previously irregular breathing is now improving.
Oh, what a hassle.
While complaining in his heart, Ray suddenly remembers his argument with Elaina. He realizes that the boy with orange hair is now similar to him, who was stubborn in front of Elaina at that time. Realizing that he is now in Elaina's position makes him feel a little sad because he remembers Elaina's face, which he doesn't want to remember anymore.
So this is what Elaina felt at that time.
The boy with orange hair starts to speak to Ray slowly.
"Ray, we need to get out of here right now."
"Why?"
"There are psychopaths who suddenly came and want to kill all of us."
I thought so, this is not just a mere dream, this is a real ability. That means if all my suspicions are true, I just need to die to start everything over.
Cold sweat starts to appear on Ray's forehead. It indicates that he is actually afraid of death because he has experienced it.
Still, this is difficult, it's easy for me to think about wanting to die. But honestly, it's quite difficult to remember that death is not as enjoyable as I thought.
The boy with orange hair is puzzled by Ray's behavior and reaction.
"Ray, why aren't you surprised?"
"I am surprised, actually I am surprised. It's just that I have a lot on my mind."
The boy with orange hair looks at Ray, who is silent and looking down. He looks at his own left hand and realizes that he is holding a key in it.
Without further ado, the boy with orange hair opens the prison lock that has been holding Ray captive.
Ray slowly realizes that he is free and can leave anytime. He smiles, but the smile slowly fades away. He knows everything that will happen. He also knows everything he wants to do right now. But just because he knows, he feels strange when he is finally free.
Ray feels strange because before he was freed, he really wanted that freedom. But when his freedom is right in front of him, he hesitates to take a step.
But Ray realizes that he can't stay like this forever. Doing nothing will not change anything. He knows that it is the truth, and it pushes him to step out of the underground prison.
Several minutes have passed since then, and now they are running away from the underground prison.
Ray looks at the boy's back and becomes curious about him. He decides to get to know him better.
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Huh? Why are you suddenly asking my name in a situation like this?"
"You're stranger than me, why don't you just run alone without me? Aren't there many other people besides me, why me?"
"You're the only one left, Ray."
Ray lowers his head and says, "I'm sorry."
"Besides, I can't leave others alone when I know they're in trouble."
"Why? Didn't you see with your own eyes that I'm a murderer?"
"I don't know, I just suddenly wanted to help you. Besides, the gate and the underground prison door are close enough."
What is this person talking about? It's impossible for someone to help others without having a reason.
I can't understand this person...
Do you mean you feel sorry for me?
The boy with orange hair looks at Ray occasionally while continuing to run.
While Ray continues his sentence, his smile slowly disappears, "Look at that, you can't even lie. You are a good person, a very good person. You are even kind to a criminal like me. Did you not think that I could kill you?
Or maybe you did think about it but just ignored it? If you don't care about my existence, why did you help me?"
"I know you're not like that, Ray. I believe in you, that's why I helped you. At that time, you looked so shocked that you couldn't say anything anymore.
But, I truly don't feel sorry. I just purely wanted to help you at this moment. It was just a passing thought, I'm being honest about this."
Ray is slightly surprised and his facial expression changes drastically.
I really am like an NPC.
Ray smiles and laughs a little, "Sorry, sorry, I lost control for a moment."
The boy with orange hair continues to run with a strange feeling in his heart. After Ray expressed his thoughts, the boy suddenly feels uneasy. He feels like he has made a mistake towards Ray, but he doesn't know what it is.
Finally, they arrive in front of a large gate just after passing through the park area. The boy with orange hair takes out another key from the pocket of his school pants and opens the gate.
Ray is curious and asks, "Where did you get all those keys?"
"The key I used to open this gate, I got it from a royal soldier who was fighting to protect me. Now, he's probably dead because there were so many people in black robes.
As for the key I used to free you, I stole it from one of the guards who was sleeping and guarding the underground prison. I also don't know what happened to that person now.
I hope I can avenge them in the future. I made a promise to one of the soldiers there."
After hearing the explanation, Ray smiles at the person.
Truly, he is a strange person. But I think he is a great person. I'm a little envious of him, I hope I can be like him.
The orange-haired boy managed to unlock the locked gate and started crossing to the outside. The boy looked back and glanced at Ray.
"Ray, let's escape."
Ray didn't move from where he was standing. Instead, he asked back, "hey, can I know your name?"
The boy was confused, "why are you asking this now? My name is Robert, Robert Downey."
Ray smiled, "Robert, Robert, alright, I will remember it. Oh, and I also want to tell you that lying is a bad thing, Robert. I don't like the way you lied, but I still admire you."
"What do you mean I lied?"
"The reason you survived is not because you were protected by a guard. But because you didn't join the dinner. You must have gone to the guard who had the key to my cell and stole it to set me free. Truly, you are so foolish. I don't know how you got the gate key. I also don't know if you really made a promise with a royal soldier. But I'm sure about what I just told you."
Robert's facial expression changed drastically, and he started sweating. He felt scared and amazed. Anxiety embraced him and made him uncomfortable.
Curiously, Robert asked, "how do you know?"
Ray smiled, pointing his hand and making a gesture as if asking for something.
"What do you want, Ray?"
"Can I see the Gate key?"
"Well, you can, but why?"
Robert handed over the gate key without thinking about any consequences that might happen in the future. It was because he trusted Ray, he trusted a black-haired boy with a happy face for no apparent reason.
The wind blew strongly, causing Robert's eyes to be irritated, and he had to wipe away the dust that stuck around his face, making him lose sight for a few seconds.
When Robert finished dealing with it, he saw that the Gate was already closed, and Ray was on the other side of the closed gate.
This confused and panicked him, and he immediately tried to open the gate again. But it was useless, because when he looked at the lock of the big gate, it was already locked again. The big gate couldn't be opened at all.
Now Ray and Robert were separated by the big gate that became a barrier between them.
Robert felt both confused and frustrated, making him shout at Ray, "Ray, what are you doing! Open this Gate now! Hurry up!"
Ignoring Robert's words, Ray said, "I suggest you don't go into the city with lights. It is the center of chaos."
"What are you really planning, Ray?"
"Nothing, it's just my advice. It's because I don't know if I repeat the process, whether you will still be walking at this time. I haven't figured out the details of my ability."
"What are you talking about? I don't understand!"
"It's good that you don't understand, that way I know the limits of my restrictions. It seems that if the person doesn't understand, I won't be given a warning."
"I told you to open the gate now, we have to escape right now!"
Ray smiled, "you are really foolish, Robert."
After saying that, Ray turned around and headed back to the mansion, ignoring Robert's shouts and heading towards a place in front of him. Ray chose to go towards the source of danger rather than escape with Robert. Because Ray knew that there was only one way to solve all of this. And this is the first step to getting what Ray wants.