'Hey, this might be bad, did we really have to run?' Vell thought, ducking into an alleyway between a pawn shop and a convenience store. His heart was still pounding from the escape, adrenaline making his hands shake slightly.
[Yes. It was too risky to stay there.]
'Shit, I can't believe we just ran from the damn Association, the biggest power in this part of the world.' He slid down a wall until he was sitting on the dirty ground, catching his breath while trying to process what just happened.
His grand plan to become a registered player and get his life back on track had already gone completely off the rails in less than an hour.
[We should hide in a dungeon. There, you can finally use your skills to their fullest and become stronger.]
'Haahh, dammit, my life is the worst.' He rubbed his face with both hands, feeling the weight of his situation. He needed a way to get into a dungeon, but only registered players were allowed inside since they had verification systems at every entrance, scanners that would reject anyone without proper credentials.
He thought it over for a long time, running through different scenarios, but no solution came to mind that didn't involve fighting his way in.
[I know what you are worried about, but there's no need to fret. You simply need to tame a stealthy beast. Do that, and you will gain its skills for yourself.]
The system's words made him pause mid-thought. "But where am I supposed to find a beast outside the dungeons and towers?"
[Hm? Master, what do you think a beast is?]
"What do you mean? A beast is just a monster, right?"
[That's true, but why do you think beasts are only monsters? What is the definition of a beast?]
He thought about it for a second, the gears in his head turning, and then it clicked like a light switch flipping on. The system was playing word games with him, but it had a valid point about semantics.
'I see, so that means any animal can be considered a beast?'
[Now you get it. All living things except humans can be classified as beasts. So you know where I'm going with this, right?]
A slow smile spread across his face as the possibilities opened up. "Yeah, I get it, and I know the perfect animal for the job."
He grew up in this city, knew all the spots where stray cats and dogs gathered, the pigeon roosts on abandoned buildings, but that wasn't what he had in mind. His goal was a special place, a large tree on the edge of the city where he could find the one animal he knew would be perfect for stealth.
He jumped to his feet and ran, not through the main streets where people might recognize him, but through the city's underbelly—the sewers. Despite what people thought, the sewers here were actually pretty clean, thanks to some old city-wide purification magic that kept them flushed out and relatively odor-free.
He navigated the maze-like tunnels with an ease that felt as natural as breathing, muscle memory from years of using them as shortcuts.
For the first time in months, he felt a genuine warmth in his chest, a flicker of nostalgia that wasn't painful.
"I did so much down here," he murmured to himself, a wry smile on his face as he passed familiar graffiti and markers. "Ditching school, stealing snacks from the corner store, first kisses in the dark, all those adventures we thought were so important."
He passed familiar spots, carvings on the walls he and his friends had made years ago when they thought they'd be together forever.
There was the spot where they'd hidden stolen beer, the alcove where they'd planned pranks, the junction where they'd sworn to always have each other's backs. His pace slowed as he let the memories wash over him, bittersweet and heavy.
But as he turned a corner near the old maintenance tunnel, he froze. Up ahead, orange light flickered against the curved walls, and he could hear voices echoing off the concrete. A group of people were drinking and laughing around a makeshift fire built from trash and old wooden pallets.
'Shit, I was so distracted I didn't sense them sooner.'
Before he could duck back around the corner, one of them spotted him. A guy with messy brown hair and a familiar, stupid grin waved him over with a beer bottle.
"Come on, man, join us!"
"Hm? Who the hell is that?" another one grumbled, squinting through the firelight.
"I don't know, but I don't like sharing my beer with randoms."
"You guys need to lighten up, what's the harm in letting him have a few?" A girl with bright pink hair got up and wobbled over to him, clearly drunk. She leaned against his chest, trying to look cute and seductive, her breath reeking of alcohol.
"You're pretty hot," she slurred, her eyes unfocused as she ran a finger down his chest. "You remind me of—"
She blinked, her vision finally clearing as she got a good look at his face. The flirtatious smile disappeared instantly as she stumbled back and fell on her ass, pointing at him with a shaking hand.
"Y-y-y-you!"
The others, confused by her reaction, came over to see what was going on. He just stood there, waiting, knowing what was coming next.
"Hey, what's the matter? Is he that ugly—" The guy's words died in his throat, his eyes widening in shock as recognition dawned.
"Vell?"
"What, that's Vell?"
"Holy shit, it is him."
"Yeah, there's no doubt, that's him." The first guy, Joe, the one with the stupid grin who used to be his closest friend after Rynn, wasn't grinning anymore.
His face twisted with anger as he stepped forward and grabbed Vell's shirt with both hands. "What do you think you're doing back here? Answer me, asshole, what the fuck are you doing here? Was once not enough? You came back for more?"
Vell's fingers twitched, the dark energy inside him reacting in response to his rising anger, but he stayed calm, keeping his voice level. "I was just passing through, Joe, I didn't know you guys would be here."
"Bullshit!" Joe shoved him back. "You don't just pass through the sewers, these are our tunnels, you know that."
The girl with the pink hair, Lily, his ex-girlfriend, got up and walked toward him, her face a mixture of hurt and contempt. She looked at him for a few seconds, tears welling up in her eyes, then slapped him hard across the face.
"You disgust me," she whispered, her voice breaking.
The sting on his cheek was nothing compared to the ache in his chest. These were the people he'd grown up with, the ones he'd trusted with everything, and now they looked at him like he was something they'd scrape off their shoes.
Joe shoved him again, harder this time. "We trusted you, and you turned out to be a murderer, no, even that's too nice for something like you."
"Just leave," another friend, Derek, said coldly. "Your presence is not welcome in this city."
Vell stared at them, really looking at each of their faces. Joe, who he'd known since elementary school. Lily, who'd been his first everything. Derek and the others, who'd been there through every stupid teenage adventure. They all wore the same expression of disgust and betrayal.
He finally spoke, his voice quiet but carrying weight. "I wonder, no proof was ever brought forward, I wasn't even given a chance to defend myself properly. It felt as if this was all planned to ruin my life, but who knows, maybe I'm wrong."
He paused, watching their reactions carefully. "I want to know why my best friends didn't give me a chance either, why you all just immediately believed I was capable of killing Rynn. Especially you." He looked directly at Lily. "I expected you, at least, to ask for my side of the story, to wonder if maybe something else happened that night."
The moment he stopped talking, he could sense their nervousness. Joe's grip on his shirt loosened slightly, Derek looked away, and Lily's tears started flowing harder.
"We saw the evidence," Joe said, but his voice lacked conviction.
"What evidence?" Vell asked calmly. "Kana's testimony? She was traumatized, in shock, people say things when they're like that. But you all just accepted it without question."
"She's your cousin!" Lily burst out. "Why would she lie about something like that?"
"That's what I've been asking myself for months," Vell replied. "Living on the streets, eating from garbage, getting beaten by strangers, and every single day wondering why the people I loved turned on me so quickly."
Derek finally spoke up, his voice defensive. "The court found you guilty."
"The court relied entirely on Kana's testimony," he countered. "There was no physical evidence, no weapon, no motive. Just her word against mine, and you all chose to believe her without even talking to me first."
"You ran!" Joe accused. "Innocent people don't run!"
"I ran because a mob was trying to kill me!" Vell's voice rose for the first time. "You were there, Joe, you threw the first bottle at me, remember?"
Joe's face went pale, and he let go of Vell's shirt completely.
"Look," Vell said, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm not here to fight or cause trouble, I just want to understand. We grew up together, we were family, and then in one day, you all just decided I was a monster. Help me understand why."
Lily wiped her eyes, smearing her makeup. "Kana showed us things, messages you supposedly sent, talking about being jealous of Rynn."
"What messages? I never sent any messages like that."
"She had screenshots," Derek added weakly.
"Screenshots can be faked," Vell said simply. "You know that, we literally used to make fake conversations to prank people in high school."
The group fell silent.
The weight of doubt was starting to show on their faces.
"But why would she do that?" Lily asked, her voice small. "What could she possibly gain?"
"That's what I need to find out," Vell said. "But I can't do that if I'm running from mobs and getting arrested on sight."
Joe ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. "This is fucked up, man, this is so fucked up."
"You want to know what's fucked up?" Vell's voice grew harder. "Being innocent and having everyone you care about abandon you, sleeping in alleys while wondering if the people you called family ever really knew you at all."
"We were scared," Derek admitted quietly. "The way Kana described it, the blood, Rynn's body, we were all so shocked and scared."
"And I wasn't?" Vell asked. "He was my best friend, I held him while he died from an accident, and then I had to watch my cousin lie about it in court while everyone I loved sat in the gallery glaring at me like I was a monster."
The truth in his voice was unmistakable, raw and painful. Even through their drunk haze, they could hear it.
"Vell," Lily started, reaching out toward him, but he stepped back.
"I don't want your pity," he said firmly. "I want answers, and I'm going to get them, with or without your help."
He turned to leave, but Joe grabbed his arm. "Wait, man, just wait a second."
"What?" Vell looked back, his expression unreadable.
"If you're telling the truth, if Kana really lied, then we fucked up, we fucked up bad."
"Yeah," Vell said simply. "You did."