After unlocking my new skill, I decided to head back to camp.
My legs still felt strange — light but powerful — as if energy was still running through my veins.
The forest was quiet. Only the sound of leaves brushing in the wind and my footsteps on the dirt road.
Then I saw her — Xin Yi, one of the Chinese girls who had joined us.
She barely spoke since the day we arrived. At first, we thought it was because she didn't understand English, but ever since the system opened and translated everything for us, she still stayed quiet.
Right now, she was in the middle of a fight — slashing her blade at a small creature that looked like a rabbit, though much bigger and faster.
> [Lesser Forest Hare – Lv.10]
With one smooth motion, her sword flashed, cutting clean through it.
The creature disappeared into light, and her calm expression didn't even change.
"Damn," I muttered quietly. "She's strong."
She noticed me for a second but didn't say anything. Just gave a short nod before turning back to her hunt.
I nodded back and kept walking.
I didn't really know how to talk to her — not that I minded.
---
When I finally reached the camp, I saw Ha Joon standing with Hyun Woo, talking in low voices.
The other Korean members were nearby, but they didn't look happy.
Something about their expressions felt… distant.
They used to talk to everyone — now, they mostly stayed together.
It wasn't like before.
Minji, though, didn't seem to care about their attitude. She was sitting near the fire, laughing with Riku and Marco, while Sota and Yuna gathered water from the stream.
The camp felt divided — two groups forming without anyone saying a word.
I sat down beside Marco, who handed me a piece of cooked meat.
"Yo, where'd you go?" he asked.
"Hunting," I said, biting into it. "Killed a wolf. Leveled up."
He grinned. "Damn, you're turning into a one-man army."
Maybe he was right.
But as I looked at the fire, and then at Ha Joon and Hyun Woo whispering across from us…
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was changing — not just in our stats, but between us.
Ha Joon stood up suddenly, his face tight with anger. Without saying a word, he turned and walked away into the darkness, followed by the other four Koreans.
The sound of their footsteps faded, leaving only the crackle of the campfire between us.
I stared at the flames for a while before realizing what it really meant.
There was something growing between us — not just distance, but something deeper.
A line dividing "us" and "them."
I clenched my fist. Racism... even here?
In this strange world where monsters hunted us and death was just a step away, people still found a way to divide each other.
A few minutes later, Hyun Woo walked back alone. His usual calm face looked tired.
He sat down beside us, letting out a quiet sigh.
I glanced at him. "You don't have to force yourself to stay with us," I said.
He looked at me for a long moment before shaking his head.
"No," he said quietly. "It's not about sides. I just… don't want to be like them."
The camp went silent. Even the fire burned lower, the shadows stretching longer across the ground.
As night slowly deepened, the cold wind whispered through the trees.
I finally understood what was happening — they wanted Hyun Woo to join them again.
Not because they cared about him, but because they needed his S-rank healing skill.
They couldn't force Minji, and without Hyun Woo's power, they couldn't survive outside the camp for long.
It wasn't about friendship anymore.
It was about survival… and control.