10 | Consequences

What was the point of living? Everyone was going to die one day, that was for sure. So why go on? Why wake up every single morning, go to school or work, tire out yourself, then return back to your home, repeat the same procedure again and again and again till death knocks at your door?

What was the point?

I was struggling with the fact that for the next three years I would be at this prison disguised as an academy. Why did it have to be me?

"I uh… I've been wanting to talk to you since we came out from the Tower," said Buddy, who was supposedly one of the sharpshooters in my group.

He was scratching the back of his neck as he spoke, clearly uncomfortable for some reason.

"Why do you want to talk to him? Who are you?" Beatriz became my mouthpiece as she jumped between me and Buddy.

His cheeks tinted red in embarrassment. "I'm Buddy Michaelson. I'm B-Rank. Mr. Anderson and I were group members from the Tower test."

Did he just call me Mr. Anderson? Weren't we the same age? There were some limits to formality. I felt like an old man, having an age mate refer to me as Mr. Anderson.

"Oh, okay then!" Beatriz eased up and flashed a bright smile at Buddy before she moved to question the remaining members of our group.

There was Maria Valentine who was a D-Rank Hunter and supposedly the other swordsman in the group. She was ranked 181 in the list of final rankings. I wouldn't give her too much credit because that ranking system was totally bullshit.

The last member of the group was Kim Dooshik. The same guy who was in Lumina's group during that Tower test. He was assigned team leader because allegedly, he was very intelligent and strategic. I wasn't really fond of him being the team leader and having the right to boss me around.

The way he has been looking at me since he found out we were in the same team has been making me feel uncomfortable. Was he upset that I outed his group about tangling with corrupted entities to Dean Ravi? If that was the case, then his line of anger directed toward me was totally stupid.

He was an A-Rank Hunter with three Special Skills, more than I expected and the skills were all useful. I found this out by using [Omniscient Eyes] to view his Stats Window.

Status Window:

| Name: Kim Dooshik |

| Class: A |

| Strength: 79% |

| Agility: 68% |

| Charm: 81% |

| Magic Power: 44% |

| Intelligence: 89% |

| Titles: Engineer of the Future, Quick-Witted Boss |

| Special Skills: Sharpshooting (level 5), Invention Master (level 6), Amazing Intuition (level 8) |

I found it annoying how his Charm Stats were 81%. He didn't look like much with his black beady eyes and tamed black hair. His six feet height was the only thing he had going on for him in my opinion. I doubted he had a good personality so why were his Charm Stats so high?

I decided to read his summary to see if there was anything special there.

| Summary: This person is one of the few humans on the planet whose intellect is a national treasure. He is capable of a lot of things at his age. He is admired by most people because of his invention prowess and close friendship with Lumina Voss. |

I just knew it. I just knew Lumina was involved in this in some way. That idiot was always showing off the fact that he had a 100% Charm Stats. Of course his friend's Charm Stats would have to be closely matching his own. It was so annoying.

"Mr. Anderson?" Someone said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I saw that Buddy was standing in front of me, trying to gain my attention. I scowled.

"Stop calling me Mr. Anderson. It sounds weird," I told him.

"What should I call you then?" he asked cluelessly. I was so close to losing my shit here. I couldn't deal with stupid people.

"My first name," I pinched the bridge of my nose as I spoke. "Call me by my first name, Autumn."

I wasn't very fond of being called anything other than my name. Which was why when Beatriz called me Tommy, it irritated me.

"Yes, I will, A-Autumn," Buddy stuttered. I was growing bored. How long was this group introduction supposed to last before class started?

"I thought you said you wanted to tell him something, why are you stuttering all over the place?"

Someone would think Beatriz was my personal assistant with the way she was always speaking for me and acting chummy with me all the time. It was very annoying.

"Oh! I uh, um…" Buddy was looking at his toes while he spoke. "I wanted to say thank you."

"Huh?" That was from me.

Thank you? That was something people rarely said to me.

"Yeah. If you hadn't sliced my wrist and made that energy bar fall from my hand in the Tower, I would've eaten it and gotten corrupted, so thank you. Thanks for saving me."

Wow. I felt… different. I don't think anyone has ever appreciated me saving them from being corrupted. This was a first for me.

"You're wel—"

"He didn't do that to save you." Someone said, cutting me off. My eyes narrowed as I stared at Kim Dooshik. What was this guy's problem? He ruined my once-in-a-lifetime moment.

"What?" Buddy was confused as he questioned Kim Dooshik.

"How was he supposed to know you were holding the energy bar on your left hand while he swung his sword? A normal person held their food in their right hand. When he swung his blade, he wasn't expecting to slice you up and make you drop the bar. He was just trying to get you to back away from him in case you were also corrupted."

Tch… this guy. He was totally right. It was annoying how right he was. At the time, Buddy had been coming close to me to stop me from what I was about to do which was why I swung my blade at him. It wasn't because I wanted to stop him from eating the bar.

And if he had eaten the bar already, he would have been among those whom I purified. I didn't target him as a victim to save back then but I technically saved him at the end of the day, even though it wasn't my intention. The appreciation was technically well-placed.

This Kim Dooshik guy just couldn't stand the fact that someone was thanking me.

"Well, even if that was the case, it doesn't really matter. He still saved me." Buddy said in resolve.

Yes! Exactly.

"Heh. You're dumb for thinking that," Kim Dooshik pointed at Buddy, then turned to me. "Stop acting like you did either of us a favor by killing those people. You don't get to play the part of a savior or a hero, you- you villain!"

"Um… okay?" I shrugged.

My response seemed to have pissed Kim Dooshik off because I could see smoke fumes coming out from his nostrils and ears. He was red with fury with his chest heaving up and down rapidly.

But before he got an opportunity to start a fight with me, Caesar the instructor spoke up and began the class, saving me from having to thrash the fool.

* * *

As a student of Gomas Academy, I had to partake in one or two extracurricular activities; I had to join a club. There were so many options to choose from, but in all of the options, people were involved.

I couldn't not join a club but I had two more weeks to make up my mind. Most first years had already made up their mind and joined the most popular clubs which were the Dungeon raiding club, chess club, archery club, sword fighting club, traveling club, academics club, and the various sports clubs.

A sports club would be ideal with my physique, but then I'd have to practice constantly and socialize with the various team members. I couldn't see myself doing either of those things. Being an Inquisitor wasn't going to get me out of joining a club, so I was quite stomped on what to do.

Drake was in the Dungeon raiding club. That would also be another ideal club for me to join but because Drake was there, I didn't want to join it. He would baby me every single time and goof off with me around. It was so annoying.

But I was sure later on, I would come up with something. For now, I could just relax. Classes were over for the week, things have been going smoothly for days now, everything was fine. It was the perfect time to binge my Hunter reality TV shows.

I grabbed my phone and began searching for the most popular ones, but all of a sudden, a message window popped up in front of my face.

[The assigned time given for your weekly quest has ended.]

[You have failed to complete your weekly quest.]

[Consequences for not completing your weekly quest have been activated.]

[You can no longer use any of your Special Abilities for a week.]

[You can no longer speak negative words for a week.]

[The system hopes you learn from your mistakes and fulfill your next weekly quest dutifully.]

"What the ####?"

Huh? Why couldn't I say ####?

[You can no longer speak negative words for a week.]

"You #######! Are you #####?"

[You can no longer speak negative words for a week.]

This wasn't possible. This wasn't possible. So this system thing was real after all? No way. I tried using my Special Skills to see if this was true.

[The Special Skill, [Wind Manipulator], cannot be activated while receiving Consequences.]

[The Special Skill, [Efficient Swordsman], cannot be activated while receiving Consequences.]

[The Special Skill, [Efficient Sharpshooter], cannot be activated while receiving Consequences.]

[The Special Skill, [Perfect Intuition], cannot be activated while receiving Consequences.]

What the… what was happening?

[Consequences for attempting to activate your Special Skills and speaking negative words have been activated.]

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

[The stigma that prevents you from dying for one year has been given the authority to bring you pain for ignoring the terms of your Consequences.]

"Hey, what is that me-arghhh! Holy ####! What the ####?!"

[For every time you ignore the terms of your Consequences, your stigma will cause you pain for five minutes.]

My right hand was burning. It was like the inside of my right arm was set on fire. I looked at the tattoo to see it glowing. This! This was the stigma that was causing me pain! I had to get rid of it.

In a state of painful delirium, I summoned my sword and began slashing at my wrist like a crazy person. Blood splattered all over the place but the pain from slicing my skin wasn't even close to the pain the stigma was causing me.

I grabbed my Inquisitor Gun and began firing at the tattoo but the bullets just sinked into the tattoo and did nothing to cure the pain. It didn't even purify me or make me feel better.

I was dying. This pain was going to kill me. My legs gave out and I fell to the floor, back first. The burning sensation in my right arm spread all over my body and black dots began painting my vision as I was sure I was about to go to the other side.

I should've listened to the system, was my last thought before I fell into a pit of darkness.