- Second Round: Transferring the Sweet Fish -

They have earned fifteen Dallars for their victory in the first round.

"You aren't that bad for a slayer candidate" one of the regulars said to Charlotte.

"Yeah, it's surprising that you could make it."

"Could I take that as a compliment.......?" Charlotte asked with a forced smile and also with a vein popping on her head.

Bam approached Charlotte, "You aren't hurt right?"

Charlotte was about to answer it when she thought of a better way to respond to it, "You guess?"

"It seems like you aren't hurt" He responded and patted her head. "Well done."

Khun who glanced at Charlotte noticed that her golden eyes seemed to be brighter than before after she heard the last two words from Bam.

Khun who won the Sweet Fish now had the Sweet Fish following and sticking him everywhere he went. He whispered to Bam and told him, that the only reason why he saved Rachel was because of him. If he was given another chance to kill her, then he can't guarantee whether he could restrain himself again.

Both of the sides had twenty minutes of break to prepare themselves for the second round. Khun who sat down on the floor looked quite focused and serious.

'For now, we've passed the first round. It's a relief. I was worried that they would rule the game unfairly, but it didn't happen yet.'

Khun's cobalt blue eyes were locked at Vicente who was currently reading his book, ignoring Wangnan and Rak who were shouting at them. Seeing how Vicente whom he thought as one of Hoaqin's copies or clones standing with Wangnan, he began to assume that there must be a conflict between these clones or copies.

'These guys....surely are fishy..... What kind of secrets would these guys be hiding?'

"Are you curious with what they're hiding?" Charlotte suddenly popped next to him, asking him the question that he was currently thinking.

"....Why are you here and not with Bam?" Khun asked her. Usually, wherever Bam goes, Charlotte would always follow and stick to him.

Charlotte sat down on the floor and crossed her legs. She put down her fan on the floor and began to tie her brown hair into a bun.

"I'm here to look for you, is it wrong?" Charlotte asked him.

"....You are looking for the Sweet Fish right?" He guessed and Charlotte just smiled even wider.

The Sweet Fish, when it saw Charlotte, it immediately avoided her and moved to the other side of Khun.

"Come on, Sweet Fish" Charlotte tried to talk with the Sweet Fish. "I was just joking earlier. I won't eat you even if you are very, very big."

The Sweet Fish didn't seem to believe in her and even moved further away.

'You look serious with your words earlier though.' Khun cleared his throat and asked, "You know something about Hoaqin?"

"Of course" Charlotte nodded her head. Her brown eyes turned around to look at Hoaqin who was doing his own business along with his younger sister, Anna. "I know that they're from Arie Family. "

"What?"

"You heard me clearly" Charlotte said to him. "Years ago, more than six centuries ago, Hoaqin found a spell that will allow him to be one with his siblings. He and Vicente--the boy with Wangnan and Anna-- the little girl next to that Hoaqin, along with the others, they worked together and became one person. Together, they became the slayer candidate."

"If that is the case, then what caused this conflict between the Vicente guy and Hoaqin?"

"It's because in one body, there could only be one soul" Charlotte answered. "Even though they had became 'one', their souls have been sleeping for who knows how long. The one who has been awake all these time is Hoaqin and he has been making all the decisions without asking others' permissions."

Khun looked at Charlotte. He paused for a moment before he asked, "....Why don't you tell us that you know about this Hoaqin earlier?"

"Because actually, even though you guys don't know about it, brother will be able to defeat him" Charlotte honestly responded. Charlotte thought of something and then looked again at Khun. She asked him, "Khun, what do you think of my ability?"

"Which one?" He asked her.

"The ability to read the future" she answered. "What do you think about it?"

".....It's amazing" he answered honestly. "To be able to see the future, who wouldn't want that?"

Charlotte looked away, "....Amazing, huh?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing" Charlotte answered. Her golden eyes were locked again at the Sweet Fish that didn't seem to dare to get close to hear. Charlotte stopped for a moment to think of her next reaction before she pouted.

"That Sweet Fish is a smart but meanie" Charlotte said with her childish style. "I was just joking with it and now, it doesn't dare to get close with me now. I'm so cute, how could it possibly be afraid of me?"

"Anyone would have been afraid to hear that he will be eaten by someone" Khun responded. He paused for a moment before he added, "No matter how cute that someone is."

"Alright, I won't eat you" Charlotte said to the Sweet Fish and opened her arms. "I promise. You look smart, you understand what I said right?"

When the Sweet Fish moved backward, Charlotte's smile turned upside down.

"It really doesn't trust me anymore?"

"Come here" Khun said to the Sweet Fish.

The Sweet Fish obviously trusted Khun more than the one who openly said wanted to eat it. The Sweet Fish moved towards Khun's hand and then followed his hand and moved towards Charlotte.

Charlotte looked at the Sweet Fish that was swimming on the shinsu around her. She smiled and tilted her head for a bit.

"You are cute. I like you" she childishly said to the Sweet Fish.

Noah who was talking with Raisin noticed from the corner of his eyes that Charlotte was talking to Khun happily with the Sweet Fish around them. He seemed to be distracted as he didn't respond to Raisin who called his name again and again.

Raisin followed Noah's direction and realized that he was looking at Charlotte, Khun and also the Sweet Fish. He wondered why Noah would look at the three of them without even blinking and didn't even listen to him.

Raisin came up with an idea. This idea was the idea that Altaira would always use to him whenever he wasn't listening to him. He cleared his throat and then leaned close to Noah's ear.

"Noah, I'm talking to you" he said and increased the volume of his voice for a bit. "Do you listen to me?"

Surely, his action made Noah startled. He was startled at first before he was annoyed.

"Why do you do that for?" Noah asked him.

"Well, you aren't listening" Raisin answered.

"You could call my name. Or clap your hands."

"Considering how you are in looking at , that won't work" Raisin answered.

Noah appeared to be calm, even after Raisin exposed him. He said no words for a moment before he asked, "Is there something wrong looking at an old friend of mine?"

"Of course no" Raisin answered. "But you have to be careful. Do you see him?" He pointed his index finger to Bam who was smiling at his comrades who were on the other side. "He cares for his sister deeply that no one is allowed to badmouth her."

"......Of course I know him" Noah responded. "Anyway, back again to the topic, you Red Witches could read one's path right?"

"Of course" Raisin responded. "What about it?"

The navigators or the guides were the people who were born with the ability to read one's destiny. While the Red Witches like Hwaryun and Raisin could read the destiny or the fate of someone, the Silver Dwarfs were capable of looking at the crossroads.

"Then.....can you help me see what's waiting for my sister and I?" Noah carefully asked him. "I wanted to know what kind of danger and blissful moments or events waiting for her."

".....Your sister will be fine" Raisin answered to Noah.

"Yes? For real?"

"Of course" Raisin answered. "But that doesn't mean that she won't grow or change in this tower. The same thing will also happen at Charlotte as well."

"I do not ask for her" Noah raised one of his eyebrows, feeling that the man before him had misunderstood him.....or not.

"I was just you, considering that you are " Raisin said again with the hint of sarcasm. He was one of the people who did not believe in Charlotte's and his lie. "Her path would be dangerous, believe it or not. Although now she hasn't feel anything.... dangerous .....or serious....she will surely face more hardships."

Noah also had known that long ago. He glanced at the brown haired girl who seemed to be sneezing. Perhaps it was because the two of them were talking about her. Noah knew that Charlotte's selflessness was not something that every single person had in this tower, the selflessness to the point she was willing to give her life as well, it will surely get her killed one day. Her path was without a doubt to be dangerous....unless if she could behave more selfish and ignore the pain that her closest ones or friends endured.

Charlotte kept sneezing and sneezing. She didn't know why, perhaps it was because the night was cold or that she was too tired. They arrived right at midnight and she hasn't gotten enough sleep. The brown haired girl stretched her arms and covered her arms while yawning.

"Gosh, haven't got enough slept for this one month. Oh no, wait, it's supposed to be two months" she said to Khun. Her golden eyes were a bit teary. "I could have gotten myself some sleep and would be grateful of it."

"Five minute left" Khun said towards Charlotte. "That won't be enough."

Charlotte shrugged off, "Even twenty minutes won't be able to help me. After this stupid selection, I think I'm going to sleep and not wake up for another week."

"You could get some sleep after we win this one" he said towards her. "No one is going to wake you up."

Charlotte smiled when she heard that.

Five minutes passed and then, the second round was starting. As the second round was about to start, all of them headed to a different place.

The second stage of the selection was kind of weird if Charlotte had to look at it from above. She squatted on wherever she was holding with her arms rested on her knees. There were lots of pipes, crossing against each other with a huge red flowing ball on the center of it.

Surprisingly, according to Poro Poe, they were in the Hell Train's seventy four motor sector.

"Motor sector...." Khun was just like the others, surprised. "Is it some kind of engine?"

Charlotte looked at Altaira who was standing next to her and asked him curiously, "Since there is the seventy four, could there be the first, second or the third motor sector?"

Altaira was surprised and amazed as well. Earnestly, he shook his head and replied, "Dunno... never asked about it."

Charlotte looked again at the motor sector. Even though she was also surprised, she wasn't really surprised considering that she had seen it in the manhwa.

The screen before Poro Poe has changed into something else. As Poro Poe was starting to explain about the name of the second round, the screen has changed and what was written on it was:

╒══════════════════╕

Stage 4: Second Round

Transferring the Sweet Fish.

╘══════════════════╛

"Transferring the Sweet Fish?" Khun echoed as well. That meant he should be transfer his Sweet Fish to somewhere else?

"It's a game where you literally need to transfer the Sweet Fish to the destination!" Poro Poe explained. "Viole's Team who's holding the Sweet Fish in their hands at the moment of the motor sector through the pipes!

is the you can see in the center of the pipes.

Starting from now, participants from each team will make a group of one until three, and be transferred to the pipes. Each group should either kill or protect as they go through the pipes.

The fish belongs to Khun's group since he earned it in last round. And if regulars happened to bump into each other in the same pipe, they may .

By using the Dallars you earn during the game, you may open and close the doors that connect the pipes. If a group uses fifteen Dallars to lock the door, the opposing team must use a higher amount of Dallars to open the door!

One more thing, if regular happens to have more than ten Dallars, the amount will double! If you double what you alone have it, it just becomes twice as much as yours, but it actually doubles the amount of Dallars your teammate has! Which means, If your teammate possesses 5 Dallars, that would make 5x5=25 after all!

20 Dallars will triple the amount, and quadruple if you own more than 30 Dallars! On contrary, it will be dangerous if you are left alone! So please use the rules wisely!

"I hate things like maze the most" Charlotte said after she heard all the rules.

"Too bad you don't prepare compass" Altaira glanced at Charlotte. He knew that Charlotte was bad at directions. As he patted her head, he added, "Don't die first before you return the humiliation I gave you."

"You dare to bring it up, huh?"

'So, they're giving them the chance to attack first?' Khun thought about it. He had long knew that these FUG won't be partial to them. 'We have more members....but individual force is weaker than them. If we are split into groups, each of us may be taken down.'

'We must get rid of the enemies....before they take each of us down.'

Soon enough, all of them were split into groups and transferred inside the pipes.

When Charlotte looked around to see who her teammates were, she was kind of surprised to know that her teammate was only one person, Noah.