The Exaggerated Shock

Meanwhile...

Rurouni Rakhora had no idea someone sacrificed her life for his sake just now.

He looked at his phone, wondering how much distance left.

The navigation showed the remaining distance, taking pity on a poor guy.

184 metres straight ahead.

...

Rurouni started the motorcycle again.

He drove straight ahead.

Made an estimate of 184 metres.

Exactly as the navigation instructed.

A few moments later...

He stopped and checked again.

This time...

He had reached the exact location.

Rurouni turned off the engine.

Then moved the motorcycle slightly toward the side of the road.

Then...

He looked up, curious to see the surroundings.

His eyes widened, mouth slowly opened as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"W-What the hell is this?"

In front of him...

Was an enormous building.

It was covered almost entirely in glass and mirrors.

The structure was so massive that Rurouni couldn't immediately comprehend its size.

He stared upward, felt like his neck cracked.

"Our city has something this huge?"

"I've been living here for sixteen years!"

"And I've never seen this?"

"...Is this even legal?"

The building was easily five times larger than his entire school.

The glass exterior reflected the surrounding city.

The entire structure looked less like a normal company...

And more like something built for the richest person in the world.

For another thirty seconds...

Rurouni remained frozen, continued staring.

Like his strong brain got shut down.

Then...

His brain finally restarted.

"...Wait."

"Why should I care?"

He scratched his head, started ignoring because this is what he always do at the end to everything except novels.

"This place has nothing to do with me."

"I just came to pick up my sister. That's all."

He pulled out his phone, no shocked reaction anymore.

The navigation showed the distance between the destination.

0 metres.

Then...

A congratulations message appeared.

Congratulations! 

You have arrived at your destination.

Rurouni stared at it, his shock returned so quickly like it was never disappeared.

Goosebumps suddenly spread across his body.

He took a deep breath, then tried to calm himself.

"Somya probably did this as a prank."

"So that's why she told me to wear better clothes."

"She'll probably say..."

He imitated her voice with extra drama.

"'I'm your Onee-chan.'"

"'I have every right to prank you.'"

"'Besides, I warned you because I care about you just in case you die from a heartattack.'"

Rurouni nodded, completely believed himself.

As he completely forgot what Katon taught him yesterday.

"Yeah. That must be it."

He immediately called Somya, a little irritated.

The call connected, she answered.

"Hello?"

Rurouni frowned, decided to talk as less as possible.

"Just tell me your location. I'm busy, you know."

Somya sounded confused.

"But I already sent it an hour ago."

Rurouni's expression became slightly irritated.

"I'm talking about your real location."

"Not the prank one."

There was a short silence.

Then...

Somya laughed, started thinking just how pathetic her brother truly is.

"Ohhh. So that's what you thought."

"What else can I expect from my poor little brother?"

She paused.

"Especially one who spends every second thinking about fantasy novels..."

"And his girlfriend's."

Rurouni's face twitched, remembers her previous false accusations.

She's still branding me as a playboy.

"Fine. Then let's make this simple."

"If you really work at this company..."

"Send me your live location."

Somya laughed again, but suddenly remembered something.

"Okay."

"But sit somewhere first."

Rurouni blinked, couldn't understand.

"...Why?"

"Because I care about you, little brother."

Rurouni stared at the enormous building.

Then at his phone, got a bad feeling.

Something about that sentence made him nervous.

Still...

Rurouni sat down on the grass, that was more dusty than usual.

But since his clothes were not clean to begin with.

So there's no second thought in his mind.

"Hmph. Fine. I'm sitting. Happy."

"Now send me the location."

Somya replied immediately, then cut the phone.

"Already sent, bro."

Rurouni looked at his phone.

A new location notification appeared.

This one was a genuine live location.

He tapped it, the map loaded it.

His eyes moved toward the distance indicator.

50 metres to the right.

Rurouni froze, a little fear rose within him.

He took a breath, then slowly looked to his right.

Then...

His eyes widened, finally understood.

The location wasn't a prank.

The location Somya had originally sent...

Was right.

His sister really worked there, a place he got goosebumps just by seeing.

His entire body went cold.

For a few seconds...

Rurouni couldn't move, couldn't believe.

Then his legs gave up, collapsed onto the grass.

His phone slipped slightly from his hand.

His final thought was very simple to imagine.

This is impossible.

And then...

Everything went black.