Back to Aren and Raven—both of them found themselves back at Aren's apartment, having escaped the growing crowd outside with Raven's help.
More specifically, Raven had finally snapped under the sheer weight of public humiliation, grabbed Aren like a duffel bag, and launched into a full-speed escape at what could only be described as "sound-barrier-shattering velocity."
Aren, rattled but still oddly calm during the ride, had shouted directions in between air-blasted exhales.
"Left—my place! Top floor, no neighbors. Nobody knows I live there!"
And somehow, through the wind tunnel that was Raven's sprint, she heard him.
Now, inside the dusty quiet of his tiny apartment, Raven sat crouched on the floor beside his bed like a broken soul in the aftermath of a very public apocalypse.
Her arms were wrapped tightly around her knees as she stared blankly into the abyss, her lips trembling ever so slightly.
"I can't believe this…" she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
Her fingers dug into her arms as she rocked slightly back and forth, the image of a once-proud prodigy slowly unraveling. "My public perception as a mysterious young hunter prodigy… shattered into pieces…"
Behind her, Aren lounged on his bed like this was just another Tuesday.
He was casually scrolling through his phone, fingers tapping away as he fired off a message.
"Cleared the dungeon. Expecting my cut later." he mumbled, sounding more like a bored office worker than someone involved in the country's biggest hunter-related scandal.
His thumbs hit the final button with no hesitation.
"And… send," he said with a contented smile, leaning back against his headboard, hands folded behind his head like a man who had just filed his taxes early.
Then, looking down at the distressed S-Rank curled up beside his bed, he blinked.
"Were you saying something…?"
Raven didn't answer immediately. She just stared at him.
Violet eyes wide, bloodshot with disbelief. Her mouth opened slowly. Trembled. Then—
"YOU DID THIS!!" she shrieked, launching upward and clutching at her own hair in agony.
She spun like a malfunctioning Beyblade, stomping circles around the cheap coffee table in the center of the room. Her long coat flared behind her like the tattered banner of a fallen queen, riding up slightly as she moved.
"Why! Why! Why! Why—!"
Then—
Squish.
She stopped cold, her feet planted squarely on something moist.
"Huh…?"
She glanced down—and realized she had stepped on what could only be described as a biohazard disguised as leftover pizza, now clinging to the bottom of her foot like cursed gum.
"Gross!!" she screeched, frantically shaking her foot like she had just been bitten by a wild beast.
She stumbled backward, reaching into her coat and yanking out a small bottle of disinfectant like a seasoned emergency medic.
"What kind of dump are you living in!?" she barked, pouring the alcohol straight onto her foot without hesitation.
The liquid sizzled slightly upon contact. She winced.
Her eyes darted toward the door, locking onto the shoe rack.
Shoes.
Neatly placed. The ones that forced her to take them off and step directly into the pizza minefield.
Her death glare intensified.
Aren, sitting upright now, tilted his head.
"That reminds me… how did you know I was an E-Rank? I never really told you."
Raven paused mid-scrub, having found the least dirty shirt available from the floor and using it to wipe down her foot like it was a crime scene.
"Is that really that important right now?" she muttered, still visibly shivering from the food trauma.
Then, sighing through gritted teeth, she added, "I could tell from your presence alone. It's quite obvious."
Her voice grew calmer, her breathing evening out.
Her chaotic aura began to stabilize.
But then—
"…Now then…"
Her voice dropped in pitch. Dangerously so.
"Huh?" Aren blinked again, his instincts firing up as he caught the tone shift.
Raven didn't answer.
Instead, like a vengeful spirit awakening, she slowly crawled toward him on all fours. Her fingers slid over the floor like talons, then up to his lap. She stared into his eyes—those stormy violet orbs practically trembling with unresolved fury.
Her lips quivered into a pout of pure betrayal.
"Take responsibility for this, you bastard!!"
Her scream echoed through the apartment, like the final cry of a condemned soul.
BANG!!
"YOU'RE TOO LOUD!!" shouted a distant voice from beyond the wall—Aren's eternally miserable neighbor, already halfway to filing a noise complaint.
Aren sighed and looked down at the enraged hunter clinging to his lap.
Confused, and still pretending to be the picture of innocence, he tilted his head.
"But you're the one who started it first," he said slowly. "Saying I was your boyfriend and all…"
Raven narrowed her eyes into glowing slits, jaw trembling.
"Yeah! But I could've fixed that later!" she argued, her face turning bright red again. "I was just gonna say we broke up after a few weeks passed! End of story!"
She pressed closer, finger jabbing into his chest like a righteous accuser.
"But nooo… you just had to say we were flirting inside the dungeon! That we were so 'distracted' we didn't notice the portal timer?!"
Her voice cracked with emotional damage.
"Are you trying to kill me?!"
Aren blinked again, lips parting slightly in thought.
"…You know," he said with a slow nod. "Now that you mention it… that did sound bad."
Raven's face twisted in utter disbelief.
"You think?!"