“I recognize your voice, mister,” the child said. “Were you the one from this morning?”

  I didn’t feel relieved. Horror settled in my chest as the reality of

  this kid being present in this world sank deeper than I wanted to admit.

  I dropped to my knees in front of him and grabbed his shoulders without

  thinking.

  “You’re not supposed to be here,” I said, my voice rising before I

  could stop it. “Why are you here, kid? I saved you. You weren’t supposed

  to die.”

  He didn’t answer. He only stared at me with those flat, unreadable

  eyes I remembered too well. There was no fear in them, no anger, not

  even confusion. I couldn’t tell if he felt anything at all. The

  realization of how tightly I was gripping him made me flinch, and I

  forced my hands to loosen before stepping back.

  “S-Sorry,” I muttered, pulling away completely.

  A deep wave of guilt overcame me. I already got the achievement for saving him… so why—

  My gaze dropped to the extra-life bangle still wrapped around my wrist. Why do I still have this?

  The thought lingered only for a moment before I forced myself back

  into the present. I stepped aside, moving out of the corridor, and

  called out to Yuna. “Take your puppets off him.”

  Behind me, the blonde man I had fought earlier pushed himself back to

  his feet. He glanced to orange-haired the woman restraining Yuna. “Let

  her go, Luah,” he said calmly. “I don’t think they’re player-killers. If

  he wanted me dead earlier, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

  “But this bitch—”

  “The name’s Yuna, Miss Luah,”

  Yuna cut in sarcastically, even with a dagger just recently pressed to

  her throat. “And he’s right. I was just bluffing about killing the kid.”

  Luah hesitated, her grip tightening briefly before she finally

  relented and released her. Yuna moved away carefully, climbing the

  stairs with a slight limp and using the railing for support as she spoke

  over her shoulder. She spoke, “How do you know him, Devon? Were you

  actually telling the truth that you knew people before meeting me?”

  “No. He’s someone I met on Earth when I—”

  “Save it for later, newbies,” Luah interrupted sharply as she walked

  upstairs, brushing past Yuna and shooting her a glare. “We still need to

  pad our kill count. We’ve been luring wolves into the library and

  picking them off from the second floor, but they suddenly stopped

  showing up earlier. Do you know why?”

  Instead of answering directly, I asked, “How many kills do you still need?”

  “Between the three of us, around fifty more,” she said. “And these wolves are at least twice as dangerous as those goblins.”

  The blonde man then stepped closer and patted my shoulder. “By the

  way, I’m Arthur. I thought I was dead back there, so thanks for pulling

  your attack.”

  “Don’t make it sound like I did a good thing,” I replied with a sigh.

  “If I hadn’t noticed you outside the door earlier, I would’ve been the

  one dead.”

  Arthur lifted his hands defensively. “No, no. Even if that axe hit

  you cleanly, it probably would’ve just knocked you out at worst.”

  Luah turned her head sharply toward us. “Are you two done flirting? Leader Orion is about to speak.”

  "You can just call me Orion, Miss Luah," he blankly requested. "I am much younger than you."

  I blinked at that. I had assumed Luah herself was the leader given her

  temperament yet decisive actions, but both she and Arthur shifted their

  attention toward the child—Orion—with a subtle expectation in their faces. Despite his small frame and expressionless demeanor, they were

  clearly waiting for him to speak. That surprised me more than anything else. Was he more capable than them, in some way? Or did Orion do something last wave that made them treat him as their leader?

  “Please join our party, mister,” Orion said, looking up at me with

  the same unreadable expression. “We need all the help we can get.”

  Looking at him now, it would have been easy to mistake him for

  nothing more than a kid caught in something far too big for him. The

  instinct to protect him surfaced again, just like before, but I forced

  it down. Arthur and Luah weren’t treating him like dead weight. They

  were depending on him. Maybe I should do the same and stop treating him like the kid I'd just saved from before.

  My mind flashed back to when he was being verbally abused by who I

  assumed was his own mother, and when he was abandoned at the street when

  that car was rushing to his death. Looking at him now… It almost seemed

  like Orion was in a better place—ignoring the current reality of us

  having to fight for our survival, of course.

  And so, I gave Orion a nod. I started speaking.

  “Yuna and I encountered this wave’s boss monster,” I said, addressing

  all three of them. “But we only fought it after killing its pack leader

  and almost died doing so. If I hadn't gotten an item, we wouldn’t be alive at all. In some way, our success could almost be attributed to luck.”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Yuna, now seated on top of one of the tables near the corridor and

  leaning back against the wall, added, “He’s not exaggerating. Devon

  killed the wave boss inside his dome. He’s level five, by the way.”

  “What if you two take advantage of us once we’re off-guard?” Luah remarked almost immediately. "There's no way you can kill the wave boss without killing some players beforehand. You—"

  “Please trust him, Miss Luah,” Orion said firmly. “Mister already saved me once.”

  It seemed like Luah still has a lot to say. Regardless, she glared away and clicked her tongue, choosing to obey Orion over her own beliefs. She muttered, “Fine.”

  I stepped forward slightly so they would focus on me. I started speaking.

  “You probably know these already, but the shadow fleshwolves are too risky to fight head-on,” I explained.

  “They move in packs, and even a single one of them getting too close puts us in

  serious danger. That’s why fighting at least fifty more of them in the

  next thirty minutes isn’t realistic. It would constitute killing a

  single wolf once every 45 seconds within the next 30 minutes, more or

  less. That's assuming nothing goes wrong.”

  And so, I declared, “I was going to suggest just this to Yuna, but with the four of us together, our odds can improve significantly. We can survive this wave without having to risk hunting a lot of wolves, but…”

  I paused, "It involves us killing the boss monster."

  And apparently, what I said met with a lot of backlash, including Yuna herself.

  “Are you insane?!” Yuna screamed. Having seen the boss monster

  herself, I understand her refusal to cooperate. “We barely survived last

  time, it was probably only by luck it didn’t chase us!”

  Luah stepped in as well, “That’s too much confidence even if what

  you’re saying is true. Just because you killed the boss monster in you

  own dome, doesn’t mean you can do it again. That's assuming you kill it, anyway.”

  Arthur added, “We already have a working plan to farm wolves. We

  might be cutting it short with how much time we have, but it’s not necessary to take any more risk,

  Devon. Not when there's also the danger of being in an encounter with actual player-killers.”

  I thought of the prizes I received from when I

  killed Baekhel. Not only did I jump three levels higher, I also got the

  kill counts for the remaining goblins, a few achievements, and a

  message from the Neutrality Committee bestowing me with additional

  rewards.

  I was extremely sure that with the plan formulating in my mind, the

  chances of us completing this mission successfully was about 75 percent. The other 25

  percent is allotted for unforeseen events. In the worst case scenario, I miscalculated everything and my plan wasn't effective at all, making the chance of success as low as zero. In spite of that, my choice still held itself firm. The reward outweighed the risk of—well, death.

  I was about to start convincing them when Orion

  stepped by my side. “I trust Mister Devon. If he has a plan to kill the

  boss monster, I will participate.” He continued, “Please think about the pay-off,

  Miss Luah, Sir Arthur. If we hadn’t hunted for pack leaders last wave,

  we wouldn’t have the skills to effectively hunt the wolves. If we played

  it safe, we might struggle against the monsters of the next wave.”

  At that instant, Luah and Arthur looked at

  each other. They were hesitating, I could tell that much, then they both nodded. Between the two, Luah

  sighed, “So, you’re saying that killing the boss is an assurance for our

  survival next wave. I can’t help but agree if that’s what you’re

  implying, leader.”

  I looked at the one girl that hasn’t agreed to the plan yet. “I also need your help, Yuna. Your puppets are key to my plan.”

  She clicked her tongue, “Fine, but I’m not helping you anymore after this.”

  With everyone tentatively aligned, I began, “Here’s what we’ll do—”

  “Wait.”

  Orion suddenly cut in between my words. “Please

  don’t tell us your plan yet, mister. The more I think about it, the more

  I realize Sir Arthur’s theory might be right.”

  Luah’s eyes widened. Arthur looked at Luah as he nudged her with his elbow. “See?” He playfully said. “Told you I was right.”

  “Oh, shut your ass.”

  “What theory?” I said.

  “Arthur has a theory,” Orion said, “That we’re being broadcasted to other people.”

  “Like… in a show?” Yuna asked, and the boy confirmed with a nod.

  “It sounded non-sensical at first.” he continued. “There were no visible cameras around us nor were there anything that seemed out of place. But during the first

  and second waves, I received Pop-up Quests involving Miss Luah and Sir

  Arthur. Most of them rewarded a choice we’d have to make together. Others were

  more violent, offering me items that were a much higher tier if I hurt them. I'm sorry for keeping those from you.”

  Luah’s expression darkened, shaking her head. "It's not your fault, leader. I was also offered those kind of quests. I got offered as much as a J-Tier weapon if I had killed both you and Arthur."

  And Arthur raised his hand. "Same here."

  "I know those quests aren't much of an indication if the System was a simply violent, but..." Orion continued speaking. “I always conveyed my plans vocally to them. It would always go wrong and we’d end up

  improvising to survive. I thought it was just a coincidence at

  first. Then, there was one Elimination Quest where we killed a two

  goblin pack leaders at the same time. It was the only time my plan

  worked, because I withheld my instructions for them at the last minute.”

  “If we’re actually being observed and those viewers already know what our plan

  is, we’re going to fail no matter what,” Then, the black-haired kid

  looked at me. “If you have a plan, Mister Devon, please try to keep it

  vague enough that you’re giving us instructions while also keeping us in

  the dark on what you’re trying to accomplish.”

  While I was listening to all that, the goblins’ behavior in the first

  wave suddenly made sense. My was flagged when I first entered

  into this world. The goblin pack leader panicked when she said the dome

  was offline. Baekhel also said that the goblins have to participate in

  EVENTS as monsters if they wanted

  their kind to survive.

  Then, there were the Pop-up Quests and

  Elimination Quests. All four of them experienced those quests in their

  own domes. As someone whose dome was offline in the first wave… I didn't get any.

  But the most telling of all was my encounter with the Shadowflesh

  Direwolf. I tried to tame it and the wolf didn’t seem like it was

  violent in the first place that it had allowed me to get close to it.

  When that Pop-up Quest appeared demanding me to kill the wolf or die, it

  suddenly turned feral.

  If what Orion said was a fact, then it wasn’t the System's conscious intention that influenced the direwolf’s behavior to attack me.

  It was whoever’s watching us.

  Taking Orion’s advice, I said, “I’ll have my instructions for each of

  you once I say this, but there is one last part I need you all to follow." I looked at them. “It’s dangerous, but I need all five of us need to engage the boss monster first before executing my plan.”

  Author’s note: Writing

  this chapter, I can’t help but get so discouraged that I’m not at the

  same level of success I always dreamed to have after 15 chapters. Maybe success takes time, or maybe I won’t reach it even after 100 or 200 chapters. Am I the damn

  problem?! Those people in rising stars are a different beast! A Z-Tier beast, I'm telling you!

  enjoy the chapter! As long as life doesn't get in the way, I will keep writing Greed System Irregular even if there are zero

  readers, as I am writing this story solely for myself. I have a lot of characters and arcs planned out already. I hope to put them to life in such a way I won't be disappointed that I wrote it. There’s an ending already in my mind and I want to keep writing so that eventually, I can witness how

  everything unfolds in this story for myself. And if you're tagging along, let me know! I'll be glad to have you on board :D