When The System Spoils You For No Reason-Chapter 29 - Twenty Nine

The moment Zeke rounded the corner and left the plush silence of the executive hallway behind, the atmosphere shifted. He could feel it before he even reached the door—the common suite radiating a particular energy through the wall, like three bloodhounds pressed against glass, barely contained.

He pushed it open.

They had arranged themselves in a perfect tableau of impatience. Aaron was propped against the far wall, arms folded across his chest, doing a poor job of looking relaxed while his foot tapped a restless beat against the floor. Jude sat perched on the arm of the sofa, idly conjuring a small spinning flame dagger that threw flickering orange light across his features. Kai was pacing, a half-eaten slice of pizza forgotten in his hand, wearing a groove into the carpet.

All movement stopped the instant Zeke stepped inside. Three pairs of eyes locked onto him with unnerving synchronicity.

Kai leveled the limp pizza slice at him like an accusatory finger. "Well?"

Zeke blinked once, slowly, and strolled past all three of them toward the kitchenette as if he’d just returned from a quiet walk. "Well, what?" He pulled the fridge open, let the cool air wash over him, and retrieved a soda. The sharp crack of the cap breaking the seal cut through the silence. "The ice cream here is overpriced."

"Don’t play dumb, you male slut!" Kai threw his hands up, the pizza slice gesturing wildly. "The date! With Makima! From Avalon! The one you’ve been sneaking off to for months while we were getting our bones pulverized!"

{Ooh. ’Male slut’ is the new official title,} Zero chirped in his skull. {Updating your digital ID now.}

’I will introduce you to a virus.’

"He’s not playing dumb, he is dumb," Aaron rumbled, though the amusement in his voice undermined the insult entirely. "But even he can’t be this oblivious. Spill. We need the intel."

Jude extinguished his flame dagger with a soft fizz, the room dimming slightly with its absence. "Is she a spy? Is this some 4D chess play by Avalon to get inside our heads before the dungeon? Did you at least come back with anything useful?"

Zeke settled against the granite countertop, soda in hand, and let the silence stretch. He watched their frustration build with quiet, unhurried satisfaction. "You lot watch too much anime. Not everything is a conspiracy. Sometimes a date is just a date."

"Lies!" Kai stomped one foot with enough conviction to rattle the floorboards. "You, going on three normal dates? Impossible. You’d rather sleep through a national emergency than make polite conversation. This is a mission. Just admit it."

{He’s not entirely wrong,} Zero mused. {Your version of normal is aggressively abnormal.}

Zeke crossed the room, placed both hands on Kai’s shoulders, and looked at him with an expression of solemn gravity that sat oddly on his usually apathetic face. "There comes a time in a man’s life," he said, with the weight of someone delivering hard-earned wisdom, "when he has to chase something other than sleep."

Kai’s mouth opened for a rebuttal—

The suite door clicked open.

The assistant Jae Min had assigned to them stepped inside, his polished shoes making no sound on the carpet. He paused to adjust his glasses, the frames catching the light in that precise, habitual way that Zeke had clocked on day one and found endlessly entertaining ever since.

"Good evening, young masters."

"Ahem." The assistant—Noah—cleared his throat into his fist, a faint tension gathering at the corners of his expression. He could feel Zeke’s gaze already, that particular weight of it settling on the back of his neck. The young master was planning something. He was almost certain.

Probably more teasing.

"Continue, Noah," Zeke said pleasantly, wearing a smile that stopped well short of his eyes. "You clearly have our attention."

Noah straightened. "I was instructed to provide you with an overview of the competitors you’re likely to encounter."

"Any from the SSS-ranked guilds?" The question came faster than the others, Zeke’s tone shifting to something sharper.

"Yes. All seven will be sending representatives." Noah adjusted his glasses again. "In an event of this scale, at least thirty slots are typically reserved for SSS-ranked guilds. Twenty go to other influential parties—noble families, companies with serious standing in the hunting community. Forty are allocated to guilds of sufficient reputation. We were fortunate to receive an invitation through Avalon’s backing and our recent S-Rank clearance." He paused. "The final ten slots go to the top finishers of a tournament held on the continent."

"The upper ceiling is S-Rank hunters, and the majority of those will be representing major powers—they’re the only ones who can afford to develop S-Ranks that young." A brief pause. "And while there’s no formal minimum strength requirement, it is... strongly advisable to be at least C-Rank before stepping inside."

The trio exhaled collectively, shoulders dropping with visible relief.

Zeke wore a different expression—something between amusement and quiet interest. "People below B-Rank actually enter?"

"They do. The potential rewards are substantial enough that many attempt it regardless, usually with the backing of powerful personalities who can absorb the losses."

"Intriguing." His tone made it hard to tell whether he meant that as a criticism or a compliment.

"Anyway, professor—" Zeke waved a hand, "—I only asked because I wanted to know if there’d be young masters worth meeting. Honestly, they’re half the reason I agreed to stay."

Noah blinked behind his glasses. "...Do you play for the same team? Are you a gigolo? I was under the impression you were already wealthy."

Silence.

Then the trio erupted.

The laughter broke whatever was left of the room’s tension, Aaron’s deep rumble mixing with Kai’s wheezing and Jude’s sharp bark until the suite felt considerably louder and considerably less dignified than it had moments before.

Zeke looked at them, rolled his eyes with the patience of someone who had long since stopped being surprised, and set his soda down on the counter.

"Right. Debrief them properly." He pushed off the counter and headed toward his room, raising one hand in a parting gesture without turning around. "I’ve got games to play."

He reached his door and paused, hand resting on the frame. He glanced back over his shoulder, his expression unreadable.

"Training. Tomorrow. Five AM." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Noooo—"

As one, they turned to stare at Noah, their expressions shifting into something between accusation and betrayal—as though his arrival had set the entire evening’s misfortune in motion and he had only himself to blame.