Wren finally reached the top of the ladder with his arms trembling with exhaustion. Isabella immediately extended her hand down to help pull him up the final distance.

He took her offered hand gratefully and she pulled him up onto the deck with surprising strength for someone who’d just rescued him from drowning.

"Th-thanks, Isa..." Wren managed to say between heavy breaths.

"No worries," Isabella replied quickly, still holding his hand even after he was safely on the deck. "You being safe is what’s more important right now."

Wren’s feet landed solidly on the deck floor. One of the cruise workers stood at attention, ready to grab him if he stumbled backward while the other worker was still climbing the ladder below them, positioned to catch Wren if he fell.

But Wren staggered forward instead, practically falling into Isabella’s arms. He smiled wryly despite the situation.

"Did you really jump into the ocean to save me?" he asked, looking at her wet hair and soaked clothes. "That was incredibly dangerous, you know. You could have died too."

Isabella held him or at least tried her best to support his weight as she responded firmly. "What, you wanted me to just let you die? Stand there and watch?"

She shook her head. "Besides, this is all my fault. I’m the one who called you out to the top deck in the first place."

"It’s not your fault at all, Isa," Wren said immediately, his voice gaining strength. "Not even a little bit."

It wasn’t her fault and it definitely wasn’t his fault either. It was that guy... the asshole who’d pushed him. Wren didn’t even know his name, but Nyx had mentioned something about him being the boyfriend of someone in a committed relationship. Since Wren had no idea who that person was, it was probably someone he didn’t personally know.

’Fuck, I really hope they caught that guy,’ Wren thought as he staggered forward again, his legs still weak. ’I don’t know how to fight properly, but I sure as hell would beat the shit out of him if I got the chance after—’

His thoughts cut off abruptly.

Isabella’s eyes widened in alarm as Wren’s body suddenly went limp. He was tumbling backward with unconsciousness claiming him without warning.

She managed to catch him, barely keeping him from hitting the deck. The workers immediately rushed over to help support his weight.

"Let’s get him to the Medical Bay right now!" Isabella exclaimed urgently. "Hurry!"

...

Wren groaned softly as consciousness slowly returned to him.

He heard a voice that sounded distant and muffled saying something about him waking up. His eyes fluttered open and focused on an unfamiliar white ceiling with fluorescent lighting.

’Where the hell am I?’ he thought groggily.

[You are currently in the Medical Bay of the Celestine cruise ship, Host.]

Wren rolled his eyes tiredly at Nyx’s response.

’Thank you for the most obvious answer, Nyx,’ he thought sarcastically. ’Real smooth observation skills there.’

He didn’t actually mean to be that jerky or dismissive, but he still hadn’t forgiven Nyx for having the audacity to pop up a "System Mission Complete" notification while he was literally dying and drowning. The system gave him skills and abilities, right? So why the hell couldn’t it have let him buy something useful like Expert Swimming before he’d been pushed off a ship into the ocean?

[While I do sincerely apologize for my insensitivity during that traumatic moment, Host, I was genuinely unable to do anything to help you. Until you successfully complete your 20th mission and unlock the Business Options feature, you are completely unable to purchase skills freely in that manner. The system has restrictions.]

’A... alright then. I guess that makes sense,’ Wren thought with his anger deflating slightly.

[Wonderful, Host! I’m glad you understand! And on a more positive note, all of the credits that you’ve earned from completing the Hidden Mission have been deposited into your System Bank. A whole 120,000 credits is really quite amazing~]

’Stop trying to use money to distract me from the fact that I almost died,’ Wren thought flatly.

He started to sit up slowly with his body aching and the instant he did, Diana practically dove forward and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, pulling his face down directly into her chest.

"Wren... Wren..." Diana’s voice sounded very worried. "Are you okay? We heard you got pushed off the ship into the ocean. Please, come on, speak to me. Say something."

"Uh, Mom," Zoe said dryly from somewhere to the side. "He can’t exactly speak if you’re pressing his face against your breasts like that."

Diana immediately blushed and pulled Wren back, releasing him from the accidental suffocation.

"I’m fine," Wren said quickly, giving her a reassuring smile despite how shaken he still felt internally.

He looked around the medical bay room properly. Zoe, Dani, Priya, and Diana were all here gathered around his bed but notably absent were both Isabella and Leah.

Wren felt a small pang of disappointment at their absence, though he tried not to let it show.

He perked up and looked at Diana with concern. "Wait, why are you even here? Your ankle was injured... you should be resting! How did you even—"

Diana sternly tapped his shoulder, cutting him off.

"My ankle is the absolute last thing you should be worried about right now, young man." Her voice cracked slightly. "What if you had died down there? Did you want to leave all of us alone? Have you thought about that?"

"I’m sorry," Wren said quietly, even though logically he knew none of this was his fault.

"You should have died in that water," Zoe said bluntly and Wren immediately flicked her off with his middle finger, making her smirk.

Before anyone could say anything else, Dani suddenly climbed up onto the medical bed and sat directly on Wren’s legs, straddling them.

"Wren~" She said in that sultry voice she always used. "I’m really glad you’re okay and alive. But if you have any kind of stress or trauma you need to vent about this experience, you can always vent it deep inside me, hehe~"

She widened her legs suggestively. "They’re all yours~"

Wren immediately bonked her on the head with his knuckles.

"Ow~" Dani pouted, rubbing the spot.

Priya leaned closer from the other side of the bed, holding a wicker basket filled with fresh fruit. She lifted up a perfectly green apple.

"Wren, you need to eat something to regain your strength," she said kindly. "At least have some fruit. I’ll feed it to you if you want."

The medical bay door suddenly opened.

A woman in a doctor’s coat... probably in her late thirties with her hair pulled back in a professional bu stepped inside and paused, taking in the scene of multiple women crowded around Wren’s bed.

"Oh my," the doctor said with an amused smile. "Am I interrupting something?"

All of the women except Zoe immediately blushed and shifted away from Wren, trying to look innocent.

"I’m just here to do a standard checkup on our patient," the doctor continued in an understanding voice. "Though I can certainly understand everyone’s worry given the circumstances."

She walked over to Wren’s bedside and pulled out a small penlight.

"Before we begin the examination, I should mention that your clothes were completely soaked through, so we’ve replaced them with a standard patient gown. Your original clothes are being cleaned and dried."

Wren looked down and realized he was indeed wearing a thin hospital gown.

The doctor began her examination, shining the light into each of his eyes to check his pupil response. "Can you follow the light with just your eyes, please?"

Wren did as instructed.

"Good. Now, I need to ask you some standard questions. How are you feeling right now? Any dizziness, nausea, headache?"

"I feel... tired," Wren admitted. "My whole body aches but I don’t feel dizzy or sick."

"That’s good. Any chest pain or difficulty breathing?"

"No, breathing feels normal now."

"Excellent. Do you remember what happened? Can you walk me through the events?"

Wren recounted the incident... being pushed off the deck, hitting the water, losing consciousness while drowning, then waking up here.

The doctor nodded, making notes on a tablet. She checked his pulse, blood pressure, lung sounds with a stethoscope, and examined him for any injuries beyond the near-drowning.

After several minutes of thorough and professional examination, she finally stepped back with a satisfied expression on her face.

"Well, Mr. Wren, I’m happy to report that you’re in remarkably good physical condition considering what you just went through," she said warmly. "Your lungs sound completely clear... no water remaining in them and no signs of secondary drowning, which is always a concern after submersion incidents. Your vital signs are all within normal ranges. Your oxygen saturation is perfect. You were very, very lucky that someone dove in to save you so quickly."

She became more serious with her professional demeanor shifting. "However, I do want to give you one piece of strong medical and safety advice. For the remainder of this cruise voyage, please stay completely away from the Front Deck area... particularly the VIP upper observation section where this incident occurred."

Wren raised an eyebrow. "Is that specifically where I was pushed from?"

"Yes, exactly. And here’s the concerning thing... nobody has ever been pushed off the front deck of the VIP section of the Celestine before this incident. Never once in the ship’s entire twelve-year operational history. That particular area is supposed to be one of the absolute safest locations on the entire vessel, with constant security presence and monitoring."

The doctor sighed and shook her head. "Now, I’ll admit that some extremely reckless people have made it something of a hobby or some kind of ridiculous social media challenge to intentionally jump off the Celestine’s lower recreational decks. You know, for TokTik videos and online clout and viral fame but those lower deck jumps are from much, much shorter heights into specifically designated safe water zones with rescue teams standing by. The upper VIP decks like where you were are extremely dangerous to fall from. The height alone... we’re talking over twenty meters could easily kill someone on impact with the water surface."

Wren nodded slowly, processing all of this information and feeling his stomach turn at how close he’d come to death.

"I understand completely. I’ll definitely stay away from there for the rest of the trip."

"Good. That’s very sensible." The doctor paused, then added carefully, "Now... I assume you’d probably like to know where the individual who pushed you is currently being held by ship security?"

Wren’s expression immediately hardened, his jaw clenching. "Yes. Yes, I absolutely would like to know that."

"He’s currently detained in our security holding area on Deck 3. It’s a small detention facility we maintain for serious incidents. Would you like to speak with him directly?"

"I would," Wren said firmly, his voice carrying an edge that hadn’t been there before.

"Alright. I can personally guide you there if you’re feeling physically well enough to walk that distance."

Wren carefully swung his legs off the side of the medical bed and stood up slowly, testing his balance and stability.

His legs felt distinctly weak and slightly shaky, but they were functional enough. The patient gown was awkwardly short and breezy, but he didn’t care about modesty right now.

He turned to address the women still gathered around. "Can you guys help Diana get back to her cabin safely? I’ll be back in a bit to check on everyone."

"It’s alright, we’ve got her," Zoe said with a nod. "Take your time."

"Good luck, Wren," Priya added softly, her eyes full of concern.

"Beat his ass," Dani said with an encouraging grin and a thumbs up.

"There will be no fighting..." Diana told Dani, did she want Wren to be taken off the ship?

Wren followed the doctor out of the medical bay, his bare feet padding quietly against the ship’s plush carpeted hallways as they walked.

...

The doctor led him through what felt like a maze of corridors... taking two different elevator rides and passing through several restricted crew-only areas before they finally arrived at what appeared to be the ship’s official security office and holding facility.

Wren honestly hadn’t even known that cruise ships maintained actual detention cells for criminal incidents, but apparently the Celestine was fully equipped for handling serious problems.

The holding area consisted of three small cells with reinforced bars. In the middle cell, Wren could clearly see the guy who’d pushed him... still wearing that same wrinkled black shirt, though now it was rumpled, stained with what looked like vomit.

The man looked considerably more sober than he had been on the deck, his eyes clearer but filled with obvious fear and regret.

Standing outside the cell area were both Isa and Leah, along with one of the ship’s uniformed senior butlers who appeared to be conducting some kind of official investigation and questioning procedure.

The moment Wren appeared, Leah’s head snapped around. She immediately ran over to him, her hands reaching up to grab both sides of his face gently.

"Wren, are you okay?!" Her voice was filled with genuine concern and guilt. "I-I heard what happened and I—"

"I’m okay, Leah," Wren said, giving her a small smile to reassure her. "I’m fine. Really."

She reluctantly let go as he walked past her toward the holding cell. He could see the guy inside more clearly now... he was probably in his mid-twenties with the average build and brown hair too.

Wren turned to the butler standing guard. "Can I speak with him? Privately?"

The butler glanced at the doctor, who nodded her permission.

"Yes, you may," the butler said, pulling out a keycard and unlocking the cell door.

Wren stepped inside. The heavy door closed behind him with an ominous metallic click, leaving him alone with the man who’d tried to kill him.

He turned to face the guy directly, keeping his voice calm. "Why did you do that, man? Why did you push me off the ship?"

The guy’s face crumpled with guilt and shame. "I-I’m so sorry. My girlfriend... she was looking at your picture on TokTik. Some video you were in or something and she kept saying how handsome you were, how attractive you looked. Then she... she said she wanted to break up with me to try and get together with you instead."

He looked down at his hands. "So I started drinking. Got drunk. Really drunk. And I saw you up on the deck and I just... I snapped. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I just wanted you gone."

"So you pushed me off a ship... tried to murder me... because of some words your girlfriend said?" Wren asked. "Because she thought I was attractive?"

"Yes," the guy admitted miserably. "I know it’s insane. I know there’s no excuse. I’m so, so sorry. I’ll accept whatever punishment—"

Wren sighed deeply then his body moved.

His hands shot out and shoved the guy hard against the cell wall. The man stumbled backward, his back hitting the metal surface with a dull thud as his eyes widened in surprise.

Wren pulled his right arm back. His hand formed into a fist... it was inexperienced with his thumb positioned wrong and his stance completely amateurish since he’d never thrown a real punch in his life.

But right now, he didn’t care about technique.

His body weight shifted forward. His hips rotated, adding momentum and his shoulder drove forward as his arm extending in a straight line. Every ounce of fear, rage, trauma, and pain from nearly drowning flowed into that single motion.

The punch flew forward and it connected.

CRACK!

Wren’s fist slammed directly into the center of the guy’s face. His knuckles crushed against the bridge of the man’s nose with a sound like breaking wood. He felt the bone structure collapse under the impact as the cartilage gave way.

Blood exploded outward immediately... spraying across Wren’s hand, splattering onto his patient gown, dripping down the guy’s face in thick rivulets.

The man’s head snapped backward from the force, bouncing off the wall behind him.

He crumpled, sliding down the wall and landing in a heap on the floor. His hands came up to his shattered nose with blood pouring between his fingers as he let out a choked, agonized sound.

Wren stood over him, his right hand throbbing with pain from the impact as his knuckles were split and bleeding but he didn’t care.

"Fuck you..."