An Extra’s POV

"Shouldn't you be in a hurry? You have to pick up some people, right?"

Esme's voice echoed in Rey's ears as they neared their Inn. Despite hearing it, Rey hardly reacted or changed the steady pace at which he walked.

"It's fine." He simply responded. "I sent a Duplicate a while back."

"R-really? I didn't notice!" Esme expressed surprise, to which Rey chuckled and shrugged.

"Yeah. I did it pretty quickly. Hid it well too."

With his wide array of Skills, it wasn't a difficult thing to do. In any case, the only reason he was able to talk to Noah for so long despite his busy schedule was due to that arrangement.

"I wanted to pick them up myself, but I guess plans change." He smiled softly, shrugging again.

Something about the atmosphere felt moody for some reason. Rey didn't even know why, but he suddenly felt a lull within him.

Perhaps a moment of silence was what he needed.

"Friend of yours?" Unfortunately, Esme wouldn't let him have that.

"Yeah. You could say that."

Rey didn't think he treated Noah as well as he should have treated a friend, but he genuinely considered him one.

After all, he was the first and only person who he revealed his secret to.

"Has he seen your face behind the mask?" Esme's question made Rey laugh a little.

He replied still.

"For him, and the people we had in common, the mask was my secret."

It was pretty ironic how the opposite was true for Esme. Regardless, he could say that Noah was the only one who knew both sides pretty well.

'Back then, I didn't think Ralyks would up playing such a big role. If I had known that, would I still have exposed my identity to him?'

Rey wasn't sure. All he knew was that Noah was incredibly useful at the time, and it would have been difficult to achieve the things he was able to without his help.

Difficult, not impossible.

sure your secret is safe with

What do

he talks too much." Her response was blunt, but the smile on her face showed fondness towards that kind of

but he chose to ignore it

he'll spill my secret. Besides, I could always compel

it back then? It would have been the safest bet, right?" It felt like Esme was driving at something, but

the subtexts that existed underneath

I plan on coming clean to the rest of my friends once this entire Dungeon thing

does that have to do with this

reason I care about my identity being exposed is because I don't want

a poor job at capturing his face, but thankfully the nearby lights that decorated the city

He appeared tired.

It's also going to get problematic explaining why Ralyks won't participate in the

"You mean 'your' power."

I mean…" Rey sighed in

them the truth. I don't want to

Esme nodding and smiling at him, so he quickly added something else. "That doesn't mean I'll show you my face,

"C-come on!"

look cute when you pout like that."

since I DON'T EVEN KNOW

cute." Rey shrugged. "So there's no need

She clearly didn't want to push too much,

As usual, Esme

she was so skilled at conversing, but he liked

I was really surprised, to be honest." He laughed slightly, staring high into the starless sky. "I didn't think I

"…"

in the quietness around him. It allowed him to think really

tell him, you know? I wanted to tell him that

"So why didn't you?"

danced in his ears, Rey parted his lips and let words accompany the cool

he's growing nicely, and this new life suits him. I think…

"I see…"

"Yeah…"

Rey looking at the blank sky while Esme stared at him with glistening

stood there in silence for an

But, someone finally spoke.