I yawned, my feet pattering against the guild's floorboards. It was an early day today and I needed to get back to my training routine which was bulldozed by that jjangkai mission. After the draining travel back to Suprana and Raventhorne, I was more than glad to be back in a place I was most familiar with even though every corner of this world was still new to me.

When I rolled off my bed this morning, everyone was gone, signaled by the rumpled sheets tossed to the side as if they're in a hurry to get up. It had been a while since I was roused from my beauty rest by Heather screaming and banging the door open. After getting back from the joint mission with Dragnasand, it seemed like they had learned to leave me on my own, especially after I accidentally punched Arzo in the face when he tried to wake me up one time.

If there was anything I would never forget about myself, it's the fact that I was not a morning person.

My hand clamped hard on my shoulder, trying to ease the tension building in it. Rolling my arm to awaken the joints, I made my way down to the kitchen where the various smells of good food wafted in the corridor. I passed by other adventurers and scouts on the path to their assignments for the day, each wearing a neutral face or a downright pissed-off expression. You know, typical Monday morning.

I tackled the steps leading down to the guild's main lobby, the one resembling an airport and a hotel rolled into one. It remained largely the same since I wandered in last time, save for the clamor happening by the entrance. Footsteps thudded against the polished marble floor, with some soles eliciting more squeaks than the others. Following the stream of movement and the direction of the gaze of the majority still striding towards their goal, they seemed to be interested in something in the guild boards. Even the receptionists behind the counters lining the lobby's west side were intrigued, if not with the boards' contest, then with the fervor of the crowd.

What could be so important to garner such buzz early in the morning? Did we get a bonus four-day work week?

Soon, just to sate my curiosity, I joined the pack and managed to shoulder my way to the front, muttering my excuse-mes and keeping my neck craned to the tall announcement boards. Despite the electronic-esque state of the leaderboards behind the receptionists, the one in front of me was still primarily the paper-based approach. And for good reasons. Watching the armored and non-armored individuals peeling off the crowd, I noticed them peering into a sheet with gleaming eyes and a weird, determined smirk spreading from their lips.

When I saw the stack hammered straight into the board with no regards for the holes the nails would later leave on the wood, the black ink spilling the information leaped out at me.

THE RAVENTHORNE GAMES IS BACK THIS YEAR!

Register now to be able to compete for a chance to have the ranks of your party be promoted. Open to all adventurers and scouts associated with Raventhorne Guild. Save the date for the first set of matches.

I frowned. Were they just throwing promotion opportunities around? If so, there's no way we're not joining. This was our only ticket to becoming a recognized adventuring party. That's the same thing my mouth spouted when I found Heather and Revery stealing a bite off their breakfast in the mess hall.

They both flinched when I appeared out of nowhere and slammed the announcement sheet on the table. A couple of heads turned to us, but with a smile and a mere head-shake from Heather, they turned back to their food and their own kind of chatter. Heather squinted when she turned back to me.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked, her tone a bit pointed like the fangs jutting out of her lips as she spoke. "You could have woken the whole guild with that."

I frowned. As if she's not the same when she found me during my first day here. "Look, we've got our chance," I said. "The tournament's starting soon. It's best to register now before we run out of slots."

A scoff from the opposite table made me turn to its occupants. "That slot's wasted on you," a woman with wavy dark hair dressed in the tightest leotard I've ever seen commented. Her kind, doe eyes and gentle smile made me question if such an acidic sentiment really came from her. Charm. It's like she's born to be liked and she knew it, so she has been using that to her advantage.

And it's evident to the people around us. As soon as she spoke, heads turned in attention at the drama she's starting. I would have wanted to step back on this one, but when she's referring to other people than me, especially the ones who have been nothing but nice to me, I wasn't going to duck my head and mind my own business.

"Oh?" I retorted in the most scathing tone I could muster. "Do explain."

Heather's clawed hand wrapped around my arm, her eyes frantically darting from the neighboring table then back to me. "What are you doing?" she hissed, her forked tongue flitting past her lips. It only does that when she's agitated. "Don't provoke her. Don't you know who that is?"

I shrugged. "Frankly, I don't care," I whispered back, turning to the woman and noting her entourage of fake-asses around the table with her. Like there, they sported ridiculous leotards with various prints and designs, mimicking the nether beasts' designs. Pretty sure one woman wore the splotches of a typical jjangkai. Ew. "Well?" I called them. "Ppong-rubi got your tongues?"

The dark-haired woman scoffed. "Do you know where your party stands in the roster?" she waved a hand in the air, a whiff of self-importance twisting her otherwise benign features into an inhuman smirk. "I don't even see you on the first page."

I glared at her. "Yeah, so what?" I fired back. "It's not like you're there either. I don't even know who you are save for those horrid netherbeast prints. Did you rip them straight from the carcasses? You must stink then."

A low blow, judging from the collective gasp ringing around us. Revery sucked in a breath, her shoulders tensing like she's preparing for a fight. Why?

"They're the Beast Hunters!" Heather's voice alluded to the little angels and demons on people's shoulders I used to watch in movies as a child. "Aevi isn't to be messed with, Seline! Let it go."

I wasn't about to leave a conversation hanging, especially when I hadn't even driven the point home and the woman wasn't still on her knees, bawling her eyes out. The woman, Aevi, chuckled, not even affected by my recent jab. "What a refined vocabulary. Picked that up from whatever hole you crawled out of?" she said. "Listen to the dragonkin. She looked like she's got a quarter of the smarts more than you."

Ignoring Heather's urgent attempts to tear me off the drama, I shot up. "Listen here, you midget," I said. She hasn't risen to her full height but I could tell she wasn't any taller than me. "We're getting on that tournament whether you like it or not. And if I see you and your anemones on the battlefield, I'm going to beat the shit out of you. You do not get to insult any of my friends."

Aevi threw her head back and guffawed. "Oh, the power of friendship wins again!" she tucked the stray strands of hair that fell to her face due to that motion. "You do realize we'll be there to assess your skills as a team and not as an individual, right? But I shouldn't assume. You're an Initiate after all. And the rest of them..."

From my periphery, Trink and Arzo arrived and were just asking Heather to catch them up to speed about what's happening. Aevi waved a hand towards our table. "Inconsequential."

"You will be crushed before the quarters even begin," Aevi said. "Trust me on that."

I clenched my fists. Why was I getting worked up over this crap anyway? That woman's face...I just wanted to wipe the smugness off with a jjangkai's stinger. How dare she look down on us? On me? She hasn't even seen what I could do or what any of us could do. She didn't have any right to dictate our future like she already knew it.

"And if we win?" I said. "You should be groveling at our feet, praising us to the heavens."

Aevi's eyes lit up, sparked by the challenge set in front of her. "Sure," she said. "And if you lose, you'll no longer be a scouting party or even be associated with Raventhorne."

The bench grated against the mess hall's floor as Heather pushed off the table. "That's not fair!" she yelled. Her voice boomed across the huge space, defeating her original chastisement for me. "We earned our license in the cleanest way possible, unlike you!"

Oh, this was getting juicy. An underhanded license granting rumor? This could work in our favor. Judging from the way Aevi's eyes hardened, she was tired of hearing this thrown into her face at every moment. "Do you even have the ethrans needed to claim anything?" she threw her hair back. "Your license was the only thing you have going with you in this guild, I'm sure."

I sneaked a peek into my inventory. As much as I hated it, Aevi was right. The joint mission didn't pay much, despite the recommendation from Dragnasand about our role in the operation, and we've smoothed most of it on our way back to Suprana. Going to the blizzard territory was really a hassle.

"Fine," I blurted just as Heather was beaten into non-action. I faced Aevi who smiled at me like she had just won. "We'll stake our license as a wager. If we win, we keep it and have you fulfill one favor for us. Deal?"

Aevi snorted, perhaps thinking how we're digging our own graves and giving her the shovel to finish the burial once we're all in it. "Deal," she said. "If you lose, I better not see you around Suprana or I'll have no choice but to gut you alive. To be honest, I've never had anyone recklessly flay themselves in public in a long while."

She stood up, nodding to her entourage to do the same. She winked at me on her way out of the bench. "I'll look forward to it, petal," she said. "This is going to be an interesting year."

Without giving me another chance to holler at her, she began walking away, her heels clacking against the floor in a series of shrill thuds. With her back turned, I noticed how her wide hips swayed and her back straightened as she walked like a freaking supermodel. Tch. What a nutter.

I turned to my teammates. Before I could say anything, I was being dragged out of the mess hall, a strong, clawed grip close to crushing the bones in my arm despite the thick sleeve of my tunic. I sputtered along the way, but Heather showed no signs of relenting.

My body teetered backwards when I was shoved back into our shared room, the door slamming shut with a final, damning click. The rest of the Crimson Scouts stared at me with grim expressions. "What have you done, Seline?" Heather demanded. "You've issued a public challenge to the Beast Hunters. The Beast Hunters, for the Divine's sake! Do you have any idea how serious this is?"

I crossed my arms. "The last thing I know, they just insulted our capabilities as a party and yet, here you are, trying to defend them," I said. "Where's your sense of loyalty? Shouldn't you be defending us since you're our leader?"

"They've earned their right to do that, Seline," Revery said, her tone still gentle despite the tightness in her forehead creases, beating Heather to it. She hugged herself like she was afraid she'd vanish at any point in time. "They're one of Raventhorne's top adventurers, the only party to ever complete the most number of ultra-range missions the past year. They're all veterans, with Aevi the closest to being promoted to a Master."

Right. The ranking system, while of no consequence to me, was everything these people thought of. "So are we just going to accept it?" I answered, bracing my hips. "We're not going to strive to at least aim to improve ourselves to prove them wrong? Are you happy to be just trampled as they walk all over you?"

"Look, we appreciate you standing up for us and all, but this wasn't really the time, Seline," Trink interjected as both Revery and Heather averted their gazes and found the splintering round table interesting. "We'll prove to them we're worthy to be adventurers next time. During missions. Or whatever."

I couldn't believe this. "It's the lean season," I said in a tone like I have to remind them of their predicament. "Unless we exert some effort in this tournament, we wouldn't be able to gather points until next year. This is our chance. We'll be reaping bigger benefits and better salaries once we move up to adventuring. Why can't you see that goal for yourself?"

"Because it's impossible!" Arzo sighed and dusted his sleeve. "After Sonii, we...couldn't go on. Not anymore."

A familiar feeling swirled in my gut upon hearing the words out of their lips. They lost their strongest fighter and their hope of ever advancing along with it. Now, they're just getting by with whatever they could get, even if it was just scraps. I've been in that rut before, and I could say it was no place to spend a lifetime in. Being stuck sucked, but we have a choice. We always do.

It's either we do something to crawl out of it or we shove ourselves deeper into the abyssal pit and let it consume us whole. I chose to haul myself out, shedding everything and anything weighing me down, and I succeeded. I always have.

"You have me now," I lowered my voice into a quiet whisper, despite all the alarm bells in my head telling me to scream it to their faces so as to drill it into their heads. For once, I did the opposite of what my gut was telling me to do. "You might have lost Sonii, but you have me now. I will make you win. I will lead you to the glory you deserve."

"Why?" Arzo met my eyes, a clear glint of pain and unfiltered memories dancing in them. Whoever this Sonii was, he had left a mark on this team. "Why would you do this for us?"

Because I was, whether I liked it or not, associated with them? That I would sink along with them if I didn't carry my weight as well as theirs? It's to save myself, more than to make them save themselves.

"Because you're my friends," I said, instead. It wasn't an outright lie. I would have gone to the ends of the world with them if that meant making sure they're going to be living their best lives after all this. "And you've given me something I've not had in a while—a home. Literally. And well...figuratively, if you must."

Heather sighed and mussed her uneven hair. "I've decided," she said. The others whirled to her as if shocked she had been thinking the entire time she had been quiet. "We'll go with Seline's plan at the moment, but we'd better keep our scouting assignments coming. Got it? That way, even if we didn't win, we'd be able to save up for our apparent departure from Raventhorne."

"You don't need to," I insisted. "Because we're going to win. Trust me."

Heather met my eyes then. "I want to," she said. "But we must be ready for anything."

The finality in her tone lodged a white-hot pike in my gut. Even when I have dragged myself out of that hole, out of that void, it's evident that the surroundings outside it weren't any different. I still had to climb through the rungs to be heard, to be treated like I was a person. Not only did I have to prove I was worthy to be a member of the guild, I had to show I was a proper replacement for Sonii, a friend who would fight for her friends and family, and a woman whose voice mattered.

I have to prove I wasn't Joon Hye-jin—someone who was still wounded and scarred in all the hidden places, a girl who was the same pathetic idiot who couldn't even save herself from the mess she didn't create.

In this second shot of life I was unwittingly given, there was still one thing I needed to prove:

I was a survivor.

And my name was Seline Nightfore.