The World of this Fantasy Novel is in Crisis

Events from long ago seemed to be sending signals. Satin knew all too well the sting of failure.

The people who had descended underground with his father. Satin had seen the traces they’d left behind—the desperate, fevered signs of their struggle to return to the surface, no matter the cost.

“Satin, remember this well. A second chance is something rarely given.”

Satin didn’t respect his father, but he had to admit—those words were true.

Opportunity was a lot like luck. Like winning the lottery twice, or being struck by lightning more than once. Good luck or bad, neither tended to come often. And chances were the same.

Thinking of his father, whom he’d almost managed to forget while living with his sister, sent a chill through him. Satin gave a small involuntary shudder and pushed down the unease.

‘Still… this place isn’t like that.’

His father had been an ordinary man, but he’d had some useful tools. With just a few motion-detecting cameras and a couple of simple traps, anyone could turn into Argos—the monster from Greek mythology with a hundred eyes.

By contrast, their teacher might’ve been a magician, but he wasn’t all-seeing or all-powerful. The ability to conjure fire from thin air didn’t make it possible to monitor every little thing happening inside the school. If two incidents occurred at once, he was bound to miss one. And…

As Satin waited for Cain to come out, he kept listing reasons why their teacher wouldn’t be able to stop this escape rehearsal.

Then he heard it—click—the sound of a door opening. If he hadn’t been on edge, he might’ve missed it.

‘Cain?’

Satin stood and started up to the second floor, but froze halfway. He heard Rogers’ voice.

“Thank you for listening to my long story…”

Shit. Rogers couldn’t come out before Cain. That would ruin everything. Satin quickly ducked behind the staircase, only half-concealed, and waved wildly at Rogers.

Rogers caught the movement from the corner of his eye, and his face stiffened. Clutching the doorknob, he opened his mouth in a hurry.

“Um, but sir…”

“I’m heading to the lab now. If it’s nothing urgent, let’s save it for later.”

“Y-yes, sir…”

Rogers, not known for quick thinking, withdrew feebly. Just before the teacher stepped out into the hallway, Satin pulled back out of sight. Luckily, the teacher didn’t see him.

Footsteps followed shortly, then the jingle of keys.

‘So that’s it. Our plan’s toast.’

Satin was already resigning himself when the teacher spoke.

“Why are you standing there like that?”

Startled, Satin thought the question was directed at him—but it wasn’t. Peeking out slightly, he saw the teacher had stopped in front of the lab door and was speaking to Rogers.

“I was just… thinking for a second. I’m heading off now.”

Rogers forced a laugh and awkwardly shuffled along. Since the office was farther inside than the lab, he had no choice but to pass right by the teacher. Satin quickly ducked back before the teacher’s gaze could sweep in his direction.

Had Cain heard all this from inside? Sounds from within the lab weren’t easy to make out from the outside. Still, he might’ve at least realized someone was talking.

‘But even if he did… where would he hide?’

It wasn’t a particularly spacious room. According to Cain, there were only a few bookshelves and a large desk—nothing that left much space to squeeze into.

‘We’re screwed.’

Even if Cain got caught, Satin and Rogers might still walk away clean. They could just insist they had no idea what Cain had been up to. What could the teacher do without a lie detector?

But there wouldn’t be a next time. The teacher would keep a close watch on Cain—and maybe even quietly get rid of him. And the lab’s security would only get tighter. They might install a lock that couldn’t be bypassed with just some wire and thread.

Satin didn’t expect a second chance.

‘It is what it is.’

***

Lifting the carpet revealed an unmarked floor. But Cain didn’t panic—he began pressing on the wide tiles one by one.

‘This one.’

Looking carefully, he saw that one tile was slightly misaligned. Sliding his fingers into the gap, he found it lifted with ease.

Beneath the tile was, as expected, a hidden space. But compared to the confessional’s secret compartment—which could at least fit a child—this one was much smaller. There wasn’t much inside either. Just a few documents. So sparse, it looked downright pitiful.

‘Is this really it?’

As with the other day, the desk had so many papers strewn about it was impossible to count them at a glance. And yet this—this was all that had been hidden?

Still, now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

Cain quickly began copying the secret documents onto the paper he’d brought. The process took longer than expected. Since he didn’t know the meanings or phonetics of the letters, he couldn’t copy much at once. Like a child just learning to write, his pencil moved sluggishly across the page.

‘Idiotic bastards.’

Cain cursed them inwardly. Why the hell was the mages’ language such a mess?

Finally, as he finished transcribing the last page, he heard voices outside. Faint, but close. No way any students would be roaming this corridor casually.

‘I’ve taken too long.’

Cain hastily put everything back in place. But he couldn’t just fling the door open and bolt out. What if the old man was standing right outside?

He hadn’t been all that nervous coming in, but now his limbs were tingling. His heart pounded.

‘He won’t kill me right away. He’ll probably wait until nightfall.’

After all, he wouldn’t want to scare the other kids he’d kept under such tight control.

‘No—this is about magic. He might go out of his way to make an example of me.’

Mages were an exclusive, secretive bunch by nature. If someone tried to steal their research and they didn’t lose their cool, that would be the bigger surprise. He might lash out furiously just to set a warning for the others.

What would he do? Lock Cain in the confessional first, then claim he’d tried to escape and was killed in the process?

Or maybe he’d drag Cain out, saying he was reporting him to the authorities—and kill him en route. He might even use Cain for some kind of experiment, not wanting to waste a perfectly good test subject.

Cain didn’t expect Satin or Rogers to come to his rescue. If the plan fell apart, they’d cut ties immediately. And he wouldn’t blame them—he’d do the same in their shoes. No hard feelings.

‘He said he burned Tim alive, right?’

Burning to death… would be excruciating.

The awful thought actually helped calm him. What if, the moment the door opened, he struck the old man in the jaw before he could even chant a spell? If he ran right after that, maybe the guy wouldn’t give chase.

Then what? The nearest village was already in the old man’s pocket, so like it or not, he’d have to flee into the woods.

‘I might starve wandering around… but if I’m going to die anyway…’

Tok tok.

A small tapping noise snapped Cain out of his chaotic spiral of thoughts.

‘Satin?’

No way the old man would knock so lightly on an empty room’s door. Whatever had happened outside must’ve been resolved.

Cain hurriedly opened the door. But it wasn’t Satin—Rogers stood there instead, face tense with worry.

The moment Cain appeared, Rogers pressed a finger to his lips. Not that Cain had any intention of blurting something stupid.

He looped thread around the latch and gently pulled it closed. A faint click from inside confirmed it had locked.

Rogers took the lead, Cain following close behind. Rogers moved silently down the stairs, and only then did Cain understand the situation.

Satin was collapsed at the bottom of the staircase. The old man was beside him, examining his leg. A few kids who’d come in from outside stood nearby, visibly distressed and unsure what to do.

Cain whispered, voice low.

“What happened?”

“Satin fell down the stairs. Probably on purpose.”

“Why?”

Cain asked without thinking, then shut his mouth. The answer was obvious.

Rogers murmured, sounding genuinely remorseful.

“I didn’t stall him long enough.”

No one was handing out prizes for regret. Rogers took one step farther down, then spoke.

“I’ll go down. You head back up. Wait a bit, then come out like nothing happened.”

“…Alright.”

***

Satin dabbed ointment onto his bruises and said,

“I must be tougher than I thought. How am I still in one piece?”

When he threw himself down the stairs, Satin had fully expected to break something. But he’d gotten off relatively easy. Just a few bruises where he’d hit the edges—no broken bones. Even his head was fine.

He might be sore when he woke up in the morning, but for now, he was alright. And in exchange for a few bruises, Cain had managed to escape the lab safely. Not a bad trade.

While Satin was feeling pretty good about things, Cain hadn’t said a word since earlier.

‘Is he feeling guilty?’

Everyone had made it out unscathed, so there was no need to be that weighed down about it.

Satin casually spoke as he capped the ointment.

“Now all that’s left is slipping it into the bag without Rufus noticing.”

“…Yeah.”

“Should I write a note or something to go with it? Whoever finds it might not know what it is and just throw it away.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

“Cain, I’m seriously not in pain, you know.”

“…No one said you were.”

He tried to sound indifferent, but his tone wasn’t the same as usual. Instead of snapping back like he normally would, his voice came out soft, like he was talking to himself.

‘No question mark at the end.’

Satin hesitated, unsure whether to comfort him or let him be. Just as he was deciding, Cain finally made eye contact. He’d been sitting on the bed like he always did, but hadn’t once looked away from the window.

Thinking Cain was feeling better now, Satin smiled a little too cheerfully. But Cain, face clouded, asked,

“What if you had gotten seriously hurt?”

“But I didn’t. And these bruises’ll heal in no time.”

“You didn’t know how bad it could get.”

“Well… that’s true.”

Satin could only offer a sheepish smile. Cain sighed and lay down, turning toward the wall and pulling the blanket over himself.

A clear sign the conversation was over.