By Zephyria 
‘What?’
Seo Yun-chae was out? Just like that?
‘Who on earth… Ah.’
Before I knew it, one person’s face immediately came to mind.
Ban No-ah.
That unpleasant man who had been scratching at Seo Yun-chae’s already sensitive nerves.
‘Could it be that he ripped off Seo Yun-chae’s name tag in an instant?’
Unless I came out of the locker, it was hard to check.
But there was no need to go out.
“Team B members! Ban No-ah took me out! Ugh.”
In , when a name tag is ripped off, a staff member dressed as a Grim Reaper in black escorts the eliminated players out from both sides.
Usually, they gag the person with a towel or something to prevent them from leaking any information… Seo Yun-chae, with his rebellious spirit, seemed to have decided to use this opportunity to inform Team B of the enemy who had killed him.
“Did you hear that! Ban No-ah killed me! Ban No-ah! Even if our team loses, make sure to take that guy out! Got it?! Ho-yeon Hyung, Tae-beom, Si-yoon, and Yeon Yu-jin! Don’t even think about coming back to the dorm tonight if you don’t avenge me! Ugh!”
With those words, Seo Yun-chae became silent. Judging from the increased footsteps, it seemed that other staff members had joined in escorting Seo Yun-chae and sealing his noisy mouth.
‘What a funny guy. The dorm Card Key is with Ra Ho-yeon, the leader.’
The attacking Team A also found Seo Yun-chae’s struggles amusing, and occasional laughter could be heard.
‘The President will be pleased that he reliably secured his screen time…’
I was having useless thoughts when it happened.
Another siren went off.
-Cha Si-yoon, Cha Si-yoon out.
‘…What?’
Unlike Seo Yun-chae, Cha Si-yoon was cautious and wouldn’t be easily caught.
How long had it been since Seo Yun-chae was taken away? Cha Si-yoon was also being dragged away. I had a bad feeling.
As if he thought he should pass on information to his hiding Team B colleagues, Cha Si-yoon, avoiding the staff escorting him, shouted out the name of the person who had ripped off his name tag until the very last moment.
“Ho-yeon Hyung! Tae-beom Hyung! Yujin Hyung! The person who killed me is Ban No-ah, just like Yun-chae Hyung!”
“……!”
“He seemed to be hunting us down without leaving anyone behind! Ugh. Be careful!”
And so, Cha Si-yoon was also helplessly dragged to the Loser Zone.
‘What… What the hell…’
Ban No-ah, who supposedly didn’t even know Secrety, what grudge did he have? He took out Seo Yun-chae and then Cha Si-yoon in an instant…
‘No. It’s certain that they met for the first time. Officially, Secrety and Ban No-ah have never encountered each other.’
It was just a game, but anxiety crept up my spine.
Cha Si-yoon said that Ban No-ah was ‘hunting’ us. In context, ‘us’ seemed to refer to Secrety, not Team B.
‘When did I feel this dirty feeling?’
As I traced my memories, the incident at the Ability Measurement Lab came to mind.
“Ah.”
That bastard. X.
He put the members and me in a simulator and made us suffer to death before disappearing leisurely.
The seriousness of the situation was incomparable to that time, but my intuition was screaming that this was similar to that day.
Ban No-ah was also showing a petty side like that crazy X.
Not only that, but his subtle attitude towards Seol Yu-rang, who he claimed was his friend, and his desire to be noticed, unlike his personal information that he lived quietly, were also bothering me.
According to Jae-ha, X, having become stronger by stealing various abilities, tended to be arrogant and show off his power.
‘Isn’t it more likely that Ban No-ah is the real X?’
It was just a hunch, but. If so, I had to take advantage of this golden opportunity to get close to Ban No-ah.
I gave up on quietly hiding in the locker and was about to go outside.
-Shin Tae-beom, Shin Tae-beom out.
Once again, the damn siren rang out.
Shin Tae-beom conveyed the situation to the surviving Team B members in a loud voice.
“Ban No-ah! A Team’s Ban No-ah attacked me again!”
Annoyed by Shin Tae-beom, who was shouting at the top of his lungs while avoiding the staff trying to escort him, the PD stepped in to dissuade him.
“Hey, Shin Tae-beom. Stop it and go to the Loser Zone quietly. I understand that you’re upset about being eliminated early, but if you keep breaking the rules and trying to convey the situation, it’ll be difficult for us.”
As the PD smiled and expressed his embarrassment, Shin Tae-beom retorted as if he was wronged.
“No, I… PD. Something seems strange.”
“What is it?”
“Didn’t you say that all Ability User’s abilities are restricted in this game?”
“That’s right?”
“But Ban No-ah is strange. Even though he should have a bracelet that temporarily restricts his abilities… He found where our Secrety members were hiding way too quickly. The range of space that each of us had to search while scattered was wide, but he found us and cornered us as if he could see everything, and ripped off our name tags.”
“Hey, there’s no way that could be true?”
I also had a bracelet on my wrist that temporarily restricted the power of Ability Users.
That’s why Potato’s appearance wasn’t revealed now.
Hearing Shin Tae-beom’s voice, one hypothesis came to mind.
‘If Ban No-ah is X.’
It would explain the situation where he was using his abilities nonchalantly even though he had a bracelet restricting them.
The structure of the set was complex. Because of this, in order to check where a person was hiding, you had to search each space one by one.
But… If you could use Clairvoyance or Tracking ability, the story would be different.
You could literally see where they were hiding, so if you were quick, you could find the members and eliminate them in an instant.
‘I have to check.’
I couldn’t just sit still and be hunted down by Ban No-ah. That wasn’t my nature.
I came out of the locker and moved carefully to another space, suppressing my footsteps.
Besides Ban No-ah, Team A members would still be diligently looking for the surviving Team B members.
Thanks to Ban No-ah’s unusual and overwhelming performance, Team A was in a slightly excited state.
“At this rate, isn’t our team going to win with the shortest record?”
“Wow. I don’t know how lucky we are that Ban No-ah came to our team. When the broadcast airs, the viewer response to Ban No-ah will be explosive, right?”
“It’s hard to believe that such a handsome, well-mannered A-class Hunter with a good family hasn’t been a topic of conversation until now.”
“You flatter me.”
“Oh my, how humble.”
Listening to the friendly voices of Team A, I thought that Ban No-ah was a very contradictory human being.
‘That’s right. He’s a strange guy. Officially, he insisted on being mysterious as if he was avoiding being talked about by the public, but as soon as he appeared on a popular TV entertainment program as Seol Yu-rang’s friend, he went on a rampage as if monopolizing the spotlight.’
If Ban No-ah really wanted to step back quietly, he shouldn’t have picked a fight with Seo Yun-chae in the first place.
He shouldn’t have shown the act of only eliminating Secrety members.
Because here, there was ‘An Ga-hyeon’ who was wearing Yeon Yu-jin’s shell.
‘According to the game rules, just because someone is hiding doesn’t mean you can’t rip off the tagger’s name tag.’
When the tagger and an opposing team member face off, you have to rip off the name tag first to survive. Whether you’re the tagger or not.
This method had the disadvantage of only being usable when facing the tagger one-on-one, but judging from Ban No-ah’s actions so far, it was clear that he would be wandering around alone.
‘Ra Ho-yeon, I have to find Ra Ho-yeon.’
If Ban No-ah was X… I was sure that he would try to find me last.
Even in a state where my abilities were restricted, it wasn’t 100% locked. I desperately called out to Potato in my mind.
‘Potato! Potato!’
[Ugh… I was sleeping well, why are you calling me so loudly…]
Potato, with 50% opacity, reluctantly climbed onto my palm.
‘You, like you sensed Jae-ha’s energy last time, can you do it this time too?’
[Huh…? I’m sleepy now, and the Esper’s energy felt nearby is weak too… Uh?]
Potato blinked his sleepy eyes and tilted his head as if something was strange.
[What is it…? It’s not just the faint energy of an Esper restricted like you.]
‘What?’
[There’s a burning energy moving towards the faint Esper’s energy as if it wasn’t restricted from the beginning. One, two, three… What. Is it not one person? Why are there so many energies? Oh, hey!]
As soon as I heard Potato’s words, I ran wildly through the set.
So it was you, X.