I froze. Had they been involved since that long ago?

I was the only joke here.

I'd already failed in my mission, and I was on the cusp of leaving, so what else did I have to lose?

I had always been someone who repaid my grievances as they came, and the only reason why I'd been holding myself back was only because I loved Shane far too much.

As it happens, Eve's words ended up becoming a match that lit up the fire!

With a bitter smile, I forced myself to my feet, before swinging my palm as hard as I could at Eve's face, with every bit of energy I had left.

"This is for saying that I slapped you!"

Then, I smacked her the other way around.

"This is for splashing me with cold water!"

Eve was taken off guard after being slapped in succession, and she couldn't even form a response.

I stopped, looking at her coldly. "You really think hurting me like this will make him love you?"

Eve clutched her reddened cheek, glaring at me viciously.

I squatted down, grabbed her chin, and said with disdain, "He won't love anyone. You and I are nothing more than substitutes. What happens to me today will be your future tomorrow. Do you understand?"

Eve still refused to give in, stubbornly arguing, "That's because you don't look like her enough! I even had plastic surgery to look like that woman, so he's bound to treat me well!"

Hearing this, I felt she was even more pitiful than I was.

I covered my mouth and burst out laughing. "You really are an idiot!"

-

Eve tried to fight back, but I shoved her to the ground.

Shane and a group of his friends heard the commotion and rushed over.

When he noticed the blood marks on Eve's face, displeasure flashed across his expression.

He pointed at my nose and questioned me sharply. "What are you doing again? What did Eve do to provoke you? Why do you insist on picking on her?"

I gave him a cold glance.

"I just slapped an idiot. Got a problem?"

Shane wanted to reply, but was interrupted by several lecherous men. "Shane, your wife has a great body! She must be amazing in bed…"

"You've really got it good! How about you let us have a taste sometime, too!"

As they excitedly discussed among themselves, Shane's face darkened. He roared, "Turn away. Look at her one more time and I'll gouge your eyes out!"

They immediately shut up, exchanging looks, clearly confused about why he was angry.

"Put on your clothes, Janine!"

I smacked his hand away, replying coldly, "I don't need your help. Did you forget that you're the reason why I'm like this in the first place? Why are you acting like you have a conscience all of a sudden?"

"If you didn't bully Eve, I wouldn't have punished you!" Shane replied, as if he was the most justified man in the world.

I was rendered silent for a moment, and I forced myself to take a deep breath.

I failed the mission, my sister's life was still in peril, and I was hurt so badly that I was broken beyond recognition.

What use was Shane to me now?

At this point, I chose to tear off my mask completely. "Shane, do you think that I have no idea what you've done?!"

Seeing the chill in my eyes, his heart tightened. "What are you talking about? What do you know? Who told you?!"

It was rare to see Shane lose his cool, much less because of me.

After a few seconds of cold silence hanging in the air, I spoke, my voice filled with hatred, "You think I didn't know you found another man to sleep with me, Shane? I never imagined you could be this cruel!"

I had thought I would calmly expose his lies, but my body couldn't help but tremble as I spoke.

"You disgust me! Since that's the case, I'm done playing this game. Go, be happy with her."

Shane didn't expect me to know the truth, and he couldn't even form a proper sentence. "W-What do you mean, you're done playing this game?"

"I'll leave this world. I won't appear in front of you anymore."

A trace of panic appeared on Shane's face. He clenched his fists, but with so many people around, he still forced a smile. "That's got to be a bluff! Your mission's not complete yet, so your sister will die!"

Even now, he was threatening me with my sister's life.

I called on the System, telling it to reiterate the truth of this world to them.

When Shane and the others heard it, they were utterly stunned.

"What? You're leaving this world, and once you do, this world will cease to exist?"

Shane asked in shock, trying to confirm it, the System's words plunging everyone into silence.

"You must be joking! You're the outsider here, so why would this world disappear once you leave?"

"Yeah, you're definitely saying it on purpose to get revenge on Shane!"

No matter what I said, they were never going to believe me.

After I entered the infinite system, an error caused me to nearly complete my mission prematurely. To compensate for that mistake, this world was created.

Only if I successfully completed the mission would this world continue to exist.

If I failed, it would be completely erased.

Once I realized that endless tolerance only made them push further and further, there was no reason left for me to hesitate.

Shane still refused to accept the truth.

"Even if that's true, why would you leave this world? Don't you want to save your sister?"

The more they spoke, the more apparent it was that they were afraid.

-

The others quickly echoed him. "Yeah, what about your sister?"

"Besides, you love Shane deeply! You'd never leave him!"

They looked at me with disdain.

I had met these people before at gatherings organized by Shane, and it was true that he was all I cared about back then, so there was no wonder why they thought that way.

However, I was no longer the girl I was back then.

After Shane helped Eve up, she sneered. "We're both women, so I know what you're thinking! You just want to force Shane into completing your mission with you!"

Then, she looked at Shane, worried. "Don't believe her! She just wants you to compromise, so don't let her have her way!"

Shane hesitated. Hearing it framed that way, it did sound reasonable. After all, I really had loved him deeply.

That kind of feeling couldn't have been fake.

With the two of them reaffirming each other's thoughts, they looked into each other's eyes and promptly decided that I was lying.

"I deceived you, and you deceived me. Since we're both at fault, let's just cancel it out. As long as you don't leave, I'll treat you the same as before."

He didn't even speak a word of the damage he'd done to me, waving it off with a single sentence.

To think that I, at one point, truly fell for a man like this.

Or perhaps I'd fallen for the fictional image of him that I'd conjured in my mind.

After drifting in the System for so long, it was only natural that I clung on after finally finding a place that felt safe.

Thankfully, there was still time for me to stop. It wasn't too late.

"I don't need it. The mission has already been terminated. It can't be reversed."

A flicker of panic appeared on Shane's face. Perhaps he was afraid of me leaving, or that the world would disappear, but none of that was important to me any longer.

He walked toward me quickly, and that's when he finally noticed that my stomach had become flat.

"You aborted the child?"

My silence was all the answer he needed, and doubt, struggle and pain flashed rapidly across his face.

"Any other problems? I feel like there's nothing else to be said, though."

The System was already ready to send me away from this world, but Shane grabbed my wrist, not letting me leave. "I have something to say, Janine. Don't go."

Hearing the sincere pleading in his face, I couldn't help but feel surprised that he wouldn't want me to leave.

However, I had no intention of staying here any longer.

"There's nothing left between us to talk about. It's better to end this completely.

"I'll say it one last time. I don't love you anymore!"

Shane stared at me intensely, trying to find even the slightest change in my expression, but all he found was cold indifference.

"I don't believe you. You're lying, Janine Grover.

"I still have something…"

I shook his hand off and ran toward the passage with all my strength.

I heard Shane's voice, far behind me, but after a while, I couldn't even hear him clearly anymore.