**"We are innocent, so let's escape!"

Agartha's words, drawing our attention with a characteristic smile, were quite shocking.

Committing a crime because we’re innocent is like saying you’ll hit someone because they hit you for no reason.

Of course, Agartha couldn’t read my mind, and with an excited tone, raised his finger and said, “There are no guards, so now is the perfect timing.”

The hunter, who had looked exhausted until now, also showed interest and fixed his gaze on Agartha.

“Do you have any proof that there’s no one outside?”

“I have good ears.”

Agartha tapped his ear.

Given how Agartha treated me as a lunatic for talking to myself earlier, it seemed his hearing was indeed very sharp.

“Although I got a bit confused when Tanton came, seeing as there are no guards even at mealtime, something must have happened.”

Although it was a conclusion heavily reliant on his senses, I knew from reading the prologue that it was true.

The outside was massacred by a foreign entity.

The real question is, why was I the one trapped here?

“Well, assuming that’s the case. What’s your plan for escaping?”

The hunter twisted his hands, maneuvering the wooden cuffs around his wrists.

“With these tied, we can’t do anything.”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

Saying this, Agartha started moving his mouth.

The hunter and I watched, unsure of what he was doing, and suddenly Agartha stuck out his tongue.

“Bleh.”

Is he trying to fight?

The hunter sighed and shook his head side to side.

“… I’m a fool for believing a sly thief’s words….”

“Hey, can't you see this?”

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the tip of Agartha’s moving tongue was slightly curled.

There was a small needle, shiny with saliva, on the pink tongue.

Are you telling me he had that in his mouth all this time while talking normally?

Maybe he’s not a thief but a human contortionist.

Agartha skillfully rolled the needle on his tongue and flicked it onto his palm, inserting it into the keyhole of the wooden cuffs.

He twisted the joints of his hand to maneuver the needle through the unreachable hole.

“If I move this here and lift this….”

Click!

The wooden cuffs fell to the prison floor as Agartha wiggled his now free fingers.

“Phew, that’s much better.”

“…Impressive.”

“You can’t be a thief if you can’t do at least this much, right?”

“But you said you’ve never committed a crime?”

“If you keep pointing things out, it’s not good for your health, Mr. Tanton.”

Agartha blocked my mouth with his now free hand, smiling mysteriously.

“Stop messing around and untie me.”

At the hunter’s words, Agartha stood up, approached the hunter, then suddenly stopped and began smiling mischievously.

“Hmm, that’s right.”

“What are you doing?”

“If I don’t untie you, you’ll have to stay here, won’t you?”

Agartha’s strange words made the hunter’s face grow fierce.

It’s just like the original story.

In the early stages, the thief would say something like that to the player, and the player would respond, “Get lost, I don’t need you.”

Then, the thief leaves first, and the hunter manages to escape alone, marking the start of the game.

In this process, Agartha dies.

Without even a death scene, it’s just mentioned as a cold corpse found during item collection.

“Why are you making a big deal out of stating the obvious?”

“Is that how you ask someone to free you? Try saying it more politely.”

I wondered how the hunter would respond.

His response would reflect the protagonist's character in the original game.

“Do you have the luxury to joke around? Just untie me.”

“Oh no, bad children are better off staying here.”

The hunter flinched noticeably at the word “children.”

It felt different watching this as a third party.

This is quite entertaining!

“The lowly act lowly, as expected.”

“Oh no, bad children are better off staying here.”

Agartha said, turning to approach me instead, smiling full of mischief.

“Mr. Tanton, I’ll untie you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Today’s gratitude point earned. See, I’m a good thief, right?”

Agartha glanced mockingly at the hunter.

“I won’t untie the hunter.”

It seemed he was quite offended by the earlier comments about the smell.

Even the original didn't have such lines, so he was speaking more irritably than usual.

The hunter said nothing.

He probably thought he could escape alone anyway.

“If you beg me, I might untie you… Mr. Tanton?”

Ignoring Agartha, I approached the hunter.

This was not out of kindness.

I needed to follow the hunter to avoid dying!

“Hunter.”

“…”

“What are you doing? Get up.”

He didn’t seem sulking.

He looked deep in thought, probably planning what to do next.

No, you crazy guy!

Agartha was meant to die, but I wasn’t!

If things go on like this, I’ll become corpse number two next to the thief.

I needed to take a hard line.

Even if I only played the early stages of the game, I had picked up some tips from the community.

If I didn’t use my knowledge, when would I?

I grabbed the hunter’s shoulder and spoke softly.

“If you leave me, you won’t be able to defeat the foreign entity here.”

“What?”

Dilated pupils.

Before he could ask where I heard that, I cut him off by whispering more.

“If you calm down, I’ll help you.”

His eyes, still shaking with confusion, made it clear he believed me.

So I shook his shoulder up and down, abruptly.

Caught off guard, the hunter made a strange noise, letting himself be shaken.

Then he stared at me with murderous eyes.

“What are you doing?”

His gaze was still sharp, but noticeably calmer.

The mention of the foreign entity seemed to work.

“Why are you sulking? Agartha was just joking.”

I glanced at Agartha.

Seeing him mouth “I was serious…” and making a hitting motion with my arm, he finally forced a laugh.

The hunter sighed, looking at us alternately.

“Who’s sulking over such childish behavior?”

You are.

I didn’t say it out loud.

“Well, whatever. It’s tough to do anything alone. Think of it as a favor to me, okay?”

The hunter, after looking at me for a few seconds, stood up.

A cracking sound started.

With a breaking sound, the hunter’s hands were freed.

“…Oh?”

Agartha, genuinely surprised, looked at the hunter with shrunken pupils.

The hunter, unaffected by the gaze, casually rolled his shoulders.

“How do you act so familiar when we’ve just met?”

Although his eyes were slightly closed, it was clear he was talking to me.

“Isn’t there a saying that if you brush sleeves in this life, it’s a deep connection from a past life?”

Reciting an old saying, the hunter dismissed my words as worthless.

This guy.

If he weren’t the strongest character in the game world, I would have flicked his forehead.

The hunter walked past me, grabbed the prison door handle.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard, Agartha made a dumb sound, and the hunter snorted.

“You wouldn’t have spoken so confidently without a plan, right?”

Finally, Agartha responded with an “Ah.”

“Of course! I’m not that thoughtless.”

Approaching the door, Agartha inserted the needle into the lock and started shaking it.

“By the way, why were you just sitting there when you could’ve escaped alone?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Oh, come on. You’re so prickly. Okay, let’s go.”

Why did he sit there?

Agartha almost got killed.

He probably doesn’t know I saved him.

I sighed.

At least, the hunter was now giving advice on opening the door instead of being sharp.

“A thief struggling with this?”

“Well, you can’t do it either! It’s old and stiff!”

“Excuses.”

“Should I stop?”

“Then I’ll break it.”

“We’ll get caught!”

Agartha, now acting more rational, argued with the hunter as he worked on the lock.

I felt a sense of relief.

But, is it okay to change the story like this?

Whatever, I was about to die. What’s the big deal if the story changes?

The door clicked open, and Agartha called out to me.

“Mr. Tanton, what are you doing?”

“Let’s go.”

Everything should work out, right?