CHAPTER 32: TO THE RESCUE

Cassel — POV

The way Rosalia completely lost control of her emotions...

Was it truly because I used a spatial ability?

Or because she saw the necklace?

From the look on her face, it was clear she recognized the necklace as the source of the spatial power.

But the way she cried—asking if I was really...

From her words, it sounded as though the Cassel she knew never revealed the necklace’s ability, never used it, never wanted to.

So... did that mean she knew the old me? The one from my past life?

If that was the case...

I felt as if I were one breath away from uncovering the truth behind Rosalia—why she clung to me, why she seemed to know everything about me.

For a moment, it felt like I finally had the thread.

But that was all. I wasn’t a god. I couldn’t read minds or memories.

And this wasn’t the time to dive deeper into it anyway.

When Rosalia finally calmed down, I looked into her eyes—still red, still trembling from her tears.

"Are you alright now?"

"Ah... I’m fine. Sorry, I just..."

She stuttered, flushed with embarrassment.

Thinking back on it now—the way she grabbed me, the way she pulled open my collar—

I let out a quiet breath, my voice steady and stripped of anything unnecessary.

"Good. Since you’ve calmed down, we’ll talk later. We need to finish our work and leave. It’s been more than two hours since we entered the hospital."

"Henry."

"Ah—Boss, yes, I’m here. What are your orders?"

Even though he’d been eyeing me and Rosalia strangely, he recovered immediately, straightening as he waited.

"Pack the supplies into your bags. And what happened just now stays between us. I don’t want a single soul hearing about it. Understand?"

Henry’s expression sharpened. As expected of the old fox who’d worked with me for years—he caught on instantly.

And from the gleam in his eyes, I could tell he was already counting our group, silently searching for a potential spy.

"Don’t worry, Boss. No one will know. But—"

His gaze flicked toward Alex, the boy standing beside Frederick.

Noticing the attention, Alex straightened, voice firm and unwavering:

"I swear I won’t say a word. I’ll forget everything that happened in this hospital. You can kill me if I break my oath."

"Oh? What a brave kid. Tough, too. You’ve got guts. How about becoming our comrade-in-arms?"

Frederick clapped him on the shoulder, grinning broadly, his fondness for the boy growing by the second.

"Alright, let’s move to the next room."

I reached out to Rosalia, who still seemed lost in embarrassment over her earlier outburst.

But she took my hand anyway—shy, flustered, yet unwilling to let go.

We continued through the hospital, clearing room after room. I gathered major supplies and even medical equipment still in good condition.

We’d need it if we wanted to build a secure base of our own.

I’d formed a plan—a future—for us long ago.

And now, with Rosalia at my side, I needed to refine that plan. Improve our lives. Give her good things.

Make sure she lived well.

"Boss, looks like we’ve emptied the hospital. No more storage rooms, no more supplies. Should we leave?"

Henry asked, his face twisting with disgust as he glared at Frederick.

"And why the hell is your hand so sweaty? My whole hand is sticky now."

Frederick retorted immediately, offended, "Why should it be my fault? Maybe your hand made mine sweaty. I’m suffering too!"

"Alright, let’s go. We have enough."

We were about to descend from the third floor using the staircase—the power outage had shut down the elevators—when Henry suddenly froze, his expression sharpening like a blade.

We all stopped.

Henry’s ability was excellent for offense and defense, but it was also perfect for detection—wind carrying echoes and whispers to him from kilometers away.

"Boss... there are people on the floor above us."

His tone darkened.

"And they’re surrounded by zombies."

"Should we... save them?" Frederick asked, serious but far from eager. He knew the world we lived in now.

I paused, then looked to Rosalia.

"What do you think?"

"Ah—me? Whatever Cassel decides is fine with me."

Her gentle answer almost made me smile.

Honestly, I’d expected her to push me toward the "right thing," like Mary—always pretending her heart was pure, always pleading to help everyone...

But I knew better than anyone how black her heart truly was. She never did anything unless it served her.

Her compassion was just a mask.

Everyone else worked; she took the credit.

Disgusting.

I shoved the memory aside and turned back to Henry, who still waited for my command.

"Let’s take a look. They might be useful people."

No one objected.

Following Henry, we reached the fourth floor quickly. After a few turns, we entered a hallway overflowing with zombies.

Henry pointed to a door smothered by them.

"They’re inside. I don’t know how many. They’re silent—probably too terrified to make a sound."

Frederick grimaced. "How are we supposed to get through all these zombies?"

I stared at him.

Henry did the same.

Frederick’s eyes widened as realization hit him.

"Boss—no, you can’t do this to me. I’m your loyal subordinate. Pick Henry, please!"

"Henry’s ability isn’t suited for this."

"Right, right, exactly! Compared to your deadly strength, my ability is definitely weaker—"

"Don’t think I can’t see that sly smile, you shameless fox. You really are a fox, just like Rosalia said."

"Enough. Frederick, you’re the bait. Lure the zombies away. When you succeed, we’ll split up and escape."

Frederick grumbled darkly under his breath.

Alex, thinking the "stupid uncle" might die alone, stepped forward.

"Sir, I can go help him."

"That’s fine."

Henry laughed. "Yes, Frederick is as tough as a rock. No need to worry."

Frederick growled at him—and then, under Alex’s and Rosalia’s shocked stares, his entire body turned to stone.

Yes. Stone.

His bronzed skin hardened into deep brown rock.

His hands, his face, even his hair—look closely, and even his eyelashes were made of stone.

This was Frederick’s ability.

He could manipulate earth in all its forms. Always thinking outside the box, always obsessed with imitating Ben Grimm from Fantastic Four—and somehow, he’d succeeded.

His training and transformations had always been secret, ever since I ordered that awakened ability users were forbidden from revealing their powers.

"I’ll go, then."