When she barely regained consciousness, fortunately she didn’t feel a headache. The refreshing sensation as if she had slept deeply was rather unsettling.

Anaïs slowly looked around. Giant leaves, moss, and trees blocking her view. Everything was full of green.

The office had a study and a reception room for guests, with her seat arranged in one corner, but it wasn’t very spacious. There were no potted plants to care for, so the only green thing was the guest sofa. But this strange place was full of green leaves everywhere.

“Jungle……?”

Anaïs speculated what kind of place this was despite her confusion. It was definitely a jungle. The humid air awakened her memories. She had been to a place like this in the past.

But how could a woman who collapsed in an office set up in the middle of a city open her eyes in a jungle? She seriously suspected whether she was dreaming.

However, the damp moisture felt from the ground told her this wasn’t a dream. The leaves touching her arms and tickling her were also realistic. She had somehow fallen into a strange place.

General Ron. The man with an unpleasant voice who had a large scar running from his right nostril across his right cheek. Could that man have brought her to this place?

“That can’t be.”

He was the only man who would do such a thing to her. But that was also impossible. That man had been executed and died long ago.

Welcome to 〈Survival and Betrayal〉.

Complete all given rounds.

If you fail to challenge a round, you can start a new game again, so don’t worry.

Who on earth had brought her to such a place? While she was bewildered and dazed, white letters suddenly appeared on the ground.

How could such letters suddenly appear?

When she flinched in surprise, the next letters soon appeared.

Round 1: Pair

You are Player B.

Find a Player A you like and form a pair.

Time limit: 6 hours

What on earth was this about? Without any other explanation, the letters soon disappeared from her view.

Was this really the end? It was absurd to tell someone to play without kindly explaining what the rules were. She had never agreed to play a game in the first place, yet they forcibly dragged people here?

She was staring at the letters on the ground in bewilderment when voices of people could be heard from somewhere. Anaïs got scared and hid behind a tree.

The owners of the voices were two young people, a man and a woman. One was a tall blonde woman and one was a short brown-haired man.

“Don’t hide there and come out. It’s obvious.”

The tall blonde woman said. The short brown-haired man silently aimed a long gun barrel toward where she was.

“Come out before I count to three. One.”

The blonde woman also counted the numbers. Anaïs came out from behind the tree before she counted two. With both hands raised high above her head.

“Don’t shoot! Please!”

Whether or not her desperation reached him, the man took his hand off the trigger. But he still held the gun, so she couldn’t let her guard down. Anaïs swallowed dry saliva and appealed to them.

“Um, I’m called Anaïs! Who are you? And where is this place?”

The young man and woman quickly glanced at each other’s faces and exchanged some kind of look.

Had she asked something strange? Anaïs worried and watched their reactions. Fortunately, the woman soon smiled. The blunt man seemed to only twitch the corners of his mouth slightly rather than smile, but fortunately the woman had a cheerful personality.

“Nice to meet you, Anaïs. I’m Harper. This is Mason.”

The woman who introduced herself as Harper pointed to the short brown-haired man with her chin. Mason lowered the corners of his mouth that had been twitching awkwardly like a spasm and turned his shoulder strap to carry the gun on his back.

When the gun immediately disappeared from view, Anaïs finally felt relieved.

“Anaïs, right. Is this your first time in this game?”

Harper approached Anaïs and asked. Her tone was quite friendly, no longer wary of her.

Was it because of her tone? Anaïs somehow felt that she didn’t seem unfamiliar. While she felt relieved that she wasn’t a bad person, she was also embarrassed that she seemed to be treated like a lost child.

Anaïs soon understood why she showed such an attitude toward her, an adult.

“This damn survival game isn’t our first time. I’m on my third. Mason is on his fifth.”

“I, I’m someone who came here by mistake. I never agreed to play a game, and I don’t know about this kind of game.”

When she spoke seriously, Harper burst into laughter.

“Everyone who opens their eyes here says exactly the same thing as you. Don’t worry, Anaïs. No one came here because they wanted to.”

Harper grinned, saying welcome to hell. Anaïs felt her spine chill with anxiety.

“Did you receive the supply items?”

She had many questions about where this place was and why they were playing such a game, but Harper was quick. Anaïs shook her head since she had no memory of receiving anything.

But just then, as if responding to Harper’s words, letters appeared at her feet.

Basic items for Player B’s survival have been supplied.

This seemed to be what Harper was talking about. But she wondered where exactly the items had been supplied. Nothing had dropped in front of her eyes, and the surroundings were just grass and trees.

When Anaïs looked around in confusion, Harper pointed somewhere in the air with her index finger.

“Think the word ‘inventory’ in your head. Then a window will appear. You can take out the supplies you received from there.”

She added that she could also store items she discovered later.

Anaïs whispered the word inventory in her head as she explained. At first she suspected whether she was deceiving her who knew nothing, but it was really as she said. It even appeared exactly where she had pointed with her finger, saying it would appear somewhere here.

“Since you’re still a first-time participant, you’ll have about five inventory slots. That’s how it was, right Mason?”

Mason just nodded without responding.

Indeed, as she said, the inventory had a total of five windows. It seemed her claim of being an experienced player who had played this game three times wasn’t a lie.

The supply items were the following five things.

Automatic pistol, 8 bullets, 3 matches, 10 food rations, 1 healing medicine.

That completely filled all the inventory.

Anaïs was speechless seeing the gun and bullets.

“Why, why do they supply things like guns?”

Anaïs’s complexion darkened. Harper, who noticed her anxiety, smiled and patted her back.

“Don’t worry too much. You met us. Think of it as luck. You won’t have to use that with your own hands.”

Though it was hard to survive even a day without helping each other, they had plenty of experience so it was fine. Harper spoke in a bright voice. Anaïs was able to smile awkwardly at her confident attitude.

Meeting experienced players who seemed to know most things, and such kind people at that, could only be explained as good luck. Anaïs suddenly felt as if all her lifelong misfortunes were trials she had endured for this moment.

“You might have been surprised seeing the gun. I understand. I’m scared too. That’s why I gave my gun to Mason.”

“You gave it to him?”

Harper nodded and proudly said that what he was holding was exactly what she had found. And she said they held items without overlapping to properly utilize the inventory. Her explanation was that the same type of items only occupied one inventory slot.

“I handle food and healing medicine, Mason handles firearms.”

Harper praised Mason, saying he wasn’t a professional but could at least hit tin cans as a gunman. Mason pretended not to hear, but perhaps embarrassed, he briefly touched his nose with his finger.

“If you’re going to travel with us, it would be good if you decided on a role too.”

She hoped she would hold matches or ‘other items necessary for survival.’ Harper, perhaps having an impatient personality, handed over items before Anaïs even agreed. A sleeping bag from her inventory, and the rope she had been carrying on her shoulder.

“Is it really okay?”

Anaïs gladly accepted Harper’s proposal. She was anxious and trembling just from having a gun. It would be grateful if they held and utilized it instead.

Harper smiled mysteriously at her apology for making her carry heavy luggage.

Anaïs immediately tried to take out the items to entrust from her inventory. But she couldn’t figure out how to take them out. She struggled seriously for a while before finally realizing that the items were in her hands the moment she thought about wanting to take them out.

When she awkwardly held out the items except for the matches, Harper, who had been watching her with a somehow stiff face, finally smiled with her eyes. She soon threw the gun and bullets she received from Anaïs to Mason.