Zaiden, who was lying on the bed in the hospital, was deep in thought.

Because of his request, he had been given a private room, and currently, he was in deep thought. From what he gathered from their conversation, he found out that Rai knew Zaiden. Not him, but the real Zaiden in the novel.

He also found out that Rai was, in fact, someone who knew the future like him. Maybe like him was not a correct definition, because from what Rai's said, he was someone who came back from the future. He was also someone with a relationship with the Hero, Chloe.

Not only that, he just found out that Rai and Chloe were also the survivors of the monster outbreak ten years ago. The same monster outbreak where he saved Lily and his family.

'There is nothing like that in the novel. Does that mean I have changed the story from the start? Is it because I saved Lily?'

He raised his body on his hospital bed and looked out of the window. Ten years ago, he only had a good intention of saving his childhood friend from the monster. He absolutely didn't know that his childhood friend was the one mentioned in the last volume, Lily Sonova.

And before he knew it, the story had changed a lot. Starting from Vincent, who strangely had a girlfriend. Then the appearance of Rai, who revealed that he was a regressor, and the new Mercenary Group Annihilator.

'Regressor.. He's someone who returned from the future with his memory intact. He knows about the future.. But I don't know him. Is he someone who appears in Volume 30? In that case.. This is dangerous. Lily is in danger!'

Zaiden bit his lower lip as he held his head.

'What should I do? If he's from the future, he surely knows that the protagonist kills Chloe.. Then.. Why did he say he was hurt because he had a close relationship with Zaiden? I don't know. What's going on in this world?'

He just wanted to live with his loved one. He thought that saving Lily wouldn't be a problem. There shouldn't be a problem after looking at the possibility in the novel, but.. Who knew that there would be a regressor like Rai.

"I.. What should I do? My action has changed the story.. I-I don't know what will happen in the future.."

His biggest advantage in saving the heroines, the knowledge of the future, was now not his biggest advantage anymore, seeing that there was another one like him. However, he guessed that another one's goal was different from his goal.

If he was trying to save his loved one, that person was trying to kill his loved one, Lily. His Trait kicked in, whispering that he should protect his loved one. It was the first time he felt the urge to protect the one that he loved clearly. Was this the influence of his Awakening? He felt like he knew Zaiden's feelings in the novel.

historical

"That's right.." He muttered as he raised his head. His expression became apparent as the fire of determination blazed in his eyes. "I have changed the story."

He had realized it. Maybe because he was confused before, he didn't think about it deeply. "I have changed the story!" He repeated at a louder volume.

'I have changed it! I.. I successfully changed it! Right, why did I ignore the fact that I saved Lily?!'

He had managed to save Lily. Maybe because it had been too long, he just took her survival as a given. But he did it. He had changed the story; he saved Lily.

"That means.. I can save them too. No, I will save them! I will not allow him to stop me from saving them."

He clenched his fists hard as he made his new resolution. "I will save them all. I will do whatever it takes to save them all! I will not abandon humanity too. I am different from the indifferent Zaiden. I will not fall into despair."

Repeating the similar sentences a few times, Zaiden's lips curled up, smiling. In his heart, he thanked Rai for opening his eyes. At the same time, he began to feel a rivalry with Rai, and he vowed.

'I will not let him get on my way. If he's trying to stop me, I will do whatever it takes to defeat him.'

At that time, the door of the room was opened, and Lily appeared with a worried expression.

"Zaiden! A-Are you okay?!" She strode in, looking at her with a worried expression.

"I am fine," Zaiden replied as he smiled at her. He flexed his arm to show that he could move with no problem. "Thanks for worrying about me."

Lily breathed out the breath that she held. Her worry was gone after seeing Zaiden could move with no problem.

"Sigh, I thought my heart would stop when I heard the hospital calling the home that you have a few broken ribs and a broken leg after coming back from the dungeon."

"Hahaha.. Well.. The instructors saved us, so there was no casualty. Also, something like broken bones is a normal thing for Awakener. You already know that, no?"

"I know.. I know, but.. Seeing someone close to you got broken bones is just.. hard, you see? I am worried." Lily's voice cracked as if she was about to cry. She was perturbed about Zaiden and even rushed to the hospital when she got the call and informed Zaiden's parents.

"My bad, Lily. But as you can see, I am fine." He gave her a bright smile. "Also, I plan to be active as an Awakener. If you are sad when I am only injured this much, how would you react if I got my arm torn or something?" He asked with a playful tone, but Lily's reaction was not as he expected.

She instead stayed silent while looking at him. Her eyes glistened with tears, and she suddenly said, "I won't allow that, Zaiden. I won't allow you to endanger yourself. If I am Awakened in the future, I will surely protect you."

Zaiden couldn't say anything, and they looked at each other quietly. After looking at each other for a few seconds, Zaiden noticed that Lily wasn't joking.

"Thanks, Lily. But, you don't need to protect me. I am happy that you thought so. I will only accept your feelings."

'As I will be the one to protect you.' he thought inside his mind.

"Said someone who lies on the bed." Lily chuckled; her feelings improved after seeing that Zaiden was fine.

The atmosphere around them turned normal like usual. There were no strangled feelings like before, and they joked around like usual. But, Zaiden was not the same. He had a new determination and a new reason to get stronger. All was to realize his goal of protecting his loved ones.

***

Black Market. As its name suggested, it was a Market that operated illegally without any permission from the states.

However, its existence was known by almost all Awakeners, except for some new ones, and was left alone. The reason was simple; The Black Market provided a lot of monsters' materials and sold them at a lower price than commissioning them directly from Mercenary or Awakener.

Those items ended up in Black Market because the official store of Awakeners refused to buy them. Mostly, because of the bad quality of the material or the material was secured through illegal means, such as unregistered dungeons.

Hence, this became the perfect place for me to find the Dark Chameleon's skin which was needed to make the item requested by my Master. And more importantly, the location of the Black Market was in the middle of Los Angeles, more specifically in Beverly Hills.

Right, it was the location where many Hollywood stars lived. Though, in this world, it became the location where High-Rank Awakeners lived instead. So, it was the perfect place for the Black Market to operate.

There was a café right near Beverly Gardens Park. The name of that café was Montage Black, and it was always filled with many people. However, this café was just a disguise. The Black Market's entrance was located inside the café, and the people who drank coffee on the terrace were, in fact, the Black Market's employed Mercenary.

I entered the café confidently, went to the bar to order, and was greeted by a female employee in a black and white uniform.

"Good afternoon. Welcome to Montage Black! Have you decided on your order?"

Even when I wore a hoodie and a mask, she didn't even bat an eyelid and kept maintaining her professionalism. Well, it might be because a lot of Awakeners had rather.. hideous clothing that she didn't even mind my suspicious clothes.

Anyway, to enter the Black Market, one needed a keyword. Fortunately, the keyword never changed until the end of my novel.

"One Black Key Coffee, please. Make it cold."

It was a rather simple keyword, but still, it served its purpose of turning away some ignorant people.

The female cashier smiled as she put a key on top of the bar.

"Please head inside and hand this key to the man at the entrance! Have a good day!" She pointed at the door on the side of the café.

"Thanks."

I took the key and headed to the door. The security may have looked rather lax in people's opinion, but there was a reason for it. She said to hand the key to the man at the entrance, and this key was the only one that could open the door that I was about to enter.

The door and the key were enhanced so that a person could only enter and leave through it with the same key. The man that he mentioned was also a B-Rank Awakener, a High-Rank Awakener just a rank below A.

The security was good enough for the Black Market. The mercenaries also sat outside, so no one ever thought of forcing themselves to enter. If they wanted to leave, they also needed to go through the security in the café, which was almost impossible to be breached unless someone was an A-Rank Awakener.

Setting that aside, I opened the door with the key given by the cashier lady and entered. On the other side of the door were stairs that led me to the underground room, where the Black Market was located. At the end of the stairs, a bald man in a suit and sunglasses stood menacingly, staring at me, who walked downstairs. A steel door behind him looked strong and exuded some Mana.

It was another enhanced door. The security of the Black Market was comprehensive, as some items being sold inside had a value of more than 5 Billion USD.

'Typical guard.' I snickered in my mind when I saw the man. Bald and suit, I thought that I gave him a decent appearance in the novel, but it looked rather menacing in real life.

When I arrived at the end of the stairs, the bald man extended his hand and said, "The key."

"Here." I obediently handed the key to the man, and he opened the steel door behind him.

After opening the steel door with his Mana, the bald man stepped to the side and smiled. "Welcome to the Black Market. Have fun finding your item."

The place beyond the door was, in a word, magical. The space was bigger than the café outside, and there were a lot of stalls and small stores which sell Magic Items, monsters' materials, and even Artifacts. They were engaging in some sort of transaction with an Awakener wearing a mask.

Almost all Awakeners who were in the Black Market used a mask to hide their identity. But I wasn't worried about my identity being found. Rather, it would be good if rumors about Rai entering Black Market to be spread. The guilds and the others who heard the rumors would believe in my information gathering ability in that case.

Some Black Markets in other states were untrustworthy and some stores cheat their customers, but because I knew who controlled this place, I knew that this Black Market was trustworthy.

I entered the underground area, and the bald man closed the door behind me. I didn't look back. Instead, I grinned while looking at the bustling market in front of me.

'Well, looking at this directly is interesting. But, this place is also dangerous. Let's get the Dark Chameleon skin quickly and head to Smith's place.'