“Ugh… cough.”
I sat down heavily, clearing my throat.
I had almost been hit by flying chunks of pavement, but I managed to dodge them by the narrowest margin.
“Lowell. Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah… I think so…”
And that was thanks to Purple Head—no, Finley.
Right before the black mist struck me—
‘This guy grabbed me by the collar and yanked me back!’
Sure, I nearly got strangled for a moment, but that was better than having my face smashed in.
Still, the sight before me was terrifying.
“What the hell is happening?”
Black mist swirled in a circle around Yuliana.
Anything the mist touched split apart as though sliced by a giant blade.
‘Wait! Is this a dark magic rampage?’
Something like this occasionally appeared in the original novel to drive the plot forward.
When someone infected by dark magic experienced intense emotions, the dark magic would run wild and wreak havoc around them.
But for it to happen right in the middle of the Imperial Palace?
‘And to the heroine?!’
No.
There was no reason for the story to have changed this much.
Finley glanced at me.
“Lowell. What magic can you use?”
“M-me? Just the basics…”
“Tch.”
…Did he seriously click his tongue at me in a situation like this?
But I didn’t have time to be offended.
One of the tendrils of black mist was rapidly approaching us.
“Finley! Get out of the way!”
I shouted urgently and turned around.
Finley was already casting magic.
As he extended the hand wearing a bracelet, a flash of purple light exploded toward the black mist.
For a moment, the mist seemed to disperse.
Finley turned toward me and shouted irritably,
“Run! Get inside the building!”
I immediately spun around and sprinted toward the nearest building.
“Huff… huff…”
A strand of mist that Finley had failed to intercept chased after me.
‘If I can just get the door closed!’
Allison was watching the situation outside through a hallway window.
The moment I grabbed the door and pulled it open—
“W-where do you think you’re going?!”
“Gah!”
Allison shoved me backward.
She shoved so hard that I was thrown off balance.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
I looked up.
The black mist hissed like a snake and lunged straight at me as I sat frozen on the ground.
‘Shit!’
In my previous life I died in a traffic accident.
Was I really going to die in an occult disaster this time?
BOOM!
An explosion sounded above my head.
The black mist dissolved into nothing.
My ears rang violently.
“Ugh…”
Still, all four of my limbs were attached.
That alone felt worth being grateful for.
‘What just happened?’
Had Finley chased after me and saved me?
But the voice that came from behind was—
“Lowell!”
“Se—!”
The male lead.
The male lead had come to help.
I pointed toward where Yuliana and Finley were.
“Right now! Yuliana!”
The sphere of black mist surrounding her was growing larger and larger.
At this rate, both of them would be in serious danger.
Carlisle stared ahead.
“Cover your ears and get down, Lowell.”
“Yes, sir!”
I immediately crouched low and covered both ears.
‘I have no idea what he’s about to do!’
A silver pistol appeared in Carlisle’s hand.
Without hesitation—
Bang!
He shot Yuliana.
‘...Whaaaat?!’
The office fantasy romance had just changed genres.
Straight into an action blockbuster full of gunfire.
The bullet struck the black mist surrounding Yuliana directly.
Crack!
The projectile burst with white light and erased part of the mist.
But it never reached Yuliana herself.
Beside me, Carlisle clenched his teeth.
“At this rate, it’s going to steal her lifespan.”
“What?!”
Wait.
Was this actually a heroine-death ending?!
I could barely make out Yuliana’s figure through the mist.
The darkness was growing thicker by the second.
Carlisle shouted as he charged toward her.
“Lowell! Get out of here!”
“Y-yes!”
I scrambled to my feet.
But where exactly was I supposed to run?
‘The mist is everywhere!’
Trees touched by it withered.
Stone pathways cracked apart.
‘The only safe place is inside a building!’
But the door Allison had shoved me away from was firmly shut.
There was nowhere to escape.
‘Then…!’
‘Is there no way to stop Yuliana’s rampage itself?’
At that moment, Finley’s attack cleared away part of the mist.
Yuliana became visible.
‘Huh?’
A white stone floated near her heart.
The dull white stone looked disturbingly like a piece of bone.
My eyes widened.
‘That’s the dark magic core!’
The source from which dark magic was being released.
A concentrated mass of magical energy that amplified human emotions.
Because so much power was compressed into it, it was unstable.
Even a small shock could theoretically stop it.
‘At least, in theory.’
But wait.
Were dark magic cores normally that easy to see?
Weren’t they supposed to become visible only after the dark magic had already dissipated?
‘Forget it! I’ll think about that later!’
Carlisle was busy rescuing someone who had nearly been struck by the mist.
I ran toward him.
His face immediately darkened.
“Why didn’t you run away?!”
“There was nowhere to go! More importantly, Senior!”
I pointed toward Yuliana.
The white stone was still floating beside her heart.
“Can’t you see that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Senior! Near her heart—how can you not—”
“Lowell, are you trying to kill Crosswell—?!”
“I’m not trying to kill her! I can see the core!”
“……!”
“If you can just hit that thing!”
I wasn’t sure he would believe something I had blurted out in desperation.
But Carlisle immediately adjusted his stance and nodded.
“Lowell. If I create an opening, can you touch it?”
“Huh? Me?”
“I can’t see it. That makes it even more dangerous!”
“But—!”
How could he ask an office worker to do something like that?!
‘What if I get infected too?!’
By then, the black mist had swallowed Yuliana from view again.
Carlisle began firing into it.
Bang! Bang!
The mist hesitated each time.
Then came the terrifying order.
“Run!”
‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’
I dreamed of a comfortable life coasting through work.
Why were my legs currently sprinting for their lives?
I shouted toward Yuliana, who looked as pale as a corpse.
“Yuliana!”
Her eyes had turned gray.
She seemed incapable of hearing anything.
Meanwhile, the strange white stone glowed brighter and brighter.
As though it were feeding on her lifespan.
I slowly approached and reached toward it.
‘Ugh, it’s hot!’
The moment the stone slid into my hand, I grabbed it with all my strength and ripped it away.
Immediately, the black mist began melting like snow.
“Hah… haaah…”
I collapsed onto the ground.
My hand hurt like crazy.
Adrenaline thundered through my veins.
‘And the heroine…’
Thud.
As the final particles of dark mist disappeared, Yuliana’s floating body dropped limply to the ground.
I crawled over to her.
“D-did she die…?”
“She’s not dead.”
A tired voice answered from behind.
Finley approached while wiping sweat from his sleeve.
“Purp—Finley!”
“You…”
His gaze fell to my hand.
“What is that?”
“Huh? Oh. This?”
Was he talking about the dark magic core?
I opened my hand and looked down.
Then I frowned.
‘Huh?’
‘Did the core always have a pattern on it?’
It looked exactly like a black crescent moon engraved into the white stone.
But Finley’s voice had become serious.
“How did you know there was a core there?”
“Huh?”
“Even people from the Mage Tower can’t easily see a core.”
His black eyes flashed sharply.
For the first time, I was reminded that this guy was one of the novel’s male leads.
Without realizing it, I shrank back.
Carlisle had also approached.
“Lowell…”
His red eyes stared straight through me.
I looked back and forth between the two men looming over me and swallowed hard.
My survival instincts whispered a warning.
I thought I was about to live an easy life...
But it looks like that dream is completely ruined.