Day two was in full swing, and the air was already heavier, thick with anxiety. The slaves knew the auction was drawing closer. The new day watch, two guards Heuk-jae mentally labeled 'Bully-1' and 'Bully-2' (Strength 7, Intelligence 3), were more aggressive than the previous shift. Their method of maintaining order was simple: shouting and prodding with blunt sticks.
Heuk-jae kept his head down during the meager water ration, carefully scanning the faces around him. He needed to locate her—the Target of Opportunity.
The Healer. In the game and the novel, she was known by her original, humble name: Eun-ji.
Eun-ji was located in the third row from the door, exactly where the novel predicted. She wasn't visually remarkable; she was slight, dressed in the same coarse tunic as everyone else, and kept her long, dark hair covering most of her face. But the lore stated her hands were clean and conspicuously unmarked, protected by her family lineage.
In the brutal economy of The Evering, a commoner possessing any innate arcane talent—even low-level healing—was an unimaginable asset. The Main Questline heroes eventually recruited her after their failed, brute-force escape attempt left them grievously wounded.
Heuk-jae needed her now, before the auction list was finalized and she was removed for appraisal by the Crimson Baron—a cruel collector who specialized in high-value, magical assets.
He waited for a moment when both Bully-1 and Bully-2 were distracted by a commotion near the latrine bucket. He took a deep breath, shifted his weight, and—by lifting the loose floorboard—was free of the chain. He used his newly crafted Master Pick to quickly unlock and lock the collar, adjusting it to hang loosely so he could slip it off instantly if needed, then subtly locked it again.
He then moved, inch by silent inch, shuffling through the straw like a distressed prisoner until he was directly behind Eun-ji. The air between them was electric with the silent desperation of the other chained figures.
"The Iron Heart flower," Heuk-jae whispered, keeping his face low and his voice raspy, a perfect camouflage against the ambient misery.
Eun-ji flinched violently. Her head snapped up, revealing wide, dark eyes filled with terror and confusion. No one, absolutely no one, should know that term.
The Iron Heart was not a common medicinal herb; it was a rare, highly potent ingredient used only by her family line, the secret catalyst for their low-grade healing spells. The novel mentioned it once, deep in an appendix. It was an impossible piece of knowledge for any outsider.
She whispered back, her voice barely audible over a nearby guard's shout. "Who are you?"
"My name is Extra 14," Heuk-jae murmured, using his internal designation. "And I know that your grandmother didn't die from the fever. She was killed by a misplaced dose of Pollen of the Serpent's Tongue when it was mixed into her morning tea."
Eun-ji's eyes went impossibly wide. That specific, tragic detail was buried in the deepest depths of the novel's lore—a hidden, optional note found only after completing a complex 80-hour family feud side quest. It was a detail only a god or the game's developer could know.
"You are not an Extra," she breathed, fear replaced by an intense, analytical awe. "You are… a Seer."
"I am a strategist," Heuk-jae corrected, focusing his gaze on the back of his own neck, where the collar rested. "And right now, that strategy is centered on getting us both out of this box before Borin's midday check. You have three hours until the Crimson Baron's appraisers arrive."
He glanced quickly at the collar on her neck—the same Drake-Forge model as his.
"The collar is a simple pin tumbler," he continued, keeping his voice steady despite the adrenaline rush. "I have the tools and the schematic. But tools break, and my ability to heal myself from the resulting damage is non-existent. You, Eun-ji, are my insurance policy."
He leaned in closer, dropping the pitch of his voice to a near-silent command.
"Join me. Help me get us out. And I will ensure you live long enough to use that latent healing magic of yours, the kind that flares only when your life is in mortal danger."
Eun-ji stared at him, her chest rising and falling rapidly. He wasn't begging or promising power. He was offering a terrifying, highly optimized risk assessment. She was a survivalist, not a fighter.
After a tense moment, she gave a single, almost imperceptible nod.
"What is the first step, Seer?" she whispered.
"The first step is knowledge," Heuk-jae replied. "We need to know the disposition of the two guards on the 14:00 shift. Their names are Rexus and Kael. In the game, Rexus is superstitious and Kael is greedy. I need you to find out which one is currently wearing the silver ring."