"What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that? Is it that shocking that I managed to return alive?"

Calvin furrowed his eyebrows and revealed a wronged look on his face.

"You... You're back!" Scarlett cried out.

"Yeah, I am... I also brought some drinks from a nearby vending machine. I thought you guys must be thirsty. Sadly, I didn't find any vending machine that has some food so, I only managed to bring these." Calvin entered the room, closed the door, turned on the lights, and placed the bulky plastic bag on the table amidst the shocked gazes of everyone.

"Holy shit! You really managed to return! What the hell man... I thought for sure, you were dead..." Nicholas approached him and sat on the opposite couch.

"How...? How did you come back here alive? Isn't that monster earlier still roaming the area?"

Rose said in an incredulous voice.

Calvin nodded his head, 'This is a good opportunity to teach them the weakness of the Butcher.' He thought before replying, "Yeah, that big fat bastard is still in the area. But it was actually quite easy to avoid him. You just need to make sure that your footsteps are silent. Also, his footsteps make that distinct slick, cracking sound and it's also quite loud..."

"So, you are saying that you managed to avoid him by positioning?" Ray believed that Calvin really did think of this asylum as a video game. This was the reason why he used the word "positioning". It was so that Calvin could understand what he was talking about.

"Yeah, as long as your positioning is good and you're not breathing too loud and rough..."

"That big fucking guy won't hear you." Calvin casually said.

He then turned to look at the girls huddled over at the corner.

Taking a few bottles of beverage, he walked over to them and said.

"Hmmm... Scarlett, Jane, Zahra, and Medea, right? Come with us to the couch. It must be painful sitting on the ground like that. The couch is wide anyway, so it will fit all of us. Furthermore, since I already have a map. We can make some plans while quenching our thirsts." Calvin gave a gentle smile.

Jane slightly blushed upon seeing his smile.

Scarlett was taken aback, while Zahra turned her gaze away from his eyes. 

Only Medea remained indifferent as she stood up without saying anything and walked to the couch at the center of the room.

"Look, Medea's already moving. Stand up and come with us already!" Calvin urged the three.

Scarlett's pale skin became filled with redness as she blushed and said, "Th-Thank you... And I'm... I'm really sorry... I'm sorry that you had to go out alone and make the map for us."

"Hahaha..." Calvin lightly chuckled, "It's fine, it's fine... You don't have to apologize. We're a team, so we should work together. That includes giving out individual responsibilities to each team member. In this case, let's just say that I'm serving as the scout of the team." Calvin winked at her, eliciting a deeper response from the Scarlett.

"O-Okay..."

She took his hand and stood up.

Jane also glanced at Calvin and said in a soft voice, "Th-Thank you..."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Calvin smiled at her and shook his head, 'Dang... To think that the girl with the most potential of everyone in here would be such a timid girl! However, I bet that after this baptism of blood, she won't be such a scaredy-cat anymore. I can't really do anything, I have no other choice but to hope that she won't die in this godforsaken place.'

"Hey bro, can I get that Coke instead? Take this Pepsi."

"No man, I had this Coke first, so it's mine..."

The group sat together on the couches.

The women were silent, but the men were already laughing with each other. Save for Hugo and Calvin.

Calvin turned to look at Hugo who was still sitting on the dark corner.

He approached him and said, "It looks like you're not that comfortable being with us."

"No... That's not it..."

Hugo shook his head, his hesitation appeared on his face, but it quickly disappeared as fast as it appeared.

But Calvin whose eyes were trained caught on that display of emotion as he sat beside him and said, "Do you mind if I ask? What caused you to distance yourself from the others?"

Hugo stared right at Calvin.

It was obvious that he had a lot to say, but out of fear. He stopped himself from saying anything.

"Come on man..." Calvin slapped Hugo's shoulder, "Just tell me already! We are teammates and I won't judge you for it!"

"No, you don't understand..." Hugo shook his head once more.

"No, I do understand."

"You're hesitating because you are afraid that I will know of that bloodthirsty nature of yours and get disgusted by it, right?" Calvin accurately pointed out and revealed Hugo's insecurities.

"Wha... What are you talking about?" Panic flashed across Hugo's eyes as he turned his gaze away from Calvin.

Staring at a tall and bulky man whose body was a spitting image of the Rock acting so embarrassed was quite amusing for Calvin.

"You don't really have to hide that nature from me. Let me tell you this... I came from a family of military veterans and I am incredibly familiar with that nature of yours. Just because you have honed your killing intent to such an extent after killing dozens of villains, doesn't mean that you will hurt innocent people!"

"That's like saying that cars are bad because they can kill people!" 

Calvin even made an analogy.

Yet, it seemed that Hugo was even more confused.

Lifting a bitter smile, Calvin thought, 'Hugo's definitely a musclehead. Or could it be that my analogy was just too complicated to understand for an average person.' 

"Well, in other words, I am saying that it's not your fault... Your nature is not your fault, and it's not your problem to have everyone accept you. You need to know that you cannot please everyone, so instead of trying to do a futile job such as that. How about you just let nature runs its course and practice the art of not giving a fuck?"

"In short, don't let it get into you, all right?" Calvin said a lot of words, yet he summarized everything that he wanted to say in a single sentence. Patting Hugo's shoulders, the bulky man seemed to have been convinced as he stood up and walked with Calvin to the couches.

"You..." Rose was startled upon seeing Hugo approaching them, "Why are you here?"

"Why not?" Calvin's eyes dangerously narrowed.

"Hi-Hieek!" Rose immediately cowered upon seeing the scarlet light within his eyes.

She hid behind the pale Jane and visibly trembled in fear.

"You..." Hugo absentmindedly uttered.

How could he not understand what Calvin did to Rose?

Calvin scared Rose so easily because he released a trace of his killing intent!

As a retired member of that team... Hugo was extremely sensitive to killing intent.

However, Calvin was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. How could he have any killing intent?

Only those who danced across the battlefield and killed dozens or even hundreds of others could possibly have any killing intent!

Why does he have it?!

Hugo was thoroughly astounded.

Calvin blinked and his killing intent disappeared.

He then glanced at Hugo and said, "See?"

"You're not the only one who has a bloodthirsty nature, so don't feel bad about it!"

Hugo stared wide-eyed at Calvin before he let out a silly smile.

Words were unnecessary between the two men as Hugo sat on the couch beside Calvin.

After making sure that everyone's attention was on him...

Calvin slowly declared.

"We will now start on making appropriate plans on how we could escape from this place based on the map that I made..."

The newbies started their discussion and it was only until two hours later did they felt satisfied with the results of their plan.

"The outside corridor is safe and there's only one way to go. The real horrors are outside this air vent that I discovered, what about it? Are you guys ready?"

"Yes!"

The others promptly replied.

With the sheer number of plans that they held in their hands, how could they not be ready?

What's left for them to do at this moment was to go out there and face their fears!

Calvin nodded his head.

He reached for the doorknob, twisted it, and then opened the doors to the outside corridors.