With Mark resting on the bed in the back, Suzy thoughtfully pulled the privacy curtain closed for him.
She then took a seat on the couch, retrieved a few snacks from her spatial realm, and pulled up the navigation route.
After several trips, she’d come to realize that the GPS was essentially useless now—relying on it like she used to was no longer an option. So many roads had been utterly destroyed by natural disasters that they were completely impassable, leaving her with no choice but to take long detours or force her way through.
Pen and paper in hand, Suzy began sketching a rough map.
Just as she finished the outline, the system—which had been MIA for a while—suddenly popped back up.
[Host!]
Its voice sounded unusually flustered.
"What’s wrong?" Suzy set down her pen, adding, "Where were you just now? I called out to you earlier, but you didn’t respond at all."
[...I got blocked again.]
Blocked??
Suzy froze, letting out a sharp gasp. "Since when?"
Truth be told, she didn’t interact with the system all that frequently; she only reached out when she had a specific question. Most of the time, they stayed out of each other’s way.
She genuinely had no idea when the signal had been cut off—after all, the system disappeared out of nowhere all the time, and she’d grown used to it.
But vanishing on its own and being forcefully blocked were two entirely different things!
Damn this world, targeting me again!
A wave of helpless frustration washed over her. Taking a deep breath to collect herself, she reasoned that it wasn’t the end of the world—at least nothing catastrophic had happened.
"When exactly were you blocked?" she asked once she’d settled her nerves.
The system’s tone turned strangely cryptic.
[Right after he appeared.]
"He?"
[The guy on the bed.]
"You mean Mark?"
Having only just been unblocked, the system had no idea what had transpired between them, nor did it know the boy’s name. It paused for a second before answering.
[Yes.]
Now it was Suzy’s turn to be completely bewildered. "Huh?"
Why?? Why would Mark’s presence block the system?
"System... are you sure you didn’t get it wrong? How do you know it was because of him?"
[I’m certain.]
[I lost connection with you the moment he appeared.]
The system spoke with absolute conviction. It had tracked the exact timing: the link severed the moment she got close to Mark. He was the sole variable.
"But... that doesn’t make sense," Suzy muttered. "If it really was because of him, you shouldn’t be able to reach me right now either..."
He was still lying right back there, fast asleep and merely a few feet away. If his presence was truly the trigger, how was the system talking to her effortlessly right now?
[Did you do anything to him?]
"Do anything...? Does feeding him some spiritual spring water count?"
The system fell quiet, attempting to piece together a logical link between the two, but came up empty.
[...Maybe.]
Suzy glanced toward the back of the RV. Mark was still dead to the world, completely motionless and quiet. He looked like nothing more than a harmless, exceptionally pretty boy.
A thought struck her. She stood up, walked to the rear, and slowly pulled back the curtain.
His pale, quiet face quickly came back into view.
"System, can you hear me now?" she checked internally.
[Yes.]
Hearing its answer, Suzy breathed a quiet sigh of relief, though the mystery only deepened. Even at this close distance, the signal wasn’t blocked.
"What about now? Still there?"
As she asked, she reached out and grabbed Mark’s hand.
[Yes.]
The system’s reply was as crisp as ever, though now tinged with a hint of utter confusion.
So it’s not blocking it now?
Both she and the system fell completely silent.
[Could I... have gotten it wrong?]
For the first time, the system was starting to doubt itself.
"Could it be that there was something wrong with that spot earlier?" Suzy muttered to herself.
[...Perhaps.]
The result of her quick test had left even the system utterly stumped. If Mark were truly the cause, things shouldn’t have turned out like this.
On the bed, Mark remained fast asleep. Suzy let go of his hand and retreated to the couch.
Leaning back, her eyes drifted over to the curtain. Through the thin fabric, she could vaguely make out the outline of his sleeping form. He rested quietly, his breathing low and even.
"By the way, System, I have a question," she spoke up softly.
[Go ahead, Host.]
"Is he really not a romance target?"
The system didn’t respond immediately. After a long silence, it finally spoke:
[He is not.]
"Seriously...?" Suzy was genuinely surprised, with a hint of regret. "Are you sure your sensors aren’t malfunctioning? Take a good look at that face—are you positive he doesn’t qualify?"
Purely from an aesthetic standpoint, this guy didn’t lose out to the likes of Derek in the slightest. Even Richard Stone had been classified as a target, and Mark’s looks blew Richard out of the water.
[The criteria for romance targets have nothing to do with physical appearance. Mark does not meet the requirements.]
"What requirements?"
[I cannot fully elaborate. However, it is certain that he is not on the system’s identifiable list of targets.]
Suzy cast another glance at the curtain, her lips twitching as if she were contemplating something, but in the end, she didn’t push the matter further.
"Fine. If you say he isn’t, he isn’t."
It really was a bit of a shame, though. If Mark were a target, binding him and grinding his favorability up to 60 points wouldn’t have been too hard. That would’ve been two free rewards in the bag.
Too bad he wasn’t one.
Outside, the rain was gradually letting up, the dense pitter-patter thinning out as the storm drew to a close.
Suzy pulled the curtain aside just enough to let the pale daylight filter through the rain-streaked window, casting a soft layer of dim light inside.
Lowering her head, she resumed sketching her map.
A long time passed before she finally set her pen down. Looking out the window, she realized the sky had already dimmed. Darkness had fallen.
Time had slipped away without her noticing.
She stretched her stiff fingers and looked back toward the curtain. She’d been so absorbed in drawing that she’d completely lost track of time—and ignored the quiet from the bed.
It was too quiet.
Ever since her exchange with the system—no, even before that—Mark hadn’t made a single sound.
An uneasy feeling crept over her.
Suzy stood up, walked over, and lifted a corner of the curtain. Mark was still lying in the exact same position as before.
"Mark?" she called out softly.
No response.
"Mark? Mark!" She patted his cheek.
The moment her fingers touched him, she realized his skin was terrifyingly hot—an unnatural, scorching heat that far exceeded a normal fever.
She instinctively snapped her hand back, but in the very next second, she pressed her fingers back down and peeled open his eyelid. His pupils were dilated, completely unreactive to the light.
Suzy swiftly pulled out a bottle of spiritual spring water and forced it down his throat, pouring in an entire large bottle this time.
Only when the bottle ran completely dry did she slowly set it down.
This was already his third dose.
"System, is there something wrong with the spiritual water?" Suzy couldn’t help asking.
By all logic, after drinking this much spiritual water, he should have recovered by now. Yet instead of improving, his condition had taken a turn for the worse.
This scene felt eerily familiar.