Why would someone crawl out of a manhole in an alley?
Who was he?
What had he gone down there to do?
What good things were hidden below? Treasure, or... a secret?
Kraun froze. He pulled up his pants, and his expression grew hesitant. He clearly wanted to go down and take a look, but he was just short of the courage to do so.
So he stood blankly in the shadows at the corner, staring at the manhole cover that hadn't been fully closed as a fierce struggle raged in his mind.
The three players watched this scene, all wanting to give him a hand. Yet they tacitly chose to remain still. When an ordinary life reached a turning point, no one was willing to forcefully alter the plot. They all wanted to know what choice Kraun would make.
Kraun didn't choose... The coward seemed to have given up.
He still didn't move. So much time passed that the scholar had finished his work and returned to the alley, yet Kraun remained hunched in the corner, frowning in thought.
At this point, they had no choice but to help.
The scholar would definitely see that his manhole cover hadn't been secured. Once he realized that the greatest secret of this town was about to be discovered by an experimental variable, he would surely search the surrounding area carefully to ensure that the secret hadn't been exposed. But Kraun was too close. In his haste, the scholar might not notice him, but with one close look, he would definitely discover that a young man was hiding there.
Thus, the players had no choice but to act. Even so, their method of acting left not the slightest trace.
Cheng Shi pointed at a small patch of thin ice underfoot, then glanced