Damian was not expecting them to go that far to get information. The examiners hadn't said anything about the prohibition of fighting, so Damian guessed it wasn't against the rules.

"I really don't have time for this," Damian said. "Can't we just leave it be?"

He wasn't scared of them, since they were both weaker than him, but he didn't want to get into trouble with the other participants.

Still, they weren't backing down. In fact, they kept moving forward, closing the distance between them and Damian. He was about to make his move when someone showed up.

It was one of the hunters.

"Fights aren't allowed in the hotel," the hunter said. "If I see one of you doing this again, both of you will be disqualified."

The hunters were rigid when it came to the rules. They hadn't said fighting was prohibited, but that didn't mean it wasn't. The examiners were always watching the participants and were ready to interfere to keep things from going sideways.

The man put away his dagger, and the two of them left, throwing Damian a deadly glare as they passed. It was discomforting, to say the least, but Damian wasn't too concerned with them—they were weak.

"Are you alright?" the hunter asked.

Damian nodded. "Yes, I am. Thank you for the help."

"It was nothing. If they try something again, just let me know."

With that, the hunter left.

Now alone, Damian made his way to the room he was staying in. No one was there. Mathias, his current roommate, was off somewhere else, looking for a place to use the key they had found.

Damian began his search. He looked under the bed, behind every piece of furniture, and inside every piece of furniture too.

A few rugs were suspiciously placed in specific areas of the room. For a moment, Damian thought he had found something, but after pulling the rugs aside, he realized there was nothing there.

"Damn it," he said, punching his bed. "Where the hell is the answer?"

The note said they should look in the obvious place. What could be more obvious than the room they were staying in?

Just like that, hours passed. Damian met with Mathias and the two girls to share what they had found, and unfortunately, no one had discovered a place to use the key.

They gathered at the restaurant, sitting around a table. Damian felt really weighed down by everything. It was starting to get on his nerves.

Time was ticking, and if they didn't find a way to pass the test, they would lose their chance at getting a hunter ID. None of them wanted that.

But just when things were starting to feel hopeless, one of the girls had something to share. It wasn't the place where they could use the key, but it was still useful.

"But I did find something," the girl said. "There's a duo who also has a key, like we do. I talked to them and secured a secret meeting with them right after we finish eating."

"Why can't they just speak with us here?" Damian asked.

After that duo who had tried to attack him in the hallway, Damian was feeling a little cautious toward others.

"I don't know," the girl said. "Maybe they just don't want this news to spread? Not everyone has found a key, and time is ticking. The participants are getting desperate."

It made sense. Damian sat there eating, glancing at the other tables filled with participants. The hunters had called everyone to eat together for some reason.

Then something clicked in Damian's mind. He saw how every table was being used, and how many participants were actually there. He started counting them, one by one, until he realized something.

"Everyone is already here!" Damian thought.

The number of participants in the restaurant matched almost exactly the number he had guessed earlier. But when he first arrived at the island, there hadn't been nearly that many people on the boat.

The reason was simple: some of them were already on the island before he even got there.

The examiners must have spoken with certain participants, ordering them to arrive early because of the test. Everything was starting to make sense.

Damian suddenly had an idea about where to look. The "obvious place" mentioned in the note could be the boat they had used to get there.

There had to be a reason the examiners said another boat would arrive. If it wasn't important, they wouldn't have bothered to mention it.

For now, Damian kept his guess to himself. There was no need to share it with the others until he had proof. He would wait to meet the other duo after dinner to see if they had something else for him.

After dinner, all the participants left. Some returned to their rooms, while others kept searching the hotel for more information about the test.

Damian, Mathias, and the two girls met with the duo for a private talk. They chose to meet in a place Damian knew all too well: the door marked "Staff Only."

And the duo they were meeting? It was the same pair who had gone underground that time. Damian and Mathias had seen them enter, followed shortly after by two hunters who dragged them out for some reason.

Because of that, Damian wasn't sure if they had any real information to share. It could all be nonsense. Still, he decided to hear them out.

When they met, the duo said—much to Damian's surprise—"So you're the ones who found the key? We know you followed us here before."

Damian had thought they hadn't noticed him at all—he'd tried his best to avoid drawing attention while tailing them—but apparently that hadn't worked.

"Yes, we did," Damian admitted with an awkward smile. "Let's put that in the past, alright?"

The duo laughed. "Don't worry. It's not like we found anything useful down there. Two hunters came to grab us and drag us back. Apparently that area's off limits… Anyway, what do you know about the key?"

They were the ones who had asked for this meeting, yet they were already demanding answers from Damian. He didn't like that.

"We don't know anything yet," he said. "That's why we're here. We thought maybe you knew something."

The duo decided to share what they had found. Curiously, the note that came with their key was different from the one Damian had.

He showed them his own note.

"So maybe we need to find other places to use the key? That makes things harder," the duo said. "This means we can't work together."

It could be that, sure—but Damian didn't think so.

"I think there are just a few notes, maybe five different ones, and that's it. No fucking way they've got multiple places to use the keys. If there were that many, it'd be way easier for us to find one," Damian said.

The others seemed to buy the idea.

"Yeah, that makes sense. It's just a way to make sure everything isn't in the same place, but not so many options that it becomes easy for everyone to find," one of the girls said.

Damian was hesitant, unsure if it was a good idea to share the guess he had about where the key might be used.

"So what do we do now?" someone asked.

They still didn't know if working together was possible.

"I believe each location might contain more than one place to use the key," Damian said. "It makes sense, considering they want a high number of people passing this test—it's only the beginning, after all. So, if you find the place, share it with us. And if we find it, we'll share it with you. How about that?"

For Damian, that was the only way they could help each other. The duo liked the idea.

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

They shook hands to seal the deal, then went their separate ways.

The girls turned to Damian."But do we even have an idea of where to look? We're running out of time."

While they were anxious, Damian was calm. He was convinced his guess was the right one. The answer was on the boat that would be arriving soon.

"Relax," he said. "I think I know what to do. Trust me, alright?"

He tried to give them confidence, but it didn't really work. Not that he cared.

Damian returned to his room and stayed there for the night, enjoying the view from the window. From up there, he could see the lake—it was beautiful.

He lingered for hours, staring out into the night. He wasn't sleepy, and there wasn't much else he could do, so relaxing there was the best option.

But then he spotted something. A boat.

The one that was supposed to arrive in the morning had instead come during the late-night hours.

It didn't dock at the island, either. It stayed farther out, hidden in the darkness. Damian could see it only thanks to his Demon Eye—without it, he would have seen nothing.

"I should go check it out," he thought.

And so, Damian left his room in the middle of the night.

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