A group of five people advanced toward me with slow, deliberate steps.
There was no haste in their movements, as if they were completely confident I wouldn't run—or perhaps because they didn't see me as a real threat.
They gradually spread out around me, not in a perfect circle, but in a wide semicircle, leaving a measured distance between us; enough to observe me, but close enough to prevent me from moving freely.
They stopped in their positions, each fixing their gaze on me in their own way—some with silent curiosity, others with clear coldness, while one watched my reactions closely, as if waiting for a single mistake.
I felt the air grow heavier, and the silence that hung over the place was not natural, but deliberate… a silence used to pressure rather than calm.
Amid this tension, Kar moved alone.
He took a single step, no more, as if he didn't want to appear reckless or arrogant.
