* * *

“Heewon, what’s going on? You’re acting strange.”

“Uncle, actually…”

Even after starting to speak, the words wouldn’t come easily.

As I hesitated, he patted my shoulder reassuringly.

“If it’s hard to talk about, you don’t have to.”

“No, it’s just… I’ve been seeing something strange recently.”

“Something strange? Like what you and Shinhae dealt with?”

“No, this is different…”

I swallowed dryly.

Even I couldn’t fully believe the experience, so telling someone else was even harder.

“It was an incredibly vivid hallucination. Not just visually—it felt real in every way: smell, touch, sound… But the content was absurd. The problem is that it feels like it actually happened. That’s what’s so unsettling…”

The fear and confusion were overwhelming.

It was absurd, but it felt like the events in that vision would soon unfold.

“What kind of hallucination was it?”

“…You died in an accident. I was taken back to the lab, where I was experimented on until I was grown. Then… I killed everyone there.”

It was a topic I felt uneasy bringing up to him.

A man who sacrificed promotions to safeguard society’s safety and order, and here I was confessing a crime—even if only in a hallucination.

I glanced at him.

His serious gaze carried affection and concern. Unchanging, unwavering.

My anxiety eased a little.

“How long has this been happening? It’s not ongoing, is it?”

“No. It started during the lab raid. That’s when I saw it…”

His expression darkened, clearly deep in thought.

Even after spilling my heart, I felt guilty for worrying him unnecessarily.

This wasn’t something he could solve for me anyway.

“It’s probably nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Nothing, huh?”

“It might just be old memories overlapping in strange ways.”

“If it’s enough to make you bring it up to me, it’s not a small matter. You hate worrying me, after all.”

He hit the nail on the head, leaving me with no rebuttal.

He seemed to be taking this more seriously than I was.

“I may not be able to fix this myself, but let’s at least get you checked out.”

“Checked out?”

“It could be poison or a curse.”

“I’ve already done a preliminary check, though…”

Before coming to talk to him, I had used antidote skills and protective charms from Shinhae, just to be safe.

“We need to confirm for sure. Hold on.”

He immediately pulled out his phone and made a call. The recipient was Shinhae.

“Shinhae, sorry to bother you, but I’ve got an urgent situation. Mind if I bring Heewon over?”

─ Of course! Come anytime. I’ll be waiting.

Shinhae’s enthusiastic voice came through the receiver, sounding more than ready to drop everything.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

Everything was moving so quickly.

The man rarely acted so abruptly—it showed how seriously he was taking this.

I felt a warm happiness knowing how much he cared.

It was comforting, especially since, unlike in the hallucination, he was alive and looking after me.

…Maybe I do need to get checked out.

I was starting to accept the hallucination as reality.

The man took the wheel himself, deeming the matter urgent.

The car sped off and soon arrived at Shinhae’s workshop.

Shinhae was pacing by the entrance.

I had never seen him waiting for someone like this.

As soon as he spotted our car, he rushed over.

“Teacher, you’re here?”

“Sorry to bother you so often.”

“No need to apologize. I’m always here to help, especially for Heewon—he’s like a little brother to me.”

Shinhae laughed awkwardly, like a fool, as he spoke.

Was it possible to like someone that much, even if they were your savior?

Maybe he had become a fan after being saved by the man.

Who knows—his room might even be filled with merchandise of him.

The man walked into the workshop and quickly explained my condition.

Hearing the details, Shinhae’s expression turned serious in an instant.

“Let’s check immediately. As it happens, I have a diagnostic machine ready to go before shipment. It’s still in the testing phase, but…”

“That’s great. Please, Shinhae.”

“Of course. This machine is built with top-grade S-class materials. There’s nothing more accurate than this. If there’s an issue, it will definitely show up,” Shinhae declared confidently.

The diagnostic machine resembled those in hospitals.

After changing into lighter clothes and lying on the device, it hummed to life and began the scan.

About ten minutes later, Shinhae stopped the machine, and I got off.

His face was grim as he read the results.

“What is it? Bad news?”

“No, it says you’re normal.”

Hearing “normal” didn’t offer any relief.

It only meant the cause was unknown.

If it were poison or a curse, at least there’d be a way to resolve it…

The man’s face darkened, and Shinhae, who had been watching from the side, looked equally downcast.

“Sir, I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”

“No, just running the test is a big help. Thank you, Shinhae.”

“Not at all. This is the least I could do. If you need anything, just ask. I’ll help however I can.”

“Thank you. Just hearing that means a lot.”

Though it didn’t seem like mere words.

When the man patted his shoulder, Shinhae broke into a goofy grin.

It looked a bit ridiculous.

After smiling sheepishly for a moment, Shinhae’s eyes lit up as if he’d thought of something.

“Ah, I don’t have solid evidence, but there’s something that comes to mind. It might be a very peculiar ‘abnormal status.’”

“Abnormal status?”

“I only heard about it, but remember the dungeon break that Heewon resolved?”

“Oh, yeah.”

The man groaned, as if something had just clicked for him.

It seemed like he’d realized something.

“That dungeon? Why?”

“That dungeon… It didn’t have a boss monster, so it couldn’t close. Instead, there was an area filled with a black smoke-like substance. But it’s not really smoke—it’s some sort of barrier that you can’t break through. It’s incredibly frustrating. Sometimes, people manage to enter, but they always experience severe dizziness and can’t stay conscious…”

I remembered hearing complaints from coworkers about how they were nervous because the gate was nearby.

I had wondered why the dungeon hadn’t closed despite it being overdue, but it seemed there was a story behind it.

Come to think of it, in the dungeon where Yeon came from, she was the boss monster.

Could it be that this dungeon’s boss is Noeul?

If that’s the case, the disappearance of the boss monster would make sense…

…I don’t know. If that’s the logic, then Yeon’s dungeon or the one with Dust shouldn’t have closed either.

Besides, my theory that Dust and Noeul are boss monsters is just speculation.

There was no certainty about anything. Everything was shrouded in mystery.

“You entered that smoke-filled area before and came out fine, right? Unlike Nahongju. That might be a clue.”

“Maybe…”

“If the black smoke is the cause, then the solution must be found there.”

It seemed like I’d have to venture into the dungeon at least once.

As I considered this, the man grabbed my shoulder.

“Heewon.”

“Yes?”

“If you go into the dungeon, take me or Gunho with you. Don’t go alone. Got it?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

“Promise me again.”

“…Yes, I promise.”

The fact that he was unusually persistent about getting a definitive answer made it clear that I’d really troubled him this time.

✧✧✧

Today’s horoscope warned me of terrible luck—the kind where even falling backward would break your nose.

It’s frustrating how the bad predictions always turn out to be true while the good ones never do.

There was no good news, to say the least.

Yesterday, the test results came back for the substance Kanghoon had tried to make me ingest.

It turned out to be a type of hallucinogen that forces the user to relive their traumas in vivid detail.

What on earth was he planning to do by making me take such a thing?

To attempt it twice, so persistently…

The hallucination I’d experienced left me uneasy.

Could the Baekmyeon cult possibly know about what I saw in that vision? It shouldn’t be possible.

Digging into Kanghoon’s connections hadn’t yielded much, either.

He claimed not to remember where he got the drug.

Even the Hunter Bureau’s telepath tried extracting a confession, but to no avail—probably because his memories were tampered with, just like what Kim Kyungmin did to the Somang Guild hunters.

That’s not to say there were no leads at all.

A thorough investigation revealed that Kanghoon’s movements overlapped with those of a high-ranking member of the Baekmyeon cult several times.

There were also phone records.

They said this could be used to pressure him, but for now, it seemed more digging was required.

“Damn it. What the hell?”

While lost in thought after lunch, Assistant Lee suddenly cried out in alarm.

Normally not one to speak so harshly, her outburst made me look up.

“Baek Gunho was just bombed!”

“…What?”

“It’s breaking news! He’s in critical condition—there’s even a video of him being carried away…”

What nonsense was she talking about?

There was no way Baek Gunho could be taken down like that.

She must be mistaken.

I opened my phone to check the news.

Articles flooded in, one after another.

Some were even claiming that Baek Gunho’s life was in danger.

* * *