“He resisted heavily.”
I understood his meaning without needing further explanation.
No wonder he seemed devoid of emotion; there was a reason for his excessive loyalty to Igor.
The man named Rod was not acting under blackmail; he was simply being controlled by the Slave Bug.
This was the first time I had seen a person actually infected, having only been threatened a few times myself, so I hadn’t made the connection right away.
‘…That’s pitiful.’
In that case, his rough actions toward me couldn’t be considered his will.
He must have been forced to move solely according to Igor’s command.
“Mr. Mateo, are there any secret passages in the mansion?”
Time was running out, so I skipped the preamble and asked directly.
Even as I spoke, I kept looking back toward the entrance, worried that Rod might suddenly burst in.
But for some reason, Mateo and the others were awkwardly looking at each other.
Not a single person readily stepped forward to explain things to me.
“I’m sorry I can’t be of help… It’s not that we haven’t tried.”
An awkward silence followed, and finally, Mateo spoke carefully.
Just seeing him unable to lift his head told me he was blaming himself.
“You couldn’t find anything, no matter how hard you looked?”
“No… Actually, we haven’t been able to search properly. If we get caught, we’re dragged away somewhere. We don’t even know if the people who disappeared that way are still alive.”
In short, he was holding back because he was afraid of being dragged away too.
In this desperate situation, who could blame him?
He didn’t need to feel guilty for an action taken to survive.
“I’ll figure out a way somehow.”
I didn’t get the information I wanted in the end, but it was really time to leave.
Perhaps I might have a little time to look around the mansion before Rod caught me.
If I did run into him, I could simply pretend to be lost while looking for the bathroom.
Would he let it slide if I claimed ignorance on my first day?
But that thought was shattered by the time I reached the top of the stairs.
A large figure was standing silently in front of the wide-open fireplace.
His presence was revealed soon enough.
Rod was holding a potion bottle in one hand and seemed to have been waiting for a long time, as he showed no sign of movement.
‘What? Why didn’t he come in?’
He should have rushed in to catch me, but he was stopped at the entrance, as if blocked by an invisible barrier.
Could it be that he couldn’t come in rather than wouldn’t?
Looking closely, one of his heels was subtly lifting and dropping.
“It’s time to return to the room.”
Even so, his attitude toward me had subtly changed.
I expected him to throw me over his shoulder or grab my hair as before, but surprisingly, he just roughly pulled my forearm.
Rather than acting on Igor’s command, he seemed somewhat confused.
A slight change was evident in his expression for the first time, as if there was interference.
“…”
However, it was only for a fleeting moment, and Rod quickly reverted to his usual face.
I worried he might interrogate me about the basement, but he showed no such sign.
In the end, he quietly pushed me into the room without pressing me for answers.
I was secretly baffled about how to interpret his indifferent reaction.
Perhaps I should be thankful that I didn’t have to make any excuses.
Chirp!
As soon as the door closed, Chirpy, who was hiding under the blanket, quickly darted out.
It hopped excitedly on my head, then clung to my hand wrapped in a napkin, sniffing my nose.
It seemed to have smelled the blood.
“It’s okay, I’ll just treat it. Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”
I sat down on the sofa, uncapping the potion Rod had thrown at me.
I carefully unwrapped the blood-soaked napkin, revealing a deep gash in my palm.
Since it would be a disaster if it healed with glass fragments still inside, I thoroughly examined the wound before pouring the potion into it.
“He did give me a top-grade potion, though.”
I ran my hand over the instantly smooth palm and looked at Chirpy, who was right next to me, watching.
It was standing on two feet, still twitching its nose, as if utterly curious.
I gently stroked its chin and sighed softly.
It seemed Chirpy’s help was unavoidable if I was to escape from here.
“Chirpy, can you turn into smoke for a moment?”
At my words, Chirpy, who was clinging to my hand, brightened its eyes and leapt into the air.
Judging by its excitement, it seemed to have realized that I needed its help.
‘Is it that happy?’
I stared intently at Chirpy, who was shimmering white as usual, and seriously rubbed my mouth.
“Um… Could the smoke color be a little more transparent? It’s too noticeable right now.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Chirpy began to emit colorful light.
I had witnessed it once before in the uninhabited island dungeon, but it was a truly amazing and astonishing sight to see again.
Chirpy wobbled for a while, as if showing off, and then gradually became hazy.
But it didn’t work as well as expected; it disappeared and reappeared repeatedly, blinking like a flash light.
Unlike its confident demeanor a moment ago, it seemed quite flustered.
“Chirpy…”
Just as I was about to tell it that it was okay, the struggling spirit completely vanished from sight.
After its hard work, it had finally achieved transparency.
Perhaps because my body was that of an ordinary person now, I couldn’t even feel the slightest bit of energy.
I had experienced transparency before, so I thought I would be able to see it even a little, but it was impossible.
Which made sense, since Lee Donghyuk was A-Rank at the time, and Chirpy was an S-Rank spirit.
It was only natural that there would be a difference, even factoring in the loss of my abilities.
“Wow, I can’t see it at all.”
I let out a small exclamation and looked in the direction where Chirpy was likely to be.
Then, the spirit, who had somehow descended onto the table, slowly revealed itself.
“You did so well, my Chirpy.”
I cheered up the spirit, which seemed dejected because it took a while.
It looked upset that it couldn’t perform the transparency as skillfully as it had thought.
Fortunately, my praise seemed to work, and I took the now-cheered-up Chirpy and moved to the door.
I subtly turned the doorknob, and as expected, it was firmly locked.
“Can you pass through this gap? I think you might be able to if you turn into smoke…”
I lay flat on the floor, peering through the narrow gap under the door.
Even in a near-crawling position, only a faint light seeped through, and I couldn’t see the situation outside at all.
“Wait.”
Just then, I quickly snatched the spirit, who was trembling as if to turn invisible again.
A pitch-black shadow had suddenly appeared through the gap in the door.
Click.
The door soon opened, and Rod appeared at an unexpected moment.
I was still sprawled on the floor, having hurriedly hidden Chirpy.
Too flustered, I could only roll my eyes and look up at him.
“…”
Rod stopped abruptly in front of the door, silently watching me.
Just by his indifferent expression, it was clear that he wasn’t at all curious about why I was doing this.
Having missed the timing to get up, an unintentionally awkward standoff ensued.
I was seriously debating whether to stand up right now, but his mouth opened first.
“You only need to wear this gown when attending to the bath.”
With that, he handed me an item of clothing.
It was clearly a very thin, flimsy gown.
The hand holding the clothing was visible through the material, so it was obvious that my body would be completely exposed without even trying it on.
But my expression wasn’t only twisted because of the clothing.
“What are you talking about? Attending to the bath?”
“It won’t be difficult. Just sincerely wash his body and…”
“No, that’s not what I was asking!”
I shouted and immediately stood up. I wondered why he would ask me to prepare his bathwater, of all things.
No matter how much of a pervert this bastard was, demanding I attend to his bath was insane.
“The water temperature must be maintained at 38 degrees Celsius. I repeat, wear only the gown, nothing else.”
Despite my strong reaction, Rod simply left after delivering his message.
I knew it was because of the Slave Bug, but my stomach was churning, and I felt like grabbing his collar right away.
“F*ck…”
I couldn’t help but curse.
What was even more frustrating was that I had to act meekly as he wished until I found a way out.
If I refused now, there was no telling when he would pull out a Slave Bug, just like he did with Rod.
“That goddamn, f*cking pervert bastard…”
I reluctantly unfolded the see-through gown I was holding, but it wasn’t even worth calling clothes.
My body was exposed even when it was dry, so there was no need to say more about how it would look when wet.
‘Is there no way to escape?’
I racked my brain, agonizing over it, but I couldn’t think of anything, and time relentlessly slipped away.
Knock, knock.
“Prepare the bathwater.”
A moment later, Rod’s voice, which I didn’t want to hear, came with a brief knock.
It meant that Igor’s arrival was not far off.
‘Did he really just go to check and come back? Even so, it’s too fast.’
I, who was sitting on the bed, let out a deep sigh and covered my face with both hands.
There was truly no way out now.
All I could do was hope that the bath attendance would pass without incident.
Slide.
I procrastinated as much as possible, slowly took off my clothes one by one, and put on the gown in my naked state.
It was so light and thin that it hardly felt like I was wearing anything.
And my first feeling when I saw myself in the mirror was this:
“…Should I just bite my tongue and die?”
