The comments weren't very nice.
—...I didn't come here to watch you go into some sort of abandoned factory!
—Fuck, I'm going to leave if you don't talk about the incident. Also, why is he wearing sunglasses again?
—Lmao! The maniac is back!
—Did you do it or not?
—Fucking answer. Agh, shit! This is so fucking annoying!
—I feel scammed.
I looked at my phone and put it away a moment later.
That was also the moment when I turned my attention towards the drone hovering right before me.
"You can all leave if you wish. I know a lot of you are interested in other things, but I'm not going to answer them. At least, not now. Perhaps, I might reveal a few things here and there during the stream. Who knows...?"
I suddenly paused.
"...There might even be a chance that something might happen during the stream that might give away the answer."
Since I didn't have my phone with me, I couldn't see the chat's reactions firsthand. But judging from the startled yelp that came from Jamie's side, I could tell whatever had just happened definitely made an impact.
I gave him a look, and he put the phone away.
"Ehm."
He cleared his throat, turning his attention towards the drone.
"Should I get started then? I think it's best if I give a bit of a description of where we're at, so that everyone has an idea of the setting of the place."
Clearing his throat again, Jamie started to give the background of the place.
"This place used to be part of Millwall Steel Production. Yeah, that Millwall. They're still around, with three other plants running across Malovia Island, but this one's different. This one shut down about ten years ago after a series of incidents that no one ever fully explained."
He tilted the drone upward, capturing the towering brick structure looming above us as we moved toward the main entrance. Weeds pushed through cracks in the pavement, and faded flyers clung to the walls, their edges fluttering in the breeze.
"Officially, it was labeled a 'containment failure'. A sort of industrial accident, gas leak, a couple of workers unaccounted for. But the weird part is that the company never demolished the site. They just fenced it off and left everything inside, like they planned to come back... but never did."
He walked slowly toward the main gate, boots crunching over gravel.
"Some locals call this place the Dead Forge
. They say it still hums at night... like the machinery's running underground, even though there's no power feeding into it. And, uh..." he gave a nervous laugh, "some of the old staff swear that during the shutdown, the higher-ups were running some kind of 'experimental refining process.' Something that had nothing to do with steel."
There was no questioning Jamie's abilities.
The moment he spoke, he was able to capture a perfect picture of the situation. His tone was neither too fast nor too slow, and his voice was extremely controlled.
'He's improved a lot since the last time I saw him.'
"Of course, all of these are rumors regarding the place. As many of you know, there have been others who have done streams in this area. Nothing has shown up just yet, but I've got a good feeling about this."
Jamie smiled wickedly as he rubbed his hands together.
"...We might just be able to find something absolutely earthshaking! Sit tight and watch the two of us do the exploring for you."
Jamie's introduction stopped there.
For a moment, I was almost tempted to check my phone, but I decided not to. The comments were still probably going to be negative.
Still, Jamie's introduction was praiseworthy.
'I'll wait a little bit more before checking. I'm sure they'll calm down after.'
I didn't really care too much for the number of viewers. The goal wasn't to have a large stream. It was more like... a sort of protection.
I was one of the cult's main targets.
Normally, if someone were here, they'd try to stay quiet... erase any trace of themselves. But I was almost certain that this time was different. They knew I was here, and I could feel it. They wouldn't go overboard and risk revealing too much, but they were definitely planning something.
That was my goal.
I planned on finding their true 'base' this way.
'There's also the compass that will help me, but I can't guarantee it will lead me in the right direction.'
Of course, there was also the lamp I'd acquired a while back in the Hourglass gate.
That would help me identify footsteps.
'Not that I can show it to the viewers. I'll have to be more subtle when using either item.'
"Okay, we're about to enter."
The two of us came to a stop in front of a heavy white metal door, its surface streaked with rust and grime. A small, faded sign was bolted to the wall beside it, the letters barely legible under the dust and peeling paint.
===
MILLWALL STEEL PRODUCTION — FURNACE DISTRICT C
[Authorized Personnel Only]
===
Exchanging glances, Jamie reached for the doorknob before pulling.
Creeaaaaaak!
A long, strained sound that echoed through the empty yard and sent a faint shiver down my spine. Rust flaked off the hinges, scattering onto the ground like old ash.
A stale, metallic scent drifted out the moment the door opened. It was the kind that clung to the back of your throat.
The air inside was cold and stale.
Jamie lifted the drone higher, its light cutting through the dark. The beam revealed a narrow corridor stretching deep into the factory, the walls lined with rusted pipes and peeling paint. The floor was littered with metal fragments, cables, and something that looked suspiciously like dried soot.
"Christ."
Jamie muttered under his breath, his nose scrunching up.
"Smells like something died in here."
"You're not wrong," I replied automatically. The sound of my voice bounced off the walls, distorted by the emptiness.
The air reeked. It was an awful mix of rotten and metal, layered with a thick, oily stench that clung to the back of my throat.
Besides the smell, there was also a thick silence.
For a second, there was nothing. Just the faint whir of the drone. Then, from somewhere deep within the factory, a low vibration rolled through the air. It wasn't loud. It wasn't even distinct. But it carried through the air, like the faint hum of a machine waking up after years of silence.
Jamie froze mid-step, his expression tightening.
"...Did you hear that?"
"I did."
My heart grew heavy. There was no denying the sound.
Jamie tried to laugh it off, but it came out strained.
"Guess that's the hum the locals were talking about. Probably just some loose metal vibrating somewhere. Echoes travel weird in old places like this."
"Right..."
Deep down, I knew it wasn't loose metal or whatever he was talking about.
The drone's camera whirred softly as it adjusted, its light sweeping across the walls. Under the pale beam, faint black markings began to emerge. The sight made my breath come to a stop as long, curved lines carved into the surface, half-buried beneath years of grime and dust, became visible.
"Jamie..."
I said slowly, trying my best to keep myself calm.
"Move the light back for a second."
"Eh...? Sure?"
He did, and as the beam passed over the wall again, the carvings came into focus. Interlocking circles. A spiral. An eye made of rings.
My stomach dropped, and I took off the glasses for a moment.
Just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. But glasses or not, the symbol remained.
'It's that symbol...'
The one that had been following me for quite some time.
Jamie let out a quiet curse.
"This looks pretty fresh, doesn't it?"
"....."
I didn't reply, but there was no need to reply.
The symbol did indeed look fresh.
But soon, Jamie laughed.
"Kids... Ay."
He focused his attention back on the camera.
"Look at this, ya'll. What do you think about this graffiti? It's pretty unique, isn't it?"
Jamie didn't seem the least bit scared. To him, the symbol was probably just graffiti... something left behind by kids who'd snuck in for a thrill. But I knew better. This wasn't some random drawing. Not at all.
This symbol...
'It's a greeting.'
Rattle! Rattle!
The hum within the factory deepened for a moment, just enough to rattle the loose bolts along the doorframe, as if the building itself was reacting.
Jamie glanced at me, his face growing uneasy.
"What was that?"
I didn't answer right away. I didn't know myself. Instead, I looked deeper into the corridor, where the darkness seemed to pulse faintly in rhythm with that sound.
Eventually, my lips parted.
"I don't know, but I guess we'll soon find out."
Step—
I took a step towards the distant darkness.
For some reason, the moment I took a step forward, something within me stirred.
I couldn't explain what it was, but it felt uncomfortable.
-x-X-x-
The deeper the group ventured into the factory, the stronger the stench became.
"None of you can smell what I'm currently smelling, but it's quite bad. How would I describe it...? Hm, it's like the smell of rotten meat drenched in industrial oil and then fried in a rusted pan. Would that work?"
"....."
Seth paused for a moment.
What sort of description is that supposed to be?
"Anyway, did you all notice that strange symbol near the entrance? I've been trying to look it up, but there's nothing even close to it online. I guess it's just some kind of unique graffiti... maybe something gang-related?"
The soft glow from Jamie's phone illuminated Seth's blue-tinted vision from behind, mingling with the light from the hovering drone as it scanned the area ahead.
The air felt cold, and the smell grew worse.
Step—
Looking down, Seth glanced at his compass.
It was spinning in all directions.
He pursed his lips.
'I guess it might take a while before I get what I want.'
This wasn't unusual.
The compass tended to do that sometimes, as if waiting to "calibrate" or whatever it was doing.
Putting the compass down, Seth stopped before a certain door.
===
MILLWALL STEEL PRODUCTION — FURNACE DISTRICT C
[Authorized Personnel Only]
===
It was the same sign as before.
But this time, it was a little different.
Click! Click!
"It's locked."
The metal door refused to budge.
Seth frowned, and Jamie stepped up.
"It's locked?"
Click!
"Heh, you're right."
Jamie tried a couple of more times, but each time, he'd get the same result. The door was indeed locked.
He clicked his tongue.
"That's a little problematic, but worry not. I've come prepared for situations such as these. I have a couple of tools that can help pick the lock, and—"
BANG!
Jamie was startled out of his wits by the sudden bang. When he turned his head, his eyes widened in disbelief. Seth stood there, calmly pulling his foot back from the now-open door, tilting his head slightly as he adjusted his sunglasses with a casual look.
"I opened it."
"....."
No shit, you opened it! At least warn me before you do this!
Jamie nearly screamed at the top of his lungs.
Staring at the door, and then Seth, he held onto his heart. He nearly had a heart attack!
"Let's go."
Seth didn't wait for Jamie to recover before entering.
"Hey, wait!"
Startled, Jamie hurriedly followed Seth from behind. He didn't want to admit it, but this place creeped him out for some reason. He didn't want to be alone.
But the moment he entered the room, he began to regret his decision.
The interior was darker than expected.
The drone's light did little more than carve out pieces of the blackness, revealing patches of corroded steel, exposed beams, and hanging cables that swayed slightly in the still air.
Each of their steps echoed, followed by a delayed, hollow aftersound.
Jamie's breath grew.
Nevertheless, he remained professional.
"This place appears to be one of the main production halls," Jamie's voice echoed faintly through the emptiness, bouncing off steel beams and concrete pillars. "It's very large. Evident from the echo that you guys hear. It's also very dark, and despite the drone's best efforts, I can hardly see much into the place."
He moved the drone higher. Its light swept across the hall, catching flashes of rusted machinery and conveyor belts half-swallowed by shadow.
Dust shimmered like fine ash in the air.
"In any case, the reason we're here is because we're trying to investigate the reason behind the hum."
He paused for a moment, deliberately dragging his answer.
"What is that, you say?"
Jamie exhaled slowly.
"Some say it's just leftover machinery still running beneath the floor. Others think it's the sound of the old furnaces cooling, or ghosts of workers, if you believe that sort of thing."
He gave a nervous chuckle, though his voice wavered slightly toward the end.
"But the interesting thing is, this sound doesn't show up on any normal recording equipment. It's only ever heard in person. People describe it as a deep resonance, something you feel in your chest, like your own heartbeat syncing with it."
Jamie shrugged, looking at the darkness around him.
"Some say they're screams from a faraway place," he continued, lowering the camera slightly. "Others have argued that it's the screams of the victims from the experiments that occurred here."
His words seemed to hang in the air longer than they should have. Even his voice carried a subtle tremor, though he tried to mask it with a half-hearted chuckle.
"Obviously, those are just rumors. Officially, there's nothing to confirm any kind of... experimentation."
The drone's light swept slowly across the production hall again. A sea of rusted steel glinted faintly under the light, the reflection giving the illusion that the floor was moving.
Jamie proceeded to talk to the audience.
He replied to most of the comments that he saw. Of course, he specifically ignored the ones who were discussing Seth's circumstances.
"Where are we headed now? Hmm? Oh, we're going to the control room."
Jamie's words made Seth pause.
However, he continued a moment later.
Control room...
He was just about to suggest that.
"The main reason we're here is to dig deeper into the workers who used to operate in this place. We're here to investigate the hum and the stories surrounding it. Was the experiment real? Or is there something else hidden behind it all? An anomaly perhaps?"
Jamie's words were enough to garner the interest of the viewers as he chatted with them. At the same time, he quietly followed Seth from behind.
He did so in order to focus his attention away from his surroundings.
But it didn't take long for them to find the control room.
"It's here."
Seth stopped before a certain door.
"Huh? You found it already?"
Jamie voiced out his surprise.
'That was quick.'
He had expected to spend more time looking for the control room, but Seth managed to find it rather quickly. But beyond that, he was curious about something else.
"How can you see with the sunglasses?"
Creaaaaak!
It was a question that was inevitably drowned out by the creaking sound of the metal door as it slowly started to open.
Soon, a small room appeared before them.
A gust of stale, metallic air swept past them. It was... hot, despite the chill outside. It smelled faintly of burnt copper and something sweet, almost like overripe fruit left to rot beside a furnace.
The room beyond was small, maybe twenty feet across, lined with rusted control panels and shattered glass monitors.
The walls were smeared with dark stains that could've been oil... or something else.
But what drew the eye immediately wasn't smell.
No, it... was the markings.
Circles, dozens of them, scratched into every surface.
Each ring overlapped another, forming spirals that converged into a central eye-like emblem above the main console.
For a moment, Jamie forgot how to breathe.
His expression was dazed.
But soon, he collected himself.
Jamie raised and nudged the drone higher.
"Guys, look at that. What the hell is that?"
He was pointing at the markings.
The viewers naturally flooded the comment sections. Most thought it was graffiti. Some noticed something else.
—That's some graffiti.
—What's up with that type of graffiti? It doesn't look nice at all.
—Yeah, it's pretty ass.
—Pressy sure it's graffiti.
"Huh? You don't think it's graffiti?"
Jamie suddenly asked Seth, who in turn frowned.
He hadn't even said anything, but... that was indeed what he wanted to say.
In the end, he shook his head and fixed his gaze on a metal plaque bolted beneath the main panel, half-hidden beneath grime.
He wiped it clean with his sleeve.
"What's that?"
Jamie leaned in, pointing the drone's light at it.
Cognitive Harmonic Stabilizer — Prototype Unit D-15
[Authorized for Internal Experimentation Only]
Jamie frowned.
"Cognitive... what?"
Seth didn't answer. His expression had begun to change slightly, and as he took a step back, his heart, which had remained calm since the start of the mission, finally began to beat.
Especially when beneath, it read one single name.
One he was all too familiar with.
[Mirelle]
-x-X-x-
"Huh? Mirelle...? Is that the name of the person who was working here? Check this out."
Jamie flashed the camera over the metal plate.
"Project D-15? What's this supposed to mean? Do you all think it's some name for the thing that they were building? Hehe, or maybe it could be one of the experiments?"
Jamie threw out the words as a joke, but I didn't laugh at all. Staring at the metal plate, a quiet creeping dread began to settle inside my chest.
There was no doubt about it.
This was the Mirelle that I knew.
'...She was an experiment. Yes, I should already have been aware.'
This was information I was already aware of.
'But it says Project D-15? What does that imply? Does it imply that there are 15 more of them? No, it could also be more.'
I knew that Mirelle was of great importance to the cult.
From the old lady responsible for the Twisted Man to the subsequent cult quest missions, I knew that Mirelle had some major importance to this cult. I just didn't know why, but now... I was a little bit more certain.
'This project... It's turning humans into anomalies.'
I took a deep breath.
Based on all the evidence and information that I had learned, this felt like the most obvious conclusion.
This cult...
It was turning people into anomalies.
However, at the same time, this cult was also responsible for providing tools that could help people heal their fragments.
Thinking about it, a creeping thought entered my mind.
'Doesn't this sound an awful lot like my circumstances?'
I had a Cognitive Shard, and I was slowly turning. The system provided me with medicine to heal my Shard, or at least contain it.
In that regard...
"H-hoo."
My chest trembled.
Despite my best efforts to remain calm, the creeping sense of unease only grew.
'There's no confirmation yet. I might be jumping to conclusions.'
"Has everyone looked online to see if they could find anything? Nothing? Well, I guess that makes sense. Let's see if we can find any more clues."
Jamie's voice broke me out of my thoughts, and when I turned towards him, I saw him head towards the nearby drawer and pull it open.
"Clement white? Senior Inspector?"
His hand reached inside before eventually taking out an 'ID' pass and looking at it.
For a moment, I was confused.
He knew the name before he pulled the card out?
"Hm? No?"
Jamie looked at me.
"I just looked at the card and saw the name. I didn't know the name beforehand."
"....."
My eyes narrowed.
I could ignore it the first time. Maybe the second time, but the third time?
"How did you know what I was about to say?"
"What?"
Jamie looked at me weirdly.
"Are you okay?"
Judging from his expression, he really looked lost.
"I just answered your question. Was it not you who was speaking?"
I frowned, but didn't answer.
Instead, I took out my phone and checked the comments.
Surely...
—Lol, the two are already losing it.
—He forgot he asked the question? He's really losing it.
—What's wrong with him?
Huh...?
I looked at my phone again.
Seeing the comments, I was at a loss.
They said that I had asked the question, but...
'I didn't.'
I was almost certain of it.
"See?"
Jamie moved next to me, staring at my phone as he pointed at it.
"You did ask the question."
"...Oh."
I licked my lips, feeling that they had become drier than usual.
"Anyways, check this out."
Jamie handed the 'ID' card over to me.
"This is the ID of the Chief Inspector. Do you think we can go to different areas with this? I'm sure that with this, you won't have to smack each door apart."
"...Yeah."
I looked at the ID card.
===
[ID]
Name: Clement White
Sex: M
===
The edges of the laminated card were slightly warped and bubbled, as if it had been left near extreme heat. A faint oily residue stained the photo side, obscuring the face, but in the flicker of the drone's light, the image seemed to shift, just slightly.
"Alright, everyone. We've got ourselves a keycard. We might finally get into the sealed section. Maybe we'll find the famous Furnace Core everyone's been talking about, right?"
Jamie kept joking with the chat, his voice light and casual, but the unease twisting in my chest wouldn't fade. If anything, it only grew stronger with each passing second. The longer I looked around, the more I couldn't shake the feeling that something, or someone, was watching us from the shadows.
But even with the glasses, there didn't seem to be anything.
The only thing that stood out to me was the strange symbols on the wall.
'I've never seen symbols like these before. It's strange, though... I know they're connected to the cult and the number '71', but no matter how much I look, there's nothing about them anywhere. And what's worse... I have no memory of ever encountering them before now.'
Clank! Clank!
In the background, Jamie looked through all of the drawers in search of any other clue.
I stopped him.
"Stop, I've searched all of the drawers. There's nothing."
"Ah?"
Jamie stopped, looking at me weirdly.
"You did? When?"
"Just before?"
"What? Really...?"
"Yes."
I could still recall myself opening. Besides a few pieces of paper, there was nothing else in the drawers.
Seeing how Jamie didn't believe me, I pointed at the first and second drawers.
"Papers and a stapler."
Jamie did as I said, pulling open the first two drawers. Inside was exactly what I expected. Stacks of old papers, yellowed at the edges, and a dusty stapler resting on top. He scratched his head, letting out a small laugh.
"Hmm. I guess you did."
"...Yeah."
I glanced at the comments as I walked over to the drawers, then pulled them open again myself. Paper and a stapler.
I looked at the chat.
But the moment I looked, my expression couldn't help but change slightly.
What?
—Is this supposed to be a skit or some shit?
—Lmao? Do they think that we're fucking stupid?
—This shit is the most obviously rigged stream that I've seen in a very long time.
—Lol, wtf?
—Naaaah. Clip this shit! Someone needs to call out these two clowns lmaoooo!!
Staring at the comments and then Jamie, we both frowned.
What were these guys talking about? Rigged? What about this was rigged?
Jamie seemed to have an idea as he pointed towards the graffiti.
"Are you all talking about this? Well, I know they look fresh, but neither of us has been to this place before. What? You're saying that Seth didn't check the drawers? That you've got clips of it?"
Jamie paused, turning his attention towards me.
My frown deepened.
"I'm pretty sure that I did."
"But the chat says you didn't. They have a recording of everything."
"Let me see."
Walking closer to Jamie, I stared at his phone. He was replaying the video of the two of us entering the control room at the same time. The video looked normal, with the exception of my sunglasses, as we casually looked around the place and I checked a few drawers.
But—
"See? You've never checked the first two drawers."
Jamie suddenly pointed out.
I opened my lips, but found myself unable to refute.
It was true...
But I was certain that I had opened it. How did...
"Huh?"
Jamie suddenly froze, his brows knitting together as he stopped at a specific frame in the footage. His expression shifted, growing tense as he slowly zoomed in. The video came to a halt on the faint reflection in the glass panel of one of the monitors. Under the drone's pale light, we could see our faces staring back, only, something about the reflection wasn't quite right.
It was...
Looking at them.
Right at the drone.
".....!"
".....!?"
The sight made me freeze.
Jamie did too.
Neither of us said a word. Our eyes stayed fixed on the reflection in the recording, those shapes, those faces, staring straight toward us, or rather, toward the drone hovering silently between us.
"D-Do you..."
Jamie eventually broke the silence, turning his attention towards me. I didn't answer; instead, I kept my attention focused on the reflection.
There was no doubt about it.
The reflections were indeed staring at the drones.
But was it really the case?
—Lmaaao. What are these two trying to do?
—Why are they making such faces? You know we can see the phone, right?
—There's literally nothing.
—They're obviously doing it to raise the tension. Don't fall for such a cheap trick. This stream is boring. You should get out of this room and explore other places.
Despite the wave of negative comments, neither Jamie nor I paid attention to them.
Especially when—
Blink!
The reflections were no longer staring at us.
It was almost as if it had never happened from the start.
Jamie and I looked at each other.
"You saw, right...?"
"I did."
It became very obvious to me that something was going on.
'A shift in perception? It doesn't seem like the viewers can tell, but at least Jamie and I saw it. There's also the matter of how he was somehow able to speak before I spoke, or the weird moments when either one of us thought that something had happened when it didn't.'
Something was off.
I could feel it, and Jamie could feel it too.
Jamie cleared his throat.
"Ehm, chat. I know you might not believe what I'm saying, but it's really the truth. Neither Seth nor I is lying. You might not be able to see it, but we both feel it. Ah, well... I suppose there's no point in discussing this further. Let's head deeper. With this key, we can probably enter other areas."
"....."
I didn't answer immediately.
Instead, I looked at the keycard.
I wasn't stupid.
'How does it make sense that a keycard is here?'
This place had been raided multiple times by streamers, the homeless, and even 'treasure' hunters. Surely they'd be able to find a card like this.
'...It's been obviously placed in advance.'
But how...?
I hadn't disclosed the location of the stream until the very start of the stream. There was absolutely no way for anyone to know about the location.
That was unless...
I looked at Jamie and pursed my lips.
Eventually, I shook my head.
This was unlikely, but what if...? What if he had been the one to leak the location? Or maybe worse... What if he were part of the cult?
'Now that I think about it, he was there during the museum incident. If they can target me, what does it say that they won't target him?'
Ba... Thump!
For a moment, my heart leaped.
"What? Come on... Don't be ridiculous. None of this is staged. Look, I don't know why the situation is turning out the way it is, but I swear on my life that I didn't do the things you're talking about! I'm losing it? Well, maybe. It's dark, and it's kind of cold..."
Jamie was chatting calmly with the drone.
Looking at the chat and then the comments, I swallowed in silence.
—There's no way such a string of coincidences can happen. It's way too obvious.
—Does he take us for fools? It's pretty darn obvious. Just go ahead and go to the next room.
—Yeah, go. I can see that people are starting to lose interest. Btw, has anyone researched the guy Clement White?
"Oh?"
The last comment attracted Jamie's attention.
His words similarly attracted mine as I reached for my phone to look at it.
—Apparently, Clement White was a rather famous inspector. He was still alive not too long ago, but he recently died. From what I understand, he was fired before the plant shut down and was later hired by a different company.
"That's... pretty interesting information.
Jamie mumbled, frowning. It hadn't been long since the factory had been shut down. It wouldn't be strange for most of the workers to still be alive. But for this 'Clement' to die... that was also not strange. Many people die every day.
This was a normal part of life.
"But is that all? I thought you had found something interesting."
—...I did.
The commenter replied a moment later.
—He died by suicide.
"Oh."
Jamie's voice turned tense. But only for a brief moment.
"But what does that have to do with the situation?"
—This is pretty much it. He died by suicide, and in his last letter, he wrote something like 'I'm Twisted, but it's my wife who made me Twisted.' I don't really understand what it means, but I just thought it was interesting.
"Err... I guess it is?"
Jamie looked at me, but I couldn't tear my gaze away from the comment.
'I'm Twisted, but it's my wife who made me Twisted.'
I silently swallowed my saliva.
This...
"Anyways, should we get going? I don't think there's anything else interesting in this room."
Jamie pointed at the drone, and he soon walked out of the room. He started talking with the drone as he did, but I didn't move.
I couldn't move.
The clues were all there.
'This is definitely the place that I'm looking for, but based on all the information, there's no doubt whatsoever. The cult... No, this place... It was turning humans into anomalies.'
I swallowed, feeling a creeping dread crawl into my mind.
Mirelle. The Twisted Man.
One room alone contained ties with the two alone.
This was no coincidence.
'It's almost as if the cult is doing this on purpose to welcome me. But like I said, the only person who knows of this place is Jamie. There's also the graffiti being fresh...'
My eyes narrowed, locking onto the door as a faint light flickered beneath it. A moment later, Jamie's voice echoed from the other side. It was muffled, but it was his.
Glancing around and noticing that Jamie was still outside, I pulled out my compass to check it. It was still spinning, refusing to settle on a direction. Suppressing a sigh, I reached into my bag and retrieved a particular lantern, its surface cold and faintly pulsing with a blue light.
'It's been a while since I've used this, but it might be useful.'
It was an item I'd once used inside the Hourglass Gate. Its function was simple but invaluable. It allowed me to trace the footsteps of anyone who had been in the room, the glow shifting in brightness based on how fresh the tracks were.
Taking out the lantern, I raised it up.
'...Let's see.'
The light pulsed. Steps appeared all over the floor, moving in all directions. Looking at them, my eyes narrowed as I tried to see any steps other than mine and Jamie's.
But—
"Huh?"
The sight that greeted me was an unexpected one.
The steps...
There were none.
Blink!
"Should I get started then? I think it's best if I give a bit of a description of where we're at, so that everyone has an idea of the setting of the place."
Jamie's voice echoed in the background.
But...
"This place used to be part of Millwall Steel Production. Yeah, that Millwall. They're still around, with three other plants running across Malovia Island, but this one's different. This one shut down about ten years ago after a series of incidents that no one ever fully explained."
Blinking my eyes, I looked at my surroundings.
It was there that I noticed something.
I... was outside.
Not only that...
"Officially, it was labeled a 'containment failure'. A sort of industrial accident, a gas leak, and a couple of workers unaccounted for. But the weird part is that the company never demolished the site. They just fenced it off and left everything inside, like they planned to come back... but never did."
But Jamie.
He was repeating the same things he had done in the past.
What in the...
'What the hell is going on?'
I glanced around. The faint light filtering from above, and the towering silhouette of the factory ahead.
Everything...
It was exactly as it had been at the very beginning.
"Some locals call this place the Dead Forge. They say it still hums at night... like the machinery's running underground, even though there's no power feeding into it. And, uh..." Jamie gave a nervous laugh, "Some of the old staff swear that during the shutdown, the higher-ups were running some kind of 'experimental refining process.' Something that had nothing to do with steel."
Even the words that Jamie was saying were the exact same as before.
'Did I travel back in time? A loop?'
This wasn't the first time I'd gone through something like this. So, after the initial wave of confusion passed, I managed to steady myself and regain my composure.
'...Can this be a loop like the Hourglass Gate?'
The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but after looking at Jamie, I started to believe that perhaps it wasn't.
'He was there and also noticed the strange things. However, given how he's talking calmly, it doesn't seem like he remembers any of the things that have happened.'
In that case...?
"...We might just be able to find something absolutely earthshaking! Sit tight and watch the two of us do the exploring for you."
Jamie stopped and then turned to look at me.
"Is everything alright? You seem to be spacing out."
I looked at Jamie before shaking my head.
"No, I'm fine."
I'm not.
"Oh, good. Let's go."
Taking a brief pause, he signaled the drone to move away a little as he whispered, "Don't let the comments get to you. They're usually always like this."
"Yes, I know."
He didn't need to tell me this.
I was already aware.
"That's good. Let's go. The viewers are growing impatient."
"...Alright."
The two of us continued ahead, eventually stopping before the same door as before.
===
MILLWALL STEEL PRODUCTION — FURNACE DISTRICT C
[Authorized Personnel Only]
===
Creeaaaaaak!
The door creaked open just like before, its rusted hinges releasing a deep, grating groan. As it swung inward, the stale, metallic stench of the factory spilled out, and Jamie's face scrunched up.
"Christ."
He muttered under his breath, his nose scrunching up.
"Smells like something died in here."
Nothing changed from this point.
Pulling out my flashlight, I stepped inside and swept the beam across the walls. As I'd expected, the symbols were there again, etched into the surface just like before, their dark lines twisting faintly under the light.
"Ah?"
Jamie walked closer, looking at the symbols with a frown.
"These look fresh. Graffiti?"
"Maybe."
I kept my expression neutral, my eyes fixed on Jamie. The thoughts from before still lingered in my mind, and the longer I watched him, the heavier the unease grew.
'...I am usually never wrong about my thoughts. Something is off about Jamie.'
Tapping my foot against the ground, my hands twitched.
'Can I trust him? I'm not sure if I can trust him. However, he looks completely the same as before. It doesn't seem like he remembers anything. Should I keep observing him? Yes, that might be the way.'
"What do you think?"
Jamie turned his attention towards me as he squatted down to look at the 'graffiti' on the walls.
"Do you think they are graffiti, or—Heuk!"
WHAM!
I kicked Jamie right in the head, forcing his head to smash against the wall as he slid down across the wall a moment later.
"..."
The surroundings turned completely silent.
Even my phone turned silent as I stared at the passed-out Jamie.
'I'm usually never wrong about my feelings. Might as well do this before it's too late.'
If it turned out I was wrong, I planned on apologizing.
...If that would help.
WHIIIR—!
The drone hovered steadily in the air, its faint whir filling the silence. The camera stayed locked on me, the small red light blinking, as it recorded and captured every second.
Adjusting my glasses, I moved away from Jamie and headed deeper into the factory.
At the same time, a thought crossed my mind.
'I've been kicking people a lot lately, haven't I? I wonder where I got that from.'
Step, Step—
I walked in silence, heading deeper into the factory. I didn't speak, didn't glance back. I just kept moving toward the control room. To be honest, I couldn't care less about the stream anymore. The only reason I'd kept it running was because, in a place like this, having eyes on me felt like the only form of protection I had.
It prevented the 'cult' from taking any drastic actions.
'Of course, they might have a way to stop the cameras, but I also have ways to prevent that.'
Narrowing my eyes, I stepped into the control room, the air just as heavy as before. Moving straight to the drawers, I pulled one open and retrieved the ID card.
'Clement White?'
Staring at the ID, I placed it in my pocket.
Just before leaving, I took out my phone and checked the comments.
—...Kek! That was funny as shit!
—This guy is batshit crazy!
—Hahaha. Do you all think this is a skit? It has to be a skit!!
—He should've done it before lol. He waited too long.
—Yeah, it took so long. I was getting tired of all the talk. He wasn't bringing much to the stream anyway, and the chemistry wasn't that good. Nobody liked the weird 'mind-reading' nonsense. I guess he saw that, too.
—Still feels scripted like everything else we've seen so far. I mean, come on... there's no way such coincidences can occur at the same time.
As expected, the comments were going crazy.
I stared at the cards for a long moment before turning my attention to the drone footage. Replaying the video, I focused on the reflection just as I had before. But this time, it was different. The reflection was normal.
'Strange.'
I put the phone away, turning my attention towards the monitors.
Within the blue-tinted world of the glasses, I could see everything clearly, and as I scanned my surroundings, I didn't feel any other presence besides the cold.
The only thing that stood out was the symbols, etched across the walls, the floor, even the table, each one seeming to twist toward me, watching from every direction.
'...Let me head out.'
With the card in hand, I moved out of the control room.
Outside the control room, the factory was silent again.
The hum that had followed since the entrance had faded, leaving only the faint hiss of the drone's rotors.
The corridor ahead stretched into a wall of darkness. Each step landed with a dull, heavy thud, louder than it should've been, and the cold pressing in from all sides grew sharper, heavier, almost suffocating.
I pushed the unease aside and kept moving, forcing myself deeper into the shadows.
'If I turn left, I should be able to get to the staff area. There should be an elevator there that I can use to access the lower floors. That's where I need to go in order to—'
Suddenly, I stopped.
Pausing for a moment, the frown on my face deepened.
"How...?"
How did I know all of this?
-x-X-x-
'It shouldn't be possible for me to know. Why do I know...?'
I stopped and glanced around. The darkness seemed thicker here, denser, wrapping around me from every side like a living thing. The faint beam of my flashlight barely cut through it, swallowed almost instantly by the black.
It was only through the blue tint of the glasses that I could see my surroundings, and as I looked around, I felt my breathing growing heavier.
Images flashed in my mind.
Large metal door, rusted pipes, and a grinding elevator...
'Why am I recalling such images?'
The memories almost felt real. Vivid.
As if I had actually seen and experienced such things before.
But I was sure I hadn't.
Was someone or something manipulating my memories?
DONG!
".....!"
A sudden bell toll rang out through the darkness. The sound crashed against the walls and reverberated through the air, jolting me upright before fading into an uneasy silence.
I looked around, feeling the unease in my chest grow.
'What the hell was that?'
I stared in the direction of where the noise came from. It appeared to come from where I came from.
And just as I thought it was a one-time thing...
DONG!
The toll echoed again.
This time, it was even louder.
Closer.
"Haa... Haa..."
Subconsciously, my breath grew heavier.
Taking out my phone, I looked at the chat. I wanted to see if they'd also heard the same thing.
But—
—What are you waiting for?
—Come on. Hurry up! Start moving!
—Stop wasting time! This isn't scary!
—Hurry!
"You guys can't hear it?"
From the comments, it looked like they didn't.
—Hear? Hear what?
—What's with this cheap way of trying to instill fear? No, of course we can't hear it. Are you talking about the hum?
—Watch him say he can hear something and pretend that it's the hum.
DONG—!
The doll was closer this time.
It was so close that when I turned my head toward the corner of the corridor, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest. Within the faint blue tint of my vision, a distorted shadow stretched across the floor, its body unnaturally long and thin, one hand gripping what appeared to be a large drum kit.
I couldn't see its true form as it was merely just a shadow, but that was enough to make me move.
Without hesitation, I picked up the pace.
'I don't know if I can fight it, but I don't think it'll be smart for me to fight it. I can probably assume that it's going to be the least of my worries.'
I moved as fast as I could.
The corridor twisted ahead of me, iron beams cutting through the dark like ribs. The tolling faded, replaced by the low creak of metal settling somewhere deep in the factory's gut.
The drone followed, its small light dragging my shadow long across the wall.
I'd never been here before, and yet as I ran, my steps came naturally. Every turn, every hallway felt instinctive, as if some part of me already knew the layout, already knew exactly where I needed to go.
I turned another corner. The air was thicker here, the smell of rust and oil layered with something sour, like burnt sugar.
DONG! DONG!
The space opened up around me, a large chamber filled with all sorts of machinery, the drone's light casting eerie shadows everywhere as I took off my glasses.
My light caught on suspended chains, swaying gently as if they'd never stopped moving since the factory closed.
Each one ended in a hook, black with corrosion.
The hum was gone, replaced by the soft 'clinking' sound coming from the chains as they swayed and hit each other.
I slowed, trying to quiet my breathing. The floor beneath me wasn't flat; it dipped slightly toward the center, where puddles of oil caught the drone's light and reflected it back in broken ripples.
For a moment, I caught sight of my reflection.
It stared back at me, and I felt a growing sense of unease.
I lifted my phone, checking the stream out of habit.
The chat hadn't stopped.
Lines kept appearing even though the signal bar showed a weak connection.
—Wow, he ran a lot!
—Why did he run all the way here?
—Is he in the wrong room?
—You're close.
You're close?
I looked at the last line, feeling my heart press tightly against my chest.
DONG! DONG! DONG!
The tolling grew louder; it came from all directions, ricocheting off the walls, disorienting me as I spun in place. The drone whirred frantically beside me, its light darting across the walls and machinery, throwing huge, shifting shadows that danced and twisted all around me.
For a moment, I thought about going back.
But...
'Where did I come from?'
I had a horrifying realization.
I couldn't recall where I'd started.
No, in fact, I couldn't recall much at all.
Why was I here?
What was I doing...?
'What's going on with me?'
I pressed a hand to my head, trying to piece everything together, but the harder I tried to remember, the sharper the pain became. A throbbing headache pulsed behind my eyes, and through it all, my phone wouldn't stop vibrating.
Phone...?
I picked up the phone and looked at it.
'Perhaps, I might be able to get a clue.'
I looked through it.
—What are you doing? Why did you stop again?
—...You said that you were going to the room on the right. Hurry up.
—Stop wasting time. I'm getting bored.
Comment?
I narrowed my eyes, staring at the comments flooding my page.
'I was streaming?'
Ah, right. I was streaming.
I forced myself to focus and followed the directions flooding in from the comments, turning right. That's when I saw it. A rusted metal door, half-hidden in the shadows, the light of the drone exposing it to me.
Next to it was a small keypad.
DONG! DONG!
Hearing the tolling sound, I didn't hesitate and moved toward the door, taking out the 'ID' card from my pocket and scanning it.
Ding!
The door unlocked, and I hurriedly entered.
Clank!
I also didn't forget to close the door behind me.
"Haa... Haa..."
Flick!
A moment later, the lights flickered to life, bathing the space in a dim, sickly glow.
I found myself standing inside a small, confined room, its walls lined with peeling paint and exposed wiring. In the center stood an old elevator, its metal doors dented and stained with rust.
The tolling had stopped, and my phone also stopped vibrating.
I looked around once more, and soon—
Ding!
A harsh cranking noise echoed through the room as the elevator doors slowly slid open, a grinding sound following. Inside, the dim light reflected off a large mirror at the far end, its surface fogged, but I could still see myself on the opposite end.
I looked at my reflection as it stared back, and I instinctively stepped forward.
The grinding sound echoed once more as the elevator closed.
And the moment the doors shut with a dull clang, a faint chime rang in my ears.
Then, a notification flickered into view, appearing right before my eyes, hovering in the dim light.
[Continuation Quest Completed]
Difficulty: Fourth Order
Reward: 210,000 SP
Objective: Locate the main branch of the cult.
Location: N/A
Description: The cult and you can no longer co-exist. Locate their hideout in Malovia
and find out more about the architect, alongside their doctrine. Best be careful, as the
cult will now actively look for you. They have eyes and ears everywhere!
Time Limit: 6 months.
I blinked slowly, looking at the notification before me.
But before I could even voice out my confusion, another notification rang.
Ding!
A new quest appeared.
But the moment I saw it, my heart sank.
[Continuation Quest Activated]
Difficulty: N/A
Reward: Emblance Shard
Objective: Who they worship!
Location: N/A
Description: You've infiltrated the cult, but your presence hasn't gone unnoticed. Their whispers follow you through candlelit halls and smoke-filled chambers. Uncover the secrets buried within this branch, its hidden rites, forbidden texts, and veiled motives, and learn the true identity of the entity they worship.
Time Limit: N/A
Staring at the quest, my heart grew heavy.
Especially when I saw the 'N/A' in the difficulty section.
'What does this mean? Why is there no difficulty description?'
A quiet sense of dread crept up my spine as I thought about it, but that feeling faded a moment after as I caught sight of the Reward.
'Emblance Shard?'
What the hell was that?
I pressed on it, but there was no description.
I even went as far as checking the shop, but there was also no description about it. My phone...?
There was no signal.
'What the hell is this Emblance Shard?'
My thoughts wandered to my condition. I wanted to believe this could be the cure I'd been waiting for, but with no description, that hope was all I had.
Clanka! Clanka!
".....!"
Strange noises echoed from the elevator as it descended, a mix of grinding metal and distant creaks. My expression tightened, and I pressed my back against the cold metal frame, listening carefully as the sounds grew louder.
'How far down am I going?'
I didn't know how long I had been going down, but I knew it was a while.
When I turned to see my reflection, I took a look at my face.
It was tense.
"Hoo. Hoo."
I had to take several deep breaths in order to calm myself down as I focused my attention on the quest description.
'Undercover the secrets of the cult? Find who they worship?'
Reading the description, I knew that I was in for a massive pain. To make it worse, the drone was no longer recording, and the chat had long died. This only meant one thing. The stream had ended.
'...Maybe this is good.'
I swallowed silently, focusing my attention on the door of the elevator.
'I don't know why there is no difficulty set, but it doesn't matter. I have a feeling that I need to complete this mission for my own sake. Not just for the reward, but for all the information that I'll learn alongside it.'
Clanka! Clanka!
The elevator shuddered and came to a stop with a metallic groan that echoed for what felt like minutes. The single light above me flickered twice, then steadied before flickering again as I stared at the doors where a small gap started to form.
The doors were opening.
Without a second thought, I activated my second node.
[Trait Transfer].
A shift occurred around me as I was pulled into the darkness beneath my feet.
The doors slid open with a hollow groan, revealing nothing but a long, narrow corridor stretching into darkness.
'Thankfully, I have a skill like this.'
If not for this skill, I would've been afraid of suddenly getting attacked by cultists from all sides. Even so, as I stepped toward the corridor, a faint tension lingered in my chest, like the air itself was holding its breath.
It was dark, and within the darkness, I felt a sudden shift in the surroundings.
It felt suffocating, and just standing still felt as though thousands of different eyes were staring at me.
Despite the feeling, I knew that I had to keep going forward.
This was the only path for me.
Step—
The echo of my step reverberated loudly across the surroundings. Thin pipes snaked along the ceiling, dripping occasionally, while the soot-stained walls bore symbols carved deep into the concrete. For a fleeting moment, each mark seemed to shift, but the moment I looked at them, they returned to normal.
'Am I imagining things...?'
I wasn't sure, but I kept going forward.
The deeper I went, the heavier the air became.
Every breath felt heavy, the scent of iron growing stronger and stronger. The faint hum that had haunted the upper levels was gone now, replaced by a slower, deeper rhythm, almost like the heartbeat of something buried beneath the factory itself.
The narrow passage eventually split in two. Both directions were identical, same rusted piping, same soot-caked walls, same smell of burnt oil, but the right corridor carried a faint light at the end.
I hesitated.
Eventually, I moved towards the light.
With each step I took, I felt increasingly tense. I didn't know what was ahead of me, nor did I know if there was anyone waiting for me. I knew that I wasn't exactly in the real world, but in an opposite realm, and I also understood that the cult had many anomalies under its control.
Still, I knew that I had no other choice but to keep going forward.
And eventually, I drew close enough to the light to see what was waiting for me.
It was a small room, dimly lit by flickering candles placed unevenly along the walls. Their wavering light cast long, shifting shadows across the floor. In the center stood a narrow podium, and resting atop it was an old, weathered book, its cover cracked, while its pages were yellowed from age.
I grew breathless.
Something about the book threw me off, and yet, before I knew it, I found myself walking towards it.
It was almost as if my body moved in its own.
Flip!
The moment I opened the book, a faint hiss escaped from within. The pages were brittle, clinging together beneath a thin layer of soot.
As I carefully brushed it away, my hand stopped mid-motion.
A familiar symbol stared back at me from the very first page, etched in thick black ink. Beneath it, a large [71] was scrawled in uneven handwriting, the numbers slightly smeared.
As I leaned closer, studying the lines of the mark, a faint whisper brushed past my ear.
".....!"
I immediately grew alarmed, turning my head to look around.
But—
Silence.
Nothing.
There was nothing around me.
I frowned, feeling a gentle throb in my mind.
Eventually, I returned my attention to the book as I flipped to the next page.
Flip!
This time, there were words, written in flowing cursive that had nearly faded with age. I had to narrow my eyes and lean closer, tracing each letter carefully just to make out what they said.
[He was but a mere librarian. A keeper of sorts.]
[The world turned against him, and he fell from grace.]
[When god rejected his wisdom, heaven lost its wisdom alongside him.]
[He's but a vault of borrowed faces, his real face hidden beneath the lies.]
Reading the pages, I felt my breathing come to a complete pause. I didn't understand what the words meant, but with each line that I read, the headache became greater. It soon reached a point where I had to stop, a groan escaping my lips as I held onto my head with both hands.
'Save me from this torture!'
'...Give me a path of guidance!'
'The mist is like a—'
Swooosh!
It happened abruptly.
The world changed, and the second node ceased to function.
Immediately, I was brought out of the other realm, and I suddenly found myself standing inside a different room. No, it was the same room, but the place was different. There were tables and weird equipment around.
The air also felt colder.
I blinked, looking around in confusion.
"Wha... Where is this?"
My mind was blank.
All thoughts appeared to have stopped.
"...Where am I?"
Bits and pieces of images flashed across my mind.
Cult? Quest?
None of it made sense.
Tilting my head, I rubbed my head.
The headache intensified, pulsing behind my eyes until it felt like my skull might split. My gaze drifted to the bag slung over my shoulder. Without thinking, I pulled it off and started rummaging through it.
The instant my fingers brushed against what was inside, a flood of distorted images crashed through my mind, fragments of memories, voices, and some other things. By the time I came to my senses, I realized I was gripping something tightly in my hand.
A phone.
A flip phone.
"W... what?"
I opened it, a single number appearing.
After a moment's thought, for whatever reason, I dialed the number.
Du! Du!
It rang in the silence.
The tone echoed through the silence, each ring stretching longer than the last. Just as I began to think no one would answer—
Click!
The line connected.
I exhaled slowly, the sound shaky in the quiet.
And then—
"...Hello?"
I spoke.
I didn't get a response.
Was the phone broken? I looked at it again, fiddling with the numbers.
However, there didn't appear to be any change.
'Why is it not working? Why is no one responding?'
I started to panic a little, my breath growing heavier. I didn't know what was happening, images flashing across my mind as bits and pieces of memories surfaced. No, I remembered who I was.
...But my mind was messed up.
It was stopping me from speaking properly.
"Is anybody there?"
I tried to speak again.
But yet again, I received no response.
My heart sank, but I continued to speak nonetheless.
"...I need your help. I... just barely managed to get the phone working. I can only call three times for a minute each time. Please help me."
Wait...
But how did I know this?
I looked at the phone, the confusion growing.
The situation didn't make sense at all to me. There was so much confusion in my head, and the more time passed, the more confused I became.
Things that I wasn't supposed to know popped up in my mind, and things that I was supposed to know started to leave my mind.
I licked my lips, looking around me.
"I don't know where I am. Concrete walls... I'm underground. I think. I hear water, but... it doesn't drip right. It echoes too long."
Driiiip! Driiiip—!
The water didn't sound right.
It didn't drip so much before fading, each drop elongating unnaturally before breaking apart. When it finally hit the ground, there was no splash, only a dull, soundless impact.
Something about the sound made me feel unsettled, and as the drip continued to echo, my ears pricked up as I heard a certain noise coming from behind me.
Step—
".....!"
It was the sound of a step.
My breath caught, my eyes shifting in all directions as I brought the phone next to my ear, and my gaze fixed on a nearby metal shelf. Without a second thought, I slipped behind it, crouching low as the cold metal pressed against my back.
Step, Step—
"I hear something moving. I'm crouching under a shelf... I hope it doesn't hear me."
The air around me seemed to close in.
A crushing weight filled the air, tightening around my chest until breathing felt like dragging air through mud. My body sank lower behind the shelf as if the pressure itself were forcing me down.
A presence soon stepped into the room, and I held my breath.
Step—
A shadow cast on the floor, my eyes tracing the shadow as it walked around the room, my heart beating so loud that I was afraid it would hear me.
With every step, the air seemed to grow heavier, pressing down until it felt as if the walls themselves were closing in.
But despite this, I continued to speak.
"...It smells like copper."
I didn't know why, but it felt like I had to speak.
Drip! Drip—
"....Like blood left too long in the air. I need your help. G-et me out of this place. I really need you to help me!"
My voice trembled, the fear finally starting to get to me as my stomach started to churn.
Images continued to flash in my mind.
Faces. Some that I felt were familiar. Some that I felt like they weren't.
But then—
I felt it.
Step—
The presence stood right before me, a large shadow casting over the area that I was in.
I pressed the phone closer to my ear, my entire body shaking from the fear as I spoke.
"O-oh god. I... something is in front of me. I can feel it. Please don't find me. Please..."
I begged.
I prayed.
I hoped.
But—
BANG!
It still came, a loud smashing sound filling the surroundings as something smashed against the shelf.
'Oh, no!'
I ducked further down the shelf, hiding my presence as much as possible.
But that was useless.
Deep down, I knew that it had sensed me.
And sure enough...
BANG! BANG!
The banging continued.
It was louder than before.
Pieces started falling from above me as the shelf started to break down before me. I wanted to scream, to run away, but I was paralyzed. I couldn't do anything at all.
BANG!
I heard a crack, and the table shattered.
The phone call ended.
My expression changed drastically. I felt a shadow appear above me, hovering its head over the hole above to stare at me.
An eye stared right at me.
The moment I locked eyes with the eye, my mind was dazed.
Memories flooded my mind, and I was suddenly reminded of everything.
The cult. The quest. The phone call.
That was also the moment that I managed to curb a lot of the fear that I felt as I processed the situation before me. Not a moment later, I saw the eye move with a large movement, and my second node churned.
[Trait Transfer]
The surroundings darkened around me as the presence faded completely.
I seized the moment to step out from behind the shelf, but the instant my foot touched the ground, a sharp pain shot through my node. The skill flickered out, and before I could react, I was facing the back of a towering man clad in white, his grip firm around the handle of a massive axe.
Pieces of metal splintered from the spot he hit, as its large body turned to face my direction.
I didn't give him the time to turn.
A dark figure manifested before the man clad in white, lunging towards it and blocking its movements.
But as it did, the man's hood fell away, revealing his face, and my heart sank at the sight before me.
What greeted me was a face.
Yet not his own. It was stretched unnaturally across his features, pinned in place like a mask, the edges pulled tight as if forced to fit where it didn't belong.
For a moment, I froze, unable to process the sight.
But I was quick to snap out of it.
'Shit, is that his face or is he wearing someone else's face?'
"Would you like to know?"
".....!"
I grew startled by the man's sudden words.
Staring at him, I grew tense.
'Did he just read my words?'
A grin spread across the man's face as he gripped the axe tightly. The Realmwalker immediately got into action, tightening its grip over its body, but the man's power proved to be incredibly explosive as he still managed to force a step in my direction.
Step!
I didn't move.
I watched as the man drew nearer to me.
Step, Step—!
The Realmwalker continued to block it, transforming its body, but despite its best efforts, it couldn't stop the man at all as he took one step after another, drawing nearer and nearer to where I was.
"...Seth Thorner."
He began to speak my name, his hoarse voice filling the room.
"We know a lot about you."
His skin stretched further apart as its grip over the axe tightened.
"You've been giving us a lot of trouble."
"...."
"We've been watching you closely. Waiting for you to come. And now, you've come."
A large, grotesque smile filled his features as he stooped right before me.
"I'll greet you in the Architech's st—"
Ziiiing—!
A sudden tune filled the air, stopping the man's words halfway.
Instantly, the smile wiped off his face as he turned his attention towards the figure that stood not far from where I was, its long hands holding onto a violin as its lips pulled into a smile.
"It always pleases me to see someone who might appreciate my music."
Ziiiiiiiing—!
The Conductor drew the bow across the violin, and a low, trembling note filled the air. The sound resonated through the room, making the very walls quiver. As the melody deepened, I stared at the man before me, his features shifting, the once-present smile slowly melting away from his face.
Standing behind him, the Realmwalker finally managed to make him come to a stop.
I stood in silence, staring at the scene.
The tune continued to fill the air as I stood, making no noise.
On the other hand, the man looked to be struggling.
Ziiiing!
A look of raw struggle twisted across his features as the music continued, his face trembling under the weight of each note, as if the melody itself was tearing something out of him.
"K-kh..."
His face twitched, and his expression started to twist.
The mask glued to his face began to slip, peeling back to reveal raw, pallid flesh beneath. My heart, which had been racing, somehow found a steadier rhythm as I slid a knife from my pocket and studied him for a long, measured moment.
In that moment, my mind throbbed once more, the world's color fading right before my eyes.
Gray.
It all soon turned gray.
And soon, a thought crossed my mind as I stared at the knife in my grasp.
"....."
Should I...?
I stared at the knife in my hand in a daze.
Should I...? Or should I not?
"....."
The silence around me seemed to stretch. The knife in my hand grew in number, appearing in my vision as multiple.
I frowned, feeling my head throb once more.
I wasn't stupid.
I understood very well that my mind was currently being affected.
From the momentary loss in memory, the calls, and the weird instances with Jamie. It was all a jumbled mess that I couldn't understand, and it was such a mess that it made me grow extremely apprehensive.
'What's happening? Why am I acting like this? None of this makes sense at all. Why can't I sense anything at al—'
Spurt—!
"Huh?"
When I snapped back to reality, the knife in my hand had already moved forward, stabbing the cult follower in the chest.
My mind blanked at the sight.
"....."
That... That...
Thud!
With a thud, the body fell, and I stood on the spot with my mouth open, struggling to understand what had happened.
Drip! Drip...!
It was the faint dripping sound coming from the knife that brought me back to reality, and when it did, my chest started to rise and fall faster.
"Haa... Haa..."
Leave.
I needed to leave.
I needed to leave this place.
The more time I seemed to stay in this place, the more it felt like I was starting to lose sight of myself. I didn't understand the reason for this, but I knew that I couldn't linger any longer.
Without a second thought, I activated my second node.
[Trait Transfer]
I planned on using the Realmwalker skill to escape, but...
"....What?"
The node refused to activate.
I blinked hard, my stomach twisting as I shut my eyes and tried to activate the second node again. But the instant I did, a sharp, searing pain shot through my skull, forcing my breath to catch in my throat.
"Shit...!"
It quickly dawned on me a moment later that I couldn't use my node.
Something... was preventing me from doing so as the pain in my head grew progressively worse.
'No, let's remain calm.'
Leaning my hand against the wall, I tried to remain calm.
I knew the way back.
I just had to go back to the elevator.
Pressing my hand against the side of the wall, I moved out of the room.
Lights flickered from above as I walked ahead, with the corridor narrowing the more steps that I took.
Flick! Flick!
Ignoring all of it, I continued to move.
'Just keep going forward. I have to keep going forward.'
I repeated the same words in my mind over and over again, trying to force myself to move in the right direction, even if I started to forget.
I thought it would work.
I really thought so.
But not even a moment later...
"..."
I stood in the middle of the corridor, blinking my eyes slowly.
The pain in my head intensified as I looked around.
"Where... Where...?"
Holding my head, I continued to look around.
But the more I looked, the more confused I became.
None of this felt familiar.
Wasn't I in a room?
Where...
"Ukh!"
I groaned, holding onto my head while taking out the flip phone from my pocket.
I dialed the same number as last time.
The phone rang. It ranged for several seconds.
But soon, the line picked up.
Click!
"...I moved,"
I whispered into the phone, my voice extremely soft.
—I...
I paused.
Something seemed to cling to my chest at this very moment.
I started to feel out of breath.
"I don't know if that was smart. But I couldn't stay there. I had to get out. I'm... I'm in a corridor now."
I looked around and began to describe my surroundings.
"The walls... the same. Concrete. Rough... Cold. They press in close, narrower than before. The ground... is wet. I can hear droplets coming from above."
Drip! Drip—!
Looking up, a droplet fell on my face.
For some reason, despite nobody speaking, I found myself describing my surroundings.
"I can't see far. There are lights here, but they don't stay steady."
Flick! Flick!
The lights above me started to morph.
They grew dimmer and started to flicker.
Alongside the flickering, my shadow started to flicker.
"I think... they're fluorescent. But they don't hum like they should. They flicker like... like they're gasping."
Flick. Flick!
The lights flickered again, my chest growing heavier.
—....
But that was also the moment I spotted something.
"I see a... marking carved into the wall."
I moved towards the nearby wall, pressing my hand against the rough surface of the corridor as I looked at the symbol.
"They look... haaa... weird. I can't describe it. The markings appear to be faded."
Moving my hand back, I looked at it.
It was wet.
As my lips quivered, I started to describe the symbols.
"They twist inward, but they're jagged, uneven... broken in places, as if someone carved them in a... hurry."
The symbols were weird.
I couldn't quite make out what it was.
It looked more like graffiti than anything else, but I knew...
I knew from just one look they weren't anything simple.
"They don't look like patterns. I can't tell. Something like..."
I paused, noticing the symbols before me shift.
Eyes.
My lips quivered once more.
"They look like eyes. Yes... eyes. Eyes that never close. That never look away."
The air thickened around me all of a sudden. The carved lines seemed to drink in the light, leaving behind a faint shimmer that pulsed every few seconds, almost like a heartbeat.
The longer I looked, the clearer they became. The eyes...
They were staring right at me. Not one, but all of them. Each one followed a rhythm, blinking in and out with the flicker of the lights.
Drip...! drip—!
The water rolled down the wall beside them, tracing over each mark like veins, darkening the carved grooves.
Staring at the liquid, I quickly realized it wasn't water.
It was too dark to be water.
"I..."
My breathing grew rougher as my feet moved on their own.
Feeling the eyes that appeared all over, alongside the dark liquid that dripped down, my body moved on its own.
"Leave... I need to leave before it's too late. Haa...!"
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
The walls on either side began to twist inward, the concrete groaning as if it were breathing.
From the corners of my vision, shapes stirred.
Faces half-formed within the grime, their hollow gazes following every step I took. Each step forward felt like walking deeper into something that was no longer just a corridor, but a throat slowly closing around me.
Trying to swallow me whole.
".....!!"
"I think they... move. The... eyes. They're moving!"
The eyes on the walls started to move.
Everything started to move.
"I need to hurry. I need to leave this place... W-where is the exit? Where is the exit?"
I grew more desperate, running forward with all my might while looking around in panic.
I felt the sense of desperation vividly in my chest.
But that wasn't all.
"It smells..."
My nose scrunched up as I rushed ahead.
A certain smell started to linger in the surroundings
"It smells like iron. Like rust..."
No, not quite...
"Or maybe not rust. There's another smell... present. Rotten? H-haa... W-where the hell am... I? I... want to go home."
I clutched onto my shirt, feeling my stomach churn more and more.
The sense of desperation only grew as I ran deeper into the corridor, and as my breathing grew heavier, something suddenly stopped me in my tracks.
—....!?
Step—
It was the singular sound of a step.
In that moment, my entire body froze as a cold chill swept over my body.
—Haa... Haa... Haa...
My breathing grew heavier as my entire body tensed.
Before I knew it, my breathing started to sync with the person on the other end of the phone as I slowly turned my head.
And then—
Du. Du!
The phone call came to an abrupt end.
Images started to resurface in my mind in that moment as I snapped out of the confusion.
Without hesitation, I reached for my bag and took out a small candy.
I popped it in my mouth a moment later.
[Luck Halo]
: A glowing, ring-shaped candy that hums faintly before dissolving on the tongue. For five minutes, probability subtly bends in the user's favor — dice roll high, doors open more easily, and bullets seem to miss. Once the effect ends, misfortune equal in weight to the gained luck immediately follows.
The candy tasted sweet, and it melted the moment I popped it in my mouth.
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
Staring in the direction of the shadow and watching it creep closer and closer, my heart started to drum loudly inside my chest.
'Did it work? Is it working?'
I felt a wave of anxiety as the shadow drew closer.
Step, Step—
One step.
Two steps.
Just as my heart couldn't take it, something occurred.
CLANK!
It was a loud metallic sound.
It was muffled, but it reverberated loudly across the surroundings.
The moment it sounded, the shadow stopped, its body turning in the direction of the noise.
I held my breath, trying my best to keep my presence to a minimum.
And then—
Step, Step—
The shadow moved again.
This time, in the opposite direction.
That was the moment when I could finally breathe again as I leaned back against the wall.
"Haa... Haaa..."
Although I could've fought whatever the shadow was, given how my nodes weren't exactly working, I didn't feel too confident.
Taking several more breaths, I tried to catch my breath.
But as I did so, I heard a loud grinding sound coming from behind me.
"Huh?"
By the time I realized what had happened, the walls swallowed me from behind. The moment I regained my vision, I found myself in another room.
"....."
I blinked my eyes in confusion, looking around me.
'Was this supposed to be luck, or bad luck?'
No, but...
What was happening to me?
What in the world was this cult?
The more I stayed here, the more it felt like my mind was being swallowed.
This mission...
I also came to a conclusion.
'There's no doubt about it.'
This mission was above Fourth Order.