"What is it about life that is not fake...?"

He sat on his chair with his gaze directed at me. Roots slowly crept from the ground, entangling both his feet and arms.

The lighting surrounding the office space grew dim, casting an eerie and gloomy aura around that.

Despite the changes, his expression didn't show any signs of panic or change.

He continued to maintain his gaze on me.

"Am I here? Are you here...? Is anything in general here?"

He was speaking to me.

Something that had happened once before with the second leaf.

For what reason was it possible for him to speak to me...? It hadn't been the first time I had used the second leaf, and yet, this was only the second time I could interact with someone in their memories.

How...?

"I wake up, I eat breakfast, go to work, come back home, eat dinner, and repeat. I'm finding my entire days blending to create a suffocating and never-ending loop that is sapping away at my life."

I wanted to speak to him.

Ask him questions.

But,

For some strange reason, I found myself unable to. I had been able to speak just a few moments ago. Why couldn't I speak again?

Was it because of what he was saying?

.....What about his words strangely resonated with me?

I bit my lips.

Indeed, what he was feeling.

I had once felt it too.

"How much do you truly remember about your life? I wake up each day forgetting what I had done the previous day. Even if I do remember, by the time two days pass, I'll have forgotten about it. Can you truly say you've lived if you end up forgetting everything?"

"....."

I matched his gaze.

He looked back.

"What is the point?"

I pursed my lips before I tried to explain to him that what he was seeing was more likely an illusion created by the tree.

"That's..."

"It's all an illusion?"

But he beat me to it.

As if he could read my thoughts, he continued to speak.

"But what about it is an illusion? How can you tell that the life beyond the illusion isn't just another illusion? What if that is also an illusion? What does that make my life...?"

In the blink of an eye, his entire body was completely enveloped by roots. The only thing that wasn't covered by the roots was his face as his blood-red eyes continued to stare back at me.

"I'm just like you."

It was from his words that I realized something.

"I'm just endlessly drifting. Watching as I continue to do the same things over and over again with no way to fix it."

'He's gone.'

".....What about me is real?"

The tree had won.

Endlessly subjecting him to illusions, the tree had broken him.

His perception of reality and his self was gone. Right now... He was just like his memories. A drifting soul with no goal, only moving for the sake of the tree.

It made me wonder.

'How close am I to becoming that...?'

At this very moment, how close was the tree from turning me into what he had become?

No, it doesn't matter.'

Close or not close, I wasn't going to be like him.

I wasn't going to let myself be like him.

Tak

Breaking the silence, I took a step forward.

"...."

By now, his entire body was covered in roots, with only his eyes being the part of his body that I could still see.

He could no longer talk.

Tied up to the chair, he could only watch as I took a step towards him and reached forward with my hand.

I grabbed one of the roots.

.....Strangely, they were the only things that I could touch within this illusionary world.

And,

Riiiip

I tore the root apart.

"Hieeek"

A muffled scream reverberated through the surroundings.

Btzz

The surroundings grew more static.

I looked around me before gripping another root.

Riiiip

Like the previous one, I tore it away from his body.

"Hieeek"

Another shriek.

Btzz

Yet again, the surroundings grew static.

Looking around me, I could feel the world showing signs of crumbling.

'I see.'

I looked at the root.

'.....I've found the root of the problem.'

Lvl 2. [Joy] EXP + 0.01%

"...."

Sometimes...

I really wished Leon was with me.

Riiiip

I yet again ripped another root.

The world grew more and more static with each root that I ripped apart, and Karl's face became more visible.

He remained motionless, staring back at me with hollow eyes.

"It's useless."

He began to speak, his voice sounding rather flat.

".....Stop fighting it."

But I ignored him.

Riiip, riip

"Haa... Haaa..."

I felt my breath grow heavy with each root that I ripped away from his body.

It felt strangely tiring.

As if each set of actions was adding more and more weight to my arms.

"Haa..."

To the point where my chest started to burn.

Why...

"Hieek"

In the background, strange and muffled shrieks continued to resonate.

I drowned out the noise for as much as I potentially could, but before I knew it, my arms started to feel more and more heavy.

Gripping onto another root, I tried to rip it out like the rest, but...

"Kh...!"

I found myself unable to move my arm.

"Wh-a... Haaa... t's, go...?"

Looking down, I felt my heart drop.

'When...?'

Tangling over my right arm were the same roots I had been ripping.

Like chains, coming from beneath the ground, they gripped over my right arm from several different areas.

"Kh...!"

I felt my face grow red as I tried to rip another root, but I eventually had to stop.

My right arm...

I could no longer move it.

I tried to rip it with my left hand, but that proved to be an impossible task. The grip was far stronger than that of the vines that were covering Karl's body.

"Haa... Haaa..."

Grabbing my chest with my left arm, I felt my mind grow light. It was starting to become harder to think, and despite this being a memory, I could feel sweat trickling down the side of my face.

'How weird.'

For a moment, I stopped doing what I was doing.

'.....In the first place, what am I even doing?'

For the briefest of moments, my mind grew numb.

Everything about me and what I was seemed to disappear.

It was as if I was starting to lose sight of myself.

"Ah...!"

That feeling came and went extremely fast.

I was quick to snap out of it.

When I did, I felt my entire back drenched in sweat.

Squelch. Squelch.

Looking down, roots appeared to entangle my ankles. Though not extremely fast, they were starting to move up.

"Kh!"

I felt adrenaline rush into my body.

Since I could no longer use my right hand, I used my left hand.

Riiip, Riiip

I ripped one root after another.

With each root that I ripped, the world around me grew static.

'Ah.'

After a certain point, just for the briefest of moments, I saw a world beyond the world that I was currently seeing.

'I'm getting closer.'

To the real memories.

This fake world... It was slowly breaking down.

The trees' influence diminished with each root that I removed. Realizing this, I grew even more impatient and ripped the roots with more ferocity.

Riiip!

Even as my muscles burned, and my chest felt like it was on fire, I didn't cease my movements.

'Close, I'm getting closer...'

My chest tingled with anxiety.

I could see it.

The world before me was starting to fade.

Beyond this, I could see a brighter, and less gloomy office.

"Almos"

I was never able to finish my words.

All of a sudden, I found myself unable to move my left hand.

"No, no, no, no,no, no..."

I looked to my left.

Dread started to gnaw at my insides.

Just like my right arm, roots had appeared, entangling my arm in different places, chaining my hand to the ground.

"Kh!"

I felt the veins on my neck protrude as I tried my best to move my arm.

"Khhh!!!!"

And yet,

Despite my best efforts, it all ended up being futile.

Regardless of what I did, my arms refused to budge a single inch.

Squelch. Squelch.

At the same time, the roots had already crept all the way up to my chest. My chest squeezed at the pressure, and I struggled to breathe.

"Hueap."

It was as if I was being dragged deeper and deeper into the depths of a bottomless ocean, with the pressure increasing the deeper I went.

It felt suffocating.

"Huep...!"

'No, more...! I'm close.'

Anxiety started to creep into my mind.

I could tell that I was just a few more roots away from getting rid of the tree's influence.

Just a little...

A little...

A...

Squelch. Squelch.

'...'

Suddenly, my mind grew blank.

My movements stopped.

The back of my neck tingled as I felt something crawl up from behind. I wasn't sure what it was. Nor did I care.

I couldn't think.

'...'

The tickling sensation appeared all over my body.

It was now nearing my face.

I looked at the man before me.

He was staring at me.

'Who is he...?'

I blinked my eyes.

He felt familiar.

And yet, I couldn't remember.

How odd.

Squelch. Squelch.

The sound also appeared to be familiar.

Where exactly did I hear it from?

I really tried to think.

I really did.

But,

'I don't know.'

I just felt empty.

So empty.

That too...

Felt familiar.

Too familiar in fact.

My mind shook and I regained myself.

".....!"

Squelch. Squelch.

Looking down, the roots had entangled every part of my body besides my face. But they were getting there, slowly crawling towards my face.

I was stuck, hardly able to move.

The situation seemed desperate.

To the point where one'd give up at this point, but,

"Kh...!!"

Clenching my teeth, I brought my face forward and bit into one of the roots before me.

Sinking my teeth onto the root, it almost felt as though I was biting into hard metal. I felt my teeth crack a little, but I didn't let that sensation get to me.

R... Riiip

Tearing the root with my teeth, the world grew static once more.

It flashed for a brief moment, allowing me to glance at a world that was without roots.

"Akh...!"

I sunk my teeth into another root.

I felt my teeth crack.

But I didn't care.

This was all an illusion anyway. And even if it was, this pain was meaningless to me.

R... Riiip

Yet again, I ripped another root.

The world changed again. For a brief moment, the world was without roots and seemed a lot more vibrant.

Squelch. Squelch.

At the same time, the roots that were entangling my body appeared to grow more desperate.

They squeezed my body, knocking the wind out of my chest.

"Huep!"

I couldn't breathe.

.....But I didn't need to breathe.

"Akh!"

I bit onto another root.

"Hieeeek"

I heard a shriek as I did so. The root beneath my teeth wiggled, trying to free itself from my bite. I clung to it desperately.

"Hieeek"

The roots around me started to wiggle as well.

.....The entire room shook. And yet, I paid no attention to it.

I just looked at the two red eyes that were staring at me.

Our gazes met.

And,

Ri... Riiip

I ripped the root.

.

.

.

The world grew silent.

I could hardly hear a thing.

It was just me and my thoughts.

That was until the weight over my chest eased.

I felt liberated.

Suddenly, I could move again.

By the time it took for me to blink, the surroundings appeared to change.

I was now in the same office as before.

However, compared to before, the roots were gone.

Despite being the same, the entire office seemed to be different.

Scratch~ Scratch~

But that wasn't what grabbed my attention.

Hearing the familiar scratching sound, I looked towards the wooden desk.

There, I could see a figure scribbling something.

With his back towards me, I couldn't see his face. However, I knew exactly who he was. I took a step forward, and my eyes paused on the paper in front of him.

"Ah."

I smiled then.

Lvl 1. [Joy] EXP + 2%

At last,

I had found what I wanted.

The Page.