What are you doing? Woo Ragi immediately grabbed my hand. As a result, I clearly saw the line between his neck and head heal until only unblemished skin was left; the swordmans head returned to its rightful place on the neck.

My mouth opened wide at that sight; I couldnt school my attention. However, after locking gazes with Woo Ragi, I hurriedly tried stop my gaping and stared at him awkwardly.

Can you see now?

Huh? Yeah

Unexpectedly, the first topic Woo Ragi raised was the state of my eyes. After tilting and massaging the previously cut region of his neck, he pulled at my hands once more. Then, run.

.What? O-Okay! I clasped his fingers and jumped over the gross, wriggling mass of tentacles. In the midst of that mass was the thing that had taken Seo Dawons shapethe monster that Woo Ragi had cleaved in two. I deliberately averted my gaze.

* * *

I felt an uncanny sense of deja vu as I ran while holding Woo Ragis handit was as if Id been here before. It wasnt exactly like the subspaces in vengeful ghost memory, but

Isnt this place structured a bit like Koo Hui-seos house?

Although the ceiling of the main hall and the walls at both ends of the mansion were in shambles, the outside could still be seen through the holes in the half-collapsed structureI was reminded of Koo Hui-seos mansion, with its wing-shaped winder staircases on both sides of the drawing room. I clearly remembered making a mental note because Id wondered if his mansion resembled the interior of a European castle.

However, I wasnt exactly certainthis place was so incomparably huge compared to Koo Hui-seos mansion. While gasping and running, I looked into countless rooms and endless corridors.

Woo Ragi said, Do you remember the monster that had the key in its mouth?

Gasp gasp What did you say?

Do you remember the key.

Ah! Yeah!

At my confirmation, Woo Ragi pushed me to the opposite side without any notice, right into one of the open doors. When I looked around, I realized that I had entered an ordinary room that had white dust piled everywhere.

Disoriented, I looked back at Woo Ragi. At that moment, I heard a heavy thudding soundlike something had been movingin the distance. W-Whats that?

Be quiet.

As soon as Woo Ragi placed a finger on my lips to quiet, a dark shadow fell through the rooms small window. The room quickly darkenedit was as if a solar eclipse had occurred. The light that had originally filtered through that small window vanished completely.

Worryingly, that sudden change was a result of the giant monsters appearance just outside the window. I held my breath and looked at what little I could see of the monsters body.

Gasp! As the monster bowed its head and one gigantic eye peered through the window, I gasped in surprise. Its pupil was as big as the glass panes.

The sight was so terrible that I couldnt help but freeze in place. However, the monster continued staring at me regardless. It held a ring, with a key attached, in its mouthI realized then that this must have been what the swordsman was referring to.

Im going to die No matter what plans I thought up, there was still no way I could survive an encounter with that monster; I needed to run away.

However, Woo Ragi firmly held my hand with a nonchalant, calm expression. Also, strangely enough, the monster only looked into the room from the outside. Though I could see my reflection in its pupils, the monster slowly rolled its eyes inside its sockets to check the rooms contents.

Eventually, after observing the room for a long while, the monster rose again and gradually moved away, accompanied by its characteristic thudding sounds. I remained motionless until I could no longer hear it moving; only then did I turn my head stiffly towards the swordsman, .W-What just happened?

I just stealthed us momentarily. With that said, Woo Ragi flung my hands off cold-heartedly. I held my numb palms for a while before I collapsed to the groundthe strength had left my legs. I was just thankful that I hadnt soiled my pants.

Hey, by the way, did you see the key it held in its mouth? Woo Ragi asked.

What?

You didnt see it? Woo Ragi, in midst of asking if Id seen the key, started kicking my foot with the tip of his shoe, as if he was bothered that I was still spaced out. I stood at attention because the swordsman seemed to be in a hurry, but I still couldnt answer. I had no idea what he asked. What are you asking me about? The keys shape?

There was a jewel embedded in the head of the key.

Ah I recalled the appearance of the key gripped by the monsters mouth. When I slowly thought about it, I did seem to have seen a red jewel on the round head of the keyjust as Woo Ragi said. It looked like a ruby that had been carved and tumbled into a round shape; it had an impressive black pattern in the middle. At first glance, it looked a bit like a finely carved replica of a crocodiles eye.

I saw itwhat about it? I asked.

It looked exactly like the Seo Dawon-impersonators peepers. 1

What? Even though I wracked my brain, that Seo Dawons eyes didnt come to mind. Even after rifling through my memories, all I could recall was how the headless Woo Ragi had asked me to pick up his head.

Expression paling, I blocked my mouth to prevent myself from vomiting; at that sight, Woo Ragi folded his arms across his chest and shot me a contemptful expression. Still, considering how the swordsman had refrained from making a large tantrum, it seemed that he understood my current physical and mental condition.

Woo Ragi skipped past that topic and asked another question in a callous tone. Then, do you know where we are?

W-Who knows

You really dont know?

No, how should I know where this is As I said that, I recalled how Id found this place similar to Koo Hui-seos mansion, and my words trailed off.

Woo Ragi wasnt even surprised at my reaction and said, Youre the one who made this space, so think quickly: Are there any places or rooms that might help us escape? Or other things like that?

However, I couldnt agree with the swordsmans conclusions. I bluntly asked, What do you mean?

Huh?

Why would I make this space?! Are you blaming me again?

It felt like the swordsman was pushing all the blame on me; however, Woo Ragi calmly answered back, I meant that Koo Hui-seo contaminated your mind and dropped you into this space. In any case, since this dungeons base was formed using the information inside your head, the dungeons map must be somewhere in your brain as well.

What?

Now that weve been here for a while, I understand All your fears have been gathered here.

I couldnt keep up with the flow of conversation and looked dumbfounded. Woo Ragi reached out.

He pointed towards the area under the bed. There was a small skull and a skeletal hand sticking out. I covered my mouth with one handit all looked so familiar.

No matter how I looked at it, the hand looked like Lackeys. The hand, though, was covered with dust as if it hadnt moved for a long while.

Woo Ragi followed my gaze and confirmed what I was looking at. While I was carrying around your blind self, I saw several things like that.

And all the paintings hanging in the hallway we ran through were all paintings of you.

I had nothing to say to thatafter all, I hadnt seen such things. However, I couldnt tear my eyes away from the hand under the bed.

Woo Ragi was about to say something else, but upon seeing my expression, he approached and dragged me into his embrace instead. Then, he grabbed my head tightly with his hands and forced my eyes to meet his. Hey, did you think of something when you saw that?

N-No.

Dont think about anything weird. Got it?

B-But It just moved I said, with a tearful expression on my face.

Woo Ragis expression was he looked incredibly irritatedlike he wanted to destroy everything. However, he gritted his teeth and said, Turn around, dont look back, and leave the room.

I left the room without looking back despite the clacks I could hear behind me. As soon as Woo Ragi slammed the door shut behind him, I could hear something hard crashing against the wall.

Looking at the shaking door, I asked the swordsman who followed me out, What should we do now?

Dunno. How many times do I have to say Im not an expert in this field.

Woo Ragis reproach was rather blunt. However, when he saw my tearful eyes, he reluctantly continued, Can you recall anything about Koo Hui-seo?

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TL: So sorry for the slightly late chapter! I had a busy day today!