Administrator
"We met sooner than I expected, but I suppose it hardly matters."
Ayin said this as he slowly rose from his chair.
"…What the hell is going on?"
"About what?"
"I clearly fell into the Illusion Prison. And the Illusion Prison is supposed to show me my past."
"This—meeting you like this—wasn't supposed to be part of it."
The Illusion Prison.
It was a place that forced nightmares upon whoever was caught in it.
So why, after being trapped in one, was I standing face to face with Ayin?
"The answer to that is quite simple."
"Because this place is your past. And your nightmare."
"…What did you just say?"
I couldn't make sense of it.
Lobotomy was my past?
Did that mean I had been Ayin once?
But Ayin was standing right in front of me now.
Then what the hell was he talking about?
Who… am I?
"Calm down. You don't need to reach a conclusion right this second."
"…What am I, exactly?"
"A crossroads where countless things have tangled together."
"And also a terminus where countless things have met their end."
"You've been talking in riddles this whole—"
"You'll understand soon enough."
The world before my eyes began to ripple.
My stomach turned over.
"Ugh…!"
"Looks like time's up."
"Wait—who the hell are you…!"
"I'll be waiting for you at the terminus, then."
"And when that moment finally arrives…"
"Vanish without end."
With Ayin's final words, my consciousness sank deep once more.
Ayin stared endlessly at the place where Hayeon had vanished.
"Does he concern you?"
"I suppose he does. He was my most important employee, after all."
A woman with sky-blue hair and amber eyes approached his side.
She took her place beside Ayin with an expressionless face—movements so familiar and swift it was as if she had been doing it for a very long time.
"He is no longer him, and yet he is not him either."
"You know that as well. You know by what means he came into being."
"I know. That's precisely why he concerns me more."
Ayin settled back into his chair and shifted his gaze to the monitor.
On the screen was a containment unit—and inside it, the great bird that Park Hayeon had previously confined.
"So… shouldn't I do something for him, even now?"
"…I didn't take you for someone so hung up on the past."
"Contrary to popular belief, second chances don't usually come around."
"So this time… I don't intend to let it slip away."
"Is that so."
"Then I shall simply continue to assist you."
"As befits an AI built with the finest technology."
"…Could you please stop saying that? I'm asking you."
"My, are you saying you dislike it?"
"What could possibly be wrong with a machine behaving like a machine?"
"…I'm sorry."
Ayin said this and began operating the mouse once more.
It was the start of a refreshing day at Lobotomy.
"Hah!"
I bolted upright and scanned my surroundings.
Ayin, who had been speaking with me only moments ago, was nowhere to be found—and the scenery had returned to the familiar railroad tracks.
"Hayeon-ssi! Are you with us?!"
Yoo Sangah rushed over in a panic.
"How long was I out this time? What happened while I was—"
"There were monsters generating the Illusion Prison. We've taken them all out, so we should be fine for now."
Dokja said this as he picked up a Specter's soulstone from the ground.
"Haa… I've been passing out a lot lately…"
"You have. Ever since the Dark Keeper incident…"
Yoo Sangah gently took my hand in hers.
But even that warmth felt distant right now.
A crossroads and a terminus, Ayin had said.
What the hell had that even meant?
"Ugh…"
Just then, Gilyoung staggered to his feet.
Yoo Sangah released my hand and turned her concern toward him.
"Gilyoung-ah, are you okay to stand?"
"My head hurts…"
Gilyoung's trauma was probably the violence from his mother.
Having roughly pieced that together, Dokja stroked Gilyoung's hair—and Gilyoung burrowed into his arms.
"Still, it looks like we're almost there."
Just as Yoo Sangah said, light was visible beyond the far end of the tracks.
And with it came a young, girlish voice.
"Who the hell are you people?"
"Don't you know this zone is our hunting ground?"
"Ah—that girl…!"
There she was at last. Lee Jihye.
"Huh? You guys… did you take out the Specters?"
"How the hell…? Only my Master can kill those things."
Jihye eyed us with open suspicion, then seemed to make up her mind and spoke.
"Follow me. I'll take you to the station."
Main Scenario #2 — Encounter has ended.
Calculating rewards.
You have entered Chungmuro.
⊳ #GIR-8671 channel is now active.
⊳ #BIR-3642 channel is now active.
As expected—once the scenario scale grew, the number of dokkaebi channels multiplied right along with it.
The third Main Scenario is currently in progress.
"Oh, little samurai. Brought in some new blood?"
"Yeah."
The moment we stepped into Chungmuro, two thoroughly drunk middle-aged men greeted us.
"Old man, you hit the bottle again?"
"Hahaha! World's gone to hell—what else is there to do but drink?"
"But your friends here came through the Dongdae Tunnel? Not bad… Bet you scored some coins."
Then the bastard slowly looked Yoo Sangah up and down with a greasy, unsettling gaze.
"What's your name, miss? Got a cheap room I could rent you."
"Excuse me? A room…?"
"Haha, you don't know how the system works around here yet, do you? See, this place—"
"Old men. Stop messing with the newbies and get upstairs."
Good job, Jihye.
I was half a second from stepping in and sewing that bastard's mouth shut myself.
"Hey now, these folks ought to know. Everyone's just trying to survive—"
Shiiing—
"If you don't want to die."
Damn, that's cold.
High school girls these days are terrifying…
"I brought you here, so you're on your own from now on. I'm not playing babysitter."
Clearly, training under Joonghyuk had rubbed off on her speech patterns too.
"I'm going."
"Yoo Joonghyuk is here too, right?"
At Dokja's words, Jihye's entire demeanor shifted in an instant, her hand drifting to her sword's hilt.
"…Who the hell are you?"
"I'm a companion of Yoo Joonghyuk—the one who came back alive."
"A companion? No way that's true."
"Tell her that and she'll understand."
"Where is Yoo Joonghyuk?"
"…Master isn't here right now."
Of course she isn't. Our sunfish is probably busy working herself to death right about now.
"That's inconvenient. I've got something I absolutely need to tell her."
"…Haa. Hey, you!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
"Keep an eye on these people! I'm going to report to Master."
"W-Who even are these people?"
"I don't know! She says she's Master's friend!"
Honestly, "friend" was a stretch.
If I had to put a label on it, it was a one-sided relationship.
One-sided in the sense that he'd gotten eaten by a sea dragon, after all.
"Hah…!"
"You're friends with Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi?"
"…"
"We're the best of friends."
Dokja-ya. I'm genuinely starting to get scared of you.