Awakening from the Illusion

The first thing I saw after waking from the illusion was a blond child with red eyes staring intently at me.

“Mr. Kim Siin has woken up.”

The child who met my gaze shook the two people dozing on what looked like a plush sofa, waking them. When I glanced out the window, the sun was already sinking low beyond the castle walls. Unlike when I first entered the illusion, it seemed I had been lying down for quite a long time.

“Mmm… you’re awake?”

“How long was I out?”

“……I fell asleep partway through, so I’m not entirely sure.”

Namgung Cheonho, looking at me, shook his head from side to side as if trying to clear the fog from his mind. Right after, Han Gamin, who had also just woken, sat up with messy hair and spoke.

“Whoa, this sofa is insane… I don’t even remember when I fell asleep…”

“It shows.”

The curse hanging over Namgung Cheonho’s room was none other than sleep. Looking at Han Gamin’s face, I could see faint traces of drool on her cheek. Seeing how deeply ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she seemed to have slept made me suspect that the Memorial Piece had activated and triggered quite a powerful mental magic.

“……Just how long did we sleep?”

“I’ll check the remaining time.”

At my muttered words, Namgung Cheonho checked the time limit that had appeared when we received the quest. But moments later, his expression changed drastically, and a bewildered groan escaped his lips.

The time had vanished. Or more accurately, it had slipped away without us noticing.

When I first received the quest on the Tower’s first floor, I had calculated the time generously and planned to clear it calmly. The theme of the quest suggested that even if we relieved some of the fatigue built up during the tutorial and gathered information steadily, we shouldn’t run out of time.

“This can’t be… You’re saying six days have passed while we were asleep?”

Han Gamin looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief. I felt just as bewildered.

Let’s think this through slowly.

When exactly had so much time passed? Of course, as Han Gamin suggested, it was possible that right before the illusion activated, the Memorial Piece had reactivated and nearly a full week had flown by. But that explanation felt a little thin. If we had gone nearly a week without eating or drinking properly, we would be struggling to even speak right now, our throats completely dry.

Which meant……

“Have either of you checked the time even once since entering the first floor of the Tower?”

At my question, the two of them looked at each other and simultaneously shook their heads.

“No. I haven’t.”

“I haven’t checked the time either. I’m not sure if today is even the right day, but I don’t have many memories of being awake since arriving on the first floor.”

At Namgung Cheonho’s words, I fell into thought once more. In truth, aside from the banquet, I had no memory of eating anything since arriving here. The same went for the other two. And since Namgung Cheonho seemed to have done nothing but sleep in his room like the dead, the fact that he was perfectly fine now was even more strange.

That suggested that even while brainwashed, Namgung Cheonho had been steadily consuming food. A week, huh…

The time limit we had received right after entering the first floor came to mind. One week. Was it really just a coincidence that the repeating seven days I saw in the illusion perfectly overlapped with the week we had been given?

And why was the penalty for failing to complete the quest within that week ‘stat reduction’ instead of the usual ‘death’?

“Hoo… Haaa……”

I took a deep breath and reviewed the current ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠situation once more. The luxurious bedroom that made even a hotel suite seem modest. The two comrades looking at me, and the red-eyed little kid we had met here. Then my gaze stopped on the small mirror atop the vanity, and a spine-chilling thought flashed through my mind.

A tingling sensation activated my brain. What I had seen in the mirror was myself sitting on the bed, my shirt soaked with blood.

Staring at that image, I could vaguely piece together when and how that week had passed.

Thinking back now, the first floor of the Tower had been unnatural from the very beginning. The people who showed no reaction when I first entered. A person suddenly appearing out of thin air, yet the residents treated it as completely ordinary and simply continued with their daily lives.

To them, it was just another ordinary occurrence.

The situation of people entering the Tower and knights taking them away. Someone refusing guidance, fighting the soldiers, and being dragged off. From the memories of the illusion I had seen, the first floor was a region where time repeated in seven-day loops due to a Constellation’s power. And that time loop had not yet ended. We had simply joined that timeline late.

Maybe those residents were actually players…

People from outside the Tower who, after failing to find a way out over the course of a week, had been brainwashed and turned into residents of this place. It wasn’t an entirely impossible hypothesis. And as I recalled the repetitive phrases I had heard since entering the Tower, that hypothesis gained more and more credibility.

“Relax.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Make yourself comfortable.”

“You’ve been through a lot, so rest.”

The knight guiding me had told me he was merely a guide and tried to ease my tension. I had walked through the splendid corridor beneath warm lighting. But I couldn’t clearly remember how long I had walked that corridor or what conversations I had with the knight during that time. The only thing that came to mind was how I had stayed on high alert, trying to shake off the sense of comfort that place gave me.

And as I organized that memory in my head, I recalled one decisive event regarding the strange flow of time.

“That outfit of yours…”

“Oh, this?”

The lace-trimmed dress Han Gamin had been wearing then—and was still wearing now.

“It’s pretty, right? They said blood-stained clothes would feel gross here, so they changed me into this.”

Her dress had become proof that I had walked that corridor for a very long time. By the time we reached the banquet hall, everyone had already changed clothes. Han Gamin, whom I met at the door, Namgung Cheonho, Seo Seyeong… even Park Jocheol, who had thrown a fit earlier about not following strangers, was wearing formal court attire. I was the only one still in the same clothes.

Thanks to Quick Understanding…

I would have eventually fallen under the brainwashing too. If I hadn’t been hit with a mental attack stronger than the C- rank of Quick Understanding, my memories wouldn’t have been wiped so cleanly. Moreover, if my hypothesis was correct, that might not have been our first time entering the banquet hall.

When people repeat the same actions day after day, they forget what day of the week it is. When fatigue builds up, they sometimes wash their face with shampoo by mistake. If even simple repetition can make the brain stop thinking, then being under various mental attacks like brainwashing, sleep, domination, and confusion made it even more obvious.

And the little maid named Lorang standing before us could serve as proof of that.

There’s no way someone could see a person covered in blood and show no reaction.

Lorang was a child who looked no older than ten. For such a young child to remain calm in front of an adult man reeking of blood and covered in zombie gore was already abnormal.

Two possibilities…

Either she had been so heavily brainwashed that she could feel no fear at all. Or she had already experienced guiding me in this blood-soaked state before.

“Tsk.”

I roughly swept my hair back and clicked my tongue. I felt like I had been toyed with by some unknown ghost for days on end. But now I understood. What I needed to do. And where I needed to go.

“Let’s start clearing the first floor.”

The two people looking at me wore puzzled expressions. After seeing the illusion twice, sleeping a little, and waking up to find six ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠days had passed, they seemed surprised that I had already reached some kind of conclusion. The unfortunate part was that their surprise was based on a misunderstanding. I hadn’t fully understood the exact clearing method yet. I had simply realized we didn’t have much time left, so I planned to interrogate the most suspicious person.

I recalled the final scene I had seen in the illusion, along with the target I was now aiming for. The enormous blue gem placed in the mage called Noya’s laboratory, and the wooden staff he had brought to the banquet hall.

The first place the three of us headed was Noya’s bedroom.

Finding the way wasn’t difficult. We had a little traitor who had decided to side with us, and just as Lorang had said before, she knew the castle’s interior structure like the back of her hand.

Creak…

I left Han Gamin and Namgung Cheonho to watch my back as I entered Noya’s room. The room was eerily quiet. I had expected the king’s bedroom to be extravagantly decorated, but it was simply large—obscenely so—and strangely plain in a way that was hard to understand.

“He lives here? The king? Seriously?”

Han Gamin, admiring the impressive spiderweb hanging in one corner of the ceiling, voiced her doubts several times as she followed behind me. Namgung Cheonho and Lorang wore similarly confused expressions. But I didn’t let my guard down, walking forward with a hardened face.

Right after passing through the door, I felt a sinister energy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠emanating from the dark space ahead.

As I drew closer, specific status ailments were triggering. I had the other three fall back. And when I finally reached Noya’s bed, I couldn’t help but be stunned.

“……”

A man lay on the bed, deathly pale, eyes wide open. Beside him was a staff radiating an ominous blue light.

“……What the hell is this?”

At that moment, ‘Noya’ was dead in his own bed.