The first thing I saw was a system window.
What the hell?
That shouldn’t be possible, but there it was, hovering in my vision. Something was off, though. I should’ve been screaming my head off, but there was no pain. Just a sharp, metallic tang flooding my mouth, like a handful of copper pennies melting on my tongue.
“Aaaaah! Gyaaaa! Holy—!”
Three voices twisted together—shriek, choke, gasp—into a single ragged wail.
In the trembling cone of their flashlights, the pig-masked figure doubled over. Not in pain. In laughter. A wet, wheezing sound that bubbled up like he was drowning in his own lungs. The cleaver dangled from a meaty fist, each hacking laugh flicking fresh, warm drops across the concrete.
Pandomonium’s expression shifted, the placid calm draining away to reveal cold irritation beneath. My hands shot up to my throat, clawing at nothing while something invisible squeezed my neck.
“W-What are you talking about?”
Luciel’s voice broke halfway through the question. She tried to stand straighter, tried to look confident, but her voice gave her away. And it wasn’t because of the cold this time.
“What... what just happened?”
Luciel’s voice came out softly, so different from her usual confident grand tone that Seojun almost didn’t recognize it. But he wasn’t really paying attention. His mind was racing.
Seojun shook the notebook and instantly regretted it. Dust exploded everywhere, making him cough like crazy. The thing was absolutely disgusting—so gross that even someone with serious germophobia would think twice about touching it, even with gloves on. He pointed his phone’s flashlight at the cover, trying to make out what used to be a title under all that grime.
A lump of anxiety rose in my throat.
Is this all your doing, House Lizard? Did you manipulate Reyes too?
House Lizard shook his head.
“No,” he said, his voice disturbingly calm. “I bear you no ill will. There’s no reason to be afraid. I exist solely to assist you.”
Pandomonium acted like I hadn’t said a word. Without a glance back, he turned and strode straight toward the Main Building.
I lunged after him, grabbing his arm with both hands. “Wait! Hold on—stop!”
My feet scraped uselessly against the ground as he kept walking, dragging me along like I weighed nothing. Trying to stop him was like trying to anchor a moving car—five solid meters of pure, undignified resistance.
“Callister...”
I started to ask if he was okay, but then I actually looked at him.
“...Why the hell are you naked?”
“My clothes fell off while I was crawling.”
I blinked. Behind him, his clothes were laying on the floor strangely. The tunic and pants were still holding their shape perfectly, like their wearer had just… deflated and oozed away.
Okay, think. The factory was barely secured, just a metal bar anyone could lift. Maybe kids had peeked in through the entrance.
Seojun latched onto the excuse, willfully ignoring how solid that bar had looked when Dennis had moved it.