He might have been able to eject it from his body if he resisted immediately, but the Master appeared to be not in the state of mind to do so. Perhaps the spell was too powerful.

“……Why, have you…….”

Their eyes met—Master’s and Ha Hyun’s—in shock.

The student he had taken in and cared for was attacking him. The betrayal and sorrow were beyond words.

As the Master’s eyes reddened, every fiber of Ha Hyun’s being was jolted.

A tiny spark that had remained in Ha Hyun’s mind flared up with all its might.

It felt like a final act of defiance born from despair.

Due to this, Ha Hyun instinctively expelled ‘something’ from within himself and quickly regained his senses. He didn’t even know why he did it; it was purely instinctual.

The world became slightly clearer at that moment, as if he’d wiped a window.

Even the act he had committed was laid out clearly before his eyes.

“Ah….”

For some reason, the sharpened world was vividly perceived by all his senses. The Master, who seemed entranced, priests rushing from afar, and he himself standing dazedly in the middle.

His memory was complete, and so he knew.

There was nothing he could do.

Amidst it all, Ha Hyun slowly realized that something within his body felt off.

“……What’s this?”

I knew what he felt.

I, too, had experienced it just yesterday—a precursor to being entranced.

Though fear paralyzed him, there was nothing wrong with the body I was inhabiting.

However, it was different for Ha Hyun.

“I didn’t intend for this to happen……”

Muttering like a person who’d lost their wits, Ha Hyun then let out a faint, hollow laugh.

Even though there was nothing I could do, I clearly knew what he was thinking.

This would be better.

Sorry to the Master, sorry to Ha Hyun……

“What do I do if I commit such an act again.”

Rather die.

While lucid, resist not the death that follows.

The priest was almost upon him. He brushed past Ha Hyun, approached the Master, then retreated, seemingly hesitant to touch him, and looked back at us. His face was stern and upright.

“What is this, exactly……”

As his mind cleared, the intense hatred he’d felt every time he saw that face was gone.
“Ha Hyun” softly apologized in a vacant voice.

“I’m sorry.”

There were no last words.

The moment I closed my eyes, it was over.

“…Ah.”

And a few seconds later, I realized like a bolt of lightning what I had to do now.

“You’re not using your head.”

It was true that at some point, I had deeply immersed myself in this memory. That’s why I didn’t feel too great even now.

However, regardless, showing me this scene was a failure of this ‘curtain.’

Because I had just seen it, and even realized it.

“Ha Hyun” had done it.

He instinctively excavated what had been inside me.

It was more vivid and deeper than my current state, tearing even my ego away, and he just dealt with it like that…

“I also know the method.”

It was weaker than that, and it couldn’t control me either. From “Ha Hyun”‘s experience, I realized both instinctively and rationally how to handle this.

“I can do it.”

The moment when the curtain seemed to ripple again in the dark silence enveloped in a veil, I did exactly what I had just seen “Ha Hyun” do.

I felt resistance as if it was trying to bounce me back, but I ignored it out of stubbornness.

Whether it was because I had deeply entered into the ‘curtain’ by looking straight at all the scenes, or perhaps because these scenes hadn’t completely defeated me…

This spell, which Je Moon Gak Joo and other adults had worried so much about, scattered into pieces after a brief struggle.

It felt like fragments turning to dust and scattering within me, as if a mirror shard broke.

It was not beautiful.

“Ah…”

In that, I slowly opened my eyes.

And right then, I belatedly realized that my entire face was wet from crying.

“It’s done.”

It had definitely shattered.

I did it. I did, but…

Even after resolving the issue, all the scenes from the original work I had been forced to watch didn’t leave my mind. They became my memory, not disappearing even as the spell shattered.

That’s why I quickly realized why I was crying.

I had deeply immersed myself in the life I had seen. The pain I felt while sharing the perspective with “Ha Hyun” hadn’t subsided.

More than anything else, the most intense emotion was… guilt.

“It wasn’t something I did.”

Even though it’s something that won’t happen in the future.

Still, I felt so sorry towards my master that my mind wasn’t functioning properly.
Dazed for a moment, I staggered to my feet, shoved the door to the room I was in, and bolted into the hallway. Immediately, a gaze turned to face me.

A startled face.

It was my master, who had been anxiously waiting outside the door, concerned for his disciple.

As soon as our eyes met, he hurried over and cupped my face with both hands.

“What’s the matter? Has something gone wrong?”

“I’m sorry….”

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I, sorry…”

My words were muffled by tears. It seemed the master also couldn’t fully comprehend what I was saying.

Nonetheless, not knowing the reason, he first knelt down and hugged me, patting my back to comfort me. A sense of confusion and helplessness was palpable.

“It’s alright, don’t cry, okay?”

“I… am sorry…”

The word ‘sorry’ was all that continued to murmur from my lips as I rested my cheek on my master’s shoulder.

‘I wanted to come out and shout that it was a success.’

Everything had already gone wrong.

I cried for a long while like that, eventually losing consciousness while still leaning on my master’s shoulder.