“It’s just a dream…”

“Are you awake, Nari?”

“……Ah.”

Nari, whose arms felt incredibly sore, opened his eyes. Lude’s voice, laced with amusement, was heard. Since Lude and Nari couldn’t converse, the Lude in front of Nari must be the agent of chaos.

Nari, who had been asleep with his head down on the desk, sat up. As he looked around with groggy eyes, he wore a perplexed expression.

“What the, why am I in a school…?”

He was in a school. The desk he had been lying on was covered in insults carved with a knife. Recognizing the familiar appearance of the desk, Nari took a deep breath.

“Ah. It’s the Deep World. I thought you were going to run amok, so I put you to sleep in a hurry.”

Lude, dressed in a school uniform, was sitting backwards on a chair in the seat in front of Nari, looking at him.

“Is this place also part of it?”

“First time in the basement, huh? The Deep World reflects the subconscious, so it’s very deep. You’re probably here because of some bad memories.”

“What bad memories are you talking about… Ah.”

Remembering the situation just before falling asleep, or rather, before being put to sleep by the agent of chaos, Nari sighed and rubbed his forehead. The agent of chaos chuckled and patted Nari’s back.

“Our Nari, still can’t handle cameras, huh?”

“Even phone cameras were a struggle.”

Even if it’s just Lude’s appearance, facing the reporters’ cameras was still challenging for Nari. If he doesn’t handle the transitional phase of a lucid dream well, he can lose control and get pinned down in a nightmare.

During that phase, where others might see ghosts or monsters, Nari saw countless cameras, indicating the depth of his trauma.

“Thanks anyway. If I had gone berserk, I’d have used my skills in front of all those people and would’ve ended up in handcuffs.”

“Don’t mention it. I should have warned you earlier, but I was busy dealing with the Queen’s complaints about the baby goats.”

“They got caught?”

“Yeah. She was furious, asking what I was doing with her kids.”

“I’m done with the Petit version for a while, then.”

Sighing, Nari leaned back in his chair and looked to the side. As expected in the subconscious world, the view outside the window was pitch black.

“Anyway, let me out. Yi Hyeon must be worried. I’ve got work to do.”

Time in the Deep World was indeterminate, so it was best to leave as soon as possible.

“Oh, wait a minute. There’s something I need to check first.”

“What…?”
Hearing Nari’s words, the agent of chaos stood up. A long shadow of the agent, in the form of Lude, cast over Nari who was still seated. The shadow, merely an avatar, was unstable and undulated like a bubble.

“I’m just curious why our Nari did what he did.”

“What do you mean? It was just a job.”

Bending slowly at the waist to meet Nari’s gaze, the agent of chaos locked eyes with Nari. Nari noticed the shadows writhing in Lude’s eyes. They seemed hideous, like the gates of hell, yet also akin to the reality Nari had always lived in.

“Why didn’t you use mind control on that kid? He wasn’t even a primary school student. You never refrained before. Why now, Nari?… Huh? Can you explain?”

The agent’s eyes glinted ominously. Nari averted his gaze.

“He’s still a student. I don’t use it on minors…”

“Nonsense. You don’t act out of a sense of duty. Even while saving those students, you didn’t feel grateful, did you?”

“No, but saving the students was my responsibility as an adult…!”

“Nari, those are two different things.”

“What do you really want to ask?”

Nari frowned deeply at the agent’s menacing tone. The agent, looking down at Nari, fiddled with his chin.

“That you didn’t use mind control on that kid.”

His chilling black eyes pierced Nari. Nari, pretending not to be tense, slipped his hands into his school uniform pockets.

He guessed he had significantly upset the agent of chaos. The agent then spoke in an emotionless voice.

“It’s because Yi Hyeon knows him, right? You don’t want to be hated by him.”

“What?! That’s nonsense!”

“Exactly.”

Reacting to Nari’s answer, the agent stood up. With a sudden smile, he said,

“Nari, you’re in danger. This is your subconscious. You possess the trait ‘Fragment of the Primordial Dream,’ which allows you deep access here, right?”

“……Yes.”

“But you can’t leave here on your own yet? That’s why I come here every day.”

Lude looked around. The Deep World, present in everyone’s subconscious, and accessible to all, yet only Nari, possessing the ‘Fragment of the Primordial Dream’ trait, could freely enter. The problem was that the way out was so complicated he couldn’t leave on his own.

“I was shocked when you suddenly descended deeper from the lobby of the Deep World. If you go too deep, even I can’t retrieve you.”

“……What does that have to do with Yi Hyeon?”

“He’s influencing you, Nari. And it seems not in the way we thought.”

The agent’s eyes turned cold again as he watched Nari. Nari, clenching and unclenching his fist, turned his head aside and spoke uncertainly.

“So what should I do about it?”

“You’re anxious right now. All your focus is on him. Find a way to stabilize yourself, whatever it may be.”

The cracks began to form in the school of the Deep World. The agent seemed to have found the exit.

“I’ll let it slide for now. But if he becomes a hindrance to our mission…”

As the school crumbled, so did Nari’s vision. The last words of the agent of chaos echoed as Nari’s consciousness completely faded.

“Don’t forget, if it comes to it, I’ll have to deal with it myself.”