One, two… Rood, counting as if it didn’t matter, simply lowered his hand. His gaze was indifferent, as if there was no sense of accomplishment.

“Well, I’ll kill them until they’re no longer visible.”

Whoosh, he swung the black half-scissor downward. As the psychic power gathered upwards, dozens of black spears formed in the sky behind Rood.

Drawing a circle lightly with the tip of the half-scissor, a whooshing sound accompanied the beginning of the rapid rotation of the spears. Rood looked at the approaching monsters with a dry gaze.

“Am I irritated and annoyed right now? I’ll finish it with one shot each.”

Bang! Dozens of black spears shot simultaneously from the air. With the exploding dust, a series of thuds, thuds, thuds…! sounds were heard, and in an instant, a pile of corpses formed on the spot.

‘Did I have to return the resources to the gods?’

Rood, recalling a brief reflection, snapped his fingers and put it into the inventory.
Bang!! The last spear was shot, and the hazy smoke gradually dissipated. Rood walked into it with a steady pace. The moment he thought about finding the next marker.

[Kwoo-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!!!] [The first roar of the Minotaur is in progress!]

“Nariya?”

A voice so familiar came from behind. Rood stopped abruptly.

Although the Chaos Controller spoke indirectly through a message, it wasn’t audible.

The curse of the Minotaur is cunning. It shows such a vivid illusion that it directly induces trauma beyond one’s control, as explained by Jeong Soo-ho. Therefore, he was preparing for it.

Whether it was insults on the day Jeong Soo-ho left or the suffering from people around and the media, he had thoroughly prepared, especially since it was a stressful situation due to his past or PMS.

He didn’t want to lose control of his psychic power.

However, as always, unexpected events tended to happen.

A woman with long brown curly hair, green eyes, a petite figure, and a tired look, calling Nari so affectionately.

“Nariya. Why are you like this? Is something wrong?”

Come to think of it, it was only natural. The one person forever etched in Nari’s mind.

The person who gave Nari an unforgettable trauma. Journalists and Jeong Soo-ho would never touch.
Rood’s pupils shook violently. A breathless sound escaped his lips.

“……Mom…?”

Nari’s already deceased mother, Gang Hana, was standing there.

Just as she appeared in her living days. Gang Hana approached Rood gently.

“Our Nari, have you been through a lot?”

A tender word. Rood, upon hearing that word, made a sound suppressing tears.

It was the phrase he always wanted to hear. And it was the sound he always wanted to hear.

[Nari, this is fake. Your mother isn’t here. The Chaos Controller advises you seriously.]

The indirect message kept coming up, but Rood didn’t register it in his eyes. He vaguely knew this was a curse. He also knew that going beyond this would be disastrous.

But Nari was an illusionist, and this was an illusion that Nari desperately wanted, but could never create on her own.

“It’s been tough, hasn’t it? You’ve endured so much alone. You have many friends around, and you’ve reunited with Suho this time.”

“Yeah, yeah. Mom…”

[If you continue like this, you’ll lose control of your psychic power. Do you know what will happen then? The Chaos Controller scolds you!]

At the moment when the scolding of the Chaos Controller did not reach, Rood nodded his head. A sound that was close to crying flowed from him.

“I’ve been through so much…”

“Yeah, our Nari. Come here. Mom will hug you for the first time in a long while.”

“…Yeah, Mom. I’ll go. I’ll go there.”
With a clang, Rood dropped the black scissors.

As the mental barrier instantly opened, tears welled up in Rood’s eyes, and he smiled brightly.

In the moment when the illusion of Kang Hana embraced Rood,

[Natural Lucid Dream activated!] [The user has lost control. It delves deeper into the unconscious.]

Sa-a-a-ahk, black psychic power began to emanate from Rood’s whole body.

The uncontrollable psychic power started to stick closely to the maze.

The surrounding environment quickly distorted. Since the lucid dream lost control, this was just a simple dream.

[Entering the ‘Nightmare.’]

And Rood was a being that had dreamed only nightmares throughout his life.

“Kang Ihyun!!”

It was the same time as when Rood was tormented by Kang Hana’s illusion.

In the maze, Kang Ihyun flinched and trembled. It was because the sound that had been bothering his ears for a long time was heard again. He turned around.

An elderly man with pure white hair, who looked old enough, but still vigorous, was holding a cane. Despite being completely immune to evil tendencies in mental attacks, Kang Ihyun realized that the recent oversight, assuming Minotaur was not an evil tendency, was due to the recent carelessness caused by traveling with Rood, who is completely immune to mental attacks.
“What are you doing here? This useless thing, how many times have I told you! You’ve completely lost your humanity!”

“Ah… so this is how the curse works…”

Kang Ihyun’s gaze turned icy as he looked at the elderly man much smaller than himself.

Kang Ihyun covered his ears. Even if he did so at his ancestral home, here, no one would say anything even if he blocked his ears.

Thud! The sound of the grandfather’s cane hitting the ground echoed again.

“Instead of bringing information for this old man, you came to a place like this?! Your parents would never have done that! It’s because your mind is dirty. So, from a young age, you’ve had such a dirty power…”

“Ah… I’ve thought about it.”

Reacting suddenly to the mention of ‘dirty power,’ Kang Ihyun stepped closer to the grandfather. He pulled out the Holy Sword from his inventory.

Golden divine power circulated. The light gradually faded from his eyes.

Just like Rood, his Holy Seat sent a reluctant indirect message, “Holy Seat urges you to stop using the Purification Staff, as continuing to do so will cause you to lose my power again.”

“Why? Why do I always have to endure it? Why?”

The hand holding Kang Ihyun’s Holy Sword trembled.

The golden divine power was gradually losing its light, and his golden hair was also changing to a pale yellow color.
“Look! You’re losing your divine power so quickly again because you can’t control your emotions! Rather than exposing such a dreadful sight to others, I might as well end my own life.”

“Why do I have to hear such things? What did I do wrong?”

His divine power quickly emanated an ominous force.

The white armor turned into dust, gradually disappearing, and in its place, black and yellow markings were emerging.

“Am I saying something wrong? If you only want to hear pleasant words, you’ll end up in ruin later! Engrave my words. If your divine power is still intact after hearing this story, then you might become a decent person. Got it?! Kang Ihyun!”

“Why always me…!”

A silver short sword appeared in his hand.

At the moment he thought he couldn’t restrain his anger, black particles surrounded the grandfather closely.

The silhouette of the grandfather crumbled away like clay.

“…What is this?”

He realized that the surroundings were filled with a sticky black psychic energy.

Black psychic energy clung to every part of the gate, like thick mud.

There was only one person who could do such a thing. Kang Ihyun’s eyes widened.

“Mr. Rood?!”

And when he looked up at the ceiling, thousands of cameras were pointing in their direction.