“It’s over.”

[You worked so hard! Rude! I was honestly worried since it was such a big deal, but I’m so glad…]

As Rude descended the central staircase of the school, he called Ihyeon on his cell phone. Hearing Ihyeon’s bright voice congratulating him, Rude, whose pent-up irritation had subsided a little, laughed.

“Yeah, fortunately. As the guild leader said, we finished without a single casualty, but I won’t be able to go straight home…”

[I suppose…]

Rude, who was holding the receiver, gave a hollow laugh at Ihyeon’s disappointed voice.

‘I thought it would be no different from when I was a convenience store worker, alternating shifts.’

The more Nari worked, the stronger her desire to leave early grew. Even though it was a 4 teams 3 shifts system, unlike the part-time job that was 5 days a week. Nari herself couldn’t figure out exactly why, but that’s how it was for now.

[And you should write a work log now so it’ll be easier tomorrow. You’ll definitely need to create a separate one to submit to the government agencies. Ah, it’s your first time, right Rude? I’ll email you the template.]

“Ah. It’s really one thing after another.”

[Corrosive types are usually the most troublesome to deal with after on-site suppression. But this time, since the building destruction was unavoidable, you won’t have to write a long plea not to charge for reconstruction costs, so it’ll be over quickly!]

“The invoices were real?! Even though this is a public institution, they send invoices?!”

[Unless it’s absolutely unavoidable, the manual is to not destroy things…]

“Then who deals with the corrosive types?! It’s not like they even drop items?!”

[Well… usually it’s the military side. They’re public enterprises. Or a medium-sized or larger guild that has a legal team that can firmly say it’s not our fault?]

“This is crazy, really.”

Rude, who didn’t have good feelings about the school to begin with, resolved it out of a sense of adult responsibility. And now even more bothersome things were waiting. Rude pressed his furrowed brow.

[But you did a good thing. Right?]

“…Well.”

[No one else could have done this like you, Rude. Really!]

Ihyeon quickly spoke, noticing Rude’s irritation, but Rude gave a less than enthusiastic response.

“What does that matter. I can’t be there for hundreds or thousands of people.”

Rude, who had come down from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor stairs, looked around. The school, with no lights on, was dark despite it being noon.

“Anyway, I’m leaving the school now. Where are you?”

[What?! Ah, just a moment! Wait, Rude! I’ll come to you!]

Ihyeon’s voice, which had been speaking calmly, became urgent. Rude, who thought why he was suddenly acting like this, stopped right at the bottom of the central staircase on the 1st floor.

‘Ah, does he think I’m with my younger sibling…?’

Come to think of it, Rude realized he hadn’t explained about Jaeyun Min and started moving his stopped legs again.

As Nari, she desperately wanted to get out as soon as possible because being inside the school kept reminding her of bad memories.

“It’s okay. I told Jaeyun Min to go home on his own. There’s no risk of being discovered, so don’t worry. I’m going out now, so meet me in front of the main gate.”

[No, that’s not it, there are reporters in front of the main gate right now…!]

“I’m out!”

Along with Ihyeon’s urgent words, Rude, who was standing at the main entrance, stopped still.

[Characteristic: ‘Is this YouTube worthy?’ is activated!] [Someone is filming you. The probability of your appearance being uploaded on the internet increases.]

In front of the main entrance. The sound of clicking could be heard. Flashes of light simultaneously burst in front of his eyes.

A large crowd had gathered. No, in fact, objectively there may not have been that many, but to Rude, the number seemed enormous.

Because the camera lenses were staring intently at him. It didn’t matter how few people were gathered in front. The moment those terrible things were pointed at him, it was as if many people were already watching.

Rude’s heart raced wildly. So fast that he thought it might break down, his fiercely moving heart spread the sensation of burning blood throughout his body.

It felt like tens of thousands of bombs exploding inside his body, and Rude couldn’t move from that spot.

“Rude! This corrosive type…”

“Rude!…”

People carrying large cameras or holding microphones all spoke to him at the same time. There were so many people talking at once that he couldn’t understand what they were saying at all.

No, was that really why? Suddenly, Rude realized he was barely breathing.

“Ah…”

He slowly turned his head and looked around. His vision was hazy like a dream. His sight blurred and the voices calling Rude’s name from all directions sounded muffled.

A familiar voice could be heard in the distance, but he couldn’t remember whose voice it was.

In that moment, Rude, no, Nari didn’t know where she was. The sensation of floating above reality. The feeling of being cut off from the world, trapped in a box. It was all too familiar to Nari.

“That’s right.”

To protect its owner, the brain rapidly distorted cognitive abilities. He grinned blankly.

[Characteristic: ‘Natural Lucid Dream’ is activated!] [You will soon enter the transition phase. Please relax your body.]

“This is a dream…”

[Timeline separator] [Characteristic: ‘Natural Lucid Dream’ is being activated!] [Entering the 5th underground floor of the deep world.]

“Our Nari, are you awake?”

“…Ah.”

Nari, whose arm was extremely numb, opened her eyes. She heard Rude’s voice tinged with laughter. Rude and Nari cannot converse, so the Rude in front of Nari’s eyes right now must be the ruler of chaos.

Nari, who had been sleeping face down, lifted her body from the desk. Looking around with sleepy eyes, Nari made a perplexed expression.

“What, why a school…?”

It was a school. The desk she had been lying on was full of curse words carved with a knife. Seeing the familiar desk, Nari inhaled.

“Ah. It’s the deep world. I hurriedly put you to sleep because it seemed like you would rampage.”

Rude, dressed in a school uniform, was sitting backwards on a chair in front of Nari’s seat, looking at her.

“…There was a place like this too?”

“First time underground? The deep world reflects the subconscious, so it’s very deep. It probably intertwined with bad memories and brought you here.”

“What bad memories… Ah.”

Nari, remembering the situation before falling asleep – that is, before the ruler of chaos put her to sleep – sighed and held her forehead. The ruler of chaos laughed loudly and patted Nari’s back.

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

“I barely adapted to phone cameras.”

No matter how much it looked like Rude, the reporters’ cameras were still difficult. In the first place, when lucid dreaming, if you can’t get through the transition phase well, you get overwhelmed by the dream and get sleep paralysis.

In that transition phase where others saw ghosts and monsters, just seeing countless cameras was enough to guess Nari’s trauma.

“Anyway, thanks. If I had gone on a rampage, I would have used skills in front of all those people and almost got handcuffed for real.”

“Please, don’t mention it. I should have told you in advance, but I was busy dealing with the queen finding out I arbitrarily used her baby goats.”

“…She found out?”

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

“We’re screwed. Looks like we won’t be able to use the petite version for a while.”

Nari, who was sighing, leaned back in her chair and looked to the side. Perhaps because it was a world within the subconscious, the world outside the window was pitch-black as if nothing existed.

“Anyway, let me out. Ihyeon will start worrying soon. I have work to do too.”

In the deep world, it was impossible to gauge how much time had passed, so it was best to get out as quickly as possible.

“Ah, wait a second. There’s something I want to check before that.”

“What…?”

The ruler of chaos stood up from his seat upon hearing Nari’s words. His tall shadow loomed over the sitting Nari.

The avatar in the form of Rude was not solid, so the shadow was inconsistent, taking the form of bubbling foam.

“I’m curious as to why our Nari did that.”

“Did what? It was just work.”

He slowly bent over to meet Nari’s eyes. Nari saw shadows squirming in Rude’s pupils.

It was hideous, like the entrance to the gates of hell, and also like the reality Nari had always lived in.

“Why didn’t you put mind control on that greenhorn? He wasn’t even an elementary schooler. You didn’t used to do that. Why did our Nari do that…? Hm? Can you explain?”

The ruler of chaos’ eyes gleamed ominously. Nari averted her gaze.

“He’s still a student. I don’t do that to minors…”

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

“No, I’m an adult so I have to take responsibility for saving the students…!”

“Nari, that’s a separate issue, isn’t it?”

“What do you want to ask, really?”

Nari frowned heavily at the ruler of chaos’ brutal voice. The ruler of chaos looked down at Nari, then touched his own chin.

“Not putting mind control on that kid.”

His cold, black eyes pierced through Nari. Nari put her hands in her school uniform pockets, pretending not to be nervous.

Nari guessed that whatever it was, it had greatly upset the ruler of chaos. He looked down at Nari and spoke in an emotionless voice.

“Is it because he’s someone Ihyeon knows? You don’t want to be hated by him.”

“What?! What nonsense is that!”

“I see.”

The ruler of chaos straightened up at Nari’s answer. Loosening his expressionless face, he smiled brightly and said:

“Nari, you’re in danger right now. This is your subconscious. You possess a fragment of the primordial dream, so you can enter deep into a place like this. Right?”

“…Yes.”

“But you still can’t get out of here alone. That’s why I come here every single day.”

Rude looked around. The deep world existed in everyone’s subconscious and was connected, but not just anyone could enter this place.

Only Nari, who had the ‘Fragment of the Primordial Dream’ characteristic, could freely come here. The problem was that the way out was terribly complicated, so she couldn’t leave alone.

“Do you know how surprised I was when you suddenly went underground after being in the deep world lobby every day? If you go even deeper, even I can’t get you out.”

“…What does that have to do with Ihyeon?”

“That guy is controlling you, Nari. And it seems to be in a direction we don’t expect.”

The ruler of chaos looked at Nari again with cold eyes. Nari, who had clenched and unclenched her fists, turned her head to the side and spoke uncertainly.

“Then what should I do? What am I supposed to do?”

“You’re anxious right now, that’s why. All your nerves are focused on him. Stabilize yourself quickly, by any means necessary.”

Cracks slowly began to form in the school of the deep world. The ruler of chaos seemed to have found the exit.

“I’ll let it go for now since I can still handle it. But if he interferes with our work…”

As the school shattered to pieces, so did Nari’s vision. With the ruler of chaos’ final words, Nari’s consciousness faded completely.

“Don’t forget that I’ll have no choice but to deal with him directly.”