I went straight to Evan and slapped him awake. "Evan, the sun's up. Get moving."
He blinked sleepily and let out a slow yawn. "Good morning. You're up early."
"Yes..." I hadn't slept at all, yet I felt sharper than after a full night's rest. My mind was clear. "Come on. Let's move before everyone else wakes."
Evan rubbed his face like a lazy cat. "Just let me clean my eyes first..."
Was he always this slow in the morning? From what I remembered, he used to wake up quickly during the training camp. Then again, even the laziest person had no choice but to shape up in that kind of environment.
In any case, I dragged the half-asleep Evan out of the hideout. The shopping district, usually full of life, sat in near silence under the pale morning light. A few early risers were still folding their bedding, quietly setting up for the day. Most of the academy was likely still fast asleep. That was exactly why we chose to move at this hour.
We walked instead of taking the tram. It would've been faster, but I didn't want to risk leaving a trace. There could be a record of our ride.
Fortunately, the shopping district wasn't far from the research wing. Skipping the dorm and insisting on sleeping on that uncomfortable bed had been worth it.
"We're here."
"There is Building 12."
Research Building 12 stood before us, a two-story structure shaped like a squat, angular U. Even in the soft light of dawn, it gave off a gloomy air. If we'd come here in the dead of night, it would've looked completely abandoned.
"This is where the professors do their research?" I muttered. "Why does it look like this?"
"Research Building 1 is the best. The farther down the numbers go, the worse the facilities get. By the time you reach Building 12, it's barely better than an out-of-service restroom," Evan chimed in.
"Got it." It was an academy, after all. Everything here operated strictly on merit. I was no stranger to that. It came with being born into the Badniker family.
Evan hummed softly as he stepped inside.
There was a strange feeling that tickled my energy detection. It was a mystery, melancholic feeling that was hard to explain in words. It crossed my mind that it would've been dangerous if I stepped inside here at night.
I muttered, "Doing research in a place like this?"
Evan said, "I heard it's tough to keep a position as a professor here. If you don't produce results every two years, they fire you without mercy."
"I see. By the way, how do you know so much about the academy?"
He smiled. "Ah, I had some classes that overlapped with Pam. Don't you know? She's quite the chatterbox."
In any case, most of the people I sensed inside were professors. None of them noticed our infiltration, likely because they had no connection to martial arts. There were no guards, so we made it to our destination, Room 104, without any trouble.
The door creaked open, and a wave of stale dust stung our noses. The room was unusually dark. Only one window stood at the far end, completely shut off from the sun by heavy blackout curtains.
I pulled the curtain back halfway to get a better look. The room's contents came into full view.
"Wow..." Just as Seren had described, the room was crowded with occult paraphernalia, old dolls, and intricate symbols carved into the walls.
How to describe it? The place felt oppressive, the kind of space where you wouldn't want to stay for even a second. It wasn't the dirtiness, but the atmosphere that unnerved me.
"It's the kind of place that kills your appetite." I told Evan, "You check the dolls. I'm going to look through the occult supplies that are used for unknown things."
Evan made a gagging noise and trudged toward the pile of dolls. Meanwhile, I started rummaging through the unsettling items: blood-stained handkerchiefs, rotten petals, half-broken mugs, bottles filled with unknown liquids, baby rattles, rusty carving knives, and many others. These objects shared nothing but an ominous aura.
I activated Eyes of Fire to scan for magic, but everything gave off the dull stillness of old antiques. No traces.
I turned my gaze to the walls. Black magic circles designed to form, stabilize, and enforce the rules of the Otherworld. Alongside them, lines of demon language spelled out the rules to be obeyed. Just as I thought Seren had copied the writhing, earthworm-like text accurately, a strange feeling crept over me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a note, then compared it to the carvings on the wall.
The demon language has grown by one line. A chill ran down my spine. Seren had visited only days before. This meant someone had come here since then.
"Luan?" Evan stammered.
"What is it?"
"The dolls are kind of strange." Evan's face was unusually stiff as he pointed to the pile stacked like a mountain.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"They keep staring at me."
"What?"
"Look." Evan shifted slightly to demonstrate.
The dolls' heads turned, following his movement.
Evan muttered, "Seren didn't mention anything about this, right?"
"No," I replied. "In addition, there's one more line in the demon language now."
"Really?"
"Something stinks. Let's stop here for now—"
A short, eerie laugh cut through the air, silencing us both. I turned around and saw Perist standing behind us like a shadow.
I hadn't sensed her approach at all. Now that she was right in front of me, calm and unreadable, I still couldn't feel her presence. It was as if a ghost had appeared.
Perist gave me a dark look and laughed softly. "You're not here to join the club, are you? Deathberry, what do you think they want? You're right. They came to disturb the Paradise we're building."
There was no point in responding. Her voice dripped with malice, and the air around her grew heavy with unmistakable Dark Qi.
It will be dangerous if she discovers Evan's true identity, I thought.
"Go," I said quietly.
Without wasting another second, I lunged toward Perist and threw my palm forward when I was halfway there. White Sun Eclipse's Fire Wheel shot from my hand, blazing in the shape of a flame-wreathed palm.
Perist smiled at the sight. The next moment, the dolls that had been lined against the wall sprang into motion and hurled themselves at the fire. Their movements ignored physical limits. Like moths drawn to flame, they threw themselves into its path, forming a grotesque shield around Perist.
A sudden crash came from behind. Evan had broken a window and was running away.
Perist laughed again, showing no sign of pursuit. Her gaze had stayed locked on me from the start.
I stared into her eyes. Her hair was black, but the red eyes typical of the imperial family could not be hidden. Glenn told me that the defining trait among the more than ten members of the imperial family was the purity of that noble red hue. Her eyes were certainly redder and more striking than any ruby I had seen in Alderson's treasure trove.
Beyond the charred and burning dolls, I glanced at Perist and declared, "I want to go to the Otherworld."
If I fought her here, I could overpower and even kill her. However, that wasn't my goal.
Perist smiled. "How interesting. How did you learn about Paradise?"
"You wrote it down here." I gestured toward the demon language.
Her smile grew wider. "So you can read that. Huhu. Deathberry, you will make more friends. My Paradise does not accept just any child who wants to enter. Luan Badniker, I'm sure you'll like it—if you follow a few rules."
"Rules?" I asked, feigning ignorance to compare them with what Lise had told me.
"First, don't get caught by the inhabitants of Paradise. Second, don't try to escape Paradise."
If I replaced Paradise with the Otherworld and its inhabitants with puppets, it matched Lise's version perfectly.
"Third, once a day, you must play with the children in Paradise."
I hadn't heard this one. Was this the new rule? However, what did it mean by play ?
Before I could ask, the surroundings darkened. The remaining dolls scuttled across the walls and piled over the window, blotting out the last sliver of light. The scene was as revolting as a cockroach infestation.
Perist reached for the doorway and closed it slowly. She ignored the door's creepy creaking. Instead, she grinned and whispered, "Let's have fun until the full moon, Luan Badniker. I hope you enjoy it too."
The door shut, plunging the room into complete darkness.
...
Absolute silence followed.
I still couldn't sense Perist's presence, but something around me had changed. The air felt heavy. My heart pounded for no clear reason, and my breathing grew shallow. I reached out in the dark room, searching for the curtain based on my memory from before the blackout. Once I found it, I pulled it aside.
I recalled the soft light of dawn and the sunrise. It had not been long after dawn when I last looked outside. Now, everything had changed. Beyond the half-broken window, a bloodstained night sky stretched wide. A blood moon filled half the sky, looming as if it was close enough to touch.
Was this the Otherworld?
"This atmosphere..." I muttered.
The sight unsettled me, and I moved to draw the curtain again.
"Uwaaaaah! " Suddenly, a desperate scream tore through the distance.
It isn't far away. I flung the door open and ran toward the sound.
***
Arin Ohandel loved dolls like most girls her age. She never bought them herself, feeling a bit embarrassed to do so at seventeen. Living in the dormitory left no place to hide such a secret. Still, she held onto a simple dream. After graduating from the academy, once she had her own room, she imagined placing a few dolls carefully in a corner she liked.
Now, that hope had vanished without a trace. For Arin, dolls no longer represented a dream. They had turned into a nightmare.
She gasped in horror as she ran down the dark, endless hallway. It stretched so far that its end disappeared into shadow. A blood-red glow slipped through the windows, casting her trembling silhouette against the walls.
The sight of a girl running for her life, desperate not to die or suffer more, was both pitiful and surreal.
Behind her, a doll followed. It stood only half her size, but its face was hideously twisted. Its small hands gripped a knife as large as its own body, a slaughter knife stained with rotting blood and bits of flesh.
Arin recalled the students who had fallen under that knife, their bodies drenched in blood. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she struggled to breathe while fleeing. Still, she whispered to herself, "Save me. I was wrong. I was wrong! I'll do my homework well. I won't slack off. I'll even cut down on snacks. So—"
The next words never came. It wasn't just that her voice had broken. She had already learned that these pleas meant nothing. They held no power, no hope.
Arin fell. It was not a stumble but an inevitability. Her legs had weakened long ago. Her body had already crossed its limits, yet fear had driven her onward. Like a dying person summoning fleeting superhuman strength, she pushed herself, but even that power had an end.
Creepy laughter echoed just around the corner. The doll had stopped running. It now walked toward her at an unhurried pace. In truth, it had likely moved that way from the start. It could have overtaken her easily if it had wanted to, but it hadn't. That was simply how they were. They fed on fear, thrived on despair, and took pleasure in human hopelessness.
" Ugh, hik... " Arin had learned magic, but she didn't think of using it now. She couldn't muster any mana in her condition. Even if she could, it wouldn't make a difference. It would be a futile effort.
There had been a senior named Theus, widely regarded as one of the top swordsmen in the swordsmanship department. Everyone believed he was destined to join the Imperial Knights. For a time, he led the surviving students in this place. His cheerful face and steady confidence had given her something to hold on to. She had followed his lead, clinging to the belief that they would find a way out.
That belief collapsed almost instantly. Theus, who had faced a doll with fearless resolve, ended up crawling in agony, all his limbs severed in under a minute. "Uwaaaah... S-save me... Save me! P-please... i-it hurts. It hurts so much... M-mom..."
Dragging his broken body by the torso, he had crawled until his strength gave out. His face, crushed like fruit, had marked the end.
She wished for a peaceful end, but she didn't have the courage to bite her tongue. Not that it mattered. The idea that someone could kill themselves that way was a myth. Useless in a moment like this.
Arin felt the urge to laugh, but she had neither the strength nor the time.
Before she knew it, the doll stood at her feet. Its eyes fixed on her right leg, where her toes swelled and her toenails peeled. She guessed the doll would start by cutting off that part.
The slaughter knife rose high. Somehow, the scene felt unreal. She had seen this many times but could not imagine the knife actually severing her leg.
Ah... She understood why the upright Senior Theus had cried out for his mother at the last moment.
"Mom..." Arin murmured.
At that instant, a warm light flickered to her right. It was not the dreary, dreadful red moonlight that had haunted her like a nightmare all day. When she brushed it with the back of her hand, it made her feel drowsy. She raised her head, but the light was so brilliant she could not look directly at it. It hinted at sunshine.
The doll was obliterated. The demon she had never imagined opposing broke apart like an ordinary wooden puppet.
"Are you okay?"
Arin stared blankly at the boy standing there. His platinum-blond hair caught the light. His fists clenched, he looked more like someone who had smashed a scarecrow than killed a demon.
She blinked. "You are...?"
"I'm a transfer student. Judging by your tie, you're a senior, right? I'd like to ask you a few things." His voice was casual.
Had he not realized what had just happened? There were always a few students like that. Alderson's reputation was so bad that some wondered if this was some kind of test or event he had set up. Those students were usually the ones who died the fastest and most miserably.
"W-wait a minute. I-it is dangerous here. Dolls are everywhere, killing people. Everyone else has been caught except me. This isn't a test—"
"I know," the boy interrupted her before she could ramble further. "Those are demons showing themselves. Senior, you got caught in it."
" U-uh? " Arin blinked in surprise. "Y-you got caught here too?"
"It's different. I came here by choice."
"You came willingly? Why...?" Behind her words lingered the unspoken question: why would anyone choose to enter this hell willingly?
The platinum-blond boy answered quietly, "To save you."
Arin's expression changed. Her lips tightened, the tip of her nose tingled, and tears welled at the corners of her eyes. She held back words she had swallowed for so long.
Save me. This unknown world had suddenly captured her. She had run, panicked, begged, despaired, and run again. She'd repeated that silent plea thousands or tens of thousands of times.
Please save me. However, she had learned that those pleas meant nothing. They never reached anyone. So eventually, she stopped saying them. That was why the words Save me had not escaped her lips until just before she almost died. She was afraid that no one would hear her voice. Afraid she would die here alone, unnoticed.
No. Those unsaid words had reached someone after all. That truth brought tears to Arin's eyes.
"Thank you..." Her voice cracked as tears spilled out like a broken dam. "T-thank you. Thank you. I-I thought it was all meaningless... Thank you so much..."
She nodded, overwhelmed with gratitude.
The boy, Luan Badniker, grinned at her reaction. He didn't know what would happen next. Maybe stepping into this world alone had been a reckless choice. He wasn't sure. Nonetheless, he was glad he had come. He truly was.