Dreams, illusions, fantasies.

Until now, I had treated them almost casually—tools I could slip in and out of with ease.

But after everything that just happened, after facing something that should never have existed… I could no longer ignore a simple truth.

This power isn't something an ordinary human should use so lightly.

Even if it was mine.

Even if I'd grown used to it.

'I should really stop using dream-related abilities for a while.'

My heart was still pounding a little too fast, as though it hadn't fully returned from that strange realm.

And honestly, when I thought about it… I had been slipping in and out of dreams far too often lately.

Almost like something was drawing me in on purpose.

And danger—real danger—could appear again without warning.

Trying to steady my breathing, I turned my attention back to reality and approached the wall.

A small, almost invisible slot lay embedded in the stone.

I lifted the key.

Click.

It slid in as if it had been waiting for me all along.

A moment later—

Thud…

Rumble, rumble, rumble—!

The ancient door, sealed shut for well over a century, groaned as it awakened from its long slumber.

Dust poured down like falling sand.

Old air, trapped for generations, drifted out in a cold wave.

Even after all these years…

"…There's still a chance chimeras might be alive in there."

The thought wasn't far-fetched.

Chimeras—twisted creatures of alchemy—could survive for absurd lengths of time depending on how they were made.

I reached into my spatial storage and pulled out a cloudy, tear-shaped gem.

Cain's Tear.

A relic capable of harming even abnormal lifeforms.

A necessary precaution for anyone foolish enough—or unlucky enough—to step inside this place.

Holding the gem tightly, I took a breath.

The door had fully opened now, revealing only darkness beyond.

No sound.

No movement.

Not even a hint of what might be waiting inside.

Just a void.

"…Alright."

I stepped forward, crossing the threshold.

And the darkness swallowed me whole.

----

Rustle, rustle…

Crackle—zap!

The insect flying straight for my head exploded into sparks the moment my electricity hit it. The smell of something burnt and foul drifted through the air.

My temples throbbed.

The mental fatigue from fending off wave after wave of these things was starting to pile up.

How long had I been wandering through this underground facility already?

A place once used for chimera research—now a graveyard of experiments gone wrong.

And still… no sign of Lisa.

The deeper I went, the worse the environment became.

Ruined hallways collapsed in on themselves, vines and plants I couldn't even begin to identify slithering across every surface.

Underground—far beneath any reach of sunlight—yet the plants thrived with unnaturally vibrant foliage.

They weren't natural.

Just like the insects.

Just like everything here.

Probably all leftovers of chimera experiments… creations that outlived their creators.

And then, the worst reminder of all:

Human bones.

Scattered everywhere.

Skulls resting against crumbling walls.

Ribs half-buried in moss.

A hand clutching the floor as if its owner had tried to crawl away.

Some were old enough to have fused with the environment.

Others looked disturbingly fresh—as if whatever happened here didn't end a hundred years ago.

The dim light from my spell flickered across the hollow eye sockets of a skull.

A chill crawled up my spine.

"What on earth happened here…?" I muttered.

But the empty corridors only answered with a far-off echo—

one that sounded almost like something breathing in the dark.

According to the memories I saw in my dream, every researcher except one had abandoned this place in the end.

If that's true… then what explains all of this?

These scattered remains, these marks, the lingering traces of something twisted happening here?

I wanted to dive into the past again—to pull up the memories, to see the truth.

But every time I even thought about it, those eerie, unfathomable eyes from earlier surfaced in my mind.

And the cold sweat down my back reminded me I wasn't ready for that.

Not yet.

Whirrrrr…

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As I wandered deeper, sparks occasionally crackled around me—my body reacting on instinct, basically turning me into a walking human bug zapper.

Eventually, at the end of the winding path, I finally found it:

A tightly shut door.

"Great… Don't tell me this one needs a key too."

But contrary to my worries, the heavy door opened with surprising ease.

A gentle push—

GROOOAN—

....And it swung open, echoing through the darkness.

I held the lantern forward, its glow cutting through the stale air, ready to strike if anything decided to surprise me.

What I stepped into next…

It wasn't a room.

It was a plaza.

A massive, circular hall with a ceiling so high it made the shadows stretch endlessly upward. The place felt strangely grand for a hidden research facility.

And right in the center—

"…A bear?"

A giant stuffed bear-like doll towered over the space, eerily intact despite its size.

Around it, several doors were arranged like spokes around a wheel, all leading to different sections of the facility.

"…So this is the central hall."

The heart of the chimera research complex.

But the design was… too elaborate.

Why build something like this for research?

Why decorate it at all?

Why make it welcoming?

Unless research wasn't the only purpose.

A strange thought crept into my mind.

A theme park…?

It sounded ridiculous—absurd even—but at the same time, disturbingly plausible.

A century ago, there was no magic broadcasting, no entertainment systems, nothing like the conveniences of today.

People back then lived with far fewer distractions.

And here… in a secret facility capable of creating chimera hybrids…

Had they intended to turn those creations into attractions?

A grotesque zoo?

An amusement park of biological nightmares?

I exhaled slowly.

"…Or maybe I'm just overthinking it."

Whether it was madness or ambition, the result was the same—

This place was wrong.

I turned to the giant bear doll again, feeling its stitched smile almost watching me.

Most of the doors around the hall were bolted shut, their latches rusted tight.

Except for one.

Just one stood wide open, its darkness quietly beckoning.

"…Of course. The open one is always the creepy one."

I tightened my grip on the lantern and took a cautious step forward—

Toward the only door that wanted me to enter.

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