Taking a deep breath, I calmed my confused heart as much as possible.
‘Let’s start with organizing things one by one.’
We followed the traces of the Praus Cult and visited the Deus Art Museum. Except for me, Cheon Sa-yeon, and Ha Tae-heon, who attended the auction on the third underground floor, the rest of the team waited on the first floor of the museum and outside the building.
However, in the end, all members of the team except for the three auction participants lost contact… Then the three of us fell under the orange veil.
And now it’s in this state.
Apparently, this place must have been in the space created by the Praus Cult.
It was similar to the space created by Doctor in America, but it was different. It was a place where everything was made based on my memories, but no matter how you look at it, it was a place that had nothing to do with the past.
“Oppa, are you sick? Did you get hurt?”
A cold sweat ran down Min Ah-rin’s face as she looked at me with the tip of her eyebrows lowered.
‘I think it’s similar to a state of being mental-controlled.’
Did she believe me to be her oppa? It wasn’t enough just to enter a strange space, she was even being mental-controlled.
At that moment, when I was about to change into Kwon Se-hyun and cut off mental control, I felt a tingling sensation behind me.
‘No.’
This was in the space created by the Praus Cult. I couldn’t openly show them that I was using my intervention ability.
So what should I do? I frowned and looked around again slowly.
Min Ah-rin was now wearing an old shirt and long skirt. I also wore an old shirt and pants instead of a suit. The earpiece plugged into my ear didn’t work.
Besides, what Min Ah-rin said… After putting together all the evidence, I asked Min Ah-rin awkwardly.
“Um, I mean… my head hurts a bit. So by the way, can you tell me my name?”
“Name?”
Min Ah-rin, who tilted her head, answered while blinking her eyes.
“It’s Hansel. Why is your name all of a sudden?”
“……”
Was it really Hansel and Gretel fairy tale? So did Min Ah-rin become Hansel’s younger sister, Gretel?
“Yeah. That’s right. I’m Hansel…”
“Oppa, you’re so strange today.”
As I continued to hear Min Ah-rin calling me ‘Oppa’, I was so uncomfortable that I almost died.
I couldn’t even release the mental control, driving me crazy. I got up with tears inside.
“Sorry. Now let’s move on now. We have to go home.”
I looked up at the sky through the leaves, trying to look like her oppa as much as possible.
In the meantime, seeing that the sky was red, it was obvious that the sun would soon set and it would be dark.
“Oppa, come on. Let’s follow the bread crumbs. Then we can go home.”
Min Ah-rin grabbed my hand. I was meekly drawn to her strength and eagerly recalled the contents of Hansel and Gretel.
Maybe… bread crumbs would be eaten by birds and cut off halfway through and while wandering through the forest, we would find a house built by the witch. I had no interest in fairy tales at all, so I couldn’t remember.
‘Don’t tell me the witch supposed to be Abel’s doll?’
I used the wind ability a bit, just in case. Fortunately, I was able to use my energy and abilities.
“Oppa… the bread crumbs are gone.”
After walking along the forest path for some time, the crumbs were no longer seen as I expected.
“Right. The bird must have eaten it.”
My answering voice was stiff and awkward. Ah, it’s hard. Acting really didn’t suit me.
“I can’t help it. Let’s keep going.”
The forest night was earlier than anywhere else. Already, the red colour of the sky had almost disappeared and the dark night was coming.
I had to find the witch’s house, whether I was food to be killed or eaten. It was fine because it was me, an A-rank in combat type, but Min Ah-rin wore thin old clothes like this, and it was obvious that her condition would deteriorate significantly as she spent the night in the forest.
“Uung.”
I felt sorry to see Min Ah-rin following me with an anxious expression.
Had I known this would happen, I should have told her to wait at Cheon Sa-yeon’s house. I felt guilty that my greed put Min Ah-rin in danger.
‘I’m sorry, Min Ah-rin-ssi.’
I vowed to keep Min Ah-rin safe no matter what and took steps to find the witch’s house somewhere.
* * *
As expected, the surroundings quickly darkened.
A small light began to appear in front of us as we continued along the forest road.
“Oppa, look over there. There’s a house.”
The house that appeared through the lush greenery was a big three-story mansion. Is this the witch’s house?
“What is it? It smells sweet.”
Min Ah-rin, who walked closer to the house with me, swallowed her saliva.
‘Did it say that the witch’s house is made of sweets?’
The exterior wall of the house, exposed by the light from the window, was really shaped like a cookie and smelled sweet.
I knew in the fairy tale that the witch caught them eating this house and they were taken away. I stopped Min Ah-rin, who stretched out her hand as if possessed.
“Wait. You must not eat it casually.”
It would have been much better to find and subdue the witch first.
How about breaking the glass and entering with my ability? Or, it wouldn’t be bad to wait nearby and attack when the witch showed up.
What should I do. First of all, I couldn’t see the witch from the window. Again, after stepping back for a while and taking the correct position, I would attack first…
Rattle, squeak.
“……!”
It was a time when I was making plans step by step. The front door of the mansion swung open and someone appeared.
Maybe the witch? My whole body tensed and hurriedly sent Min Ah-rin behind my back. Even though it was this distance, I couldn’t feel any presence, so it was clear that they had a higher grade than myself.
“Oh, my.”
“Ho…”
I instinctively raised my energy and tried to attack, but I checked the opponent’s face and exhaled a lethargic breath.
“Cheon Sa-yeon?”
“Hello, Dongsaeng.”
“Why are you here?”
I hurriedly approached him with Min Ah-rin, who was bewildered.
Cheon Sa-yeon, who looked closely at me and Min Ah-rin’s outfit, smiled at the question.
“When I opened my eyes, I saw this house.”
“What? Then, are you the witch?”
“Well. First of all, I think it will be difficult to become a witch because I’m a man.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. What’s wrong with the clothes?”
“That’s what I’m going to say.”
I approached Cheon Sa-yeon and grabbed the clothes he was wearing.
Cheon Sa-yeon, wearing a white shirt and pants, was wearing a black robe I had never seen before like a coat. As for the clothes, it seemed that Cheon Sa-yeon played the role of the witch.
‘Cheon Sa-yeon is SS-rank, so unlike Min Ah-rin, is he out of mental control?’
It was relieved. Things would have been a lot more complicated if Cheon Sa-yeon had been under mental control and tried to eat us like the real witch.
“I… Oppa. Do you know him?”
“Hm?”
Cheon Sa-yeon, who looked down at me holding his clothes with a deep smile, tilted his head to the sound of Min Ah-rin calling me ‘Oppa’.
“Oppa? When did you two become like that?”
“It’s too long to explain.”
When I sighed, Cheon Sa-yeon opened the mansion door a little more.
“Let’s go in and talk.”
The interior of the mansion was very spacious and splendid, not like the background of a fairy tale. Unlike the exterior walls made of cookies, the interiors were all plain walls.
Cheon Sa-yeon led us to a room with a fireplace. Min Ah-rin’s eyes twinkled as she found a basket full of bread on the table.
“Is it okay to eat this?”
“It wouldn’t matter if you ate it because it would be difficult for them to touch even such a small detail.”
If you said so. I pushed the bread basket to Min Ah-rin and opened my mouth.
“As you know, Min Ah-rin-ssi is in a state of being mental controlled right now. She sees herself as Gretel and I’m her brother, Hansel.”
“It looks like a Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. That’s why you called me the witch?”
“Yeah. I think this is a space created by Samael.”
“It’s too early to be sure.”
Cheon Sa-yeon took something out of a drawer in the corner of the room and threw it at me. I took it unconsciously and realized that it was a broken doll.
“That’s Abel’s scouting doll. There are three of them in this house alone.”
Scouting dolls. Then I wasn’t mistaken that I felt someone was watching. It meant that there was Abel as well as Samael.
“Then is it safe here now?”
If it was safe, I wanted to turn into Kwon Se-hyun and break Min Ah-rin’s mental control.
Cheon Sa-yeon, who immediately understood the meaning of my question, shook his head.
“There may be dolls I haven’t been able to find and since this space itself was created by the cult, so nowhere is safe.”
If Abel was watching us, I couldn’t even use my intervention ability. Then I had no choice but to leave Min Ah-rin that way.
“We have to find out where the others are. The earpiece doesn’t even work.”
“If you see that there’s no energy to be felt, we are the only people around here. The situation got complicated.”
I looked around the room again. The overly realistic one was like a space created by Doctor but I was struck by the fact that it was based on a fairy tale rather than the past.
“Why is it a fairy tale?”
“Probably Abel’s taste. Karen. Do you remember the doll with this name?”
If it’s Karen… it was a female doll wielding a huge scythe and the cause of Kang Seung-geon’s going rampage.
“Because Karen is a name that appears in fairy tales. Besides that, most of the names Abel gave to the dolls have to do with fairy tales.”
If fairy tales were simply Abel’s taste, it meant that this situation was also created by Abel.
“I don’t know what the heck they were aiming to create this space for. The reason why they chose Hansel and Gretel out of many fairy tales.”
“Han Yi-gyeol, you and I, who aren’t subject to mental control, must have been lucky to have met.”
“What do you…”
“If three mental-controlled people like Healer Min Ah-rin had met, they would have followed the story. The witch will try to kill Hansel and Gretel, and the siblings will try to kill the witch.”
“……!”
When I listened to the explanation that followed, I got goosebumps on the nape of my neck and my heart sank.
If what Cheon Sa-yeon was true, then Samael and Abel had set the stage for us to kill each other based on fairy tales.
I looked at Min Ah-rin, who was sitting on the chair and eating bread. I was reminded of how dangerous the mental control ability was.
‘Let’s be calm.’
I exhaled, trying to turn away from the chest, which was tightened with fear. That hadn’t happened yet.
In this case, we could break all mental control by intervention. Even if my ability was exposed to the cult because of that, it was better than having someone die.
“…how do we get out of here?”
“I’ll have to look for it.”
Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been quietly waiting for me to calm down, raised his head.
“In my opinion, this mansion is the most suspicious.”
“I agree with you.”
The most important place in the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel was the witch’s cookie house. Because right here, the siblings killed the witch.
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