The Punishment Chamber Dream

I returned to the greenhouse and immediately settled down to lie down.

“From tomorrow, I think I can focus properly and continue.”

My mind had settled a lot.

Thanks to someone.

Of course, I had no intention of telling that someone it was thanks to him.

It was not spite.

It was just a little embarrassing.

‘Not like me at all.’

I decided not to think any deeper about the reason.

In truth, I did not even have the time to.

“Haha, already going to sleep?”

At the voice so close beside me, I opened the eyes I had just closed.

“Like a baby, our darling. You’re still warm.”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the man lying on his side next to me.

When did this bastard get here?

“Haha, need some ASMR? Let’s see, [ASMR] Rain and thunder sounds in a forest tent until you fall asleep, starting from facial cleansing to molar scaling to ear cleaning, full course role pl—”

The uninvited guest, humming with his chin propped on his hand, stopped mid-sentence.

So I stopped glaring at him and closed my eyes again.

“If I listen to what you said, I’ll wake up instead. A forest tent with rain and thunder? The tent would blow away.”

“Not hitting me?”

“Even sleeping is about timing.”

I muttered while lying down.

“If I sleep now, I feel like I’ll have a good dream.”

“Haha, I hate to jinx it, but when you think that way, you usually end up with bad dreams, darling.”

“Right now I’m pleasantly drowsy and in a good mood, Mr. Mage. Good enough that I could overlook it even if the system you made is already causing a new mess.”

That was not an empty complaint.

Seolya Route Unlocked: (2 / ?)

Imok Route Unlocked: (3 / ?)

Jeok-o Route Unlocked: (2 / ?)

Benchel Route Unlocked: (1 / ?)

I had only been loafing around, yet Imok’s number had already gone up by two.

And even Benchel, whom I had never even met.

“Hahaha, right. You should sleep when you feel good.”

Caliban immediately flipped his stance.

“Two-faced bastard.”

My voice criticizing him sounded faint.

Whether it was truly weak or just my mind growing hazy, I could not tell.

“From tomorrow……”

In the end, I did not finish the sentence.

‘From tomorrow, I’ll do better.’

I’ll hurry through it all and go back.

I can do that, right?

“……”

As I drifted pleasantly into sleep, I felt a gaze.

It seemed like Caliban, still lying beside me, was looking down at me.

Perhaps that was why I felt even better.

Or reassured.

I did not want to think too deeply about it.

I dreamed.

I was sitting and casually leaned my upper body slightly.

A dark shadow from behind collapsed onto the floor.

“Argh! ……shit.”

When I quickly pinned down the shadow that tried to roll away, a curse burst out immediately.

I laughed loudly.

“Haha, watch your language. Should a noble young master of such an exalted clan be swearing?”

“Shut up, you bastard! Take your hand off the back of my head—!”

“It’s my foot.”

The head under my sole went still for a moment, then began thrashing wildly a beat later.

There were many ways to quiet him again, but hm.

I decided not to act on them.

The moment I lifted my foot, the shadow below scrambled backward.

Wasn’t that a bit like a cockroach?

“You filthy bastard!”

Listening to the one I had just released shout that at me, it seemed I was the cockroach from his perspective.

“Disgusting brat.”

I had done nothing and yet was cursed again, but such words did not even count as insults after years of experience.

“Whoever gave birth to you, I can already guess what kind of—just like you, snake-and-scorpion-like—”

That crossed the line.

“Ugh!”

I kicked him in the stomach and grabbed his collar.

I slammed the reflexively curling body against the wall.

Thud.

The sound of his back hitting the wall was rather loud.

“No matter what, don’t curse someone’s parents.”

Even if the insult was only ‘snake and scorpion,’ fitting for someone raised in a greenhouse, that was a different matter.

“Ah, correction. Your father’s fair game. If you’re going to curse someone, aim that way.”

“Urgh……”

“I’m giving you the stage. Why won’t you perform? Kids these days chatter fine behind someone’s back, but the moment you hand them a mic, they can’t open their mouths. So shy. How can you survive in this harsh world like that? What a problem.”

Of course, it might have been because I was pressing on his throat.

But that was something he should overcome with effort.

No need for me to be considerate.

“Hey.”

I leaned my face close to his.

“Did your leader send you?”

I loosened my fingers slightly from his windpipe.

“You dog—!”

“I can act like a real dog. Ram you, bite you, shake you, tear you apart. Think I can’t?”

He went silent immediately.

Good.

Much better this way.

“Answer me. Did your leader send you? Or did you come on your own? Trying to wag your tail at him?”

“…….”

“As you know, I’m under confinement. This place is far from the main estate. Even if someone dies here, no one back there would know. You knew that when you came, didn’t you?”

I deliberately tapped his cheek and smiled with my eyes.

A remote confinement site where someone could die unnoticed.

But no one would know whose corpse it would be.

“There’s no order in death.”

Hm.

Was that the saying?

“Anyway, you miscalculated badly. If you want to look good to your lord, find another method.”

Mid-sentence, I clicked my tongue.

“You cling to him like his most loyal subject, yet you don’t know him that well? That stubborn, prideful bastard wouldn’t be pleased if you slit my throat for him.”

He would probably be furious instead.

One hundred and thirty percent furious.

“I just saved your life twice. Imagine if your plan had worked. Instead of rewarding you, your lord would’ve burned you alive.”

I released his throat, and as he regained some spirit, I gave one final piece of advice.

“Think I’m lying?”

It could sound that way.

Let me clarify.

“I’m not saying that bastard secretly likes me. He hates me. A lot.”

You only had to see the look in his eyes.

Hard to misinterpret that.

“But consider his temperament. He wants to kill me himself. He doesn’t want someone else to do it. Focus on ‘himself,’ not on ‘kill.’”

I spoke like a passionate teacher lecturing a dull student.

“Got it?”

“…….”

He was not a student, but dull he certainly was.

“The future of this city is bleak.”

Grabbing the back of his neck, I beat him unconscious.

“Sigh.”

Searching his clothes, I found a key.

I unlocked the door and threw him out.

I even kicked his backside so he fell face-first into the cold forest floor.

What happened after was none of my concern.

“……”

I tossed the key somewhere and returned to the confinement hut.

The door locked with a click.

A special seal was placed on this hut.

Once inside, no one could leave unless opened from outside.

In truth, I could have escaped earlier.

That fool had brought a special key meant only for administrators.

He must have stolen it from his parent’s room.

“Raising children is hard.”

I lay on my back staring at the ceiling, speaking nonsense.

Yet somehow, it fit the situation.

“Well done, me.”

I snickered at the dark ceiling.

The laughter soon faded.

I did not feel like laughing anymore.

Suddenly I wondered if that fool had been like a fairy godmother who came to save me.

And I had kicked the chance away.

Literally kicked it.

“Maybe I should’ve run.”

Would it have been possible?

I smiled faintly.

‘Impossible.’

Being perceptive was usually convenient.

But when you were in a situation you could not control, it was exhausting.

Like now.

“Even if I ran, I’d be caught…….”

I was still ‘needed’ here.

A certain face surfaced in my mind, but I erased it.

I just had to endure a little longer.

Rumor had it that soon candidates would depart to select a ‘king.’

Though not all candidates were revealed, who would be chosen from the west was obvious.

‘Then I’ll return home.’

When I was truly no longer needed, I would go back to where I once lived.

A remote place no one inhabited.

Over years, I had slowly made it barely livable.

What had become of it now?

After the world’s ruin, disasters were frequent.

It might already be broken branches and shattered stones.

Still, I wanted to return.

Even if the house was gone, the narrow path behind it might remain.

If not, I would carve it again.

Perhaps I only missed the past itself.

‘There…….’

When the breeze grew cool, nameless trees bloomed with gentle flowers and sweet fragrance.

Sweet osmanthus.

Only after coming here did I learn its name.

Before that, I had been too ignorant even to know such things.

But was knowing always happiness?

Was knowledge always superior to ignorance?

Not necessarily.

Yet once you know, you cannot return to not knowing.

I closed my eyes again.

I only wished for everything to end quickly.

I dreamed.

I saw myself sitting.

I thought I would casually lean and avoid the ambush.

“Argh!”

But it was I who fell screaming.

Pain flooded in.

“W-who is it?”

Someone pressed my head down.

I flailed like an insect pinned through its wings.

Laughter echoed behind me.

“Look at him squirm!”

“Brother, get up. What are you doing?”

There was more than one.

Their voices surrounded me.

“You’re the lord’s eldest son. Our leader’s older brother. Surely someone like you must be exceptional!”

Only then did I realize why they had come.

“Why are you doing this?”

They mocked my trembling voice.

“Stop.”

They echoed it again.

They never intended to listen.

As always.

“There’s no need for this! You already bully me outside. Why come here too—!”

Only then did they stop mimicking me.

“You’re wrong, brother.”

Pressure crushed my head harder.

My vision shifted abruptly.

“This is why we came.”

It was indeed the same group that always tormented me.

Especially those close to their ‘leader.’

They were the worst.

“As you know, this is the punishment chamber.”

I grabbed my right calf unconsciously.

He had broken it once before.

“This place is far from the main estate. Even if someone dies here, no one would know.”

He repeated my own words back at me.

“You’re smart, right? You know what that means.”

I stepped back.

“Of course our brother is smart.”

“Are you insane? Everyone knows I’m here!”

“Who said we’d kill you?”

He shrugged playfully.

“You’re too scared.”

Laughter.

Mockery.

They dragged me by the ankle across the cold, uneven floor.

Sharp stones and splintered wood tore at my skin.

“I didn’t want this!”

They mimicked me again.

“I didn’t choose this place!”

They mocked even that.

They forced my limbs apart, pinning me like a specimen.

“I hate liars.”

A foot lifted.

“I especially hate those who steal someone else’s rightful place when they’re vulnerable.”

“I didn’t want it.”

Even I knew they would not believe me.

The foot slammed into my stomach.

Breath left me.

Blows rained down.

“All because you’re weak.”

That sentence pierced like a needle.

Then darkness.

When I awoke, I was back in my room.

They said I had been found hanging upside down in the chamber.

No one knew who did it.

I did.

But I said nothing.

Strangely, that group never appeared again.

I dreamed.

In the punishment chamber, I was not sitting.

I hung from the ceiling like a bat.

I tossed the sneaking children outside.

After piling a few human mounds, visitors stopped coming.

The nights were long.

Later, larger visitors came.

Sometimes I was injured.

One day my food tasted unusually salty, bitter, sweet.

Others’ food did not.

I dreamed…….