Clink.
The sound of a door opening echoed through the staircase as Clara slowly pulled it open.
Beyond it was one of the breakrooms inside an A.E.G.I.S. facility. There was currently no one inside, and Jonathan was the first to slowly step through.
The entire team followed with shocked expressions, occasionally glancing back at the Strange Supernatural Man behind them.
"What are you waiting for? Are you reluctant to leave and would like to stay here a little longer?"
Moon’s voice carried a threatening tone.
Marcus and the others immediately shook their heads and rushed through the door.
Just before leaving, Marcus turned back.
"About the favor... how do I know when to help you out?"
Moon simply replied in a casual and dismissive manner.
"We’ll see."
With that, Marcus and the rest of the Response Unit hurried through the door.
Moon watched them leave for a moment.
Then, after making sure that everyone had gone through, he slowly took a step toward the open doorway.
The moment they saw him approaching the door, the expressions of the Response Unit members changed.
— "W-wait... is he actually coming in with us!?"
— "Crap! Don’t let him through! He must have planned this from the beginning! He used us to find the headquarters! Shut the door!"
Every single one of them panicked yet none of them moved.
For some reason, an instinctive fear had taken hold of them.
It was only after they had escaped the Neverending Staircase that they realized how rashly they had been making decisions, as though their thoughts and emotions had been influenced from the very beginning.
Seeing their panicked expressions, Moon immediately clarified.
"Oh. No worries, I don’t plan on staying here."
He grabbed the door handle and calmly shut the door.
"..."
...
’Like hell I’d ever fucking go to the A.E.G.I.S. headquarters.’
I’ve read countless books, wikis, reports, and pieces of information about A.E.G.I.S.
If there was one thing I knew for certain, it was that this organization was terrifying.
A.E.G.I.S. was specifically created to deal with supernatural entities and anomalous phenomena. They investigated them, contained them, researched them, and, when necessary, eliminated them.
And right now, I hadn’t even properly established myself as a "Friendly Supernatural Entity."
I’d only been pretending to be one.
So why the hell would I willingly walk into their headquarters?
In fact, I’d rather spend quadrillions of years wandering through the Neverending Staircase than willingly place myself in A.E.G.I.S.’ hands.
Walking straight into their headquarters would be like walking into a tiger’s den and hoping it would understand that I was friendly.
There was absolutely no reason to take that risk.
’I’ll stay as far away from their headquarters as possible.’
Besides, I’d already figured out a way to return home.
There was no reason for me to stay here any longer than necessary.
Still... The thought of it all was hard to ignore.
The world of [Arcana] actually existed...
It was quite an unbelievable discovery for a fanboy like me.
Did that mean the characters from other popular books and series, such as [As Above, So Below], [Death of the Universe], [Pale Sickness], and [Cult of the Moon], existed as well?
Despite how horrifying that possibility was, I couldn’t help but feel a small spark of excitement.
It was the same kind of excitement you’d feel if you suddenly found out that the characters you’d admired for years were actually real.
Of course, that didn’t mean I wanted to stay here.
I had no intention of living in a place like [Arcana].
Yes, it was an amazing piece of fiction.
But that was exactly what made it so good... because it was fiction.
I could enjoy the horrors, mysteries, and supernatural phenomena from the safety of my own world.
Actually living through them was an entirely different matter.
As reality? Definitely not.
’I should get out of here as soon as possible...’
Yes. I just needed to think of the address of my home back in my original world, and then I’d be able to go home.
Let’s see...
My home address was...
It was...
Huh...?
I can’t...
I can’t remember...
Fear struck my heart and mind.
Why couldn’t I remember?
It was on the tip of my tongue, but my brain felt foggy. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t think of the right words to say.
Dammit.
It was just like that time when I suddenly forgot that the original merchandise store I was in only had one floor.
And now I ended up here.
It felt as though something had been manipulating my mind to make me come here and stay in this place.
Thinking of all the horrible things that could happen to me in this universe, I couldn’t help but freeze in fear.
Calm down. Calm down.
First, accept my current helplessness and then slowly come up with a solution...
Let’s see... Get faster updates on g.com.
Obviously, I’m being manipulated into being in my current situation. That means whatever is controlling my mind wants me to be here.
First, I have to verify whether or not that entity’s intentions are malicious.
Seeing as I haven’t been killed, I can at least verify that it doesn’t want to end my life...
As for any curses...
I immediately went ahead and checked my condition.
My head felt fine aside from being a bit foggy, and my physical condition felt normal as well. There weren’t any cramps or pain...
As for my face...
Huh...?
I touched my right eye once again, the one that was covered in makeup to make it look like it had scars, along with a white contact lens.
My cosplay...
The makeup on it...
It doesn’t feel powdery...?
I immediately pinched the corner of my right eye and tried to "wipe away" the makeup.
It...
It wouldn’t come off!
No way...
Just like the Ring of Silence and the Gem of Augury, did my cosplay suddenly become real too?
Crap.
If I’d known this situation would occur, I would’ve just robbed that merchandise store of its most powerful items, like the [Pale Sword] or the dang [Sun’s Wick].
’Hm... At least my right eye’s vision isn’t actually blind...’
I comforted myself as I tried to check if I still had the contact lens.
I carefully blinked several times before gently touching my right eye, trying to feel the edge of the contact lens.
....There’s nothing?
I touched it again, this time more carefully...
I still couldn’t feel anything on it.
’...Huh?’
I covered my left eye and looked around with my right.
I could see perfectly fine.
’Then where’s the contact lens...?’
I carefully pulled down my lower eyelid and rolled my eyeball as far downward as possible, trying to spot the faint, plastic rim of the lens.
There was no contact lens...
’...What?’
I touched my eye again, unable to believe it.
The white color wasn’t coming from a contact lens anymore.
My eye itself had become completely white.