CHAPTER 120: MISTAKE, LOOKING AT THE CLUES AGAIN

Zephan frowned.

"I can’t allow that. We’ll leave, draft a report, and the Underworld will send another team to rescue her."

I shook my head.

"Zephan, I’m rescuing her."

My tone made it clear it wasn’t a request.

I didn’t reveal the real reason.

I had to stay behind to exorcise this Cursed Spirit.

I already had a few clues, and I was sure it would work.

Once these people left, they would report everything, and that report would spread news about Area 51, making it stronger.

I was already here.

I had already taken down one Cursed Spirit.

Why should I leave?

Leaving now would only make this Cursed Spirit stronger.

This was my best chance to exorcise it completely.

Zephan gave a small, wry smile when he saw I was not budging.

"I’ve heard the Monkey King was kind, strong, but also annoyingly arrogant. I never understood how someone could be kind and arrogant at the same time... but now I get it."

He sighed.

"Fine. You can stay behind. Don’t worry about the Cursed Spirit Hunter License Test. I won’t write anything like you staying behind despite my orders.

"But if you die, I’m taking all the money in your account," he said

"You don’t know my password," I said.

He grinned. "I have my ways."

I snorted and turned away.

Then Mira spoke up. "I’ll stay too. It’s better to have two people instead of one. The manual says we should never be alone in a Cursed Spirit domain unless absolutely necessary."

Zephan stared at her for a long moment, then sighed loudly. "Do as you wish."

Before Calliope could say anything, he added, "But everyone else is leaving. We need to submit the report."

Lars stirred on the ground.

His eyes opened slowly.

Calliope rushed over. "How are you feeling?"

"...Sleepy?"

He looked lightheaded, clearly not thinking straight.

Zephan pulled out his Exorcist ID.

He held it tightly, input the memory he wanted to erase, the target, and let it pulse with mana as it touched Lars.

When it was done, Lars disappeared.

"I can’t sense his connection anymore," Calliope said, her voice uneasy.

"That means he must have left the domain. Let’s go, everyone," Zephan said.

I didn’t say anything.

I knew Zephan wasn’t sure if his escape method would work, so he’d used Lars as a test subject first.

He didn’t want to risk it with Calliope.

One by one, Zephan erased the kids’ memories, then Calliope’s, and finally his own.

They all vanished.

Mira turned to me.

"Thank you."

I knew she meant it because I was staying behind to save her sister.

I nodded.

"Do you really have a way to save her? She fell into her personal world. How are you going to reach her?" she asked.

"I have my ways," I said. "But first..."

Something didn’t feel right.

A bad feeling crept up my spine.

Maybe it was intuition as a veteran exorcist. Maybe just experience of someone who exorcised countless Cursed Spirits.

But something had gone wrong. That’s what my senses were telling me.

I started walking toward the lab.

"What are you doing?" Mira asked.

"Something important. Just wait a moment."

We stepped through the portal and entered the lab.

The sight made Mira freeze.

Our teammates were inside test tubes.

Her hands trembled.

"What’s happening? Why are they here?"

I stayed silent for a while, then said, "Mira, show me all the clues you guys collected."

She pulled them out and handed them to me.

[It’s impossible to escape this place! It’s impossible! All of us failed!]

[The $%@ Institution was built on @#’s support.]

[The Institution is impossible to !$@!$ from.]

[I wish I never knew about this place. Maybe then we could escape.]

[When @14@ were #41231 on us we were dream$^^%.]

I read them over and over again, trying to understand what we had missed.

Then it hit me.

"Damn it. We’ve been tricked."

"What?"

I showed her the clues again.

"Look at these lines."

[It’s impossible to escape this place! It’s impossible! All of us failed!]

[I wish I never knew about this place. Maybe then we could escape.]

"These two lines are the only ones that are readable. Isn’t it suspicious? We used them to find a way out... but we failed."

Mira frowned. "So you mean—"

I nodded. "Yes. The Cursed Spirit planted these clues on purpose to mislead us."

My eyes drifted to another incomplete line.

"Impossible to !$@!$..."

’Does it literally means ’impossible to escape’?’ I thought.

In my last life, the only person who escaped did it after the exorcism was complete.

Was that the same case here too?

Could we only leave after exorcising this entire place?

We tried to wake the others, but nothing worked.

Their test tubes wouldn’t open either, no matter what we tried.

The glass didn’t crack, and the locks refused to respond.

They were trapped in the test tubes, just like the civilians before them.

Mira stared at the unconscious Ellyn.

Her face was filled with worry.

"I don’t understand. How did they end up inside there?" She muttered.

"It was a dream," I said, reading the last clue.

[When @14@ were #41231 on us we were dream$^^%.]

Although I couldn’t read it entirely, I could understand the word ’dream’.

That helped me deduce what had happened.

She turned to me. "What?"

"When they erased their memories, every part of their escape as the experiment subject—everything that happened—was wiped from their minds. To them, none of it ever happened. They never escaped the test tubes.

"And what would happen if they never escaped?

"They would still be inside the test tubes."

She frowned. "So... they never actually escaped?"

"Yeah," I said. "Since those events never existed in their minds, the world considers that they’re still here. Inside these test tubes.

"Their entire escape was a dream. A dream that they’ve now forgotten."

For a while, neither of us said anything.

The only sound was the faint hum from the machines around us.

"Come with me for a bit," I finally said.

We left the lab and walked back to where I had chained the Cursed Spirit earlier.

Its body was still there, trying to break the chains.

I crouched down and checked its clothes.

There was a tag on the uniform.

"[Security Guard]," I read out loud.

The words were written in a strange language, but [Knowledge] helped me understand it.

I let out a slow sigh and stood up.

Mira watched me closely. "Did you find something?"

"Yeah. I think I know how to exorcise this Cursed Spirit."

I looked at her.

"But first, let’s rescue your sister."