To summarize what happened afterward was simple.

Team Leader Kang was given time to talk with my mother, and she begged me for forgiveness for a long time.

She spoke about why she left me that day.

She talked about her own weakness.

Also, how she shouldn’t have left that day.

With eyes and voice full of sincere regret, she poured out words of remorse.

And I heard all of it with one ear, mostly letting it slide.

No, to be precise...

‘The angle is starting to form.’

Running simulations in my head, supplementing the gaps or even completely reworking the plan.

Continuously observing the surroundings and thinking about escape routes.

How much time passed after that?

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone gently knocked and entered the interrogation room where my mother and I were alone.

“Hello, Lee Hansoo.”

Who the hell is this guy?

No matter how I looked, he didn’t seem like a detective.

“Sorry, but could your guardian please step outside for a moment?”

“Ah, yes...”

My mother soon left the interrogation room, and the newcomer sat opposite me.

He held a rather thick stack of documents.

“I’ve listened to everything from your earlier questioning to the disturbance incident. There were many interesting parts, so may I talk a little about those?”

Without revealing his identity, the bespectacled man spoke with a soft expression and tone.

Only then did I realize who he was.

‘A mental evaluation.’

He came to check my mental state.

And depending on the results...

‘No mercy—I’ll be sent to a psychiatric hospital.’

I quickly imagined the situation ahead.

Was going to the psych ward part of this ‘tutorial’ too?

‘...No way.’

From my gaming experience, that was never the case.

If I liken the current situation to a game, being sent to the mental ward would likely be a ‘game over.’

A kind of bad ending, maybe?

Perhaps I would be locked away in the hospital forever, forced to take medication and live as a real madman.

Therefore...

“Yes. You may ask me anything.”

I switched off barbarian mode and turned on gentleman Lee Hansoo mode.

“Thank you. You’re much kinder than I expected.”

“That’s how I usually am.”

Once the environment for conversation was set, the bespectacled man began firing questions at me in earnest.

“You said you were pulled into the game world. Is that true?”

“No. That was a lie.”

“Then where were you during the missing period?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but it was a very dark place. I was locked up there until the ones who captured me suddenly brought me home. That’s why there was that disturbance incident. I thought the kidnappers had come back.”

“Hmm... Do you know why they kidnapped you?”

“No. I was just kidnapped and locked up. Do you know that movie? The one with the steamed dumplings... Yeah, like that movie. They just locked me up and didn’t do anything else.”

“But why didn’t you tell the truth during questioning earlier?”

“The kidnappers threatened me. They said if I talked about them, they would find me and take revenge... I was very scared.”

Though I made it up on the spot, it sounded believable enough.

But the problem was...

“Is it okay to tell me that? You said you were threatened.”

“Well... You seemed trustworthy and kind... so I gathered courage to tell you.”

Playing the role of a clueless young man, I said this, and the bespectacled man stared at me for a moment, then nodded slowly.

“You say I seemed trustworthy and kind... Understood. That’s all for today’s talk.”

Ah, um, well...

‘...I think I messed this up.’

They say bad premonitions never fail, and this time was no exception.

The bespectacled man who came for the mental evaluation left, my mother waited outside after visiting, and I was locked up in the holding cell for the night...

“Lee Hansoo, come out.”

Only in the afternoon the next day was I taken out of the cell and transferred outside.

“Team Leader Kang, where am I going?”

“You’ll find out when you get there.”

Damn it.

‘I failed.’

If I had known, I wouldn’t have talked about the game during the questioning.

When I pressed my lips shut and looked down at the floor, Team Leader Kang seemed to decide there was no point hiding it and said some comforting words.

“But if you stay well there, it will be much better for your trial. Attempted murder and special injury... Even if it’s a first offense, you wouldn’t avoid prison. So... think of it as resting your tired mind...”

Bullshit.

What kind of rest is that for a tired mind?

“I often go there, and your mother is especially helping you a lot...”

Team Leader Kang’s voice gradually grew faint as I lost interest.

Thud.

Outside stood a special transport vehicle.

People in uniform stood by it.

“This is a five-star high-risk patient. Do not provoke under any circumstances. Take extra care during transport.”

The bespectacled man gave a very stern warning to those uniformed men.

‘Five stars... what is this, the Adventurer’s Guild?’

I sighed and scanned the surroundings.

The uniformed men prepared some kind of restraint suit inside the vehicle.

‘Once ready, they’ll unlock my handcuffs and move me in there.’

But precisely because of this, I had to move faster this time.

Soon the handcuffs would be removed naturally, but they’re not idiots.

Knowing it’s the most dangerous moment, they would proceed more thoroughly.

Right, so...

‘Now.’

I turned my back and looked at Team Leader Kang.

“Hansoo? Do you have something to say...?”

“Th-thank you for treating me well.”

“No, it’s my job. No need to thank me.”

“My job, huh...”

That made me feel a little more at ease.

Just as Team Leader Kang did his ‘job,’ I would do mine.

Crack!

I landed a headbutt, which I often used as a novice barbarian, right in the middle of his face.

“Aah!”

“Kyaaa!”

I pushed the sitting Team Leader Kang down to the floor, reached for the waist I had been watching before...

“Where is it?”

What the hell?

This wasn’t part of my plan.

“Uh...”

I was genuinely flustered, checking around.

“Ah...”

“K-Team Leader Kang!”

“This bastard again!!”

Kang grabbed his nose bruised by the headbutt and scolded his colleagues.

“Enough! Stop it!”

“B-But...”

“If I say stop, then stop!”

Slowly Kang stood up, supporting himself on the floor, and looked at me.

“...I thought you might do this, so I entrusted the key to another colleague.”

Ah... so that’s how it was.

“I don’t blame you, Hansoo. It just hurts. If you listen carefully to the doctors there and take your ‘medicine’ well, you’ll get better soon. You too.”

I was doomed.

White. So white.

The sharp smell of harsh chemicals was everywhere.

“Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!”

The epileptic screams of the patient in the next room were my lullaby as I stared out the window made of special glass.

“Hehe...”

A drowsiness beyond words.

A muscular man in nurse’s uniform stood before me, holding a chart.

He was accompanied by a dumbfounded-looking rookie nurse.

“This is the patient you asked about, Lee Hansoo. What did you say to be careful about when dealing with him?”

“Never have personal conversations!”

“You were in another hospital, but this patient requires special caution. As Professor Park said, he’s a patient who’s as skilled at deceiving, lying, and acting as if breathing.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes! He’s quiet now because of the drugs, but at any chance, he tries to escape. He thinks reality is a game. If he had a knife, he’d stab us and laugh about it. He’d say, ‘Got one down.’”

“...Yes, understood!”

“Don’t take this lightly! I heard during arrest he knocked down three policemen and strangled one almost to death.”

“Ah... I heard he caused a disturbance even when leaving the police station? And here in the hospital some nurses were badly hurt a few times...”

“Well, it’s a relief in a way. Thanks to that, he could get strong medication treatment. Now he’s calm like this, right?”

“Yes. Not once does he even look at me during our talks.”

That’s because if he looks, he won’t talk.

Even these overheard conversations are information...

“Haam...”

I’m exhausted.

That’s enough for today; I should sleep.

‘But... how many days has it been already...?’

I don’t know well, but rest is part of battle.

Closing my eyes and accepting the incoming mental storm, I thought,

‘Stay alert.’

No matter what anyone says, this is a dream world.

I’m still caught in a trial, and as always, I will find a way to overcome it.

But...

“Lee Hansoo, it’s medication time. Open your mouth!”

“Ah...”

gulp!

“...Ah, faking swallowing again. Kim Gan! Bring that here! We’ll force-feed him again today. Tie his hands and feet for an hour so he can’t vomit!”

Because of the daily antipsychotic medication?

Sleep when drowsy, feel hazy when awake, and since some time ago the walking time disappeared altogether, spending all day tied to the bed.

In this routine, I slowly began to question myself.

‘Is this really a dream...?’

My mother who visits and cries whenever possible.

All the memories and experiences I gained in Rafdonia.

They all say this situation is a dream, but one decisive contradiction confused me.

‘Why...?’

Why is no one trying to kill me?

If I made a mistake, I died.

If unlucky, I died.

If I just didn’t know something, I died.

That hellish world full of death flags.

[Dungeon and Stone].

My body still belongs to that world, and if I were really just dreaming, it wouldn’t make sense.

Why am I still alive?

Day after day, no one tries to kill me?

The detective who hit my head, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Team Leader Kang who almost choked me to death.

Why are they all so nonviolent?

‘It’s as if...’

I really came to the modern world.

No, more precisely...

‘It’s like I really... became a madman.’

No matter how much I steel my will, I start to have that thought unconsciously.

Maybe it’s just because of the medication.

But truly, as the doctors, nurses, detectives, and my mother said,

“Did I really go insane?”

Actually, it’s not so unreasonable when I think about it.

Or rather, it has plausibility.

A childhood full of misfortune and horror that can’t be explained with words like stress or trauma.

The game I immersed myself in as an escape.

Dungeon and Stone, which I played obsessively.

The breakup with Hyunbyul that happened during gameplay.

All that combined could have broken my mind.

Even without being a psychiatrist, anyone would say ‘that’s understandable.’

“So... all the things that happened there... were really just me going crazy...?”

“Everyone, cover your ears! Looks like patient Lee Hansoo is about to pull some trick again!”

“Yes! He’s pretending to be sane to make us lower our guard!”

No matter what the hospital staff around me said,

‘No, that can’t be.’

I shook my head and held on to my will not to weaken.

I hadn’t come back.

This was still a dream.

If I accepted this as reality, the trial would be over. That would be game over.

Right, so...

‘I need proof.’

To firmly steady my mind, I need proof.

I must build a support stronger than anything else to avoid collapsing.

“Please... send this letter.”

“A letter? To your mother?”

“No... overseas. You can open and read it if you want, but just send it by international mail.”

“The address... Canada? Is this the letter you mentioned before to your ‘Canadian friend’?”

“Yes. Please.”

“...Understood. I will definitely deliver it.”

Perhaps my doctor thought it would help my treatment?

About two weeks later, I received a reply.

[Don’t even know how to start. Hi, Hansoo.]

[I was shocked to see your letter. At first, I thought my friends were playing a prank... but if your doctor’s explanation is true, I had to reply.]

[But your doctor might not like it. Honestly, I briefly thought your story could be true.]

[It’s crazy, right? I also played Dungeon and Stone, and know the community, so you might have searched my name and address online.]

[But my first kiss was at 17. That person was my girlfriend’s best friend. My childhood dog died, and I dreamed of becoming a vet.]

[I never told anyone that. Not even my close friends, let alone on the internet.]

The reply from my Canadian friend became definitive proof that I was trapped in a ‘dream.’

Because if everything I experienced were just ‘delusions,’ how could I know about a ‘Canadian friend’ across the sea?

“Huh...”

Good. I’m not crazy.

So, now I’ll keep my wits about me and find a way out.

Thinking this, I finished reading the letter.

[But on the other hand, I hope your story isn’t true.]

[If it is, I must already be dead in that world, and this current me is a fake created in this one... that would be too sad. I have a loving family and a lover.]

[I don’t know about you, but I believe this is real.]

[Of course, what you believe to be real is your choice.]

[Oh, and if you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to write. Though I don’t know your face across the sea yet, I feel like we could be good friends.]

[PS. I heard about your childhood. You must be a very strong person. So I believe you will overcome this and cheer for you from afar.]

After reading the entire letter, I sighed deeply.

“Haa...”

This made me feel conflicted in its own way.