122 – 25. Dream in a dream
“The palace… Right? Here.”
“……I think so…”
Beyond the space torn apart by the hero.
I muttered as I walked down a hallway decorated with all kinds of decorations and luxury items.
I think it’s true because you can see something like a palace through the window in the hallway.
“Could this be the princess’s lucid dream?”
“I guess so…But…This place…I don’t remember…”
“I’ve never been to the imperial castle, but just looking at it, it looks like the big building over there is the main castle… Couldn’t this be an annex?”
“…I’ve never been to the princess’s palace…”
“Then it must be there.”
Anyway, every ornament and every painting is meticulous and beautiful.
Even if it is a lucid dream, it would be difficult to realize all the details since it is a dream.
The other childhood home I built was the same overall, but the furniture decoration and wallpaper stains were different.
‘Still, it’s this detailed…….”
That is why the scenery of this palace was so memorable to the princess.
Or──
“……Wait…….”
“Yes?”
“……There’s…Something in front of me…”
“Um…Over there?”
To me, it’s just a hallway?
But when does this hallway end? There is no door in the middle.
What in particular…… I don’t see anything unusual.
“……This is…?”
“Hero?”
“This…What on earth…!!”
The hero was wary of the hallway in front of him, but suddenly took a step back in astonishment.
I could only see the same hallway without seeing anything, but trusting my senses here would be suicidal, so I moved along the reliable bus.
‘…… Are you looking at the floor?’
What’s on the floor?
It’s just a red carpet.
…… No, if you look closely, it looks like something is moving…… ?
“What are you looking at?”
“Wow!?……Huh? Princess?”
“Huh? Do you know me?”
“Yes…Of course.”
I looked at the floor carefully, and when I suddenly heard a voice, I raised my head and saw Princess Kim Eun-ha looking at me.
That…… Well.
Why do you look like a child?
At first glance, Eunha Kim looked like she was about 5 years old, wearing a white dress, and looked at me with a childlike smile.
“Princess, do you remember what happened?”
“Ugh…I don’t know. I was taking a walk like usual when I found you.”
“Are you talking about taking a walk?”
“Yes! Walking is fun! This palace is spacious, so you can move around as you please! Still…….”
“Still?”
“…I want to go outside. But Abamama and Eumamama say I can’t… So when I grow up, I can go outside, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
They come out and commit all kinds of violence.
I swallowed her words and answered with a smile, and the smiling young princess took my hand with her two small hands.
“Come this way! I’ll show you the palace!”
“This is an honor for me.”
“……Namgoong Min……?”
“Shh, let’s follow for now.”
In a lucid dream, the princess from childhood appeared, not from the present.
This has great implications.
‘It means that the memories of her past are more intense than the princess’s current spirit.’
Princess Kim Eun-ha is a strong person. However, she has this strength because she has suppressed her own “Saltiness.”
Although the princess is powerful in a physical sense, her spirit is somewhat imperfect.
It was like that even during the assassination incident.
‘There is a reason why the prince’s associates chose the threat of assassination.’
To discourage the princess by showing the possibility of her assassination.
It was an especially effective tactic for Kim Eun-ha, whose spirit was not as strong as that of the prince.
Normally, there is no problem because there is nothing to shake the mind, but if a problem arises that can cause a serious shock to the mind, a catastrophe may occur.
And of course, that happened in a lucid dream.
Fortunately, rather than the restrictions of Being lifted, it seems that the princess was consumed by her most powerful memory, a memory from her childhood.
‘The answer is to just be quiet and get along.’
Another thing I said. If you die in a lucid dream, you won’t really die, but your mind may be shocked.
In that case, we should rather protect the young princess……
“This way!”
“……Princess? This is a wall──”
“Eight!”
Kwaaat
“……………….”
“Now there is a way! Yay!”
“…Well, I see.”
Protection is a mess. It’s right for you to worry about me first.
More than that, I’m asking you to please don’t hold my hand too hard. It hurts so much because of my grip strength.
“Oh, I don’t know who you are. What should I call you?”
“You can just call me a fortune teller. The blonde guy after this is──”
“──That person is enough.”
“…Yes?”
“hehehehe, I like the fortune teller oppa! Come on, oppa!”
“Uh, huh?”
Before I could say anything, the princess, who forcibly led my hand, smiled innocently.
…… She smiled with her eyes as if the straight face she showed just now was a joke.
“……………….”
The hero who had been chasing Namgoong Min with an expressionless stare glared.
Easy to understand…… With suspicion and hostility.
*
And three days have passed.
…… Probably so. The clock in the hallway said that 72 hours had already passed.
“Let’s go that way next time!”
“Yes, I understand.”
I don’t know if 72 hours have actually passed or if less than 10 minutes have passed.
The sense of time was disappearing as I was being led around by the young princess.
However, there is no way I could run for 72 hours, so the actual time must have passed very little?
“Then in that hallway! Then in that hallway!”
“Let’s look around slowly.”
“Yes!”
Nevertheless, the feeling of discomfort was clear.
This palace has nothing but hallways.
‘There is no end to the hallway, even if there is a fork in the road, there is only a hallway, even if you break the wall, you will only find a hallway, and even if you break the ceiling or floor, you will only find a hallway.’
It already felt like my concept of time was forcibly distorted, but my sense of space was also dizzy and my mind was confused.
If this was what I was aiming for, I felt so disgusted that I wanted to praise it.
Walking around a hallway that only repeats itself for an infinite amount of time is just unpleasant.
But he did not express those feelings outwardly.
For young Kim Eun-ha, she only showed a bright smile.
“…How do you feel, hero?”
“…I feel a sense of discomfort…But…The exit…Is still…”
So, she was whispering and sharing information with the hero who secretly followed the young princess.
Well, there isn’t any proper information yet……
“…Oppa?”
“Uh, yes?”
“Why are you talking to that person? Do you hate Eunha?”
“No, no, absolutely not.”
“Then just look at Eunha. Look only ahead, and only look at Eunha’s back. Because that’s the only view allowed to her brother.”
“…I understand.”
…… Again.
At first there was no problem, but when the clock showed that 24 hours had passed, the princess came out and started interrupting the hero’s conversation.
Is it because it is part of a lucid dream that there is resistance to leaving the dream?
She had only glared or puffed out her cheeks 24 hours a day, but now she was glaring at me with cloudy eyes.
It’s an added bonus that you’re putting my hand in pain with that formidable grip.
In the meantime, I didn’t stop running down the hallway.
Suddenly, an intuition came to me.
‘I’ll just run like this for the rest of my life.’
It felt like I was just waiting for something to change and would be led by the princess’s hand through the hallways until I grew old and died.
So, some kind of trigger is needed.
Something that can change this treadmill-like situation.
“Fortune teller brother! Let’s go down that hallway next!”
“Princess, how about destroying the wall this time?”
“Huh? Okay! I’ll destroy the galaxy right away!”
“No, not that wall.”
“…Huh?”
“This way.”
And.
I had a rough idea of the reason.
He smiled at the princess who was tilting her head and pointed to her wall.
Toward the wall with a window.
‘The walls that have been broken so far have been internal walls, floors, or ceilings.’
I don’t understand why it’s still a hallway with windows after moving like that, but it’s also stupid to look for understanding in dreams.
But this was definitely going to be an opportunity.
The princess who finally stopped running was proving that.
“……Brother, can’t we just go this way? You can’t go outside…”
“But you want to go out, right? Look out there, the sun is warm and the wind is blowing. Aren’t the flowers in the garden beautiful too?”
“… That’s right. Still, you can’t go out. Because Momma said so.”
“Don’t worry. I am acquainted with Her Majesty the Empress. I will speak well to her.”
“Lie.”
The young princess, who was fidgeting as she clutched her white dress, suddenly looked down.
But even with that sudden change, my smile never wavered.
“How can I not know about Her Royal Highness Empress Kim Ha-neul? She is the pride of our country.”
“…Do you know Momma?”
“Of course. Aren’t you a descendant of the royal family that has been going on since the Joseon Dynasty? You married your current Majesty and gave birth to a princess.”
“But it’s Mr. Kim.”
“Because it was Her Majesty’s choice. The princess’s child will probably be Mr. Lee.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s it. How do you feel? Shall we go outside?”
“…Yes!”
Honestly, in the Korean Empire, the last name should be Lee. It was funny that they alternated between the Kim and Lee surnames every time, but what can a game producer do?
Still, thanks to that information, I gained the trust of the young princess, so isn’t it a good thing?
“Then, will you destroy it?”
“Take a big shot, princess!”
“Yes! I understand!!”
The princess nodded her head loudly and clenched her small fists. Meanwhile, she was holding my hand tightly with her other hand.
As she was laughing while somehow holding back her grip, Kim Eun-ha, who was laughing, swung her fist at her window.
Her fist touches her window, easily breaking even her thick wall.
Squeak.
“……Huh?”
“Wow! It’s my room!”
Instead of the loud noise I had imagined, there was the sound of a door opening.
The walls and windows were not broken. It just became a door and opened naturally as soon as the princess’s fist touched it.
However, despite her obvious surprise, the princess was just happy and led me.
In the middle of a room decorated with all kinds of dolls and furniture.
With a huge size bed.
“Fortune teller brother! Read me a storybook! Let’s play with dolls! I want to play house too!”
“……….”
“Fortune teller…Oppa?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking at the doll here because it was so cute.”
“Really? This doll is Hwang-cheol! Park Hwang-cheol!”
“That’s an unusual name.”
“I think so too. But that’s what the doll’s name is!”
Crackling.
I smiled back at the innocently smiling princess and silently gestured towards her hero.
Snap your fingers without making any sound and improvise Morse code.
It was a signal that no warrior who had experienced the Gate incident in the United States would have known.
“……………….”
S, L, E, E, P.
Sleep. Fall asleep
Breaking the window led me to the young princess’s room, and there was a bed in the middle of the room.
This probably means that I have to sleep here.
“……….”
The warrior is shaken. This is the act of sleeping in a dream.
Dream in the middle of a dream.
As the name of this gate suggests, you can fall into a dream within a dream.
I only know from knowledge, but dreaming during a dream is much more dangerous than a lucid dream.
Maybe even physical shock won’t wake it up.
But it was also necessary.
‘If Kim Eun-ha is not in this dream…….’
What if young Kim Eun-ha is the only one in the wide and infinite hallway?
It is highly likely that the real Kim Eun-ha has already fallen into a dream within a dream.
There was a part of me that believed more than anything else.
From Noble mtl dot com
‘Liu and Rain will wake me up somehow!’
He is recognized by everyone as the world’s richest man, and a multi-talented psychic who finds it even more difficult to find the impossible.
With those two, they could wake me up, whether it’s a dream or something.
You will unintentionally come into contact with the princess’ hidden inner self, but in the end, it is something you have to do for the sake of the character event.
So.
“Princess?”
“──Huh?”
“Playing various games is good, but aren’t you feeling sleepy? How about taking a nap for a while?”
“Day…Sleep?”
“After you sleep, you will be able to play to your heart’s content. I will also sleep next to you.”
“……If only my fortune teller would sleep with me…”
Gate In , You said that the condition for having the same dream is to touch the body.
I gently hugged the young princess, who spread her arms wide towards me, and laid her body on her bed.
Now, if the hero also joins──
Geuggeuggg—─!!
“What, what is it?”
“…No, brother.”
“Princess?”
“Don’t listen to that sound. We’re sleeping together, right? Let’s fall into a dream.”
“Princess……..”
Without even resistance, my eyes slowly close. As if someone was forcing it to close.
Unable to resist the young princess’s voice, she was falling into her drowsiness.
The warrior who was staring at all of this hastily pulled out his great sword.
Ggggg—─!!!
“……Ugh…….”
The door that led into this room.
A crack suddenly formed in the door, sucking the warrior in.
Even that was a force that was difficult to resist, but that force did not seem to reach Namgoong Min, who was lying on the bed just a few steps away.
…… No, that’s not it.
Someone is blocking the crack that is pulling Namgoong Min down.
And it was obvious who it was.
“……Princess……what…….”
“Goodbye.”
What the hero saw before being sucked into the crack.
In the form of an adult that appeared from the beginning.
It was Kim Eun-ha’s face with a creepy smile.
*
“…Ah.”
Suddenly, I opened my eyes.
Where am I? Is it a dream within a dream?
I looked around, but I was alone, with no hero or young princess.
It was dark, but when I looked closely, I could tell where this was.
“……Prison?”
Blood-stained walls, broken iron skewers and handcuffs.
And even the half-open grate.
It was clearly a dungeon with only the faint light of a lamp fluttering.
“……….”
Tap.
Hearing the sound of footsteps echoing in the prison, I open the bars and go out.
Waving lights. And following him, a hallway spread out before his eyes. Prisons on both sides of the hallway.
And.
“Ah, you’re here.”
“……Princess?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Kim Eun-ha wearing a crown, a blood-red cape, and black robes.
She was welcoming a drop of blood from her eye.