A mysterious light poured down from the sky.

Along with it came a sticky, tar-like voice.

“Don't forget what has caused you pain.”

With that sound, the noise surrounding us disappeared.

I closed my eyes and my hearing faded.

Darkness filled all around.

The only thing I could feel was the moonlight penetrating my heart.

"…"

A familiar sensation.

The light was as comforting as a warm blanket.

Thinking so, I found myself already under a blanket, lying in my room.

My small room.

Familiar yet not so comforting now.

I felt uneasy, as if it wasn't really my room.

"Why am I here?"

How did I end up back in my room?

There seemed to be something more important I needed to do.

I tried to get up but lay back down on the bed.

My back hurts.

It hurt incredibly.

As I wondered why, I remembered.

‘I had injured my back.’

I had liked military life enough that I was thinking of making a career out of it.

Was God surprised by that?

He sent a massive military vehicle charging into me, breaking my back.

As a result, I was honorably discharged from service due to medical reasons.

They said it was a herniated disc.

Being discharged left my future uncertain. Working physically was a luxury beyond reach, and even sitting was painful.

I couldn’t hold a proper job. The biggest issue was money.

How was I supposed to make a living?

Rent was coming due—how would I manage it? Could I qualify for a disability rating?

Numerous worries and anxieties burdened me.

These worries and fears flowed through me.

Unable to move due to the pain, I spent more time dwelling on these negative emotions.

Lying still, my mind felt like a toxic stew simmering with feces, snake venom, mold, anthrax, radiation, and more.

Gradually, I lost energy and vitality. I was a living corpse for sure.

How did it come to this?

I felt there was something more important I should be remembering.

Despite the excruciating pain in my back, I sat up.

First of all… I should apply for a disability rating, find a job related to disability employment, and continue receiving treatment.

Through injections, surgery, and gradually… with rehabilitation, I might recover.

I can do it.

As I tried to move again...

A familiar voice spoke to me once more.

“Don’t forget the things that have caused you pain.”

“…”

A voice as sticky as tar.

When I came to my senses, I was lying on a bed.

What was I doing again?

I felt there was something more important I should have been focusing on.

As I tried to get up, a voice came from beside me.

“Considering you’ve been tainted by Heaven's Killing Star, your mental state seems unusually calm?”

“…”

A voice as clear as a jade marble rolling.

Who is this? The landlady?

Or perhaps her daughter?

One thing’s for sure, neither had such a clear voice.

Could it be her grandchild?

‘Why would her grandchild be here?’

Maybe the landlady got Botox or something.

I opened my mouth to speak.

"Ma'am, I've told you not to come in without knocking."

"…Ma'am?"

"I'll pay the rent later, I'm not going to skip out on it. I'm just not doing well physically, so please give me a bit more time. If not, feel free to take the computer or something. Besides that, I don’t have anything valuable."

Normally, I wouldn’t talk to the landlady like this.

Right now, though, everything just seemed bothersome.

“...Hmm, I wonder if this will solve it.”

I lay there with my eyes closed, unconcerned whether someone nearby was muttering or not.

But then...

My body started to feel increasingly hot.

Did I leave the boiler on? I'm sure I turned it off.

Unable to bear the heat, I kicked off the blanket with my feet.

Then, a strange sound echoed in my ears.

-Whoosh...

It was a sound like a blanket catching fire.

“…What?”

Hearing the odd noise, I lifted my head and looked around.

The room was aflame with a full spectrum of colors.

Staring at those flames seemed to snap me out of it a bit.

But really, why had I been lying down with my house in such a state?

The room was on fire!

Whoosh!!!

I jumped out of bed and screamed.

“No!!! My house!!! My deposit!!!”

In the middle of the flames stood the landlady... No, a young woman.

She walked over to me and whispered,

"This time, I was here, and since Heaven's Killing Star wasn't trying to contaminate anything, it's fine. But you need to be more careful next time, okay?"

"But ma'am, the house is on fire right now!!! What nonsense are you talking about!!!"

"...See you later."

With those words, I felt my closed eyes begin to open slowly.

As my eyes opened, the scene of my house ablaze with a full spectrum of flames faded away.

Everything turned dark, then a new scene unfolded.

Orange hair and red eyes.

Ella, the member of the Punitive Squad.

She was on top of me, punching me in the face.

Thud.

The cool impact of her fist on my cheek snapped me back to reality.

I suddenly realized what situation I had been in just moments ago.

‘...For a moment, my consciousness was forcibly dragged into my inner world.

The light.

The eerie light brought by the massive presence.

It must have been because I was exposed to it.

I almost got trapped in a terrible nightmare.

If it hadn't been for the woman who was burning my house in the dream.

In the dream, I thought she was the landlady.

But now, I think I know exactly who she is.

‘Iscaliote, she helped me. If not for her, it would have been a disaster by now.’

I thought as I watched the eerie starlight still flowing into my body.

I felt contaminated by that starlight, but what did Iscaliote say again?

‘She said I was contaminated by Heaven's Killing Star…’

This starlight must be the Heaven's Killing Star she mentioned.

Heaven's Killing Star.

It's a name I vaguely remembered from the game settings.

Wasn't it the origin of the Monsters' birth?

It was mentioned briefly, like ‘In the beginning, there was light and darkness.’

I never thought I'd actually face something like that.

Somehow, I have a feeling I’ll keep encountering it in the future.

Anyway.

The fact that it exists in the belly of this Monster, in other words, in the Monster’s mind landscape...

It means this Monster is also contaminated by Heaven's Killing Star.

I recalled my inner world where I was ensnared by the Heaven's Killing Star.

A small room filled with pain.

Even when I resolved to escape, a sticky voice held me back and wouldn't let go.

As if telling me to writhe in agony forever.

'It was like a nightmare prison trapping my consciousness.'

If Iscaliote hadn't helped me back then.

If I had succumbed to the pain and chosen the life of a living corpse.

What would have become of me?

'...Horrific.'

I probably wouldn't have met a good end.

First, I applied the sensation of transferring starlight to Ella and blocked the starlight that continued to stream in.

Then, the sticky voice that lingered in my ear disappeared.

'The immediate problem is solved...'

Next, I looked in front of me to see Senior Ella raising her fist.

'What an intense scene.'

It seemed she wasn't significantly affected by the light of the Heaven's Killing Star.

'Is it because only I, who can absorb monsters, am affected?'

Just as I was feeling relieved.

"Snap out of it!!!"

-Thwack!

Ella's solid and heavy fist struck my face as if stamping it, unaware that I had already regained my senses.

-Thud! Thwack!!!

Like mad rabbits pounding a mortar on the Moon during the Lunar New Year.

Fists came down on me with a rhythmic speed.

"Se-Senior... please stop."

"Are you back to your senses?!"

"If I get hit one more time, I think I'll pass out."

Only then did her fists stop.

I understood she hit me to knock some sense into me, but... wasn't she a bit too harsh?

I told her to go easy on me, to which she replied, "You were in terrible shape just now, acting like that monster over there."

She said this while pointing over her shoulder with her hand. I lifted my upper body from the ground to see what she was referring to.

This caused her to slip off me, and after catching her, I stood up with her.

Once I was on my feet, I saw it.

A small creature was crying, nestled against the dead magical creature.

Despite its small size, it exuded a tremendous presence.

'...That creature is the core of this imaginary world I saw before being ensnared by Heaven's Killing Star.'

It was a small and pitiful figure compared to its overwhelming presence.

It clung to the corpse of the magical creature we had killed, crying its eyes out.

It looked like a child mourning the loss of its mother.

-Screeeeech...

Watching that scene reminded me of the suffering I had experienced in the imaginary world.

'Is that the result of being ensnared by Heaven's Killing Star?'

Judging by the sensation of being ensnared by Heaven’s Killing Star…

The mind would be eternally tormented, trapped in the imaginary world, while the body would be controlled by Heaven's Killing Star.

'If it weren't for Iscaliote's help, I would have ended up like that.'

It was a terrifying situation.

To bring an end to everything, I raised my gun and aimed at the magical creature's head.

"Usually, after enduring hardships, something good follows..."

The only thing left for it was rest.

This situation stirred a sense of pity for the creature.

Though it is originally a magical creature that attacks people...

Perhaps because, until just a moment ago, I was in a condition not so different from it.

There was a part of me that sympathized with the magical creature, feeling a shared suffering.

Nevertheless.

"It's about time to head back."

I pulled the trigger.

There was no other choice.

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