Immediately after he took his first steps out the door, a luxurious gleam flashed in Minhyun's eyes. He expected to have transmigrated into a mid sized manor. Not a full on castle. Looking around, countless paintings and ornaments were adorned on the sides of the walls. A mix of red and black flowed throughout its long, narrow space, and the overall design reminded him of a Gothic Victorian style of architecture. The only thing he didn't like was the weary dread that lingered in the atmosphere. It was quiet, almost too quiet.

That was, until a sudden voice rang in his ear.

"Turn left and go straight."

What the…

Baffled by the sudden order, Minhyun instinctively jumped back. Then, after understanding what it had said, he responded.

"Wait, you're making me walk as well."

Julius paused before shaking his head.

"Yeah. What else would you be used for?"

Minhyun's forehead scrunched, and he was suddenly reminded of his old high school days. The days where he would watch the rampant school bullying from the safety of his desk... It's just, this time, it was happening to him instead.

Son of a bitch. This guy's treating me as a slave.

Shaking his head in moderate frustration, he ultimately backed down and did what he was told. He didn't want to look for any trouble, and the thought of arguing with a kid to determine who had to walk just sounded stupid to him.

Just be the bigger person.

After a whole minute of walking, two branching paths opened up in front of him. The left led to a large courtyard filled with flowers, trees, and an arrangement of outdoor amenities. If memory served him right, then it should lead to the garden he had seen in Julius' room. As for the right, well, from what he saw, it was just more of the same. An endless hall filled with doors.

"Now what?"

Asking the master navigator in his head, Minhyun looked over to see Julius slowly nodding off in place.

No way.

Then, as if waking up from his sleep, Julius dully stared back at him before responding.

"Oh right… just go down the hall. I'll tell you when to stop."

...

Time passed as Minhyun continued to walk down the empty corridor. Candles lit up his way, and with nothing but doors surrounding him, the silence was starting to weigh on his mind. Ultimately, he decided to ask the question that had been bothering him for the longest time.

"Why did you let me live?"

To be honest, he still couldn't wrap his head around it. He didn't believe anyone was kind enough to let a random stranger live inside their body. Especially if said stranger came from another world. Was there a reason he didn't know of? Or was it that he had no other options to pick from?

Another thing that weighed him down was whether he'd be willing to do the same thing. To let someone else live at the cost of his own standard of living. But after thinking to himself, he knew what his answer would be.

"If I were you, I'd probably just try my best to get rid of me."

Julius paused when he heard the man's words. He didn't expect to hear something so... convoluted. This was his own life he was talking about, so why was he convincing him to end it?

Is he just stupid or naive?

After taking the time to arrange his thoughts, he answered.

"You're useful. There's nothing more to it."

Minhyun just stood there in ponderance. Although he wasn't satisfied with the answer he was given, he didn't want to pry any further. He knew that there were some things people wanted to keep to themselves.

A few more seconds passed after that exchange. The sounds of footsteps continued to echo throughout the halls, and for some reason, it looked like they were making no progress at all. The scenery just kept on repeating itself.

Then, as if noticing something, Julius perked his head up and gestured.

"It's the next door to the right."

Hearing that, Minhyun subconsciously walked a couple more steps before opening it.

Inside, he saw a large room filled with… nothing. It was completely empty inside, except for a couple of large wooden boxes.

Huh…

Double checking to see if he had gotten the wrong room, he realized that he hadn't. He really was just in an empty room. It was sort of a letdown, since he expected it to be a lot more grandiose than whatever this was… And honestly, he preferred what he had back at home.

At least home had garbage to keep me company.

With that thought, he asked.

"Hey… are you sure this is the right place? This looks nothing like a dining hall to me."

Julius didn't respond. This also made no sense to him. From what he remembered, this should've been the correct room. Unless his eight years of seclusion had shuffled everything in the manor, everything else should've remained the same. It was difficult to change spatial coordinates.

In the end, all the signs pointed towards a single person, but without sufficient evidence to back him up, he decided to just blame himself for misjudging.

"I must've remembered wrong."

…are you serious?

At this point, Minhyun wanted to rip his hair out. Out of all the traps he could've found himself in, mazes were the ones he despised the most. They were low level puzzles that added nothing of value and just existed to waste people's time. He could remember every single moment where he'd play an amazing game, only to find himself navigating a stupid maze for hours of his life. Worst of all was the fact that they usually used some nonsensical gimmick like passwords and key items to make it take longer than it needed to be.

And with all the rooms he saw on his way here, he knew that this was going to take a very long time.

"Fuck it… I'm opening every door here."

Shocked by his sudden declaration, Julius immediately tried to warn him.

"Hey, you should be careful. These doors lead to random parts of the estate."

Not caring about what he said, Minhyun walked towards the nearest unopened door and joked.

"How bad could it be? It's not like a dragon's on the other side waiting for me."

Then, to prove his point, he opened it and gestured.

"See, there's nothing there…"

Snort.

A strong puff of air instantly blew him back. A large crimson eye stared at him through the small crack, and smoke began to exude from its open nostrils. A low flame flickered, and the temperature around them began to rise.

Wtf…

Hurriedly slamming the door in its face, Minhyun dashed towards the other side of the hall. He felt his soul leave his body, but after calming himself down, he slowly turned to Julius and asked.

"…What the hell was that? I understand having pets, but not something like this... Also, what's the point of it even being here? Shouldn't it be living outside?"

Julius just blankly stared at him.

"That's not a pet... That's my grandfather."

Minhyun rubbed the sides of his head. He couldn't understand the nuances of this world. He felt like he was a little fledgling still learning how to fly. So, after pinching the bridge of his nose, he stated.

"Your grandfather's a dragon."

Julius sighed, burdened by the nonsensical questions being asked. It was like this peasant came from another world or something.

Oh right... He did.

Not wanting to be bothered any more, he said.

"No, you idiot. He's human... It's just certain circumstances made him look that way."

Picking up on what he said, Minhyun gasped. Then with a fan-boyish look on his face, he shook his arms around.

"Are you able to do that too? You know, like cast spells and transform."

It had always been a dream of his to fly around and cast cool spells.

"Yeah, but don't expect to be able to use any. I'm basically crippled."

Minhyun froze in awkwardness. The words in his throat evaporated. After thinking for a bit, he concluded that it did make sense. Most stories usually started off with their main protagonist having some sort of issue. Whether it be a weak body or a weird mind, it was all something they'd have to overcome at some point in their journey.

Maybe that's why he turns bad.

Although it didn't fully explain everything, with what he could assume from a noble family, not being able to cast magic would probably have profound effects on someone's disposition. He wasn't sure if it came from pity or from sympathy, but he found himself saying something he normally wouldn't say. Not anymore at least.

"Don't worry about that. I've spent my entire life reading books and playing games. I'm basically an expert when it comes to being a good for nothing."

A small crack appeared on Julius' face, and his lips quivered as he held in the urge to smile.

"Oh thanks. I feel much better knowing that someone's lived a life much worse than mine."

Minhyun stumbled.

Hey, I was trying to say something nice.

Then, after shaking his head, he came up with an idea.

"What if we run down the hall and open doors until we get the right one?"

Julius frowned. Then he said.

"Are you trying to get us killed?"

Minhyun shook his head, then explained.

"Do you really think it'd make any sense for your family to booby trap their own home?"

Julius didn't respond. He made a good point. But after thinking about all the things he'd been through, he wasn't so sure about that anymore.

Oh well… It's not like there's anything better.

...

Ultimately agreeing with his plan, the two of them started to run down the hall, opening every door they found. Although they encountered a few bumps along the way, in the end, they were able to safely reach the end of it in one piece. Except... they now found themselves in a new predicament.

There were no more doors left for them to check.

"So, what do we do now?"

Julius looked up and stared at the window at the end of the hall. After a while, he said.

"I don't know."

Minhyun's eyes twitched from the shitty response.

"...What do you mean you don't know! You live here!"

Julius didn't say anything, his attention still focused on the window ahead. Looking straight down the hall, he felt that something was off about it. He didn't remember there being a window there.

There's no way, right?

Then, as if making up his mind, he pointed at it and said.

"What about this one?"

Minhyun just paused before laughing.

"There's no way you think that's the entrance, right? You're pointing at a window. Not a door. Also, I don't know if you can't tell, but we can already see what's on the other side."

Julius just ignored him. After unlatching its locks, he slowly pushed it open.

Revealed on the other side of the glass was a massive room with golden lights. A large dark brown table sat in the middle, and sitting within were four distinct figures. They seemed to be having a good time, discussing various matters with each other, while a short old man stood attentively by the side. An amused look was in the old man's eyes as he announced to them the presence of a new arrival.

What the…

Minhyun's face froze when he saw this. Turning to look at Julius, he blurted.

"You knew this entire time."

Julius just rolled his eyes.

"No… If I knew, then we wouldn't have gone through all of this."

But after saying that, he knew his suspicions were true. Someone was purposefully messing with him, and he already had an idea as to who.

Looking towards the quiet old man attending the table, he thought.

Just how long is that shitty butler going to mess with me?