Opening his eyes, Minhyun noticed that he was in a completely different room.

Can I stop opening my eyes to something new? This is like the third time now.

Tired of the bullshit, he decided to take a look around. He was laid in a bed, white, with large red curtains hanging off its sides. Pillows and dolls engulfed a majority of its space, and a thick padded blanket covered over him. As for the room, the aesthetic of it was minimalistic, with a matching theme of brown and black encompassing the furniture inside. To be honest, it sort of reminded him of what he saw when he first transmigrated here.

Am I back in Julius' room?

No…

He could tell some things were different. First of all, the desk was clean, without any of the soot. A pile of well used books were stacked on top of it, and papers filled with various complex circles were scattered across its surface. A large window was at the back of the room, but instead of the garden he had seen previously, what laid on the other side was a large open field.

"Where am I?"

Hearing his words, a soft voice yawned.

"Oh, you're awake. Took you long enough."

Sitting up, a dull pain throbbed in Minhyun's head. It was like someone had slammed a sledgehammer against his skull.

"Wha-what happened to me?"

The girl just tilted her head in response. Question marks filled her face as she awkwardly mumbled.

"Uhm… What are you saying?"

Minhyun facepalmed. Then, using his hands, he gestured at his head.

Hammer. Head. Boom.

A long silence engulfed the room before the girl questioned.

"Yeah… I don't understand what you're trying to say."

Minhyun shook his head.

This isn't going to work.

With talking and hand gestures not working, he knew he had to come up with a new solution. Walking over to the table, he first grabbed a pen and paper. Then with his amazing art skills, he started to draw. Strokes of delicately placed lines filled the paper's hollow shell, and one by one, they came together to create a masterfully drawn work of art.

Is what he would've liked to say…

Wtf is this?

Once he looked at the final product, a part of him wanted to give up. Drawn on the piece of paper was a stickman clutching his head. A bundle of question marks were strewn beside it, and it looked like something a toddler would have drawn.

However, Emily just looked at it and laughed.

"Oh, you're asking about that."

With a smile on her face, she grabbed a stack of papers from her desk. A sleek black pen flew out of her sleeve, and seconds later, a well made flip book appeared in her hands. One of a small boy getting tackled by a speeding little girl.

Wow, I didn't actually expect her to understand that.

Somehow, he had managed to convey what he was trying to say. But before he could reply, Emily continued to add on to her drawing.

She first added a man with black hair, then a woman with glasses, and by the end of her drawing spree, a family of five surrounded the two children. It was calming, and even though it looked somewhat childish, something about it was oddly beautiful.

Ultimately, a couple minutes passed like this. The two of them went back and forth, drawing whatever fun things appeared in their minds. Laughter erupted from both sides, but as time continued to move, exhaustion started to take its toll on their bodies. Knowing that she'd fall asleep soon, Emily pulled out a book from her sleeve. A hesitant look appeared on her face, but after mustering up her courage, she said.

"Here, I know how much this meant to you. Although you're not able to use it, I don't want to keep something that I stole from you."

Minhyun grabbed the book, unaware of the connotations of her words. Although he could intuit a bit based off her tone, without any of its meaning, all he could deduce was that the book was important to her. Maybe it was a diary, or something similar to that. But once he flipped to the first page, a moment of déjà vu hit him. He couldn't read.

...

Thirty more minutes passed in the empty room, and a young boy was reading with a girl on a quiet moonlit night. They were seated at a table. Papers were pushed to the sides. And enough space was made for them to sit at opposite ends. It was quiet, but every once in a while, the boy would nod his head, gasping as if he had read something incredible.

Unable to take it any longer, Emily just stared at him and said.

"…You know it's upside down, right?"

Minhyun paused. After looking up at her face, he smiled, then looked back down.

Emily's eyes twitched.

"I said... it's upside down!"

Minhyun raised his thumb... Then went back to reading.

...

"You're messing with me, right?"

Emily then slammed her head on the table before saying.

"I said it's upside down!!!"

Minhyun just looked at her with his head tilted. A thought entered his mind.

…Is she catching on?

Thinking that, he decided to up his performance. So, with tears in his eyes, he bawled.

In the end, the two of them started a back and forth argument with each other. Emily pleaded for her brother to flip his book around, while Minhyun cried tears of grievance and tragedy. Time flew, and in the aftermath of the war, only one was left sitting... Literally. The loser just left and tucked herself into bed before falling asleep.

Anyways, all that was left was a winner. A winner who had a weird expression on his face as he found something he shouldn't have. A paragraph of text written in a familiar language.

Due to how close it was to something he recognized, he flipped the book over and read it.

[Today is the day of my ascension. To put an end to the madness of this world, I shall tear a hole in the sky and usher in a new era… I already know the outcome of my actions. Blood will spill, and the sky will cry. Yet, in the end, I will fall, and the world shall return to stillness, like it once had.

To the person reading this 300 years from now, I have one warning to give you. Beware the imperial family.]

Chills crept up Minhyun's spine when he read those words. Unlike everything else in the book, these words in specific were written in Korean. He froze. He couldn't understand how this was possible. It just didn't make any sense for a language from his old world to be here... And based on what it had said, it predicted his presence in the world.

Suppressing the weakness in his body, he stood up and walked over to the bed. Tucking the book back into Emily's arms, he shook his head before turning around. But just as he was about to leave, a voice called out from behind him.

"I'm sorry. I took everything away from you."

Minhyun just stood there in silence. Even though he couldn't understand her words, something about them made him want to punch something.

"No, I should stop thinking about this. It's none of my business."

Right now, he just wanted to go back to Julius' room and forget about everything he had seen.

...

The halls were dark at this point. None of the candles were lit, and an unwelcoming presence lingered in the air. Opening the door, Minhyun found himself as the main protagonist of a horror story.

Why did the genre suddenly change?

Taking a step outside, he noticed that the room behind him had disappeared. It had vanished. Replaced by one of the many spaces he had seen during his quest for the mysterious dining hall. With no other options left for him to pick from, he randomly chose a direction and started walking.

Time passed as he walked alone in the dark. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into more minutes as the only thing he could feel in this endless hall was a mind numbing sense of boredom.

But while he was in his thoughts, a voice suddenly sounded out from beside him.

"Young master, what are you doing here at this time of night?"

Still blinded by his hatred towards mazes, Minhyun subconsciously answered.

"I don't know. After Emily pulled me into her room, I was forced to play with her. And before I knew it. It had already become this dark."

The voice responded in contemplation.

"Hmmm… That does sound like something she would do."

.

..

…

Wait a moment.

Turning his head to the side, Minhyun found himself face to face with a short old man. He had a long nose with a pair of silver rimmed glasses leveraged on top. His attire was black, typical for what a butler would wear in this era, and he had short white hair.

He then froze in place before incoherently muttering.

"Y-y-you know…"

Marus nodded and smiled.

"Oh, that, only the madame and I know."

Minhyun wanted to cry. He had already been found out. But then, he suddenly felt that something was off. Other than Julius, he couldn't understand anyone else. So why was the butler an exception to this?

Then, it dawned on him. They were speaking in the same language.

"I-I… You know?"

Marus laughed. But instead of answering his question, he forcibly changed the subject.

"I was tasked to give this to the young master."

A paper slip appeared in his hand. After handing it over, he continued.

"But since he's still sleeping, I'll leave it with you to deliver it to him."

Minhyun frowned. He wanted to ask how he knew this language, but with the conversation being sidetracked into this, he didn't know if that was a good idea. Julius was currently sleeping, and without his protection, anything could happen to him. With all that said though, he still wanted to get some answers.

"May I ask what this is?"

Marus paused. His lips widened as he said.

"It's a registration form for the newly renowned Verus Academy."

A light lit up in Minhyun's head as he hurriedly accepted the paper slip. The plot was finally going back on track, and luckily for him, it had only cost him his own identity and safety.

With his work now complete, Marus gestured and said.

"I'll take you back to your room now."

Footsteps resounded in the gloomy halls of the Mondeau family estate as the two eventually reached their destination. A door. But before Minhyun could open it, Marus abruptly stopped him.

"These doors have a special magic applied to them. If you wish to reach the right place, then you'll have to enter the right combination of knocks."

Pointing at the small circle etched on the door's panel, he tapped on it in a rhythmic pattern.

"It's three, then four, then two."

After opening the door, he then ushered him in. However, before he left, he gave Minhyun one final reminder.

"Don't forget to tell the young master."

With the door now closed behind him, Minhyun slumped onto Julius' bed. Inside, he trembled underneath the warm covers before letting exhaustion carry him away to sleep.