Salvation Through Delusion C2

Chapter 2

It seemed my suspicion had been right. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw half a dozen entities floating in the air. Every single one of them was grotesque.

Giant eyeballs, deep-sea creatures—each one more bizarre than the next.

They were all translucent, their eerie shapes making them look almost ghostlike.

He opened his eyes!!!

With a loud cry, one massive eyeball—nearly the size of my face—zoomed in close, right up to my nose. Then came a chilling question.

[You… can see me, can’t you?]

My body began to tremble uncontrollably, like a leaf in the wind. It wasn’t voluntary—it was an instinctive reaction ingrained in this body.

So the original owner, Adeye Rue, must have been terrified of these beings.

I could barely move my lips as I forced words through the pain.

“…Hey.”

My throat burned as if it had been slashed with a knife. I swallowed the pain and managed to rasp out,

“Get that eyeball out of my face.”

But the deep-sea monstrosities only cackled louder, circling around me.

Still half-submerged in the pond, I didn’t even have the strength to curse them.

What I needed to do right now was activate the antenna embedded in my body. I only had three minutes. If I didn’t, I’d die the moment I climbed out of this pond.

What I needed was the activation code—but the pounding headache made it hard to remember.

…What was it again?

Quickly. Three minutes. Just three minutes.

Panic must have short-circuited my brain, because heat surged through my skull, followed by unbearable pain. The back of my head throbbed violently.

“Urgh…”

Just when I thought I might actually die, a single word burst from my lips of its own accord.

“…Paramita.”

Gasp—!

My body convulsed, then suddenly, the blockage in my lungs cleared, and I could breathe again.

Then I heard the voice I’d been waiting for inside my head.

[Code verification complete.]

It was the voice of the biological nano-robot implanted as an antenna.

I was still breathing heavily, but that didn’t matter anymore.

[Verifying transplant data… Data confirmed. Greetings. I am “Mo,” your operational assistant.]

Relief washed over me. I was alive.

But Mo’s next words poured cold disappointment down my spine.

[Current neural implant count is insufficient. Performance may be limited, or unexpected system shutdowns may occur during operation.]

“How many implants succeeded?”

[One.]

Ah… only one.

I felt a stab of regret, but there was no time to complain. I had one immediate command.

‘Block all emotional residue from the original owner.’

First, I needed to deal with these annoying things.

[Scanning… Defining emotional domain… Block complete.]

The trembling in my body stopped instantly.

Good.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked down at my hand. It no longer shook.

I clenched and unclenched my fist a few times, then raised my head. The strange creatures were still darting around, screeching at me like deranged minnows.

“Get rid of their voices. I don’t want to hear them anymore.”

[Muting audio.]

The creatures’ shrill cries were abruptly cut off, and a blessed silence filled the air.

“Finally, some peace.”

Maybe it was because my voice had regained its calm, but the creatures suddenly began to stir uneasily.

It was as if they’d realized something was off.

Well, no wonder—if the trembling toy they’d been mocking suddenly smiled back at them, they’d be unsettled too.

“You lot can only be heard when I allow it. So go ahead—keep shrieking, you pathetic little minnows.”

The moment I finished speaking, they lunged toward me, their movements aggressive but futile.

I could tell they couldn’t actually harm me—they could only stir up gusts of wind.

If they’d been capable of physical damage, they would’ve done it already.

‘Mo, can you make them invisible?’

[Invisibility rendering is not supported with current specifications.]

Damn it. Right, only one functioning unit.

‘What about a visual filter?’

[Possible.]

‘Then… apply the Dizn—’

[Copyright infringement detected. Cannot use.]

…Even in another world?

I froze for a second, then let out a dry laugh. Fair enough. Even across the universe, copyright law reigns supreme.

“Corporate loyalty, huh?” I muttered, wringing water from my soaked clothes as I stood.

Despite inhabiting someone else’s body, it didn’t feel too foreign.

‘Mo, then use some generic filter. Something harmless, ridiculous-looking.’

The minnows thrashed even harder when I ignored them, like they were throwing a tantrum.

But I didn’t care—because they were suddenly replaced in my vision by simple doodles, like rough sketchpad drawings.

Especially the giant eyeball—it now looked like a wobbly floating plate.

It suited them perfectly.

“Yeah, keep wriggling around like that. Maybe I’ll even take notice.”

The doodled creatures bounced even more violently, like balloons in a grand opening display.

I ignored them and finally climbed out of the pond, turning to test how well Mo functioned.

‘Mo, start mapping all visible terrain in my field of view.’

Immediately, faint three-dimensional lines began sketching themselves across the dark landscape.

Even without light, I could see as clearly as if it were noon.

‘Fairy Forest Retreat.’

That was what the sign on the building read.

But inside, there were doctors and nurses moving about.

That’s when I realized—this wasn’t a resort at all, but a medical facility disguised as one.

“Were you out for a midnight swim?”

A nurse I ran into in the hallway asked casually upon seeing me.

I was dripping wet, clearly just outside, yet he spoke as though it were nothing.

So… people were free to wander here?

Clink.

The nurse jingled a heavy keyring at his waist and motioned for me to follow.

“You’ll want to be back in your room before sunrise. That way, no trouble arises.”

Ah. So he saw me sneaking out and decided to overlook it. Why?

My question was answered when information appeared beside him—Mo had accessed Rue’s memories to summarize the man’s profile.

[Name: Marvin

Occupation: Nurse at the Retreat

Relationship with Rue: Friendly and accommodating, in exchange for monetary compensation.

Note: Recently addicted to light gambling; planning to extract more money from Rue.]

As expected, he was being paid off—but the note gave me pause.

That information was based on Rue’s own memories.

Meaning Rue had known about this man’s intentions. So why had he kept letting him take money?

Before I could wonder further, Mo answered for me.

[Adeye Rue has spent money freely throughout his life. His sense of financial value is extremely poor.]

So he came from wealth, huh. Then why did he jump into a pond?

“Mr. Rue, where are you going?”

I snapped out of my thoughts at the nurse’s voice.

He’d stopped in front of a room with its door open.

“Ah, are you still drunk? Well, I suppose the liquor I gave you was pretty strong. You didn’t finish all of it, did you?”

…Liquor.

So that’s it. Rue got drunk and fell into the pond.

Clicking my tongue inwardly, I stepped into the room.

But the nurse lingered at the door, rambling about how rare the liquor was, how hard it was to sneak it in, and so on.

“If the Director finds out, I’ll be fired immediately. But since you seemed so bored here, I thought I’d offer you a bit of enjoyment…”

While he busied himself boasting about his ‘favor,’ I stared absently into the air.

“Mr. Rue?”

“I’m tired.”

The unfamiliar voice slipped from my lips naturally.

The nurse’s face twisted, his tone turning sour.

“I did quite a lot for you tonight, you know. The drink, letting you out after curfew—”

“I’ll pay you tomorrow.”

His expression froze, and he fell silent.

I knew I didn’t sound like the Rue he was used to, but I was too exhausted to keep up an act.

All I wanted was rest—and to meet the informant soon.

“Think long-term,” I added flatly. “If I get thrown out for causing a fuss, you lose your source of income too, don’t you?”

He blinked, caught off guard by my bluntness.

After a moment, he gave me a strange look, then nodded awkwardly.

“Well… then, have a good night.”

The door shut with a click, the lock sliding into place.

Locked in or not, I didn’t care—as long as I could strip off these wet clothes and rest.

Instead of collapsing into the comfortable-looking bed, though, I sat on a nearby chair.

“Ugh…”

Just leaning back made me groan.

The back of my head ached sharply; when I touched it, the spot was swollen and tender.

Ah. That must be where the nano-robot entered.

It’ll leave a scar, but thankfully, it’s not visible.

There was something else I was glad not to see—the minnows.

They hadn’t followed me inside.

It seemed they were bound to certain areas—or maybe something stronger within the facility kept them out.

“So then…”

I tilted my head upward.

“Why are you following me?”