"Did I get everything?" I muttered to myself, standing in-front of Jung Youngho's isolated room and going through the items I had gotten by traveling to the different stations.

Two Spector stones, several ground rat tails, teeth of a lesser grade seven leopard that was lurking above the subway-

And the most important item that I had gotten from a hidden place that I thankfully remembered from my time reading the novel.

The transmuter.

You could only use it once, which made me feel like I wanted to save it up for the future, but I decided to just use it now.

How to use the item was quite simple.

Reaching into my bloated bag, I retrieved my ingredients and then dunked it into the transmuter.

Magically, the rat tails, teeth, claws and all the other small items melted into a brown liquid until I couldn't tell apart what was inside anymore.

Waiting a minute or two, I finally added the two specter stones into a slot in the device.

The device began to shake, first at a slower tempo and then becoming hectic later.

This is safe, right? I couldn't help but wonder, gulping down some saliva.

Thankfully, nothing of the sort of my worst premonitions ever occurred, and now two Spector stones lay in my palm.

They were not normal Spector stones, however.

The device was scrapped, but it served its purpose.

Secretly, the guilt of taking an item that should have belonged to the protagonist took hold, but what was one more butterfly effect?

So now that I was ready, I took a slow and deep breath and opened the door.

Even without supervision, despite Jung YoungHo being potentially dangerous, the man sat in the same position, his head lowered and hair disheveled.

He looked bedeviled, honestly.

This time, even as I approached, Jung Youngho did not look up to check the identity of the person who entered the room.

Even as I shoved the specter stone in his mouth, he did not respond.

[Great King Heoncheon Hongdo Gyungmum is asking what you are daring to do to his incarnation.]

I looked at my hand that had accidently touched Jung Youngho's drool in disgust, but could do nothing but wipe it on my pants.

With a scrunched face, I replied, "You can stop hopping on pins and needles. I'm trying to help him, you see."

[...]

It didn't seem the constellation trusted my words, but that was not what I was aiming for, anyway.

As I studied the specter stone curiously for one last time, I popped it into my mouth.

Instantly, it melted in my mouth, vaporizing into a gaseous state that enveloped the both of us.

[The Welcome Prison has Activated]

Here goes nothing...

Closing my eyes and taking slow, deep breaths against the vertigo, gradually, sounds of people talking, noises of honking cars, and the steady and differing pace of footfalls on the pavement reached my ears.

A little disoriented, I opened my eyes to find myself among the throngs of people.

Soon, pulled by the march of the crowd, I walked a few paces backward to avoid getting hit by the people.

I felt sluggish and slow, but that was normal, because there wasn't such a thing called 'stats' in this place.

Why?

It was because this was Jung Youngho's trauma, an illusion of sorts, and not the 'real world'.

Still, the feeling was not quite pleasant.

Now twisting and turning my head, I could not catch Jung Youngho's figure.

Where could he be...?

As the two specter stones connected both of us to Jung Youngho's trauma, I shouldn't be far away from him.

"Are you excited for the circus show?"

"Erm, not really..."

A snippet of a conversation floated by me as the people passed my location.

Snapping my head back around at the two getting farther away, I recalled the information of Jung Youngho from [Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World].

It was coming back to me now that I thought about it.

Jung Youngho was once a circus member.

Watching thoughtfully as the people entered a theater where numerous other people were filtering in and out of, I lifted my feet and followed the streams of people walking up the steps into the building.

So, this is his worst trauma?

There were already numerous people walking back and forth to different theaters inside the well-lit building, which felt surreal to me who was now entangled in the scenarios.

Shaking my head to get rid of the daze, I carefully looked for a map of some sort.

Where is the circus show located?

Even as I walked a little ways here and there, looking at the signs along the way, I still couldn't figure out where I was supposed to go.

So instead, I asked someone for directions.

"Excuse me, do you know where to go to watch the circus show?"

Thankfully, the individual knew the way and was willing to answer my question.

"Ah, I think if you take a left down there, you'll reach it."

Or was it perhaps because this place was just an illusion?

"Thank you," I replied to him.

Well, certainly since I can't see this guy's face properly.

I thought, looking at the blurred features of the man.

In fact, it wasn't just this guy who was nice enough to tell me the directions. All the people walking around to watch their theater shows had blurred features.

So even as I passed the checkout despite not possessing a ticket, no one stopped me.

Finding the theater with some spaces from either the people who hadn't come yet, or the fact that this circus show was not as popular as the other theaters, I descended the aisle to find myself a seat close to the front.

Although I would have to crane my neck up, that was fine since I wanted to be close enough to distinguish Jung Youngho.

Not being able to find a clock in this place, nor possessing a phone, I couldn't look up the time, and so wasted my time away sitting in my spot, studying the props around on the stage and the walls.

Thankfully, just as I was getting sleepy, the lights in the theater dimmed, as the ones on the stage grew brighter.

With great fanfare, the show started off intensively as all members of the circus came out to perform, with some even rolling down the isles on a single wheel, and the acrobatics on the stage doing flips symmetrically from one another.

The crowd couldn't help but let out exclamations in wonder of the show.

With the eye-catching and flashy introduction, I was also captured, mesmerized with the show.

From the stage the hooves of lamas resounded, and a pair of them started trotting around in a circle of a person who was guiding them.

Wait, how did they get permission to get lamas in here-

My thought was cut off when I recognized the awkwardly smiling man in the middle of the trotting lamas, trying to guide them to continue running in a circle.

Jung Youngho.

I found him.

Just as I recognized him, one of the lamas bit the hat on Jung Youngho's head and yanked it off, attempting to chew it.

Jung Youngho's head was pulled along with the motion, and Jung Youngho's funny moment was captured as the crowd roared with laughter.

But I couldn't laugh.

Briefly, Jung Youngho gritted his teeth, but continued to smile brightly, although awkwardly, as he led the lamas back behind the curtains of the stage.

And that signaled the end of the opening of the show.

However, it also showed the beginning of Jung Youngho's misery.

For some reason, it seemed like Jung Youngho was having a bad day, because it appeared the lamas seemed to have a grudge against Jung Youngho, and sometimes didn't follow his instructions, causing the audience to have a few good laughs.

Even if Jung Youngho was able to get the lammas to do as they were told, he still looked uncomfortable.

And I also felt uncomfortable as the show dragged on, partly due to the fact that I was linked to Jung Youngho's experience.

The murky feeling at the leering eyes judging me, as if I was Jung Youngho standing upon the stage, slowly wormed its way inside and left me feeling chilly and insecure.

So even as the show ended and the audience slowly stood up and began their chattering, and continuing with some shouts as they swarmed out of the open doors, I remained in my seat for a while, wanting to regain my composure.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get any rest, because the surroundings swayed once more and changed.

The smell of animals assaulted my senses as Jung Youngho took care of them, scooping out their feces, brushing their fur, and feeding them on time.

Sometimes, the lamas tried to chew his clothes, leaving a slobbering and smelly drool patch behind.

Jung Youngho had a scrunched up face the whole time doing the job that all the other circus members pushed onto him, but didn't complain.

When he finally made it back to his shabby one-room apartment with peeling wallpaper, a small bundle of limbs instantly ran up and hugged Jung Youngho's leg.

"Ahjussi, welcome back!" The childish voice of a young kid sounded enthusiastically.

Huh?

Jung Youngho's tired eyes had turned a little bit more softly when he looked at the boy, even if he had a twitch in his brows that portrayed irritation.

That was unexpected.

"Yeah, yeah, now eat this." Jung Youngho shoved a Mcd*nald burger that he had taken from the bag he was holding onto, into the kid's face roughly as he took off his shoes and walked deeper into the room, beginning to boil some water in the kettle on the mini gas-stove.

The child didn't mind the coarse way Jung Youngho interacted with him, instead smiling as he unwrapped the burger and bit into it, pattering back closer to Jung Youngho and sitting next to him.

"Ahjussi, did you amaze everyone with magic today too?" The boy energetically began.

His eyes sparkled with worship towards Jung Youngho, who looked back at the boy a little speechlessly.

Turning away to hide the creeping smile at being worshiped by the kid and boosting his ego, Jung Youngho answered,

"Sure thing, kiddo. They all began chanting my name as soon as I appeared on the stage."

"Whoaa..." The boy's mouth gaped open as he bit into the burger again and chewed, before giving his request, "Can you show me the same magic trick today?"

Jung Youngho let out a short, helpless sigh and small smile, "Okay buddy."

Taking out a coin, Jung Youngho showed it to the boy on his palm.

"Move back a little," Jung Youngho pushed back the head that had began to hover over the palm before he closed it.

With a shake of his fist, Jung Youngho opened his hand again, but this time the coin that was supposed to be present was nowhere to be seen.

The boy tried to look for the coin on the ground, but couldn't find it, and grabbed onto Jung Youngho's hand to investigate.

Unable to find the coin despite trying so hard, the boy, instead of looking frustrated, smiled.

"Wow, it really disappeared, ahjussi."

"Yes, it did indeed." Infected by the big smile on the boy's face, Jung Youngho couldn't help but give a big smile as well.

Unlike the discomforted smile Jung Youngho showed on the stage, this was a genuine smile.

To me, this scene eclipsed the one shown to me during the show.

Because the performer was happy to perform, and drew out a special atmosphere that connected both the audience and performer.

In fact, there wasn't exactly a distinct 'audience' or 'performer'.

Just two people having fun.