In an almost trance-like state, he trudged forwards mindlessly.

His feet dragged along the vine-infested floor as he began to approach the weeping child. Now, he was only seconds away from fully revealing himself!

However, just as he was about to succumb completely to his subconscious desire, a sudden surge of self-awareness seized him. With an abrupt jolt, he caught himself, breaking free from the almost hypnotic pull.

In the wake of this realization, he stepped back, maintaining a deliberate distance once more. An overwhelming sense of confusion engulfed him, prompting him to question his own actions.

What? What was he just doing? Why had he just tried to approach the child? 

His suspicions about his own actions arose as he observed the boy from afar. 

Fortunately for him, he had caught himself in time. The weeping child had yet to detect his presence, still immersed in his own melancholic cries in the distance.

Was he trying to approach the child in order to comfort him? Did he make this decision out of genuine pity for the boy’s cries? Why? Were these really his own feelings?

This lingering uncertainty fueled a contemplative pause. He thought about the giant spider, the meddlesome vines, and everything else that was wrong with this forest.

As he did, it sparked a realization within him. In the first place, how was it even possible for a child to be in this accursed place? There was no way that this child would have made it past the spider alive, and even besides that, how had he managed to push through all the vines? With his small stature and limited strength, that’s simply impossible!

With this logical line of reasoning, the unfolding scene before him started to appear increasingly strange. It simply wasn’t possible for a child to be this deep in such a treacherous forest! So just how could this child be here?

Slowly, the weeping child ahead of him was starting to seem suspicious. He wrapped a few fingers around his chin, contemplating deeply.

After a few moments of exploring more possibilities, everything began to fall into place. This can't be a real child. It simply doesn't add up. It's more plausible that this boy is a trick by the forest! Yes, his pitiful crying must've been a calculated method to lure unsuspecting passers-by closer to himself!

As he reflected on his speculation, he felt a sense of certainty. It seemed to encapsulate the situation perfectly. And most importantly, it offered a sensible explanation for his impulsive urge to approach the child!

His breath hitched as he realized the gravity of his situation. The child was attempting to lure him into his twisted dance by invoking pity within him. And being the simple-minded fool that he was, he had almost fallen for it. The pitiful cries had almost completely hypnotized him, and he hadn't even noticed himself being so profoundly affected.

However, with his critical conclusion, he had successfully deconstructed the entire event, dispelling all of the corrupting urge to approach the child. Now that he was armed with the awareness of its trick, there was no way for the child to be able to influence his mind.

Using pity and sympathy to lure victims… This forest was attempting to exploit humans with weakness and kindness in their hearts. It was a carefully crafted mental trap! This forest is absolutely unscrupulous in its methods… It would even stoop so low as to use children as bait. 

But while its methods may have been unscrupulous, they were undeniably effective. The young wanderer had to acknowledge that if not for his skeptical mindset, he, too, would have completely fallen for its trick. 

But now that he had managed to figure it all out, this entire trap seemed rather obvious in hindsight. He couldn’t help but scoff at the forest.

Pft… I can’t believe I almost fell for such a silly trick. Trying to bait me using children… You’re almost trying to mock how simple-minded humans are, aren’t you? Well, I’ve proven you wrong today! Your damn vines were much more of a nuisance than this sorry trap! Try harder next time, stupid forest! He criticized silently.

There was no need to say the words aloud, as the damned forest didn’t have ears to hear him anyway. And even if it did, it wouldn’t care about his opinion one bit.

With that, he turned to leave the clearing, opting to skirt around the woods instead of getting entangled in whatever sorry charade this was.

But before he could make his escape, a booming thought invaded his mind.

YOU WILL REGRET THIS DECISION.

This thought resounded prominently in his mind.

There was a feeling, an unexplainable feeling. Something deep within him was telling, no, urging him to turn around. It was telling him that this decision to abandon the child was a terrible mistake, one that he would come to deeply regret.

No, it was a mistake that he absolutely could not make! Turning to leave would be an absolutely grave error!

As he glanced back at the weeping child once again, it finally occurred to him.

What if… he was wrong about all this…

What if this wasn’t a trap…

What if… it truly was a real child…

All his earlier assumptions were only baseless speculations. He forgot to account for the fact that with a little blind luck, anything was possible! It was still completely plausible for a child to find his way into this place by himself.

He shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off this foolish train of thought. No! Stop thinking about it! It's undoubtedly a trap meant to exploit the weak mental fortitudes of naive fools like you! I thought we were already over this!

His inner voice was making a lot of sense. He knew that the chances of the boy being a trap was more likely than not. However, hearing his sorrowful cries, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the child.

Furrowing his brows, he questioned whether he had somehow fallen into the boy’s trance yet again. But as he searched deep within himself for an answer, he realized this wasn’t it. 

These were his own, true feelings!

There was a lingering fear that tugged at him, refusing to go away. It was the fear that this was indeed a real child who needed his help. What kind of person would he be if he turned away a helpless child just because of a suspicion? If he was wrong about his assumption and left a real child behind, it would be akin to personally sentencing him to death by that cruel spider!

Recalling the vine coffins from before, his stomach lurched slightly. He could almost imagine the child’s tiny body floating within the dark chamber as it slowly melted into goo. What would it have been like if the scattered limbs he had bumped into earlier belonged to a small boy instead?

That was a truly horrific sight to imagine.

He contemplated his next move deeply. The two options were clear. Was he going to approach the child in order to confirm his suspicion, once and for all? Or was he simply going to turn around and forget all about this?

This was a serious decision to make, one that involved the stakes of his life! 

But could he really walk away from here without regretting his choice? Could he live with that uncertainty? He knew that it would cling onto him every day like a disease, damaging his state of mind. He wouldn’t be able to fall asleep at night ever again!

He grappled with the inner turmoil, trying to seek a final conclusion. Deep down, he was deeply afraid of confronting the child—deathly afraid, in fact. Seeing what the forest had already shown him, he was afraid of suffering a similarly gruesome death.

But even despite this overwhelming dread, he was much more afraid of making the wrong judgment. Over his own life, he would rather take the risk to ascertain that it wasn’t truly a helpless child. He wasn’t the kind of person who would condemn a child to death just because he was afraid for his own safety!

As he resolved himself to finally take action, his heart was beginning to race. 

Why am I always like this… I’m definitely going to regret this…

He knew. He knew it extremely well. Approaching this child was a humongous gamble. Any onlookers would be able to tell that this was truly a foolish decision.

Why was he so eager to plunge himself into such danger? And even after witnessing what the forest was capable of? It was utter insanity! It was akin to sticking his arm into a bear trap and hoping to come out unscathed!

All his life, he was aware that his strength was barely enough to keep himself out of trouble. If he wanted to push the limits of danger and voluntarily sink himself into trouble—like right now—there was nothing he could do if this turned out to be his final mistake.

Staying crouched a fair distance away, he observed the child and the surroundings. He had no idea how he was going to approach this situation.

I suppose I'll try to catch his attention from a distance and gauge how he reacts… If he exhibits any suspicious behavior, it’ll be a telltale sign that he is a trap. If that happens, it’ll be more than enough to confirm that he isn’t a real child. I’ll be more than happy to immediately escape after that!

I'll guess I’ll try to shout for attention…

But there’s also another possibility that this boy is a trap to bait me into raising my voice for the spider. But I really don't have any other choice… This is my best option! I’ll simply have to do it fast enough to ensure that I escape before the spider arrives.

Here goes nothing… He sucked in a deep exhale before shouting out loud. With that, a race against time began.

“Hey! Boy!”

Hearing his call, the weeping child’s crying halted. The young wanderer watched with bated breath as the black-haired child turned his fierce gaze towards him. He could already feel the immensely dangerous aura oozing out of his mysterious figure.

The child's blood-red eyes, though still glistening with remnants of tears, were beginning to regain their natural brightness upon seeing the newly arrived person. His crimson irises burned brightly, almost as if they were ignited with a flame within. The child’s eyes fixed on him with a gaze that sent chills down his spine.

The young wanderer was already regretting his actions. This was absolutely terrifying! Could he just turn back time and decide not to proceed with this plan after all? 

But he bit down on his lip, mustering up all his courage to proceed. He had already resolved himself, and this was what he was going to do.

With a shaky voice, he continued. “I’m here to get you out of these woods, alright? Um… can you promise me you’re not some evil illusion spirit or something??”

“...”

The mysterious child remained silent, offering no reply. 

The young wanderer clenched his molars. Unfortunately, no response was the worst response! This left him unable to gauge the child's danger level. 

But while he would have preferred to take his time to continue testing the child from a safe distance, the monstrous spider was surely approaching shortly. This fact was clouding his decision-making process, forcing him to make an impulsive choice as soon as possible.

Not given the leeway of making a fully sensible and calculated decision, he made his next choice hastily. “I’m coming over now, alright? Don’t pull any nasty tricks on me… please?” 

As he heard the words come out of his mouth, he couldn’t believe himself. Why was I born with such a troublesome personality?! He groaned silently.

He continued advancing toward the child. His hidden arm was wrapped around the hilt of his sword, which lay in anticipation within its sheath. The rhythmic thumping of his heart intensified with each step, echoing loudly in his chest as he closed the distance cautiously.

The looming possibility of a trap never left his mind. He remained on guard, ready for the child to snap out at him, or to potentially transform into a bloodthirsty monster at any moment.

He gritted his teeth. If that happened, what could he even do then? The sword in his hand would be helpless! He'd be defenseless, a mere sitting duck. He might as well have been walking empty-handed right into his jaws!

Closing the distance with each cautious step, the young man held his breath, ready to flee or counterattack at a moment's notice. The tension in the air was palpable, intensified by the pin-drop silence of the forest.

The mysterious child's motionless stance was igniting his dread. He had his eyes locked onto him, not even daring to blink. It was like trying to react to a crossbow aimed right at his face!

But now, he was just a few meters away from the boy. His fate was about to be decided within the next few moments.

When all of a sudden, it happened.

He felt the black scarf wrapped around his neck begin to stir…