"Ughhh!!"
Outside the oak door, countless Blood Moon creatures howled and collided with one another, clawing, shrieking—hungry for blood and slaughter.
Now, only a single door stood between them and their prey.
The situation had devolved into the most primitive form of combat.
Endure—and live.
Fail—and die.
But Arthur's physical attributes were nothing to boast about. With a mere two points in strength, the fact that he had lasted this long was already a miracle.
"How much longer?! How much longer until this ends?!"
Arthur desperately stared at the system panel.
PE-BOX Energy Collected: 11 / 12
Just one more.
One single unit of PE-BOX energy—and the Control Department would forcibly reopen the containment room.
Arthur had an almost irrational certainty:
the moment that door opened, no matter what kind of world existed outside, it would all be dragged screaming back into Lobotomy Corporation.
"Guide! Help me!" Arthur roared hoarsely, his body shaking from exhaustion. "You know this, don't you?! If they break in, we'll both die!!"
Only then did Arthur realize—
The Guide's usual warm smile had twisted into something grotesque.
"Arthur," the Guide said quietly, slumping back into his chair, "do you know… those things outside?"
"They're surging inside us. Constantly. Desperately trying to get out."
Arthur's pupils shrank.
"In this fucked-up world," the Guide continued dully, "sometimes we really wish you'd throw us into lava. If we could just die completely… that would be best."
"I'm tired," he murmured.
"Sealing them… is exhausting."
Arthur felt a chill run down his spine.
"How—how can you say that?!"
The Guide ignored him.
"We've finally reached the hell we've always longed for," he said softly.
"So what about you, Arthur?"
"Being in Lobotomy Corporation… you already know your ending, don't you?"
Lobotomy Corporation?
Arthur's thoughts exploded.
He knows.
He really knows.
Before he could process it—
A line of purple text appeared in the lower-left corner of his vision.
Arthur's blood ran cold the instant he saw it.
"You feel an evil presence watching you…"
"…Damn it."
Arthur clenched his teeth. He knew exactly what that meant.
"Collector—move your ass already!"
There were only minutes left.
If that thing fully awakened, survival would be impossible.
But the end came faster than Arthur could ever hope.
Another line of purple text appeared.
"Cthulhu's Eye has awoken!"
The world fell silent.
The Blood Moon monsters stopped roaring.
The oak cabin stopped shaking.
Even the background music vanished.
For a fleeting instant, Arthur felt as though he had returned to Lobotomy Corporation—as if everything before had been a hallucination.
Then—
The gigantic eyeball smashed through the oak cabin.
Blood-red moonlight poured down alongside shattered wood.
"No… impossible…"
Arthur tremblingly raised his pistol.
Twelve rounds.
Against that thing?
It was laughable.
Worse still, the Blood Moon creatures began closing in again, their congealed blood spreading across the floor, soaking into Arthur's shoes.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Hot shell casings clattered uselessly against the ground.
The bullets barely slowed the tide. If anything, they only made his resistance look more pitiful.
Splish—
Splish—
Splish—
Zombie claws tore into him.
Arthur had imagined his death many times.
Assimilated into Blue Star.
Converted into WhiteNight's apostle.
Executed by the Rabbit Team during suppression.
But never like this.
Flesh ripped apart.
Blood pooling beneath him.
His body gnawed piece by piece.
As his headless body collapsed, Arthur's final sight was—
That enormous, bloodshot pupil.
Watching.
Savoring.
Enjoying his despair.
And then—
It descended from the crimson sky.
"Ugh—!"
Arthur jolted awake, tumbling off the bed and collapsing to his knees, retching violently.
That eyeball—
That sanity-shattering gaze—
It was still burned into his mind.
But something was wrong.
This wasn't heaven.
Arthur lifted his head.
White ceiling.
A surveillance camera aimed directly at the bed.
"…No."
This wasn't heaven.
This was hell.
A hell called Lobotomy Corporation.
"But I died…"
His hands trembled against the floor. His body ached—as if torn apart only moments ago.
That death had been real.
Arthur was absolutely certain.
So why—
Why was he here?
The Branch didn't possess TT2 Protocol.
Time reversal was impossible.
A Branch employee like him had no authority—no reason—to restart time.
"…System."
Arthur clung to the word like a lifeline.
And this time, it answered.
Mission Complete:
Help Byrd investigate Anomaly G-01-05
Reward:
System Panel — Officially Unlocked
Arthur stared blankly.
The mission… was completed.
So the Guide… the Blood Moon… his death—
All of it had truly happened.
He turned his hands over.
The sensation was real.
"…I resurrected?"
After several minutes, Arthur finally forced himself upright and staggered toward the bathroom.
Alive.
At the very least, being alive was better than being dead.
As he moved, something slipped from inside his pajamas and dropped against his chest.
"…What?"
Arthur picked it up—
And staggered backward, collapsing onto the bed.
A soft, squishy eyeball pendant.
When squeezed slightly, blood seeped out.
This wasn't a pendant.
It was a miniature Eye of Cthulhu.
Arthur stared at it in silence.
Then, in a hoarse whisper—
"…Even after dying once, you still won't let me go?"