"I… my father is a senior executive in the Morgan Group… if you dare touch me, I'll make sure your whole family dies a miserable death!"
Even with tears streaming down her swollen face, the blonde girl still tried to threaten him.
Lucien looked at her calmly.
Then he slapped the scissors out of her trembling hand.
Smack!
The sound echoed through the nightmare space.
Her face snapped to one side, a red handprint blooming instantly across her cheek.
Before she could even react—
Smack!
Lucien's backhand landed on the other side.
Now both cheeks were swollen, leaving the once-proud girl looking utterly pitiful.
"Well said," Lucien said coldly. "Here, have another one for that speech."
The girl burst into tears.
Not far away, Megan stared blankly, her entire worldview crumbling.
These people…
The same untouchable rich girls who used to dominate the school, the kind who made teachers lower their heads and students tremble in fear…
Were now being slapped around like spinning tops by Lucien.
For the first time in years, something deep inside her began to crack.
So they were human too.
They could cry.
They could feel fear.
They could be crushed by someone stronger.
As that realization settled into her heart, the filthy water soaking her clothes began to vanish.
The grime in her hair disappeared.
The foul smell faded.
In the blink of an eye, Megan returned to her normal appearance.
Her breathing steadied.
The fear in her eyes slowly dissolved, replaced by something else.
Admiration.
No—
absolute trust.
Her eyes lit up as she looked at Lucien.
For a moment, she almost rushed toward him, but Lucien raised one hand, stopping her.
Only after confirming the clarity had returned to her gaze did he lower it.
The instant Megan overcame the trauma that had trapped her, the girls' restroom around them began to collapse.
Walls dissolved into mist.
The floor shattered into fragments of black light.
Everything vanished.
Only a single wooden door remained standing in the darkness.
Lucien walked toward it without hesitation.
"Stay close."
Then—
Bang!
He kicked the door open.
The moment they stepped through, Lucien's expression darkened.
A cramped living room appeared before them.
Broken dishes littered the floor.
An overturned chair lay near the wall.
The air was thick with screaming.
A man and woman were in the middle of a vicious fight.
The woman's nails scratched across the man's face.
The man shoved her hard into the table.
Pots and plates crashed to the ground.
In the corner of the room, a little boy curled up against the wall, trembling.
His small body shook violently.
His eyes were fixed on the fighting adults.
He tried to quietly slip away toward his room.
But in his panic, he kicked over a wooden stool.
The sound instantly froze the room.
The man and woman both turned.
Their eyes landed on the child.
And in that instant, all the rage they had for each other found a new target.
"It's all your fault!" the woman screamed.
"If it weren't for you, I never would have ended up married to this useless man!"
Her manicured nails dug into the boy's arm, leaving bloody streaks.
The man's expression twisted.
"You're not even my son!"
"You're that bitch's bastard child!"
His cheap leather shoe slammed into the boy's stomach.
The child let out a painful cry and collapsed, coughing bile.
Megan turned her face away, unable to watch.
The scene was far more suffocating than the previous one.
School bullying was cruel.
But family trauma?
That kind of pain followed someone for life.
Even Lucien could feel the oppressive weight of it.
Then he moved.
In a single step, he crossed the room.
Before the couple could react, he grabbed both of them by the backs of their necks like chickens and hurled them across the room.
They slammed into opposite walls.
The man staggered up, furious.
"Who the hell are you?! How dare you interfere in my family—"
Crack!
Lucien's fist smashed straight into his nose.
Blood sprayed.
The man collapsed screaming.
The woman immediately changed her expression.
The vicious madness vanished, replaced by a pitiful smile.
"Sir… there's no need for violence… we can talk…"
Lucien's eyes turned colder.
Parents?
These people didn't deserve the word.
He turned and looked at the little boy.
"I'm taking him with me."
The woman nodded frantically.
"No objection. None at all."
Lucien bent down and lifted the boy into his arms.
Just as he turned to leave, the child weakly spoke.
"Wait… my mom and dad…"
Lucien stopped.
His gaze locked onto the boy's eyes.
"You want to stay?"
The boy froze.
His lips trembled.
"No… I just…"
"There is no 'just.'"
Lucien's voice was calm, but every word carried weight.
"This place is not home."
His eyes sharpened.
"Are you coming with me?"
The child stared at him.
Then, slowly, something inside him seemed to break.
Like chains snapping.
"…I'm coming."
The moment those words left his mouth, the nightmare shattered.
The child's form twisted.
His body stretched.
In the next second, he had returned to his real appearance—
the young script supervisor.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Another door appeared.
Lucien kicked it open.
Again.
And again.
And again.
One nightmare after another.
Lucien moved through them like a storm.
Some people were trapped by childhood fear.
Some by humiliation.
Some by shame.
Others by twisted secrets buried so deep they had become part of their identity.
Lucien had no interest in playing therapist.
He wasn't here to gently heal wounds.
He was here to break Freddy's game.
If someone could wake up on their own, good.
If not—
Lucien helped them wake up the hard way.
A slap.
A punch.
A direct destruction of the illusion.
Soon, a small cart appeared in the dream.
The unconscious crew members were piled onto it like corpses.
Megan and the script supervisor pushed it from behind, their expressions growing increasingly numb.
At first, they had tried to stop Lucien.
Now?
They had accepted that this was simply his method.
Brutal.
Efficient.
And terrifyingly effective.
But even Lucien hadn't expected one thing.
Among the crew…
there was actually a murderer.
A supporting actor who had accidentally killed someone years ago and spent years living under a false identity.
He had lied so long that even he believed it.
Lucien dragged the unconscious man out by the collar and tossed him onto the cart.
"Remember his face," he said flatly.
"Report him once we wake up."
Megan and the script supervisor stared in disbelief.
The deeper they went into people's hearts, the uglier the truth became.
Lucien, however, remained expressionless.
Soon, everyone had been rescued.
The darkness trembled.
The dream space shifted once more.
And then—
Annie appeared.
She stood in the center of a grand chamber, dressed in a pure white evening gown.
A jeweled crown rested on her head.
She looked every bit like a princess from a fairy tale.
And behind her—
Freddy stood frozen.
His burnt face twisted in absolute disbelief.
He stared at Lucien.
Then at the crowd behind him.
Then back at Lucien.
For the first time since entering the nightmare…
Freddy looked completely stunned.
"…Huh?"
Lucien smiled.
A slow, dangerous smile.
"Miss me?"