C looked at D and asked, "Why didn't you fall?"
Suddenly, the chair beneath D vanished, and he crashed onto the ground.
C simply said, "Unveil."
In an instant, D was back in his seat. Yet, everyone had just witnessed him hitting the ground. Not even a second had passed, but there he was-still seated, as if nothing had happened.
C picked up a knife and threw it onto the ground, then turned to U. "Pick it up," he instructed.
U obeyed.
"Now, hold it in your right hand. Stretch your arm out as far as you can to the right and keep it there," C ordered.
Then, something impossible happened. The knife in U's right hand began dripping blood.
The onlookers gasped in shock. How could there be blood when U hadn't even moved? No one had touched him.
U turned to C, eyes wide, and noticed blood trickling down his hand.
C slowly opened his palm in front of them. A deep cut ran across it.
E muttered, "You struck him... from a distance?"
C smirked. "Don't narrow your thinking. That's the best explanation you can come up with?"
the unknown person said. "Then it must be an illusion, like how the building shifted."
C shook his head. "Think again. Why would I make him hold the knife to his right? If it were just a trick, I could have told him to wave it around instead."
Juls narrowed her eyes. "That leaves only one explanation... You're standing here, not there."
She pointed to a spot just beside U's right arm, where he was holding the knife.
Everyone turned to look-
But there was no one there.
C chuckled. "As expected, you figured it out."
They looked again, trying to grasp his meaning. The space was empty-
But the moment they blinked, C was suddenly standing there, his hand gripping the knife. Blood dripped from the blade.
Before I say anything, let's take a tour around the village.
The 29 people stood there, their expressions shifting into something unreadable—unpleasant, yet straightforward—after hearing what C had said.
A million unanswered questions swirled in their minds. Where is S? Who are these two? Why does this one speak as if he's known C his entire life?
But despite their curiosity, they wanted the answers more than anything. Yet that desire was matched—or perhaps outweighed—by the fear of asking.
It was as if they could explode with the urge to ask, but something held them back. They exchanged uneasy glances, hoping someone would speak up, ask the obvious questions. But no one dared. In the end, they surrendered to C,
Maybe he could answer the unasked questions....by himself.....
"Don't look down. I know you have a lot of questions... Be patient. I'll answer them in time. First, look around you and tell me what's wrong."
At that moment, the group finally noticed the people in the restaurant. One person sat alone. Another table had two people. One had four. Another had six.
The 29 moved toward them, observing each table one by one.
At the table for two, a young man and woman sat together.
Someone commented, "Maybe they're a couple."
Then, they turned to the table with four people—one man, one woman, and two little girls.
"They must be a family," someone remarked.
Finally, they reached the table with six, where six young people were seated.
"Maybe they're just a group of friends... But I don't get what's so strange about them."
C sighed. "Go back and look again. This time, focus on their faces. And don't skip the lone man—ignoring him would be sad."
They turned to the man sitting alone. He was holding his glass mid-air, frozen in place, his expression pained. Tears streamed down his cheeks—but they weren't moving.
"This is the first time I've seen a statue cry," someone muttered.
"A statue this realistic? No way. This must be C's illusion power," another guessed.
C heard them and shook his head. "It's not. Keep looking."
They turned to the couple again. The woman looked shocked, her hand covering her mouth. The man in front of her held a small black box.
"It's an engagement ring," someone whispered.
At the family's table, one little girl stood on her chair, stretching to reach her father with a potato in her tiny hand. The other did the same, reaching toward her mother. Their parents sat across from them, their expressions frozen in quiet joy.
"That's adorable… They're trying to feed their parents," someone murmured.
At the friends' table, they looked joyful—laughing, smiling—except for one, who seemed a little upset.
"Maybe they were teasing him," someone guessed. "But still... what's wrong with these statues? I don't get it."
C sighed, shaking his head. "First of all, they aren't statues.
They're human."
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