blueteamnovel Chapter 7 The Lonely Cat
Chapter 7 The Lonely Cat
Even after successfully giving away one of his Threshold Items once again, Ivaim remained unsatisfied with his progress.
He activated [Coin of Fortune] to replenish the dwindling luck, then continued his solitary walk through the quiet streets in the dead of night.
He found himself in the Streets of Penury—an area known for its lack of modesty and its reputation as the "unmodest area." Here, he frequently passed by drunkards, prostitutes, and the homeless.
The streets were littered with people struggling below the poverty line, their lives worn down by a city that seemed either neglectful or indifferent to their plight.
Ivaim, lost in his thoughts, mulled over the people he encountered. He wasn't sure if any of them were suitable candidates for his temple.
'My temple might turn into a homeless shelter or a bar...' he thought, wryly acknowledging the harsh reality.
He wasn't entirely opposed to letting these people become his followers—after all, there were bound to be a few among the drunks and the prostitutes who might align with his own moral standards. But there was a problem: loyalty.
Poverty, he knew, bred greed, and greed often led to violence. The people he might invite into his temple could just as easily try to kill him for his essence rather than pledge loyalty as his Reality Walkers.
Still, if it came down to survival, Ivaim was pragmatic enough to consider inviting anyone who might serve his greater purpose. In desperate times, moral standards could be compromised to ensure survival.
As Ivaim pondered these thoughts, he suddenly felt something unusual underfoot. He glanced down and saw a pristine white collar—oddly clean in the grimy environment of the Streets of Penury.
'A collar?' he thought, momentarily distracted.
He almost shrugged it off, about to continue walking when, without warning, a system notification flashed before his eyes.
[You have been forced into a Fractured Reality!]
'Shit!' Ivaim cursed inwardly.
Before he could react, the world around him seemed to warp. The colors in the air deepened and dulled, the familiar surroundings transforming into a strange and suffocating dimness as the Fractured Reality took hold.
Holding the gun in his pocket, which he had taken from the dead teenager, Ivaim steeled himself as he watched his surroundings begin to warp.
Colors swirled around him like a violent whirlpool, obscuring his vision and disintegrating the familiar structures before his eyes. The swirling chaos slowly began to reform, reshaping itself into something entirely different. By the time the colors settled, Ivaim found himself standing in the middle of an oddly normal living room.
The room was simple yet inviting, bathed in the warm glow of sunlight streaming through a large window framed with thin white curtains. A deep-blue sofa sat opposite a wall-mounted TV, where an animated cooking show played, its cheerful voices and vibrant colors filling the air, a stark contrast to the tension Ivaim felt.
On one wall, a fireplace held a few framed photos and lit candles on its mantel, and next to the window was a bookshelf, neatly lined with books and small decorative items. The gentle hum of a ceiling fan added to the sense of tranquility in the room.
Ivaim took in the peaceful scene, but his mind was far from at ease. As he processed his surroundings, a system notification appeared beside him.
[Reality Master]
The Lonely Cat
[Fractured Reality]
"Haha, annoyed? Isn't one of the main reasons why you married me is because you quite liked the tunes I made for you?"
It was a man who looked to be in his forties while wearing casual attire. His facial features were normal, but what made him eye-catching were how his eyes draped down making him oddly pleasing to the eye.
"Hmph. How ignorant, I obviously married you for your money! Other than that, what else could you possibly have."
The woman shot back teasingly towards the man who had just walked in.
"My dear the only money I had at that time were scrapes from selling music. We both know that richness is far from my greatest quality."
He laughed.
"Besides, my dear, your romantic standards for love is too high to just label yourself as a gold digger and marry someone for money."
The man said, as he smiled while hugging his wife from behind.
"Oh, you... be quiet. Your compliments aren't gonna save you from the fact that you're still gonna be the one washing the dishes today."
The woman said as she pointed towards the unwashed plates, cups, and utensils at the sink.
"Oh well... It was worth a shot."
The man uttered as the woman giggled slightly in amusement.
At this lively and wholesome atmosphere, Ivaim was puzzled as he was quite unsure about the development of how this Fractured Reality was supposed to go.
Looking towards his "parents", he could not help but look outside the window to see beyond the living room.
Outside, although there was sunlight— the buildings and houses looked to be very hazy as though they were painted and drawn by a child.
'It seems the world outside this living room doesn't exist... And it can't support anything other than this living room.'
He deduced. A few hours ago before exploring the city for believers, Ivaim had actually attempted to try and leave the Temple With Good Luck in order to see what was outside.
However, when he looked from outside the windows— all he could see was emptiness and darkness. It was devoid of anything physical as though the world outside the Temple With Good Luck did not exist.
Just then, a short tapping from a nearby closed window sounded out.
Ivaim was not startled, slowly looking towards the location of the noise.
Outside the window, a sleek brown cat pressed its paws against the glass, meowing softly as it tried to get inside. Its green eyes were wide with determination, and its tail swished impatiently as it pawed at the pane, leaving faint smudges on the glass.
The cat looked ordinary, but what Ivaim found suspicious was that it wore the Threshold Item he found from the outside world.
It was a clean and strange white collar.