Tyler couldn't understand why Dean was behaving like this. If he were still in the previous world, David would've just blurted out everything in his mind like a talkative person and asked him already about what made him cry. And if Tyler had refused to say anything, the person playing the male lead would've teased him until he uttered the truth.
The male lead in the previous world was more bold, blunt, talkative, and even shy at times.
But Dean was more reserved. He seemed like he was hiding many things that he didn't want to share with anyone, not even Tyler. He also appeared to maintain a distance with Tyler, always standing a foot away. And even if Tyler hid something, the other person wouldn't bug him as David would. Dean would just ignore him, minding his own business.
Had Tyler been wrong with assuming that the person playing Dean and David was the same?
But if he wasn't the same person, then why was he able to OOC like this the moment Tyler entered the world?
Was there more than one person who played the male leads' role, just like Tyler in this transmigration system?
Such conclusions made Tyler extremely confused, but he didn't dwell on it anymore. Right now, he went upstairs in one of the bedrooms, following behind Dean. Crouching on the ground, he saw a person with gold-rimmed glasses scraping something on the wall using his fingernails. Tyler could see traces of blood on his fingers, but the person with glasses still didn't stop and continued to draw weird shapes.
What was he doing?
Deam then spoke to clarify the matter. "When you were in illusion, I saw this person upstairs, who's also in illusion from God knows how long. And the current condition is that he's so engrossed in his illusion that he has forgotten his reality."
That means if Dean hadn't woken up Tyler from his dream, the latter would've stayed in that illusion with imaginary David just like this person with glasses. Would he also have turned into a lunatic like this?!
Thinking about it gave Tyler chills down his spine.
"Did you try hitting him?"
Dean nodded and frowned. "I did, but no use."
The other person nodded and shook his head. "Let's find a way out."
Both of them dragged the glasses person downstairs, who still remained in a daze. He was trying to scribble a few more words before reluctantly giving in as Tyler and Dean gripped both the arms of this person.
When the three of them came down, Tyler immediately went over to the mirrors and squinted his eyes. Just as he was about to touch the surface of the mirror again with his fingers, a fair hand suddenly gripped his wrist and pulled him back.
"Don't touch, or else you'll fall in the illusion again."
Tyler nodded in understanding and parted his lips. "There's something wrong with this mirror. If this mirror sends us to the illusion as soon as we touch it, then it means it might be our way out."
The male lead thought for a moment and nodded before taking out a handkerchief. "Wipe it with this."
Tyler male lead nodded and started wiping the right side mirror with the cloth. After a long time, the mirror was finally clean. Both Tyler's and Dean's appearances were clearly seen on the surface, reflecting without any hindrances.
Just then, a voice shrieked loudly from behind.
"Don't go there!" The glasses person, who had been scrambling on the ground randomly, suddenly stood up as soon as Tyler wiped the mirror surface and screamed aloud as if he had just woken up from a trance. "There's a trap! You will see the things that you love and never want to part with them! Stay far away from that devil of a mirror!"
Tyler frowned. How come cleaning the mirror brought this person back to the present? Just when he was about to speak, the male lead's voice cut him off.
"Aren't you too late to warn us?"
The glasses man was stunned and quickly fixed his appearance with his trembling fingers. "Does that mean you also…?"
Dean shook his head. "Not me, but my friend." He pointed his fingers at Tyler.
The latter squinted his eyes at the person with glasses. He still didn't know what kind of things this person had experienced so far to scramble crazily on the ground or wall, but he wasn't that curious. He was just glad that the male lead had brought him out on time.
"This mirror's our way out. Let's go."
"No! I won't go!" Finally, the man with glasses revealed a frightened expression and fell on his knees. His legs and hands were trembling terribly. He glanced at the mirror with a pale face and said, "If you look into the wrong mirror, you will be sucked, and you will die immediately! Don't go!"
"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.
"I-My friends. They died like that. They all chose the left mirror and were sucked, and they haven't come back yet!"
Tyler frowned, but before he could take any action, he felt someone touching his palms. He looked down to see the male lead was grabbing the handkerchief from his palms. But the moment their hands touched, a familiar feeling broke through Tyler's chest, making him feel as if flowers had bloomed in his garden, giving him an intoxicating warmth.
He remembered that in the previous world, whenever he had touched David, he would feel exactly like this whenever their fingers brushed against each other unconsciously. And this time, when the hands touched, this feeling came so fast that Tyler didn't get a chance to react. Fortunately, Dean's hands didn't touch his fingers for a long time before the male lead took back his cloth and started wiping the left mirror.
The man with glasses was stupefied with this action, and he suddenly marched forward, grabbing Dean's hand. "No! Don't go there!"
Tyler came back to himself after listening to this voice and darted his eyes toward the person with glasses, who was still holding Dean's wrist. His expressions darkened.
Even though he was still confused about the other person's identity, it didn't give other people to touch Dean! He quickly went forward and separated the two of them. "Do you have any other options?"
The man with glasses was stunned and thought for a while before timidly shaking his head.
Tyler nodded and turned toward Dean only to find the latter was looking at him with a frown on his face.
"What?" He couldn't help but ask.
"Nothing." Dean had to take several breaths before he could let out a single word and turned toward the mirror. His expression immediately became serious, and he wiped the surface furiously as if finding a way to vent out his feelings.
Just when the mirror was cleaned, the vision before their eyes blurred instantly. The next moment when they blinked their eyes, they found themselves in a large room with the only light coming from the ground. There were square tiles on the floor. The entire room was completely dark, and Tyler couldn't tell if there were walls on either side of the square-shaped ground with square tiles.
But what surprised him the most was how the ground was designed. Every tile had a number. A few tiles had a design of a ladder reaching on another number mentioned on the top. Some tiles also had snakes with a hissing posture with their tails hanging down.
Wait, why did this scene look more like the game famously known as "snakes and ladders"?!