Chapter 47

What a chaotic scene, like an earthquake had just hit.

Staring into the closet half-dazed, I quickly snapped back to my senses.

This was a rare opportunity since Raven, with her sharp senses, had been away for a while—something that happened only a few times a day.

If I let this chance slip by, I’d have no choice but to wait until tomorrow. With every day feeling precious, I couldn’t afford to slack off.

‘Come to think of it, Raven’s the type who doesn’t tidy up much because it’s bothersome. I should’ve expected this… Well, first things first, let’s hurry and search.’

To get a sense of what I was dealing with, I straightened my back and took a sweeping look at the entire closet.

The closet was so big that even stretching my arms out wide wouldn’t cover it all.

It was built into the wall, a sliding door style you’d often see in Japan.

Thanks to the high-quality wood finish, the inside didn’t feel as gloomy as I thought it would.

‘Not bad, it’s pretty deep. Looks like I can step in comfortably…’

The closet was deeper than it appeared from the outside.

It seemed like it had been part of the building’s design from the start, with nothing feeling awkward about it.

Still, Raven was using such a nice closet as a makeshift storage space.

The three-tiered closet was a mess, filled with random items jumbled together without any order.

Getting everything out of here wasn’t going to be easy.

With so little time and such a difficult task, my worries deepened instinctively.

‘Raven’s pants with the shard were newly taken out winter clothes, right?’

At least I wasn’t blindly searching—I had a clue to go on.

If those dress pants for winter had been taken from this closet, there was a good chance what I was looking for would be near the box with the winter clothes.

‘It’ll be a hassle, but if I check the boxes here, I’m sure to find something. But time’s…’

Glancing over, I checked the clock on the electronic calendar hanging on the wall.

I figured I could spare about five minutes from now.

Getting caught would be a headache, so I had to be careful not to miss the deadline.

After mentally marking the remaining time, I carefully moved the heavy knick-knacks piled on top of the boxes aside.

But just as I pushed some of the stuff to the side, the precariously stacked items lost their balance and started tumbling toward the floor all at once.

“…!”

I quickly used telekinesis to stop the falling objects before they hit the ground.

Thanks to my quick reflexes, the items stopped mid-air before making any loud noise.

Hmm, looks like I’ll need to use telekinesis more actively this time.

Having made up my mind, I lifted the knick-knacks to keep them floating above, then hurriedly opened the scattered boxes one by one.

This one’s a toolbox with light bulbs and nails, and this one has books and decorations…

Whoa, hold on. Isn’t this… a dirty magazine? So this is where you’ve been hiding these, huh?

‘…No, no, this isn’t the time! Why didn’t you hide these better!’

I found myself staring blankly at the magazine with its seductive women, then flustered, tossed it aside.

Feeling secretly embarrassed for getting distracted during such a critical moment.

Anyway. Is this a closet or a garbage dump?

I got irritated at the messy state of things, all crammed in without any semblance of organization.

If I hadn’t cared about cleaning up afterward and just rummaged through carelessly, it would’ve been much faster.

Trying to leave no trace while working made everything take twice as long.

But well… what could I do? The job had to be done.

With a resigned heart, I kept digging through the boxes when suddenly an idea struck me.

‘Could it be… not here but up there?’

Using telekinesis, I carefully returned the opened boxes and knick-knacks to their original places without drawing attention, then tiptoed to peek at the topmost section, the third level, of the closet.

And surprisingly, there was another lidded box up there, just like the ones below.

From below, I’d only seen thick blankets and missed it entirely. Who would’ve thought there’d be something here too?

Feeling a small headache from Raven’s unpredictable organizing habits, I used telekinesis to leap up like a cat and landed on the topmost part of the closet.

Crouching to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling, I sat down on the thick blanket and examined the contents of the box.

‘Found it. Summer clothes!’

Bingo. I hit the jackpot.

Inside the box were thin summer clothes that looked impossible to wear now. This spot probably should’ve held winter clothes originally.

That meant there was a good chance something related to the Invader was nearby.

So I crawled around, meticulously checking every corner for anything suspicious.

‘Wait a sec. Over here where the ceiling connects… on closer inspection, something feels…’

After obsessively scanning the area, I noticed a faint sense of unease where the closet met the ceiling.

Though I couldn’t touch it with my hands, I could intuitively sense the presence of something beyond.

I extended telekinetic force through my fingertips, probing deeper than what my eyes could see.

Surprisingly, even though there was clearly a wooden wall right in front of me, my telekinesis encountered no obstacles and simply pushed forward.

It reminded me of that train station scene from a certain wizard movie—a bizarre phenomenon!

Recognizing this, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes in shock.

‘This… is a rift!’

Yes, it was none other than a dimensional rift—an important element in the Pixie worldview.

A crack where different dimensions accidentally overlapped, creating a weak point in the world.

And at this stage… most people wouldn’t recognize it as a treasure trove from another dimension.

Huh? Why call it a treasure trove?

Because, albeit rarely, items like Tesseracts sometimes slip through these cracks from another dimension.

Though not now, later in the story, when rifts appear all over the world, the chaos caused by these items will be insane.

Calling it a treasure trove wasn’t far-fetched at all.

Of course, it wasn’t all pros. If the rift grew too large, it could become a gateway for Invaders to cross over, leading to horrifying consequences.

Well, that probably wouldn’t happen with a tiny rift the size of my fist.

‘Why is this here… Hmm, so…’

Was something like this ever mentioned in the original story?

No, if my memory served me right, closets were never specifically depicted.

More importantly, was this rift a good thing or a bad thing?

For now, among the possibilities I considered, it seemed like a relatively good scenario…

Lost in my chaotic thoughts, I suddenly noticed a faint creaking sound near my ear.

My spine tingled instantly.

The reason was simple—it was the sound of the shower room door opening.

“…!”

Oh no! I got so focused on the rift that I lost track of time!

This was bad. The shower room was so close to this room’s door that it would be immediately visible upon opening.

Meaning, once the door opened, the only way out would be through the window.

But jumping out the window?

In this freezing winter, doing so would make the cold draft obvious and give me away instantly.

‘Wh-what do I do?! If she catches me like this… She’ll definitely suspect something!’

All sorts of negative scenarios flooded my mind.

She helped me by letting me stay in her house, and here I am, rummaging through her room?

Even the most virtuous person wouldn’t easily forgive that.

At the very least, she’d likely think I was trying to steal something, and worse, might mistake me for someone with malicious intent.

Of course, I didn’t have any ill intentions—I just wanted to prepare for any possible situation!

But whether she’d understand that was questionable. Plus, I couldn’t exactly explain myself.

Thud, thud.

Raven’s presence drew closer to the door.

There was no time to think calmly. I had about five seconds left.

Shaken and drenched in cold sweat, I tightly shut my eyes and quietly closed the closet door.

Like covering a bug with a lid, I decided to silently hide inside the closet.

Would I really go unnoticed? No, honestly, I felt like… I’d probably get caught…

Click.

The door opened, and Raven’s presence grew stronger.

My heart felt like it was gripped by an icy hand, and my mouth went dry.

Please don’t notice me.

Holding my breath, I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.

But betraying my desperate prayer, Raven’s footsteps grew louder as she approached the closet.

Swish. The closet door slid open smoothly, letting blinding light spill in.

I was caught.