"This might be related to personal privacy."
A few people who knew hesitantly replied.
"Huh?"
Lorenzo looked over, unable to imagine how this break could be related to personal privacy.
"What? Is he going on a date?"
...
"After all, these kinds of things are quite difficult to talk about, so I hide it well... I guess. Actually, not quite, it’s so bad that every ti I co here, my friends think I’m on a date."
In the gentle and comfortable room, everyone held different chairs or sofas, sitting in a circle. Joey was among them, listening quietly, watching the man speaking. He was already the father of two children, yet speaking of these matters, his wrinkled face still held an awkward smile.
The people present were both n and won, spanning a wide range of ages, with differing identities. It was truly a hodgepodge. According to reason, these people should have had no intersections, but here they sat together so neatly.
The man continued talking cheerfully, sharing his recent situation and philosophical awakening, with applause occasionally rising to encourage him.
"Honestly, I didn’t expect to et you here."
Hig felt sowhat timid, but overca his shyness and introversion here, speaking with a bit of courage to Joey next to him.
"I didn’t expect it either. How long have you been coming here?"
Joey rembered Hig, he was Lorenzo’s roommate. Though they hadn’t t many tis, being the notorious Lorenzo’s roommate, Joey couldn’t help but have a vivid impression of him.
From Joey’s point of view, anyone who could live with Lorenzo certainly wasn’t normal.
"A while now, but I’ve never seen you before. Do you rarely attend, or is this your first ti here?"
Perhaps due to the sa reason they appeared here, Hig found it easier to relate to Joey.
"I am too. I started attending the Mutual Aid Association long ago; my doctor recomnded it to , saying I should talk more with people. But later my condition improved a lot, and with work keeping busy, I barely make it here once a month. Maybe I ca when you didn’t."
Joey whispered as the man’s speech ended, replaced by a woman.
She spoke tearfully, sharing the hardships of life and the harm addiction to hallucinogens had done to her, then expressing gratitude to everyone for giving her a sense of family, where everyone helped each other improve and escape troubles caused by hallucinogens.
She beca increasingly emotional, her face turning red, showing the excitent of wanting everyone’s head pressed together here like sworn brothers.
Others in similar states also applauded vigorously, or whistled, having only recently quit hallucinogens. Their ntal states were just approaching normal, so when they encountered sothing joyful, they reacted like this.
Joey and Hig, who had been sober for so ti, appeared much calr, clearly standing out from the crowd.
This was a mutual aid association for hallucinogen issues, with mbers who had encountered hallucinogens and had their lives destroyed by them. But instead of choosing to fall, everyone worked to quit hallucinogens and live resiliently.
Old Dunling housed many such small groups due to hallucinogen problems. For many, these issues were shaful and not sothing they wanted to ntion, so they gathered together like this to help one another.
"Were you troubled by hallucinogens too?"
Hig asked cautiously. Even now, he remained uncertain what this person connected to Lorenzo did, but guessed he belonged to the Lower City District’s combative crowd. He thought Hig would be constantly accompanied by hallucinogens, so why did he choose to quit them?
"Yeah, it’s a complicated and old matter. I’ve avoided such things for a long ti, except for work needs. But sotis, when troubles can’t be shared with others, I co here to find my kind."
Joey ant people like Hig, who were troubled and destroyed by hallucinogens.
At tis, humans instinctively identify with certain kinds, like so strange balance. If you stood among people without wearing pants, you’d feel ashad, but if everyone wore nothing, you’d likely feel joy instead.
Even though it sounded ridiculous, Joey did indeed find solace here. On matters related to hallucinogens, he seldom talked to others—even colleagues like Red Falcon only knew bits. Only here could Joey speak freely about whatever without pressure, possibly a form of saying one thing to one and another to another.
"So what about you? This can technically be considered an occupational hazard for ; what made you turn to hallucinogens?"
Joey asked curiously.
Hig was actually lucky; had the hallucinogens he encountered been mixed with Secret Blood, he might have witnessed Lorenzo’s prowess, eventually losing his head amid cheers for the Demon Hunter.
Rembering this, Hig froze montarily, then beca lancholy, shaking his head with a bitter smile.
"Like everyone else,"
He glanced around at the people, laughing and joking, yet a trace of numbness lingered deep in their expressions.
"So damned curiosity or a ’just try it’ ntality, that’s all," Hig explained.
"Many people are overly confident in their self-control, believing they’ll only use it once, then never touch it again. But the result is sinking step by step into the mire; the more you struggle, the deeper you fall, until you can’t separate from the filth."
Hig’s voice was filled with regret.
"Actually, I’m lucky. I woke up to reality, without continuing in a daze."
Joey nodded, understanding this. As a mber of the Purification chanism, a ntally specialized Upper-Rank Knight, he too nearly succumbed to that trance.
"Due to my work, I can’t disclose too much, but like you said, similar to everyone here, there was arrogant confidence, then falling into the mire."
Joey murmured, though it happened long ago, it still served as a reminder, evidenced by his occasional returns here.
"Work, huh... Do you work with Lorenzo?"
Because of a sense of similarity, Hig uncharacteristically set aside his wariness toward Joey, engaging him in casual conversation.
The atmosphere grew increasingly warm; so fellow patients embraced each other in tearful reunion, while others around them cheered.
"Hmm, sort of."
Joey didn’t know why he ntioned Lorenzo.
The two listened to the confessions and cheers, starting a conversation back and forth.
"Actually, I envy Lorenzo," Hig suddenly stated for so reason.
He looked at Joey, hesitated slightly, and said, "Do you understand Lorenzo?"
"Understand?"
"Yeah, you should be able to see, I’m kind of introverted. Though I’ve been Lorenzo’s roommate for so long, I don’t really understand him at all, he’s like an enigma."
Joey chuckled wryly, "He’s not a good person, it’s better not to know too much."
"I know. You might not know, sotis when he cos ho, his clothes are soaked with blood—so much blood that a normal person would be dead, but he acts as if nothing happened, dancing around... Yet the blood is soone else’s."
Hig didn’t realize he had started talking differently than usual.
"But sotis people are like that, right?"
"What do you an?" Joey was slightly bewildered.
"Just like when we first encountered hallucinogens, knowing they were filthy and dangerous, yet still touched them... Like standing atop a high building, aware that nearing the edge makes falling more likely, yet unable to resist leaning out, longing to gaze down from that height at the grand scene below."
Hig explained.
"It’s people’s vile nature: rather than re curiosity, it’s the pursuit of danger."
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