After Saito's mission failed, Cobb returned home. The audience watched as he spun the top and then raised a gun to his head, making them gasp as they realized something.
"So, this could also be a dream?" Milan speculated.
But in the end, the top stopped spinning, allowing both him and Cobb to breathe a sigh of relief.
Next, Cobb received a call from home, and the audience finally understood—Cobb had a home he couldn't return to, children he couldn't see, and a bounty on his head from a major corporation.
After the call, Arthur found Cobb and asked about Mal.
But this was obviously a painful subject for Cobb. He refused to answer and instead took Arthur to the airport, planning to leave by helicopter.
However, when they arrived, they saw Saito sitting inside the helicopter, and opposite him sat the mixed-race dream architect who had mistaken the carpet's texture.
"He planned to betray you," Saito said, handing Cobb a gun through his subordinate.
Cobb shook his head. "I won't do it."
Saito raised an eyebrow and had his men take the dream architect away before letting Cobb and Arthur board the helicopter.
On the flight, Saito used the promise of returning to America and reuniting with his children to persuade Cobb to accept his request—to plant an idea in the mind of an heir set to inherit a massive corporation.
Planting an idea was far more difficult than stealing from a dream.
At least, Arthur didn't think it was possible. But Cobb didn't share the same doubt.
"Why?" Arthur asked him.
"Because I've done it before."
"To whom?"
Cobb didn't answer, and Arthur didn't press further.
To assemble a new team, they traveled to Paris.
In Paris, Cobb met his children's grandfather—his wife Mal's father, a university professor.
Cobb had studied under him, and he knew there had to be talented dream architects here.
But Mal's father simply replied, "There's someone better than you."
"Ariadne." The professor introduced the candidate he thought was most promising—a short, curly-haired girl, played by Ellen Page.
After meeting this so-called "better architect," Cobb tested Ariadne with a simple maze challenge.
She had one minute to draw a maze that would take one minute to solve.
Ariadne failed twice in a row, but on her third attempt, she suddenly understood and drew a spiral labyrinth on the paper.
"This is correct." Cobb praised her, and the scene shifted.
The two of them were now sitting at an outdoor café.
After a brief explanation of the job, Cobb suddenly asked, "You never remember the beginning of a dream, do you? You always start in the middle."
"I suppose that's true." Ariadne nodded.
Cobb continued, "Then why are we here?"
Ariadne instinctively replied, "We just came from—"
"Think about it, Ariadne. How did you get here?" Cobb leaned in seriously.
"Where are you right now?"
Only then did Ariadne carefully observe her surroundings—it was just an ordinary café. People were drinking coffee, some were leaving, some were waiters. Nothing seemed out of place.
But she knew Cobb wouldn't ask for no reason, so she turned back to him and asked, "Are we dreaming?"
Cobb reminded her, "Actually, right now, you're sleeping in a warehouse. This is your first lesson in shared dreaming."
Upon hearing this, Ariadne panicked slightly, then suddenly noticed the ground trembling, with ripples forming in the coffee cup on the table.
"Boom!" A newspaper stand exploded by the roadside.
Immediately after, shops and the ground itself detonated one after another, sending debris floating midair as if time had frozen.
Amid this surreal scene, Ariadne asked in confusion, "If this is a dream, then why are you—"
The next second, she was engulfed by the explosion.
Her eyes snapped open, and she found herself back in the warehouse. Cobb explained beside her, "Because a dream is not just a dream—glass cuts on your face still hurt."
"So that's how it works!" Milon and the other audience members suddenly understood, finding the scene brilliant.
"Dad, I dreamed last night that I was attacked by mammoth men. It hurt a lot." A little boy sitting nearby spoke up.
His father hugged him. "It's okay, son, it was just a dream…"
After saying this, he suddenly frowned and asked, "Wait, what the heck is a mammoth man?"
But the boy had already refocused on the movie.
"Five minutes in the real world is an hour in the dream." Cobb explained another theory before guiding Ariadne back into the dream.
Back in the exact same street as before, Cobb continued explaining the rules of dreams to Ariadne.
At that moment, she suddenly asked an important question: "What happens if you mess with the physics of a dream?"
As soon as she asked, she froze in place.
Because in the distance, at the edge of the sky, the entire city had started to rise—folding like a rolled-up towel, sweeping toward them.
Buildings, vehicles, and pedestrians remained completely unaware, continuing their activities even as they flipped upside down.
Just like that, the entire city folded onto itself.
Ariadne and Cobb walked toward the edge of the fold, where the street was now at a 90-degree angle. Yet, as they stepped onto it, they moved seamlessly, as if physics had lost its hold and the world followed an entirely new set of rules.
"Wow!" Though this was Cobb's dream, it was under Ariadne's control.
However, as Ariadne created more and more structures, she noticed that the pedestrians on the street were glaring at her angrily and even bumping into her shoulders.
"These are my subconscious projections. They attack anyone who tries to alter my dream, like white blood cells."
Later, they walked beneath a bridge in Paris. Ariadne pulled out two mirrors, creating an infinitely looping scene, then shattered the glass.
But upon seeing the structures she created, Cobb's expression changed drastically. He told Ariadne in a grim tone that she must never design based on real-world locations. Doing so could cause a person to lose the ability to distinguish between reality and dreams.
Just as Ariadne was about to question him, the pedestrians suddenly charged at her, dragging her away. At the same time, a trench coat-clad Mal quickly emerged from the crowd and stabbed Ariadne to death.
When Ariadne woke up, she was furious. She declared that Cobb's psychological issues were incredibly severe—he was practically a walking time bomb.
Arthur, however, was used to this. He gently explained the concept of a totem to her.
"Take this die, for example. Only I know its weight, balance, and texture. That way, when you see your totem, you can confirm you're not in someone else's dream."
Jessica, watching this, lifted the necklace from her chest. "Ethan, can this be a totem?"
"That won't work." Ethan picked up a piece of popcorn. "But this can."
"That's just popcorn."
"It could be gold or silver, but as long as no one else knows its exact weight and texture, it can be used as a totem."
"I see."
Not only was Jessica interested, but the other audience members were also intrigued. Some began touching their rings and necklaces, as if considering them for use as totems.
Though Ariadne stormed off in anger, Cobb told Arthur she would definitely return.
Because reality could no longer satisfy her. Once someone had experienced being a creator, they would never again be interested in the mundane and powerless real world.
So without delay, Cobb traveled to his next destination to find the forger, Eames.
During his conversation with Eames, Cobb also learned that in order to implant an idea, it had to be simplified as much as possible. If the thought was too complex, the target would question it and ultimately reject it.
Eames also recommended a unique chemist, Yusuf. However, they had to wait until Cobb lost his tail before they could meet with him.
What followed was a tense and thrilling chase sequence.
With Saito's help, Cobb successfully escaped and, together with Eames, found Yusuf.
Meanwhile, Ariadne returned to the warehouse.
Yes, in the end, she couldn't resist the temptation of being a creator.
Arthur wasn't surprised at all. He took her into the dream world to create paradoxical architecture.
For example, the Penrose staircase.
When the audience saw how the staircase, which seemed perfectly continuous on screen, was actually just a visual illusion, they couldn't help but gasp in amazement.
From this point, the plot accelerated dramatically.
Saito briefed Cobb on their target: Robert Fischer, the heir to a massive corporation that was about to monopolize half of the world's energy supply. He had a complicated relationship with his father and had never been favored since childhood.
After discussing with the team, Cobb decided to exploit Fischer's relationship with his father. They planned to create a three-layer dream to implant an idea deep within Fischer's subconscious.
To do this, they gathered all available information on Fischer and approached the people around him.
And to ensure a ten-hour window for their operation, Saito even bought an airline.
That night, with all preparations in place, Ariadne saw Cobb entering a dream alone. She connected to the device as well, attempting to uncover what was truly happening in Cobb's subconscious.
There, she saw Mal and Cobb embracing lovingly, but when she entered the basement, Mal became furious at her intrusion.
Through Cobb, Ariadne learned the reason he couldn't go home—because the U.S. authorities believed he had murdered his wife.
Cobb didn't explain further. He only looked pained.
But after seeing this, Ariadne finally understood: Cobb was imprisoning Mal inside his dream. His subconscious was already on the brink of collapse, ready to fall apart at any moment.
Still, Cobb insisted that everything he did was to return home. He only wanted to see his children again—he wouldn't let Mal interfere.
Seeing how determined he was, Ariadne had nothing more to say.
The mission proceeded as planned.
On the plane, each team member took their assigned seats, disguised as passengers, and sat near Fischer in the same cabin.
After making Fischer drink a glass of water laced with sedatives, they swiftly activated the dream-sharing device, connected their wristbands, and dove into Fischer's subconscious.
There were six people in this operation: Cobb, Arthur, Ariadne, Eames, Yusuf, and Saito.
But something completely unexpected happened.
The moment they kidnapped Fischer, a freight train suddenly appeared in the middle of the city, barreling through the streets.
Even worse, heavily armed guards emerged, determined to eliminate them.
This was clearly bad news.
They only now realized that Fischer had received subconscious defense training. His mind had become a fully armed battalion, ready to destroy anyone who tampered with his dream.
After a fierce escape, Saito was wounded.
When Eames raised his gun to end Saito's suffering and pull him out of the dream, Cobb stopped him.
"We can't wake up now."
This time, the sedative they used was different—far stronger.
Death wouldn't wake them up.
Instead, dying here would send them into limbo—a formless, chaotic world of pure subconscious.
Those who entered rarely made it back alive.
Upon hearing this, the team's morale crumbled. If they failed the mission, they might never wake up again.
A heated argument ensued, making the audience clench their fists in suspense.
Fortunately, they all knew arguing wouldn't solve anything.
So they stuck to the plan.
Eames disguised himself as Fischer's godfather, Peter, and was kidnapped alongside him to extract information.
First, he probed for the password to Fischer's father's safe. Then, he asked about his father's final words.
That was when they learned that, in his dying moments, Fischer's father had left him only one phrase.
Though Fischer had only heard two words:
"Disappointed."
Meanwhile, Ariadne pressured Cobb for the truth about Mal. If he didn't resolve this issue, it would cause an even bigger disaster when they delved into the next layer of the dream.
After a long silence, Cobb finally confessed everything.
He and Mal had both been dream architects. To explore the dream world, they had ventured into the deepest level of subconsciousness and spent fifty years there.
They built an entire world for themselves.
But eventually, Cobb grew weary of it and left with Mal.
What he didn't realize was that Mal had locked away her totem in the deepest level of her subconscious so she could fully immerse herself in the dream.
As a result, when she woke up, she believed the real world was still a dream—that only by dying could she escape.
She wanted Cobb to die with her.
Cobb tried desperately to convince her otherwise, but she refused to listen.
Finally, on Valentine's Day, Mal jumped to her death—forcing Cobb into a desperate situation.
After hearing the story, Ariadne urged Cobb to forgive himself. If he didn't, his psychological wounds would only grow worse.
But there wasn't time for him to slowly heal.
They were about to enter the second layer of the dream.
And this time, they would take a more extreme approach to implant the idea into Fischer's mind.
.....
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