As I hesitated whether or not to destroy the Jangseung, a purple light began to shine down from the sky.

A strange purple-lit moon rose above the Ice Throne.

If it were just the unusual color, it would have been one thing, but this moonlight did not cast any shadows.

Even under rocks, the moonlight reached.

It illuminated places where shadows should naturally form.

There were no shadows anywhere, creating a surreal and eerie feeling.

The purple color made it feel like I was inside a game with a broken graphics card.

However, it wasn’t that there were no shadows at all—shadows appeared here and there, like stains on the ground.

When I looked up at the sky, those shadows were patterns on the purple moon.

From the start, the light was splotchy, which created the shadows.

Fascinated by the shadows, I tried to touch them, but they slid away from me, widening the distance.

Just like the Jangseung, these shadows also avoided me.

What did I do wrong to deserve this?

I kept running, trying to step on the shadow on the ground, but the shadow kept fleeing from me.

This chase continued until the sun rose.

When the sun came up, all that remained was a snowfield filled with my footprints.

Panting heavily, I looked at the center of the clearing, where the shattered remnants of the Jangseung lay.

The Jangseung was destroyed.

The problem was solved by gathering mirrors that didn’t reflect the Jangseung, creating a large mirror, and then reflecting the Jangseung within the mirror again.

The Jangseung, which had no physical form, revealed its true self in the real world and was shattered.

Ha ha. Finally.

But it was too late.

Night had fallen.

The night in Dobong-gu was very dangerous.

This was due to an Object known as the "Moon of the Snowfield."

The purple-lit moon was an Object that appeared wherever night fell on a "snowfield" anywhere on Earth.

This purple light could not be avoided, even inside buildings.

Because of this, any place with a "snowfield" was treated as uninhabitable by humans worldwide.

However, the conditions for the appearance of the "Moon of the Snowfield" were uncertain.

It appeared in places that were clearly not snowfields, and sometimes didn’t appear in polar regions where snowfields were certain.

It was an Object whose presence couldn’t be confirmed until directly observed in the area.

What was certain was that the "Moon of the Snowfield" always appeared in the snow-covered Dobong-gu.

This purple light, which pierced even through closed eyelids, caused insomnia but wasn’t life-threatening.

What was truly dangerous were the shadows that appeared along with the purple light.

"The moon is rising! Everyone, gather!"

We gathered in a circle in the clearing, facing each other.

Then, we drove iron stakes into the ground around us and secured our bodies.

In the center of the group, a device resembling a totem was installed.

It was a device imported from the United States designed to block the mental interference of Objects, but it was only a temporary measure.

Of course, it was impressive that they could even make such a device.

In Korea, they still had no idea what an Object truly was.

The shadows created by the Moon of the Snowfield were bottomless pits.

If you stepped on them, you would sink in and disappear somewhere.

Where you disappeared to was still unknown.

Thankfully, the shadows didn’t move to attack people, but they did pull people towards them.

It was similar to the feeling of wanting to align a mismatched tile.

When you stared at the bottomless shadows, they began to feel like a perfect hole just for you.

Then, you felt the urge to fill that hole with your own body.

Very few people could resist this urge without the help of the device.

The night was long.

I hoped we would make it through the night safely.

I could feel the nearby agents struggling.

Even though we were secured with stakes, if someone really decided to run, there was no stopping them.

I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes.

But even with my eyes closed, the purple light pierced through, and the shadows did too.

Even with my eyes closed, I could see the perfect hole meant just for me.

Like the one right in front of me now…

A hole in the perfectly purple world.

If I could just fill that hole, everything would be perfect.

‘Why is there such a hole?’

I hurriedly unhooked the pins securing me to the iron stake and stood up.

‘There’s a hole right there that I have to fill.’

‘Yes, it’s a hole that only I can fill.’

A part of my mind knew that all of this was just a delusion.

But I couldn’t resist. I simply couldn’t.

I walked slowly toward the hole.

‘Yes, this is the hole! A hole that fits me perfectly.’

The moment I brushed the edge of the hole with my finger, the purple light that filled the world vanished, and I saw the morning sun rising in the distance.

Startled, I pulled my hand away from the ground.

It was a close call.

Five agents had disappeared during the night.

Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to be considered a mission failure.

The operation to destroy the throne hadn’t failed yet.

After the game of tag with the shadows ended, I lay down on the high rubble and felt the morning sun warming my skin.

I heard a commotion and looked down to see people gathering near the throne.

Wasn’t the area around the throne supposed to be -100 degrees Celsius? Or was that specific to another area?

They looked like people who had barely slept.

They were setting up something around the throne.

The items they were setting up were Objects.

At a glance, they looked like bombs.

Straightforward bombs, resembling bundles of dynamite.

Since missiles couldn’t destroy the throne, were they using Objects?

But that throne wasn’t an Object, so they were wasting their time.

I watched their futile efforts with a curious expression.

In fact, it was surprising that not a single person looked up at where I was.

But perhaps they were too focused on setting up the bombs, and none of them noticed me.

Boom.

At that moment, I felt the ground pulsate.

When I looked back, a tidal wave was rushing in from the land.

Buildings crumbled as they rode the wave, and the ground curled in on itself.

Debris was carried forward by the wave, scattering like dust.

A massive tidal wave of dust was surging from the land.

Anything touched by the wave turned to powder and disintegrated.

The remnants of civilization, like concrete and asphalt, were reduced to dust and scattered.

Of course, the human-made Object bombs were no exception.

“No!!!”

A man’s scream echoed through Dobong-gu.

“No!!!!!!!”

I screamed in despair as I watched the Object bombs disintegrate into nothingness.

Even though I groped for the bomb that had turned to dust, it wouldn’t come back.

We had reached the throne at the cost of many agents, but why did this have to happen?

The dust storm surged, darkening the surroundings.

The ice soldiers carrying the throne also turned to dust, causing the throne to fall.

My team and I rolled across the ground, thrown by the massive shockwave and wind pressure.

As I lay on the ground, I saw a yellow light glowing in my eyes.

A yellow light glowing in the dust clouds that blocked the sun like volcanic ash.

“The… the Gray Reaper!”

The Gray Reaper stood atop a high place, looking down on us as if mocking us.

Did the Gray Reaper have such power?

Not only the Object bombs but also all the electronic equipment and firearms we had were turned to dust and vanished.

This looked more like the phenomenon happening in Seoul Forest.

But this place was far enough from Seoul Forest.

This unusual event was something that absolutely needed to be reported.

The sudden appearance of the Gray Reaper and the phenomenon that seemed to be caused by the Iron Tower.

The shockwave had destroyed all our communication equipment, so I had to return personally to report it.

To report and prepare for the next steps, I had to get as many agents back as possible.

“The mission is a failure. We’re going back.”

My team and I slowly retreated, keeping a close watch on the Gray Reaper.

There was nothing left to do but swallow our tears and return.

This pulsation in the ground felt familiar.

Yes, it felt like the Iron Tower.

It felt like the power of the Iron Tower, grinding civilization to dust.

But wasn’t the Iron Tower’s domain supposed to be stabilized? What’s going on?

I’d never seen the Iron Tower’s domain pulsate like this before.

The way the ground turned to powder following the pulse was like a tidal wave of dust rushing from the land.

The sight of buildings and asphalt curling and crumbling in waves was spectacular.

What was strange was that even the ice soldiers were helplessly ground to dust by the wave.

So, the Iron Tower considered the ice soldiers part of civilization?

The Iron Tower’s pulsation ended in just a few minutes.

The already devastated Dobong-gu was left in an even more horrific state.

But something strange remained in Dobong-gu after the wave passed.

A massive network of tunnels, like an anthill, was left beneath Dobong-gu.

I had a feeling.

The master of the Ice Throne was down there.

Seoul was facing a massive crisis.

The temperature drop starting in Dobong-gu?

The temperature drop that started in Dobong-gu didn’t even affect the entire Seoul area.

It was only affecting nearby regions temporarily before returning to normal.

The attacks by the soldiers of the Ice Throne?

Those were being adequately suppressed by the military's efforts.

The problem that threw Seoul into panic was something else.

The "Expansion of Seoul Forest."

It was observed that the domain of Seoul Forest was gradually expanding.

Like a heartbeat, it pulsed, slowly extending its reach.

The domain of the Iron Tower expanded like a pulse wave, repeatedly growing and shrinking.

But any area that even momentarily fell within its domain was ground to dust, leaving little difference from a permanent expansion.

While Korea had been steadily preparing to battle the Ice Throne in Dobong-gu, it was powerless against the Iron Tower.

There was simply no way to fight it.