The center of the island was blanketed in dense blue mist.

The sky above was obscured by ominous clouds that twisted together like a mass of writhing serpents.

Below them, the mountain sprawled, its shape distorted as if some colossal creature had crushed it in its claws.

This was a place consumed by madness, mental corruption, and mutated Objects.

There, on the slope of the twisted mountain, I encountered a man.

A "human" in such a forsaken place?

In the faint blue glow that suffused the air, a man slowly stepped forward.

It was the same man I had seen in Italy.

He looked as if he’d walked straight out of a movie scene.

A perfectly tailored suit, polished shoes, and an elegant coat.

He resembled the kind of stylish mafia figure that the Purple Reaper might admire.

The man paused for a moment, casting a sharp gaze at me.

Surprise briefly flickered across his face, but he quickly regained his composure and spoke.

“Thank goodness. To encounter the Gray Reaper in a place like this…”

His voice was soft and low, yet it cut clearly through the eerie atmosphere.

…

He spoke in fluent Korean, but I ignored his words.

“Where is the Purple Reaper?”

I glanced around, searching for the Purple Reaper.

If the man was alive in such a place, the Purple Reaper should naturally be nearby.

But there was no sign of the Purple Reaper.

“How inconvenient… not being able to sense the Mini Reapers’ locations.”

Ever since being swept into the blue mist, I couldn’t detect the Mini Reapers’ positions, forcing me to rely on my own vision.

Opening the Mini Reaper Garden or traveling to it was no issue, but the connection to the Mini Reaper network was in disarray.

“Let me show you to where I’ve been staying,” the man offered, unfazed by my silence, turning and walking off in a particular direction.

…

I couldn’t quite remember if this man had spoken Korean so fluently before.

Had he even spoken in my presence before?

I didn’t know.

I clenched and released my right hand as I looked at his back.

“Should I just smash him with a ‘Kwek’? Or let him be?”

He looked so much like a foreigner yet spoke perfect Korean, which made him feel suspicious.

But I lowered my raised hand.

If he truly was the Purple Reaper’s cherished human, any rash action could lead to a disaster.

I also hesitated to open the Mini Reaper Garden and send him there.

The man seemed human, but something felt… off.

It was best to observe him a bit longer.

…

I followed him, moving slowly, watching his back.

It seemed as if we were climbing an endlessly spiraling path, yet, oddly, it felt as if we were descending deeper.

“The blue light here…”

“This island harbors a significant number of Objects…”

The man continued speaking to me.

It struck me how unusually talkative he was.

My head felt dizzy.

Whether it was from the man’s continuous chatter or the deepening descent into the island’s heart, I couldn’t be sure.

Following him, I soon arrived at a village populated by people.

The entire village was bathed in a ghostly blue glow.

The light was unnatural.

It tinted everything with a bizarre, foreboding hue, as if it belonged to another world.

People were scattered throughout the village.

They sat on the ground, frozen in positions of agony, as if they were statues writhing in pain.

Their postures suggested suffering, yet their faces displayed a trance-like ecstasy, as if gripped by some enthralling vision.

The mist swirling around the village seemed alive, writhing with an ominous energy, and the windows appeared as dark voids peering into an abyss.

In the narrow alleys, something squirmed in the shadows, as if hiding from view.

[….]

[….]

An unintelligible murmuring hovered around me, like whispers sowing seeds of madness.

The boundary between reality and illusion crumbled, and once more, the decayed, cobweb-like vision filled my sight before vanishing.

“Dizzy…”

It felt disturbingly similar to the sensation of mental corruption.

Late at night, on the outskirts of Songpa District.

In a room within the alchemist sisters' house, the younger sister’s voice rang out.

“Sis, hurry up!”

“Just a little longer.”

After hearing “Just a little longer” for the umpteenth time, the younger sister sighed and ran to the pink-haired girl lying nearby in pajamas to console her disappointment.

The pink-haired girl, startled from her game of hand claps with the Blue Idol Reaper, looked up in surprise.

The pink-haired girl was staying with the alchemist sisters to prepare for school and study alchemy.

The alchemist’s methods were centuries behind what the girl was accustomed to, but they were still proper, well-learned alchemy.

Meanwhile, the alchemist herself was gradually advancing her craft by learning about the "future" alchemy from the pink-haired girl.

The younger sister, smiling as she pulled away from the pink-haired girl, said, “It’s nice having a little sister.”

Just then, the sound of a happy squeal from a colored Maw reached her ears.

“Kyuhihi!”

Turning her head, she saw the vibrant-colored Maws and a tiny pink Maw lying by her pillow.

The pink Maw had been crafted by the pink-haired girl after one of her sister’s lessons, and the older sister had been startled at the sight.

She had gasped, “A single-colored Maw!” although the younger sister didn’t see much difference.

If anything, she found the multi-colored Maws to be cuter.

These days, they were as soft as cushions, with a texture like marshmallows.

It had started after her sister had regained her senses, likely related to the time she had transformed into a roll cake.

Pressing the squishy Maw with her fingers, the younger sister handed a flyer to the pink-haired girl.

“When it officially opens, let’s go together!”

Curious, the pink-haired girl tilted her head as she unfolded the flyer.

“Gray Reaper Theme Park – Opening Soon!”

Still getting used to reading Hangul, the pink-haired girl slowly read the flyer.

“Gray Reaper Theme Park?”

If it was the Gray Reaper… that was an Object she knew well.

After all, it was the source of her beloved “Blue Idol Reaper.”

“When will Sis be done?”

The younger sister called out again to her sister, who still showed no sign of coming, and received the same reply: “Just a little longer.”

…

Outside, the alchemist was gazing at the stars, carefully dropping reagents onto a large plate.

As if by magic, the reagents spread across the water's surface, mirroring the night sky.

Save for a few differences in brightness and shape, the resemblance was uncanny.

“Once again, the same result.”

Around her were dozens of plates displaying identical starry skies.

This particular alchemy had been discovered from James’s Artifact No. 0—a form of astrology-alchemy for divining the future.

“There’s something in the east, but I can’t quite grasp its meaning. I’ll go to James tomorrow to examine Artifact No. 0.”

She took a picture of the starry reflection on the plate with her phone to save it.

The sound of waves echoed in his ears.

At first, it seemed peaceful, but soon a sense of foreboding crept in.

There was static mixed with the sound of the waves, an unpleasant noise like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard.

The man jolted awake.

“!”

He shot up from the bed, scanning his surroundings.

He was in a dilapidated hut that looked as if it might collapse at any moment.

Through a crack in the wall, he could see a beach shrouded in blue mist.

The scenery was unfamiliar and ominous.

Yet, if he looked anywhere else, his vision was blurred, as though shrouded by mist.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, trying to recall his memory.

“Right… I was on a cruise ship heading to America, and then the blue mist rolled in.”

Bits and pieces of memory came back to him.

He opened his eyes again, and his surroundings gradually came into focus.

He saw his younger sister, Cheong, and a few Mini Reapers lying on the bed with him.

He hurriedly shook his sister’s shoulder, but she didn’t respond.

Creak.

At that moment, the hut’s door opened with a loud creak.

A woman stepped inside, framed against the backdrop of the crashing waves.

The man’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You… weren’t you dead?”

The woman smiled slightly before answering.

“No, I didn’t die. I just vanished because I was tired of the contract-killing business.”

“I see…”

He let out a sigh of relief, though he remained cautious.

His instincts, honed over years as a contract killer, were screaming that he was in danger.

Slowly, he spoke again.

“But why now? Why here?”

The woman took another step inside.

Looking at him with warm eyes, as if greeting an old friend, she finally replied.

“I’m probably here for the same reason as you. I was on my way to America, and then I suddenly woke up on this strange shore.”

…

Tension filled the hut.

The sound of the waves continued to echo, but now, it felt more ominous than ever.