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The tattooed woman landed on the solid ground, embracing her younger sister, as they fell through the lightless darkness.

Following closely behind, the color hungry ghost landed with a heavy thud.

In the darkness so thick that even what lay just ahead was hard to make out, the woman pulled out a glass bottle and began to shake it.

As the two thick liquids inside slowly mixed, they emitted a gentle glow.

The light illuminated her younger sister’s face, who tightly closed her eyes and clung to her.

Finding her sister’s appearance a bit cute, the woman playfully poked her fingertip at the tip of her nose.

Startled, her sister tentatively opened her eyes to look around, quickly realizing they were safe and letting out a big sigh of relief.

“That was surprising! Did those things try to bite us just now, sister?”

The woman nodded, a slightly somber expression on her face.

“Yes, I thought the entrance would be safe, but that was entirely my mistake. I should have considered the possibility that the alchemist was dead….”

Shaking her head, her sister disagreed.

“It’s okay. I was surprised, but I’m not hurt, right?”

Even as she said this, her sister was sweating profusely from the shock.

So overwhelmed was she that her heart was still pounding quickly even now, after some time had passed.

The woman listened to her sister and gently patted her until she calmed down.

Once her sister’s heartbeat steadied and her complexion improved, she lifted her up properly from the ground.

“Alright, let’s slowly head for the alchemist’s workshop now.”

Holding the glowing potion high, the woman strode forward.

How long had they walked when the pair emerged from the dark cave to find an unusual city spread out before them?

While her sister marveled at the fascinating landscape, the tattooed woman surveyed the city with a frown.

‘It looks like an imitation of the royal capital, but there are some differences. Is this a capital from a different era than the one I know? Or is it a completely different city?’

Although it shared the architectural style of her hometown, the woman contemplated various hypotheses while observing the city that showed slightly different appearances.

They descended into the quiet, deserted city and began to walk.

With concerns about potential dangers, she held her sister’s hand, but nothing seemed threatening.

Her sister now appeared completely thrilled, as if they were on a sightseeing tour.

Though it felt strange for there to be nothing, an unsettling sense of unease washed over her due to the unusual quiet.

“Sister, look at this.”

Her sister pointed to a large cauldron.

It was a massive cauldron used for alchemy.

While the younger sister excitedly exclaimed about its height, dense compared to that of a person, the woman suddenly noticed something peculiar in her peripheral vision.

White remnants sprawled across the floor.

And this was precisely why it felt safe here.

The woman approached carefully and began to examine the remains.

It was a guardian that resembled the one who stood at the entrance, but it was chewed up and lifeless.

The body’s face was somewhat torn, yet intact, with human ears and teeth clearly visible.

“Gross…. Why do they look like that? Is it the creator’s taste?”

Even her sister, who had approached the cauldron with excitement, frowned when she saw the remains.

“The muscles and ears might be a preference, but the teeth definitely are not. There’s only one reason for guardians to grow human teeth.”

As she took out the core used to create the color hungry ghost, the woman explained.

“It’s a characteristic of a guardian that swallowed the core used to create it.”

Looking at the core, her sister, while gently covering the mouth of the color hungry ghost standing quietly on the floor, exclaimed.

“Do not let it eat!”

Seeing her sister looking fiercely determined to not allow the disgusting teeth, the woman couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“If it eats the core, it will become uncontrollable. A sane alchemist wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Oh, so that’s why you said the alchemist is dead?”

Her sister clapped her hands in admiration upon hearing that.

“By the way, it looks like someone has already entered here. From the way they handled the guardian, they seem to be a capable group.”

The faint smell of human blood, which could hardly be detected, wafted around.

And the destroyed guardian.

Perhaps the group of humans that rushed in as soon as they saw the news belonged to this country’s ‘government.’

To think that only around thirty years have passed since the magical book appeared and there’s already this level of capability.

It was truly astonishing.

“Well then, let’s hurry up and go.”

The woman took her sister’s hand again, starting to lead her deeper into the alchemist’s dungeon.

*

Having torn apart the grotesque ghost, we walked through the streets with a dignified stance.

Thud thud.

The golden reapers and black reapers linked hands joyfully as they walked ahead, seemingly having fun.

The mini reapers all wore hats resembling white glutinous rice cakes, looking soft and quite fitting for the mini reapers.

Those hats were actually tiny white hungry ghosts.

The extremely small hungry ghosts sat on the heads of the mini reapers like hats.

Thanks to having dealt with the ‘bad object,’ it seems they’ve had their status upgraded from emergency food or vehicles to hats?

Though they were still occasionally gnawed on, it didn’t seem like much had changed.

Still, the hungry ghosts that became hats seemed a bit brighter than before, except for the one perched atop the red reaper’s head.

That ghost was slowly and continually burning from the breath of the careless red reaper.

Following the guidance of the orange reapers flying in the sky, we crossed through the city.

Passing by luxurious buildings made of gold, and structures that seemed to have been dredged from my memories, we were greeted by a bizarre-looking structure.

A deep cliff with the ground hidden from view.

And streets of countless rails stretching above it.

Rails resembling those found in amusement parks were everywhere.

Near the cliff, there was a place resembling a cable car station.

It was a station filled with strange contraptions equipped with complex machinery.

Curiously intrigued, the mini reapers flocked to touch the devices.

They tilted their heads in confusion while poking at them with wonder.

Jumping on levers and pressing buttons with their fists.

Then, some of the vehicles took off like rockets, loaded with mini reapers.

“Oh.”

This was the first time I’d seen mini reapers act like this.

These machines must have been plentiful at the research institute, but why hadn’t they touched them before?

Oh, could it be that they thought the humans would dislike it?

Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen children destroy the facilities at the research institute.

I’ve often watched ghosts who couldn’t perform ghosting slip through gaps instead of breaking down doors.

Tap tap.

Something poked my cheek, and when I looked, a golden reaper was beckoning at me.

‘Did it want me to guide it?’

The golden reaper, receiving my conveyed intent, tilted its head while insisting I come along with its finger.

Following the golden reaper, we arrived at a row of several vehicles lined up.

Each vehicle had mini reapers of various kinds onboard.

Among them, the vehicles filled with golden reapers had all sorts of levers and buttons that the golden reapers were dangling from.

The vehicle for the blue reapers had a large golem gripping the steering wheel.

Similarly, the vehicle for the black reapers also had a large black reaper holding the wheel.

The last vehicle’s steering was empty, and in the backseat, a red reaper and an orange reaper were waving their hands.

Could this be a race?

Feeling a foreboding sense of imminent defeat, I hesitated to step forward, but the cheerful red reaper and orange reaper made it seem impossible to flee.

*

The tattooed woman and her sister held hands and finally reached a spot where they could see the cliff and numerous rails above it.

“It’s a rail capsule.”

The woman remarked, her expression solemn as she looked at the vehicle on the rail.

“Wow.”

Her sister admired the rail capsule with awe.

The brass-trimmed, vintage-styled rail capsule exuded an aura like a piece of art.

“Sister! It’s a dead end, but are we really going to ride this?”

“Looks like we have to.”

Gazing anxiously at the slender-looking capsule that appeared like an artistic item, her sister had a fearful expression.

The capsule looked so precariously balanced that a mere nudge might send it tumbling over the cliff below.

“Isn’t it going to fall? Is it really safe?”

“It’s made to drop easily, but it’s fine.”

The woman boarded the capsule that appeared to be in the best condition and surveyed their surroundings.

There were no footprints left on the solid rock cliff, but based on the signs on the rail capsule, it seemed clear someone had been here recently.

“Alright, we’ll be setting off, so hold on tight.”

Her sister swallowed hard and gripped the handle tightly.

When the woman pulled down the lever, the capsule took off at rocket speed.

Her sister went pale, as if ready to scream.

Though she clearly wanted to shout at any moment, she was probably holding herself back from the warning not to make noise carelessly.

Then the capsule suddenly ‘jumped’ off the rail.

“Ahhh!”

In a nearly disastrous situation where it seemed they would crash into the cliff below, her sister could no longer hold back and screamed.

But the capsule landed safely on another rail, quickly speeding away again.

What a vehicle that jumps and changes rails!

Her sister turned pale as if she might faint.

*

“Ugh, I feel like I’m going to throw up. Sister.”

Fortunately, their ride aboard the capsule ended just before her sister fainted.

While her sister’s face had drained of color, the woman looked slightly flushed, as if she’d found it entertaining.

“You’ll get used to it after a few more rides.”

The woman spoke while patting her sister’s back, who was crouched down and catching her breath.

“Absolutely not.”

“You’ll have to ride it again when we go back anyway.”

Her sister’s face, which was slowly regaining its color, turned pale again.

While her sister was dizzy and struggling to maintain her balance, the tattooed woman was illuminating the area engulfed in deep darkness.

In the darkness that seemed to devour light, enormous bookshelves lined up endlessly appeared faintly.

And in the back, just for a moment, a long white something flickered and vanished.

Something like a bean sprout, densely covered with human teeth.

*

Grrrr.

The massive vibrations of operating machinery caused dust that had accumulated in the room to slightly lift, clouding the air.

Dust was piled high on the bed, the body of the blue girl lying atop it, and even on the girl sitting beside the bed, gazing down without moving.

Perhaps it was the sudden sound of vibrations, but something slowly began to move in the previously motionless room.

With a creaking sound arising from the solidified liquid suddenly shifting, the girl sitting beside the bed began to make her moves.

The girl, who only stood about a meter tall, leapt off the chair.

Her silhouette was that of a white girl, as white as a sheet of paper, closely resembling the ‘gray reaper.’

The white girl pulled out a white orb with her pristine hands, placing it into the palm of the blue-haired girl.

The motionless girl’s hand was cold yet smooth, almost like it was alive.

Tap. Drip.

At that moment, tears began to fall quietly from the face of the white girl, who stood still, landing onto the dusty blanket.

Without making a sound.

Slowly, the white girl left the blue girl’s side and walked out of the room.

Above her head, the droopy antennae of a hungry ghost sprouted.