One bright day in the Underworld, in Persephone’s field.

“How do you cure insomnia?”

Persephone, who was rummaging through the herbs that were still alive and not killed by Cerberus’ claws, asked Asclepius.

“Why suddenly ask about insomnia?”

Asclepius carefully plucked an apple mint leaf that had grown to the size of a palm from eating Persephone’s divine power.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t been sleeping well lately?”

“No, I’ve been sleeping fine.”

Although she had been having some trouble sleeping lately, there was someone in the Underworld who was sleeping even less than Persephone herself.

She shook her head as if it were absurd.

“Then who can’t sleep?”

“……”

Persephone used a support to prop up a stem that had been broken, and silently infused it with divine power.

After repeating this process a few times, Persephone moistened her lips and added.

“……Lord Hades.”

“Him?”

When Asclepius responded lightly, Persephone quickly launched into an explanation as if she had been waiting for it.

It was all about Hades’ office, where the lights had been on without fail throughout the previous night.

After hearing the whole story, he rubbed his beard.

“What are the chances you’re mistaken?”

“None.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I watched him.”

There was a glint in Persephone’s eyes.

She had decided that rather than just thinking about Hades in her mind, she might as well watch his office directly.

Persephone had come to only one conclusion.

“Lord Hades absolutely does not sleep.”

“……Well, you turned out to be quite the thief.”

Asclepius, who had chided her, responded nonchalantly.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s probably just extremely busy with public and private affairs.”

“What? What did you say?”

Persephone’s voice suddenly became sharp.

“Is the King of the Underworld invincible? No matter how busy a person is, how can they live without sleeping?”

“He’s actually nearly invincible, and anyway, a body full of divine power is like that. It won’t be life-threatening.”

At Asclepius’ cold diagnosis, Persephone unconsciously made a dissatisfied expression.

‘It’s not the body that’s the problem, it could be the soul.’

She pouted her lips sulkily.

“……Even if it’s not life-threatening, it’s true that sleep makes a person’s mind clearer, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. Other gods do sleep too. The Lord of the Underworld seems to be a bit of an exception.”

“Then all the more reason to treat him! How can you call yourself a doctor and leave a patient untreated?”

“……”

Asclepius, who had been hit right on the mark, clicked his tongue.

He seemed to be reconsidering his somewhat unkind nature towards the god – especially the Lord of the Underworld who had confined him to the Underworld – even though he had revived dead humans.

‘If I push a little more, I think he’ll agree to treat him.’

Observing Asclepius who had suddenly gone silent, she pretended to mutter.

“As expected of an intellectual. So smart.”

“Huh?”

“No wonder you became his personal physician. You could just receive a salary without doing any work.”

“What did you say?”

Asclepius, who had been savoring the scent of apple mint, stood up abruptly, forgetting his age.

“Hey, this is ridiculous! Despite appearances, I was actually thinking of possible solutions in my head!”

“What is it?”

“……It’s finally time to make use of my assistant.”

Muttering like that, Asclepius dusted off his dirt-covered hands.

“Come with me to Tartarus.”

* * *

Tartarus.

A dark underground prison where sinners who committed sacrilege are confined, and also Sisyphus’ home(?).

An ordinary person would make a fuss about how dangerous it would be to go to such a place, but…..

“Let’s see what we can get here?”

“That’s right.”

Persephone and Asclepius were very calmly entering and exiting the entrance.

Oh, how did they get into the underground prison in the first place?

They entered using Asclepius’ authority as the personal physician.

When he explained it well to Lord Hades, he approved it much more easily than expected.

‘I don’t know why, but if Lord Hades did so, there must be a reason.’

Persephone slung a newly received sturdy shovel over her back.

She opened the page with the red leaf attached among the guidebook pages Asclepius had entrusted to her.

[Sleeping pill – Helps the user sleep soundly.] [Truth serum – Makes the user spill their true feelings to the limit.] [Antidote – Neutralizes the effects of drugs. However, some drugs cannot be neutralized.]

Below the medicinal products with their general effects written were the raw ingredients for those medicines.

The list of raw ingredients was too long and complicated, with mostly words she couldn’t recognize.

‘No, you should write it so I can understand too.’

After all, she was nominally an assistant, couldn’t he do at least that much?

Persephone, who had been striding ahead, spun around to face Asclepius.

“What herbs are in the sleeping pills?”

“……”

“Is it the sleep herb after all?”

But no matter how long she waited, there was no answer from Asclepius.

She frowned and called out to him.

“Lord Asclepius-?”

“Don’t talk to me, it’s distracting. Look ahead and walk!”

It was a much sharper rebuke than usual. Persephone’s lips jutted out in a pout.

“Are you scared of Tartarus?”

“I’m watching out for anyone who might jump out at us.”

“……Oh please.”

Persephone let out a laugh of disbelief.

Asclepius was holding lanterns in both hands, and even wore a metal tube on his temples and forehead that could hold several torches.

He looked like the leader of some cult rather than a miner.

“I told you to look ahead and walk.”

When the second rebuke followed, this time she properly turned to face forward.

Then a proper view entered her sight. Persephone wrinkled her nose.

A barren land with no mountains, only rugged cliffs, and not even a stream of water flowing.

The only thing traversing that ground was a tributary of Phlegethon, the river of fire where lava flowed.

If the Underworld was desolate…..

‘This place is vast.’

Is it because of its overwhelmingly larger size compared to the upper Underworld, and the almost complete lack of terrain changes except for the cliffs?

Even though huge rock formations filled the empty spaces, strangely, there was a sense of emptiness as if it were wide open.

‘If there wasn’t a lava river, they would have stepped on each other and it would have been a big problem……’

After walking for a while, they came to a cliff. Persephone raised her hand towards Asclepius who was following her.

“Wait, stop.”

“Why, why?”

“There’s a cliff ahead. Let’s go down.”

Persephone started descending the cliff, tapping the bottom with her foot.

Asclepius, though frowning deeply, seemed to realize there was no other way and began to follow her down.

Persephone asked him teasingly.

“Are you scared?”

“How can you be so calm?”

“I should be asking you that. Why are you making such a fuss?”

“Well……”

Asclepius, who had momentarily placed his foot on a protrusion midway down the cliff as a resting spot, slowly raised his finger.

“Isn’t everything here…… strange?”

The place he was pointing to was somewhere a little away from the lava river, a rock cliff that formed a strange curve and had a geometric shape.

“……That rock cliff doesn’t look natural either. The way it’s oddly misaligned yet smooth in shape, it gives the feeling that an incomprehensible creature might rise from the ground and move-”

“Oh, really? It looks like performance art to me?”

“……How nice it must be to have no thoughts.”

Just as Persephone, who had been continuing to descend the cliff, was about to retort asking what he meant by that, it happened.

Aaagh……!

A sharp scream was heard from somewhere.

“……Oh!”

It was around that time that Persephone, who had been looking down the cliff, let go of her hand.

Asclepius, startled, shouted.

“Persephone!”

A pair of eyes vibrated mercilessly between surprise and fear.

‘Oh, damn it……! Is this how an accident happens?’

Was it too much to come all the way to Tartarus after all?

Being a god, she wouldn’t die, and if he quickly went down to find her, treatment would be easy. But it was still worrying all the same.

Just as Asclepius, readjusting the luggage on his back and the tube on his head, hurriedly grabbed a protrusion on the cliff, it happened.

“Ah….. That’s a shame.”

The pink head slowly rose back up.

“I thought it was an herb but it was just a rock shadow. I wonder why it had such an intricate shape……”

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Asclepius gritted his molars.

“If you had fallen off the cliff, it would have been hard to find you! What dangerous thing are you doing!”

“I thought I saw an herb down there.”

“What herb in such a barren place!”

She had gone down thinking she saw something similar to silphium, but Asclepius was strangely making a fuss.

Well, rather than being upset about that, she felt rather proud but…..

‘Wait a minute.’

What herb in such a barren place, he said?

“Then why did you come to Tartarus, Lord Asclepius?”

“What?”

“No, you said Tartarus is a barren place. But you said there was something to get here, so isn’t that strange?”

Persephone was talking while quickly thinking.

‘No, but I remember some plant growing in Tartarus.’

Ah, something seems about to come to mind, but I’m not sure exactly what it is…..

Then, a certain fact flashed through Persephone’s mind.

Tartarus is not only a prison for criminals, but also a place where Hemera and Nyx, the goddess of night, take turns staying.

And when Nyx returns to Tartarus, her son Hypnos, the god of sleep, is sleeping soundly by her side, and…..

“……Don’t tell me you’re trying to pick poppies?”

Around Hypnos, poppies are in bloom.

Right. The one whose seed pod juice produces highly addictive opium.

Persephone shouted in shock.

“Don’t tell me the sleeping pill ingredient is poppy juice?”

“No, how did you know?”

Her head went blank for a moment.

‘Oh my god.’

Persephone, who had quickly descended the cliff, panted.

“Isn’t that addictive? What if problems arise after letting him drink it freely!”

Then Asclepius, who had come down to the ground very slowly like an ant, raised his voice as if in disbelief.

“Of course, it’s true that I came to extract the juice from poppy seed pods. It’s the only thing available underground instead of the precious mystical sleep herb.”

“No……!”

“But you shouldn’t misunderstand, I have superior refining techniques better than anyone else. I will remove the addictive components as much as possible.”

“……”

Suspicion was thick in Persephone’s eyes. She crossed her arms and let out a nasal sound, “Hmm.”

“……Is that true?”

“It is.”

“You’re not trying to poison him, are you? You’re not trying to addict him and turn him into a puppet, are you?”

“I swear by the River Styx that I absolutely am not. How could I do such a thing in the first place?”

Asclepius let out a deep sigh and raised his index finger.

“And one more thing.”

He brought that finger to the horizon.

“As you said, the sleep god Hypnos and the night goddess Nyx are around that poppy field. I’ve also come to meet them. To get advice.”

“Hmm….. Are you serious?”

“……Aish, damn it. I even swore by the River Styx, why can’t you believe me? How close am I to the King of the Underworld in the first place!”

Persephone wiped away her frown and smiled again.

“Alright. Then how are you going to find them?”

She looked around with her hands behind her back.

“Should I try to attract their attention? Ask if they don’t get moldy staying here all the time?”

“Do that and you might die.”

“Gods don’t die though.”

“Want to get smeared with hydra poison?”

“……”

Persephone quickly closed her lips.

It was then.

Whoosh…..

This time, the sound of wind with a heavy presence pierced through their senses.

Their hair stood on end all at once.

Persephone’s lime-green eyes, which had encountered something that couldn’t be ignored, glowed faintly with a platinum light.

‘……Something, is here.’

Far away, something very huge was moving towards them.