Right. Seventyfive, seventysix…….

Ninetyseven, ninetyeight, ninetynine.

──A hundred.

“I’m going to open my eyes now!”

There was no reply, but the excited Minjoo opened her eyes wide. But.

“……Ah.”

The house was strangely dark.

Did they turn off the lights on purpose to scare her? Minjoo fumbled for the light switch and pressed it.

Click.

Click click.

But no matter how much she pressed, the lights did not turn on. It couldn’t have suddenly broken. They had been working fine when she ate earlier.

It must have been a prank.

‘I’m a primary school student now.’

She was too old to be scared by such things. Minjoo quickly scanned the surroundings. It was pitch black, and she couldn’t see an inch ahead, but her eyes seemed to get used to the darkness as time passed.

However, there was no place in the tensquaremeter semibasement house for two adults to hide. That was something even eightyearold Minjoo knew.

Minjoo quickly headed for the entrance. Mom and Dad must be hiding outside.

Thump.

Thump thump.

Thump thump thump.

The door wouldn’t open. No matter how many times she pulled and pushed, it didn’t budge.

“Uh, Mom……?”

Her heart sank belatedly. Minjoo wracked her small brain to understand the situation. Could it be that her parents locked her in and left?

‘No, that can’t be.’

Minjoo shook her head vigorously. She must have counted too fast earlier. She walked briskly to the kitchen wall again and pressed her forehead against it. Then she raised her fernlike hands and pressed her eyelids firmly.

“One, two, three, four, five…….”

She counted out loud on purpose, even more precisely and slowly than before.

“Ninetyeight, ninetynine, a hundred……!”

Flash! Minjoo opened her eyes.

The house was still dark. There was no window in the house, so she couldn’t tell whether it was day or night.

Minjoo ran to the door again and turned the doorknob.

Click click.

It didn’t open. Tears welled up in the eyes of Minjoo, who had collapsed in place.

“Mom! Dad!”

She called out to her parents with the loudest voice possible. There was no reply.

Minjoo, who had fiercely wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, jumped up from her spot and pressed her forehead against the wall again.

“One, two, three, four, five…….”

Once more.

“Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen…….”

Again and again.

“Twentyfour, twentyfive, twentysix…….”

One last time.

But no matter how much she counted, the settled darkness did not brighten.

The darkness devoured the small boy’s hope, expectation, hunger, and eventually even despair.

What came to the hollowedout boy was neither the missing parents nor the indifferent homeroom teacher nor the friends who teased him for being poor.

Ding.

[The 12th Zodiac ‘Rabbit Chasing the Moon’ offers you a contract. Will you accept?]

A strangely bright yellow message window.

That was all.

(This is a time separator.)

“One, two, three, four, five…….”

As if she were entranced somewhere, Minjoo lay flat on the floor, only smacking her lips. She no longer had the strength to scratch the inner wall.

Laying her cheek on the dirt floor and laughing like a madman while counting was quite funny.

When she calmly counted, her breathing gradually became calm. If she stayed like this a little longer, it would surely subside. As it always had.

“Sixtyseven, sixtyeight, sixtynine……?”

Thump!…
He almost opened his eyes but did not. There would be no one there anyway.

Minjoo was an Srank hunter.

Nobody would have ever imagined that she would be trapped behind the ruins of the collapsed gate, unable to breathe properly, and floundering in the trauma of the past, making a pitiful mess of herself. It was to be expected.

[The 12 zodiac ‘Rabbit Chasing the Moon’ has discovered you.] [A torch and steel pickaxe! Only 99 coins right now! Do you wish to purchase? ▶ Yes / No]

……Even amidst all this, the damned system called the 12 zodiac was busy trying to make a sale. It couldn’t be helped. After all, she was only a contractor, not a god.

‘I don’t need it.’

Minjoo closed the window without giving it much thought.

She didn’t want to spend 99 coins on just a torch and pickaxe. No, it might have been stubbornness.

She was different now.

She had grown taller, become clever enough not to be fooled by adults, and strong enough to break through the darkness alone.

‘I don’t need anything.’

Counting to a hundred would calm her breath. Then she would be able to get up alone. Escape this place alone. Just like she always had.

“Ninety, ninetytwo, ninetythree…….”

BOOM!

Startled, Minjoo’s eyes snapped open. She thought she heard an enormous noise.

A dark shadow was spreading out in the thick darkness.

Watching the shadow spread slowly, yet clearly, like a cracking eggshell, Minjoo reflexively grabbed her bazooka.

CRASH─!!!

A bright light enveloped Minjoo as it shattered. As Minjoo, who had become accustomed to the darkness, tightly closed her eyes, something cold and slender touched her shoulder.

“I found you.”

“……?”

Slowly, very slowly, she opened her eyes.

There, Minjoo discovered a flame warmer than the sun and brighter than the moonlight.

An outstretched left hand.

That rough hand, covered with scabs and far too coarse for its slender form, Minjoo had held it before.

“No─.”

The moment she moved her mouth to say something with a blank look in her eyes, she was abruptly lifted by Eunha’s touch.

“Ah…….”

My lips unwittingly parted in surprise. Minjoo, who had suddenly floated in the air, dumbly looked down at Eunha from above.

Only then did she realize that she was barefoot. Her feet dirtied with mud, her cold hands, bruises here and there.

“Sister, I…… came to find you?”

Minjoo slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again. They were still bright and warm.

She was not alone.

There was someone there.

“Let’s go home.”

The person in the black dress, holding a bright light.