Summer vaguely knew what would happen to her.

That she wouldn’t be able to live in that world, or in this one.

‘It’s all over. Anyway.’

Still, rather than living in the book, she wanted to spend her last breath seeing the people she missed.

As Summer expected, light suddenly spread through the pitch-black darkness, and a familiar scene came into view.

It was a room. One that contained all of her school days. It was dark outside, as night had fallen in Korea too.

‘Mom.’

And her mother was sitting on the bed. Her blank eyes looked empty.

Summer had to return to this world. Her family and friends must be waiting for her.

“Coco. Do you miss your sister too?”

“Meow.”

A black cat entered through the open door and snuggled into her mother’s arms. It was the black cat they had kept at home for a long time.

‘Mom. I’m here. I’m here… Not there, but here.’

There are moments when you try even though you know it won’t work. Like how Russell tried to deceive the world.

Summer sat next to her mother.

‘Mom. Don’t be too sad. Actually, I’m the most confused.’

“Coco. Your sister is so cruel. Really, too cruel.”

“Meow.”

Summer bravely approached the shelf. On the white box, a name was written in black letters. Kim Dan.

It didn’t feel real no matter how many times she looked at it.

She wasn’t sick, and there was nothing strange before she fell asleep. But she was dead. Why?

‘Kim Dan.’

Summer called out the name aloud.

“…Daughter?”

The voice from behind lacked confidence.

When she whirled around, she met her mother’s eyes, which were looking exactly at where the box was.

‘Mom?’

This time too, as if she had heard something, her mother’s eyes filled with shock, and soon tears welled up in her wrinkled eyes.

“Sob, Mom… Mom must be hearing things now, Dan. I miss you, Dan.”

Kim Dan stood still, watching her crying mother. It was strange.

She had thought that her family and friends, and all those kind people she had never met before, would be sad at someone’s death.

But could a farewell be this painful? For Kim Dan, it was a realm she couldn’t even imagine, so it didn’t feel real.

Dan turned her gaze back to the box.

Below that name, a year was written. Exactly, two years ago. She had died two years ago.

‘….’

Kim Dan was at a loss for words. How many people in the world get to see their own memorial box after they die?

Can this be called luck? Isn’t it misfortune to see family still grieving over your death as if it happened yesterday?

Kim Dan couldn’t touch or hug her mother. Because she had died in this world.

She had to go back. That thought alone remained obsessively.

But where to?

She had died in this world, and in that world too. Is there anywhere to go back to?

Then, does she have to keep watching people who are in pain, sobbing, and withering away over her death?

“Dan, if it was hard, if it was hard you could have told Mom… Mom didn’t know you would do this, really didn’t know, Dan…”

‘Mom? What are you saying…?’

“Are you happy driving this nail into Mom’s heart and leaving? Huh? Now Mom hears all sorts of things. Your voice.”

‘….’

“When you threw a tantrum asking for a balloon when you were little, did I embarrass you in front of people? Huh?”

‘No, no. I know Mom loves me. What are you saying!’

“Was it hurtful that the house felt empty after you went to college? Or, Mom… What should Mom have done…”

Mother was breaking down. The mother who used to tell her with a stubborn face that social life is just like that, that the world isn’t so easy.

She was crying like a child, beating her chest. Startled, Coco jumped down and hid under the desk.

Coco’s yellow eyes in the darkness stared directly at Kim Dan.

“To Mom, you’re still a seven-year-old child whining that you miss Mom, that you can’t do anything without Mom, Dan…”

‘….’

Dan’s eyes wavered. What is it? Why are you talking about my death like that? Wasn’t it a heart attack, sudden death, or something like that?

Something that had been shaking inside snapped, and Dan’s body staggered.

“Ugh!”

Black blood soaked her chest. Dan looked down at her wet hand in disbelief.

“…Daughter? Is it really Dan? Am I dreaming?”

“…Mom?”

“Dan, Dan!”

Mom hugged Dan’s body, crying endlessly.

Ah. It’s warm. With that final thought, Dan lost consciousness.

“Honey, what’s wrong? You again…”

“She was here! Our Dan was here!”

“You saw an illusion. I’ll ask to move up the counseling appointment scheduled for next week. So please… let Dan go.”

Ah. Did God grant me one last mercy? To say goodbye to this sudden farewell.

‘I love you.’

Mom. Dad. Coco. Friends.

And this noisy, cold world. A fragment of life where I laughed without worry, pieces of happy moments.

“Stop it! There’s nothing we can do!”

Fei blocked Russell. Russell, who had stopped moving, slowly raised his head.

His eyes, which had always shone with intelligence and neatness, had completely lost focus.

His bloodshot eyes were hardly recognizable as those of Duke Bertrand.

“…Move aside.”

“You’ll die at this rate! Just come back within two hours.”

“Come back?”

After Summer disappeared, Damian went to the underground archives to find relevant books, and Fei and Russell remained in the prayer room.

Russell searched frantically under the fountain until dawn, his body completely soaked.

Perhaps from being in the cold water for too long, his body was shaking, but Russell was already close to losing his mind.

“You said she was a witch.”

“Yes. She was once a pope. Impressive, right?”

“What happened to Summer?”

Russell, his eyes finally showing some sanity, asked as he pushed his wet hair back.

His demeanor was so fierce that one wrong answer might send him chasing to the end of the world, no matter who it was.

“It seems her physical body was temporarily transported to that world all at once. Anyway, the physical body can’t last long in that world, so she’ll be back soon.”

“Going back. Summer wanted to go back. Can she go back now, in this situation?”

“…I can’t guarantee it now. If even her physical body was sucked in… the connection between body and soul must have been stronger than we thought. It’s a big problem if it exceeds two hours, but there’s still plenty of time.”

“…”

“Isn’t it good for you too if Summer comes back? Why such a gloomy face?”

“That’s what I wanted, not what Summer wanted.”

“What?”

Fei asked back with a dumbfounded expression.

Even so, there’s no need to look so gloomy when Summer is said to be returning to this world.

“Summer wanted to go back. She wanted to find her real name and reclaim the life she left behind there. My feelings aren’t important in that process.”

“…How severe. Anyway, it shouldn’t take long. As far as I know, time flows slower in this world than in that world.”

Fei clicked her tongue lightly and was about to leave the prayer room.

“Wait.”

Fei stopped at Russell’s voice.

“What’s the true nature of this place? Can Summer see another world just by falling into this water? How?”

“What’s in there is just water.”

“…”

Russell’s eyes sharply turned to Fei. Russell was now sensitive and on edge.

He had silently searched inside the fountain trying to find a way, but inside he was already a mess.

Maybe, as Summer said, this world might be terrible. The world constantly, endlessly makes humans powerless and takes away what’s precious.

“What’s important is the fountain itself. When the temple was completely destroyed and rebuilt, there was only one thing that remained undamaged, and that’s this fountain.”

“You’re saying. This has been here since then.”

“Yes. It certainly has some mysterious power. After all, it’s part of the temple that the Creator had us build, so wouldn’t it contain a strong divine will?”

“Divine will.”

Even the one called pope had spoken about divine will.

What on earth is this divine will? Is it manipulating and controlling the people in this world at will?

“…Damn it.”

Russell muttered a curse under his breath as he rolled up his wet shirt sleeves.

“That fountain is the only place that connects the world where God lives and the world we live in.”

“…”

“It’s also the place where God’s will remains the strongest.”

Leaving only those words, Fei swiftly left the prayer room.

After Fei left, Russell roughly pulled off his tie and threw it on the floor.

He felt utterly powerless. Was this how it felt to be unable to gain something no matter how hard you tried?

It had been so long ago that he had momentarily forgotten. The world had always taken what was most precious to Russell and forced roles upon him.

If it wanted such a role from him, couldn’t it at least have saved his mother?

“Ha, haha…”

Russell burst into a hollow laugh.

Every moment had been his best effort. He could confidently say there wasn’t a moment without effort. And yet this was the outcome.

His mother eventually succumbed to her illness, and Russell became more accustomed to caring for the empire than for himself.

And now even Summer.

“So this is how you felt. This is how you felt…”

Russell mumbled. Now, now he thought he understood a little of Summer’s looks, those expressions. That’s when it happened.

“…”

It was just a small trigger.

As Russell was about to roll up his shirt sleeve further, he glimpsed black writing under the fabric that had become transparent from the water.

It was the writing Summer had left before departing.

As Russell took off his shirt, the writing became clearly visible.

−Hello. I have come here, crossing worlds.

It was the first line of the neatly written text.