Laila’s gaze fixed intently on the child. Then, she looked at the portrait in the fallen frame on the floor.

It’s a different child, Laila thought. The child in the portrait had hair of uneven lengths on each side.

As if someone had forcibly cut the child’s hair crudely, the ends were unevenly chopped. The child she saw in the forest was the one in the portrait. But…

“You…”

Laila stared down at the girl with braided hair, her lips barely moving.

“What’s your name?”

“You want to know my name?”

The girl asked.

—Knowing the name of ‘something’ can sometimes be dangerous, Laila.

Laila nodded, recalling what her mother had said.

But it couldn’t get any more dangerous than this. Could there be a worse situation than being alone in this unknown place with no one around?

No, I still need to know, Laila thought.

“Yes, your name.”

“Are you really curious?”

Laila nodded again. The girl smiled brightly, slightly shaking her braids, and said,

“My name is Smulkin.”

“Smulkin.”

Laila repeated, swallowing dryly and nodding. Her throat felt sore. It was as if someone’s fist was blocking her windpipe.

Smulkin said,

“You’ll be ‘it’ first. When I hide, you have to find me.”

“Should I count?”

“Of course! You must count very loudly. So I can hear you no matter where I am. Otherwise, you’re breaking the rules.”

The child’s latter words were chillingly cheerful. It seemed as if she was desperately hoping Laila would break the rules. And if Laila did break the rules of the game, there was no telling what this child might do.

Nodding, Laila said,

“Alright. How high should I count?”

“Up to twenty-two. You know how to count to twenty-two, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Good, then start counting! I’ll hide! The seeker has to find!”

As Laila turned her back, the giggling laughter faded away instantly. The sound of footsteps, though faint… was audible. Intermittently.

“Seven, eight, nine.”

Laila counted at a steady pace with her eyes tightly shut. It was almost like shouting.

Loud enough to make this old house tremble. She thought the house might collapse even before she finished counting to twenty-two. She actually felt the wall she was leaning her forehead against shaking…

Who cares. Let it collapse. Laila thought. If the house collapses, that little girl won’t be able to play anymore.

“Twenty-one, twenty-two.”

After counting to the end, Laila slowly opened her eyes. And she realized that the portrait that had fallen to the floor had somehow returned to the wall.

Stay calm. Laila took a deep breath. It’s no longer the time to be surprised by things like frames finding their way back to their place on their own, right?

Yes, it’s past that. Way past it. You can do much more than that.

Someone’s voice cheerfully whispered in her head. It was that very voice she occasionally heard, the one that usually only instilled guilt in her. Laila now clearly knew that it wasn’t just her imagination.

“I might be going crazy.”

Laila muttered as she stepped onto the first step of the stairs leading to the upper floor. There was a creaking sound. The entire staircase might collapse if she wasn’t careful.

“Maybe I am crazy. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to get out of here.”

Her steps quickened as she spoke to herself with determination.

“The sink’s reaction was the same as before.”

The team member who had returned from searching around the sink as per Eustar’s orders reported. He said that the phenomenon of the sink disappearing when approached beyond a certain range and reappearing when moving away repeated itself.

Marnak and Eustar looked at each other with dark expressions.

Eustar, looking down at the map marking the location of the sink, asked,

“The sink’s form? Is it typical?”

The team member who heard the question nodded with a puzzled expression.

“Yes, sir Eustar.”

“Are you sure? Didn’t you see anything different?”

“Different as in…”

“Like a wardrobe. An old wardrobe.”

At that, the gazes of all the people gathered around suddenly turned to Eustar. They were bewildered expressions.

The team member said,

“I didn’t see anything like that. The sink was in the exact form we’re all familiar with. Just a very black hole shape. That’s all.”

“But it was clearly a wardrobe.”

Silence fell. Eustar paced around the table anxiously and then said emphatically,

“It clearly had the form of a wardrobe. The sink was inside it, or something very similar to a sink. Laila was sucked into it, and then the people who had appeared in the forest disappeared. As if…”

“Like sand scattering, you mean.”

Marnak finished his sentence.

The sudden appearance of a sink in an old wardrobe was hard to imagine, but he could understand precisely that the people chased by the ‘seeker’ had disappeared like sand. He had seen it with his own eyes.

Eustar nodded.

“We need to find a way to approach the sink. Without Laila, one of us needs to see the ‘core’. Who has the highest authority? Excluding Marnak.”

Then Robsker raised her right hand.

“It’s me, sir Eustar.”

“Weren’t you a combat specialist for monsters?”

Robsker shrugged.

“That’s true, but I’ve succeeded in an overlay once. Honestly, I think it was thanks to my physical endurance.”

“Side effects?”

“Other than not being able to sleep for a month due to nightmares, and crying like a baby in the middle of the night while crawling under the bed to hide? None.”

Short groans and sighs flowed out simultaneously. Eustar’s fingers pressed against his temple as if to squeeze it.

Although Robsker spoke as if it was nothing, the side effects she experienced were serious.

Even though she had succeeded in an overlay once, it was, as Robsker said, merely due to her physical strength, mental fortitude, and luck aligning. There was no guarantee that she wouldn’t fail if she tried again this time.

Marnak said,

“We had team members who were relatively familiar with overlays, but last time when multiple sinks appeared in the western region… We lost many team members trying to resolve that incident. Since reinforcements are not easy, we somehow…”

“I know, Marnak. I understand.”

Eustar waved his hand in response, his eyes momentarily turning cold. The simultaneous appearance of multiple sinks…

Yes, he remembered receiving that report.

At that time, he was wandering far from the western region, even the capital, in search of the ‘one with eyes’, namely Laila. Therefore, he could only offer condolences from afar for the unfortunate victory of the Adiak branch.

“Marnak, was there a disaster when the sinks appeared?”

Generally, sinks appear as independent phenomena, but occasionally, when they have strong energy, they can cause small to medium-scale natural disasters. Or when monsters appear, it could happen too.

Marnak answered,

“There was. A monster, Echeneis, appeared from a sink on the coast and caused a tsunami. It wasn’t large-scale, but all the houses on the mountainside were damaged.”

Echeneis was a monster in the form of a giant fish without scales.

It had two legs similar to human ones, which allowed it to swim and run simultaneously, causing storms and tsunamis. When Echeneis caused a tsunami, even the largest sailing ship could capsize like a paper boat.

“That’s it.”

Eustar clenched his fist and circled around the table. Then he rummaged through reports and documents related to the sink.

“The tsunami caused by Echeneis must have collapsed houses, resulting in casualties. Someone among them must have created this sink. And it’s likely to be a child. Do we have a list of casualties from that incident? Is it documented?”

“It’s in the archives, sir Eustar.”

A team member answered. At Eustar’s gesture, he turned on a machine device with a rounded top. The so-called archive was also a device operated by magic, used to store important data separately in case documents were lost.

“Look for two things: Echeneis and tsunami.”

“It will be mixed with the sink appearance reports. Please wait a moment.”

The team member’s fingers moved across a smooth black panel. Each time his hand touched and grazed the panel, a humming sound resonated. It was a magical reaction.

“I’ve found it.”

“Display it.”

A translucent smoke-like substance flickered on the side of the ‘archive’, and soon a glass-like shape began to form. Eustar immediately recognized the image of the child that appeared on the screen. That strange hairstyle…

The team member said,

“Among the casualties at the time of the tsunami, there was only one child. Rilin Donok, ten years old.”

Marnak furrowed his brow.

“Ten years old? She looks much younger than that.”

The team member tilted his head in agreement. Then, Eustar spoke in a calm, subdued voice,

“She might not have grown due to malnutrition. She might have been a neglected child. Look at how her hair is cut. It’s hard for a ten-year-old child’s hair to be neglected to that extent without some circumstances.”

“There must have been many children living on the mountainside, why did only this child die?”

Robsker asked. The team member hurriedly found other documents and displayed them for everyone to see.

“When the alert about the monster Echeneis’s appearance sounded, most of the villagers evacuated. In houses with children, parents prioritized taking care of their children. But this child probably didn’t have parents at home or…”

“Even if they were there, they abandoned her.”

At Eustar’s words, everyone, including the team member who was continuing the explanation, fell silent. It was the worst scenario they didn’t want to think about, but it wasn’t entirely impossible. In fact, the probability was very high.

Eustar said,

“Alright, let’s divide into teams. One team will search all the surrounding areas starting from the closest, to see if any of Rilin Donok’s parents are still alive. Use all available communication methods and report back to me within two hours. Branch Director Marnak will be in charge.”

Marnak nodded. Then Eustar looked at the combat team members, including Robsker.

“The other team will approach the sink. Do we have anything left from when we eliminated Echeneis?”

“We have its heart and claws.”

When Robsker answered, Eustar nodded as if that would do.

“Let’s use the heart if possible. She’ll probably like that more.”