“Why did you put a restriction on it…”“What if someone came to take you away? That’s why I set it up… but maybe I made it too strong. I can’t undo it. Looks like you’ll have to release it from the inside.”“…Wait a second.”Uichan pushed himself up, unsteady. At once, a sharp pain twisted through his abdomen, enough to make his back ache. He pressed his hand over his belly to soothe the children.“Yeah, hold on, just wait a bit. I’ll give you some chocolate milk.”He’d have to ask Hyde to buy some sweet milk later. Calming the little ones, Uichan crawled across the floor toward the door — but the closer he got, the worse the pain grew. Eventually he collapsed forward, pressing his forehead to the floor.“Hyde… I—it hurts too much… I’ll… open it… l—later.”Beyond the sliding door, only uneasy silence answered him.Was it really Hyde?His eyes widened as he realized the pain had lessened once he’d moved away from the door.If it wasn’t Hyde… then who? A villain? Or… a goblin?Keeping his lips tightly shut, Uichan glared at the door. He looked around for something to use as a weapon and spotted a candlestick. He grabbed it, took a deep breath, and watched the shifting shadow. Then came a faint sound — a brushing against the wall, a low scrape.He looked up, following the sound. Above his head was a large, semicircular window. The sound stopped. The silence that followed was so deep he could’ve heard a needle drop.Then — shff, shff — it came again, near the window. Uichan reacted instinctively, springing to his feet.Crash—!Something burst straight through the window. Uichan swung the candlestick, knocking it aside, and bolted for the door. But before he got far, a hand clamped over his mouth from behind.“Mm!”The palm was so large it covered half his face. He kicked and thrashed wildly, but the intruder yanked his arms behind him and twisted them up cruelly. The pain forced his knees to buckle, and he fell.“Ugh!”“To tear through a restriction, nothing beats a duokshini’s hand. I even smeared it with Lord Aengak’s blood — this much is nothing.”Uichan struggled to lift his head. The man’s skin was scorched dark, his hair snow-white, his eyes a burning red. From between the strands of hair jutted two blue horns.A goblin.The creature grinned, showing sharp white teeth.“You lot, right? The ones who dismembered my brother? Then you must be the one.”Uichan sucked in a breath. Brother? This one was different from the goblins he’d seen before — larger by a head, his aura more vicious, strange patterns marking his face.He thought fast. If the “brother” he mentioned was the goblin Hyde had captured and taken to the dungeon, then this one had come for revenge.But when the goblin’s eyes lowered to a certain spot, Uichan’s face drained of color.“There’s something here, isn’t there?”The place he gestured to — was Uichan’s belly. His eyes went wide in horror, and the goblin smiled again.“Don’t worry. I’m the only one who knows. Before my brother died, he whispered it to me through a ritual. Told me to bring you back — said it would be a great offering.”“Mmph! Mmmph!”His struggling did nothing. The goblin, still holding him, ripped through the restriction and shoved the sliding door open. Harsh sunlight poured down like rain.“How am I supposed to carry those little things inside you alive? Can’t rip them out by force… tch, humans are so damn fragile!”The goblin clutched his small head in one massive hand and stepped down the veranda to the yard. But just then, the body in his grip went limp. Frowning, the goblin grabbed a handful of hair and lifted him. Uichan’s eyes were closed, his body completely slack — unconscious.Then the ground began to shake violently. Boom, boom — the tremors grew stronger. Startled, the goblin staggered and grabbed a pillar for balance. Dust and rocks lifted off the ground, suspended in midair. A suffocating pulse of power filled the air. The goblin’s gaze darted back to the human’s belly — that was the source.Boom. The earth roared again. The ground beneath them heaved upward, cracking open. The soil that tore loose gathered into a massive clump and swallowed Uichan whole. A slab of rock sliced through, severing the goblin’s arm at the elbow.“Damn it, what the—!”He yanked the severed arm back and leapt away. What stood before him now was a giant sphere of earth — a togu, a ball of soil and stone encasing the human completely. The «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» goblin stared in shock, then gritted his teeth and reattached his arm.He had to take him. No matter what.Eyes blazing red, he reached toward the sphere.***Flames blazed through the warehouse. Ji Woojae ran through the smoke, frantically searching for someone.—Father!The ceiling collapsed, fire licking across his back, but the man kept running, screaming into the sulfurous heat. He stumbled through a charred doorway and into a room—There, a young man lay on the floor, covered in blood, beautiful even in ruin. Woojae froze.—…Hey… you came… Why… only now…The voice was faint, brittle as glass. The man’s dim eyes were the color of rusted red metal, fading like dying embers. Woojae’s knees gave out as he fell beside him.And at that moment, he understood — hell was close at hand.Flash—Curled up in his sleep, Woojae suddenly jolted awake, like someone who’d just tripped. He sat up, eyes darting around. The familiar sight of his shabby house greeted him: yellowed linoleum, furniture patched together with tape, trash bags tied tight in a corner beside the unthrown recyclables.“Th-thank god…”Realizing it had only been a dream, Woojae wiped cold sweat from his face. Foam flecked his lips; he wiped it off with his sleeve and slumped against the wall, blinking like a frightened dog.“I’m hungry…”He searched his pockets — only an empty candy wrapper. It was from the candy Uichan had bought him not long ago. He stared at it gloomily, then crawled toward the fridge. Opening it revealed nothing but a single bottle of water inside.He grabbed it and drank greedily before closing the door and sitting back down. The house was dark, curtains drawn, but despite its age, it wasn’t dirty or messy — just plain and quiet.Woojae crawled to the old dresser and rummaged through it. A few crumpled bills turned up. It had been a week since he’d left the house — ever since that man with the white eyes had appeared.—Hey. We’ve met before, haven’t we? You know who I am. I didn’t want to show up because of Uichan, but I have to warn you. The thing inside you tried to kill innocent people.At the memory of Hyde’s voice, Woojae’s shoulders trembled. He tapped his fingernails anxiously against each other.—Relax. I contained it before it could do anything, and pulled you out. Now, what should our Woojae-friend do?—Keep it sealed. Don’t let it out. You don’t want another tragedy, do you?Even normally, Hyde terrified him. Just looking into those pale eyes made him feel like every sin he’d ever committed was being exposed.Since then, Woojae had locked himself away, refusing to give control to Jekyll Jack again. He’d stayed shut in until all the food ran out, crouched with his head between his knees, shutting his eyes and ears while Jekyll Jack’s furious voice echoed in his skull — until even that went quiet.Now his empty stomach growled like thunder.“Maybe I should… just step out for a bit…”If he went out for a short while and came back, it would be fine, he told himself. Maybe he could even visit Uichan. Slowly, he looked toward the front door. His stomach growled again, and he finally got up.That was when — crash! A bird burst through the window.Screaming, Woojae threw his arms over his head.—You fool! Jekyll Jack, you fool! What do we do, what do we do!“U-ugh—!”The talking bird made him shriek and flail. It was one of Mother Ship’s puppets. He always panicked at talking animals, but this time the bird dug its claws into his hair and screeched.—Wake up, you idiot! The youngest is gone! He’s been kidnapped!Woojae froze mid-swing, eyes widening. He grabbed the bird in both hands, foam gathering again at the corners of his mouth.“Uichan! What— what happened to our Uichan!”—You idiot… the youngest was taken by a goblin! You have to go after him now! Let Jekyll Jack out!The bird flapped frantically, smacking his hands with its wings.

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