The next day, I received a call from Baek Sang-ho.

He said the preliminary map of the second city was ready and told me to come pick it up. Yoon Tae-ha had lunch and left the accommodation alone for a walk.

On her way back, holding the stiff, thick paper map she hadn’t felt in a long time, she ran into Raphael.

Raphael gave her new information.

“I heard Kuagua messed up the food storage.”

The food storage? Yoon Tae-ha’s eyebrows furrowed with worry. There was no place more important than the food storage in the camp.

“It’ll take quite a while for supplies to come in, won’t it?”

“Fortunately, nothing spoiled. That guy was scraping ice to eat in the empty freezer.”

In the paper cup Raphael held, there were long, thin slices of carrot. Was he going to give the carrots to Kuagua? Just as she was wondering, Raphael took one out and ate it deliciously.

“Do you like carrots?”

“Are you talking about this? This isn’t a carrot.”

Raphael shook the orange vegetable slice that smelled strongly of carrots. It looked like a carrot no matter how you looked at it.

“Then is it a distant relative of the carrot?”

“This is a special plant that can only be eaten near the Raven’s Garden. They call it a pumpkin carrot here.”

If they called it a pumpkin carrot here, it meant he had a different way of calling it. Yoon Tae-ha added another piece of evidence to the hypothesis she had formed on the plane.

‘No matter how I think about it, Raphael is overly interested in the Raven’s Garden.’

He also seemed to know a lot about this unknown land. He tried to gloss over it with a smile. No, in fact, it felt like he was giving her clues to some extent. Like, dig here now. Suspect me. Wasn’t he subtly hinting?

“Raphael, there are no surveillance cameras in this area. You know that, right?”

“Is this a death threat? Surely you’re not going to harm me because you’re blinded by something to eat?”

“I’ve never even eaten it, a pumpkin carrot.”

“Tsk. Do you really think you’ll live well doing that?”

A line from a daytime drama character popped out of the strange foreigner’s mouth. Come to think of it, Raphael had been fuming while watching a melodrama on the plane to this place.

“You can’t be picky with food.”

His skill at forcing lines into completely different situations was quite something. She tried to hold onto her scattering concentration.

“You threw me a clue, didn’t you?”

Raphael, who had been crunching on the vegetable, pretended to be oblivious.

“What clue?”

Yoon Tae-ha looked around and then frankly pushed forward with her hypothesis.

“Did you cross over to Earth from the Raven’s Garden?”

“Oh?”

“That’s why you followed this time. Of course, I don’t know the purpose. There might be some hidden treasure here, or something you lost.”

His sky-blue eyes gleamed calculatively.

“Interesting. Continue, Tae-ha.”

Contrary to Raphael’s expectations, she suddenly stopped talking. Her expression was nonchalant.

“That’s all.”

“...That’s it?”

“Raphael, I’m not in a technical field, nor am I in research. With the clues you gave me, this is all I can come up with.”

She feigned ignorance and stepped back. It was an ambiguous evasion.

Raphael frowned. Why wasn’t she saying more? The puzzled look on his face as he reached for the paper cup revealed it was empty. He licked his lips with a look of disappointment.

“Tae-ha. Is this all you’ve got? I dropped so many hints.”

“If you want me to figure it out myself, I’ll come back in a week. If things get busy, I might remember after returning to Korea.”

The foreigner suddenly fell silent. An undeniable cold aura emanated from him. Tension began to swirl on the deserted path of the camp, where there were no surveillance cameras.

“I’m going to be really busy once I cross over to Cocytus. As you know, I’m an ace in the field.”

This kind of thing was Seo Do-jin’s specialty. Naturally, gilding his own image. Yoon Tae-ha waited for the foreigner’s reply, regretting her slightly awkward gaze.

According to her thoughts, Raphael wanted to do something while staying in the green sea. Some action that shouldn’t be known by the company. It would naturally be illegal. He would probably violate numerous agreements. It was likely something Raphael couldn’t do alone. People who hid their true intentions showed it somewhere.

After much deliberation, Raphael slowly stroked his chin and opened his mouth.

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll trust you.”

He handed the paper cup to Yoon Tae-ha’s palm. Why are you giving me your trash? Before she could even voice the question, he gripped her wrist painfully.

Just as Yoon Tae-ha was about to groan at the painful grip, the ground suddenly gave way beneath her feet. Yoon Tae-ha lost her balance and staggered. Beside her, Raphael chuckled softly.

The visible scenery changed from the base camp to another place in an instant.

“Ah!”

She fell with a final scream. Her knees felt numb. She quickly used all her senses to grasp the situation.

A pungent sulfur smell stung her nose. Damp soil touched her palms. Looking at it, she saw soil as red as blood. Raising her head again, she saw a sky covered with dark clouds. It was a sky where hundreds of monsters could fall at any moment.

“Space teleportation...”

She murmured. Raphael stood tall and looked straight ahead. Yoon Tae-ha slowly got up, her face overwhelmed by the space.

“If my hunch is correct, this must be Phlegethon. A lake with red water flowing.”

“That’s correct. And the answer to your first murmur is also correct.”

The place where they stood was a small island floating in the middle of the lake. The lake surrounding the island was a red color that would be etched in her mind and never forgotten.

“I didn’t know you could even teleport.”

“Don’t be afraid. It’s only possible in specific areas.”

“Does your power only return near the Raven’s Garden?”

“You’re only picking the right answers.”

“I’m doing my best.”

Raphael moved only the corners of his lips to form a smile. His sky-blue eyes, in contrast to the red lake, were completely different from when he was engrossed in the drama. Arrogant and cold eyes looked down at her.

Suddenly, the thought that he might throw her into the water crossed her mind. Should she prepare for an attack? The one who had made the ring noticed Yoon Tae-ha’s thoughts and coldly rebuked her.

“It’s useless to try and attack me with a weapon I created.”

“Then, before I get even more scared, please tell me why you brought me here.”

“You know what’s on the other side of this lake, don’t you?”

“Lethe. The lake of oblivion.”

“I want to go there.”

Did she hear correctly? She asked back with an astonished expression.

“You can’t go there by teleporting, so you’re telling me to go, right?”

“Correct.”

Suddenly, Raphael reached out his right hand. A white ring formed on his finger, where nothing had been before. Just like a ring. Yoon Tae-ha subconsciously hid her right hand behind her back.

“So easily frightened.”

The man with the white ring murmured quietly. At that moment, a flash of light like a flashbang erupted from his ring. She let out a short scream.

“Ah!”

You liked drama previews so much, you should have given me a warning! The bright light stung her eyes terribly.

She could only open her eyes after the light had disappeared for a long time. When their eyes met, Raphael pointed somewhere with his finger.

“Look over there.”

The burst of light had left a pure white path on the water’s surface. It looked as if only that part had frozen white. But the path he created didn’t last long. The lake water began to melt the white crystals.

Like a melting glacier, the path he created sank below the surface in an instant. Yoon Tae-ha wore a sullen expression.

“That’s a sight that makes you think about environmental awareness. I want to treat Kuagua well.”

“Your tongue is still sharp.”

“Should I be feeling something else?”

“I want to go beyond this.”

“I don’t have the ability to do something greater than what Raphael just did.”

Raphael abruptly furrowed his brow.

“Of course not. Someone like you.”

She was about to feel a surge of defiance, but when she saw the ring on Raphael’s finger, that feeling quickly subsided.

“I need green feathers. If I use them, I can build a bridge to cross Phlegethon.”

“I see. It looks like you have a stepping stone construction plan.”

“You will build it. That stepping stone.”

“Unauthorized construction is a major crime by Earth standards.”

“I will absolve you of your sins.”

The judge wouldn’t absolve her. At most, Raphael would put pumpkin carrots in her commissary.

“If you have a decent amount of green feathers, you can go to the other side of this river. So you will bring them to me.”

Where should she even begin to say it was impossible? Yoon Tae-ha felt frustrated. Since he seemed stronger than her, she decided to explain calmly.

“As you know, I don’t have a green stone in my hand. I have to steal it from Orca.”

“I suppose so.”

“Stealing it isn’t the end of the matter. ARC is definitely not a company that would allow an individual to take such special materials as they please.”

Raphael smirked slyly.

“I’m also an employee.”

Are you doing this knowing that? The gloomy surrounding scenery, like being in hell, no longer caught Yoon Tae-ha’s eye.

“So, are you saying I should steal a significant amount of green feathers from Orca’s base, and then bring them to you while avoiding ARC’s eyes again?”

“That’s right.”

“Why me?”

Raphael, who had insisted on the absurd and unfair contract, shrugged confidently.

“Because I know your mother.”

At those words, Yoon Tae-ha’s face slowly contorted in shock. The fine hairs on her arms stood on end. Could it be that this man, my...? Raphael read her expression and lost his composure, exploding in anger like a thunderbolt. It was tremendous rage.

“What are you imagining! I am not your father!”

Yoon Tae-ha sighed in relief.

“Apologize!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t ever say such a thing again unless you want to die.”

Raphael and Yoon Tae-ha simultaneously took time to calm down. After a moment, she spoke.

“You’re not going to mention the names of my parents listed on the documents, are you? Just because it’s marked confidential doesn’t mean it’s all true.”

Raphael clicked his tongue as if to say, “Do you think I’d be confused by something like that?”

“I’m talking about the woman who gave birth to you.”

Did he really know her mother? How?

“Are you sure?”

“Weren’t you already guessing? Yoon Jeong-hoon’s son is not your father. Of course, his wife didn’t give birth to you either.”

As her breathing began to quicken, Yoon Tae-ha covered her mouth with one hand. She held her breath and then inhaled the stale air again.

It was only after repeating this several times that her breathing returned to normal. But her heart was still beating faster and more intensely than usual. It felt like a huge drum was inside her.