Breaking through the suffocating fog of Ebony, Adin returned to Dr. O’s clinic, cradling Sori in his arms.

  His arms were so numb he could no longer feel them, and his entire body was a mess of sweat and grime. Yet, the faint, rhythmic heartbeat of Sori against his chest was the only anchor keeping him upright.

  When he pushed open the clinic door with a heavy thud, Adin froze in his tracks. Waiting for him alongside Dr. O were unexpected guests, their faces etched with worry.

  "Adin!"

  It was Lu. Seeing him return safely, she rushed toward him, her expression trembling as if she might burst into tears at any moment. However, Adin’s gaze was fixed past her, locked onto a man he had never seen before.

  It was Nathan.

  He had dark hair, skin so pale it was almost translucent, and wore thin, black-rimmed glasses that radiated an intellectual aura. When Adin had seen him through the vision of the hourglass, he had presumed Nathan to be an arrogant man who oppressed Lu—he had to believe that.

  Only then could his own jealousy and obsession with Lu be justified under the noble guise of 'salvation.'

  But Nathan was not the monster Adin had imagined. He approached quickly, gently taking the heavy backpack off Adin’s shoulders, and spoke in a low, trustworthy voice.

  "You’ve been through a lot, Adin. I’ve heard so much about you from Lu. I’m truly glad you’re safe."

  There was no trace of jealousy or suspicion in his eyes. Instead, they held only sincere concern for the exhausted Adin and the composed maturity of a man.

  Adin was flustered. Because the man before him was so gentle, kind, and such a 'perfect adult,' the hatred Adin had harbored found no place to land and simply scattered.

  The misery of realizing his rage wasn't a righteous struggle, but merely the tantrum of an immature child, pierced Adin’s heart.

  The treatment began swiftly. Dr. O instructed Adin to take the Solet from his pocket and dissolve it in distilled water. As the crushed Solet particles infused into the liquid, the once transparent water transformed into a mystical, shimmering silver fluid.

  "Now, we must apply this to the wounds little by little."

  Nathan and Lu moved in perfect unison, as if they had practiced this for a lifetime. Nathan wrapped Sori’s terrified, small body in a warm towel to soothe the creature, while Lu, with a delicate touch, applied the Solet-soaked cloth to Sori’s mutilated ears.

  Their harmony was so flawless that there wasn't a single inch of space for Adin to intervene.

  Then, a miracle occurred. As the Solet particles stimulated Sori’s cells, a transparent light began to emanate from the festering wounds.

  At an unbelievable speed, fresh pink flesh bloomed, and soft fur began to regrow where scars once dominated. As the massive ears—the symbol of the Auri—regained their shape, Sori let out a peaceful breath instead of a pained moan, recovering strength.

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  Sori slowly opened their eyes. The first thing the small creature did was look for Adin, the one who had first held them.

  Thanks to the devoted care of Lu and Nathan, Sori had returned from the brink of death. But even as Adin rejoiced in Sori's recovery, he felt a chilling emptiness, as if his own emotions were trapped in a labyrinth.

  The fiancé he needed to be a villain turned out to be an exceptionally good man, and at the end of the world he had risked his life to save, Lu looked perfectly at peace by another man’s side. Staring blankly at Sori’s regenerating ears, Adin asked himself what it was he had actually protected.

  As Sori’s wounds closed and new flesh filled the grand ears, the urgency that had filled the clinic receded like an ebbing tide. But the space it left behind was filled with a lingering discomfort that weighed on Adin’s chest.

  Nathan remained polite and kind. While looking after Lu, he frequently checked on Adin’s condition and suggested they all take the high-speed transit back to Ivory together.

  "It would be better to take the transit together, Adin. The atmosphere of Ebony will be too harsh for you right now. Lu also wants you to return comfortably."

  His offer was rational and kind. But Adin couldn't bring himself to blend into that goodwill. Just imagining himself, covered in the blood and dust of Ebony, sitting amidst the perfect scenery of Lu and Nathan side by side, made him feel suffocated.

  In a place where his hatred had lost its legitimacy, Adin packed his things as if fleeing.

  "No. I’ll go back the way I came."

  Adin looked at Sori. He wanted to leave the creature here, as Sori had only just regained strength, but Sori’s gaze was resolute.

  Standing on frail legs, Sori’s large, newly-grown ears quivered slightly before the creature lightly fluttered up onto Adin’s shoulder. Sori knew now—that this man had willingly thrown himself into danger for them.

  Even without words, the flapping of Sori's wings said: You are my master, and my place is only by your side.

  Dr. O, who had been quietly observing the situation, stepped in with a dry cough.

  "Ho ho, who could break that kind of stubbornness? Nathan, this lad is destined to learn how to walk alone. Just let him go."

  Thanks to Dr. O’s mediation, Adin was able to leave the clinic in a hurry. Lu followed him out as if to say something, but Adin couldn't bring himself to look back and plunged into the dark, long tunnel.

  Tap, tap.

  The sound of cold water splashing at his feet created long ripples through the silent tunnel. Adin suddenly recalled his younger self, the day he first crossed over to Ivory.

  Back then, he was a fragile boy who held his breath in fear of this darkness, gasping for air as he headed toward an invisible end.

  But the Adin of now was different.

  'What has changed?'

  Adin asked himself. He was no longer a boy moved solely by pure goodwill. He had selfishly flipped the hourglass that defied providence, and above all, he couldn't push someone who already had a fiancé out of his heart.

  He had accepted that he had become 'Gray'—someone capable of making decisions that weren't strictly 'good.'

  The pitch-black darkness of this tunnel, which he used to fear so much, now felt oddly comfortable. Perhaps it was because the darkness pooled within his own soul resembled the darkness of the tunnel.

  Just then, Sori, circling above Adin’s head, seemed to sense his sunken heart and vigorously flapped their wing-ears.

  The cool breeze created by Sori’s elegant wingbeats brushed against Adin’s cheek. In the gaps between the wind, Adin finally exhaled a held breath and let out a small smile.

  The fact that he wasn't alone, and the unconditional support from the life he had rescued, gently soothed his uneasy heart.

  Far in the distance, the dazzling light of Ivory began to burst from the end of the tunnel.

  When he first saw that light, there was only the fear of being blinded. But now, Adin’s eyes stared straight into it. Even if his feet were still in the Ebony tunnel where cold water pooled, Adin no longer wavered.

  A stronger, more hardened Adin was returning to the Monolith once again with Sori. It was no longer an object of longing, but a massive world where he had to live and prove himself.

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