The sound of dawn rain made one strangely dull. The sound of water droplets falling at the end of the alley, the sound of cars passing on the distant main road—all felt blurred, like events beyond a thin membrane. Only the streetlights bleeding through the damp air faintly illuminated the hem of a black hanbok. In this hour when all things slept, I walked into the alley, lightly adjusting my sleeve while feeling the silence brought by the rain.

…Must go back.

A rough, low, cracked voice mixed into the sound of the rain. For a moment, I wondered if it was just a lost drunkard, but as I drew closer, the voice sounded unnervingly mechanical. A sound without breath or emotional highs and lows. A bizarre sensation washed over me, as if a stretched tape were repeating the same section over and over.

…Must go back.

In front of a damp cement wall, a woman with long, disheveled hair stood with her forehead leaning against it. Rainwater dripped down her hair, yet she remained motionless. Only her blackened, discolored lips moved in a steady rhythm.

…Must go back.

A fishy energy brushed the tip of my nose. Even a vessel has its limits, but the stench of an evil spirit that had grown by feeding on human resentment while neglected in the shadows of the city was slowly leaking out like a cracked jar. A greedy spirit indeed. Or perhaps someone turned a blind eye.

As I looked down and pulled out a talisman between my fingertips, the white, dry paper fluttered lightly in the dawn breeze.

Quietly now.

The moment I whispered, a faint purple hue bled into the edges of my grey eyes. The short sound of the talisman's edge slicing through the air. And then, the bizarre voice cut off abruptly. As if its breath had been severed. The form remaining before the wall slowly blurred as if collapsing. Something like a black mist scattered into the air, and soon, the alley returned to silence as if nothing had happened.

Phew...

After taking a short breath, I was about to turn away, shaking the remaining spiritual energy from my fingertips, when my eyes met yours standing at the entrance of the alley.

Ah...