In the room where the four of them sat.

"It can’t be..."

Jeong Myeongja kept wringing the handkerchief in her hands.

"So you’re saying he came last night? And you... the hospital..."

"How many times are you going to ask! That’s enough, I’m sick of it!"

Chae Boksun hurriedly cut her off, and Jeong Myeongja shut her mouth.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Boksun lowered her voice.

"...I don’t know the details myself. Kim’s head isn’t right, what can you expect from him."

Jeong Myeongja pressed her lips tightly together, but in the end, she burst into tears.

"Then... what are we going to do about our Tie... sob...?"

She wiped her reddened eyes with the handkerchief.

"She’s already been through so much, and now her father is sick too... When the child went missing, of course I was relieved it didn’t end even worse, but..."

Watching Jeong Myeongja cry, Tie lowered her gaze.

She fidgeted awkwardly and stepped closer.

"Auntie. Tie is okay."

The child clumsily wrapped her arms around her.

"Tie really didn’t suffer... Tie was fine with Papa. So don’t cry... okay?"

Jeong Myeongja nodded quickly, wiping her tears.

With a trembling hand, she stroked Tie’s head again and again.

"Oh... Auntie’s not crying. I’m just happy to see you. But how did you come back with your father? Did you find your way home on your own? Where have you been all this time?"

Tie couldn’t answer and fell silent.

Her brows drooped.

'I want to tell Auntie and Grandma everything.'

But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t.

What had happened months ago in apartment 106.

How she had gone to the Tallocium Empire, how she met Papa, and how she came back.

The passage that had opened last night flashed before her eyes again.

[Tie! Always be careful!]

Now she could understand it from just a glance.

How much Basto worried about her.

And not just him.

[Don’t skip meals!]

[Miss! Miss!]

Even in the most dangerous moments, Bale had worried first about whether Tie had eaten.

And Ribia, calling her by that strange title, desperately searching for her.

'And the chairman’s princess, and Uncle Leonardo, and everyone at the base—they’re all waiting for Tie.'

Clinging to Jeong Myeongja’s neck, the girl looked up gloomily.

Since last night, the sphere had been floating above her head.

Yesterday it had been transparent, but now its lower half had turned a faint gold.

According to Marru, that meant Tie’s magic was steadily accumulating inside it.

"Actually..."

The child, who had been silent until now, struggled to open her mouth.

At that moment—

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The metal door suddenly shook violently.

Startled, Jeong Myeongja dropped her handkerchief.

Tie also flinched and instinctively ran to her father.

From outside came a drunken voice, as if it had been waiting for this.

"Hey, damn it! Open the door!"

Jeong Myeongja let out a quiet groan.

"I know you’re in there! Come out! If you don’t come out right now—hic!—I’ll smash everything here!!"

An umbrella that Chae Boksun had placed by the entrance flew into the frosted glass.

"Open it! What, you’re not going to open it?!"

Pressed against her father, Tie blinked in fear.

The voice sounded familiar.

"Auntie..."

After thinking for a moment, the child called out to Jeong Myeongja.

As far as Tie remembered, that man rarely came to this house.

The man from unit 203.

He was usually quiet, but when he smelled of alcohol—it was better to stay away.

'Sometimes he shouted at Auntie and cursed...'

"Over here, over here!"

At that moment, the grandmother from unit 107 suddenly pulled them up.

She shoved Tie and Tesetan into the small bathroom next to the room.

"Stay quiet."

Pressing a finger to her lips, she quickly shut the door.

Soon, the sound of the metal door opening came from outside.

"Have you lost your mind! Why are you throwing an umbrella at someone else’s door!"

"Old woman! You too... hic... don’t start!"

"What do you mean don’t start!"

"Didn’t you let her stay here the night before last too?! Huh?!"

At the shouting that echoed through the alley, Jeong Myeongja began to cry.

"I told you—no! I just stopped by on my way back from the store! I was about to leave! Come on, let’s go!"

"Let go!"

Something crashed loudly.

Tie’s eyes trembled as she looked at the light seeping through the crack of the door.

"This is all because of you! Because of you, my life’s gone to hell! And you still think you can leave me? You dare?!"

"Please, just stop!"

"You’re not going anywhere. Even if I die, I won’t let you get divorced. Get out here right now!"

The sound of the woman from unit 203 being dragged was heard, with the grandmother from 107 rushing after her.

"I’ll call the police! I’ll call them right now!"

With a bang, the metal door slammed shut.

Tie blinked slowly.

Without realizing it, Tesetan had gripped her hand.

The child’s fingers turned white from the pressure.

The cold bathroom.

Only the sound of dripping water echoed softly in the silence.

Tie whispered:

"...This is because of Tie."

Tears had already filled her eyes. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"He probably came because Tie came back."

Everyone in the alley knew that the man from 203 had dirty hands.

But while Tie and Tesetan lived in 106, he had been much quieter.

Sometimes a police officer would come here to see Tie.

And most importantly, that man was secretly afraid of Papa.

'But Papa disappeared... and Tie left too.'

Her small back began to tremble.

"Tie left this place... and the auntie from 203..."

In her mind appeared the magic crystals she had taken as the King of the Dead.

Tie had earned a lot of gold, made donations, handed out Tanipan dolls to her new friends at school.

"I shouldn’t have been doing that."

Tie was foolish.

After gaining power that had come like a gift, that was all she had done.

But there had been something far more important.

"And Grandma too..."

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Grandma is sick too."

Grandma had said it wasn’t true.

That the cough was just from choking.

But even Tie could no longer ignore it.

The hat Grandma never took off, even when sleeping.

The constant coughing.

The smell of medicine every time she came back.

And finally—

'So you’re saying he came last night? And you... the hospital...'

The word "hospital" that the aunt from 203 had said.

"Tie is stupid..."

Her lips trembled.

"Tie is a bad girl!"

Grandma looked like a sick person.

People like that appeared in insurance commercials after music programs.

And the same frightening words were always said there.

'Cancer,' 'funeral,' 'death.'

"And Tie didn’t even realize... and only asked for fried eggs...!"

Tears fell like beads from her eyes.

But—

"Tie will fix everything."

In the next moment, she quickly wiped her eyes.

When the child lifted her head, determination had already filled her gaze.

"Tie will heal Auntie and Grandma."

And at that same moment, the air turned sharply cold.

A ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ piercing wind rushed into the alley, making the bathroom window rattle.