[ Really? ]

The voice seemed pleased at the idea of conversation.

There was a hint of joy layering its tone. The echoing voice then faded away, and soon, a clear voice came from right beside her.

“Is this better?”

Hana turned her head to look up at it and raised her upper body. Even in the dream, the voice had taken on a human form, so it would be easier to communicate. However, the appearance it chose was unexpected.

“How…”

“You don’t like this form?”

The figure resembled Weed as if they were twins, yet it was distinctly shadowed. The long hair and eyes, in contrast to Weed’s fiery-colored hair and golden eyes, were dull and dark. The impression was very different, merely by the color.

If Weed was a refreshing, handsome man, this figure carried a slightly dangerous air.

It looked down at its form with a somewhat dissatisfied expression. Although it had claimed to dislike Weed, it seemed it would assume his form since Hana liked it. Why it would want to accommodate her preferences was another question.

“What do you want to talk about? Are you coming to me now?”

The voice was different, too.

Despite the shape, it retained an androgynous quality that did not quite match its appearance. It was too alien, but Hana didn’t ask for it to change that as well. It seemed better to keep this unfamiliar visage.

“Who are you exactly?”

Should she have asked what it was?

But since it had taken a human form, she asked that way instead. It tilted its head, apparently without an immediate answer. Maybe it was thinking of the right response. Hana recalled something Weed had once said.

“The voice, what is it?”

“Perhaps… it is the voice of the will of all life in this world wanting to live. Sorry to give you only an abstract answer.”

Facing the embodiment of the voice felt awkward. Yet, Hana asked it anyway.

“Weed called you the voice of the life in this world that wants to live. Is that right?”

“Similar.”

“So, you want my death?”

“Um.”

It neither confirmed nor denied, showing a mysterious attitude as it circled around her slowly. The delayed response finally came.

“I am everything and yet nothing.”

He stopped walking and stood still.

“Didn’t I tell you? If you want answers, come to me. There’s only one way…”

Hana shook her head.

“I know. I know I don’t have much time left. Why are you rushing? I just don’t know what to call you.”

She knew it. Something just didn’t sit right with her. It probably was correct to say she still had lingering attachments.

She wasn’t sure if this comparison was accurate.

It was like those nights when she couldn’t easily fall asleep, staying up into the early hours, mulling over thoughts because something felt missing—those nights when she couldn’t sleep because she hadn’t done anything noteworthy that day, leaving her with a feeling of emptiness.

It wasn’t anything monumental. It was just that.

A lingering attachment.

“You can call me whatever you want.”

He simply answered that way about how to address him. Hana didn’t hesitate. She had thought of him as the voice of the void.

So, she found a fitting term.

“How about Void?”

“Void.”

He crossed his arms and tilted his head, causing his long black hair to shift to one side.

“Void.”

He repeated slowly, smiling briefly before his face fell into a frown.

“Does it resemble him?”

“Weed?”

“Yes.”

“…Do you dislike it?”

He widened his eyes and shook his head. Should she even be thinking this? Perhaps because he resembled Weed, he somehow appeared cute.

After a moment, he snorted dismissively and said,

“No, that’s not it. Hmm, what will you ask this Void?”

“Will you answer?”

Hana asked, sounding a bit surprised, to which Void shrugged. He looked like Weed but with slightly different, fresher gestures.

“If you do, will you also share what I want to know?”

‘There are conditions too?’

She hesitated, then nodded.

It seemed that Void was always watching her, and it felt like he knew quite a lot about her. Was there really something he wanted to ask? She couldn’t be sure what he might question, but she thought there was no reason to hide anything. It seemed pointless to do so.

Void’s emotions were clearly reflected in his expressions. After only hearing his emotionless voice for so long, seeing his familiar form felt comforting.

Would things have been better if he had approached her like this from the start?

For some reason, Void seemed to be in a particularly good mood. Smiling back at him, Hana pondered over her question. Since arriving here, there was one nagging curiosity that had grown.

“What is the divine disease?”

It was a disease that robbed life of its time and dried up its essence. It was said to have arrived in this world along with the void and inflicted pain on all life.

At first, Hana hadn’t been particularly interested in the divine disease. However, seeing the pitiful Weed suffering from it had changed her mind. She thought she might use her own life since she was going to die anyway. She wanted to do something kind for him, who had shown her undue kindness. She hadn’t cared about the nature of the disease itself.

But after seeing others suffer from the disease and its form, she couldn’t help but be concerned. She became curious about what it really was and why she had been brought here to be a sacrifice.

“It’s the reaction of those who are not qualified, staying too long in an environment that isn’t suited for them.”

“Those who are not qualified?”

“This world is incomplete. It ought to collapse. Beings shouldn’t live in an unfinished world. If they try to forcibly live here, their bodies can’t endure it.”

An unfinished world.

It felt like she kept hearing this idea over and over. It was a tale passed down like a myth in this world. Void implied that what Calden had said was not so fantastical after all.

So, was this world created by someone? A god?

“Why is it unfinished?”

“This place was created out of their arrogance by someone who held power that they didn’t fully understand or pay the price for.”

Hana recalled what Calden had said—the traces of an attempt to create a perfect world—that it was what caused the divine disease. Then, his words weren’t entirely wrong.

But was it really such a grave matter? Even if it was born of arrogance, there wasn’t any malice.

Hana thought of Lár de Ligna Initia, which she had looked down upon with Weed. Mystical rocks floating in the air, moss and flowering trees enveloping them, waterfalls shimmering with rainbows, the light of the sunset seeping through, leaves fluttering, the moon descending, and the countless stars falling above it all.

Was that beautiful scene really evidence of a sin?

Her throat tightened. She felt like she could cry.

“…So, is that really such a grave sin?”

“It wouldn’t be called a sin. However, there is no deed without a cost. The price this world must pay is so vast that thousands, tens of thousands of lives wouldn’t suffice.”

Perhaps it was inevitable.

The world didn’t operate on any moral code. Every living being has a lifespan, and when they die, they become nourishment for others, so life cycles on. It was probably just a simple cycle of power.

Nothing comes without a cost. Weed had said that as well.

So, was his withering and the deaths of people a price to pay?

Hana bowed her head. She wanted to resolve the curiosity that had been troubling her. Why had she been brought here? Naturally, she had to wonder.

Because…

“Is my condition also part of this same scheme?”

__