"Who is that girl...?"

  "Why is she staying there...?"

  "And that man in the navy suit in the lobby..."

  If I had stayed on that elevator, I would have returned to the home where that girl with the mysterious aura lived. Though I usually lacked interest in others' affairs, strangely, the girl remained etched in my mind.

  Knock, knock!

  Someone tapped on my door. Unit T from the lobby and the girl I had seen earlier were standing there, looking at me.

  "I heard you were seen up there yesterday! Why did you go up?!"

  "If Chairman Gene finds out, there will be serious trouble. Never go there again!"

  "Oh, and this girl is a resident of this building. She's Chairman Gene's adopted daughter. You two are probably around the same age. You should be friends. Anyway, introduce yourselves and get along."

  "Ah... yes... Hello...?"

  "......Yeah, hi."

  As soon as her brief reply ended, she turned around and ran off.

  "....Marea...."

  It was a name with the same meaning as the 'Dead Sea'—the lake in my old neighborhood that couldn't harbor life and had turned into a mountain after an earthquake.

  I was walking toward the exit, lost in various complex thoughts, when I saw Marea's back. Just as I was about to sit down beside her—

  "Just walk past me as if you don't know me. They're watching from above. Let's meet at the bench in front of the sunken area!"

  Watching from above... I understood immediately.

  It had to be Chairman Gene, the man in the navy suit who would be looking down from the pinnacle of The Monolith, the Royal Tier.

  I naturally walked a bit further, then circled back down to the basement. Not long after, Rea came to the bench and sat beside me.

  "You said your name was Marea, right?"

  "Yes. But you can just call me Rea."

  There was something about Rea that didn't feel uncomfortable from the start. A look in her eyes that suggested she already knew me.

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  Even though we had just met, I felt an urge to pour out my suffocating thoughts to her. I just wanted to be near her.

  "You found your way here well."

  "....Wait? You know me?"

  "Yes. I know Dr. O from the neighboring village. He told me I would meet you. I heard about you."

  A deep sense of trust and respect for Dr. O was evident in her voice.

  Was it a misfortune or a blessing? Right now, I felt like a single small marble rolling around in a grand, pre-arranged game, but the thought that I wasn't entirely alone comforted me more than anything.

  "My role is to help you, to ensure you can fulfill your mission and your great purpose here. And you must be careful of Chairman Gene, the man you met at the elevator that day. Understood?"

  "Why that man...?"

  "You possess something he desires, though he probably doesn't know much about you yet. Eventually, he'll find out if you keep running into him. He has sharp instincts and is a very sensitive man."

  "Aren't you his adopted daughter? Is it okay for you to tell me these things?"

  "....I'll tell you more later, but I'm not here for him."

  "I see."

  To be honest, I couldn't fully grasp what she meant or how things were unfolding, but I was grateful to Rea for lighting a small fire in my dark path.

  Looking up at the endlessly soaring tower of The Monolith, she spoke.

  "There is no one here, yet everyone exists."

  "....?? What does that mean...?"

  "In this world, there is something called an 'immortal life,' chosen by those who aren't even free to choose their own death—those whose very lives are vanishing. These people choose this method to live forever, without an 'end' or 'death.'"

  "..Hmm. Why don't you follow me for a moment?"

  The LED panel displayed a floor called [ MP.10-X ], and I went there with Rea.

  [ MP.10-X ]

  The door was marked with a sturdy steel numbering.

  The place Rea and I entered was just like the home I had visited the night before—the one where I first met her. It held the same warmth and the scent of someone living there.

  "This is the home of someone named Xen. Xen's life is maintained not by himself, but by many other people."

  "Then where is he? Is he dead?"

  "....No. But you couldn't exactly say he's alive, either."

  "No, I mean, why do people take care of someone who isn't even here?"

  "To maintain everything that is Xen, and everything associated with him!"

  Rea emptied the ashes of a thin, nearly burnt-out incense stick and lit a new one.

  Here, too, hung the same painting I had seen in Dr. O's office. However, in this one, there was nothing on the chair reflected in the mirror.

  "That pouch you have, the Solet. You must never show it to Chairman Gene!"

  "Even if you don't show it, he'll find out soon enough, but you must keep him from knowing about you as much as possible. Don't forget!"

  "When the time comes, we will settle everything and leave. Even if you're curious and frustrated, just trust me and follow me."

  "We're leaving?"

  "Yes. For now, stop being curious and just remember what I said, Adin."

  "..Okay."

  At that moment, Rea took a pinch of Solet from my pouch and scattered it between us.

  The shimmering powder softly enveloped the air between us. One thing was certain without a word: a connection between her and me resided within this.

  It was a night when incomprehensible emotions swirled within me.

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