Chapter 14: Yerin’s Journey (4)

The Mist, holding something given by a human child, sneered at the being in front of her. So foolish—offering her food without even knowing what was coming.

Originally, she had planned to fully complete the Dream Maze and then devour the approaching being. But unfortunately for the child, she jumped into the fire on her own, so the Mist changed her plans.

At the Mist’s gesture, the fog gathered and spread out around her. She was also starting to feel strained, reaching her limit.

Giving the human child enough time to admire her majestic and overwhelming presence before dying, the Mist casually thrust the round object into her mouth.

“Human! Something like this will never satisfy my hunger!”

Long ago, even a human who offered ten elephants to her couldn’t satisfy her hunger and ended up being eaten alive. So this tiny yellow ball? It wasn’t even worth calculating. She probably wouldn’t even feel like she ate anything.

For a being like the Mist, who had existed since the beginning of time, satiety was a feeling forever out of reach.

She realized that after her very first meal, once her existence had solidified: her hunger could never be satisfied.

To her, it was both a curse and a blessing.

Since she always felt hunger no matter how much she ate, the “rule” of weighing food and taking its essence was endlessly in her favor.

And as time passed, as her power—and hunger—increased, the scale tilted more and more toward her side.

When food is offered, she eats it. And through that food, she grows stronger.

But if she eats and still feels hunger?

Then the other party’s value multiplies. No matter how close to the limit they were, that limit would keep expanding in real time.

That’s why trades were always one-sided, always a game that favored her. She’d get what she wanted, watch the other side get destroyed, and laugh at their expense.

There had been others before who offered food—unlike this human child, they were armed adults trying to do something about her.

Of course, they were all utterly defeated, and she took everything from them. A few even returned later, but once they understood her “rules,” no one ever came back with offerings again.

She didn’t really mind. The sea had more than enough food to keep her endlessly fed, while the amount humans offered was small in comparison.

From that angle, it might seem like a blessing—but the emotion of hunger itself was a huge curse to her.

A desire that consumed all her thoughts and locked her into obsessing over food.

It was like a drug. That brief high when eating was followed by an even greater craving afterward.

That had been repeating for centuries.

And now, nothing ordinary could give her even a flicker of satisfaction.

“Watch closely, human! This is the grandeur of a supreme being!”

With a lonely aura around her, the Mist sucked in the round object in her mouth with a loud slurp.

“As expected, ordinary. Hmph!”

Lifting her chin with confidence, she suddenly noticed a creature beside the girl she hadn’t seen before.

There, in front of her eyes, was a pineapple wearing sunglasses, surfing on a board.

“What… is that?”

But before she could even question it, a wave of taste—so delicious it stimulated every part of her tongue—washed over her with a deep sense of fulfillment.

Carpet bomb!

• [Left: Essence, Physical body]

• [Right: _kg]

• Weight of the candy: 0.005 kg

• Transaction complete.

• The entity has not had its hunger satisfied but has received a sense of fullness.

• Limit value has not changed.

“Wait… this is really your first time eating candy?”

Seeing the Mist licking the candy wrapper so pitifully, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Do you know what candy is?”

“ Nope! This is my first time hearing about it, human!”

“What you’re eating right now—that’s candy.”

“I can’t believe something like this exists in the world.”

Really?

“You said it’s called… candy, right? Now that I look, even the name sounds special! Churupachups? Mmm! So mysterious!”

She was saying such a shocking thing—this was her first time tasting candy—and yet spoke about it so calmly. My hand instinctively went to cover my mouth. It was such a sad thing, but she didn’t seem to care, which made my heart ache even more.

If she had at least acted stubborn or pretended to be dignified, I might not have felt so moved.

“Do you… maybe want more?”

And now she was glancing around nervously.

Just moments ago, this girl was pointing at me bossily, but now she looked like one of those mixed-breed puppies you see in the countryside.

Her big eyes sparkled as she looked at me pleadingly. Above her head, her rabbit ears—no, dog tail?—fluttered in excitement.

When she first tasted the candy, they shot straight up.

When she savored it, they drooped softly to the sides.

Now, they were spinning like helicopter blades.

Seeing that, I became certain. Those aren’t just toy ears.

“So… where do you live?”

She hadn’t even eaten candy before? I wasn’t buying it. Now that I think about it, that was definitely a lie. Not even kids in 21st-century Africa hadn’t had candy.

“Me? My home? I live here!”

She smiled brightly and pointed to the ground. I looked around. It was just empty fields in every direction. No sign of a house anywhere.

“Actually, human, this is a secret… My real home is somewhere else! But a bad guy beat me up and stole it!”

Her tone was light, but the content was terrifying.

“Then… where are your parents?”

“Parents? What’s that?”

“The people who brought you into this world.”

“Oh! I don’t have any! I just exist as myself!”

Wait… so she was abused?

She’s homeless now? And she never had candy because she’s that poor?

My eyes started sweating. I was the impure one for doubting her. I felt horrible.

The more we talked, the harder it was to keep going.

Sure, it was admirable that she was independent and positive, but is it really okay for a child to live alone without any guardian?

‘No, definitely not.’

Even if she didn’t realize it, I couldn’t just ignore it. I hadn’t asked my parents if it was okay to take her home yet, but if I explain the situation—“a girl living on the streets who’s never even had candy”—I think I could make it work.

“Do you want to come with me?”

“Hmm? Human! I want to go! You gave me something delicious! But still… I can’t! I just settled down here. If I leave now, everything I built will disappear! It’s just… my own stubbornness.”

It seemed like she had built up some emotional resistance from living alone for so long.

I turned my head, licked my lips, then turned back to her. If she’s refusing that clearly, a normal method won’t work.

“…Do you want more candy?”

The moment I said that, she began nodding furiously.

“Actually… uh, this is super valuable.”

Candy diplomacy.

Barter negotiation initiated.

“Do you know the Kingdom of Churupachups?”

Meanwhile, Kim Sera gathered various pieces of information as she wandered through the fog. Despite being cautious and confirming that the Mist was indeed a concept, the investigation team still ran into trouble—something even she couldn’t prevent.

Accidents always stem from carelessness and rash decisions.

She lifted her notebook and looked toward the ground where a government agent had just been swallowed up. One more communication channel gone. She finished writing in her notebook:

[Never step off the path.]

She didn’t panic or grieve over the teammate’s death. From her perspective, showing emotion when they weren’t even sure if they could survive was a luxury.

Since the fog thickened, she was sure they had entered the Mist’s domain. A new set of rules had emerged within this space.

If they managed to return alive, this would become valuable data about the concept of the Mist, previously shrouded in mystery.

After a brief moment of silence, the team continued forward.

They had walked for a while when they saw a signpost and a fork in the path ahead.

Everyone stopped, tense from the earlier incident.

Village 1 – 3km
[Destination]
▶ Into the Mountains

“Uh… I guess we go this way.”

Kim Sera let out a breath without realizing it. Still making rash judgments after everything that happened.

“Mr. Kim Won-jae. Didn’t you hear what I just said? If this really is inside the Mist’s body, then we’re in a Dream Maze.”

She clicked her tongue as she stepped forward.

“This is why rookies…”

The senior scholar stepped ahead and stared at the signpost. Kim Won-jae shrank back, so the senior continued:

“Dream Maze. You can’t trust anything in here. Whether something’s right or wrong, whether it leads to the

right path—there’s no way to tell. No one who entered has ever come back out. But now that I’ve seen it, I get

it. It looks like an ordinary signpost, but it feels strange. Like there were black marks that were written and

then erased. It’s designed to trick anyone into choosing a path and keep them wandering in the maze forever.”

“So… you know a bit, huh?”

Kim Sera said, and he adjusted his glasses before responding:

“Earlier wasn’t my area of expertise. But this? This is nothing for a senior academic like me.”

She had judged him too quickly just from the earlier report. He knew more than expected.

“The word ‘mountain’ here must come from the language of the Sancrosteki civilization. Mountain and sea—why are they separated?”

“Hmm… yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I think ‘mountain’ refers to land, and ‘sea’ means life. The numbers next to it probably represent—”

The rookie scholars nearby lit up as they listened to the high-level discussion.

“…Then maybe that ‘km’ number next to the figure isn’t just kilometers. It could be a shorthand for Krosi Mis in ancient language.”