I forced my resolve back into place, dragging myself from the brink of collapse. Then, gathering what little strength remained in this broken body.

Come on, Ainsel! One more time… just one more time!

From the outside, I must have looked like someone already swallowed by despair. But deep within, something refused to yield. Perhaps it was the remnants of my ego… or simply the instinct of a living being that fears death.

With what little consciousness I had left, I made one final attempt. I tried once more to look around, searching for anything.

Then, I tried to look upward—forcing myself as much as I could.

Move, God damn it...!!!

At that moment, something surfaced in my mind. A line from an old book I had once read—written on its final page:

'Give your utmost effort, for it will never betray you. Be patient in every process, for we are beings that live, not those that are dead.'

And… it was true. Not mere words strung together to sound profound, but something that had proven itself, time and time again.

Even though it took everything I had to move my head, my effort was finally rewarded. These eyes, which had already lost their hope, caught sight of something.

Up there—no, below—there was something.

At first, it was nothing more than a faint speck in the darkness. But little by little, it grew larger. My vision wavered, struggling to focus, yet its shape began to take form.

And when I finally saw it—

Huh…?! I-is that… a mirror?!

I knew it instantly. I was certain. A mirror—vast beyond measure, its size rivaling the very expanse around me. A boundary. An end. The final point of a place I once believed to be endless.

As my body drew closer to that enormous mirror, I could see my own reflection. Without realizing it, a faint smile touched my lips—the smile of someone who had finally found release, knowing that soon, all of his suffering would come to an end.

Enduring the pain that had tormented me all this time, I whispered, counting down the final moments before impact—before the freedom that awaited beyond it.

“Three…”

At last... I can be free.

“Two…”

I never imagined my end would be this pathetic.

“One…”

Too bad, I won’t get the chance to beat the bastard who dragged me here.

I closed my eyes, drawing what I believed would be my final breath.

And...

“Damn—”

…

I thought my life had come to an end. But it seemed… I was wrong. I was still alive. And at the very moment of impact, something strange happened.

From that height, crashing into a mirror should have shattered it—glass exploding outward, a sharp, deafening sound tearing through the silence. But what reached my ears instead was…

blup.

A dull, muted sound. Deep and heavy—like a small stone sinking into a perfectly still pond, without so much as a splash.

Even the sensation was wrong. It felt like plunging into something denser than water, yet softer than air. Despite the speed of my fall, despite the force of the impact, the surface yielded without resistance. No cracking. No sharp noise. No sound beyond that single, quiet blup.

And the strangeness didn't end there. There was something else worth questioning: the aftermath.

It is only natural for the body to feel pain after such an impact, isn’t it? Especially after falling from such an absurd height—like I did. More so when the first part to hit the surface was the head.

But the truth?

My head remained intact, and there was not a single wound.

Perhaps the surface was so calm and clear that it deceived me into thinking it was a mirror. When I turned around to confirm my suspicion, it was just as I thought. The surface that looked like glass trembled, creating ripples that spread in all directions.

So it wasn’t a mirror after all.

And only then did I realize... my body could move again.

Even though I was convinced it was water, I forgot one crucial thing: from the very beginning, this place had never obeyed any kind of logic. Just because something here resembled what I knew didn’t mean it shared the same nature. The names might be the same… but everything else could be entirely different.

I swear on my grandma’s flying slipper. No matter how you look at it, it resembles the surface of glass. But now that I was inside it, I realized something even more insane. If that surface could be called water, then what lay within it should have been… water as well.

But in reality—

“Huh...?! I-I can breathe...?” A second later, my shock doubled as I realized something even more absurd. “W-wait, what?! I can talk?!”

I could actually speak normally and breathe normally—through my nose and mouth—something that should have been impossible if I were underwater. Even if this were water, why weren’t my clothes, my pants, my hair—not a single part of my body—wet?

The next thing I noticed was the pale substance surrounding me. I couldn’t tell what it was—something like fog, yet at the same time… something closer to ink. It was the first thing that greeted me after passing through that surface I had mistaken for a mirror.

“What is this thing? Is it… dangerous?” I reached out, trying to grasp it with both hands.

“Aside from this…” I glanced around. “...where exactly am I?"

There is nothing here. No sense of direction. No boundary. Only that pale substance, enveloping me from every side.

“I… I can’t see anything!”

As I struggled to make sense of it all, my body began to sink. Slowly. Silently. Without warning. The white haze around me began to thin. What had once obscured my vision gradually dissolved, replaced by a creeping darkness rising from below. Like ink spilling into clear water, it spread—quietly, relentlessly—devouring everything in its path.

My body kept descending toward the bottom of this place—whatever-it-is-I’m-supposed-to-call-it-now.

When I tried to glance downward, there was nothing but endless black. No bottom. No end. Only a void waiting to swallow me whole.

Panic surged through me. My instincts screamed at me to swim upward, to reach for the light that was drifting farther and farther away. No matter what, I had to reach that surface again. My hands clawed aimlessly. My legs kicked with everything I had, fighting against the pull that dragged me deeper.

But unfortunately… it was useless. It felt as though I were trapped in quicksand. The more I moved, the faster my body was dragged downward. Realizing that, I immediately stopped struggling and let my body sink.

What else was there to do but surrender?

Darkness began to envelop me. The white substance had now completely vanished, replaced by a suffocating void that devoured everything in its reach. A chilling cold crept across my skin, as though unseen hands brushed against me with icy fingers.

The last traces of light were gone. All that remained now was... me, sinking within a darkness that gnawed at my mind. It felt as though whatever ruled this place had grown bored of tormenting my body and had turned instead to my mind.

No matter where I looked, there was nothing. No shape. No outline. Not even the faintest hint of form. My vision had become meaningless.

And the silence...

This was no ordinary silence. It pressed against my ears, weighed down on my chest, constricting my breath. It was nothing like the stillness before. This… felt alive. Like something unseen was slowly consuming my sanity.

“Why… is this happening to me…?” I whispered.

I truly didn't understand... What sin had I committed to deserve all of this? I was alone. Here, in this pitch-black place where even the darkness felt like something alive.

My breathing grew erratic. My chest rose and fell uncontrollably. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to calm down, trying to hold on to my sanity. But it was useless. The touch felt like nothing at all. My hands felt as though they touched nothing, even though I was certain I was holding myself. It felt… like I was embracing empty air. As if my body existed, yet did not exist at all.

“What did I even do wrong? Who had brought me here? Where even is this place? What’s the reason for all of this? Why me?!” The questions kept pouring out of my mouth without stopping.

Come to think of it, I have never done anything that would make someone want to kill me. All this time, I lived normally and did everything within reasonable bounds. And yet... I’m suffering here alone without knowing anything.

All this time... I cursed. I swore. I raged. I kept blaming the entity I called that bastard. But then, I began to think—

What if all of this… was purely my misfortune?

If that were true, then I must be the most unfortunate person alive, or perhaps, in the entire universe. Thrown into a place that defied all reason. Tormented physically, then mentally. Broken down, piece by piece, until nothing remains but an empty body without a soul.

But at the very least, the pain in my head had disappeared. Well, thanks for that.

As my mind began to crack, the worst of the worst words that could ever leave a person’s mouth… slipped out before I even realized it.

“Strangling myself… might be better than being tortured slowly like this…”

In that instant, I fell completely silent. My eyes widened. My mouth hung open. Shocked by what I had just said.

Huh?! Th-that just now… th-that was my voice…? W-was I… the one who said that…?

And in that very moment… everything collapsed.

All the emotions I had been holding back deep inside finally erupted uncontrollably—once again. Tears spilled from my eyes, streaming endlessly without restraint. My sobs broke free, echoing within the silence. Somehow, the sound of my crying rang out so clearly, as if this place reflected every lament and turned it into a long, agonizing scream of the soul.

“Please...!! Someone, help me!!”

…There was no answer. Of course, how could there be!?

“Why...? Why do I have to end up like this…?!”

The deeper I sank, the heavier the pressure became, like being dragged into the depths of an endless ocean, something unseen tightening around me from all sides.

I curled in on myself, clinging to a body I could no longer feel. My fingers went numb. My limbs grew distant.

“Help me… please… help me! I… I don’t want to die,” I murmured.

Overwhelming fear. Despair. Sorrow. Extreme mental pressure. Intense frustration and stress. All of it quickly eroded my will to live and my sanity. Even though I knew I had reached my lowest point, there was nothing I could do. I could only drift, frozen in that position. Even keeping my eyes open felt like it required immense effort.

My body. My soul. My heart. All of it had now been completely shattered. Surrendering and waiting for death was the only path left for me toward true freedom.

In the end, my consciousness began to crack, like a thin layer of ice stepped on for too long. Slowly, piece by piece, my awareness began to fall away.

Realizing my time was almost up, before everything truly vanished, I forced my lips to utter my final words, even though I knew… they would mean nothing.

In a faint voice—barely audible—I whispered, “Grandma… please, help me…”

My eyes closed completely.

The darkness swallowed me whole.

My consciousness sank, dragged deeper into a place even darker than before.

And now…

Everything had truly come to an end for me.