Mino woke up with a clothed patch attached to the mark. At first, his heart started racing when he realized that the scarf was missing and was actually used to cover Myungsoo's wound. He was afraid that someone had seen the mark without his permission. However, when he reached over to the mark, he felt a soft pad of cloth covering it. It took him a while to realize that the cloth belonged to a part of Jieun's clothing.

She must've placed it to hide the mark, he realized. His heart felt a little warm.

"Great. Mino woke up," Taemin said. Mino glanced over at him, then started to push himself to sit.

"What's going on?" Mino asked.

"Jieun teleported us to a complete empty world," Taemin said. "We were all planning to go back once you woke up."

"How long was I out?" Mino asked.

"Not too sure. In this world, it was three moons ago," Taemin reported.

"Two moons?" Mino repeated.

"There's no sun at all. You'll see the first moon, and then when that's gone, it'll be pitch black. Then another moon would appear, and after that's gone, it's black again," Taemin explained.

"The ground also absorbs the blood," Naeun said, showing Mino a bottle sample filled with the clay-like sand. "I started using it for Mino's wounds. Healed it right away."

"So where is this place?" Mino asked them.

"According to Jieun, it's a world with 'no violence.' We were testing some things out," Taemin said. "I was fighting with Howon and tried to wield out my powers to harm him, but the clay would shoot up and swallow up the attack. Naeun tried physical weapons, but the ground would only rise and eat that up, too."

"It'll give my weapon back," Naeun said. "It just won't allow me to attack."

"In other words, this ground is probably the closest thing to 'life' in this world," Myungsoo explained.

Mino nodded and looked at Jieun, who was still resting. "Has she been out for a long time, too?"

"No. She woke up earlier than you. She's just taking a nap," Taemin said.

"So why did we bring Howon?" Mino asked.

"He's a Contract."

"A contract?"

"Contract is a singular noun. Contractors are plural," Myungsoo explained. "These guys fit in the Devil users. They basically make contracts with people and require both sides to fulfill the contract. If one party is unable to complete the contract, then the punishment is death or their soul."

"…This doesn't have to do anything with curses, right?" Mino inquired.

"Curses? I doubt it," Myungsoo said. He looked at him skeptically. "Why are you so interested in curses?"

"J-Just asking. I just want to avoid them," Mino stuttered. 

Myungsoo looked at him once more, but shrugged his shoulders. On the other hand, Taemin kept his eyes on Mino, carefully looking at him. Naeun walked over to Mino with some of the purple clay-like sand in her hands.

"Show me your neck," Naeun told him.

Mino widened his eyes. "Huh?"

"Your neck. Jieun said that you were injured, so she covered it. Now that I know how to use this for medical purposes, you should let me see it," Naeun explained, raising the sand right besides his neck.

"I swear, I'm fine," Mino said. 

Right when Naeun reached for his neck, Mino's eyes flashed black. Naeun froze and gasped quietly as her eyes flashed black. Her hands shook a bit, and the sand fell back down to the floor. She looked at him with confusion, but withdrew her hands.

"Um, if you say so," she said awkwardly, unsure of what was going on. Woah. I just black out for a second. She shook her head. Focus, Naeun. Focus.

"Where is your world, anyway?" Taemin asked Howon, who was excluding himself from the group.

Howon looked over his shoulders, then look back at the dark sky. "I lived in a nameless world. There were erklings there."

"Erklings?" Mino repeated.

"Creatures that prey on other young and naive creatures," Taemin explained. He crossed his arms. "This isn't a good place for Jieun to go. She can easily be taken away."

"There's no one there anymore," Howon said. "I told you, I massacred the whole village."

"Why?" Naeun asked him.

Howon paused. "I didn't like what I did anymore. I didn't like making contracts with other young creatures and killing them for food."

"But that's your way of living," said Myungsoo.

Howon kept quiet for a moment. "It's just something I got tired of doing."

"Oh." Taemin shifted his weight to another side. "You're an Abno-Contract."

 Howon whirled around and glared at Taemin. "Shut up. You don't know anything about me."

"A-An Abno-Contract?" Mino repeated again, confused.

"Abno's are creatures that don't go with the mainstream of their kind."

"Please elaborate."

"Mm… Oh! Taemin is a perfect example," Myungsoo said. "Most Fire Elementals have red flames. Taemin's an Abno because he uses white flames. In this case, Howon is an Abno because he refuses to eat other creatures to live. He is different from most erklings and Contractors."

"What do you plan to do when you get to your village?" Taemin asked.

"That is personal and I don't need you to know," said Howon. "Can we wake her up already? This place is boring and it's weird."

"Because of the sand?" Naeun asked, collecting more.

"No. I'm pretty sure that—in our terms—we've been here for days, but I'm not a bit hungry. I'm entirely satisfied and I don't think I'm dirty or anything."

Taemin paused and looked at himself. Howon had a point. They were probably here for quite some time, but hunger wasn't an issue at all. Everyone had good hygiene and seemed to be doing well physically and mentally. No one seemed too tired to travel or anything. Even Jieun, who was peacefully taking a nap, seemed like she had the energy to transport all of them to other worlds.

"Yeah, this place is a bit odd," Myungsoo murmured. He looked at Taemin. "Should we wake up Jieun?"

"I'll wake her up, but what are we going to tell her to do?" Mino asked. "We don't even know where Howon wants us to go."

"…No. We can do this," Taemin said. He slowly walked over to Jieun and bent down next to her body. He gently shook her, slowly waking her up.

"Hm…?" Jieun groaned a bit and rubbed her eyes. She looked around, a bit dazed. "Is something happening?"

"Jieun, you're a Galaxy user, right?" Taemin asked.

"That's what I remember," she muttered.

Taemin gestured Howon to come closer to the two. Howon looked at him, but obeyed. Taemin brought Howon's hand towards Jieun and made sure that they held each other tightly. Mino grimaced at the sight, but stopped when Myungsoo pushed him closer to the three.

"Are we all ready?" Taemin asked after everyone gathered around Jieun. They all nodded. He looked at Jieun and stated to whisper close to her ears so that Howon wouldn't hear. "Okay, Jieun. If you're a Galaxy user and you have Galaxial Wish, then you should be able to do this. Possessing the power means that not only can you grant your own wish, but you can grant others. Listen to his wish and grant it, okay?"

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Jieun whispered.

"I don't know, but let's try this," Taemin said. He turned to Howon. "Okay, tell her what you want and make sure you tell her what you wish."

"My wish?" Howon asked, blinking his eyes. Taemin nodded. Howon frowned and looked at Jieun. "Just tell her my wish?"

"Your wish," Taemin confirmed, repeating the same word.

Howon paused. "I wish…to go back home."

Right when the words slipped out of his lips, Jieun gasped. 

In an instant, she was alone and surrounded by a white area. There was absolutely nothing around her. When she walked, small specks of gold trailed behind her. Confused and unsure of what was going on, she started running around the blank space.

"Hello?" her voice echoed. She widened her eyes. "Taemin? Mino? Hello? Myungsoo, Naeun, do you hear me? Hello?"

She stopped when she saw two little figures standing behind her. She slowly crept up to them, hoping to find some answers to why she was alone. However, when she squinted her eyes, she started to recognize that one of the figure had red chains around his wrist while the other had rain stains around his mouth. The more closer she looked at them, she started to realize that they looked like a younger version of Howon.

"Hi!" the two greeted her, smiling at her.

"W-What's going on?" Jieun stuttered. She tried to walk back, but she couldn't move her legs. She gasped when she was forced to kneel down on the ground. 

"We want to go home," the two chanted. Chills ran through Jieun's spine. She felt like she was watching some horror story about twins who would speak at the same time in a plain, monotone voice. However, the two had expressions—one was more solemn, while the other one seemed more mischievous.

The one with the bloody lips walked over to her. "I like to eat! Eating is fun!"

"W-What's going on…?" Jieun let out breathlessly.

"Eating is delicious! I love eating pixies. They're dumb and easy to eat," the bloody-lipped child said. More blood trickled down his mouth, freaking Jieun out. "I make lots of contracts. Lots of contracts!"

The other child with chains walked over to Jieun, dragging his feet in such a tired manner. Jieun stared at him as he gave her a weak smile.

"I am hungry," the child said simply.

"Don't you eat pixies…?" Jieun asked him slowly, noticing how thin and pale he was.

"I do not want to eat pixies," the child told her. "I want to eat something else. I want to eat things without contract."

"Why?" she asked, unable to comprehend the child with red chains.

"I don't want to eat my pixie."

Jieun stopped frowning. "Oh."

"Do I have to eat my pixie?" the child asked her. He looked like he was about to cry. "Pixie doesn't eat other creatures. They trick other creatures like me but they don't eat them. They smile and laugh. They eat fruits." The boy looked at Jieun. "I want to play like that, too. I don't want to eat them. I want to smile and laugh. I want to eat fruits."

Jieun stared at the boy. "But eating them is your way of surviving…"

"I have chains," the child said, showing off the red chains. "I used this to make contracts and kill everyone. Am I still a monster?"

Jieun was about to give the boy a hug, but the boys stepped away from Jieun. In front of her, two red carpets led her to each of the boy.

"Choose one," the boys chanted. "We want to go back home and complete the massacre of our kind."

"Will you allow it?" the boy with red chains asked.

"Or will you deny it?" the boy with bloody teeth asked.

She pressed her lips together. Then, taking a deep breath, she looked at the boy with bloody teeth.

"Are you full?" she asked him. The boy stared at her, smiled, and nodded. "Well then…"

Jieun stepped on the red carpet leading to the boy with chains. She looked to the side and noticed the boy with blood on his face explode into specks of sparkling red. The second carpet dissolved into red glitter and disappeared. The boy with the red chains smiled as the chains unlocked itself.

"Thank you," the boy said. Before Jieun had the chance to say anything, a brilliant white light flashed again.