The city lights still burned bright.
But they no longer felt warm.
The wind had stopped. The sound of cars had gone silent.
The sky stretched dark and deep above her—
empty, starless.
Mari stood alone, as if she had been cut off from the world.
The boy with black wings—Sunoo—looked down at her.
His silver eyes held no understanding, no pity.
"You jumped because you wanted to die."
His first words still echoed in her ears.
Mari didn’t reply.
She couldn’t think of a reason to answer.
No excuse. No justification.
Yes. I wanted to die.
But death had not accepted her.
"Humans like you are all the same,"
Sunoo spoke. His voice was low and steady.
"When life crumbles, you try to run to death."
"But there’s something you don’t understand."
He opened his palm.
A dark sigil pulsed above it.
"Your choice has become a sin."
Mari frowned.
"A sin?"
His gaze hardened.
"Those who attempt to end their own lives aren’t free—not even in death.
Your choice demands consequence."
Mari tried to step back—
but her body wouldn’t move.
Even time had betrayed her.
"If you truly wished to end it,"
Sunoo continued,
"your soul would already have been swallowed by the void."
"But you didn’t choose.
You ran."
"I—!"
Mari tried to protest, her voice trembling with anger and fear.
"You tried to die."
"And you failed."
The sigil above his palm shot toward her wrist.
She couldn’t evade it.
"From now on, you’ll assist me."
"Guide the souls who refuse to leave this world."
"It doesn’t matter if you want to live or not. That choice is gone."
The mark burned into her skin.
Cold.
And unbearably heavy.
Even the freedom to die had been stolen from her.
"…It’s cruel,"
she murmured.
"I don’t want to live. Why—?"
Sunoo looked at her quietly.
For a moment—
just a fleeting moment—
a trace of sorrow crossed his eyes.
"There are many who have to live even when they don’t want to."
"You’re one of them now."