Absolute Dweller

'She's back.'

After confirming that Park Sae-rom had taken out her smartphone from her inventory, I waited for about ten minutes. Soon enough, I saw her store it back inside.

Bzzzz—@@novelbin@@

Without hesitation, I pulled it out and immediately checked the recorded file.

As soon as I played it, her slightly shaky voice came through.

(Uh… So at first, the people around me suddenly disappeared. And then…)

It was an unorganized report, but that wasn't the important part.

'The fact that she was able to record means she wasn’t in the middle of combat. Her voice doesn’t sound exhausted either. And since she didn’t mention any injuries, that means these shadow creatures are something she can handle alone. Even if they’re strong, she’s at least capable of escaping from them.'

Considering that no notifications had popped up about her hunting shadow monsters since she disappeared, it was more likely that she had simply avoided fighting them.

'Still…'

At least for now, I didn’t need to worry. That alone was a relief.

As I sorted through my thoughts, her rambling report continued.

(And the glass shards on the ground and the windows on the buildings all leak out light. I know this isn’t the time to say this, but it’s really beautiful, you know? I wish I could show you, Jaehyun…)

And then—

(Who are you?)

A stranger’s voice suddenly cut in.

And the recording ended there.

'…That's it?'

There was no follow-up on who that man was, what happened after they met, or how she handled the situation.

And another thing—

'I waited ten whole minutes, and this is all there is?'

The total recording time was 57 seconds.

Even if she had listened to my entire pre-recorded message before responding, it should have taken no more than three minutes.

'And why was the flashlight turned on?'

I didn’t know the exact reason, but something had happened.

Given that the world on her side was overall dark, she might have simply needed light.

'Still, it’s a relief. She seems to be safe.'

Since this was a space outside my influence, I had been uneasy. But it seemed like it wasn’t as dangerous as I had initially feared.

'She disappeared the moment she looked into the mirror.'

If I thought about it simply, it was likely that she had entered the world inside the mirror.

That would also explain the pitch-black sky and why light seemed to leak from shattered glass and building windows.

'If the light from reality is passing through glass and mirrors into the otherworld, then it makes sense.'