They descended from the sky.
"Oh, ooh, ooh."
Haseol let out exclamations at the strange sensation that was neither falling nor gliding.
"It feels strange. I'm not going to hit the ground and die, right?"
Haseol asked Eska, who was descending beside him.
"Of course not. I do not make such mistakes."
The ground drew nearer.
The buildings that had looked smaller than ants grew larger and larger.
And as they neared the ground.
"That white dome is really huge."
Only then did he truly grasp just how enormous the white dome covering the city was.
It covered nearly half the city.
The distance closed.
A downtown street where people walked about.
"Huh? Eska, there are so many people. Is it all right for us to land out in the open?"
Haseol asked in confusion.
"It does not matter. People naturally refuse to recognize anything this far outside the ordinary."
"Ah~. I didn't understand any of that, but I'll let it go."
Though he had no idea what it meant, Haseol nodded readily, sensing that the discussion would grow complicated otherwise.
Tap.
Haseol and Eska landed on the ground.
The scene around them had returned to an ordinary city.
Three- and four-story buildings, a busy street lined mostly with clothing stores and restaurants.
It was a familiar scene from reality.
"First, I shall tell the others about you. Rejoin the chat room as well."
Eska said, taking out her phone.
"You mean the chat room with the vampire, werewolf, and fairy."
Smiling at the feeling that he was being drawn straight into a bizarre world, Haseol took out his phone.
He installed the app again.
He entered his username again.
"Ah, damn. Numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, special characters."
After mistyping his password once more and making a face more irritated than when the mage had taken him into the sky, he returned to the chat room.
[Hello.]
Haseol greeted them again.
[You're back.]
Shura, the werewolf, said.
[Re-hi.]
Myun, the fairy, greeted him too.
[Do people still say "re-hi" these days?]
Bisan, the vampire, questioned it.
[I spoke with the young man, Si Haseol. Haseol was an ordinary person who knew nothing of the world of supernatural abilities. I have made Haseol aware of that world, and we are now standing together before the dome we saw in the future. It is a white dome at present, but I shall share the location, so make your way here as quickly as possible.]
Eska's long message appeared all at once.
[Agh. A wall of text. Isn't there a three-line summary?]
Myun, the fairy, said something entirely unsuited to the mood.
[An ordinary person? What are you bringing an ordinary person before the dome for?]
Ignoring Myun, Shura, the werewolf, voiced a question.
[Perhaps there is a reason he was chosen.]
Bisan, the vampire, replied.
[Even though he is an ordinary person, Haseol has agreed to join us for the future.]
At the message that appeared next, Haseol looked at Eska with an awkward expression.
"Eska?"
"Speak."
"I don't think I said I was going to work this seriously with you."
"Is that not much the same thing?"
"No, no. It's completely different."
Smiling, Eska patted Haseol's shoulder.
"We will discuss it later."
She put it off.
"No...."
[Since even an ordinary person is risking his life for the future, I assume you are all rushing here right away.]
"I've said this much. Will you still refuse?"
Eska showed him the chat log as she spoke.
"No, you wrote that, Eska. You're not even trying to hide the way you talk, and our profiles make it obvious anyway."
[I'm already on my way. You don't need to provoke me like that.]
Shura, the werewolf, said.
[I can see the Rootstream now.]
Myun, the fairy, used a peculiar word.
[What's a Rootstream?]
Bisan, the vampire, asked.
[The white-light dome. It needs a name, doesn't it?]
[It's a five-character name now. You don't have much of a flair for naming things, do you?]
[Huh? Do you want to die?]
Haseol looked at the messages that kept appearing, then looked at Eska.
"These people are close, right?"
"They have all only just met. They are so well-known that they would know one another's names and what sort of beings they are, but nothing more."
Haseol looked back at his phone.
[Hey, vampire. Come to Rootstream. I'll kill you.]
[What? Rootstream? It's too long. I can't get there.]
[You bastard.]
"Shouldn't someone stop them?"
With the atmosphere growing increasingly serious, Haseol spoke to Eska with an awkward smile.
"Hahaha. They are not children. Why would they do that?"
"Right? They won't fight, will they?"
"If they fight and die, it only means the world will be destroyed through their own fault."
Eska spoke as though it were nothing of consequence.
The look in Haseol's eyes as he stared at Eska changed.
Ah, this person wasn't normal either.
That was the conclusion in his eyes.
Of course, Eska had not been normal from the moment she took someone she had just met into the sky.
"They will make their way here on their own, so let us investigate this Rootstream."
"Ah, all right."
Haseol also put the fight unfolding in the chat room out of his mind and followed Eska.
Rootstream covered half the city.
"The view inside cannot be seen from outside."
"Right."
"Since people are passing through it as though nothing is wrong, it appears that Rootstream is neither visible to nor affects most people."
"It does seem that way."
"I...."
Eska placed a hand against Rootstream.
Her hand would not pass through.
As though a wall stood there, the tips of her fingers could be seen pressing against it.
"Hmm."
Eska pressed a foot against Rootstream as well.
It would not go through either.
She slowly pushed her foot forward.
CRACK!
BZZZZZZT!
Black light like lightning sprang in every direction from Rootstream.
"Oh, uh. Are you all right?"
"I am fine."
Eska drew back her foot.
She reached for Rootstream again.
CRAAASH!
With a sound like a window shattering, black light burst in every direction.
Fragments of light larger than ever before.
"Wh—"
Haseol flinched and stepped back.
"Even spatial movement cannot get inside."
Eska stated the conclusion calmly.
"Will you try going in?"
"Me?"
"You are, for the moment, an ordinary person unconnected to supernatural abilities. If it treats you the same way as the people of the city, you may be able to enter."
"That might be true, but...."
Haseol looked at the enormous Rootstream.
"I've seen the future too, you know."
"That is so."
"Then, if Rootstream rejects me,"
"Mm."
"What if the hand that touches Rootstream gets cut off? I can't use magic like you can, Eska."
"I shall make it again."
"...."
Eska spoke with a smile.
"If you make it again... that's all?"
Haseol asked haltingly.
"I can remove the pain as well."
"Then....could you please do it to just one finger first?"
As a compromise, Haseol held out his index finger to Eska.
Eska ran a finger lightly over Haseol's finger.
"It is done."
"Isn't there some kind of incantation?"
"My hands are healing hands."
"Isn't that the kind of spell you cast after someone gets hurt?"
Haseol laughed as though he could not believe it and walked toward Rootstream.
Haseol slowly brought his finger close to Rootstream.
His finger passed through Rootstream.
"How is it? Do you feel anything?"
"I don't know. I don't feel anything. Is it because you cast a spell to remove the pain?"
"That was a lie."
Haseol swiftly pulled his finger back.
"Eskaaa?"
"Hahahaha. If you are going to work with us from now on, do you not need to become accustomed to pain as well?"
Eska simply laughed it off.
"I don't think I need to practice that."
"How was it?"
"I didn't feel anything."
"I see."
"Should I go inside once and come back out?"
"What if you cannot come back out after entering?"
"Ah."
"I hurried here and have nothing with me. The Fairy King is on the way, so let us wait a moment."
"All right."
Haseol nodded.
For a while, he blankly stared at Rootstream.
Then he briefly looked at the pink-haired girl standing beside him.
This time, he checked his own outfit.
He was barefoot, wearing a white T-shirt and the pajama shorts he wore at home.
"...."
An unimaginable, bizarre situation.
Wearing a nearly resigned expression, Haseol gave a faint smile.
"What are you thinking?"
Eska asked Haseol.
"I'm trying not to think about anything."
"That is a fine mindset."
"I'm glad you think so."
"I would be even more grateful if you became a doll that moved only when I told you to."
"That is a little much."
"Hahaha."
"Ahahaha."
They both laughed it off.
SKRRRREEEE!
Something came skidding between them, scraping against the ground as it slowed.
Haseol and Eska turned their heads.
There stood someone in a baggy green, long-sleeved boxy T-shirt and shorts, braking hard enough in slippers that smoke rose from them.
Beautiful yet handsome, girl-like yet boyish, with short white hair and round glasses.
"Has the vampire not arrived yet?"
Judging by the dialect, the figure seemed to be Myun, the one who had introduced themself as the Fairy King.
"You are the second one here."
"Is that so? So, have you found anything out?"
Myun walked over with both hands shoved into their pockets.
"Only minor things. First, will you see whether you can get inside Rootstream?"
"All right."
As Myun approached the other two, they reached one hand toward Rootstream.
The hand touched Rootstream.
CRACK. SCRAAAAAPE!
They advanced while scraping at Rootstream as if to shatter it with a hand.
Black light flew out of Rootstream without restraint, but it did not break through.
"It is damned sturdy."
"Can you break it? Spatial movement could not get us inside."
"It may be possible if I take the time, but I do not know. I cannot say for certain."
Myun shoved both hands back into their pockets and lightly kicked Rootstream with a foot.
"Haseol can go right in."
Eska took Haseol by both shoulders and pushed him forward in front of Myun.
"Then why has he not gone in?"
"As I said, Haseol is an ordinary person. I stopped him because we cannot send an ordinary person in empty-handed."
"Hmm."
"It would also be troublesome to lose one of the people who saw the future so senselessly."
"So?"
"You are the Fairy King, so you must have many things. Will you lend something to Haseol?"
"As if you entrusted him to me."
Myun gave a snort and smiled with a prickly expression.
"Hey."
"Yes."
"Your name was Si Haseol, right?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever used a knife?"
"I've used a kitchen knife to slice onions and green onions."
"You really are a completely ordinary person."
Myun asked Haseol.
"Yes. I really am an ordinary person."
"Then here. Hold this first."
Myun took something from a pocket.
It was a large, transparent cloth that shimmered faintly.
"Put it on."
"All right."
Haseol draped the transparent cloth he received from Myun over his shoulders.
"It is the Cloak of Shade, a cloth that conceals your form. Most people will not notice that you are there."
"Ah, all right. Um, perhaps...."
"I know. You need something to attack with as well, not just something for defense."
Myun took out a small folding knife from a pocket and handed it to Haseol.
"It is Waycut. The knife will show you the way to swing a blade."
"Uh...."
"Why? Should I give you a blade that shoots fire or one that shoots ice? There is no knowing what is inside. Should you be using something that flashy?"
"No, that isn't it."
Shaking his head as he accepted the knife, Haseol said,
"Is there any chance you have shoes?"
At Haseol's question, Myun lowered their gaze to look at Haseol's feet.
He was barefoot.
"What is wrong with that person, dragging a child out without even putting shoes on him? Here, put these on."
Myun slipped off the slippers they had been wearing and shoved them toward Haseol.
"You don't have to give me the ones you were wearing. Don't you have any other shoes?"
"People only have two feet."
"I suppose so."
At such an utterly commonsense remark, Haseol calmly nodded and put the shoes on.
"Put this on too."
Myun fitted something like an earphone into Haseol's ear as he stood there.
"What is it?"
"Communications equipment."
"Ah~, all right."
"There. That should be enough, so get inside."
Myun said to the standing Haseol.
"Aren't we waiting for the other two?"
"Who knows when they will arrive? Even if they come, they will not be any help if they cannot get inside."
"All right. Then let me prepare myself...."
"I will help you."
Myun shoved Haseol's backside with a bare foot.
Without being able to prepare himself at all, Haseol entered Rootstream.
"...."
Then, with a resigned smile, he lifted his head.
[Describe the scene inside.]
Myun's voice sounded in his ear.
"It is just like usual. It is a busy shopping district with a fair number of people walking around."
[Is that so? Is there nothing?]
"No. Nothing looks particularly different to me."
[Put on the cloak and go farther inside.]
"All right."
After wrapping the cloak around himself, Haseol walked down the street.
"Should I head toward the center of Rootstream?"
[Wouldn't that be right?]
Haseol set off.
"For now, I don't see anything special."
[Could it be that you cannot recognize it because you are an ordinary person? I think someone from the world of supernatural abilities should go inside.]
[That is possible, but let us have him walk around the streets for now before we decide.]
Eska's voice sounded in his ear as well.
"I'll keep going."
Haseol continued down the street.
"Ah."
As though he had spotted something, he stopped and looked into an alley.
[What is it?]
"Something humanoid with a head made of black smoke is tormenting someone."
Deep in the alley, something wearing clothes, with its head and hands wavering like black smoke, had someone by the collar.
"Do you know it?"
[What the hell do you take us for? Could something like that be our friend?]
Myun's exasperated voice came through.
[If its head is black smoke, does it have no part that belongs to a human?]
"It is wearing clothes, but every exposed part looks like black smoke."
[Then try talking to it first.]
"Talk to it?"
[Mm.]
"Uh...."
Haseol tilted his head to the side as he looked into the alley.
"That black smoke is beating the hell out of someone, so I don't think it wants a conversation."
[Then kill it.]
[Killing it would be a problem.]
[It isn't even human, and it clearly has something to do with Rootstream. What are you hesitating for? Just kill it.]
[That would be a problem. At the very least, we must bring it back alive.]
[Bring it back alive? Can you do that? The one who entered is an ordinary person.]
[Haseol. Ignore what Myun says and bring it back alive.]
[What? Ignore me? You bastard, do you want to die?]
[Do you wish to kill me? That would be impossible for you.]
"Aaaah! You two! Please be quiet!"
Exasperated by the conversation in his ear, Haseol shouted.
"The black smoke is coming toward me!"