Agnes burst out of the Reincarnation Department on Titan, a copy of the manual clenched in her hand, and shot straight into the sky.

  Her destination was Pluto.

  She ripped through space faster than before, leaving Titan behind in a blink.

  Far out in the cosmos, a massive comet drifted silently toward nowhere in particular.Behind it, clusters of galaxies shimmered, forming intricate patterns across the dark.

  Moments later, as Agnes crossed into Pluto’s skies, the world below shifted completely.This was nothing like Titan’s calm, luminous heaven.

  Souls packed tightly together stretched endlessly across the surface, moving in slow, silent lines toward an unknown fate.

  Agnes didn’t need anyone to tell her.

  This was hell.

  She slowed her flight and dropped lower, widening her field of view as she scanned the ground.

  That’s when she noticed it.

  A disturbance rippling through the center of one long line.

  Almost instantly, a massive hell administrator stepped forward, swinging a brutal club shaped like a goblin’s cudgel, its surface lined with jagged horns.Souls nearby were knocked aside in a single sweep.

  Screams burst out from every direction.

  The administrator didn’t hesitate.He crushed souls under his boots and swung again, striking the line without mercy or restraint.

  Agnes didn’t slow down.

  Even as the screams faded behind her, she flew straight ahead, leaving the chaos where it belonged.

  Pluto was nothing like Titan.

  It was a bleak, oppressive world, swallowed by distance.

  Its orbit lay far beyond the Sun’s reach.One full revolution took two hundred and fifty Earth years.

  The cold matched the distance—absolute, unforgiving.

  Charon, Pluto’s moon, eternally faced the planet with the same frozen side.Across its surface, icy winds carried lifeless dust, scattering it without a sound.

  Then she saw them.

  Beyond the horizon, colossal domes rose from the ground.

  Agnes recognized them instantly.

  The place where souls gathered to face judgment—the Intermediate Realm.

  Here, souls separated from their bodies waited, passing through seven stages of judgment before being sent onward to their next destination.

  Even from afar, she could tell there wasn’t just one.

  Countless domes stretched across Pluto’s surface, embedded deep into the frozen ground.

  Their tops were open and rounded.As Agnes flew overhead, she glanced down inside.

  Each dome was filled to the brim with souls.

  Leaving the domes behind, she veered toward her true destination—the Retrieval Division.

  From the surface, nothing marked its presence.Every facility was buried deep underground, hidden so completely that its location was nearly impossible to detect.

  Then she spotted it.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  A small flag, fluttering in the wind.

  The marker.

  Agnes slowed and descended carefully.Just before reaching the ground, a small entrance structure emerged, half-buried beneath the surface.

  She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  Silence.

  The interior felt abandoned.

  She spotted a control panel on the wall and pressed the elevator call button.

  Moments later, the elevator descended, heavy vibrations rolling through the underground space.

  “I’m here to see the Director of the Retrieval Division.”

  Her voice echoed softly through the empty basement.

  From the far end of the dim room, someone turned.

  A man stepped out of the shadows, studying her in silence.

  “I’m the Director.”

  A brief pause.

  “Who are you?”

  ---------

  A small philosophy office hidden inside a Seoul redevelopment zone.From within, heavy sighs seeped out, one after another.

  “Ugh… I really am losing my mind.”

  Two months ago, Gyeongsu had barely survived the First Awakening Day passage mission alongside Hyeonpil.It hadn’t been a test.It had been a fight for survival.

  The aftermath was impossible to ignore.

  Hyeonpil—once limited by physical disabilities—now spoke with effortless clarity.His body had filled out, lean and muscular.His face looked sharper, paler, cleaner, as if something inside him had been refined.

  Gyeongsu, meanwhile, was heading in the opposite direction.

  Day by day, he was starting to look like a bald vulture—the kind that waddles around a carcass on the African savanna, belly jutting out, hair thinning fast.

  That was when Dahye’s voice echoed in his head again.Bright. Careless.

  And cruel.

  “Eww! Dad, you totally look like a bald vulture! Hahaha!”

  What had once been innocent laughter now sliced straight through him.

  He’d even gone in for a full medical checkup, desperate for answers.The result had been brutally simple.

  “Other than alopecia areata, you’re in good health.You should, however, manage your weight.”

  That single sentence made it impossible to say the words to Hyeonpil.

  I want to quit.

  And the second Awakening Day passage mission was tomorrow.

  Gyeongsu opened his notebook.His eyes drifted—again—to the same line.

  “Those who pass the Second Awakening Day (二庚申) will obtain Bitong (鼻通).”

  A short explanation followed in smaller letters.

  Bitong: the ability to detect even imperceptible smells and energies through the nose.

  After the first mission, only Hyeonpil had changed.Gyeongsu couldn’t understand why nothing—nothing at all—had happened to him.

  What unsettled him most was the word itself.

  Bitong.

  Written large.Bold.Dominating the center of the page.

  As if the notebook were whispering directly to him.

  The key to the second Awakening Day is smell.

  But what he was supposed to smell—that remained a complete mystery.

  Gyeongsu sat in the consultation room, his cap pulled low, sighing again and again.

  Then the door creaked open.

  A familiar face peeked inside.

  “Uh… is the doctor in?”

  Of all his regular clients, Hwang Myeong-sun was the most exhausting by far.

  And, of course, she was back.

  The moment Hyeonpil saw her, he rose smoothly from his seat and approached with an easy smile.

  “Hello. It’s been a while.Just a moment—I’ll let the doctor know.”

  Hwang Myeong-sun’s eyes widened.

  Last time, he’d been quiet. Reserved. A handsome young man buried in a book.Now he was smiling. Speaking first.

  Her instincts fired instantly.

  “Oh my goodness! Such a handsome young man!Do you have a girlfriend? If not, should I introduce you to my niece?She’s pretty, makes great money—a top instructor in Gangnam!”

  Hyeonpil laughed lightly and dipped his head.

  “Thank you, but… I already have a girlfriend.Just a moment. I’ll let the doctor know.”

  He slipped into the consultation room and calmly announced her arrival.

  “Madam, it’s been a while. What brings you in so early today? What’s troubling you this time?”

  At Gyeongsu’s practiced warmth, Hyeonpil finally pulled his gaze away from Hwang Myeong-sun, as if nothing unusual had happened.Then, for no particular reason, he cast Gyeongsu a faintly smug look.

  Hwang Myeong-sun was always the same.

  She made no attempt to hide her self-importance.A thick gold necklace. Oversized gold earrings.Bracelets and rings stacked on both hands.

  Gold and jewels from head to toe.

  As usual, she wore a mink coat over skin-tight black leather pants, oversized sunglasses perched atop her head.

  Her face was less makeup and more mask—layers of foundation, heavy perfume hanging in the air,so strong it felt like a skunk had claimed the room.

  She dropped into the chair, straightened her back, lifted her chin.

  The world, clearly, revolved around her.

  After a brief pause, she let out an exaggerated sigh.

  “Doctor… it’s my son.Honestly, these days he’s driving me absolutely insane.”

  And with that, Hwang Myeong-sun’s consultation began.