It’s been about a week since Alice disappeared. “Can you help me?” All she left was a single phrase.

“…It’s only been a week. Cheer up, Ha-rim.”

Kyeong-min patted my shoulder and spoke.

However, no one knew if it would be a week or a month.

“It’s only been a week, but… I felt like I might never see her again…!”

Alice’s last words, spoken before she suddenly disappeared.

They were too meaningful to simply brush aside.

Moreover, the strange phenomena that occurred when Alice disappeared told us that she hadn’t just vanished.

The tale devils who had disappeared.

The sky that had turned black, even though it wasn’t night.

And like that sky, millions of books whose letters overlapped, appearing as if painted black, making them unreadable.

All of this was being reported on the news as if it were an everyday occurrence, but the most talked-about topic was the giant gate that appeared in downtown Seoul.

According to this morning’s news, the gate had slightly opened.

“That thing… It’s definitely that, right?”

“I think so too. The Gates of Hell. There’s nothing else it could be.”

If it’s a gate that appeared after the devils disappeared, then indeed, it could only be the Gates of Hell.

The conclusion reached through simple reasoning was that Alice and the tale devils were currently in hell.

We’ve searched everywhere else.

Now, only one path remains.

To find Alice, we have no choice but to go to hell!

“Let’s go… to hell.”

I said to the club members with determination.

If asked if I could go to hell for a friend, I would willingly do so.

But would the club members do the same?

“Of course.”

There was no need to doubt.

Because Alice is our friend.

We immediately headed to the location in downtown Seoul where the Gates of Hell was.

So many people had gathered to see the Gates of Hell that public transportation was suffocating.

As we got off the bus, there was a group holding cardboard signs that read God’s Judgment, thrusting them at people and causing trouble.

Cultists.

They were pointing at the black sky.

The news reported it as a rare meteorological phenomenon, but it was probably the Institution’s manipulation.

God… Since divine power exists, does God really exist?

But why… No.

Such questions are meaningless.

We moved towards the location of the Gates of Hell.

However, the closer we got, the more people gathered, making it impossible to approach the Gates of Hell.

And security guards were blocking the way as well.

“Ha-rim, can you use those tools you have?”

I opened my bag and took out a useful tool.

…Most of the tools are losing their power.

That made me anxious.

The fact that the tools Alice gave me were losing their power meant that something was happening to Alice.

I have to go quickly.

One of the tools that hadn’t lost its effectiveness yet.

It was a paper charm, a fundamental item that had been used since ancient times.

If you tear it, you can hide your appearance.

“Done.”

With our bodies successfully transparent, we were able to break through the guards.

“It seems to have worked properly. Let’s approach the gate quickly!”

We immediately headed towards the Gates of Hell.

The Gates of Hell were larger than most buildings, and the sense of pressure was no joke…

But how do we get in?

The Gates of Hell were slightly ajar.

Enough for us to squeeze through if we pushed our bodies in.

However, there was a black membrane, and no matter how hard we pushed or tried to break it, it was completely useless.

No way. To be blocked from the start…

“How can we get in?”

I pondered how to enter the Gates of Hell.

One thing bothered me.

Isn’t hell a place only bad people go?

“Bad deeds… If I do the worst possible thing I can think of.”

Commit a bad deed.

I lightly punched myself in the face.

Whack!

Self-harm. This is definitely a bad deed.

Aren’t the club members also surprised?

Then, into the Gates of Hell…

I can’t enter.

It seems insufficient.

“A worse deed…”

I decided to think about a worse deed.

If this isn’t enough, do I have to see blood?

I can endure a small wound.

If that doesn’t work either… I thought of the sharp objects in my bag.

Even other people’s blood…

“Stop it!”

Kyeong-min seemed to have noticed what I was thinking.

And he warned me, half-angry.

“As a friend, I can’t tolerate such an act.”

“Kyeong-min is right. Don’t make such a scary face.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Yes. No matter what, there are lines that must be kept.

Alice wouldn’t want that either.

I decided to look at evil from a different perspective again.

Perhaps it doesn’t need to be evil from our perspective.

“Ha-rim, look here, there are letters!”

“…!”

Letters. Finding hidden things was always my specialty.

But this time, Suho found it first.

I realized how anxious I had been.

Let’s reflect.

I read the letters.

“Good within evil. Evil within good. And the sin brought by the serpent of Eden.”

Literally, it means there is evil in good and good in evil.

I guessed the intention of this sentence.

I thought it might mean that good intentions can bring about evil, and evil intentions can bring about good.

But what does the serpent of Eden mean?

Eden… I think it was the place where Adam and Eve lived in the Bible…

Perhaps the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.

The sin it brought about… After some speculation, just as I was about to utter my answer like a secret incantation.

“Is someone there?”

“…! This voice is!”

Suddenly, a voice was heard from within the Gates of Hell!

It wasn’t Alice.

The voice was that of a playful middle-aged man.

“Mister Jack O’Lantern?”

“Kid! I remember you. Yes, it’s me!”

Mister Jack O’Lantern.

Although I’ve told the club members about him, this must be the first time they’ve heard his voice.

Because I was the only one who met him during the Little Red Riding Hood incident.

At that time, Mister Jack O’Lantern also gave me information about the two Rulers.

What did he say?

‘Hell is the lowest place and the highest place, he said.’

I still don’t quite understand what that means.

“Ah, I heard you were a friend of Carol’s…”

The children, only knowing him from the stories I’d told them, would find Mister Jack O’Lantern unfamiliar.

Still, I know.

That this uncle is a fun and friendly non-human.

He might be a great help to us.

“I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but I’m in a bind too. I couldn’t go down, so I’m stuck.”

Go down?

Well, hell did have the image of going down into the earth.

Very deep down, too.

Mister Jack O’Lantern seems to have gone to hell beforehand using some method, but I was curious what that method was.

He must know how to pass through this gate.

“I know what you’re thinking, but I just reverse-engineered a hell-summoning ritual. It’s complicated to explain. Anyway, you won’t be able to descend to hell the same way I did. It’s impossible as long as you’re alive.”

“Then…”

“In my opinion, you’ll need plausibility to descend to hell.”

“Plausibility?”

Why did he bring up the word plausibility instead of conditions or rules?

I remember Alice telling me that in a story, magic plays the role of plausibility.

Like claiming that because a cursed doll resembles a person, it is the same as that person to the world.

“What’s written on that gate?”

“Good within evil. Evil within good. And the sin brought by the serpent of Eden. That’s what it says.”

“Hmm… I don’t know what the serpent of Eden means. One piece of advice, if a sentence is incomprehensible, it’s better to put it aside and focus on the preceding sentence. Connect that sentence with Alice. Your idea seems good, so you can definitely do it!”

Good within evil, and evil within good.

I believe that even the best intentions can create evil.

This is not a difficult thought.

Because actions started with good intentions and consideration can become twisted and cause irreversible accidents.

Perhaps the way to pass through these Gates of Hell is not just evil, but evil within good.

“I’m going to save Alice.”

I asserted my good intentions towards the Gates of Hell.

“So guide us to hell!”

Then, a slight change occurred in the gate with a “woong” sound.

Now.

The Gates of Hell judged my wish as “evil”…

Evil. Saving Alice is evil.

It shakes my heart, but there was no time to hesitate.

“Good job! Everyone, grab my hand!”

We all grabbed the hand that came out from the gap in the gate.

And when we blinked once.

We were in the sky.

“Welcome! To Jack O’Lantern’s hot air balloon!”

Mister Jack O’Lantern welcomed us.

However, I didn’t notice.

Because I was unconsciously more curious about the scenery of hell.

Jack O’Lantern grumbled that kids these days are impudent.

Hell was more ordinary than I thought.

It wasn’t the typical scenery of flames burning and devils piercing sinners with tridents.

Hell was almost similar to our world. It was to the point where I wondered if I had really entered hell.

The only difference was that the sky was darker.

“This is hell?”

“It’s different from what I imagined.”

“I thought it would be a place with fire blazing everywhere…”

“If you wish, I’ll set it on fire! Whoosh! Hahahaha!”

“It’s not scary. Let’s get to the point.”

We appreciate your help, but we were in a hurry.

Mister Jack O’Lantern clicked his tongue, saying kids these days are like that.

I’m sorry, mister.

“Do you know how all this is going?”

“Hmm… I’ll tell you what I know.”

We felt the hot air balloon descending to the ground.

And below that, there was another Gate of Hell. Mister Jack O’Lantern looked at that Gate of Hell and continued speaking.

“Have you seen devils?”

“Tale devils?”

“No, just miscellaneous devils. Not like you tale devils who fulfill stories, just ordinary devils.”

I’ve seen them.

It was said that if devils meet the context, they are given a name appropriate for it.

For some reason, though.

During the extermination activities disguised as training with Alice, most of what I encountered were anomalous monsters and miscellaneous devils.

“Seeing their remnants falling here, it seems they became the material for this gate. Things that can’t even be called real devils, yet they possess demonic power, I wondered what they were… Turns out they were just convenient materials for that Mephistopheles bastard to use.”

“What do you mean, not real devils?”

“Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer, etcetera… Not those orthodox devils, but devils artificially created through Oz, as the name suggests. They form the Gates of Hell in your world, and the devils of the world below also form gates in the same way.”

They form gates in the world below too.

Judging by what Mister Jack O’Lantern is saying, the world below probably refers to the world we descended to through the Gates of Hell.

If so, it meant that this world through the Gates of Hell, just like our world, had miscellaneous devils as the material for the gates.

And while he was talking, we landed on the ground and faced the Gates of Hell again.

Then, this time too, just like the trick when I first entered the gate, I thought of Alice and touched the gate, and I was able to pass through without being blocked.

“You passed the next Gate of Hell. It seems you were needed after all.”

We passed through the gate and were in the sky, just like the first time.

It was to the point where I even felt the illusion that I was repeating the same thing.

Below, there was another Gate of Hell, and the sky was even darker.

Below, there is always a world below, and the sky gets darker as you descend.

“…!”

A drastic change occurred when we passed the fifth gate.

“This place is excessively overlapped.“

The buildings, which were similar to our world, were strangely twisted, and not only the sky but also the ground as a whole became difficult to recognize.

“What do you mean, overlapped…”

“Literally, the world below has overlapped with the world of another parallel universe. The reason the sky is gradually getting darker is the same as how if you overlap pages of a book with other pages, it becomes darker and harder to recognize.”

If you overlap the letters of a book, it’s hard to recognize.

That was exactly what he said.

The further down I went, the darker it became, and the ground, buildings, and trees became difficult to recognize, as if they were overlapped with something.

It felt like if this continued, only black things would remain.

Black… I thought it was a color often used to express evil.

“As you descend further down through hell, a darkly overlapped world emerges. That’s what’s happening now. It’s my first time descending too… Once you go down, you can’t come back up.”

You can’t come back up…? That was unexpected.

Perhaps I should have prepared myself more.

Even though I knew that things might not go the way we all wanted, to have it confirmed like this made my heart sink.

“…”

And if you go down, it overlaps.

That was why the sky of the world had turned black.

Our world’s sky also turned black, so was that because it overlapped too?

It occurred to me that perhaps our world was also a lower world somewhere.

“Why is this happening?”

“The cause is obviously that guy named Mephistopheles. If it’s not him, it doesn’t make sense.”

“For what purpose?”

“How would I know! But doesn’t overlapping mean condensing…? In other words, it seems to be for reducing the number.“

Reducing the number.

If it overlaps and overlaps and condenses into one, it will surely become the darkest black.

Still, I don’t know why he’s doing such a thing.

I recalled the phrase I saw at the Gates of Hell.

Good within evil, and evil within good.

And the sin brought by the serpent of Eden.

“…”

My thoughts are getting complicated.

“By the way, I don’t know how far that Carol brat has descended.”

Mister Jack O’Lantern was looking for someone named Carol.

Alice was looking for that person too.

It had been forgotten for a moment due to the Dorothy incident.

“I heard she went missing.”

“Yes… She became something called a Bellman. Hmph! That foolish brat, she’s a woman but also Bellman, isn’t that foolish?”

“Doesn’t the word man in English not necessarily mean only male?”

“I know that too, kid!”

Mister Jack O’Lantern also seemed to want to go down to find his friend Carol.

He is the same as us.

That’s why my heart felt warm.

Even if you can’t come back up, to come down like this for one person, Carol must be a very precious person to him.

It seems he didn’t show it because of his personality.

“…Hmm?”

The hot air balloon was descending relatively calmly.

Even though the world was becoming increasingly strange, there were no particular threats, so the tension had eased a bit.

An incident occurred.

“Ahahahaha!”

The hot air balloon shook violently due to a sudden gust of wind. And fluttering brass-colored hair.

It fluttered and eventually wrapped around the hot air balloon.

“That’s…!”

“Damn it! It’s a tale devil!”

A female devil with incredibly long hair.

She was laughing eerily at us.

Mister Jack O’Lantern, despite being a non-human, screamed, half in terror, saying he had no power to defeat such a strong devil.

“But there are only seven tale devils…!”

“That’s your world’s story! Her hair is so incredibly long, is she Rapunzel or something?!”

She shouted in a mad voice.

I wanted to pull him up to the sky, but in the end, I dropped him to the ground!

We were all destined to fall, in fact!

Everyone will fall! Ahaha!!

“Damn it. Hold on tight, we’re going down fast!”

Rapunzel wrapped us up and headed madly towards the Gates of Hell.

We were helplessly dragged along and began to descend rapidly.

We broke through five gates in just a few seconds, as if falling.

We tried to burn the wrapping hair with Mister Jack’s lantern.

“It’s burning, it’s burning! Uwaaaah!”

“How far down are we going!”

“It seems like going all the way down isn’t that difficult after all!”

When we calmly burned the hair one by one, we were able to remove all the hair, and Rapunzel, who disappeared from sight, stopped chasing us.

However.

“We’re still falling!”

The hot air balloon is torn, so we can’t stop!

We screamed and fell into the darkness.

Boom-!

…

POV Switch – 3rd Person

Jack O’Lantern opened his eyes in a pitch-black space.

It seemed that the hot air balloon had crashed and he had fallen to the bottom.

The depths of hell… He hurriedly looked for the children who had fallen with him, but they were nowhere to be seen.

There was no wreckage of the hot air balloon either, so it seemed that only he had been thrown out.

“Hmm, they’re tough, so they probably won’t die.”

Since he had come to the end of hell as planned, he would now find Carol.

He came down, risking danger, with only that thought.

Clang—!

Bell sound.

Bellman…

“Carol… Are you there?”

Jack O’Lantern illuminated the darkness with his lantern and walked.

Fall!

As always, if you spot any mistakes, feel free to let me know—and I hope you enjoyed the read!

—Chi