The door of the fortune-telling shop flew open.

  Da-hye stormed inside, her bangs still wrapped in curlers, her face swollen and irritated.

  “Ugh, this is seriously the worst.Dad—take this. Right now.”

  “Oh wow,” Baek Gyeong-su said with an exaggerated smile, trying to lighten the mood.“Our princess honors us with a personal visit?And what’s that you’re holding…a lunchbox?Your mom’s orders?Or did you come running all the way here out of pure love for your dear old dad?”

  Da-hye scowled.

  “What are you even talking about?Do I look like I’m in the mood for jokes?Just take it already.My arm’s about to fall off.I still have to fix my hair and finish my makeup,and then Mom suddenly calls and starts yelling—my face is completely ruined.Ugh. Seriously.”

  For days now, Baek Gyeong-su’s wife, Yoon-jeong, hadn’t been at ease.

  Ever since she found out that Im Hyo-jeong’s son,Tak Hyeon-pil, had been staying at her husband’s shop.

  When her husband was alone,skipping meals or surviving on instant ramen—she’d never worried much about it.That was how he’d lived his entire life.

  But imagining someone else’s childgoing hungry alongside him,or eating nothing but ramen for lunch,made her temples ache.

  So that morning, while getting ready for work,she hurriedly prepared a lunchbox before leaving.Da-hye was still asleep, so she didn’t wake her.

  10:30 a.m.

  Yoon-jeong called.

  “Da-hye.Cook the bulgogi, make some rice,and take the lunchbox over there.Heat it properly.Now.”

  Da-hye yelled back into the phone.

  “Mom, are you serious?What did I do wrong this time?I have work!I can’t go!”

  Yoon-jeong didn’t raise her voice.She didn’t need to.

  “Baek Da-hye.Listen to your mother.”

  Her tone went cold.

  “Fine.I won’t ask you for living expenses anymore.But if you don’t deliver that lunchbox,pack your things and move out. Today.”

  By the time Da-hye arrived, her mood was already wrecked.

  She was venting to her dad when—only then did she notice someone sitting beside him.

  She turned.

  A young man sat quietly, reading.

  Clean features.Calm eyes.An air about him so stillit almost felt like light gathered around his head.

  Da-hye froze.

  Her pupils widened.Heat rushed up her chest,coloring her cheeks in an instant.

  Baek Gyeong-su noticed—and quickly stepped in, casual as ever.

  “You’ve got work, right?Thanks.Go on.You’ll be late.”

  He opened the door and nudged her outside.

  “Dad… who was that?That guy—was he the client’s son?”

  She whispered, eyes burning with curiosity.

  Baek Gyeong-su waved her off.

  “Didn’t you say you had a shift?And makeup to fix?I’ll tell you later.Go.Thanks, sweetheart.”

  The door slammed shut.

  A moment later, it flew open again.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Baek Gyeong-su said, poking his head out.“Starting tomorrow, I won’t be eating for about a week.Don’t worry.It’s your fault.Hang in there for a year.I’ll turn you into a fairy.”

  The door snapped shut.

  Da-hye still had to be at work by two,but she’d been kicked out far too early.Her heart was still racing.

  She checked the time.Too late to go home.Too early to go to work.

  So she headed down to the subwayand decided to kill an hour on her phone.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  She wasn’t hungry.She’d already scarfed down a rushed meal while making the lunchbox—half breakfast, half lunch.

  She sat on a wooden bench and unlocked her phone.

  Dad is unbelievable.Always begging me to like his posts.Wait—there isn’t even a single like?Fine. Starting today, I’ll help him out.Wow. I’m such a saint.

  Her dad’s blog wasn’t for money.It was just a hobby.That was why it had almost no likes.

  She scrolled—and frowned.

  What is this?Why are there so many Chinese characters?Why does he write like this?This is basically alien language.Forget it. My head hurts.

  After a moment, she backed outand slipped into familiar SNS videos.

  She laughed quietly, then drifted to YouTube.

  Da-hye believed—firmly—that all knowledge in the worldshould be learned through videos.Whenever she didn’t understand something,she asked her best friend: artificial intelligence.

  Restaurants and clothing stores stretched endlessly along the street,quietly announcing that this was Hongdae.

  Back in the 1980s, it had been silent, almost empty.Now, it was a place where youth and romance gathered.

  Today, her steps felt different.

  Not quite walking—more like bouncing,as if she were floating just above the ground.

  From a distance,you could almost see her excitementpushing her forward.

  She stopped in front of a small seven-story building tucked into an alley.

  She took a breath,pushed the door open,and went inside.

  The elevator chimed as she pressed the third-floor button.

  Ding.

  The doors opened.

  She stepped out and entered the shop without hesitation.

  “Hey, boss!”

  The owner smiled brightly.

  “Da-hye!Something good happen today?You’re glowing.Have you eaten?”

  As their voices blended into the room,the door slowly closed.

  Through the narrowing gap,the shop’s name appeared.

  Contrabass

  ---

  After the Earth Reset Operation,Reapers Inc., the corporation responsible for overseeing the Milky Way,entered a prolonged period of stability.For a time, there were no major disturbances—nothing that demanded immediate attention.

  That calm, however, was temporary.

  Approximately sixteen million years ago,astronomical monitoring systems detectedan unusual chain of supernova explosionswithin the Scorpius–Centaurus OB Association.

  This was not a single event.

  Massive stars reached the end of their lifespans one after another,triggering a sequence of stellar deathsthat unfolded over millions of years.For nearly two million years,a region of space located three hundred eighty to four hundred seventy light-years from Earthpulsed relentlessly with light and shockwaves,as if the galaxy itself had developeda massive, unstable heartbeat.

  Each supernova flashtore through the darkness of space in an instant.The shockwaves that followedrippled across interstellar regions,quietly dismantling boundariesthat had never been visible,yet had always governed the flow of existence.

  The area could no longer be considereda peaceful stellar association.

  As countless stellar deaths overlapped,subtle but undeniable fracturesbegan to form within the structure of the galaxy itself.

  The consequences were immediate.

  In the aftermath of the chain supernovae,countless souls lost their cohesion.Some collapsed entirely, dissolving into nothingness.Others scattered beyond recovery,drifting deep into interstellar space.

  From that moment on,Reapers Inc. faced an unprecedented crisis.

  The issue was not simplyan increase in the number of the dead.

  Post-explosion space was saturated with residual radiation,violent shockwaves,and unstable gravitational distortions.Within such conditions,souls could no longer maintaintheir established transit routesor their long-standing settlement structures.

  Some souls residing in the underworldwere expelled prematurely,forced out before completing their assigned procedures.Others fragmented, destabilized,and became permanently anchoredin unknown regions of space.

  Eventually,Reapers Inc. was forced to confront a decisive question.

  Where should these souls be sent?By what standards should they be classified?And by what methodcould they be relocated?

  The situation demandeda fundamental redesignof the entire soul management system.

  Then—an event occurredthat pushed the crisis beyond recovery.

  Approximately three hundred thousand years ago,at a point nearly eight hundred light-years from Earth,near Gemini, one of the twelve zodiac constellations,the Geminga Supernova erupted.

  This was not the death of an ordinary star.

  It was the final strikeagainst an already destabilized interstellar environment—a detonation that released immense rings of energyand omnidirectional shockwaves,irreversibly altering the region.

  The debris spread outward like fire,condensing into vivid, multicolored nebulaethat scarred the fabric of space itself.The resulting waves propagated steadily—quiet, yet unmistakable—toward Earth.

  In that moment,Reapers Inc. understood.

  This was no longer a matter of observation or regulation.It marked the stage at whichthe very allocation of existencehad to be redefined.

  That realization led to a single conclusion.

  Under the existing system of soul management,the crisis could no longer be contained.

  As a result,the corporation formally initiatedthe Soul Transfer Operation,also known as the Earth Relocation Plan.

  From the moment that decision was enacted,entities unlike anything beforebegan to emerge upon the surface of Earth.

  They possessed structural similaritiesto the personnel of Reapers Inc.,yet were fully adaptedto the conditions of the living world.

  In time,they would come to be known ashumans.

  Over the course of approximately three hundred thousand years,this newly emerged speciesfundamentally reshaped the planet.

  They did not merely adapt to their environment.They reorganized it.

  They crafted tools,mastered fire,formed societies,and accumulated knowledge.

  Eventually, humanity displaced every other lifeformand claimed the apex positionwithin Earth’s ecosystem.

  Predators among predators.A species that ruled a planet.

  And so,Earth becamethe planet of humans.