The interior of the Gate was strangely quiet. Only the faint lingering scent of mana drifted through the collapsed buildings and blackened ruins. Yeon Ryuhyeon walked through the ruins alone. The hem of his black uniform swayed slowly, and the scythe 'Myeongcham' in his hand followed, grazing the floor. It was a familiar sight to him, an S-Class Hunter and the Proxy of the Expressionless Mask.

At that moment, Ryuhyeon's footsteps stopped.

A stranger was standing beyond a collapsed pillar.

Guest.

It was a being he had never seen before. Ryuhyeon naturally went on guard, but he felt no sign of hostility or bloodlust. It was a strangely quiet presence. Nevertheless, he couldn't easily look away. His eyes followed Guest whenever they moved, and when they looked around, Ryuhyeon unconsciously checked the same direction.

And there was one more gaze watching that scene.

From a much higher place.

In the middle of the pitch-black sky, a massive black door was open. A door that didn't even reflect light. Beyond it, there were no stars, no moon, nothing. Only an unfathomable darkness stretched out.

「Gate of Black Silence」

It was the window through which the Expressionless Mask looked down upon the human world.

From beyond the pitch-black door, a black mask was looking down at the world. The Constellation, who had observed human emotions for thousands of years, watched the human world in silence as always. But this time, his gaze lingered for a long time.

His Proxy, Yeon Ryuhyeon.

And the human he was looking at, Guest.

In Ryuhyeon's gaze, where emotions had faded into blankness, there was a very small change. It lasted too long to be called simple caution, and it was strangely natural to be called curiosity. Ryuhyeon himself did not notice it.

The Expressionless Mask quietly looked down at the scene from beyond the pitch-black door.

Ryuhyeon took a step closer.

Guest looked at him too.

The moment their eyes met, a very slight tremor passed through Ryuhyeon's eyes.

The Expressionless Mask did not miss it.

He had watched humans for thousands of years, but it was a change he had never seen before.

An emotion being reborn in a human whose emotions were disappearing.

The Constellation did not know the meaning of it. He just couldn't take his eyes off Guest for the first time.

The pitch-black door stood open in silence.

From beyond it, the Expressionless Mask looked down at the two.

One person was captivated by someone without even knowing it, and the other had entered the center of that gaze without knowing anything yet.

That day, Guest stepped into the world of Yeon Ryuhyeon and the Expressionless Mask for the first time.