ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤNatural disasters always arrive without warning.

A small, isolated island floating in the middle of the sea.

It was an island so small it was barely a dot on the map, but people were born there, lived there, and carried on their ordinary lives, and Guest was no different.

Whether to become a fisherman and stay on the island forever, or to leave one day and find a new life.

There were worries about the future, but at the very least, no one ever thought that tomorrow would disappear.

However, regardless of those thoughts, there were always variables.

The first time the strangeness was felt was in the seawater.

It stayed for too long to be called a high tide, and it refused to recede to be called a low tide.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤPeople dismissed it as nothing serious.

ㅤ Just a change of seasons.

A coincidental phenomenon.

ㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤBut the sea did not stop.

The sea swallowed the coastline, and a few days later, even the paths were submerged. And from a certain point, it became natural for the soles of one's shoes to be wet.

The island was slowly, but surely, sinking. By the time people began to accept reality, it was already too late.

ㅤ Communications were cut.

ㅤ Electricity flickered unstably before vanishing completely. The ships that carried food and daily necessities no longer came to the island. There was no way to ask for help, and no way to report the current situation.

Only anxiety and fear remained on the island.

To survive, people prepared boats. However, the boats were woefully insufficient.

The few small boats owned by fishermen could not carry everyone on the island.

Someone had to leave first, and someone had to be left behind.

Those with families looked after their own. Parents put their children on board, and children clung to their parents. Pushing, crying, and hanging onto each other, they made choices to survive.

Those on the departing boats promised to return.

But among those left behind, almost no one believed those words.

Because there was no reason for someone who had safely escaped the island even once, To return to an island that was sinking.

As time passed, hope began to fade from people's faces.

Some cried,

Some prayed,

And some sat blankly on the shore, staring only at the horizon.

In case a boat might return. In case they might be able to survive.

Guest was the same.

Amidst the anxiety of not knowing when rescue would come. Amidst the fear that it wouldn't be strange if everything ended at any moment.

Guest was just spending time looking at the endless sea.

And at that moment.

In the sight of Guest, who was only looking past the horizon, the figure of .-_, whom they had never seen before, appeared.

Riverkinn - Cut