The empire’s back alleys were teeming with all sorts of criminals, but among them were those who, despite not being criminals, had made their homes in such rough places.

Whatever their pasts and circumstances, this man had no grand backstory—he simply settled in the back alleys and, before long, established himself as a figure of immense influence.

An informant. There were countless people in the back alleys who dealt in information, but only one was referred to simply as ‘the informant,’ without any embellishment.

Yet, even among those who knew of his presence in the underworld, few knew his real name. Even those who worked closely with him were unaware of it, so further explanation was unnecessary.

A man everyone knew, but no one really knew.

Curiously, while his name remained a mystery, the fact that he was a ‘magician’ was widely rumored. However, that information was of little use. In this era, ‘magicians’ could no longer perform the kind of real ‘magic’ one would read about in novels or legends. There were a few who could still use magic, but even among them, no one knew who they were or what kind of magic they could wield.

And so, beyond carrying a slightly exaggerated reputation for knowing everything from the empire to the entire continent, no real information ever circulated about the informant.

Now, just a few hours ago, this very informant, Arian, had come face to face with the man who had first discovered the gruesome scene during a business visit.

“Hm. This gives me a bad feeling.”

“Right? No matter what happened, this is definitely serious. People die all the time, but this one is too strange to just brush off.”

The man unconsciously shivered as he spoke. He had committed a few plausible crimes himself and drifted into the empire’s back alleys, where he now worked under the informant, taking on various jobs for more stable earnings rather than engaging in reckless crime. He had seen and experienced all sorts of things in the underworld, enough to boast about in a drunken stupor.

And yet, even he had turned pale at the sheer bizarreness of this case.

“A corpse that looked like all its fluids had been drained?”

“Yes! And now that I’ve seen it up close, I’m sure of it—it’s not human anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

Arian’s eyebrows shot up, and the man flinched but did not take back his words.

“The completely dried-up body—it was human, but at the same time, it wasn’t.”

“Didn’t I tell you not to spout nonsense?”

“I’m serious! Anyone who saw it would think the same thing!”

Seeing the man’s genuinely distressed reaction, Arian waved a hand dismissively.

“Tell me in more detail.”

“It’s like… it was human, but after transforming into that thing, it became something else entirely.”

The man, tilting his head as if struggling to explain himself, jumped at Arian’s next words.

“We need to bring that body here.”

“Me?”

The man took two full steps backward, as if to refuse outright, but Arian sneered.

“Hire someone if you have to. I hear the tavern owner is already out for your blood over your unpaid tab.”

“Damn it.”

Trapped in the inescapable web of financial debt, the man cursed and scratched his head furiously.

“By the way, was it the drug this time?”

“Oh, right. The guy who lived in that house got his hands on it.”

Arian clicked his tongue and adjusted his glasses.

At some point, a suspicious drug had begun circulating in the back alleys. That in itself wasn’t unusual—drugs had always been a part of life there.

But this one was different from any other drug that had ever made the rounds.

At first, it was said to be highly effective for insomnia, and people started using it one by one. It worked—remarkably so. Soon, word spread that those who took it slept like the dead, and its popularity grew.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the drug’s supply was so poor compared to its demand that only those with connections could obtain it. It was thought to be a simple medicine that cured insomnia. 

Until the day when a husband, alarmed that his wife had stopped breathing after taking the drug and falling asleep, shook her awake—only for her to cross the river of no return…

That couple was later found as corpses—one shriveled up like a mummy and bizarrely transformed, the other torn apart beyond recognition. It was the first tragedy.

After that, strange rumors began to spread intermittently.

“I’m telling you, after taking that drug and sleeping like the dead, they suddenly sat up and started looking at people with these weird, crazed eyes! What did I do? What do you think? I ran for my life!”

The second tragedy was cunningly hidden among those rumors. A disturbing story emerged that a child, not even ten years old, had swallowed the drug that their parents had carefully stored away—and then proceeded to devour their entire family.

The grotesque tale, too distasteful even for drunken chatter, eventually faded. However, the man who had first witnessed that horror had vomited repeatedly at the sight.

And now, this was the third.

“I don’t know if I should call myself lucky or unlucky.”

“Are you talking about yourself?”

“Yeah. A normal person wouldn’t witness something like this even once in a lifetime, but I’ve seen it three times now.”

“Please don’t talk as if it’s some scenic view worth admiring!”

The man, feeling utterly aggrieved and on the verge of frustration, was silenced by Arian’s next words.

“If you bring me the body in good condition, I’ll pay you this much. The faster you bring it, the bigger the bonus.”

“I’ll make sure to retrieve it before it ends up burned or dumped somewhere unnoticed, like the others.”

Rolling his eyes in thought as he followed Arian’s waving fingers, the man abruptly bolted away.

“Is it done?”

“Yes.”

Once the man had left, a boy approached the informant with quick steps and asked.

“What are you going to do, Arian?”

“What else? I need to investigate.”

“I’ll pass that along.”

The boy, one of the few who knew Arian’s real name, nodded.

Just as he was about to leave, Arian called out to him.

“About those commoner disappearances.”

“Yes. I reported earlier that there haven’t been any more disappearances, right?”

“Right. But I just heard something strange.”

Arian tilted his head slightly, a sharp smirk appearing on his face.

“This time, they say a noble’s child has gone missing.”

The boy replied flatly.

“The highborn must be fighting amongst themselves. If a real noble’s child had disappeared, would it be this quiet?”

“Normally, I’d think so too, but… hmm.”

The boy, waiting for Arian to continue, realized that he had drifted into thought and silently left.

Left alone, Arian muttered to himself, paying no mind to the boy’s departure.

“No matter how I think about it, this is strange. One disappearance, maybe. But two at the same time? And they’re not even from the same family, nor were they staying in the same mansion…”

Tapping the arm of his glasses repeatedly, he voiced his thoughts aloud.

“And their appearances aren’t similar, nor are they the same gender, so the likelihood of it being the work of some pervert with twisted tastes is low.”

Even before the man had come ranting about the drug, another investigator had brought him a report on the noble disappearances, and something about it smelled deeply rotten.

“The profile of the missing persons is similar to those from the commoner disappearances.”

As the afternoon sun slanted through the window, Arian pieced together various possibilities until, at some point, he arrived almost precisely at the truth.

“Whoever it is, they’re devouring people like a glutton stuffing their sack full.”

***

“Um, I mean, Aiger. Did I do something wrong?”

Raylin asked, her eyebrows drooping sadly.

Aiger had no answer.

Perhaps it had started then. The nights of sleeplessness that had returned to haunt him.

The night he went back to Raylin after realizing his feelings for her in the greenhouse.

He had meant to knock on her large window as usual, but he stopped.

The silhouette of Raylin flickered behind the curtain, illuminated by the moonlight.

He found himself unable to move any closer.

Even though he couldn’t see her clearly, he could vividly picture her in his mind.

His blood rushed madly beneath his skin, his breath escaping hotly from between his lips.

Before he could even process his thoughts, Aiger turned away.

How many times had he gone to her bedroom only to retreat?

“Your Highness, we received word about a new drug. Shall I bring it?”

Hearing his subordinate’s voice filled with concern for his sleepless state, Aiger pressed his throbbing temple.

“Yes, bring whatever—no, forget it.”

He had been about to nod in resignation when he suddenly waved his hand dismissively.

Raylin, who was so determined to cure his insomnia, had come to mind.

He had never deeply thought about why he kept going to her balcony only to turn back.

But instinctively, he knew—if he lingered any longer, he would cross a line he was not meant to cross.

Perhaps he should have ignored the whispered warnings of his instincts and confronted his thoughts head-on.

If he had, he might have understood why he now found himself in such a troubling situation—one that left him both desperately hungry and parched.

Aiger muttered a brief curse at his past self, yet he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Raylin, who was growing increasingly dejected at his silence.

The shadow of her long eyelashes cast over her emerald eyes made her look unbearably sorrowful. He wanted to do something—anything—to change that.

Yes. All he had to do was pull her close, as he always did, and hold her in his arms—soft, warm, and naturally leaning into him.

He would lie beside her on the now-familiar bed, letting her presence lull him to sleep, finally finding the restful slumber that had eluded him his entire life.

And yet…

“Aiger? Oh… why are you moving away?”