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The darkness inside the bag was suffocating, and with his rapid breathing and pounding heart, Alb pulled out the lighter from his heavy blue coat. “Why do I always end up in bags?” he muttered in frustration as he flicked the lighter on. The small flame barely lit the space, but it was enough to reveal another boy beside him. What shocked Alb wasn’t just the presence of another person but the boy’s strange appearance. His hair was half white and half black, and his eyes were completely black, like two bottomless pits in the darkness.

Alb raised an eyebrow and let out a short mocking laugh. “What’s this? A new shampoo ad?”

The boy didn’t seem affected at all, as if he had heard this type of mockery before. He responded coldly, with a hint of irritation, “My name’s Grioko.”

Alb rolled his eyes indifferently. “I don’t care.”

Grioko raised an eyebrow in confusion and said, “Don’t you want to tell me your name? We want to get out of here, don’t we?”

“Four. Call me Four,” Alb said dryly and coldly, his expression darkening as he touched the tattoo etched on his neck.

Grioko looked at him, surprised by the strange name. “Four?”

Alb’s voice sharpened as he spoke with irritation: “You better stop being curious. Just call me that, and if you don’t want to, don’t call me anything.”

A tense silence hung between them, but before the conversation could go any deeper, the ground started to tremble slowly. A deep growling noise came from outside.

Alb stopped talking and looked toward Grioko before letting out a sarcastic chuckle. “Really? Are we trying to kill each other while this thing is getting hungry? What kind of place is this?”

Grioko, who had been catching his breath after their brief fight, sat on the ground and said seriously, “Looks like the giant has something worse planned than we thought.”

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Suddenly, everything stopped. The bag opened from the top, and they were both dragged out. They fell onto a cold, hard floor. The air around them was freezing. The faint light illuminating the place was unlike anything they’d seen before. The lamps hanging on the walls burned with eerie blue flames, as if trapped souls were inside them, giving the room a lifeless atmosphere.

“Where are we?” Alb asked as he rubbed his arms, trying to fend off the cold. The chill seemed to seep into his bones, despite his protective coat against the black rain.

Grioko scanned the area with alert eyes. “Looks like some kind of prison. And the giant… decided to lock us up here.”

The prison was a cell with thick, rusty iron bars, reeking of dampness and mold. In the corner, there was an oil lamp emitting a cold blue light, casting long shadows on the damp stone floor. Alb could feel the cold increasing, and he couldn’t help but think about the mystery of this place.

As Alb looked around, something else caught his attention. They weren’t alone. In the neighboring cells, other faces began to appear—other children, locked up just like them. Among them, a familiar face emerged.

“Brilliant ideas guy!” Korotobi called out with a wide grin, as if he had just seen an old friend. Korotobi, the boy who had tried before to be friends with Alb but was met with coldness and rejection. Now, he was looking at him with the same confidence and calmness, as if the prison was just another challenge.

“You’re here too?” Korotobi said sarcastically, “Did you come to save me or what?”

Alb ignored Korotobi at first, but Korotobi didn’t stop. “Oh, come on now, don’t be like that! We’re in a common mess. It’s better if we work together, right?”

Grioko wasn’t impressed by Korotobi’s chat. “Is he always this annoying?” he asked Alb in a bored tone, watching as Korotobi tried to get closer to the bars.

“Always a nuisance,” Alb muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Well, annoying or not, I’ll tell you something,” Korotobi said with a confident smirk, “I’ve got a magical power.”

Grioko stopped breathing for a moment, then looked at Alb. “A magical power?”

Alb, starting to lose patience, glanced quickly at Korotobi, who was clearly enjoying the moment. “And you’re not telling us what it is because…?”

Korotobi smiled slyly. “Things are more exciting when there’s a little mystery, aren’t they?”

“Oh, really?” Alb said sarcastically. “Well, let me make something clear. If we don’t get out of here now, we’re going to end up as this giant’s dinner.”

Alb moved toward the bars, gripping them tightly, and strained to bend them. His small muscles tensed under the pressure, and slowly, the bars began to bend. “Amazing!” Grioko whispered, watching the unnatural strength Alb possessed, despite being only twelve years old.

Slowly but surely, Alb managed to break the bars and open a way out. He turned to Grioko and said, “Do you want to stay here?”

Without a word, Alb moved to Grioko’s cell and broke the bars as well. Then he headed to Korotobi’s, who had been watching everything with an unwavering smile. “I never doubted your abilities for a moment,” Korotobi said as he stepped out of his cell.

But as the other children began shouting for help, Alb looked at them coldly. “I can’t save everyone.”

One of them cried out, “Please, help us! Don’t leave us here!”

Alb, with a face devoid of any emotion, said, “I want to live right now. And I won’t save those I can’t.”

Korotobi looked at Alb and then at Grioko, shaking his head. “Well, let’s get moving before the giant comes back.”

The three of them rushed out of the cell, while the sound of heavy rain pounded outside, leaving the imprisoned children behind. The darkness around them thickened with every step they took.