As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon and the city plunged into uncertain darkness, San and the others arrived at the museum once again.

  Upon reaching the entrance, they found Munkan already waiting for them, his old, uncertain face set in a serious expression.

  "There you are!" he greeted them.

  "Come in!

  Funo has already informed me via a messenger flame."

  Together, they entered the building.

  At the reception desk, Munkan explained where each of them would be patrolling.

  "You three will watch the third floor.

  You three will take care of the second.

  My colleagues and I will cover the first floor.

  That leaves only you, San.

  You'll have to watch over this floor alone.

  But don’t worry.

  You only need to keep an eye on the storage room and the exhibition you were in earlier.

  That exhibition can be entered from three places:

  The reception hall, the elevator from the first floor, and the storage room over there.

  It has no windows or doors, but maybe our intruder will use Nyd and manage to slip in unnoticed!"

  "Are there really Nyds like that?"

  "Of course there are.

  For example—"

  "Ahem!" A staff member quickly cleared his throat before Munkan could launch into another long story.

  "Oh.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  My apologies...

  Well then, let’s get started."

  With that, everyone took their positions.

  San remained alone on his assigned floor as planned.

  Munkan handed him a key to lock and unlock the doors to the exhibition and storage room.

  He did just that.

  The lights in the building were left on that night.

  Usually, they were kept off.

  San took a brief moment to examine the exhibition before realizing how eerily silent it had become.

  He was the only one here.

  A slight shiver ran down his spine.

  Slowly, he turned to face the door leading to the storage room.

  With quiet steps, he approached it.

  A soft clicking sound signaled the door mechanism unlocking, followed by a faint creak as the door opened.

  He cautiously stepped inside.

  The room was pitch-dark.

  Wasn’t the light supposed to stay on?

  Standing frozen in the doorway, he reached out with one hand, searching for the switch.

  It felt like an eternity, but then…

  CLICK.

  The light flicked on, flooding the room with bright, reassuring light.

  But that wasn’t what troubled him.

  For a brief moment, just as the light turned on, he spotted a figure through the shelves ahead.

  As soon as the light touched them, they hesitated—then bolted.

  It took San a moment longer to fully grasp what had just happened.

  "STOP RIGHT THERE!" he shouted, charging forward.

  He didn’t know the storage room well, but that didn’t matter.

  His body moved on instinct.

  Now and then, he caught glimpses of the figure darting between the shelves, vanishing down the aisles.

  He ran as if his life depended on catching that person.

  Then…

  The unknown figure dashed around a corner.

  Out of the corner of his eye, San saw that it led to a dead end.

  "I've got you now!" he shouted, rushing around the corner.

  …

  But there was no one.

  Only a white wall and rows of shelves filled with various museum supplies.

  He quickly scanned the area, but the figure had vanished.

  As silence settled over the room, he took one last desperate look upward, hoping to catch a glimpse of them.

  But there was nothing.

  His head dropped in frustration.

  Then, someone placed a hand—soft and gentle—on his shoulder.

  "So… who’s caught who now?"