Crab's expression changed immediately. Despair washed over his face as he collapsed to the ground, tears welling in both eyes.
"Does this mean… I'll never escape this place?" he said, his voice trembling.
I didn't know how to lift the heavy weight of hopelessness from him. Seeing his face made me feel genuinely sorry for him. And I understood—no one wants to be trapped in hell. Both of us longed for freedom. All I could do now was try to comfort him.
"Hey… don't look so down. It's not like this is our only option, you know?"
Crab wiped his tears and looked at me. "Then what are you going to do?"
"Well… uh…" I thought for a moment. "Why don't we climb over the bone wall and escape that way?" I said, pointing toward the skeletal barricade.
Crab sighed and shook his head slowly. "Useless… if that were possible, I would've done it a long time ago."
"Why? Why can't we use that way to get out?"
"Because it's too dangerous. Looks like you don't know anything about the curse of the Underworld gate, do you?"
Crab began to explain the legend of the gate. Anyone who steps beyond the gates of the Underworld is bound by a powerful curse. If you look back after crossing through, your soul will be trapped in the Underworld forever. And wandering out into the darkness with no light? That's a death sentence. You'd have no sense of direction. The path beyond the gate is a labyrinth of confusion. It's easy to get lost, and you might accidentally turn around—triggering the curse—without even realizing it.
"Seriously?" I was starting to feel just as hopeless as Crab. I slumped down beside him. "So… there's really no other way?"
"Well… there is one way, but…" Crab hesitated.
"But what…?"
"If I tell you, you have to promise me something. You mustn't abandon me, okay? Swear you won't leave me behind."
Crab looked at me with the saddest eyes I'd ever seen. For the first time, I really saw the innocence in him—pure, untainted, with no trace of malice. It suddenly made sense to me why he feared abandonment so much. He must've been betrayed many times before. At first, I was suspicious of him, wondering if he had some hidden agenda. But after seeing his expression, all my doubts vanished.
"Alright. I promise," I said with a smile.
Crab looked at me and gave a childlike grin. He trusted people so easily. That must've been why he kept getting tricked by them.
"To escape from here, we'll have to rely on someone who's still in the Underworld," Crab said, finally beginning to reveal his plan.
"Someone? In the Underworld? There's someone who can actually help us?"
"Yes… he's a master at escaping the Underworld," Crab said proudly.
"Wait—if he's that good, why hasn't he escaped already?" I challenged.
"You're not wrong… it's just that… he's got a little problem. He's under a curse that prevents him from leaving. If not for that curse, the Underworld would've been chasing him down long ago."
"So who is this person you're talking about?" I asked.
Crab looked at me and finally spoke the name:
"The one we're going to ask for help… is King Sisyphus."