The man couldn’t secure tickets to the World Cup game, so he went with his family to Dongdaemun Stadium, where the match was broadcast live outside. Little did he know that, mere hours later, hell itself would break loose. The stadium descended into chaos as mysterious monsters, straight out of horror movies, appeared and began attacking and devouring people. It was a nightmarish scene straight from the apocalypse.
In some ways, the man was fortunate. He experienced an Awakening, gaining extraordinary powers reminiscent of a hero, and both of his parents survived.
Yet, it could also be said that he was deeply unfortunate. Seoul, the epicenter of the initial monster outbreak, had countless citizens who failed to evacuate in time, becoming stranded refugees. The man and his family were among those trapped in the city.
The refugees initially waited hopefully for government rescue, but it didn’t take long before they realized they had been abandoned.
“Hyung, have you ever watched an apocalypse movie?”
“You mean disaster films with zombies or volcanic eruptions?”
He could feel Tae Woon, who was riding on his back, nodding gently against his neck.
“Seoul after the Cataclysm was exactly like that. A real-life apocalypse.”
Kim Sibaek had watched documentaries depicting the tragedy of the Cataclysm, but hearing it firsthand from Tae Woon, who’d lived through that nightmare as a refugee, carried a visceral rawness that documentaries couldn’t capture.
“They were just animals. Not humans. Actually, worse than animals. Even beasts don’t kill their own kind for entertainment.”
“……”
“We could hold on at first, thinking the government would eventually rescue us, but…”
However, things outside Seoul were no less chaotic. Many government officials perished during the early stages of the Cataclysm, the acting president had been assassinated, and the military barely quelled an attempted coup. Monsters emerged all over the country, devouring humans. Meanwhile, North Korean refugees flooded southward, claiming death by monster was preferable to staying in the North.
In a situation where surviving each day felt miraculous, rescuing stranded refugees in Seoul—people whose survival was uncertain—was impossible. No matter how desperately they waited, rescue supplies never dropped from the skies, and they heard no gunfire signaling the military fighting off monsters. Slowly, the refugees learned the bitter taste of despair.
And despair inevitably bred violence.
Dongdaemun Stadium’s shelter emerged through force. With sturdy outer walls capable of repelling monster attacks and nearby commercial areas offering resources, it naturally became a stronghold. An Awakened man swiftly seized control, becoming the Shelter Leader.
Initially, conditions weren’t terrible. The Shelter Leader managed things rationally, distributing resources based on merit—hunting monsters or scavenging supplies. A hierarchy soon developed. The man, whose Awakening gave him decent abilities, found himself content with his position.
“You should move shelters.”
When a black-clad teenager showed up one day, offering advice, no one took him seriously—not even the Shelter Leader. They’d heard absurd rumors of a fourteen-year-old kid leading the shelter at Jaewoo University, and meeting him in person only made the idea seem more laughable.
“The stadium’s roof is wide open. What if flying monsters appear?”
It seemed like a childish scare tactic—clearly an attempt to frighten them away and seize control of Dongdaemun Stadium. The Shelter Leader drove him out without hesitation, and the boy merely shrugged and vanished.
Exactly two weeks later, enormous flying monsters appeared for the first time.
Kim Sibaek clicked his tongue softly. With nothing more than tents and tarps to shield them from the rain, an aerial attack would have been catastrophic.
“They wouldn’t have stood a chance. Even the Awakened were still inexperienced.”
“Unfortunately, no one had abilities strong enough to easily hunt flying monsters. If they had simply been slaughtered by the beasts, it might’ve just been a common tragedy.”
Listening to Tae Woon’s quiet, fragile voice, Kim Sibaek could sense the unbearable trauma etched deep into the boy, who had been just fourteen at the time.
“……They started offering people as prey.”
When public opinion erupted, urging people to flee Dongdaemun Stadium, the Shelter Leader crushed all dissent without mercy. Allowing a large group to leave meant risking his own grip on power, and he had no intention of abandoning his little kingdom.
A monster that devours humans naturally becomes satiated afterward—a fact the Shelter Leader cruelly exploited. He saw an opportunity to cull the “useless” people, turning them into living bait to pacify the monsters.
People who’d already submitted to violence and hierarchy didn’t dare resist. Those who tried to rebel or escape were the first ones fed to the monsters. After the flying beasts returned a few days later, devouring only the humans offered to them and leaving contentedly, the Shelter Leader’s authority became absolute.
The prey selection started from the bottom—the non-Awakened, the elderly, the children, the severely injured, and the disabled slowly vanished, one by one.
The man, deeply worried about his non-Awakened parents, fought desperately against monsters, striving harder to please the Shelter Leader. Acknowledging his efforts, the leader spared his parents, filling the man with relief.
Yet even this fleeting relief soon vanished.
From the moment Kim Sibaek heard they’d begun feeding people to monsters, he already foresaw the shelter’s grim fate. Once a hunting ground offered easy prey, predators inevitably flocked to it.
“…So the monsters kept increasing in number.”
“Yes. Those deemed expendable either became food or died trying to escape. Every last one.”
The monsters that appeared later were weaker, making them potentially huntable. Yet the people, broken by fear and submission, no longer dared to resist.
By the time they finally came to their senses, the lowest tier was empty. The line of who was chosen as prey slowly crept upward. The man grew increasingly anxious, desperately throwing himself into battle, trying harder than ever to prove his loyalty to the Shelter Leader and fend off his mounting fear.
The man was severely injured after a violent clash with another group of survivors while scavenging for food at a supermarket. As he lay unconscious for days afterward, swarms of flying monsters descended upon Dongdaemun Stadium. His parents were among those offered up as prey.
No sane person would willingly become food for monsters. Naturally, people resisted, pleaded desperately, and tried to escape. Initially, some guards, moved by pity, secretly helped prisoners flee. But once caught, they suffered the same brutal fate, making the situation increasingly ruthless.
In an era where even alcohol and drugs were precious, the guards resorted to savage beatings to subdue their victims. When monsters appeared on the horizon, the guards would break or sever limbs, leaving victims immobilized as easy prey.
That was how his parents died.
“The Shelter Leader knew better than anyone that the shelter had no future.”
The Shelter Leader secretly planned an escape, gathering a select group of loyal followers. He had even reached an agreement with another group of survivors. However, one of his men drunkenly leaked the plan, unleashing all the suppressed fear and violence at once.
It was a day of carnage.
“Just like that.”
From his position on the man’s back, Tae Woon lifted an arm and pointed ahead. Amid the blood-drenched chaos at Dongdaemun Stadium, the Portal Keeper appeared.
The stadium had transformed into a merciless killing ground.
***
The man’s despair and hatred far exceeded the fear and violence imposed by the Shelter Leader. Consumed by rage, he frantically searched for the leader amid the chaos. With so many people rising against the Shelter Leader, it seemed inevitable he would soon be torn apart.
That was a naive assumption. Battles involving Awakeners weren’t decided by sheer numbers alone. The Shelter Leader’s close followers, though few, possessed extraordinary powers.
A chaotic, brutal battle erupted. Perhaps some hesitated at first, unable to immediately kill people they had smiled at just the day before. Those who hesitated were quickly slaughtered, their hesitation rewarded by death or the spilled blood of family and loved ones.
Madness overtook them all. They killed, died, and killed again, locked in an endless cycle of violence.
The bloody battle stretched late into the night. As the rebels began to falter, an enormous monster, swollen from abundant prey and eager to feed its offspring, arrived at the stadium earlier than usual.
The hungry beast devoured indiscriminately, tearing into the rebels, the Shelter Leader’s followers, and finally, even the Shelter Leader himself.
The man felt an overwhelming sense of futility. What was the point of fighting so desperately to survive—of sacrificing others as prey—only to end up as monster food? Why had he Awakened to a Trait that couldn’t even defeat a single beast?
He wished he had died sooner. He should have ended his parents’ lives on the very first day of the Cataclysm and then taken his own beside them.
As the monster lunged toward him, he merely laughed hysterically. But just then, a black-clad boy appeared before his eyes.
