Chapter 2
That heavy, powerful sound that struck my entire body made me stagger. It felt like the air around me was violently vibrating.
“Ugh.”
Unable to keep my balance against some force pressing down on my body, I had no choice but to sit back down on the bus stop bench. Something was definitely happening, but with nothing visible to identify, I felt scared and confused. I took a deep breath and looked around, noticing something strange about 10 meters away from the bus stop.
“What is that…?”
Was that there before?
A black hole slightly smaller than a manhole cover had opened on the bumpy sidewalk blocks. Wondering if it might be a sinkhole, I stood up from my seat.
Looking closer, I realized it wasn’t just a hole but a pool. The pitch-black pool, so dark that I couldn’t see inside it, was swirling like water draining from a clogged drain. It looked remarkably like a black hole.
I walked toward the swirling vortex in a daze.
“…”
Strangely, it felt like that black whirlpool was calling to me. My feet moved on their own. As I drew closer to the black energy, the various thoughts filling my head evaporated and my vision began to blur.
When I was about a meter away from the swirling pool:
Goooooooong—!
“Huh!”
The same heavy resonating sound from before struck my body again. Stunned by the shock, I jumped back in surprise. A chilling sensation ran down my spine.
This is a Rift!
I finally realized what the black pool was. It was the “space-time Rift” I’d only heard about. For some reason, it seemed smaller than what I’d seen and heard about online, but it was definitely a Rift.
I tried to turn and run away, but as soon as I took a step, something wrapped around my right ankle and pulled me. It was a tentacle that looked as if it had been dipped in black oil and pulled out.
“Aaaahh!”
With my foot caught by the tentacle, I screamed and fell hard on my backside. It all happened in an instant.
“Aaargh! What, what is this! Let go!”
The disgustingly smooth tentacle pulled me toward the swirling black pool. I struggled desperately, but I was helplessly dragged along by its tremendous strength. By now, the vortex had grown large enough to swallow me whole.
“Aaah! I said let go!”
WHACK!
Struggling with all my might, I used my free foot to kick at the repulsive black tentacle wrapped around my ankle. It seemed to work, as I felt the tentacle holding me loosen.
“Huff. Hah!”
Seizing the opportunity, I pressed my hands against the ground and quickly got to my feet. The tentacle wrapped around my ankle had lost its grip on me.
“Aaaah! What is that!”
After barely managing to stand up, I looked back and saw the tentacle writhing wildly in the air. It was like a giant earthworm. Disgusting and terrifying.
“KYAAAAAAAK—!”
A high-pitched, monstrous scream came from inside the violently swirling hole. It sounded like the air was being torn apart. It must have been the sound of the monster inside. Just as people in the old days would fall ill just from hearing a tiger’s roar, I too froze at the monster’s cry. It felt like my soul had plummeted from a high cliff.
“Ugh, argh.”
That wasn’t the end of it. Perhaps due to the Rift’s influence, the air around me grew heavy. My breathing gradually became irregular. It felt like a tremendous gravity was pressing down on my shoulders and suppressing my breath. I tried to move forward while gasping for air, but I simply couldn’t move my body.
“I, I can’t stay here… ugh.”
My strength kept draining away, so I gritted my teeth and forced my body to move. I couldn’t die here. No matter how unlucky my life had been, I didn’t want to face such an abrupt, meaningless death without warning. Besides, I couldn’t die and leave Jaeyeon, my only blood relative, alone.
Meanwhile, I could see the tentacle that had been writhing in the air coming down to the ground and slithering toward my ankle.
The moment I saw that, I lifted my foot high. Just as the tentacle was about to wrap around my ankle, I stomped down hard on the plump body of the tentacle.
“Die…!”
I don’t know where the strength and courage came from. Perhaps it was my last desperate struggle under the weight of fear.
“Die! Die! Die! Huff. Hah.”
Finally, with a disgusting “squish” sound, the tentacle burst.
“Hah. Huff. Is it dead?”
Looking at the tentacle with its body burst open and oozing sticky fluid, it didn’t seem like it would come back to life. The thrill of victory tingled down my spine, but it was short-lived.
“Wh-what?”
I had only taken one step, but my vision spun. The sky and ground whirled around me. It was truly due to the lack of oxygen.
“Urgh…!”
As the strength left my barely standing body, my knees nearly buckled forward. My body swayed heavily once as I lost my center of gravity. I needed to flee quickly, but my right ankle throbbed with pain, making even a single step difficult.
Goooooong—!
Once again, the heavy resonating sound was heard. Along with that sound, another tentacle was rising from the pool.
“Hah, huff.”
What emerged from the pool was a tentacle of such enormous size that words failed me. If what I had stomped to death was an “earthworm,” this tentacle resembled a gigantic “centipede.”
Woooosh. Whoosh—!
It writhed threateningly, as if seeking revenge. Every time the giant centipede moved, I could hear the sound of it cutting through the air. I finally came to my senses and limped away.
“Grrrrrrrr.”
“Aaaaah!”
The giant centipede made a strange noise as it chased after me. Glancing back, I could see its creepy many legs fluttering.
“GRRRRRRRR—!”
It was a critical moment as the creature lunged at me.
FLASH!
As if lightning had struck from a clear sky, there was a bright flash before my eyes. Simultaneously, I smelled burning squid. Before I could grasp what was happening, my body pitched forward. I was about to face-plant on the ground.
“Oops.”
Someone caught my waist firmly as I was falling and let out a sigh. I suddenly found myself draped over their arm like a blanket hung out to dry.
“I’d like to greet you properly, but the situation is a bit much.”
“Uh…?”
Was this someone I knew?
I opened my blurry eyes and looked up at the person who had saved me. But my vision was too hazy to see them clearly. All I could make out was bright silver hair shimmering under the red moon.
“They made such a crude barrier. Unfortunately, you got caught in it.”
He muttered words I couldn’t understand, then turned his gaze toward the black pool. Suddenly my ears felt stuffed, and the ground shook violently as if in an earthquake. Startled, I gasped and clutched the man’s collar tightly. Seeing my terrified state, the man let out a light laugh.
“Looks like you’ll have to wait a while for the bus, huh?”
A slightly playful voice with an unbroken quality penetrated my ears. The swirling pool had disappeared. I could see cars driving on the road as usual. Could this man have dealt with the Rift?
“…Ugh.”
I should have thanked my lifesaver, but my consciousness was fading as much as my blurry vision.
“We’ll save the introductions for later. I’ll take you home. Ah, but I should take you to the hospital first.”
The man muttered. At his pleasant voice, I just nodded slightly before promptly passing out.
***
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a long, white LED light attached to the ceiling. Looking at the elongated light that resembled a lightsaber from movies brought back old memories.
The ceiling of the orphanage where I used to live looked like that too… When I became a high school student and shot up in height, I ended up changing all the ceiling lights at the orphanage.
I laughed emptily at the forgotten memory. Then suddenly I wondered where I was. Belatedly raising my upper body, I looked around. Judging by the people rushing about, others with pale complexions, and the shouts and crying sounds heard here and there, this was definitely a hospital emergency room.
Unable to understand why I was here, I was blinking in confusion when I spotted Jaeyeon talking with a doctor near the bed.
“Jaeyeon…”
“Oppa!”
Jaeyeon, who had made eye contact with me, jumped up and ran over. Seeing her in her school uniform, she must have rushed over from school. Her eyes were moist with tears.
“What happened? Why did you suddenly collapse on the street?! We were just chatting normally on KakaoTalk, then I heard you collapsed—I was so shocked!”
“Huh…?”
Jaeyeon quickly wiped away her tears and smacked me on the shoulder. Only then did I remember what had happened just before I fainted.
The black vortex swirling on the ground…
Yes, that’s right. I was almost sucked into a Rift when someone saved me.
Remembering the moist, sticky tentacle made the hair on my body stand on end and sent a chill down my neck.
I almost died!
“They ran some tests, and besides your right ankle ligament being slightly stretched, there’s nothing wrong. They said you collapsed due to anemia and overwork. Seriously, you’re as tall as a pole, but why are you so weak!”
“Wait. Jaeyeon. How did I get to the hospital?”
“You don’t remember? Apparently, a passerby found you collapsed and brought you to the hospital?”
“…Who was that person?”
“I don’t know either. They must have just left. When I arrived, no one was here.”
Strangely, Jaeyeon thought I had just collapsed while walking normally. Confused, I took out my phone from my pocket and searched for “Rift” on a portal site. Even if it was a small Rift, since it happened in the middle of the city, there should have been news about it.
“Nothing…”
“What? Is there a problem?”
“No. It’s nothing.”
No matter how much I searched, there were no articles mentioning the Rift that had occurred today. Just in case, I also checked rumors circulating on social media, but it was the same there too.
Could it have been a dream?
It was too vivid to be a dream…
I could still clearly feel the sensation of the tentacle from the Rift wrapping around my ankle. As my head began to throb, I was about to put my phone down when it vibrated slightly.
“Oh, right. That person also paid your hospital bill. Isn’t that amazing? A real good Samaritan, right?”
“…”
“Oppa?”
Jaeyeon called out to me as I sat there blankly. I checked the new message that had just arrived with an astonished expression.
“What’s wrong? Does your head hurt? Should I call the doctor?”
Jaeyeon, who usually bickered with me daily, was worried about me since my complexion didn’t look good. My physical condition was fine. I was just mentally overwhelmed.
[Thank you for applying to ♥Earth Peace Research Institute♥! We will guide you through the interview time and location, so see you then!]
Why…
Why would that suspicious company send me a message about an interview?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
