[Emergency Onboard Notice (new)
A subject has abducted a researcher and escaped from within the facility.
Any witnesses must immediately report to the Security Force.]
Subject.
Though the word conjured the image of a monster, the photo attached to the message told a different story. A tall man with long hair tied back, walking alongside Seo Suho. For a brief moment, Min Yugeon felt his heart stop. If “subject” referred to the unidentified man, and “researcher” meant Seo Suho, then the abducted party was Seo Suho.
No.
Min Yugeon’s chest began to rise and fall roughly as his breathing turned ragged. He couldn’t understand it. Why did tragedy always seem to find Seo Suho alone?
It didn’t matter who the man was or why he had targeted Seo Suho. The fact that Seo Suho was in danger again made his entire body tremble uncontrollably, as though seized by convulsions, his breath caught in his throat.
What might be happening to him now, out of sight? Was he being harmed? Was he badly hurt? The uncertainty was unbearable. Even if he were to lose Seo Suho forever… it couldn’t be like this. Not like this.
“Suho… Hhk, H-heuk, Se-Seo Suho.”
Where are you?
A voice drenched in fear called Seo Suho’s name. It wasn’t until the sound reached his own ears that Min Yugeon realized it was his own voice. Only then did a sliver of clarity begin to return to him.
It wasn’t reason that had returned—only the realization of what he had to do right now.
…There was no time to waste like this.
Throwing aside the blanket, he got off the bed and moved, driven by a singular, consuming determination. He stripped off the patient gown, hurriedly found his own clothes, and walked out into the hallway.
“Ah, Min Yugeon, you’re out of your room—”
A nurse who had just been headed to his room encountered him. About to speak in surprise, she caught a good look at his hardened, expressionless face and the ominous tension clinging to him, and immediately shut her mouth. Realizing he wasn’t wearing a hospital gown, her fluster deepened.
“Sir…?”
“……”
Min Yugeon merely glanced down at her with his eyes.
“I’m discharging myself.”
Spitting the words out curtly, he resumed walking at a brisk pace. Overwhelmed by his presence, the nurse hesitated, then called out urgently,
“Wait! I need to tell you something about your mother—!”
But Min Yugeon didn’t hear a word.
He left the hospital and made his way to the Engineer Center. Colleagues who crossed his path flinched in surprise and tried to talk to him, but he passed them in silence.
They murmured in confusion, and his name echoed down the halls, but the only thing on his mind was his destination.
Past the Engineer Center—which served as a kind of gateway—he entered the Data Center and spotted several administrators chatting at the far end of the corridor.
“Even the soldiers have been moving around a lot lately. The atmosphere’s gotten really intense, right? Especially after today’s incident…”
“Exactly. From the looks of the photo, it seems like the person who got abducted was that researcher Seo Suho.”
“Yeah, that’s what I saw too.”
“Who the hell was the guy who took him? Why was someone locked up in the research facility anyway?”
“From what I’ve heard, he’s a survivor brought in from the surface. They must’ve had some reason to keep him confined.”
“Ugh. Honestly, I don’t care what the reason was—it’s messed up. Holding a person captive in a lab? That’s just creepy. What the hell was the Captain thinking?”
“Oh right, the Captain came by earlier and… the vibe was just…”
Min Yugeon silenced his footsteps and slipped through the slightly open door of the control room. Quietly shutting it behind him, he searched for the switch to the lights.
Click. As the switch flipped on, the machinery lining the room hummed to life, a soft vibration pulsing through the air.
Closing his bloodshot eyes briefly to adjust, Min Yugeon took a slow look around the now-brightened room. He examined each machine one by one until he found the device capable of tracking the current location of the Watch.
[Please enter the password to verify administrator access.]
Of course it would require authentication. He connected his own Watch to the device and initiated a program designed to override the security system. The screen glitched momentarily as the program ran, then stabilized, displaying a message.
[Administrator access verified successfully.]
Min Yugeon, his eyes reflecting the glow of the blue light, stared directly at the screen and opened the window that allowed him to input the target’s code. Without hesitation, he entered Seo Suho’s unique identification code—one he naturally had memorized. The system began to load.
Before long, the entire screen was overtaken by a massive map.
It didn’t take Min Yugeon long to realize something was off.
“……!”
The map before his eyes was not the interior of the ship he knew so well—it was a map of the surface.
As he spotted Seo Suho’s location blinking in red, Min Yugeon’s eyes widened as if they might tear apart.
***
Something warm spilled over my face.
It was a radiant light that painted even the insides of my closed eyelids in vivid hues. So bright it hurt to keep my eyes shut, yet so pleasant I wanted to stay in that feeling forever—a hazy breath slipped quietly from my lips.
I wanted to lie there a while longer, but I knew I couldn’t.
Frowning faintly, I slowly opened my eyes. Through the cascade of jewel-like sunlight, an endless, dazzling sky stretched out above.
“……”
I blinked blankly.
It took a moment for me to realize that the tiny, drifting specks I saw every so often were birds. As one soared gracefully across the sky and disappeared into the distance, I found myself still staring at the place where it had vanished.
When I finally tore my gaze away, I looked to the side and saw thick clusters of green plants rising from the ground.
So that’s what had been filling the air with that sweet, refreshing scent.
I had never known wild grass could smell this fragrant.
I reached out hesitantly. The moist, delicate blades of grass bowed gently at the brush of my fingertips. I’d expected them to feel rough because of their uneven shapes, but they were surprisingly soft.
The sensation on my skin, the scent in the air—everything made my chest flutter.
Nature, which had always felt unreal aboard the ship, now pierced every one of my senses, forcing me to accept that this was real.
…I must’ve lost consciousness the moment Lee Shin landed with me in his arms.
Rising into a sitting position, I began to look around.
Whoosh…
A breeze swept through the field, making the grass ripple like ocean waves.
As green fragments danced in my vision, I blinked—
“Suho!”
A voice called my name brightly.
Turning my head, I saw Lee Shin waving at me with a wide grin.
Maybe it was the sunlight, or maybe it was the fact that he was back on the ground he knew, but he looked far more radiant than he ever had on the ship.
His smile was so infectious it instantly lifted the mood, and I swallowed back the first thing I’d meant to say to him.
There was no point in scolding him now—it was already too late.
I was curious how he’d managed to land with me so safely, but if I asked, he’d probably just smile and say, “I just did.”
Besides, Lee Shin’s physical abilities had never exactly been normal.
“Suho’s awake!”
He rushed over and grabbed my shoulders, spinning me this way and that to check on me.
It was so disorienting that my head started to spin even though I was fine just a second ago.
I shook my head and batted his hands away.
“Yeah, I’m up.”
“Suho… you fainted all of a sudden.”
Lee Shin said it with a worried frown.
I was too stunned to answer.
We’d fallen from that height with no preparation whatsoever—wouldn’t it be stranger if I hadn’t passed out?
Honestly, at that moment, I really thought it was the end.
Maybe it was better that I had blacked out.
“……”
I looked at him without saying a word.
His hair was still tied the way I had done it, somehow holding its shape.
But his clothes were shredded—who knows where or how.
As I stared at him, Lee Shin seemed to think I was about to scold him.
He started shrinking in on himself, folding his massive frame like he was trying to disappear, peeking up at me with pursed lips.
“Suho. I’ll protect you.”
“……”
“Be happy here, Suho.”
He plopped down beside me and rubbed his cheek against my shoulder.
I flinched from the warmth pressing against me and looked at him.
He fished around in his pocket for something, then held it out to me.
The pocket must’ve survived intact, because whatever he was holding seemed carefully preserved.
“Here.”
He offered a closed fist. I obediently held out my hand beneath it.
What fluttered down onto my palm was a single, bright yellow flower.
It was so small, it felt like one soft breath could blow it away.
I gently covered it with my other hand so it wouldn’t fly off.
Peeking through my fingers to study the petals up close, I heard Lee Shin whisper.
“There are lots of pretty flowers. Pretty rocks too. I know where they all are.”
“……”
“I’ll give them all to you, Suho.”
I stared at him quietly.
For a moment, I wondered why he wanted to be with me so badly.
Was it just affection?
Or did he want something else?
“Lee Shin.”
“Yeah?”
“…Never mind.”
That pure look in his eyes—filled with nothing but the desire to make me happy—made it clear this wasn’t a question I should ask.
Maybe, in Lee Shin’s mind, he’d brought me here because he truly believed I could be happy on the surface.
I carefully slipped the wildflower into the chest pocket of my shirt.
Lee Shin beamed, lifting the corners of his mouth into a wide, refreshing grin.
“…! Suho.”
His face stiffened in an instant as he sprang to his feet.
He stepped in front of me, shielding me, and narrowed his gaze toward a single direction.
BOOM!
A heavy thud shook the ground.
THUD!
Right after the booming sound came a sharp huff, like something exhaling through its nose.
Following Lee Shin’s line of sight, I turned my head—
—and there it was.
A massive figure, not far from us.
…A beast.
