“Don’t move.”
Lee Shin warned me, pressing even closer. I could feel the tension in his low, taut voice and the rigid strain running through his body. From behind him, I kept a close eye on the beast.
It was one of the larger types, even among monsters. The hulking creature, covered in dark, brownish-black fur, stood on its hind legs, glaring straight at us. According to the records, it had relatively poor eyesight and hearing, but an extremely sensitive sense of smell.
Its round ears stood perked up, and its sunken, beady black eyes didn’t twitch a muscle. But its protruding snout twitched exaggeratedly, visible even from afar. It was sniffing. No doubt it had picked up Lee Shin’s and my scent and followed it here.
Shhhhhh— The monster exhaled deeply again and then planted all four limbs on the ground.
The moment I locked eyes with the creature upon opening them, reality hit me like a punch. I’d let myself get distracted by the peaceful scenery and had forgotten that the surface had long since been overrun by monsters.
THUD! THUMP, THUMP THUMP THUMP! The monster charged. Each time its massive feet slammed into the earth, a thunderous sound rang out.
“……!”
Lee Shin instantly scooped me up. My perspective shifted as my feet left the ground.
Then he ran—much faster than he ever had aboard the ship. It was hard to believe a human could reach this speed, especially while carrying the full weight of an adult man like me.
I looked at his serious face, then turned my head. The beast chasing us was practically salivating, riled up by the thought of its prey escaping.
ROAAAARRRR!
The creature roared with its mouth wide open, chasing after us with a wild frenzy. It charged forward on all fours with terrifying speed.
Its strides were in a completely different league from ours. If this kept up, there was no doubt it would eventually catch us. That thought flashed through my mind.
Still cradled in Lee Shin’s arms, I craned my neck. Over his broad shoulder, I got a clear, head-on view of the beast charging at us.
I placed a hand on Lee Shin’s shoulder and straightened my torso a bit more. I locked eyes with the monster, staring it down. Before long, as I’d hoped, its gaze shifted from the back of Lee Shin’s head to me.
The eyes that had been gleaming with hunger and bloodlust froze.
–…….
“…….”
Sure, the monsters at the lab always quieted down when they met my gaze, but this was the first time I’d ever tried to connect with one on the surface without any safety measures. Of course I was tense.
But Lee Shin couldn’t protect me from every monster we encountered up here forever. Protecting someone else was a completely different matter than just defending yourself. Eventually, he could end up in a situation where even his own life was at risk.
“……Huh?”
Sensing the beast had come to a dead stop, Lee Shin gradually slowed and then halted.
“……!”
Still gripping me tightly, ready to flee again at any moment, he turned and his eyes went wide. The expression on his face said it all—he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The monster had frozen like a statue, mouth agape. Anyone would think something was clearly off about it. It looked utterly lost, trembling as it held one forepaw awkwardly in midair, like it didn’t know what to do. Lee Shin glanced back and forth between the monster and me.
Did it work?
Grrrrrrr… glk…
The growl that rumbled out of the beast now carried no malice or hostility. Its mouth slowly closed, and it remained still, all four limbs planted on the ground, quietly watching me.
The feral, violent aura that had been rolling off it moments ago had vanished without a trace. The air itself seemed to confirm it wasn’t going to attack.
Watching a monster so instinctively driven by hunger and hatred toward humans suddenly lose all of that—so cleanly and completely—always brought a strange feeling. Especially since it all happened with just a single exchange of eye contact. Even I couldn’t help but feel how surreal it was.
I blinked and gave a few light taps to Lee Shin’s chest. I wanted to be set down now.
“Suho!”
But Lee Shin looked down at me, eyes wide, like he’d realized something. He leaned in close, eyes gleaming.
“Suho, what did you do? It calmed down! I’ve never seen anything like that!”
He must’ve been genuinely shocked—he was gripping me tighter than usual, not even noticing his own strength.
I was about to answer, mentally sifting through the best way to explain, when I abruptly went silent.
The monster was licking its lips as it stared at Lee Shin.
“Hold on.”
I scowled and snapped my fingers. The beast’s gaze immediately swung back from Lee Shin to me. I slowly shook my head and pointed at Lee Shin.
“Don’t touch him.”
–…….
“You mustn’t touch him.”
Unfortunately, the monster didn’t seem to understand the warning. It tilted its head in confusion. It had likely never been exposed to human language and clearly couldn’t comprehend a word.
Seeing it twitch its raised claw, torn between the urge to lunge at Lee Shin and holding itself back, sent a chill through my mind. It seemed that, because I was so close to Lee Shin, the monster was hesitating—worried it might hurt me if it attacked. After all, my trait didn’t extend to others.
Its intelligence didn’t appear particularly high, so it was surprising—and a relief—that it could make such a calculation at all.
“Put me down for a second, then come stand close.”
I spoke softly to Lee Shin. He seemed to consider it for a moment before gently lowering me to the ground. Once my feet touched down, I pressed my body close to his side.
Lee Shin blinked in confusion, watching what I was doing, then wrapped his arm around my waist.
“Like this?”
“Yeah. Don’t leave my side.”
I wrapped an arm around his waist as well.
“Okay.”
His cheeks flushed slightly as he nodded.
Clinging tightly together like one, we kept the monster in check as we began to walk. Lee Shin didn’t say where we were headed, and I didn’t ask. I figured it was best to leave all surface survival decisions to someone experienced like him.
Truthfully, I’d already resigned myself to whatever came. No—ever since I opened my eyes in that field, resignation had settled in naturally.
…There was no helping it now that I’d fallen. I didn’t know how long I could last here, but if I was going to die facing the real world outside the ship, maybe that wasn’t such a terrible ending after all.
“When monsters make eye contact with me, they calm down.”
I spoke after a quiet stretch, matching his pace. It was a delayed answer to his earlier question.
“They don’t hurt me. Not at all.”
“Why?”
Lee Shin looked at me with wide, curious eyes.
I glanced back at the monster trailing us from a steady distance. It still looked ravenous, silently padding after us with deliberate, muted steps, glaring holes into Lee Shin.
But as soon as our eyes met, it quickly wiped its drooling chin with one paw and blinked at me docilely, as if it had never once worn that savage expression.
“I don’t know. It’s just… my nature, I guess.”
It was something I’d told countless researchers and even Sun Woosung himself. And it was the truth. I was simply born this way.
My mother and father always emphasized that this ability—this unusual color in my eyes—was just one of those unique traits or constitutions that everyone was born with. But even so, I think they were afraid I’d one day grow curious and want to study my own body. I remember them earnestly lecturing me about it once.
‘Suho. You must never conduct research on people carelessly—whether emotionally or physically. That includes yourself, too.’
I had no intention of locking myself in an observation room, no matter how curious I got. It was such an absurd notion that I’d shaken my head in front of them. I figured my time would be better spent trying to tame monsters instead.
Uncovering the truth behind any unscientific phenomenon usually required an excruciating amount of time and resources.
For example, the origin of the monsters that poured down on this planet—or the power I was born with.
As for the former, if it could be uncovered, of course that would be ideal. But even with all the technology on the ship, it had been impossible.
And for the survivors, what mattered most was the present—and the future. If we couldn’t even estimate how long it would take to investigate the source of the monsters, then it was better to let it go. Instead, finding a way to handle the beasts that now dominated the surface was far more practical.
As for the latter—why I was born with this power—I’d already realized long before adulthood that trying to get to the bottom of it was less useful than using it to tame monsters as quickly as possible and turn them into military beasts.
…So I lived that way. Doing whatever I could.
So that, unlike what my mother and father feared, if an afterlife really did exist and I met them again after death, I wouldn’t have any regrets.
“Suho.”
Suddenly, Lee Shin rubbed his cheek against the top of my head. I looked up at him.
“You did your best, Suho. Stop thinking sad thoughts.”
“……!”
My eyes widened at the words—as if he had read my mind.
His gaze, fixed on me, felt clear as spring water—free from any impurity. But I knew he’d felt sadness, rage, fear. He must’ve experienced the pain of losing someone precious, too.
Coming from someone who had been born into a ruined world and had fought harder than anyone to survive, the comfort struck deeper than I expected. I found myself averting my eyes without even realizing it.
“…Ah.”
And at that moment, the scenery I’d failed to properly notice while lost in thought burst into full view.
