“Am I… going back?”
Lee Shin blinked as he asked. Judging by his expression, he thought it meant returning beyond the ship, not just beyond the lab. The unexpected reaction left me speechless.
“Going back?”
His eyes gleamed with rising hope as he repeated the question.
“…No.”
I answered quietly and gently brushed back the strands of hair covering one side of Lee Shin’s face.
“You’re not going back. You’re just leaving this room.”
“…”
“And you’ll be able to walk around freely, live like the others on the ship. But only if you promise not to hurt anyone.”
He was still extremely wary of Sun Woosung, and they said he acted like he’d break down the walls when the team entered the observation room. There was no choice but to impose some conditions. As long as I handled his care according to plan…
But the light in his face quickly faded, disappointment surfacing in the flushed expression. His lashes drooped as he hung his head.
“Suho…”
Suddenly, he slumped forward as if all his energy had left him. The problem was, I wasn’t physically capable of supporting someone his size. Stumbling backward under his weight, I ended up sitting on the floor with Lee Shin clinging to me, his face buried in my chest.
As I stared down at the top of his head in confusion, I struggled to free my arms from the strong grip of his thick arms and gently cupped his face.
“Lee Shin… do you want to go back? To where you used to live?”
“Yeah.”
His answer came without a moment’s hesitation.
I paused for a moment, then asked softly.
“Why?”
I couldn’t understand what he thought was waiting for him there. He had no surviving family, and it certainly wasn’t a place with plenty of food or safety. Then why…?
His eyes wandered restlessly before he finally spoke.
“Because… I have a friend there.”
“…What?”
“Lee Shin has a friend.”
“…!”
I stared at him, stunned, then urgently grabbed his shoulders.
“What are you talking about? You said there was no one else with you.”
Hadn’t his only companion, his sister, died, leaving him to survive alone?
And he definitely said earlier that he had no friends…
Ah. A sudden realization struck me.
So not here meant…
“You…”
I barely had time to process the thought before a new wave of urgency hit me—there might be someone else out there needing rescue. I was about to press him further when—
“Suho is wrong. It’s not a person.”
He shook his head.
“I said no because it’s not a person.”
“…”
If not a person, then what? Was he talking about… a monster?
I wasn’t sure if I was understanding him correctly. As I blinked in confusion, Lee Shin once again stared fixedly at the name tag on my lab coat.
“Friend… is waiting.”
***
There was a monster that had accompanied them on the surface—Lee Shin’s words were hard to fully comprehend, yet there was no real reason not to believe him. After all, with so many monsters in this world, the possibility of a mutation that didn’t harm humans wasn’t entirely implausible.
…Maybe Lee Shin was like me, someone with a monster-friendly constitution. But then again, considering he’d also been chased by one, that didn’t seem likely.
I wanted to press him further, but comforting the dispirited kid came first. After spending quite some time with him, I ended up leaving the lab later than usual—probably the latest in recent memory. Though working late into the night was routine, stepping out into completely deserted streets was a first. The emptiness prompted me to glance around reflexively.
Screeeech!
A train cut through the air, its sound echoing through the quiet sector.
I boarded the train that had stopped right on the tracks ahead—and paused.
“……”
Contrary to my expectation that the train would be empty, three passengers sat quietly inside.
Come to think of it, the train circulated through most of the ship. It wasn’t that strange for someone else to be heading home late like me.
I dragged my heavy legs toward a random seat, dropped my bag, and sat down. Tapping my watch, the screen displayed the time—it was exactly midnight.
I stared blankly at today’s date.
Min Yugeon’s birthday was approaching.
Celebrating each other’s birthdays was a natural part of our life together. On the actual day, we never went out or invited anyone over—we always spent it alone, just the two of us. While that might not seem too different from our usual routine, there was something special about it. We’d eat cake—something he rarely touched otherwise—and have long, deep conversations that left a lingering warmth.
This year, that likely wouldn’t be possible.
I turned off my watch and pressed my fingers gently to my temple. A sharp, piercing headache was rising.
Eyes closed, I waited for the pain to subside, grimacing slightly.
Suddenly, I felt eyes poking at my face—an unmistakable sensation.
“……?”
I lifted my eyelids to find the three passengers all staring directly at me.
They had been minding their own business—checking watches or gazing forward—but now, as if coordinated, they were all unnervingly fixated on my face.
“Looks like a weakling who couldn’t even put up a fight.”
One of them sneered, breaking the silence.
“Seems like we didn’t all need to come, huh?”
“You said it.”
My thoughts stalled for a moment, watching these men—who had been seated apart like strangers—suddenly chatting with familiarity.
What the hell is going on?
“Whoa there, not another move.”
My head spun, trying to assess the situation, while my body instinctively sensed danger and jolted upright. As I backed toward the door, the three men began to approach casually.
“Resisting’ll only get you hurt. Just give up and come along quietly, yeah?”
“Get ready. We’re hopping off at the next stop.”
Though slighter in build than Min Yugeon or Lee Shin, these men were still full-grown adults. From their conversation, it was obvious this was premeditated—and the chance of them letting me go peacefully was close to zero.
I felt the cold touch of the door against my back. Keeping my expression composed, I let my hand grope behind me for the door’s edge and asked calmly,
“……What’s your goal?”
No matter how safe a place might be, lunatics bent on harming others were bound to exist. Maybe someone had a grudge against me and sent these guys after me.
Then… who?
The question had barely passed when a name flashed in my mind—too quickly to believe.
But I couldn’t imagine Min Sanghan doing something like this just because he thought I was disappointed in him.
I didn’t want to believe that.
“Told you already. Don’t waste your energy—just come with us. Whether this ends smoothly or painfully is up to you.”
The first man spoke with unsettling kindness as he spun a knife around his fingers. It was only a few joints long, but the blade gleamed razor-sharp. Slashing my carotid from this distance would be child’s play.
In other words, they were taking me somewhere—likely to kill me in the end.
While I processed that, another man who’d been eyeing me hungrily from up close sighed.
“Tsk, what a waste of a face. Even better up close.”
A hand dripping with perverse intent brushed against my cheek.
“……!”
It felt like something vile had crawled across my skin. I barely suppressed the curse rising in my throat. I wanted to smack his hand away, but I couldn’t stop the movement of the hand groping for something behind my back.
When I turned my head to avoid the filthy touch, my face was roughly seized.
“God, this bastard’s at it again.”
“Fuck off. I’ve been hard since earlier. What do you expect me to do?”
“So what, you’re planning to fuck him right here?”
“Why not? All the cameras are off anyway. Didn’t they already say they bought off the admin? Why don’t we take another loop before getting off?”
The creep gestured at the disabled surveillance cameras in the train.
And then—my fingertips finally found what I’d been searching for.
‘Hmm… I once had to fix something in a train.’
‘In a train?’
That was the day I’d asked about what lay beyond the ship. I’d been curious about the systems he had repaired.
Min Yugeon had answered honestly.
‘Yeah. It was a first, but no machine is perfect.’
Back then, he’d been holding me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. His face tilted, our eyes met at close range. His gaze had been unusually serious.
‘If a train stops while in motion, you could end up trapped inside. Normally, you’d wait for the engineers to come fix it, but… if danger shows up before we arrive, head straight for the door.’
He’d explained how to find the small groove at the center of the door, slide open the internal cover, and press hard on the spring mechanism inside.
It wasn’t publicly known—a hidden escape method.
Doing that while the train was moving would be practically suicidal.
But luckily, the train was already slowing down.
Just as Min Yugeon had said, I located the spring and pressed it down with force.
And then—
“W-What the hell? Why’s the door—”
KRRRRSSHHH!
Sparks flew as the door behind me slid open. Wind roared, whipping my hair and clothes wildly.
The attackers flailed, reaching toward me in panic.
“Grab him!”
But the moment the door opened, I had already pulled back.
Right before their hands could close around me, my body fell backwards—out of the train.
