Chapter 3
Seo Won walked along the cliff and crossed over to the other side where the path ended.
Anyway, it seemed like Seoul had become like this because of the rocks that fell from the sky… Was there really not a single person who survived?
Until now, he hadn’t seen so much as a blade of grass, let alone people, so he had the ominous thought that there might be no living creatures at all. It would be better if he at least knew why this had happened. Who would have known that when he opened his eyes, he’d be left all alone in the ruins of Seoul?
Seo Won let out what must have been his umpteenth sigh and carefully moved forward. But moving around was harder than expected. Perhaps because everything was destroyed everywhere, the ground was unstable and there was a lot of debris, making the path treacherous.
The metallic air was still the same, so he covered his nose and mouth as he moved, and only after a long while did he arrive at the place he wanted.
“……”
Seo Won stopped and stared at the massive rock in front of him. That thing – whether it was a rock or meteorite, he couldn’t tell – was easily the size of a 30-story building just from the part visible outside.
His brow naturally furrowed at that tremendous size. With things like this scattered throughout Seoul, he could imagine what a hellish scene it must have been at the time.
As Seo Won looked around, he lowered his gaze to the darkly shadowed area below. Then he saw a pit of unknown depth. It looked like traces left when the rock collided with the ground.
He approached a little and glanced down below. Perhaps because it was dark, he couldn’t see anything. When he kicked stones and dirt down with his foot, he heard them falling with rustling sounds. The inside seemed to be completely hollow.
Suddenly, Seo Won thought of the two people he had pushed outside the rock’s shadow.
“Are they… alive?”
When the rock fell, the surroundings would have been engulfed in tremendous impact. The survival chances were low, but he thought it might be more hopeful than being crushed under the rock like himself.
He was alive like this, wasn’t he? So surely…
“Surely…”
Seo Won was muttering endlessly when he suddenly grabbed his head and crouched down.
“Ah, seriously. What the hell happened?”
Even though he wanted to brush it off as a miracle, as good luck, his reason faced reality. That’s why he was even more confused. This discrepancy was approaching him so enormously.
He wished someone, anyone, would appear. The silent city without even the noise of daily life had the power to intimidate people just by itself.
Seo Won crouched for a while before raising his head.
Seoul with its red sunset and collapsed buildings, where not a single sign of human presence could be felt, was still the same. He was just standing blankly in the middle of the ruins.
Seo Won shook his head to shake off the negative emotions and stood up.
Anyway, waiting like this wouldn’t make things better. Besides, he hadn’t even tried anything yet, so he didn’t want to get scared and give up prematurely. Then what he could do right now was…
‘Look for people and find some edible food?’
After all, he had to be alive to do anything.
“Please, let something show up.”
He was muttering with some desperation when he discovered something strange.
Seo Won looked at the ground beneath his feet, full of dirt and sand. Various types of marks were chaotically stamped there. They were strange shapes that weren’t human footprints or animal footprints.
And there were also long traces of something being dragged around.
“What is this?”
When he bent down to look closely, the floor covered in dust and sand was stained underneath. When he gently swept away the sand with his hand, very faint traces became visible.
It was someone’s blood that had seeped into the ground.
“…Blood?”
At those traces he didn’t want to know but couldn’t help knowing, Seo Won felt goosebumps rise. Puddles of blood covering the ground. It didn’t seem to be recent, but it was hard to see as a good sign either. Moreover, the unknown marks and long trailing traces kept bothering him.
That’s when it happened.
From somewhere, the sound of debris rolling and falling was heard.
Tok, todok, tuduk.
In this quiet place where not even wind blew, it wasn’t a sound that would occur naturally.
‘Could it be, a person?’
With that hope, Seo Won turned his head toward where the sound came from. In a situation like this, anything became desperate. Being left alone in an unknown world, especially in a place full of strange traces, was more mentally draining than expected.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, he could see one alien form there. It was completely black from top to bottom and crouched, so he couldn’t tell what it was.
He narrowed his eyes and focused.
“…Legs?”
In the midst of this, he discovered what appeared to be reverse-jointed animal legs.
So it wasn’t a person?
Still, meeting something alive felt somewhat… hopeful. Since there were animals, there must surely be people too.
Seo Won moved one step forward to approach the creature.
Then the black animal that had been crouching began to straighten its body. But something was strange.
The way it straightened its waist, raised its head, and continued rising upward wasn’t the form of an animal. If seen from farther away, it had an appearance that could be mistaken for a human.
However…
“What… is that?”
What had completely straightened its body was neither human nor animal.
Inside its diagonally torn and gaping mouth were densely packed teeth, and on its face were several red eyes of different sizes attached haphazardly. They were spinning around frantically.
That wasn’t the only grotesque thing.
Eight long stick-like things presumed to be arms were attached here and there on its torso, and the feet extending below the reverse-jointed legs were divided into three parts, writhing eerily. It was a being that could hardly be seen as an earthly creature.
While he was staring at it blankly, the spinning eyeballs suddenly turned toward him all at once.
“…!!”
The moment he felt their gazes meet, the creature began letting out a tremendous roar.
Kiiaaaaaaak—!
“Ugh!”
As if the ear-splitting scream was some kind of signal, black masses began multiplying wildly behind the creature. No, the ones that had been hiding raised their bodies and revealed their existence.
Flailing massive tentacles in all directions, extending long legs covered in fur, and flicking long tongues with sunken animal faces.
The newly appeared ones had different appearances from the first one he saw. Not a single one had the same exterior. The only similarity was having pitch-black bodies and red eyes. Even their glaring.
Seo Won swallowed a groan inwardly while meeting those murderous gazes.
He didn’t know what those things were, but if he got caught like this, he wouldn’t survive. The black liquid dripping from their torn mouths was surely drool from seeing him as prey.
Unfortunately, that prediction became reality as they came running with their mouths wide open.
Seo Won urgently turned his body and started running. It was completely incomprehensible. Creatures that were neither human nor animal were charging at him to devour him.
‘What the hell is this!’
Anxiously, he looked back, and in the blink of an eye, the distance had narrowed. The creatures’ speed was abnormally fast. It was unbelievable that such speed came from those bizarre bodies.
Frankly, even if this were a dream, this was too much…
“Ugh!”
The thundering sounds were now clearly audible. The monster cries were also getting closer moment by moment, so death was approaching right up to the back of his head.
Seo Won felt cold sweat streaming down his back and swallowed dry saliva.
His desperate and frantic running wasn’t even entertainment for them. It was like being chased as a plaything by a giant beast. He hoped it wasn’t so, but he could feel the distance gradually narrowing.
Then, the moment he realized the creatures were right behind him, a sharp sensation enveloped his entire body.
Seo Won grabbed the massive cement wall in front of him and used the momentum from running to roll his body behind the wall. Then immediately, an explosive sound came from right behind him.
At the same time as the tremendous roar rang out, cement shattered and debris flew up.
“Ugh!”
From the position, he could tell that the attacked area was around his neck. If he had been just a little slower, his head might have been blown off.
Chilling goosebumps spread along his spine at that fact.
‘No matter how I look at it, this is…’
Any thoughts were brief, as he had rolled his body desperately to dodge and crashed hard into a pile of stones. He hit so hard that it made a loud noise. His shoulder throbbed. But right now, the pain wasn’t what mattered.
Seo Won hurriedly got up and immediately started running again.
Looking back, the monsters were tangled up with each other and floundering. If they came chasing again after that, they’d catch up quickly, so he couldn’t let his guard down.
He didn’t know how many buildings and stone piles he had passed. He looked back several times while running frantically. Each time, he saw the monsters getting close again.
His breath was already rising up to his chin. Moreover, his leg muscles ached as if they would burst from sprinting at full power.
He couldn’t keep running like this forever. Seo Won looked around his surroundings. Then he discovered a building that still retained some form. Thinking there might be somewhere to hide in there, he urgently ran inside.
Just in case, he looked back, and sure enough, the creatures were following him without letting him go.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
