Chapter 8
I shivered and curled up, nuzzling my face against the blanket covering my chest. It was unusually cold today. Even in the middle of summer, sleeping naked could bring on chills like this, and if I didn’t get up now, I’d inevitably catch a cold. With my sleep-drunk mind, I wondered how I had ended up sleeping on the floor last night.
I often slept on the floor despite having a bed. It usually happened when I drank, or when my friends came over. Those bastards couldn’t stand to see me sleeping comfortably alone. If I laid on the bed, they’d point accusingly calling me a traitor, or inevitably drag me down to the floor. Damn them. They say a rolling stone displaces a fixed one—that described them perfectly.
Then they’d fight among themselves for the bed, and with no clear winner, they’d all end up sprawled together in my cramped studio apartment. They’d kick me and complain about how tight the space was, though I couldn’t understand why they pulled me off the bed in the first place.
Those useless, noisy, and incredibly lazy bastards. Still, I was grateful for them. They visited me frequently, worried I might be lonely after completing my military service early and taking a break from school. Despite their deep affection, they were too embarrassed to express it properly, using the bottles of alcohol tucked under their arms to convey their rough sentiments.
I fumbled around, searching for my friends, planning to kick those impudent blanket thieves. But my fingers found only something rough and damp. What could this be? As my foggy mind tried to comprehend, I realized it was the trunk and leaves of a massive tree. I opened my eyes with a start.
Beyond the pitch-black shadows, I could see a navy-blue sky. Above the gloomy, low-hanging dark clouds, luminous patterns blinked assertively, displaying their presence. Only then did I realize this wasn’t my apartment, and the friends who used to kick me out weren’t beside me.
“Huh…”
After a good sleep, it seemed my brain was starting to function. My heart pounded as I felt a growing longing for many things. I wanted to hear my parents’ voices and see my friends. Images flashed in my mind—the dog from the house across the street, and the stray cat that would curl up against the wall and affectionately rub against me whenever it saw cheese.
I covered my eyes with my hands and swallowed my tears. A good cry would be relieving, but afterward, the feeling of loneliness would cut deeper. Yet the welling sadness wouldn’t easily subside. If not for the warm sensation at my head, I might have broken down in ugly sobs.
I turned my head to identify what was warming my head. Beside me was Kim Doyun, leaning against the tree. He had even given me his legs as a pillow, his arms loosely hanging at his sides.
“…”
Seeing him sleeping in such an uncomfortable position, I carefully got up. I wanted to move away quickly, but not wanting to wake him, I moved cautiously.
Suddenly, something fell with a thud. I carefully picked it up and held it before my eyes. The patterns covering the sky served as a full moon’s light. My eyes, accustomed to the dim light, easily identified what I was holding.
It was Kim Doyun’s suit jacket. What I had been nuzzling against while sleeping, what I thought was a blanket, was Kim Doyun’s clothing. I carefully placed the jacket over his chest, making sure not to wake him, and looked at him.
They say even with a mask, a beautiful person remains beautiful—and that old saying couldn’t be more accurate. Even covered in dust from hardship, Kim Doyun remained impressively handsome. After moving a bit away from him, I rubbed my face, making comparisons. While I’ve received compliments on my appearance, I couldn’t compare to Kim Doyun. Under his thick eyebrows, his firmly closed eyes had eyelashes so dense they were visible even in the dark. They looked capable of holding up toothpicks. He was truly handsome.
I clicked my tongue and bit the hand that had been touching my face. Then I crawled carefully, pressing the area around me as I moved. The dim light expanded my vision, but I couldn’t see everything. This place was wide enough to be mistaken for a platform, but it was actually a tree branch, with gaps scattered throughout. One wrong move and I could tumble to the ground or injure myself. I had no desire to get hurt again.
Moving as slowly as a snail performing a bow, I stopped at a depression in the branch where no leaves had sprouted. From there, the sky was more visible, and I could properly see the ground as well. I sat down and looked around. Being high up, I expected to see far distances. I had tried during the day, but the dense foliage had blocked everything except green. But at night, if there were people, they would have lights on, and I could spot those lights.
“…There’s nothing after all.”
It was disappointing. Only the massive flood that had swallowed everything caught my eye, swaying gently in the wind. The cool night breeze caressed my cheek, but I couldn’t fully welcome it. I doubted whether this was really the heart of the city. Perhaps only those of us who remained at the hospital had been dropped into a distant world.
But the scenery we had walked through dismissed such thoughts. The things draped like decorations on the tree trunks or branches were remnants of people’s lives and traces of their existence. The crumbled concrete rubble and broken teacups scattered about seemed to show the fierce reality of what lay ahead.
The tears I had barely suppressed welled up again. I was scared. How could this place, without a single sign of human presence and filled only with trees, be where I used to live? Where had all those tall buildings disappeared to, replaced by lush trees? What was the earthquake about, and what were those patterns in the sky? Where had everyone gone? Racking my brain gave no answers, driving me crazy. But I couldn’t cry for fear of waking Kim Doyun.
Sighing and rubbing my face, I happened to glance at the neighboring tree. Beneath the dense shadows, something black was swaying dimly.
At first, I thought it was just the tree moving in the wind, but seeing it twitch separately from the shadows, I crouched down. I wanted to observe the shadow more closely. It could be a tree shadow, or perhaps an animal. Or maybe… someone like us who had set out on a journey?
The shadow moved sluggishly. Thinking it might be an injured person, I was about to lean forward when suddenly something black grabbed me.
“…!”
I panicked, thrashing my body to break free. Fear sucked the breath out of me and made my eyelids twitch. But what covered my mouth wouldn’t let go, instead clinging more tightly. As I was about to bite it with force, I realized it was an elongated finger.
“Shh. It’s okay.”
It was Kim Doyun. I stopped struggling and tried to give him a reproachful look. But Kim Doyun wouldn’t easily release me. I tried to push him away, but he remained immovable, unaffected by my attempts. Kim Doyun whispered in my ear with a voice so low it sent chills down my spine.
“Stay still. Just stay still…”
And he stretched out his hand, pointing to what I had been watching. Now the thing was clearly writhing, emerging from the shadows.
“!”
If not for Kim Doyun’s hand covering my mouth, I would have screamed. What revealed itself in the dim light had the form of a human that I had so desperately longed to see. But that was only its shape—everything that made up its body was different from a human.
Its split neck breathed heavily as it wobbled its head. Its eyes, torn to the jaw, flickered like small embedded lights in the darkness, and its claw-like fingers, reaching down to its knees, scratched the ground, sweeping and cutting through the undergrowth.
The creature crawled around like a spider, then stood upright to smell the air. Each time it did, it growled, baring its sharp teeth, looking as if it were searching for prey. I gripped Kim Doyun’s arm tightly as it covered my mouth.
“Don’t make a sound.”
Hearing Kim Doyun’s soft whisper in my ear, I nodded. Even my nod was faint and careful, afraid that moving my neck too much might make a sound. Finally released from Kim Doyun’s hand, I watched “it” circling below the tree for a long time.
“What, what is that thing?”
“I don’t know either.”
Afraid the creature might hear us, I pressed close to Kim Doyun and whispered. I asked out of shock, but naturally, even Kim Doyun wouldn’t know. Such creatures couldn’t possibly exist in this world.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
