FSA 1

“Hoo….”

Yohan held his breath, swallowing back a sob. It was no wonder, as above the wall he was pressed against, hiding, a giant eyeball was peering in through the glass window. It was surreal. Yet, this unbelievably horrific situation was undeniably real.

As tears streamed down his face, the knuckles of the hand covering his mouth turned white, fearing any sound might escape. The floor was damp. Yohan, glancing down to see if he had wet himself, lost the little color he had left. Tears shed from the giant eyeball seeped through the broken window, unpleasantly soaking his pants.

Squeak, squeak… The giant eyeball, which had been examining the interior by rubbing its bloodshot whites and pupils against the glass until it gleamed, ultimately failed to find Yohan. As the red glow that had brightly illuminated the building’s interior slowly vanished, the convenience store became dark. Even after the eyeball disappeared, Yohan couldn’t remove his hand from his mouth for a long time. The monster’s tears that had soaked the floor were disgusting and terrifying.

How did it come to this?

He had just wanted to Awaken. But the result of paying a hefty sum was betrayal by a friend and a fall into a horrific Abyss. This was a place from which even Lee Hyun-muk, an Awakened who was considered the strongest in South Korea, had not returned alive.

“Huk, heuk……”

Yohan, finally releasing the breath he had held, slowly lifted his head. His gaze turned outward, towards the gaps in the buildings.

No one knew what the inside of the Abyss looked like. That’s because no one who had been sucked in had ever returned. And at this very moment, Yohan was witnessing that unknown world firsthand.

The Abyss was hell. A choked groan escaped Yohan’s throat involuntarily.

“……Heeu.”

Darkness enveloped everything. A light source hung in the sky, but it was covered by dark, reddish clouds, making even its light dim. The skyline, hazy as if sunset had just passed, vaguely resembled a modern city.

However, among the buildings, most of which were crumbling and decaying, something writhed and shimmered. Countless thick, long, sticky, and sharp things, which could not possibly be normal life forms, were present.

Yohan suppressed the urge to scream. He had thought the monsters appearing from Rifts had grotesque appearances, but they were incomparable to the Abyss. They were twisted and bizarre in shape, just like the giant eyeball from before. He instinctively knew that if he were spotted by those nightmare-inducing creatures, he would die horribly.

Yohan crawled out from beneath a semi-destroyed fragment that could hardly be called a building. Fortunately, there was a relatively intact small building nearby. He crawled inside, trying his best not to make any noise. Then, he curled up as small as possible.

I shouldn’t have joined an Awakening Party…

Regret after regret washed over him. It would have been so much better to just endure the mistreatment and nagging at home than to die like this. Should he have listened to his friends’ advice to distance himself from Park Seung-min, whose behavior felt unsettling? But no matter what he regretted, it was too late. Yohan swallowed his tears and shivered.

He didn’t even consider going outside, instead pricking up his ears to listen for any sounds from the outside. If he heard even the slightest rustle, he would hold his breath. Yet, he tried his best to think positively, to avoid crying.

At least there’s oxygen to breathe?

The Abyss could have been underwater. Or a vacuum, or a space filled with toxic gases like methane, making it impossible to breathe. Of course, regardless of whether he could breathe, the air here was far from refreshing. Every breath carried a fishy smell or the stench of truly rotten food waste, as if it had been decaying for years. No matter how positively he tried to look at it, his vision would blur.

Were there even any edible foods or drinking water here?

And could he, who wasn’t even an Awakened, possibly survive here?

I want to go home.

Tears welled up again, but he held them back. He couldn’t afford to waste precious moisture like this. Yohan listened to the sounds outside and carefully opened the backpack he was wearing. He anxiously checked the contents once more.

A lighter, a flashlight, emergency rations that could last a few days if eaten sparingly, two bottles of water, a handful of chocolate bars, and a portable Sleeping Bag. Exactly the supplies needed for a few days of exploring a Rift. He carefully placed the lighter in his shirt pocket, just in case it could be used as a weapon. Yohan sighed and fumbled cautiously through the dark interior of the building. Then, his hand felt something rustling.

“Huh?”

In the darkness, he felt its shape with his hand; it felt like a bag of jelly. He quickly put it in his bag and looked around, finding a few more. Yohan scooped them all up haphazardly and put them in his backpack. But that was all. It seemed someone’s snacks had fallen on the floor in this building. He searched every nook and cranny, but no more food was found.

Then there must be food in other buildings, right?

Such hope slowly surfaced in Yohan’s heart. He wanted to live even a little longer, even in this horrific, hellish place.

He stayed in the building for about a day, cautiously observing the situation outside. After much deliberation, he finally made the decision to go out. Gripping the backpack straps, he took several deep breaths.

“Hoo….”

Let’s give it a try. Above all, his drinking water was already half gone. Even if he drank sparingly, two bottles of water wouldn’t last many days. Yohan swallowed dryly and emerged from the building as slowly as possible. But the surroundings were strangely quiet.

It’s quiet, which is why I came out, but this is still a bit strange.

Why were the monsters that had been so numerous absent here? Despite his uneasy question, Yohan forced himself to move forward. And after taking just two steps, he heard a splish.

“Ah?”

Splish? He lowered his head and saw a puddle of water. Water was trickling down from somewhere, forming a small stream… Could it be…?

Yohan, his face pale, slowly raised his head. A giant Eyeball Monster was perched on the roof of the building he had been hiding in. It had been staring intently without closing its eyes for two days, so its eyes were completely bloodshot and red.

“Eu, eeu….”

Terrified, Yohan stumbled backward. The eyeball’s gaze tenaciously followed his movement. It blinked its eyelids, which were lined with teeth instead of lashes, once or twice, then slowly rolled off the building. Coo-woong… As its heavy mass crashed to the ground, fragments scattered everywhere. Then, it began to roll rapidly.

Yohan ran, screaming silently. The giant eyeball rolled after him. With each faster blink of its eyelids, its teeth gnawed at everything around it. Seeing the concrete floor being ground away, Yohan’s face lost all color. A scream finally burst out.

“Aaaaaaaak!”

If that thing touched him, he would instantly lose his human form. He didn’t want to die like that! Yohan ran with all his might, tears streaming down his face. But his stamina, being that of an ordinary person, soon reached its limit. Yohan, whose legs cramped and then buckled, tripped over something and tumbled down.

“Ah, ah….”

With no strength left to run or stand, Yohan, his teeth chattering, looked back. Fortunately or unfortunately, as Yohan fell, the rolling eyeball stopped. Then, as if smiling, its eyelids curved into a soft arc.

Blink……. slowly, once. Blink…. again. Then, blink-blink, blink.

The slow, rolling movement, accompanied by the slow blinking of its sharp, tooth-lined eyelids, clearly reveled in the victim’s mental anguish. His legs unable to support him, Yohan retreated backward on his bottom, but his back soon hit a wall. Ka-ga-gak! The sharp blades, grinding even the concrete floor, were now right in front of him.

Is this how I die, so horribly? Tears instantly welled up, blurring his vision. He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear watching his own death.

Thwack!

A lukewarm liquid splashed onto his face. Surprised, Yohan opened his eyes again and gasped. Unlike before, the eyeball was crushed and lodged far away. Its convulsing, bloodshot eye tilted at an angle. Its gaze was directed at a human-shaped monster standing there.

As if scared, the eyeball made a boiling sound. Then, with its eyes bloodshot, it convulsed and charged. Kwang! An immense roar echoed, as if a cannonball had been fired. The eyeball that had terrified Yohan was torn to shreds. Clear tears flowed from the spot like a spring, forming a stream.

And now, only one new monster remained before Yohan. It was a being that looked like darkness given human form.

“Hee, heek….”

As Yohan let out a shrill cry, the monster turned its body. It made a kkiik-kkiik sound, which sounded like laughter. No, it was truly laughing. Hee-eek… It mimicked Yohan’s shrill cry, and then the monster lunged. The hand that had pulverized the Eyeball Monster grasped his body. Yohan’s breath hitched at the damp, unpleasant, and warm contact.

“It’s a person! It’s a person!”

“Uwaaaaaak!”

Yohan, who had been screaming at the top of his lungs, stopped. Wait, did the monster just speak? No, no, no! This isn’t a monster, it’s…

“It’s a person! Uahahahaha! Hahahahaha! A person! Ah! It’s a person!”

“Huk, heuk….”

“Person, person, person, person, person, person, person, person…”

It repeated the word “person” so quickly that after a while, it no longer sounded like “person.” Was this monster truly human? Or was it something mimicking a human? Its eyes and lips glowed red through its disheveled hair. The moment he met its gaze, which dripped with Madness, Yohan’s weakened nerves could no longer endure, and he fainted.