Ha Joon
I return to the gray, damp earth.
This is where I made my first kill.
And now I'm back.
The door slams shut behind me. The echo lingers too long, like it wants me to hear it.
They're waiting.
Flash—tight ribs, skin tinted green. Eyes yellow-white, veins of blood-red bleeding through them. Teeth sharp. Ears long, pointed.
But something's wrong.
There are two of them now.
They rush me, hungry.
I rush them, angry.
And the dance begins.
Mud, sweat, blood. We crash into the earth, rolling, tearing at each other. Every strike I land costs me more than it should. For every piece I take, they take twice as much.
Claws tear into me.
Teeth sink in.
I shove one into the wall, buying a second—just one—to deal with the other.
And in that second, one thought:
Is she alright?
I hope she is.
Then I'm dragged back into it.
Something rips into my flesh.
I lose control. My body betrays me. I piss myself.
The dance doesn't stop.
I punch until my hands go numb.
Then past numb.
I can't feel my body anymore. Only red. Just red.
Breathing stops making sense. I don't know how to do it, but somehow I still am.
And then—
Silence.
It fills the room.
The door creaks open. Slow. Deliberate. The sound crawls across the ground, vibrating through the mud, through my bones.
I'm lying there.
Mud. Sweat. Saliva. Blood. Piss.
Broken.
Chi Long stands above me.
Her eyes strip me down to nothing.
I look at her.
She looks at me.
"Get up."
I try.
My body refuses.
The system screams inside my head.
[Body has been damaged: 80%]
I push myself up anyway.
The earth pulls at me. It feels… welcoming.
Stay, it says.
My vision burns. That fire again, behind my eyes.
I rise—
and collapse.
Again.
And again.
"...If you don't want to get up," she says, calm, almost bored, "I'll help you."
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
Everything that wasn't broken—breaks.
Then the fire comes.
It heals me.
Remakes me.
Punishes me.
The next day—
Drills.
Running.
Lifting.
Surviving.
But something's different.
I'm different.
No—
we are different.
Me and Eun Byol.
We run.
My legs give out. I hit the ground hard.
"Ha Joon!" she shouts. "Get up!"
I do.
I don't know why, but I do.
For a moment, we look at each other.
Just a moment.
And we smile.
In the distance, Chi Long watches.
Always watching.
And—barely—
a faint smile touches her lips.