Han Yoo-Jin realized something was wrong the moment the system notifications faded.
The pressure did not.
It stayed.
Subtle. Persistent.Like an invisible weight pressing against his skin.
He pushed himself up from the subway floor, ignoring the stares around him. People were shouting, crying, some laughing hysterically. Emergency sirens wailed in the distance.
But Yoo-Jin's attention was elsewhere.
He could feel the air.
Not moving it.Not controlling it.
Just… sensing its resistance.
"Hey—are you okay?"
A hand reached for his shoulder.
The moment it touched him—
The pressure surged.
Not violently. Instinctively.
The man staggered back as if pushed by a sudden gust of heavy wind.
"What the—?!"
Yoo-Jin froze.
"I— I didn't—"
He backed away, heart racing.
I didn't mean to do that.
Before he could process it further, the station lights flickered again.
This time, they went out completely.
Darkness swallowed the platform.
Then—
A sound.
Not an explosion.
A rupture.
Something tore through the far wall of the station, concrete folding inward like wet paper. Dust and debris blasted outward as people screamed and ran.
From the broken tunnel—
It crawled out.
A creature, hunched and uneven, its body wrapped in jagged stone-like plates. No eyes. No mouth. Just a mass of dense limbs scraping against the ground.
[Hostile Entity Detected][Classification: Lesser Aberration]
Yoo-Jin's blood turned cold.
So this is real combat…
Security personnel tried to fire.
Bullets struck the creature—and slowed.Then dropped.
The air around it thickened unnaturally.
The creature moved.
A guard was flung into the wall like a broken doll.
Yoo-Jin's legs refused to move.
[Warning: Lethal Threat Approaching]
Move.
The pressure inside him pulsed erratically.
He didn't know how to attack.Didn't know what he could do.
The creature charged.
Yoo-Jin reacted without thinking.
He stepped sideways—and focused.
Not on the monster.
On the space between them.
The air resisted.
For a fraction of a second—
The creature slowed.
Enough.
A falling beam crushed its torso as the ceiling finally gave in.
The monster shrieked—then dissolved into ash.
[Threat Neutralized]
Yoo-Jin collapsed against the wall, shaking.
He hadn't won.
He had survived.
And barely.