The moment felt almost peaceful.
Zi Yue had just finished talking, and Seung-hoo had barely shifted his weight when—
BOOM!
A violent explosion erupted from somewhere below the apartment building.
The entire structure jolted like it had been punched from underneath. The lights flickered wildly, and the polished floor beneath their feet trembled as a deep, grinding sound rolled through the walls.
Glass rattled.
Furniture slid.
Zi Yue let out a startled cry as the shockwave rippled through the apartment.
Seung-hoo reacted instantly.
His instincts moved faster than his thoughts.
He stepped forward and grabbed Zi Yue by the shoulders, pulling her down and shielding her with his body just as pieces of ceiling plaster and small chunks of concrete broke loose above them.
Debris rained down.
Dust filled the air.
Seung-hoo braced himself, one arm covering Zi Yue's head as fragments of rubble bounced off his back and shoulders.
After a few seconds, the shaking slowed.
The dust hung thick in the air.
"You okay?!" Seung-hoo asked quickly, looking down at her.
Zi Yue's breathing was shaky, her eyes wide with fear.
"I-I'm okay…" she said, though her voice trembled. "What… what was that?!"
Seung-hoo didn't answer right away.
Instead, he turned his head toward the apartment door.
Something about the direction of the explosion bothered him.
The door had been forced open by the blast, hanging slightly crooked on its hinges. Smoke and dust drifted through the hallway outside.
And lying just beyond the doorway—
Was Joon-seok.
Seung-hoo's heart skipped.
Joon-seok was sprawled against the hallway floor, one hand gripping the wall as if he had barely managed to crawl that far. His clothes were torn and smeared with dust and blood, and his breathing came out in short, painful gasps.
"Joon-seok!" Zi Yue cried.
Seung-hoo was already moving.
He rushed to the doorway and dropped down beside him.
Joon-seok's face was pale, his hair messy and streaked with soot. One side of his jacket had been ripped open, revealing a deep burn along his shoulder.
"Hey," Seung-hoo said urgently, grabbing his arm to steady him. "Stay with me."
Joon-seok tried to focus his eyes, but they were unfocused from pain.
"…Seung…?" he muttered weakly.
Before Seung-hoo could respond—
A deafening roar echoed through the building.
The sound was deep and shrill at the same time, like metal scraping against stone mixed with a creature's scream. It reverberated through the hallway, rattling the walls and making the floor vibrate again.
Zi Yue flinched hard.
"What… what was that?" she whispered.
Seung-hoo's expression darkened.
"That… was not normal."
He looked back at Joon-seok, then toward the stairwell where smoke continued to drift upward.
"I… need to save… him," Seung-hoo muttered, his voice tight.
Zi Yue nodded quickly, though she looked terrified.
"O-okay.
They moved together.
Seung-hoo slid one of Joon-seok's arms over his shoulder, lifting him carefully. Joon-seok groaned as he tried to stand, his weight leaning heavily against Seung-hoo.
Zi Yue limped slightly beside them, still shaken from the explosion, her steps uneven.
"What happened?" Seung-hoo asked, confusion creeping into his voice. "Why did this happen?!"
This wasn't something he remembered.
In his previous life, there had never been an explosion like this here.
Joon-seok tried to speak, but the words barely came out.
"…monster… below…"
Seung-hoo's eyes narrowed.
Below?
Before he could ask anything else—
The floor beneath them cracked.
A loud CRUNCH echoed through the apartment.
Everyone froze.
The polished wood floor split open like it had been torn apart by something underneath.
Then—
A massive arm burst through the ground.
Concrete exploded upward as the enormous limb punched through the floor between Seung-hoo, Zi Yue, and the injured Joon-seok. Splinters of wood and chunks of cement flew in every direction as the arm forced its way into the room.
The limb was grotesque—thick, grayish skin stretched over bulging muscle, with jagged claws scraping against the broken floor.
The roar from earlier came again, louder now.
Dust filled the air as the creature's arm clawed upward, tearing apart the apartment floor like it was nothing.
Zi Yue stumbled back in terror.
Seung-hoo tightened his grip on Joon-seok's arm, pulling him away from the widening hole as the monstrous limb continued to rise from below, shaking the entire building with every movement.
The apartment was in chaos.
Dust floated through the air like fog, and the once spotless floor of the living room was now split apart by a jagged hole where the monstrous arm had burst through. Pieces of broken wood and concrete were scattered everywhere, crunching underfoot whenever someone moved.
The gigantic limb continued to twitch inside the hole, its claws scraping against the edges of the shattered floor as if the creature below was trying to pull itself further into the apartment.
Zi Yue pressed a trembling hand against the wall to steady herself.
Her heart was racing so fast she could hear it pounding in her ears.
Joon-seok leaned heavily against Seung-hoo's shoulder, his breathing uneven as pain shot through his injured side every time he moved.
Another distant roar echoed from somewhere deeper below the building.
The sound vibrated through the walls like thunder trapped underground.
Then—
Amid the chaos, a faint voice crackled in the background.
"…kzzzt—"
At first, it was so faint that no one paid attention.
But Seung-hoo's ears picked it up.
He glanced over his shoulder.
The television mounted on the wall of the living room was still on.
Somehow, despite the explosion and the falling debris, the screen had remained intact. The image flickered violently with static, the signal struggling to stabilize as the emergency broadcast cut through the interference.
The screen flashed between distorted images of a newsroom and blocks of glitching pixels.
'BREAKING… N—NEWS—'
The anchor's voice stuttered through bursts of static.
The image shook as the broadcast struggled to stay connected.
'THE R—RIFT… THAT A—APPEARED… ON J—JUNE 3RD… H—HAS NOW B—BREACHED—'
The screen distorted again, showing shaky footage of something enormous moving through a destroyed city street before cutting back to the panicked news anchor.
'ALL H—HUNTERS A—ARE BEING C—CALLED TO EMERGENCY RESPONSE—'
The signal crackled again, the sound cutting in and out like the broadcast itself was being torn apart.
Zi Yue slowly turned her head toward the television, her face pale.
"A… Rift?" she whispered.
Her voice trembled.
Joon-seok tried to lift his head slightly, his eyes struggling to focus on the flickering screen.
"…It… came from underground…" he muttered weakly.
Seung-hoo stared at the television for a moment.
Then his gaze drifted back to the massive arm still protruding from the destroyed floor.
The creature beneath them let out another low, angry screech, its claws digging deeper into the broken concrete as the building shuddered again.
Pieces of ceiling dust drifted down with each movement.
For a few seconds, Seung-hoo said nothing.
His mind was already putting the pieces together.
The explosion.
The creature emerging from below.
The emergency broadcast.
The breached Rift.
"…That explains it," he said quietly.
Zi Yue looked at him quickly.
"What… explains it?"
Seung-hoo didn't answer right away.
Instead, he tightened his grip on Joon-seok's arm, steadying him as the creature below scraped its claws against the broken floor again.
The news broadcast continued crackling behind them.
'R—RESIDENTS ARE U—URGED TO E—EVACUATE—'
Seung-hoo's eyes hardened slightly as he looked down at the enormous limb clawing its way upward.
"A Rift breach means the monsters didn't stay inside the gate," he said calmly.
"They broke through."
The creature beneath them slammed its arm against the edges of the hole again, widening the crack in the floor as chunks of concrete fell into the darkness below.
The building groaned loudly in protest.
Zi Yue instinctively stepped closer to Seung-hoo, fear written across her face as the apartment trembled around them.
"…And that thing," Seung-hoo continued quietly, staring at the monstrous arm forcing its way into the room,
"is probably just the first one."