A Quiet Morning
Morning arrived quietly.
Sunlight slowly crept through the thin curtains and spread across the small bedroom.
The light eventually reached the bed.
Ha Eun Gyeol stirred.
His eyelids twitched before slowly opening.
For a moment, he simply stared at the ceiling.
His body felt heavy, as if sleep had not fully left him.
There was also a faint ache lingering at the back of his head.
Not painful.
Just… uncomfortable.
Eun Gyeol exhaled softly.
"…Morning."
The word felt unfamiliar, even though it shouldn't have.
He blinked slowly and turned his head, looking around the room.
A desk.
A closet.
Bookshelves.
The room clearly belonged to someone.
Apparently, that someone was him.
But the strange thing was that nothing felt truly his.
It all looked familiar… yet distant.
As if he were standing inside someone else's life.
His gaze returned to the ceiling.
Fragments of yesterday surfaced in his mind.
The funeral.
Relatives.
People speaking in hushed voices.
And one sentence that had been repeated again and again.
"You lost your memories."
Eun Gyeol slowly raised a hand to his forehead.
"…Right."
He knew that part.
Everyone had explained it to him.
A severe accident.
Head trauma.
When he woke up at the hospital, almost everything from his past was gone.
Names.
Places.
Experiences.
All missing.
The doctors had said it clearly.
Retrograde amnesia.
His memories before the accident had simply… vanished.
Yet strangely, he could still speak normally.
He still understood language.
He still knew how to walk, eat, and think.
The knowledge was there.
But the **experiences behind it were gone**.
It felt like someone had erased the story but left the dictionary.
Eun Gyeol sat up slowly.
After sitting there for a few minutes, he pushed himself to his feet.
His head felt a little light, but manageable.
After washing his face, he stepped into the hallway.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
He paused when he noticed another door across the hall.
"…Min Jae's room."
Eun Gyeol stood outside the door for a moment.
He raised his hand slightly as if to knock.
Then stopped.
"…He's probably still asleep."
Yesterday had clearly been difficult for him too.
The funeral.
The hospital.
Everything.
Eun Gyeol looked down slightly.
"…A lot happened."
He clenched his fist briefly.
"I'll try to understand him."
Even if the memories were gone.
Min Jae was still his brother.
At least, that's what he knew from the fragment of memories and his promise.
Eun Gyeol turned and walked toward the kitchen.
He opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.
The cold water felt refreshing as he took a long sip.
Just then—
Footsteps approached behind him.
"…Hyung?"
Eun Gyeol turned.
Min Jae stood at the entrance of the kitchen, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"Oh."
Eun Gyeol grabbed a glass and poured water into it.
He held it out.
Min Jae blinked, slightly surprised, before taking it.
"…Thanks."
They stood there quietly.
Side by side.
The silence between them was awkward.
Min Jae drank the water slowly.
Eun Gyeol stared at the counter.
Finally, Min Jae spoke.
"…How's your head?"
"A little better."
"That's good."
Another silence followed.
Min Jae rubbed the back of his neck.
"Um… uncle and aunt are coming today."
Eun Gyeol looked at him.
"Why?"
"To talk about… things."
"Things?"
"School… food… how we're going to manage stuff."
Eun Gyeol nodded slowly.
"I see."
---
Late morning.
The doorbell rang.
Min Jae opened the door.
"Uncle."
A middle-aged man stepped inside, followed by a woman carrying a bag of groceries.
"How are you boys holding up?"
The man's tone was calm and practical.
Not cold, but not overly emotional either.
Eun Gyeol gave a small bow.
"…Hello."
His uncle studied him briefly before nodding.
"Sit down. We need to talk."
They gathered in the living room.
His aunt quietly moved toward the kitchen to prepare tea.
His uncle leaned forward slightly.
"First, we need to figure out daily life."
Min Jae nodded.
"Food, school, responsibilities."
He gestured toward the kitchen.
"Your school provides lunch through the cafeteria."
Min Jae spoke.
"Yeah, students can eat there."
Eun Gyeol frowned slightly.
"…School cafeteria?"
His uncle noticed the confusion.
"Right."
He folded his arms.
"You probably don't remember anything about school."
Eun Gyeol shook his head.
"I don't."
"I know I was a student because people told me yesterday… but that's all."
"I don't know where the school is."
"I don't know what grade I'm in."
The room became quiet.
His uncle nodded calmly.
"That's understandable."
"You attend the same high school as Min Jae."
Min Jae added,
"It's about fifteen minutes away. We usually walk."
Eun Gyeol listened carefully.
"What grade am I in?"
"Second year."
Min Jae answered.
"You're a year ahead of me."
"…Do I know people there?"
Min Jae hesitated slightly.
"…Yeah."
Eun Gyeol noticed the pause but didn't question it.
His uncle continued.
So "Your school has a cafeteria system."
"Lunch is provided there."
Min Jae nodded.
"Yeah."
"So that solves lunch on school days."
His uncle continued.
"For breakfast, you can keep it simple."
"Toast, eggs, cereal. Nothing complicated."
Min Jae glanced at Eun Gyeol.
"That should be fine."
Eun Gyeol nodded slowly.
"And dinner?" he asked.
His uncle crossed his arms.
"That's the main issue."
His aunt returned with tea and spoke gently.
"You boys could cook together."
Min Jae made a slightly uncertain face.
"…We'll try."
His uncle chuckled faintly.
"If it gets difficult, we'll arrange something."
"Maybe prepared meals or rotating help from relatives."
He paused.
"Weekends and holidays might be different."
"We can have you visit sometimes."
Min Jae nodded.
"Okay."
Then Eun Gyeol spoke quietly.
"what about school?"
His uncle looked at him.
"Now about whether you should return."
"We spoke to your doctor yesterday."
Eun Gyeol straightened slightly.
"The doctor said you're physically stable."
"But you must be careful."
His aunt gently placed tea on the table.
"And he said something important."
Min Jae looked at him.
"What?"
"Sometimes familiar places help trigger memories."
Eun Gyeol frowned slightly.
"Familiar places?"
His uncle nodded.
"Places you visited every day."
"People you interacted with often."
"Routine environments."
"School fits all of those."
"So the doctor thinks returning there could help your memory recovery."
Min Jae looked at Eun Gyeol.
"If it feels overwhelming, you can leave early."
"No pressure."
Eun Gyeol sat quietly.
Imagining a place full of people who knew him…
While he remembered none of them.
It sounded uncomfortable.
But also strangely important.
"…I'll try."
Min Jae looked relieved.
"Yeah?"
Eun Gyeol nodded.
"If it helps even a little… I want to try."
Across the city on the same rooftoop.
Two figures stood there.
Seo Ara lowered her binoculars.
"So the anomaly will return to school."
Beside her, Kang Dae-Hoon remained silent.
Inside his mind, the deep voice of **Apollyon** echoed.
**"The distortion around the boy remains unstable."**
**"Observe him closely."**
Ara stretched lazily.
"Lamia finds him interesting."
Dae-Hoon glanced at her.
"How so?"
Ara smiled.
"Lamia can see fragments of most people's futures."
"But that boy?"
She tapped the binoculars against her shoulder.
"…Nothing."
Dae-Hoon's expression darkened.
"A blank fate?"
"Exactly."
Ara laughed quietly.
"And Lamia loves things that shouldn't exist."
Far beyond the human world—
A pair of golden eyes slowly opened.
The being watching Eun Gyeol smiled.
She was ancient.
Beautiful.
And terrifying.
"So…"
"The broken child awakens."
She observed him effortlessly across dimensions.
"Returning to school already?"
"How brave."
She leaned forward slightly.
"I wonder…"
"Will you survive the attention of beings like us?"
Back inside the quiet house—
Eun Gyeol stood alone in the hallway.
Everyone else had moved to the kitchen.
His eyes rested on the photograph on table.
Four people.
A father.
A mother.
Two brothers.
He knew logically that it was his family.
But the emotions attached to it felt distant.
"…I wish I remembered."
Then—
The shadow in the corner of the hallway moved.
Just slightly.
Like something breathing inside the wall.
But Eun Gyeol didn't notice.
And somewhere within that darkness—
Something had begun watching him.
Very carefully.
Very patiently.
The first crack in reality had already begun.
And soon—
Everyone hunting anomalies would feel it.