The final bell echoed throughout the school.
Classroom doors swung open all at once, and the hallways filled with laughter, conversations, and the sharp clang of locker doors. Warm rays of sunlight streamed through the tall windows, painting golden lines across the polished floor.
Everything felt...
Normal.
Or at least, it seemed that way.
Jinsu walked beside his friend, Hyung, his school bag slung over one shoulder and a calm smile resting on his face.
Hyung glanced at him with a teasing grin.
"Don't tell me you forgot the physics homework again."
Jinsu let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Relax... At least I remembered the important thing."
Hyung raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And what's that?"
Jinsu patted his bag.
"My lunch."
The two burst into laughter.
It was the kind of carefree laugh shared by boys who believed the day would end just as peacefully as it had begun.
Then...
The warmth disappeared.
In a single instant, the temperature dropped.
It wasn't ordinary cold.
It was something deeper.
Something that crept into the bones, as though winter itself had invaded the building without warning.
The air grew heavier.
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Breathing became difficult.
Conversations faded.
Footsteps slowed.
Then...
Silence.
A silence that did not belong to this world.
Jinsu stopped walking.
His brows furrowed as he looked around.
The hallway was the same.
The students were the same.
But...
Something was wrong.
Something he couldn't explain.
Suddenly—
A scream tore through the silence.
Everyone turned at once.
A student came sprinting down the hallway, his face drained of all color.
"Run...!"
He stumbled, barely able to breathe.
"There's... something...!"
Before anyone could react...
The air rippled.
It was as if reality itself had begun to split apart.
From the heart of that distortion...
A Yami emerged.
Its body looked like a living nightmare.
Its unnaturally long limbs dragged across the floor, while jagged bones pushed against cracked, pale skin.
Its crimson eyes burned like dying embers.
Its mouth stretched into a smile far too wide to belong to anything human.
A suffocating darkness spread around it.
Even the light itself seemed to retreat from its presence.
Jinsu froze.
It wasn't just fear.
His body refused to move.
Hyung grabbed his arm tightly.
"Jinsu... RUN!"
Chaos exploded throughout the school.
Students screamed as they rushed toward the exits. Books and bags crashed onto the floor while thunderous footsteps echoed through the hallway.
But the Yami...
Wasn't attacking at random.
It was hunting.
Jinsu ran with the crowd, his breathing growing more frantic with every step.
Behind him, he could hear the creature's limbs scraping across the floor.
Slow.
Steady.
As if it already knew its prey could never escape.
Closer.
Closer still.
Until death itself seemed to breathe against the back of his neck.
Then—
A memory surfaced.
His mother's smile.
Warm.
Gentle.
A smile he had never forgotten.
Her voice echoed in his mind.
"Never give up, my son... No matter how deep the darkness becomes."
Jinsu's eyes widened.
His fear...
Turned into defiance.
He stopped.
He turned toward the monster.
His fist clenched until his knuckles turned white.
"No..."
His voice trembled.
But he forced the words out.
"I won't die here!"
With a desperate roar, he charged forward, throwing every ounce of fear, rage, and determination into a single punch.
The Yami didn't even flinch.
It looked at him with contempt.
Then it laughed.
A low...
Cold laugh.
"Heh..."
It tilted its head.
"Human..."
Its twisted grin widened.
"Is that truly all you've got?"
Its arm moved.
Too fast to follow.
The impact hurled Jinsu into the wall.
The hallway shook.
Pain exploded through his body.
Warm blood ran from his forehead into his eyes as his vision blurred.
His legs trembled beneath him.
Every part of his body begged him to stay down.
But he refused.
He gritted his teeth.
Slowly, painfully...
He raised his head.
"I..."
He coughed, blood staining his lips.
"...won't..."
Then he screamed with everything he had left.
"I WILL NEVER DIE HERE!"
Everything stopped.
The Yami froze.
Its laughter vanished.
For the first time...
Its crimson eyes widened.
As though it had seen something...
That should not exist.
Then—
Its body exploded.
Black flesh tore apart in every direction as crimson blood scattered through the air. A violent shockwave blasted down the hallway, rattling the windows and sending dust raining from the ceiling.
Then...
Silence.
A crushing silence.
The only sound left was Jinsu's ragged breathing.
He stared at the place where the monster had stood only moments ago.
His hands trembled.
His heart pounded violently.
He couldn't understand...
What had just happened.
Or how it had happened.
All he knew...
Was that moments ago...
He had been certain he was going to die.
And somehow...
The monster was gone.
Leaving only one survivor.
Jinsu.