Silence.
...
A slow, rhythmic beep echoed through the room.
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
Kai's eyelids twitched.
Pain greeted him before his vision did.
A dull ache spread across every inch of his body.
Kai's fingers moved.
His arm followed.
Then—
Kai's eyes slowly opened.
A white ceiling.
Plain.
Cold.
Hairline cracks stretched across the corners.
A fluorescent light buzzed weakly overhead, flickering every few seconds.
Kai didn't move.
Kai's heart quietly pounded.
"..."
White.
Again.
For an instant...
Kai's chest tightened.
"An illusion?"
Raze.
Kai's fingers unconsciously gripped the bedsheet.
"..."
"No..."
"Not again."
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Kai remained perfectly still.
Listening.
The hum of flickering lights.
The distant squeak of rusty wheels rolling down a hallway.
Then a cough echoes somewhere beyond the walls.
Soft footsteps.
No laughter.
No music.
No birds singing.
Only...
Life stubbornly refusing to disappear.
Kai slowly turned his head.
The room was small.
Simple.
A hospital room.
White walls stained by age.
Medical equipment repaired countless times.
A cabinet with chipped paint.
Bandages neatly stacked beside the bed.
Nothing luxurious.
Everything practical.
Kai's gaze slowly drifted toward the window.
The curtains hung half-open.
Beyond the cracked glass...
The world remained dead.
A vast blanket of dark gray clouds swallowed the sky.
Not storm clouds.
Not rain clouds.
Just an endless layer of ash that hid the sun completely.
There was no daylight.
Only a dim, lifeless glow that barely illuminated the ruined city.
Collapsed buildings stretched toward the horizon like broken gravestones.
Smoke drifted lazily between skeletal skyscrapers.
Abandoned vehicles rusted where they had been left.
No birds crossed the sky.
No insects buzzed.
No trees swayed.
Only silence.
Only ruin.
Only despair.
Then a cold wind struck the hospital window.
Dust scattered across the cracked pavement outside.
Kai stared for a long time.
"..."
"It's real..."
There was no paradise.
No smiling children.
No warm bakery.
No sunlight.
Only this dying world.
Oddly enough...
Kai felt relieved.
Kai slowly reached toward his own arm.
Kai's fingers pinched the skin.
Pain.
Sharp.
Immediate.
Kai pressed harder.
The pain intensified.
Kai released his grip.
"...Good."
Pain.
Real pain.
Reality.
Kai inhaled deeply.
The air carried the unmistakable scent of antiseptic.
Old medicine.
Alcohol.
And beneath it all...
The faint metallic smell of dried blood that no amount of cleaning could completely erase.
Nothing smelled sweet.
Nothing felt artificial.
Nothing was perfect.
Everything was flawed.
Everything was real.
Kai quietly closed his eyes.
"...I'm alive."
A gentle knock interrupted the silence.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The door slowly opened.
A young woman wearing a white nurse's uniform stepped inside.
The moment her emerald eyes met Kai's...
They widened slightly.
Then she smiled.
A warm, human smile.
"Oh..."
"You're awake."
To be continue...