T/N: UPDATE: Billy → Willy. It makes more sense as a shortened, cheesy pet name for William. Right?
Seojun was watching Airi, his thoughts clouded by selfish calculations, when Christina’s enthusiastic waving abruptly pulled him back to reality.
“Airi and William are safe!” she shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos and bringing with it a wave of relief.
“That’s good news, isn’t it, Jun?” Johan said as he approached and gave Seojun a reassuring pat on the back.
Caught off guard by the friendly gesture, Seojun managed only a stiff, uncertain nod.
“Uh? Uh...”
His voice was barely audible.
Beads of sweat dotted Johan’s forehead, probably from the strain of everything happening around them. Damp strands of hair clung to his skin. Seojun had just begun to reach toward him when a hideous sound ripped through the air.
[SHRIEEEEK!]
A spine-chilling howl echoed across the campsite, followed by a metallic screech that set their teeth on edge.
The monster writhed in pain, its numerous limbs twitching uncontrollably. Its misshapen, milky-white body convulsed so violently that it was impossible to tell where its gills ended and its mouth began.
Johan’s commanding voice cut through the creature’s shrieks.
“Christina! Take Airi and run!”
“Got it!”
Airi was still unsteady on her feet, so William quickly swept her into his arms. He and Christina took off at once, fleeing in the opposite direction and leaving Seojun behind as the nightmare continued to unfold.
Johan seized Seojun by the wrist and started pulling him away.
At that exact moment, one of the monster’s limbs came crashing down beside them.
The rush of displaced air struck their bodies before the tentacle-like appendage slammed into the ground with a heavy thud, gouging deep into the soil.
It had not been aiming for them.
The creature was simply thrashing in agony.
Adrenaline flooded Seojun’s veins as he sprinted after Johan, whose grip remained locked around his wrist.
Despite possessing countless legs, the monster seemed to rely mainly on one of them, creating a sight so bizarre that, under different circumstances, it might almost have been funny.
[SKRIIIIEEEK!]
Their brief fascination ended the moment a far more disturbing realization struck them.
The monster had abandoned Christina, Airi, and William.
It was coming after them instead.
Bang!
A tree toppled beneath the wild sweep of one of the creature’s limbs.
“Jun!”
Johan shouted his name in alarm.
Seojun narrowly avoided having the upper half of his neck torn away by a blindly flailing tentacle. A second later, he found himself gasping for breath in Johan’s arms.
The monster was much faster than its grotesque body suggested.
Seojun’s gaze darted from Johan’s empty hands to the creature’s remaining limbs.
Finding the axe they had thrown would be nearly impossible in this darkness.
He swallowed hard and looked Johan in the eyes, straining his neck to meet the taller man’s gaze.
“Johan, listen to me. We need to reach dry ground. Somewhere far away from water.”
“W-water?”
For once, Johan’s composure faltered.
Given the circumstances, Seojun could hardly blame him.
“Yes. Now.”
Seojun grabbed Johan by the collar and pulled him closer.
“We need to make a strategic retreat.”
Moving through the darkness would be difficult, but there was no other choice.
Seojun took the lead and slapped Johan on the back, urging him forward.
“Aaaah! Aaargh!”
Bobby’s screams echoed through the night.
He was still struggling with the blood-soaked corpse, his eyes bulging in terror and his mouth stretched wide enough to expose the violent bobbing of his Adam’s apple.
He looked less like a person than a piece of living bait—hysterical, blood-drenched, and drawing danger straight toward himself.
The problem was that this living bait was running directly at them.
“Bobby, stay away! Bobby! Bobby!”
Seojun had never imagined he would one day find himself desperately screaming Bobby’s name.
Bobby tore past them, bringing with him the nauseating stench of blood and decay.
The monster could not resist.
Like Hansel and Gretel leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, Bobby scattered entrails in his wake. The creature followed behind, pecking at the gruesome trail like an oversized hatchling.
Seojun and Johan were suddenly trapped in a frantic chase, with Bobby as their unwanted companion.
They headed straight for a dilapidated structure pressed against the mountainside, hoping to put some distance between themselves and the monster pursuing them.
“Jun, get the door!”
They burst into the ramshackle building in a tangle of limbs and panic.
Johan and Seojun slammed the door shut just in time.
A heartbeat later, something struck it from the other side.
Clang!
The metal door buckled inward beneath the impact.
Seojun’s heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird trying to tear its way free.
Beyond the door, a strange electrical hum vibrated through the darkness—a sinister reminder that the creature was still waiting outside.
The interior of the building was pitch-black.
The only sounds were their ragged breathing and the frantic pounding of their hearts.
Seojun bit down on his lip. His breath escaped unsteadily through clenched teeth.
Somewhere nearby, droplets of fluid fell from the corpse still hanging in Bobby’s arms.
Seojun and Johan stood frozen in place, their hands still clasped together.
Sweat gathered beneath the bandages wrapped around Seojun’s palm.
Strangely, Johan’s presence distracted him. The warmth of his hand felt absurdly vivid in the face of impending death.
A monster stood just beyond the flimsy metal door, and yet this trivial detail continued to bother him.
Johan did not let go.
Not even when the ominous sounds outside gradually faded.
Not even when Seojun’s breathing finally slowed and settled into a steadier rhythm.
After what felt like an eternity, Seojun lightly shook Johan’s hand, silently telling him to release it.
“By the way, where exactly are we?”
He tried to withdraw his hand discreetly, but Johan either failed to notice the hint or chose to ignore it.
Instead of letting go, Johan picked up a lantern and lit it.
Warm light spread through the room, pushing back the darkness.
The glow revealed a stainless-steel pot resting neatly to one side—an absurdly ordinary object amid the chaos.
“It’s a kitchen,” Johan said.
“What?”
Seojun looked around in disbelief.
“A kitchen? Here? Why would there be a makeshift kitchen in a place like this? Bobby!”
His frustration came through clearly in his voice.
“He... hee... uh... wh-what... monster... Eeeek!”
At Seojun’s shout, Bobby clutched the corpse even more tightly, like a frightened child hugging a security blanket.
His condition was alarming.
His eyes had rolled upward, drool ran from his mouth, and mucus dripped from his nose.
Now thoroughly irritated, Seojun snatched the lantern from Johan’s hand and hurled it at Bobby.
He was no star quarterback, but the room was cramped enough that missing would have been difficult.
The lantern clipped Bobby’s arm and clattered to the floor.
Its old-fashioned shape kept it from rolling away.
Even that irritated Seojun.
“Why are we using a lantern in the first place? Has nobody here heard of flashlights?”
“Well, it does add to the apocalyptic atmosphere,” Johan said from beside him.
He scratched his cheek and gave Seojun an awkward smile, clearly trying to lighten the mood.
Overwhelmed by irritation, Seojun tore his hand free from Johan’s.
All at once, the lingering touch had become unbearable.
“Seriously. When were flashlights invented?”
He strode toward Bobby and began prying the man’s fingers away from the corpse.
“Bobby, how much longer are you planning to hold on to that thing?”
His patience was almost gone.
“Ugh...”
With a dull groan, Bobby collapsed to the floor and finally released the body.
The corpse was disturbingly light, probably because most of its internal organs were gone.
The stench rising from Bobby’s blood-soaked clothes and face was enough to churn the stomach.
As Seojun watched Bobby pant on the floor, his determination to keep his distance from the protagonists of this bloody spectacle briefly wavered.
He grabbed Bobby by the neck and shook him violently, desperate to drag him out of his stupor.
“Come on. Snap out of it!”
“Ah! Eeeek!”
Bobby’s eyes finally cleared.
He looked directly at Seojun.
Standing over him, Seojun bit his lip in frustration.
He had hoped Christina and the others would head straight for the guardhouse and call for help.
Instead, they had fled in the opposite direction, leaving Seojun trapped in a makeshift kitchen with Johan, a traumatized Bobby, and a monster waiting outside.
A cold bead of sweat slid down Seojun’s neck.
He sighed and picked up the lantern he had so foolishly thrown.
Fortunately, it was still intact.
The uneasy feeling in his stomach, however, remained.
His thoughts churned wildly, sharpened by fear and heightened awareness.
Every groan of the metal floor beneath his shoes and every faint sound from the creature outside sent another surge of panic through him.
A sudden rustling noise caught his attention.
Seojun spun around.
Johan was crouched beside a shelf, rummaging through the objects stored beneath it.
He looked up with a small kitchen knife in one hand and a barbecue skewer in the other.
“What are you doing, Johan Gentil?”
“What do you mean, what am I doing, Jun?”
Johan smiled shyly.
He flicked his wrist, and the lantern’s orange light danced across the knife blade.
“Which one do you want?”
He held out the two equally unimpressive weapons.
“Do you really think my preferences matter right now?”
Seojun could not conceal his irritation.
Johan merely rose to his feet and examined the sharpened tip of the skewer.
“What are you talking about? I’m trying to decide which one would be more useful against the monster outside.”
He sighed.
“I wish we still had the axe, but it’s not as though we can go searching through the bushes for it right now.”
Johan’s gentle voice brought an unexpected sense of calm to Seojun’s chaotic thoughts.
It also forced him to reflect on his own recent behavior.
The lantern was lying on the floor.
Bobby was sprawled beside it.
Bobby’s fate did not matter much to Seojun, but he had to admit that throwing the lantern had been idiotic.
What had he been thinking?
The moon was their only other source of light.
Had the lantern broken, they would have been in serious trouble.
Seojun felt his breathing begin to slow.
He had tried to remain rational, but the reality of their situation had nearly driven him past his limit.
He tasted blood where he had bitten the inside of his cheek in a desperate attempt to keep himself grounded.
“Take the skewer,” he said at last, his voice steadier now.
The lemon had already proven lethal to the creature.
The knife was too small to do much damage, but the skewer might actually penetrate its body.
Johan nodded.
Ideally, Seojun should have taken the skewer to balance their equipment and left the knife with Johan.
But Seojun had always been the kind of person who gave every powerful item to a single avatar when playing video games.
“Actually, give me the knife.”
The creature outside was not their only enemy.
Seojun had developed a newfound appreciation for the durability of the ordinary human body.
Humans were immune to lemons, after all, and they did not require gas masks to breathe.
“Here. But be careful, Jun. Keep it in the sheath.”
Johan handed him the sheathed knife.
The moment Seojun wrapped his fingers around the handle, he exhaled in relief.
Apparently, losing the axe had unsettled him more than he had realized.
He drew a deep breath, trying to steady himself.
What should we do next...?
He slipped the knife into his pocket and turned his attention back to Bobby, who was still slumped on the floor.
Some color had returned to his face, but his eyes remained vacant.
Seojun grabbed him by the collar and slapped him sharply across the cheek.
“Ow!”
The sound cracked through the room.
A bright red mark appeared on Bobby’s pale skin.
He screamed and squeezed his eyes shut, finally showing signs of returning to his senses.
Seojun did not stop.
Urgency sharpened his voice.
“Come on, Bobby. Snap out of it!”
He slapped him again.
A strange sense of satisfaction rose inside him.
He was almost grateful for the opportunity to beat some sense into Bobby.
True, striking Bobby would not help them defeat the monster outside.
But life was about appreciating small pleasures.
Besides, he was technically doing this to save Bobby’s life.
There was no reason to feel guilty.
“Stop! Stop hitting me!”
Bobby finally cried out.
“Christina might be stronger than she looks,” Seojun said with unexpected enthusiasm, “but I still think I have more potential. Don’t you?”
Something in his passionate tone seemed to strike a nerve.
Bobby let out a strangled yelp.
Despite the tears in his eyes, he appeared more lucid than he had since the ordeal began.
“Glad to have you back, Bobby,” Johan said, sounding genuinely relieved.
“Right,” Seojun added. “My hand hurts like hell, but at least I managed to knock some sense into you.”
Johan gave Bobby a friendly pat on the shoulder.
Bobby clearly did not share their relief.
“What’s so great about this? Johan! Can’t you see that this lunatic has turned my cheek into some kind of freak show?”
He pointed furiously at his swollen, bright-red cheek.
Seojun had already lost interest in his complaints.
“Now that Bobby is conscious again, we need to decide what to do next. What do you think, Johan?”
“Sounds good.”
“You’re both ignoring me!”
Bobby proved surprisingly persistent.
He raised his voice to make certain they heard him.
Seojun sighed and reluctantly pulled out the small knife.
The quiet threat was unmistakable.
“Bobby, you sound like a damned cuckoo. If you want to announce our location to the monster outside, go ahead.”
He held Bobby’s gaze.
“But understand this: our brief friendship ends the moment you do.”
“What?”
Seojun merely shrugged at Bobby’s confusion and leaned closer to the door, listening carefully.
Bobby’s face gradually drained of color.
Beside him lay the mutilated remains of a thin corpse, nearly emptied of organs—a clear demonstration of what the monster did to its victims.
If Bobby continued making noise, they would be next.
He immediately covered his mouth and nose with both hands and held his breath until his face nearly turned blue.
Satisfied that Bobby finally understood the gravity of their situation, Seojun turned to Johan.
“Listen, Johan. Don’t even think about fighting that monster.”
Johan tilted his head.
“Christina is the only one who has any chance against it.”
“What are you talking about, Jun?”
“I mean exactly what I said.”
Seojun’s expression hardened.
“We can’t defeat it. That’s the reality of the situation. Don’t throw your life away trying to do something impossible.”
He was genuinely worried about Johan.
Johan, however, remained unconvinced.
“Why are you being so pessimistic? It isn’t good for you, Jun. Besides...”
His eyes were intense, filled with earnest determination.
He looked as though he were silently asking Seojun, Don’t you understand?
Perhaps there was some truth in Johan’s words.
That did not make them any less infuriating.
Seojun’s frustration continued to build until he could no longer contain it.
“You just don’t understand.”
What else could he say?
They were standing on entirely different sides of reality, as though they were speaking separate languages.
Johan was a realist.
He observed the situation, assessed it logically, and acted according to what he saw.
He could never truly understand Seojun.
For Seojun, reality was something twisted and unstable—a tangled mixture of what genuinely existed and what lived only inside his mind.
They might have been standing on the same ground.
But they were living in completely different stories.