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Episode 002: The Main Character’s Younger Sister Resurrected as a Constellation
“Ah!”
The monster, falling somewhere, released the arm wrapped around my ankle. From the recoil, I was thrown to the ground like a ragdoll, landing hard on my rear.
Amidst all this, I thought it was fortunate that I landed on my body first, not my head. Looking around at the changed surroundings, there were already dozens of people captured like me. Each was tightly holding onto their family members, trying to find the most secluded corners to avoid the monster.
The only ones left alone, completely by themselves, were me and a young boy.
Dreureuk, deuk, jjeuaak.
The sounds of bones shattering, cracking, and something tearing came in succession. Goosebumps erupted all over my body, and a chill ran down my spine.
Turning my gaze toward the direction of the sound, I saw the monster that had captured me. Soon after, sharp arms burst out from the monster’s belly and began to pick off people one by one.
“Aaaagh!”
“Save me!”
Faced with this horrific scene, I squeezed my eyes shut. I tried to cover my ears, but my hands were useless against blocking out the people’s screams.
The monster ignored me and the boy, who stood still, and first went after the people who had fled to the corners. It must have judged that since we weren’t moving, we wouldn’t run away.
I felt a tugging at my clothes from behind. Turning around, it was the boy who had been standing still earlier. As I leaned down to hold his hand, I felt a cold sensation on the back of my neck.
‘Ah, the necklace.’
Feeling the chain against my skin through my shirt, I recalled the original story. This necklace was something that should belong to Jin Se-hyuk, not me.
“Um, hey.”
“…Yes?”
How this ended up with Jin Se-hyuk wasn’t mentioned in the novel. It should be okay to pass it on here, right? It’s only right to leave some kind of farewell for the brother I was suddenly separated from.
“If you get to the safe zone alive.”
For some reason, I felt this kid would survive.
“Could you give this to my brother?”
What was Jin Sae-hyuk wearing again? Ah.
“He’s a guy with short hair, wearing a black leather jacket. You can give it to him.”
I unfastened the necklace I was wearing and handed it to the child. A silver chain necklace with a star-shaped pendant. It might not seem like much, but in <End of Ruin>, this necklace was the keepsake of his younger sister that Jin Sae-hyuk always wore. Now it would become my keepsake.
As I reached out to hand the necklace to the child, the star pendant bracelet dangling from my wrist caught my eye. Since I was going to die soon anyway, I thought about giving the bracelet too, but since only the necklace appeared in the original, I only handed over the necklace.
The child took it with his other hand, the one not holding my clothes, and gripped the necklace tightly. Seeing that, I smiled softly. The child’s determined expression was endearingly out of place given the situation.
Just then, the arm that had been slaughtering people charged rapidly in our direction.
I pushed the child hard.
“
“Cough!”
“……Sister!”
Fortunately, the boy who fell to the ground seemed not to be seen clearly. The monster attacked only me, then turned its attention to other survivors.
I reflexively curled up, clutching my stomach.
Ah, come to think of it, the kid I pushed should be around here too. It wasn’t that I was trying to play some pathetic hero. It’s just… for me, this ends when I wake up from the dream, but for him, this place is everything.
Blood continuously flowed from my pierced stomach. Just blood flowed… right?
My vision blurred.
So this is how I die, I thought. Even feeling pain in a dream, having all sorts of strange dreams. Now when I open my eyes, it’ll be my familiar room.
After that, it was complete darkness.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sound of water droplets. Air damp and musty, filled with moisture, and a rotten smell that hit my nostrils with every breath.
I had definitely bought a new soap-scented diffuser recently, so it was strange to smell this terrible odor that made me want to cover my nose. I furrowed my brow tightly and opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was an unknown space filled with icicle-shaped stalactites.
I just blinked blankly. Someone spoke to me.
“I thought you were dead, but you’re alive.”
The voice, adding that they thought I was dead because I wouldn’t wake up no matter how much they shook me, was unfamiliar.
“If you’ve come to your senses, sit up, won’t you?”
At the man’s voice, which felt somehow chilly, I lifted my head. It seemed I had fallen asleep leaning on the shoulder of a man I didn’t know.
The man, rotating the shoulder he had lent me, was someone I was seeing for the first time.
‘Am I having another dream?’
Wondering if this was a dream connected to <End of Ruin>, my appearance was different from when I was with Jin Sae-hyuk.
The hair falling to my chest was blonde, and the clothes I wore were not a school uniform but comfortable training clothes.
Blonde hair, am I fulfilling my bucket list in a dream like this?
The man, examining my dazed state, sighed briefly and spoke.
“Coming in here and sleeping so peacefully, are you in your right mind?”
“Huh?”
“You wouldn’t want to die, I assume.”
The man looked at me with an expression that suggested he couldn’t understand.
Before I could be surprised by the sudden informal speech, the next question came. After closing his eyes for a moment to steady his breath, he asked in a much gentler tone.
“You don’t know what’s going on?”
“I just woke up, so I’m here.”
I didn’t know the situation, but I replied nonchalantly.
“This is a guerrilla dungeon, one that appeared outdoors.”
Frowning at my words about just waking up, the man muttered while looking at me with a strange gaze.
Even hearing that, I could only chuckle. A guerrilla dungeon, what kind of fantasy dream is this again?
As if reading my thoughts, the man, still with furrowed brows, spoke.
“Well, let’s assume that for now. This is a dungeon. I haven’t seen anyone else besides you, so it looks like only the two of us came in.”
Then, just as his lips moved as if to ask something, the sound of fluttering wings came from somewhere.
“Should we find a safe place first?”
When I looked around startled, the man paused, then spoke again. At his words, I nodded.
The man, who had been looking in the direction of the sound, pointed in the opposite direction and gestured to me. It seemed to mean ‘follow me’.
“Let’s stick together. Two is better than one, if we want to survive.”
The man, who had instantly calmed down, suggested we accompany each other.
In reality, if a stranger acted like that, I would have been wary first, but since this is a dream, it seemed like following him wouldn’t hurt. And most of all, I needed to figure out what kind of situation this dream was first.
I followed behind the man, looking for a place to hide. The dungeon, which took the form of a cave, was quite large.
After wandering around for a while, we hid behind a large rock. I sat down and asked the man.
“But if it’s a dungeon, it’s a dungeon, so what’s a ‘guerrilla dungeon’?”
“It’s a sudden outbreak dungeon. One that appears without warning.”
His look clearly asked how I couldn’t know this. Is this world also a hunter world like <End of Ruin>?
“Are you a hunter?”
“No. You?”
“I don’t think I am either.”
I don’t even understand this situation, so how would I know if I’m a hunter or not?
At my answer, which was phrased as a question, I felt the man send me a strange look. I shamelessly avoided his gaze, as if I had a thick skin.
“Did you really get dragged here from sleeping at home?”
“Maybe?”
“Where’s your home?”
I was at a loss for words. About to give my familiar home address, I bit my tongue.
In this dream, that house might not be my house. Our house might not exist in this world… What should I say?
I made up some random apartment name that came to mind. This guy probably doesn’t know every apartment name in this world, so it should be fine.
“Hyeon, Hyunjo Apartments?”
“…Hyunjo Apartments? You live that far away and got into this guerrilla dungeon? Do you have sleepwalking?”
It seemed the apartment I randomly blurted out fortunately existed in this world too.
But judging by his still suspicious gaze, it must be a neighborhood quite far from where this dungeon was located. I shook my head to deny his question about sleepwalking. His expression as he looked at me turned strange again, and he asked again, as if he couldn’t understand.
“But how are you here?”
Shouldn’t I be the one most curious about that? Ah, when will this dream end?
Having nothing to say, I just smiled awkwardly. Interpreting that smile in his own way, he tilted his head back.
“Never mind, anomalies are harder to understand anyway. And speak comfortably.”
“Uh, should I? How old are you? Yo?”
He seemed around my age, but I’m terrible at guessing ages. Just in case, I added a very small ‘yo’ at the end.
“Nineteen.”
“I’m seventeen…”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”
I double-checked with the man who replied with a blank face.
“…It’s really okay to speak informally?”
“I said it’s fine.”
He even drove the point home, saying it was okay to just call him by name.
“Ah, you don’t know my name. I’m Kim I-gyeol.”
“Ugh, I’m Jin Se-rin.”
After exchanging names, we ran out of things to say. We just pricked up our ears in the silence, not knowing when a monster might appear.
The fluttering sound we heard earlier came again.
This time, it was a little closer.
