CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Final Beat
Yoonbum's final heartbeat flatlined into silence. The monitor gave one long, shrill note before the room was swallowed by stillness.
No return. No miracle. Only absence.
Yoonbum felt it—like a thread snapping inside his mind. His body shook, knees buckling, hands clawing at his own face. The world twisted, voices clawing from every shadow.
"It's your fault, Bum.""I'm gone because of you.""I'm waiting. I'll come back. I always come back."
The walls breathed. His chest burned. The ceiling split open into a black hole that dragged him under. He screamed, but it came out fractured, like glass shattering inside his throat.
Then—collapse.
The floor rose to meet him. Darkness swallowed everything.
When Yoonbum opened his eyes again, the world was white. Sterile.
A hospital ceiling above him. The beeping was back, slower this time, steady, mechanical. His wrists were bound with soft restraints to the bedrails. An IV dripped into his arm.
He turned his head, sweat clinging to his hair. A reflection on the monitor screen showed his own hollow eyes staring back, ringed with shadows.
A nurse whispered at the door, "I'm awake."
Yoonbum blinked, throat dry. His lips trembled as he muttered, almost to himself:
"…Am I still here… or is this another one of your games?"