We had found the exit door at last.
But standing in front of it was a creature that refused to be ignored— a monster shaped like an enormous dog, its body looking like raw meat stretched taut over a frame of rusted steel.
Its skin was a deep crimson, mottled with black, as if forged from ember and coal. A tongue like a fleshy whip dragged along the floor, dripping corrosive saliva that sizzled as it hit the metal beneath.
It stood still—but every inch of its trembling form warned us it could explode into violence at any moment.
The creature stared us down in a silence thick as tar. The only sounds were the soft dripping of water from the walls and our ragged breathing.
It didn't charge—but it didn't leave either. Just a low, guttural growl rumbled from deep within its throat, like hot coals being scraped across iron.
"It's a guardian…" I thought grimly. "It won't move unless we get close to that door."
But whether we moved or not, the reality was the same: That door was our only path forward.
We couldn't stop here.
Gently, I lowered Olivia against the nearest wall. Her injured leg was healing, but she still couldn't run if the fight broke out.
I unzipped my pack and placed it quietly on the floor. Then I drew the katana that had been with me since the beginning, strapping the fire axe to my left hand.
Hyunsuk and Olivia immediately caught on to what I was planning.
"Hyung... don't be stupid. We can find another way!" Hyunsuk hissed.
"Lan, please… We just made it this far. Don't throw it away on a reckless gamble," Olivia added, her voice trembling, eyes glistening with tears she tried to hold back.
I looked at them both. My eyes met theirs with a strange calm—
but beneath that calm was an unshakable resolve.
"We can't," I said, voice low but firm. "That door is clearly an exit. There's no guarantee we'll find another like it. For all we know, this might be the only one."
I took a small step closer, lowering my voice further.
"And if we keep running from everything that looks dangerous… eventually, this place will swallow us whole."
Silence.
Our gazes locked in a heavy stillness. Neither of them said a word, but their faces told me enough. Olivia looked down, clutching her hands tightly. Hyunsuk clenched his fists—angry, but unable to argue.
"I need to know... if a human can actually fight one of these things," I added. "And the only way to find out—
is for me to face it."
I turned before they could protest again.
My steps echoed against the walls like a countdown. Every footfall stretched the tension even tighter.
My heart pounded harder with each step. I could feel it in my throat, in my ears, in my fingertips.
"Hyung!" Hyunsuk called out behind me.
"If you don't come back, I swear I'll kill you in the afterlife for ditching us!"
His voice cracked—half joking, half breaking.
I raised my right hand, two fingers held up in a quiet peace sign.
No glance back.
The creature tensed as I approached.
It knew—just as I did.
There would be no avoiding this fight.
Its growl shifted into a shriek that scraped the inside of my skull. The walls quivered as the sheer pressure of its presence flooded the corridor.
Its claws screeched against the floor, metal grinding under monstrous weight.
I ran.
My boots thundered down the hallway, the sound meshing with the ragged tempo of my breath.
Time slowed.
The monster lunged—
A blur of bloody muscle and gnashing teeth. Its jaws opened wide like a butcher's maw.
I saw everything.
The glistening arc of its spit midair, the coiling of its grotesque torso, the reflection of my body in the glistening surface of its tongue.
In a single motion, I dove low.
My body skimmed along the slick floor, sliding just under its pounce—
And at that perfect, weightless second, I slashed.
Both weapons carved upward in an X, the blades slicing through the air and into flesh.
A wet, metallic shriek split the corridor.
Blood sprayed in a hot arc, coating my face and eyes. The creature twisted midair, howling in pain, then crashed down like a sack of meat against concrete.
I rose slowly.
My breathing ragged. My hands trembling—not from fear…
…but from something else.
I stood over the unmoving body, drenched in its blood.
No twitch. No sound.
Just red—
and silence.
I had won.
But there was no triumph in me.
No relief.
No smile.
Only quiet.
A strange emptiness blooming in my mind, like some long-forgotten part of me had just… woken up.
And it wasn't a good part.
Was my body remembering something my mind couldn't?
I didn't know.
But one thing was certain:
This feeling…
was far too familiar.
And that scared me more than any monster ever could.