Raon stared at the broken phone lying on the floor.
The screen was spiderwebbed with cracks, its faint glow flickering once—then dying.
He crouched, picking it up with trembling fingers, pressing the power button again and again.
Nothing.
No sound, no vibration.
Just silence.
> "What the hell…" he whispered, his voice barely audible over the steady hum of the moving train.
Except—
The train wasn't moving anymore.
The wheels had stopped.
A suffocating stillness filled the cabin.
Then, suddenly—
Thud.
The lights went out.
The sound of metal grinding against metal ripped through the dark, followed by gasps, screams, and the faint cry of a child.
Raon's reflection vanished from the blackened window, replaced by the dim red glow of the emergency lights that flickered to life overhead.
Blood-colored light washed over the faces of the passengers, distorting them into hollow masks.
> "What was that?"
"Did something hit us?"
"Look outside… what is that?"
Their voices overlapped, trembling, as they crowded near the windows.
Raon turned too—and froze.
Outside, the world had changed.
The city skyline that should've been glowing in the distance was gone.
Instead, storm clouds churned across the sky, swallowing the stars.
Rain hadn't fallen, yet thunder rolled without sound, flashes of violet lightning tearing through the black horizon.
Beneath the bridge, the river had turned still. Too still.
The surface rippled once, twice—
Then something moved under the water.
Something enormous.
Raon's pulse spiked.
A shape—no, a shadow—was coiling beneath the bridge, its outline barely visible under the faint glow of the emergency lights.
The water bulged as though a mountain was about to rise from beneath it.
> "W-What is that…?"
"Is that a whale?!"
"No… that's not—"
Before anyone could finish, the train lurched violently.
CRAAAAACK.
The glass windows shattered inward, spraying shards like bullets.
Two screams were cut short as blood splattered against the seats — two schoolgirls crumpled to the ground, their eyes wide with disbelief.
The wind howled through the broken windows, carrying with it a low, resonant groan from below the bridge — like the sound of the earth itself exhaling.
Raon stumbled, clutching a seat to steady himself. His ears rang, his heartbeat pounding against his ribs like a drum.
The world around him was collapsing — and yet, part of him knew this scene.
This chaos.
This exact terror.
He had written it before.
His mind screamed the impossible, but the memory was too clear.
The same number of passengers.
The same crimson light.
The same line from his story echoing in his head:
> "When the light turns red, the river will awaken."
"No way…" Raon whispered.
The shaking intensified. Somewhere near the rear of the train, a deep metallic boom rang out — as if something massive had slammed into it.
The cabin tilted. People screamed. A man was thrown against the window, cracking it further.
Raon's breath hitched.
He crawled toward the emergency handle, fingers bleeding as he tried to open the connecting door to the next cabin.
It wouldn't budge.
He pulled harder. Nothing.
Panic clouded his thoughts. His vision blurred.
What is happening?
Is this real?
Or am I still reading?
The edges of his mind began to dissolve into darkness—
until a single sound pierced through it all:
> "Help! Somebody help!"
A woman's scream.
The world snapped back into focus. Raon's eyes widened as he turned toward the sound—
and that's when he saw the countdown flashing faintly across the shattered window of his phone lying on the floor.
[Time Remaining: 15:00]