Hyun-Jae sat on the edge of a low stone platform, elbows resting on his knees, breathing slowly as he tried to steady the lingering pressure in his chest. The world had finally stopped spinning, but his body still felt heavy, like it hadn't fully decided whether it wanted to stand or collapse again.
Around him, the vast gathering continued to reorganize itself. Participants moved in loose groups, guided by attendants whose calm voices cut through the confusion. Languages overlapped. Alien tones mixed with human speech. Everywhere he looked, there were figures unlike anything he had ever imagined, yet after the Celestial's warning, fear had dulled into wary acceptance.
Hyun-Jae let out a quiet sigh.
At least it's over… for now.
"Wow."
The voice came from behind him.
"You're really going to pretend you didn't see me?"
Hyun-Jae jolted so hard his foot slipped off the platform. He spun around, heart jumping into his throat, and froze.
Soo-Min stood there with her hands clasped behind her back, leaning forward just slightly, eyes bright with unmistakable amusement. Her hair was tied up messily, strands clinging to her forehead, and though she looked tired, she was standing easily, like the Celestial's pressure had been nothing more than a strong wind to her.
Hyun-Jae felt his face heat instantly.
"S-Soo-Min?!"
She grinned. "That reaction hurts, you know."
He scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping again as he straightened. "I-I didn't hear you coming."
"Mhm." She tilted her head. "And here I thought it was rude of you not to come find me earlier."
Hyun-Jae blinked. "What? I was- I mean, everyone was-" He gestured vaguely at the endless sea of people and creatures. "I was tired."
She hummed thoughtfully. "That's your excuse?"
He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze. "It's a good one."
Soo-Min laughed softly, the sound cutting through the noise around them in a way that made his chest feel strangely lighter.
"Still," she said, stepping closer, "with this many participants wandering around… how did you even expect to bump into me by accident?"
Hyun-Jae frowned slightly. "That's what I was going to ask you. How did you even find me?"
She leaned in conspiratorially. "Obviously…"
He swallowed.
"…it's fate," she finished teasingly. "We're just meant to find each other."
Hyun-Jae's brain shut down.
His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"Th-that doesn't make any sense!"
Soo-Min straightened, clearly satisfied with herself. "You're no fun when you overthink it."
"I'm not overthinking," he muttered, face burning.
She turned on her heel suddenly, clapping her hands together once. "Anyway!"
"Anyway?" he echoed.
She pointed toward a broad structure forming in the distance-smooth walls rising from the newly shaped land, attendants guiding groups toward its entrance. Warm light spilled out through wide openings, and the faint scent of food drifted through the air.
"I heard this place has a cafeteria," Soo-Min said. "And unless you've already eaten on another planet without me, we should check it out."
Hyun-Jae hesitated. "Wait-"
Too late.
She grabbed his wrist and started pulling him along.
"H-Hey!" he protested, stumbling to keep up. "You don't even know where you're going!"
"That's part of the adventure," she said cheerfully.
As they moved, Hyun-Jae felt the strange weight in his chest ease just a little more. The overwhelming presence of the Celestials, the crushing pressure, the endless unknowns ahead,all of it faded into the background, if only for a moment.
He glanced at Soo-Min's back as she led the way, her steps confident, unhesitating.
…Maybe fate is doing a little too much work today.
But for now, he didn't pull his hand away.
The building turned out to be larger than Hyun-Jae expected.
No, larger wasn't the right word.
It was vast.
From the outside, the structure had looked like a simple hall rising from the newly formed land, its surface smooth and pale. But the moment Hyun-Jae stepped inside, the space seemed to unfold endlessly in every direction. The ceiling stretched so high it disappeared into a soft haze of light, and rows upon rows of counters extended across the floor like streets in a city.
"This is a cafeteria?" Hyun-Jae muttered.
Soo-Min glanced around, eyes wide but shining. "Looks more like a marketplace."
Participants filled the space, humans and non-humans alike, moving hesitantly between stalls. The sound of conversation was constant, an uneven blend of voices, clicks, hums, and tones that didn't quite fit any language Hyun-Jae recognized. Above each counter hovered faintly glowing symbols, shifting and rearranging themselves as if translating menus on the fly.
Hyun-Jae swallowed.
The smells hit him next.
Some were familiar, grilled meat, warm bread, something sweet and citrusy. Others were… not. Sharp, metallic scents mixed with something earthy and damp, while a stall further down released a wave of heat that smelled like ozone.
He stopped walking.
"Uh… Soo-Min?"
She had already taken a few steps ahead, inspecting a stall where a tall, insect-like creature worked behind the counter, its multiple limbs moving with precise efficiency.
"Yeah?"
"Are we supposed to… eat that?"
She turned, following his gaze, then shrugged. "I mean, I don't think they'd poison us on the first day."
"That's not reassuring."
She laughed. "Relax. Look."
She pointed to a nearby counter where an attendant stood, calmly handing trays to a group of humans. The food looked… normal. Rice. Something that resembled soup. Bread.
Hyun-Jae let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Thank you."
They joined the short line. The attendant didn't ask for anything, no card, no name. The moment Hyun-Jae stepped forward, the tray simply appeared in his hands, warm and solid.
"See?" Soo-Min said as she took her own. "Easy."
They found an empty table near the edge of the hall. From there, Hyun-Jae could see just how many people were here. No matter where he looked, the crowd didn't thin. It just… kept going.
He sat down slowly.
For a while, they ate in silence.
The food tasted like home. Simple. Comforting. That almost made it worse.
"This place is terrifying," Soo-Min said suddenly, her voice quiet.
Hyun-Jae paused mid-bite.
She wasn't smiling.
"I mean it," she continued, staring down at her tray. "Everyone's acting like it's amazing, or exciting, or some kind of opportunity. But…" She hesitated. "I keep thinking that if they can do all this so easily, then we really don't matter at all."
Hyun-Jae's throat tightened.
"…Yeah," he said softly.
He looked down at his hands. They were still trembling slightly. "I keep expecting something to happen. Like they'll change their minds. Or tell us it was a joke."
Soo-Min let out a small, humorless laugh. "That would be nice."
He forced himself to meet her eyes. "Are you scared?"
She didn't answer right away.
Then she nodded. "Yeah. A lot."
The honesty caught him off guard.
"I'm scared of failing," she said. "And I'm scared of surviving." She clenched her fork a little tighter. "What if we make it through… and Earth doesn't?"
Hyun-Jae had no answer for that.
"I don't want to die," he admitted quietly. "But I don't know if I'm strong enough to do anything about it."
Soo-Min looked at him then, really looked at him.
"You came anyway," she said. "That counts for something."
He gave a weak smile. "It doesn't feel like it."
She nudged his foot lightly under the table. "It will. Maybe not today. But someday."
Around them, the cafeteria continued its endless motion. Laughter broke out at one table. An argument flared and died at another. Life, somehow, went on, even here.
Hyun-Jae took another bite of food, grounding himself in the taste.
For now, this was all he could do.
Eat. Breathe. Stay afraid.
And hope tomorrow didn't take more than he could give.
After they finished Soo-Min began dragging him around the area to explore and maybe spy on the other species.
---
They didn't even have time to react.
One moment, Hyun-Jae was walking beside Soo-Min through a wide, unfinished stretch of land, with some attendants guiding newly arrived participants toward their assigned areas. The air was calm, too calm.
The next moment, the world tore itself away.
There was no flash of light.
No sound.
Just a sudden, violent displacement that made Hyun-Jae's stomach lurch as if the ground had been ripped out from under him.
And then,
Impact.
His body slammed into a cold surface, the shock rattling through his bones as the air was driven from his lungs. He gasped uselessly, hands clawing at the ground as his vision blurred.
All around him, bodies hit the floor.
Humans. Non-humans. Creatures of countless forms, collapsed in the same instant, brought low by something far heavier than gravity.
Hyun-Jae barely managed to lift his head.
They were no longer outside.
They lay within a vast circular chamber, its walls curving upward into darkness. Faint, unfamiliar symbols pulsed along the surface, like veins beneath stone. There were no exits. No corners. Just an endless, enclosing space.
And at its center,
The serious Celestial hovered silently.
He didn't radiate hostility.
That somehow made it worse.
His presence alone bent the air, reality itself subtly distorted around his form, as if the world struggled to acknowledge him.
Hyun-Jae's chest tightened.
Not from pain.
From pressure.
It pressed down on him from every direction at once, inside and out. His limbs trembled violently as if his body no longer remembered how to support its own weight.
This wasn't an attack.
It was existence itself asserting dominance.
The Celestial's voice echoed through the chamber, calm and final.
"The time has come," he said, "to administer the help you require."
Hyun-Jae tried to inhale.
His lungs barely responded.
Around him, some participants groaned. Others lay completely still, eyes unfocused, overwhelmed before they could even understand what was happening.
He turned his head just enough to find Soo-Min.
She was on one knee, one hand braced against the floor, her shoulders shaking violently. Her jaw was clenched so tightly he thought her teeth might crack. She hadn't collapsed completely, but she wasn't standing either.
Good… she's still,
The pressure deepened.
Hyun-Jae's arms gave out.
His chest slammed into the floor.
"This," the Celestial continued evenly, "is something called Etherea."
The word felt insufficient.
"I am releasing it… ever so slightly."
Hyun-Jae's thoughts fragmented.
Slight?
His vision blurred as something heavy crushed inward, squeezing not just his body, but his awareness. His heartbeat thundered painfully in his ears. Every nerve screamed.
And then,
Something inside him answered.
Not gently.
Not quietly.
It surged.
A flood of sensation erupted deep within Hyun-Jae's chest, violent and overwhelming, as if a sealed dam had shattered all at once. Heat tore through his veins, his heartbeat spiking painfully as his entire body convulsed.
It wasn't subtle.
It wasn't small.
It was vast.
For a brief, terrifying moment, Hyun-Jae felt full.
Full of something powerful, volatile, roaring to life beneath his skin. His senses sharpened violently, the pressure, the chamber, the Celestial's presence, all of it became painfully clear.
His breath came in ragged gasps.
What, is this?
His fingers dug into the floor, cracks spiderwebbing faintly beneath them as his muscles spasmed, trying to rise.
For a heartbeat,
Just one,
Hyun-Jae thought he might stand.
Thought he might actually push back.
The surge swelled higher, threatening to tear him apart from the inside.
Then,
It vanished.
Gone.
As abruptly as it had come.
The weight slammed down again, harsher than before, as if correcting a mistake. Hyun-Jae cried out, the sound tearing from his throat as his body collapsed fully, every ounce of strength ripped away.
His heart pounded erratically.
His chest burned.
What was that…?
The Celestial regarded the chamber silently, expression unchanged.
"Endure," he said at last.
Hyun-Jae lay gasping on the cold floor, confusion and disbelief warring with despair.
That power,
It had been real.
He was sure of it.
And yet…
He couldn't grasp it.
Couldn't keep it.
Couldn't understand it.
Above them, the air shimmered faintly.
Something was about to begin.