Kyungdo High School breathed with the rhythm of an ordinary morning. Lockers slammed shut, laughter echoed through the corridors, and the scent of chalk dust lingered faintly in the air. Sunlight spilled through the tall windows, casting warm streaks across the polished floors — a peaceful illusion of normalcy.
Gensu walked down the hallway beside his friend Hyung, his bag loosely slung over one shoulder, his laughter easy and unguarded.
"Gensu, don't tell me you forgot the physics homework again," Hyung said, shaking his head with an amused smile.
Gensu smirked. "Relax… at least I remembered something important."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"My lunch."
They both laughed — the simple, careless laughter of boys who believed the day would end just as peacefully as it began.
Then the warmth vanished.
The temperature dropped so suddenly it felt as if winter itself had forced its way inside. The air grew thick, suffocating, pressing against their lungs like an invisible weight. Conversations faltered. Footsteps slowed.
A silence spread — unnatural and heavy.
Gensu frowned, glancing around. The hallway looked the same… yet it felt completely different, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Then came the scream.
It tore through the corridor like shattered glass.
A student sprinted past them, face drained of color, eyes wide with pure terror.
"W-What… what is that?!"
Before anyone could react, reality seemed to twist.
Something emerged in the center of the hallway — something wrong.
The Yami.
Its body looked like a nightmare forced into flesh, grotesquely twisted with elongated arms that dragged across the floor, bones pushing against pale, cracked skin. Its crimson eyes glowed like burning embers, and its mouth stretched into a grin far too wide to be human.
The air around it vibrated with a suffocating darkness.
An icy chill crawled down Gensu's spine, freezing him in place.
Hyung grabbed his arm. "Run! Now!"
Chaos exploded.
Students screamed and scattered in every direction, their footsteps pounding like thunder against the floor. Lockers slammed open, papers flew through the air, and panic spread like wildfire.
But the Yami didn't move randomly.
It hunted.
Gensu ran, his heart hammering violently against his ribs, each breath burning his lungs. The sound of the creature's movement echoed behind him — slow, deliberate, unstoppable.
Closer.
Closer.
As fear clawed at his mind, a memory surfaced — soft, fragile, yet unbreakable.
His mother's gentle smile on her final day.
Her weak hand holding his.
"Never give up, my son… don't let the darkness take over you."
Something ignited inside him.
Fear twisted into defiance.
He stopped running.
"I will not die here!"
Turning around, he charged forward with a desperate roar, throwing a punch with everything he had — fear, anger, grief, all poured into a single strike.
The Yami didn't even move.
A low, mocking laugh escaped its twisted mouth.
"Ha… human… is that all you've got?"
Its arm lashed out.
The impact slammed Gensu into the wall with crushing force. Pain exploded through his body, his vision blurring as warm blood ran down his forehead and into his eyes.
His legs trembled.
His body screamed to stop.
But he refused.
"I will not die… I will never die here!"
His voice broke into a raw scream of pure will.
Then —
Reality shattered.
Without warning, the Yami froze.
For a split second, the world fell silent.
And then it exploded.
Dark smoke burst outward as its body tore apart, crimson droplets scattering through the air like falling embers. The shockwave rippled through the hallway, rattling windows and sending dust swirling into the air.
Silence followed.
Heavy. Absolute.
Gensu stood frozen, chest heaving, staring at the empty space where the monster had stood moments ago.
His hands trembled.
His mind struggled to understand what had just happened.
He was still alive.
And somehow…
He had killed it.