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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 476
Not long after I awoke, the doctor came. He patiently explained everything that had happened.
‘Over a year in a coma…’
I had thought I’d been asleep a long while but never would I have imagined lying in a hospital bed for more than a year. Hearing it left me stunned.
The doctors and my parents had tried everything to treat me, but nothing worked. My body was healthy, yet for reasons unknown, I remained trapped in sleep. Until, suddenly, today… I woke up.
“Are you sure you’re really okay to leave?”
Now, not long after, I was sitting in my father’s car, heading back to my tiny apartment.
Incredibly, aside from some muscle loss, my body was almost fine. Even the doctor had eventually agreed to discharge me, saying we’d simply keep an eye on things with regular checkups.
‘I’ve had enough of hospitals.’
I’d been a prisoner there for over a year already. I couldn’t stand any more time within its walls. I wanted out and my parents respected that.
After dozens of tests, I was finally discharged by nightfall.
“You should’ve stayed longer.”
“I’m fine, really. You don’t need to worry.”
“He just said he’s fine. Keeping him in that place any longer, even though I might get sick.”
“Tch.”
From the passenger seat, my mother gave my father a sharp look. He only replied with a sheepish laugh.
Odd. The parents I remembered would’ve turned that into an argument on the spot.
After all, though they had never divorced, they had lived separately for years now. I couldn’t even remember the last time the three of us had ridden in the same car together probably when I was still a child.
“Ahem. I wasn’t going to bring this up right after you’d just woken up, but…”
I caught my father’s eyes flick toward me in the rear-view mirror as he spoke.
“After you collapsed, I began rethinking family. Not just me your mother as well.”
“……”
“What I mean is… we’re taking it slow, trying to understand each other again. It sounds ridiculous saying it now, after all this time, but…”
“Honestly. Can you stop saying such things to him when he’s barely awake?”
My mother muttered in mild protest.
In my memories, she’d always been cold in expression, tone, everything about her. But now, even her complaints carried a softness I barely recognized.
“No… I’m glad. Really. I like it, seeing the two of you getting along again.”
“…That’s good to hear.”
After that, the car fell into silence.
It felt familiar. There’d been another time like this when I’d just suffered those severe burns. Back then too, it had seemed like everything might finally turn for the better. But it didn't lasted. Clearly.
That fragile silence broke only when we pulled up to my apartment building.
“Well then, I’ll head up. Thank you for the ride.”
“You’re sure you’ll be alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Really. Get home safe.”
I waved them off and stepped inside alone.
My apartment was on the seventh floor. After taking the elevator up, I stepped out into a gray-lit corridor. Subtle differences told me a year had indeed passed.
‘So someone finally moved in next door.’
From the once-empty unit, faint music trickled into the hall.
I remembered then it had been a neighbor who’d found me collapsed and called for help. Without them, I’d probably have died.
It’s late tonight. I’ll thank them tomorrow.
Casting the briefest glance at the door beside mine, I unlocked my own and stepped in.
Everything inside was exactly as I remembered it. Tossing aside my clothes, I sat straight down at the computer.
“Phew…”
From the dark monitor, my reflection stared back. My face twisted and warped across one entire side by burns.
In that reflection, the truth sank in.
‘So it really was all just a dream.’
From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the VR headset neatly resting beside the monitor.
A sudden start to life in Space Survival, awakening as the Amorph.
Killing foes who hunted me, devouring them, growing stronger until I was feared as a monster that ruled them all.
There were other memories too, but they were fading already, slipping away on the way here. Only the faintest afterimages remained, like imprints behind my eyes.
No matter how hard I tried to recall them, the wall inside my head refused to let them through. As if someone had deliberately sealed them off.
‘It’s probably nothing.’
It was late already, so I readied myself for bed.
I had lost an entire year of my life for reasons I couldn’t explain. Now there was school to return to, responsibilities to pick up again, countless things demanding my attention.
I had no time to waste dwelling on dreams.
For a long while I tossed and turned. Just as I was finally about to drift off, I heard something.
｢■■■…｣
At first, I thought it was just music leaking in through the wall from the neighbor’s place. The tune felt oddly familiar, something I was sure I’d heard before.
But there was a problem. The voice wasn’t coming from the wall. It was too close. So close it felt as though it were inside my own room.
｢■■■…｣
Again, the sound. Familiar. Intimate. The instant I heard it, my eyes snapped open.
And I knew, with absolute certainty, someone was here with me.
That thought proved true.
The first thing I saw as my eyes adjusted was an enormous pink eyeball, the size of a basketball. Its surface glimmered, glowing faintly in the dark. It started unblinking, and from it came the whisper of words I could not understand.
I lurched upright, hand slamming the light switch.
In the bright flood of the room, I found myself alone.
“N… what the hell!?”
But I had seen it. Right there where my VR headset lay I had seen something. The monster.
Cautiously, I switched the light off again. Darkness spread back across the room.
Nothing.
No strange eyeballs. No creature.
‘Did I just imagine it?’
But there was nothing in my room that could be mistaken for such a thing. And it hadn’t felt like the half-conscious blur of a dream either. Even now, the image of that massive eye remains vivid, burned into my mind.
Next week I had a scheduled hospital check-up. I decided I’d bring it up then.
For now, I left the lights on and lay back in bed.
It was only in that uneasy glow that I finally fell asleep.
***
“Mr. Hyun-seo?”
“Yes?”
Someone was calling me.
On the mahogany table in front of me sat two cups of coffee. Opposite me, a man in a white coat sat on the sofa.
“You suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Are you alright?”
“Ah yes, I’m fine.”
The memory drifted back as I answered.
This was a consultation room. The man in the white coat was my therapist, the one who managed my mental evaluations.
Today was my weekly check-up.
“You look fatigued. Are you having trouble sleeping?”
“Uh, yes. You could say that…”
“Because of the visions you mentioned last time?”
He was right.
Ever since I’d been discharged, the pink-eyed creature had appeared nightly, whispering its incomprehensible words. Because of it, I hadn’t had a single proper night’s rest.
“Hmm. It could be the stress of your past accident, resurfacing from your coma in the form of flashbacks.”
“What? But I was told that part was healed.”
“The human brain is more complex than modern medicine can fully explain. It’s possible some aspects were overlooked during your treatment.”
Those words made my chest hollow. Thinking about reliving that pain again sent cold sweat down my spine.
“There’s no need for an alarm. It seems to be only a temporary symptom. I’ll prescribe you something to help lessen it.”
“If I take it… will it really help?”
“I guarantee you’ll feel the effect the moment you start.”
The counselor smiled warmly as he said it.
That ended our session. I left with the medication in hand.
On the bus ride home, something unsettled me. I’d taken this route countless times since waking, yet today it felt strange. As though I was traveling there for the first time.
‘Maybe it’s just exhaustion and the medicine will fix it.’
When I got back to my apartment, I wasted no time tearing open the packet. The hallucinations never showed themselves during the day, but that didn’t mean my heart was at ease.
“……”
Inside was a capsule the color of deep, vivid violet. Without hesitation, I swallowed it down with water.
“…Hm?”
The therapist was right. The effect was immediate. The anxious weight filling my chest lifted, washed away like it had never been. And with it came a firm conviction the visions and voices would vanish too.
Of course, the true test would come at night… but already my body felt lulled, heavy with sleep.
It hadn’t been minutes since I’d come home, yet I collapsed into bed and drifted away.
***
In the depths where no light could reach, the sea pressed down without mercy.
A massive marine beast swam forward with steady strokes of its fins. A predator by nature, it moved in silence, stalking its prey.
Ahead, an unwitting creature glimmered faintly.
In this cruel abyss, to expose oneself with such radiant bioluminescence was suicide. That fool would soon be the predator’s meal.
The carnivore closed the distance, inch by careful inch. The sparkling prey drifted, unknowing, almost inviting.
When the moment was right, the hunter lashed its tail-fin. Its vast body shot forward like a torpedo. But then, without warning, its target’s light vanished.
The predator faltered, suddenly blind, and worse, something far stranger stirred nearby.
A shape of shadow, twisting faintly in the dark. Long, mountainous ridges that resolved themselves into writhing limbs and tentacles.
And waiting below… was their master.
The predator tried to swerve, but it was impossible. With its body so committed to the rush, it could not change course. Only then did realization strike: the true prey had been itself.
From the abyss, an immense tentacle surged upward and caught it. Bones shattered like twigs. In an instant, the hunter was no more.
｢Got you.｣
The one who spoke was the sea demon Number 26. Clutching its meal, it sank deeper, down past the ocean floor and toward the yawning trench below.
At the trench’s midpoint lay a cavern. Number 26 glided inside.
There, sprawled across the chamber, was a monster as vast as itself. A being of many limbs and three great heads. To the Cult, it was known as the Three-Headed Demon.
｢Big Sister, food’s here!｣
Number 26 pulsed with bright, lively waves as it pressed near the silent leviathan. The Demon did not stir.
｢Today’s meal was a stupid fish. Long ago, stupid fishes bullied my family.｣
It seemed accustomed to the silence. Wrapping a tentacle around the Demon’s jaws, Number 26 gently pried them open, then carefully slipped the prey inside.
｢Stupid fishes like shiny things, so I tricked it with shiny, shiny lights. Clever, right?｣
Once the meal was fed, Number 26 extended a violet shield over the cavern, like sunlight cast into the deep sea.
｢Honestly, I wanted to punish the greedy Many-Limbs instead. Because of them, we had to leave our home and run away. Bad, greedy thing.｣
The glow encased both herself and the unmoving titan.
｢Back then, I had so many family here. We swam together, shared food. Sometimes, we all joined forces to chase away stupid fishes! Amazing, right?｣
The effort drained her, until she slumped against one of the Demon’s massive heads, her body dimming from bright pink to pale shadow. Still, she chatted on through waves.
｢Now no one’s left. The bad people took them all. But it’s okay! We punished them, you and me, Big Sister!｣
｢I lost my old family… but I found a new one. You, Big Sister, Little Sister, Middle Sister, Friend, Small Friend, and even tiny kind humans. Now I have a big family again!｣
｢Though… Little Sister can be mean sometimes. She says she’s grown now, won’t even listen to me. But I’m older! That’s not fair.｣
｢Middle Sister takes such good care of the tiny kind humans. But sometimes she looks lonely. Maybe she needs more family too.｣
｢Friend and Small Friend always fighting, even though they’re family. Guess they’re still too young.｣
｢…I hope they’re all doing well. I miss them.｣
Her waves, once bubbling with liveliness, ebbed into a quieter murmur. The pink aura that lit her body sank into a dull flicker.
Every day since she’d come here, Number 26 had shared her heart with the silent giant: her past, her deeds, her fears, her hopes. Day after day, pouring herself out.
But ‘Big Sister' never answered. Not once.
｢I still have so much to tell you. So much I want to show you. That’s why…｣
She reached out a single tentacle, tenderly pressing it against the Demon’s head.
｢I’ll help you wake up.｣
The same treatment she had tried countless times before, without result.
And yet Number 26 refused to give up.
One day, she believed, there would be an answer.
So once again, she poured her power into the slumbering Demon.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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