Chapter 4

Episode 4

“……”

Se-young remained completely still as if he had been paralyzed, not even daring to take a single breath. The silent stillness of the night time atmosphere, which typically provided a sense of peace and tranquility was now stained by a suffocating feeling.

That sound didn’t come from below.

If it did, it wouldn’t sound like something heavy hitting the floor. 

It was a sound typically only heard when an object is dropped from a height. 

Either someone climbed up the outer wall of the building and jumped off the roof-top shelf, or they jumped over to this building from the adjacent rooftop. 

A thief? Or maybe…

Se-young’s body tensed up. His fists were clenched so tightly that little pools of blood formed where his fingernails had pierced his skin.

Even Se-young himself could not tell what he was hoping for. While his arms trembled and his legs screamed ‘I’m afraid.’ The rebellious feeling emanating from his gut yelled ‘Yeah, I’ve been waiting for this moment.’  

“……”

How long had Se-young been frozen for? It had been at least twenty minutes, with no reaction since the initial shockwave. Finally, Se-young, who had only been staring at the door in his pitch-black room, gritted his teeth and mustered the courage to get out of bed.

*Da-Dum. Da-Dum. Da-Dum. Da-Dum.*

The sound of Se-young’s heart beating out of his chest echoed through his skull louder than a hammer striking an anvil. A tiny voice from the corner of his mind was woefully lamenting his decision not to install a CCTV.

Se-young’s rationale for not installing one was simple:

Realistically, it wouldn’t help anything.

Being constantly alerted to threats would only create more fear.

A CCTV wouldn’t defend against paranoia or imagined threats.

If decided beforehand, the devices could be removed before he moved in, leaving no video traces of his existence. Though there would still be eyewitnesses, those are unavoidable, especially in Korea.

Because of this realistic and cynical line of logic, Se-young decided against installing  CCTV. At the age of 15, he had already established a strong, heavily realistic view of the world.

Ironically, Se-young’s own useless fleeting regrets regarding the CCTV rekindled his cynical pragmatism, driving away some of his fear of the midnight intruder.

*Click. Click. Click.*

Each latch was unlocked one by one.

*Creak*

Se-young, while flinching at the sound of the bedroom door opening, instinctively touched the light switch. A sudden burst of bright light flooded his vision, but Se-young refused to take his eyes off of the front door.

“……”

So far, after the first loud sound, there had been no more noises from outside the apartment. Se-young, while continuing to stare intensely at the front door, slowly advanced forwards until he was right in front of the main entrance.

*Click*

Se-young’s hand trembled as he unlocked the topmost latch.

The faces of his dead father and mother overlapped with the view of his shaking fingers.

In one furious moment, Se-young released the rest of the latches, as if he was having a

seizure. Then, he threw his entire body against the door.

*Bang!*

Se-young burst out of the door with his fist swinging and eyes focused in front, then quickly swept his gaze across the roof from left to right and right to left. He clenched his teeth and scanned the street for possible assailants three or four times until his eyes were bloodshot from the strain.

There’s nothing but a common, scavenging cat. 

Only the eerie silence of midnight and bright moonlight glow were present on the rooftop.

Hah…

Se-young, whose pulse had returned to normal, swallowed a sigh. The feeling of imminent danger and the seemingly reasonable, level-headed judgments he had made were all for naught. However, as he looked over his shoulder, ready to head back inside, Se-young suddenly froze.

Like a buffering video, Se-young’s mind couldn’t quite reconcile the new image in front of it with the visual of the ‘ordinary’ rooftop seen just a few minutes before. He whirled around to face the mystifying scene.

“……!”

His gaze flew to the middle of the rooftop.

“…What the…”

The words unwittingly slipped out of his mouth.

A sword?

It couldn’t have been mistaken for any other object, with the glassy shine of its thick, elongated blade glinting in the moonlight. The sword was mounted upside-down with the handle pointing skywards and half of the blade sunken into the roof.

Where is this fr-…

No, rather, I should ask…

Who?

and Why?

Se-young’s mind felt numb and disoriented.

“?”

Se-young looked at the rooftops of the adjacent buildings.

Is this the apocalypse?

“???”

Suddenly, he turned a suspicious eye to the sky.

“??????”

A cluster of stars was embroidered into the velvety black heavens, accentuated by the brightly shining full moon.

Jaw dropped,

Eyebrows raised,

Pupils dilated with wonder,

For the first time in two years, Se-young’s expression morphed into one of wonderment and hope.