The buzzing phone carved through the silence like a blade.
Taesung stirred, his body weighed down by the remnants of something not sleep. It was too early—his window showed only a dim, gray light smeared across the blinds. His arm dragged out from the blanket, fingers fumbling toward the bedside table. He didn't look at the caller ID. He already knew.
He answered, voice dry and heavy.
"Yeah."
["Taesung-ah, did I wake you?"]
His mother's voice. Light. Soft. Familiar in a way that suddenly felt alien.
He exhaled. "It's fine."
["You sound tired. You've been working too much, haven't you? I told you, those Rifts aren't going anywhere. You don't have to throw your life away chasing them."]
He let her speak. Let her words fill the silence in his head. The quiet after the Rift. After Virex.
["Anyway, I just called to tell you—your sister's wedding… they moved the date up."] A pause. ["End of next month. She wants you there, you know."]
He closed his eyes. The ceiling blurred above him.
"Mm. I'll try."
["You'll try? You have to come. She'd kill me if you didn't."]
He managed the smallest breath of a laugh. "Alright."
["You're eating, right? You need to take care of yourself. You don't sound like you're eating. Should I come cook something for you? I can bring kimchi and—"]
"No, Mom. I'm okay."
["You sure?"]
"Yeah."
["Okay. I'll let you sleep. Just… take care, alright?"]
"…I will."
He ended the call and let the phone slip from his hand, thudding softly against the sheets.
The apartment was still. The kind of silence that didn't feel natural. Not after what he'd seen.
He rose slowly, every motion stiff. Made his way to the bathroom. Cold water in the sink. He splashed his face, leaned forward, and stared at the reflection that met him in the mirror.
There was something different in his eyes.
He couldn't place it—just a flicker, like something watching back.
His hand gripped the sink. Hard.
Virex.
The image burned behind his eyelids—those unnatural blue eyes, the stillness in the air, the weight of power restrained rather than unleashed. He remembered how the air had shifted around him, how even the Rift creatures had gone quiet.
No beast. No monstrous aura.
Just something waiting.
Something human once, and no longer.
Taesung looked down. His heartbeat was calm. Too calm. It should have been racing. But the part of him that had fought in that Rift, that had stood beneath that presence, wasn't the same part that used to be afraid.
A knock came.
He turned. Three slow raps on the door. No call. No buzz.
He stepped lightly, pulling the door open a crack—and blinked.
Han Gilsoo stood there, hoodie pulled up, hands stuffed in his pockets. Kim Yerim beside him, her hair loose, lips drawn into a thin line.
"What is it?"
Gilsoo raised a plastic bag. "We brought food."
Taesung didn't move.
Yerim added, "We need to talk."
He let them in.
The plastic bag crinkled as Gilsoo set it on the table. Kim Yerim didn't bother sitting. She pulled out her phone, tapped the screen, and turned it toward him.
"Watch this."
Drone footage. Static. Glitched frames. The inside of a Rift zone. Abandoned streets warped by Rift fog, structures collapsed and reforming—then something moved across the screen.
Barely a frame.
A silhouette.
Not large. Not monstrous. Just… standing.
Masked. Dark.
His hand twitched at the sight.
Gilsoo spoke behind him. "This was from two days ago. Southern Gyeonggi zone. The drone didn't make it out."
Yerim said, "We ran facial matches. Nothing in the system. But you see it, right?"
Taesung said nothing.
She pressed. "That thing. It's like the one you saw, isn't it?"
His jaw tightened.
"They're trying to keep this quiet," she continued. "Guild top brass. Jinhwan's pissed—he wanted it investigated. They said it was a glitch."
Gilsoo added, "But we're hearing rumors. Lower-ranked scouts are getting spooked. Whole zones going quiet. Then bursting. Too fast. Like something moved through them."
Yerim locked eyes with Taesung. "You know something. Tell us."
He turned to the window. Light had started creeping across the skyline—weak, diffused by clouds.
"I don't know what it is," he said. "But it's not part of the system."
Gilsoo frowned. "You think it's independent?"
"No. I think it's older."
Yerim exhaled. "Shit."
He finally turned back to face them. "Where was this Rift?"
"Near the one we cleared," Yerim said. "Not far. If it's the same thing… it didn't stay. It's moving. Searching."
Gilsoo's voice dropped. "You think it's after something?"
Taesung didn't answer.
They left a little later. Yerim gave him a look before she stepped out. "Let us know if you remember anything else. We're not safe. None of us are."
The door closed behind them.
Taesung stood in silence for a long time.
Eventually, he moved to the window, watching the city wake beneath heavy clouds.
If something had escaped the Rift—something like Virex—it wasn't alone. The Rift wasn't just opening anymore.
It was spreading.
And whatever had come through… might not be the last.