Chapter 10: The Door Widens

Lying in the room where the smell of grilled meat had finally faded a little, I began thinking seriously.

If something that size had crossed over, then somewhere a dimensional gate had definitely opened.

Right now it was only the size of a rat, but later something enormous might come through.

Even that tiny creature had nearly driven me insane with disgust.

What if something bigger appears.

Should I just run away to Jeju instead.

I was going crazy worrying about tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Han-jun started humming to himself.

“Cover yourself with the blanket. You’ll catch a cold. I’m off tomorrow—want to go buy a blanket together?”

We didn’t need a blanket.

We needed sleeping bags.

We would have to leave this place soon.

Han-jun pulled the blanket up over me.

I tugged it to my chin and looked up at him with damp eyes.

“Jun.”

“Yeah.”

“About what we saw earlier.”

“The rat?”

“Don’t you think it might’ve been an alien monster, not a rat? Aren’t you worried something bigger might show up?”

Han-jun snickered and patted my chest.

“Was that thing really that scary? Sometimes I think you’re from another dimension, hyung.”

You crazy bastard.

It’s real.

But honestly, Han-jun was strange too.

He had seen a six-legged rat and stayed completely calm.

I glanced around the room nervously, afraid something like that might crawl in again.

It felt like hearing the story that if you leave your feet outside the blanket a ghost will grab them.

And suddenly feeling like a ghost might really be there.

“Did you lock the door?”

“Yeah.”

“The windows too?”

“Yeah.”

“There aren’t any holes in this place, right? Feels like there would be. Why is the vent so dark?”

“……Because it’s a vent. Just go to sleep.”

What if another one crawls inside.

What if it bites me while I’m sleeping.

I couldn’t just lie down calmly.

When Han-jun turned off the lights and lay far away, my anxiety surged.

“Jun.”

“Do I need to tape your mouth shut so you’ll sleep?”

He grabbed my T-shirt from the floor as if he truly meant it.

I shrank a little and spoke carefully.

“……Can you come a little closer?”

“Why.”

“I’m scared.”

“I’m more scared of you.”

“I’ll keep talking.”

With a sigh, he shuffled closer while lying down.

About five centimeters.

“That’s close?”

“What do you want, a hug?”

“……That’s not a bad idea.”

My eyes sparkled.

Han-jun, on the other hand.

“I’ll kill you.”

He rose like a ghost and clenched his fist.

I immediately surrendered.

“I won’t. I’ll sleep quietly.”

“Seriously, just sleep. I’m tired.”

But I don’t give up easily.

Once he lay down again, I waited.

My skin prickled as if rats were crawling over me.

Having him beside me was somewhat reassuring.

Wouldn’t it be even better if I stuck closer.

After some quiet time passed and he fell deeply asleep, I executed my plan.

I dragged the blanket and quietly slid right up against him.

He didn’t wake.

Resting my cheek against his shoulder, I closed my eyes.

My heart felt calm.

I wanted to wrap my arm around him, but that might wake him.

I gave up on greed and settled for sleeping close.

The next morning, I woke up to Han-jun’s kick.

“Ah!”

He didn’t have bad sleeping habits, so his posture hadn’t changed all night.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw my face resting on his shoulder and flailed violently.

His movement smacked me square in the face and hip.

“You scared me!”

He jumped up, panting.

I wasn’t a ghost.

I’d just slept close.

Okay, maybe it was a little creepy.

“Ow. My back.”

Best strategy now—pretend to be hurt.

I lay face-down, clutching my waist.

He had hit me, after all.

His momentum faltered.

“Ah, are you okay?”

“I’m dying.”

“……You’re faking it, right?”

“My precious back! I’ll never use it again!”

“Get up. Now.”

When I kept groaning, Han-jun growled.

I quickly changed my tone.

“If you massage my back.”

Feeling guilty, he obediently climbed onto my back and began massaging.

As someone who exercised, he knew how to stretch and knead muscles properly.

He pressed exactly the right spots.

“Ahh, ohh—haah!”

It felt so good that sounds slipped out.

“……Close your mouth.”

“Ahh! Haah!”

“Seriously.”

“Mm! Mm!”

Suddenly, something blocked my mouth.

He had stuffed a towel in it.

What was I supposed to do if it felt good!

Eyes wide, I lifted my head.

Han-jun sat over me, cheeks red like ripe apples.

“Mm!!”

Unable to speak, I shook my head like a seal.

“Stay still.”

He pressed my head down firmly.

His strength made it impossible to move.

I had to endure the massage like a zombie with my mouth gagged.

Earlier it felt refreshing.

Now it felt like torture.

When he finished, I was near tears.

My forehead had developed a red circular mark from being pressed to the floor.

I’d asked for a massage, not cupping therapy.

I checked the mirror and rubbed my forehead anxiously.

My slightly raised forehead was my charming point.

What if it flattened.

We were getting ready to go out—to buy camping sleeping bags and pick up my inspected car.

Absentmindedly, I opened my phone and entered a community site.

[ Post: I told you yesterday. Weird things are roaming around. Comments: 3 ]

[ Post: Does anyone know what this is? Comments: 2 ]

[ Post: A monster killed someone in my apartment complex. Saw it from the balcony. Proof photo attached. Comments: 139 ]

Overnight, chaos.

The rat-sized creature we saw was just the beginning.

Now monsters large enough to kill people were appearing.

I hadn’t expected the dimensional portals to open this fast.

I swallowed.

“We’re screwed.”

I should’ve moved faster.

Hands trembling, I opened SNS.

The live broadcasts were even worse.

This wasn’t just happening in Korea.

All over the world, influencers were streaming strange phenomena.

I entered the live stream of a foreign influencer with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

[ Ch— mon— monster! —static— here, white hole— ]

The connection kept cutting out.

The American kept pointing behind him.

The camera shook too much to see clearly.

Just as I was about to shut it off in frustration.

I saw it.

“f*ck.”

Behind him stood a bug-like monster the size of a grown man.

Six legs.

Or eight.

Long limbs attached to a round body.

Its smooth shell looked exactly like a cockroach.

Gunshots echoed faintly through the stream.

How envious I felt.

Here, getting a gun was nearly impossible.

With one, dealing with monsters would be easier.

Not that I planned to hunt them.

If the dimensional rifts had split into hundreds or thousands, their sizes would vary.

But seeing something that big meant the rifts had widened significantly.

Somewhere, an even larger gate might exist.

In the ocean.

Underground.

Or right behind me.

No one knew.

Han-jun had come up behind me and was watching too.

I turned, trembling.

His face was stiff.

“J-Jun.”

“Y-yeah.”

“I told you yesterday. That thing was a monster.”

“…….”

“Let’s pack first. No! Let’s pick up the car from the garage.”

He stood frozen, staring at the screen.

Even I, who had known this would happen, was shaken.

How much more shocked must he be.

I had to stay sharp.

I hurried into my shoes.

“What are you doing? Hurry!”

“……Yeah. But hyung, since when did you have a car?”

“I bought one.”

I turned to him with the most triumphant expression I could manage.

Trust me.

I have a car.