The world was pain.
Seo-jin blinked slowly, his vision swimming in and out of focus.
For a moment, he didn't remember where he was.
For a moment, he thought he was still back in the dormitory, back before everything had broken.
Then the sharp, metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
And he remembered.
The Trial Zone.
The core.
The fight.
The burning ache in every limb.
He tried to move and immediately regretted it.
His body screamed in protest.
Muscles seized, joints crackled, his injured ankle flared with blinding agony.
He lay still for a while, breathing in shallow gasps.
Listening.
The mist was thinner here.
The oppressive weight he had felt before seemed to have lessened.
No immediate sounds of movement.
No growls.
No hunting footsteps.
But he knew better than to relax.
Painfully, Seo-jin shifted onto his side.
**
"Get up."
The voice wasn't real.
It was his own mind, cracked and battered by exhaustion.
But it spoke with a weight he couldn't ignore.
"Get up. Crawl if you have to. But move."
He dragged himself to his knees, panting.
His hands trembled as he wiped the blood from his face.
He felt something different inside him now.
Something cold.
Sharp.
Dormant — for now.
His fragment had changed.
He had changed.
He didn't know what he had become.
But staying here meant death.
And he wasn't ready to die.
Not yet.
**
Seo-jin pushed off the ground and staggered upright.
Every step was a small war.
His injured ankle barely held weight.
His chest burned with every breath.
But he moved.
Limping.
Dragging himself through the ruins.
Searching for the way out.
The Zone seemed quieter now.
But not safer.
The mist played tricks with his vision.
Shapes shifted at the edge of sight.
Sometimes he heard soft laughter.
Sometimes he caught the scent of burning metal.
The Zone was alive.
And it wanted him broken.
"Ignore it," Seo-jin told himself.
"Focus."
Every few minutes, he stopped to listen.
Heart pounding in his ears.
Only silence answered.
Still, he knew better than to trust it.
His fragment pulsed uneasily inside his chest.
Not painful — but… watchful.
Almost like something was stirring, stretching in its sleep.
He could feel the edge of it now.
New abilities he didn't understand.
Power that wasn't quite his own.
And under it all —
A hunger.
Cold.
Patient.
Unyielding.
Seo-jin stumbled over a collapsed beam, nearly falling.
He caught himself on trembling arms.
His palms scraped raw against the rough stone.
He hissed in pain — but it kept him awake.
Kept him moving.
Pain was good.
Pain meant he was still alive.
The world blurred around him.
Time lost meaning.
Walk.
Stop.
Listen.
Breathe.
Each cycle stripped another layer of strength from his battered frame.
Still he pressed forward.
Because turning back wasn't an option.
And stopping meant death.
Hours—or maybe just minutes—later, Seo-jin spotted a change.
Ahead, the mist thinned even more.
The ground looked less warped.
Broken lampposts leaned at awkward angles, but the buildings were more intact.
Closer to the edge of the Zone.
Hope flared inside him.
He limped faster, biting back cries of pain.
He could make it.
He could—
A sound cut through the air.
Not a growl.
Not a screech.
Footsteps.
Human.
Seo-jin froze.
Panic surged up his throat.
Was it another survivor?
Or worse — another scavenger?
Someone who would kill him for the fragment he carried inside.
He crouched low, forcing himself to stillness.
Every nerve screamed to run.
But he waited.
Listened.
The footsteps grew closer — slow, cautious, deliberate.
Not rushing.
Searching.
"They're hunting."
Seo-jin clenched his fists.
He was too weak to fight.
He needed to hide.
Fast.
Nearby, a shattered storefront gaped open like a broken mouth.
Without thinking, Seo-jin dragged himself inside.
Collapsed behind a counter, breathing as quietly as he could.
The footsteps passed outside.
Seo-jin held his breath.
Counted.
One.
Two.
Three.
The steps faded.
Reluctantly, Seo-jin exhaled.
He waited longer — just to be sure.
Then, on trembling legs, he rose and slipped deeper into the ruins.
He couldn't afford another fight.
Not now.
As he moved, his mind drifted.
Pain dulled his thoughts.
Memories flickered at the edges of his vision.
The orphanage.
The streets.
The countless days spent hungry, cold, forgotten.
And always, always — the feeling of being small.
Insignificant.
A nothing the world could crush without noticing.
"Not anymore."
He clenched his teeth.
The fragment pulsed inside him — stronger now.
Still wild.
Still dangerous.
But his.
He would master it.
Or it would master him.
But he would never go back.
Never.
Another hour passed.
Or maybe two.
Seo-jin didn't know anymore.
All he knew was that his body was close to collapse.
And still he moved.
One step.
Another.
And another.
Until, finally—
He saw it.
The fence.
The boundary of the Trial Zone.
Battered.
Rusting.
But unmistakable.
Beyond it — the battered streets of the Lower City.
Freedom.
If he could just—
Pain stabbed through his side.
Seo-jin gasped, staggering.
Vision blurred.
The world tilted.
He dropped to one knee.
Breathing hard.
"Not now. Not this close."
He forced himself up.
Step.
Drag.
Step.
The fence grew closer.
The mist receded.
The world sharpened.
And then—
He was through.
Seo-jin collapsed just outside the Zone.
The corrupted air gave way to the filthy, familiar stench of the Lower City.
Broken.
Bleeding.
Barely conscious.
But alive.
Alive.
He lay there for a long time.
Listening to his heartbeat.
Feeling the broken pieces of himself slowly settle.
He had made it.
But at what cost?
He wasn't the same.
He would never be the same.
And somewhere deep inside, he knew:
The real trials hadn't even begun.
Not yet.
Above him, the cracked sky rumbled with distant thunder.
Seo-jin closed his eyes.
And for the first time in a long time, he allowed himself a moment of peace.
For a moment, lying broken under the open sky, Seo-jin let himself smile.
It wasn't a bitter smile.
It wasn't the hollow grin of a survivor barely clinging to life.
It was real.
Warm.
Alive.
— "I did it," he whispered, voice rough with exhaustion and pride.
— "I really did it."
The world had tried to erase him.
And he had refused.
Against all odds. Against his own fear. Against the Trial Zone itself.
He was still here.