If I Hold On, It Rots
There was something red in the cart.
Strawberries.
Ha Yujin had put them there. Earlier. Up high. She'd stood on her tiptoes. Jumped because she couldn't reach.
'If Kong-i doesn't eat them, I'll have them all.'
That's what she'd said. Smiling.
They were red. Shining inside the transparent pack. Catching the fluorescent light. Sparkling.
She stared up at the cart, clutching the hem of her pants. The strawberries were visible. Next to the eggs. Next to the miso paste.
A person brushed past. The cart bumped. Ha Yujin bowed her head. "Sorry."
The hem tugged forward. Through the crowd.
She was holding it. The fabric in her hand. Holding on made it okay.
She looked back into the cart.
But.
The strawberries.
Their color had changed.
They weren't red anymore.
Starting from the edges. Blackness was spreading. Like water seeping in. Black spots blooming on the red surface, growing, connecting. Liquid pooled inside the pack. Leaking from the strawberries.
A smell rose. Sweet. Sweet and sour. Rotting.
The child's gaze lingered on the strawberries.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the egg carton beside them. Thin lines. No one had touched it.
The tips of the green onions turned brown. They hadn't been before. Green until just now.
The child looked down.
At her own hands.
Small hands. Tiny fingers.
Hands that peeled triangle kimbap. That petted Heukgu's belly. That slipped in and out of pockets.
The fabric those hands gripped.
Beyond the fabric, Ha Yujin.
Ha Yujin's legs. Ha Yujin's steps. Ha Yujin's back.
The child's gaze returned to the cart.
The strawberries were collapsing. Their form melting. Dark red liquid pooling at the bottom of the pack. The ones that had sparkled moments ago. The ones Ha Yujin had picked out for her.
A woman passing by glanced at the cart and wrinkled her nose. She'd smelled it.
Ha Yujin faced forward. Pushing the cart. Toward the checkout. Unaware.
The child looked at her hands again.
The pigeon fled. From the windowsill.
The spinach wilted. On the table.
The green onions died. Without a touch.
Me?
The strawberries died.
The ones Ha Yujin picked.
In the cart.
Because of me?
She looked at her hand again. The one gripping the hem.
If this hand holds on.
If I'm this close.
Then.
Ha Yujin too.
Her heart raced. She knew why.
The crowd surged again. The cart bumped. Ha Yujin was pushed forward.
The hem went taut.
She'd thought holding on was okay.
But what if that was wrong from the start.
What if holding on made it rot.
Me.
Her grip loosened.
Slipping away.
The fabric slid between her fingers. Taut became slack, slack became gone.
Nothing left in her hand.
The floor was there. Beneath her feet.
Shoes moved quickly.
A back in view. Pushing the cart. Facing forward.
Growing distant.
It had been like this before.
The back had receded before. No looking back. Hands out of reach.
But before, she'd cried.
This time, she didn't.
The sunglasses slipped. Off the bridge of her nose.
Thud.
They hit the floor. Pink glinting faintly under the lights.
The child just stood there.
People flowed past on either side.
The question from the mirror resurfaced.
'Me? Kong-i?'
Kong-i.
The thing with that name.
The name Ha Yujin gave.
What it pointed to.
Eating triangle kimbap, petting Heukgu's belly, gripping the hem, pushing up sunglasses, hands in and out of pockets.
Is that Kong-i?
Or.
Pigeons fleeing, spinach wilting, strawberries rotting.
Is that Kong-i?
The child's eyes, bare without the sunglasses.
What they'd hidden began to emerge.
The child's eyes were empty. Always had been.
Empty.
But now.
Something welled up.
Black. Cold. Ancient.
Unnamed.
Needing no name.
There from the very beginning.
The mart's interior was a battlefield.
When Lee Seojin entered the aisle, the first thing she saw was the ceiling. Fluorescent lights obliterated. Shattered, flickering, some plunged into the floor. Only emergency lights survived. Red glow staining the shelves.
Glass littered the floor. Every door on the refrigerated displays cracked.
Food on the shelves discolored. Apples in the fruit section shrunken and brown. Vegetables shedding dried leaves. Blood pooling from meat packs in the butcher area, staining the floor.
The smell was layered. Rotting fruit, broken glass, and mana.
Mana density high. Her A-rank skin prickled in warning. Lungs resisting the weight.
Lee Seojin advanced, blade drawn. Park Doyoung at her back.
"Civilians?"
Park Doyoung asked.
"Probably all out. Hopefully."
Lee Seojin's answer wavered.
"Hopefully?"
"Evac clearance reported, but the interior wasn't confirmed."
Park Doyoung's jaw tightened.
The aisle's end came into view.
A child stood there.
White short-sleeved shirt. Small frame. Arms hanging limp.
Nothing alive within five meters. Food on shelves dead or rotting. Dark red juices flowing over glass shards on the floor. Fruit or meat? Indistinguishable.
Air warped. Centered on the child. Invisible barrier. Repulsion field.
Danger-grade predator's life-force absorption domain visible to the naked eye.
Lee Seojin halted.
"...Field radius, your estimate."
"Seven meters. Eight. Could grow more."
Park Doyoung replied. No drawl in his voice. Dry.
"Expansion rate?"
"Slow. But not stopping."
Not stopping.
Lee Seojin gritted her teeth.
Enter the field, life-force drains. Even A-rank struggles past thirty seconds. S-rank Park Doyoung maybe a minute. Two? Unknown. Charging in to subdue was near suicide.
"Preemptive ranged shot?"
"Could try."
Park Doyoung trailed off.
"Child form."
"..."
Lee Seojin knew too. Humanoid. Childlike appearance. Anti-anomaly rounds carried physical impact. Unclear if they'd function inside the field.
But before that. Could she order a sniper round into a child's silhouette?
Reports called it 'entity.' On site, they knew her as Kong-i.
Alpha's scope was locked. Awaiting command.
As Lee Seojin stood silent.
"Lee Seojin!"
A voice from behind.
She turned.
Ha Yujin rising.
Elbow scraped raw. Blood staining her training pants sleeve. Legs unsteady.
But advancing.
Toward Kong-i.
"Ha Yujin."
Lee Seojin blocked her path. Arm extended.
"Dangerous."
Ha Yujin looked up at her.
"Move."
"No."
"I need to get to Kong-i."
"You'll die."
The words escaped, and Lee Seojin faltered. First time saying that to Ha Yujin. Direct. Dangerous. Die.
Ha Yujin's eyes shook.
But her feet didn't stop.
Lee Seojin grabbed her arm. Hard. Fingers digging in.
"Let go."
Ha Yujin's voice trembled. So did Lee Seojin's hand.
The arm thin. This arm had petted a Calamity-grade. Fed triangle kimbap to a Danger-grade. Holding it kept her safe.
Release, and she'd enter.
Enter, and die.
Lee Seojin glanced at Park Doyoung.
The turn slow. Neck lagging behind resolve.
Park Doyoung stood. Watching her back.
Lee Seojin's lips parted.
"Park Hunter..."
Her voice cracked.
The voice steady even with a blade at her throat on the rooftop. It rose and faded. She couldn't continue.
The unspoken words probably.
What do we do.
Park Doyoung's fingers tapped his thigh. Tok, tok. Slower than before.
Calculating.
Eliminate Kong-i. Field vanishes. No civilian casualties. Report: 'Danger-grade entity neutralized.' One line.
Ha Yujin breaks. Black Dog's reaction unpredictable. Ripple effects unknown.
Don't eliminate. Field expands. Civilian casualties. Time passes, ripples unknown.
In the end.
No good choice.
Park Doyoung closed his eyes.
Thirteen years as a hunter. Faced anomalies. Baring teeth, spewing venom, ripping limbs. All familiar.
Handing triangle kimbap. First time.
First.
Last night's file flashed in his mind.
'If anomalies aren't monsters, what are we killing?'
Anomaly. Monster.
Park Doyoung had no clear answer yet.
But.
He was a pro hunter. One of seven S-ranks in Korea.
So.
Thirteen years. Most reluctant task, but doable.
Hesitation brief.
Park Doyoung stepped forward. Toward the field.
Lee Seojin watched his back advance.
Ha Yujin saw the man approach Kong-i.
Comm crackled. Field interference. Alpha's voice chopped.
"Crow—line of—secured—orders—"
Lee Seojin didn't respond.
As Park Doyoung raised his second foot.
Thud.
No presence.
No sound. No breath, no tail scraping floor. No one heard.
Yet it was there.
Lee Seojin sensed first. Chill down her spine. Like Sejong three years ago, Incheon. Only when Calamity neared.
She turned.
Aisle's end. Under red emergency light.
A black dog stood.
Jet fur. Imposing size returned.
Tail still.
No bark, no growl.
Just standing.
Calamity-grade anomaly, Black Dog.
Lee Seojin's hand gripped her blade reflexively. Gripped but couldn't raise.
Park Doyoung froze. Foot mid-air.
The whole mart's time halted. Only red lights flickered.
Black Dog pierced the stasis. Moved.
It stepped forward.
Toward Kong-i. Slowly. Very slowly.
Toward the field.
It touched the field. Nothing happened.
Expected. Calamity-grade. Danger-grade field meaningless to it.
But.
Midway to Kong-i, Black Dog paused.
Turned its head. Looked at Ha Yujin.
Lee Seojin caught its eyes. Pitch black.
Eyes unlike any she'd seen on Black Dog.
Indescribable. Unreportable. But if veteran Han Jeongsu, 23 years on site, were here: 'Puppy's got human eyes.'
Black Dog watched Ha Yujin. Ha Yujin watched Black Dog. Lee Seojin's arm between. Gripping Ha Yujin's.
Ha Yujin looked up at Lee Seojin.
No words.
Just eyes.
Lee Seojin's grip slackened.
Why she released, even she didn't know.
Just.
Couldn't hold on against those eyes.
Ha Yujin walked. Stumbling. Blood dripping from elbow. Legs still unsteady.
Black Dog stood beside her.
Ha Yujin stepped.
Black Dog stepped.
Into the field.
Lee Seojin watched, blade in hand. Immobile. Park Doyoung too.
Emergency lights flickered. Red. Dark. Red. Dark.
In the pulsing light, two shadows advanced. Small woman and black dog.
Toward the crying child.
Human and anomaly, side by side.