Grey City (3)
Even Sehyun was surprised he'd thought of using his phone camera.
I might actually be a genius.
A little arrogance felt earned. One flash of inspiration had just pulled him out of a situation that should have killed him.
Of course, that didn't mean he was completely safe. He'd confirmed that watching through a camera screen still satisfied the condition that stopped the monster — but there was no telling how long it would hold. The rules of an urban legend could flip on a single condition he didn't know about.
"…Still. This is what I've got right now."
When a problem you don't know shows up on a school exam, some people pick a number at random without thinking. Others drag every scrap of knowledge they have into the light and choose the answer that seems most likely. You could say both of them were just guessing — but a person who gave up on thinking and a person who kept hunting for the answer were not the same.
Sehyun was firmly the latter.
Still looking straight at the monster, he switched his phone camera to the front-facing lens. His own face filled the screen — and over his shoulder, the white-faced thing stood waiting.
He raised the phone a little higher than his shoulder, made sure the monster was fully framed, then slowly turned his body. He could face the road ahead and still check behind him through the screen.
The monster didn't move.
"Okay."
Muttering a line that belonged in a B-movie crime flick, Sehyun started walking. As long as he didn't look away from the screen, the monster stayed frozen. He could move forward without ever turning around. It wasn't a perfect solution — but it was enough to get him to a building.
He broke into a run again.
Yui was leaning against the wall by the glass doors when he arrived. Only up close did he realize the tallest building nearby was a ten-story department store. She looked up from her phone when she spotted him.
"Why are you running while taking a selfie?"
"It's not a selfie. This is my secret weapon."
"Your face came out pretty well, though."
"Don't look at my face. Look behind me."
Yui peered over his shoulder. The monster stood in the road in front of the department store — and on the phone screen, it was frozen in the same place. At least, that was how it looked to Sehyun.
"Let's get inside first."
Yui pushed the glass door open and went in. Sehyun followed without letting the monster slip off the screen. Some of the glass was broken; inside, only the traces of people remained. Lights still on. Merchandise still on the displays. Commercials still playing on the screens. A landscape where every human being had simply evaporated.
The moment they left the entrance behind, Yui ducked into a clothing store.
"If we go any deeper, that thing's going to leave my field of view."
"I know."
She dragged a rolling rack out into the corridor.
"What I want to check is whether I can steal the target off you when it teleports back into range."
"Steal the target?"
"If it keeps chasing you, your stamina's going to give out first."
Yui stacked several racks across the hallway — not to block its line of sight, but as a barricade to slow it down if it charged them directly. Sehyun hauled another rack over from the next shop and added it to the pile.
"And after you take the target?"
"I'll figure that out after I take it."
"That's only half a plan."
"Half a plan is still a plan."
Yui looked up through the center of the store. The building was open all the way to the top — railings on every floor looking down into the atrium, escalators crisscrossing the empty space floor by floor.
"That's why I picked this place."
"Because you can see the lower floors from above?"
"Yeah. If we position ourselves right, we can keep the monster in view while we climb. Easier to buy time than just running outside forever."
"Why not just take the elevator?"
"I thought of that first, too."
Yui's expression tightened oddly.
"You said it yourself. The urban legend about elevators that take you to another world."
"So couldn't we ride one back to the original world?"
"Do we have any guarantee that only this place and the original world exist?"
"…What?"
"It's a method for traveling to another world. Not a method for going home."
She looked at the elevators — the sealed metal doors.
"If we get it wrong, we could drop somewhere even weirder than this."
The second he'd thought he'd found hope, Yui crushed it underfoot. He couldn't argue with her, though.
"Then what do we do?"
"I don't know. We think some more."
Which meant the chase would keep going for a while. Sehyun let out a small groan.
"Let's see if we can switch the target first."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
"If I create a stronger interaction with the monster than you have, maybe?"
"A stronger interaction?"
Yui lightly closed her fist.
"I'm going to hit it."
"You crazy bitch."
That settled it. Sung Yui was completely insane.
"Is that any way to talk to someone trying to save you?"
"Ah. Right. Sorry."
Then —
Crash!
Something toppled in the distance. Beyond the barricade, one of the clothing racks went down.
"It's here!"
They scanned the area fast.
"There."
Yui pointed. The monster was shoving through the tangled racks, charging straight at them — and the instant Sehyun looked at it directly, it stopped. One leg still forward, frozen mid-stride.
"It looks like a Boo from Mario."
"That thing looks like it ends your life on contact."
"So it's an extremely threatening Boo, then."
The second she confirmed it had stopped, Yui sprinted. Fast enough that Sehyun, standing right beside her, felt the wind of her passing. She reached the monster, drove off the floor, and her body spun in the air — a jumping reverse roundhouse. Her heel smashed dead-center into that pure white head.
Thud!
A heavy sound, like kicking a human skull. The monster's head jerked slightly with the impact. Yui landed, kicked off again, and was back at Sehyun's side in a breath.
Nothing changed. The monster stayed locked in place under Sehyun's gaze.
Yui stared into empty air for a moment.
"…It's not coming up."
"What isn't?"
"The Status Window. I hit it myself and still no information."
"And the target didn't switch either."
"Yeah."
She looked down at her own foot.
"Maybe one-sided contact doesn't count as an interaction."
"So that thing has to react to you first?"
"Probably. Or it's a type the Status Window doesn't cover at all."
Neither hypothesis was easy to test. Sehyun kept his eyes on the monster and slowly backed away.
"Do we start running again?"
"We buy time here for now."
Yui checked behind him as they walked together.
"It freezes when you're looking at it. We don't have to sprint blindly like we did outside."
"So we just stand here and stare forever?"
"For a little while."
She answered immediately.
"But people blink. People drink water. Eventually people sleep. And phone batteries die."
"…Right."
"We've stopped it. We haven't solved it."
Yui pulled a bottle of water from her pocket and held it out.
"Drink."
"Where'd you get this?"
"Swiped it from a convenience store on the way."
"You crazy bi—"
"What was that?"
"I was going to say I would've done the same."
"Because you're the Hero, Sehyun."
She laughed under her breath. Sehyun took the bottle.
"Recover your stamina first. We don't know what's coming."
"Speaking of which."
He held up the phone in his other hand.
"That secret weapon I mentioned. It's the phone camera."
"The camera?"
"I fell on the way here and the monster got right up on me. That's when I checked. It freezes even if you're watching through a camera screen instead of looking at it directly."
Yui's expression shifted.
"For real?"
"Yeah. It's on the screen right now."
He turned the phone toward her.
"There. In front of the barricade."
Yui stared at the screen. A beat of silence.
"…Where?"
"What do you mean where. It's standing dead center."
"There's nothing there."
"What?"
Sehyun checked the screen again. The monster was right in the middle of the frame — white face, black clothes, one foot still planted forward.
"It's right here."
He pointed at the screen. Yui followed his fingertip, then shook her head.
"All I see is the store floor and some clothing racks."
"Don't mess with me."
"Does this look like a good time for jokes?"
She took the phone from him. The camera angle stayed the same. She shifted it left.
"Now?"
"The monster moved left with it."
Yui's face went rigid. She swung the phone right.
"This?"
"Still on the screen."
Sehyun was looking at the exact same display in her hands. He could see the monster. She couldn't. Same device. Same screen. Two completely different images.
"So it's not actually being recorded."
Yui's voice dropped.
"Then what am I looking at?"
"The camera isn't showing you the monster."
She held his phone out again.
"Try looking through this side too."
Sehyun looked at the screen. The monster was still there. Different device, same result — only he could see it.
"You're the target, and you're seeing the monster through the screen."
"…Is there a difference?"
"There is."
Yui glanced back at the real monster.
"It means its appearance isn't being stored as video data."
"So it only appears on the screen for my eyes?"
"Probably."
She tapped her temple with a finger.
"The camera isn't replacing your eyes. The monster is following your perception into the screen."
Sehyun looked at the thing on the display. A moment ago it had been a brilliant survival tool. Now it felt like the monster had glued itself to his vision.
"That's disgusting."
"But you can still use it."
"True."
Even while he watched through the phone, the monster stayed still. It wasn't an objectively filmed presence — but as long as Sehyun recognized that he was looking at it, the rule was satisfied.
"So looking at something captured in a medium doesn't count."
Yui said.
"It's closer to: if something is reflected or mirrored and you perceive it, that works."
"So a mirror might work too."
"Possible. Not confirmed."
Sehyun cracked the water bottle open. Keeping the phone screen in front of his eyes, he tipped his head just enough to drink. The monster didn't move.
"It is pretty convenient, I'll give it that."
"Don't trust it too much. Battery dies or the phone breaks, and it's over."
"Don't jinx it."
Using the phone screen, they moved forward little by little — Yui checking obstacles ahead of him, Sehyun monitoring the monster on the display. They couldn't open too much distance, though. If they got far enough that it completely left his field of view, it would teleport back near him.
"We'll have to let it follow us a little at a time."
"How?"
"Close your eyes for a second, then open them again."
"Easy to say."
Sehyun stared at the monster on the screen, then squeezed his eyes shut — just for an instant, less than a second. When he opened them, the monster had fully cleared the barricade.
"Oh. It moved a bit."
"So physical obstacles aren't completely useless."
While the monster was running instead of teleporting, the clothing racks still got in its way. It had to knock them over or shove through.
"As long as it doesn't fully leave your sight, it chases on foot."
"Then if we keep stacking obstacles, we can buy a lot of time."
"Assuming we don't collapse first."
They walked backward again. It was time to organize what they knew.
"Let's go over it once."
Sehyun folded his fingers one by one.
"That monster seems to lock onto the first person who interacts with it."
"More precisely, the first person who made a sound is the strongest candidate right now."
"It doesn't move while the target has it in their field of view."
"And looking at it if you're not the target probably doesn't count."
"If you open enough distance that it completely leaves your sight, it teleports nearby."
"If it hasn't fully vanished, it chases on foot — and physical obstacles still affect it."
Sehyun held up the phone.
"Watching through a camera screen counts."
"But the monster isn't actually being filmed. The image on the screen only appears to the target — you."
"And hitting it didn't switch the target."
"No Status Window either."
That was everything they'd confirmed so far.
"What about this space itself?"
Yui started folding her own fingers.
"There's fog. No people. Just the two of us and the monster."
"Buildings, roads, machines — all identical to the original world."
"Power's on, and phones connect to each other inside this space."
"It might be an urban legend about transferring to another world."
"That's still just a guess."
"Calling outside might tell us something."
Sehyun dialed 911. The call wouldn't connect. He tried again and again — same result. It wasn't that the network itself was gone. Calls between Yui and Sehyun went through fine. But any call meant to reach someone in the original world simply failed.
"So at minimum, we can't communicate with the outside."
"It might mean only the two of us are trapped in the same space."
"Should we add what happens if it catches you to the list?"
"I'd like to know. I don't particularly want to find out."
"Same."
They kept moving until they reached the escalators at the center of the department store. Every floor was visible across the open atrium.
"If we ride these up, we can keep watching the monster on the lower floors."
"There's one condition."
Yui looked straight at the monster.
"We need to confirm whether my looking at it means anything."
"Do we have to?"
"On the upper floors our positions might slip and it could leave your sight for a second. If my watching it can freeze it in that moment, we're a lot safer."
She wasn't wrong. The monster was far enough away, with fallen racks and display tables between them. If they were going to test it, now was the safest time.
"I'll keep watching it."
Yui didn't take her eyes off the monster.
"You close your eyes for just a second."
"You are actually watching, right?"
"If you don't trust me, don't do it."
"I'm doing it. One, two…"
Sehyun closed his eyes. One second. He opened them immediately.
The monster was several meters closer than before. One clothing rack was spinning slowly across the floor. Yui hadn't looked away even once.
"…It moved."
Sehyun muttered.
"Yeah."
Yui's voice dropped.
"No matter how hard I stare, it doesn't matter."
What stopped the monster wasn't simply a human gaze. Camera, mirror, bare eyes — none of that was the point. Only one thing mattered.
Whether Ji Sehyun, the chosen target, was looking at it.
That was all.
Sehyun raised the phone screen again in front of the escalator. In the end, for this monster, the only person who counted as "watching" —
was Ji Sehyun alone.