The Air Pocket and the Kiss of Life
The murky water slammed over my head in one sudden rush.
The monster’s roar that had echoed from outside instantly dulled.
Now that I was out there, I was dead.
Drowning. Viral infection. being torn apart by the monsters. So many shitty choices, it was laughable.
The woman in front kept swimming. Red’s eyes were wide open in sheer panic, scanning the pitch-black water for any sign of direction. That snow-white hair with its red tips became my only landmark.
‘That crazy woman… I actually believed her when she said she’d…’
My throat burned. I had no idea how much time had passed—one minute, three minutes, it didn’t matter. Oxygen was running out and the world around me was turning blood-red. I wanted to open my mouth and gulp down air so badly, even if it was just this rotten water. My sense of direction had completely vanished.
Shit. I was trapped in the middle of nowhere.
There was no exit. I was going to drown in this pool of filth.
‘Fuck… I really came this far…’
Red’s last thread of sanity snapped. Just as her lips parted to inhale, the woman ahead surged upward like a torpedo. She seized Red’s throat and hauled her straight to the surface.
“Gasp—! Caugh—! Hah, hack, cough! Urk!”
Red vomited the filthy water out of her nose and mouth.
“Hah… hah… fuck… hah…”
Her airway was clear. Air. It tasted disgusting—rotten mold—but it was oxygen.
“Hah… hah… I really thought I was going to die…”
Red leaned against the damp, slick wall in the narrow space where water lapped at her chin. Her heart was pounding so hard she swore it was going to burst through her ribs.
“Y-you… hah… did everything go all right?”
Red clutched her chest, asking. The woman answered in that same flat voice.
“It’s just an accidental air pocket. There’s still no exit.”
“Hah… fuck.”
Red slumped against the wall, back pressed flat.
The aftershock of almost drowning still burned in her veins. If she’d been a second later, her lungs would have filled with silt. If she was told to dive back in like this, she’d bite her own tongue off.
“Just… hah… fuck, rest for a bit. I feel like I’ll die the second we’re thrown back in that water.”
“All right.”
The woman moved closer and leaned against the same wall.
Only the gentle lap of water and the beast-like rasp of their breathing remained. Above them, the monsters thundered past. Below them, the bottom was a graveyard of rot.
The woman suddenly spoke up, voice as soft and lazy as if she were lounging on a sun-drenched terrace.
“We haven’t introduced ourselves yet, have we?”
“My name is Elia. What’s yours?”
Red glared at her with eyes sharp enough to cut.
“…Red.”
“Red…? What a strange name.”
“Real names got thrown away a long time ago. Everyone calls me Red because my eyes are red, so I just went with it.”
Even though she was growling, Elia gave her a bright, genuine smile.
“It suits you.”
“What?”
“It really matches those crimson eyes.”
She wasn’t being sarcastic. Elia spoke with real warmth, and the chill it sent down Red’s spine was disgusting.
Goosebumps crawled up Red’s arms.
‘Is this woman actually crazy?’
Red nervously pushed her wet bangs out of her face.
Was there actually an exit? The fear was gnawing at her sanity, but what the hell was this crazy woman doing?
“Take it easy. I’ll watch over you.”
Elia’s voice was soft, soothing, like a lullaby in the dark.
Red’s stomach twisted. The easy calm felt like someone had crashed a picnic while she was about to die.
“What the hell kind of person are you?”
“I’m from Elysian Athens. I was sent here to save the remaining people.”
Red let out a hollow laugh.
“Save? Bullshit. You just crawled in here to die together. Look at us.”
Elia’s shoulders stiffened for a split second, then relaxed. The moment she saw Red’s twisted face, she felt a strange satisfaction.
It lasted only a moment, though.
“Since we ran into each other here, doesn’t that count as fate?”
“…Huh?”
“No matter what happens, I’ll pull you out alive. I promise, Red.”
Elia’s tone was gentle, almost tender.
‘This is hopeless. A useless, delusional woman.’
Red wanted to slam her head against the wall.
Silence fell.
After their breathing slowed a little, Elia spoke again in a completely different, serious tone.
“Red, when we dive again, stay at a safe distance from the bottom. The sediment down there is terrifyingly thick.”
“Ah, here we go again. This is annoying as hell.”
Even holding her breath was hard enough; now she had to control depth? It was insane.
“If you stir up the sediment on the bottom and a cloud of silt rises, you’ll lose visibility in an instant.”
“…”
“We call it a silt-out. Do you know how terrifying it is? You can’t see anything—no up, no down. You lose all sense of direction and drown forever.”
Red stared at the pitch-black pool, leaning against the slick wall.
“So I really have to dive back into that shitty water?”
“Yes. We don’t know how much air is left in this pocket.”
“Shit, shit!”
“I can’t just wait. We have to move.”
She had no choice. Elia was right.
Elia turned toward the wall, exhaled, then swiped her knuckles across her mouth.
“I’m going. Just trust me and follow.”
Before the words even finished, Elia plunged back into the water.
Red took a deep breath and slowly followed her into the silt.
Absolute darkness. The pressure pressed against her ears like a vice.
‘Don’t think. Don’t think.’
Red muttered it over and over in her head.
‘Don’t think about anything. Don’t count air. Don’t think about where the exit is. Just follow that white head.’
That was when it happened.
At the edge of her vision, something huge blocked her way. At first she thought it was just debris or a floating corpse. As she got closer, the silhouette sharpened.
‘…!’
It was a bloated, bloated human body—bloated to the point of bursting. Not one or two. More than ten. They looked like they had drowned together in a pack.
The faces were melted by rot, exposing pale, bleached bones. Eyes wide open. Jaws twisted open in a grotesque smile.
The moment their eyes met.
“Ugh…?!”
Red’s eyes widened until they looked like they would tear.
Uncontrollable panic crashed over her. The last thread of sanity snapped. In a desperate surge of instinct, she kicked her legs—only for her toe to kick up the sediment piled at the bottom.
Shit.
Sudden cloud of thick, foul silt exploded upward. Exactly what Elia had warned about.
Silt-out.
Visibility vanished completely. Nothing was visible—no up, no down.
‘I’m going to become one of those corpses…!’
“Ugh! Uwaah!”
Red was thrashing in the silt.
Elia noticed something was wrong and grabbed both of Red’s shoulders.
She shot Red a sharp glare, telling her to calm down—but it was useless. Red was already past reason.
The more she thrashed, the faster she used up oxygen. Her patience was shattered. Her mind was cracking. She opened her mouth to swallow the filthy water.
Just as the silt poured down her throat.
Elia seized Red’s back of the neck and yanked her close.
“…”
In the water, their lips crashed together.
Elia’s stolen air rushed into Red’s lungs like a tidal wave.
“Ugh…!”
Red’s eyes flew open in shock.
She tried to push Elia away. She was strong—she knew it. But in that moment, she couldn’t move her body at all.
‘What the—?!’
Elia didn’t care. She kept her eyes closed and forced more air into Red’s mouth, until bubbles slipped through the corner of their lips and tickled her cheek.
This was the first time she had ever felt anything like it. It was almost overwhelming.
Red’s heart, which had been on the verge of exploding from terror, finally found its rhythm again.
In the pitch-black water, a woman was willingly giving her the breath of life. The desperate thrashing slowly faded. When Elia saw Red’s body go limp, she slowly pulled her lips away.
Elia gave Red a sweet smile, as if asking, Are you okay?
She patted Red’s shoulder once, then turned and swam forward through the silt.
‘Fuck. What the hell did that crazy woman just do to me?’
The soft, lingering sensation on her lips left Red completely dazed.
It was absurd and ridiculous, but it didn’t feel bad at all.
One kiss had washed away all the fear.
‘She gave me air even though she didn’t know me. What a hopeless, crazy woman.’
Red muttered to herself.
‘…I’ll thank her when we get out.’
Red blushed, cheeks burning, and hurried to follow Elia’s back.
Thanks to the oxygen, her body felt alive again. Just a little longer and they might actually find the exit.
How much time had passed?
Something felt wrong.
‘Huh?’
Elia’s swimming speed had noticeably slowed. Her kicks were weaker. She looked like she was drowning.
A bad feeling rose in Red’s chest.
She kicked urgently and swam right up to Elia’s side. The moment she saw her face clearly.
“…!”
Red’s heart dropped straight to her stomach.
Elia was deathly pale. The last of the air was bubbling out of her lips.
It was over.
Elia was on the verge of drowning from oxygen deprivation.
‘No way… she gave me ALL her air back then…?!’