Jihoon sat motionless in the cab. The memories replayed in his mind like a broken film reel except this wasn't some cheesy horror flick. It was terrifying. He couldn't explain what had happened in that elevator. Had he imagined the monster? Was it just his mind playing tricks?
He almost believed so until he pulled his left arm from his pocket. A faint scratch ran across his skin, hardly noticeable but still stinging. Proof. The only evidence that what happened in that hotel was real.
"Hey, Jihoon. Are you listening?"
"Uh… yeah, yeah. What were we talking about?" Jihoon muttered, scratching the tip of his ear.
"You weren't listening."
"I was, really"
"You weren't," Seokjin cut in, smirking. "Your ear only itches when you lie." He pointed at Jihoon's finger.
Flustered, Jihoon dropped his hand and straightened in his seat, hiding his trembling arm. He turned to the window before replying.
"You were talked about a girl you met last night at the club and how you almost got robbed by the so-called classmates. Of hers" Jihoon turned back with a smug grin. "Your dumb ass never learns."
Seokjin scoffed, his face heating with embarrassment. He had always been the type to stumble into trouble, especially when it came to women. A so-called ladies' man with misfortune clinging to him like a curse. Jihoon had lost count of how many times he'd bailed him out of jail usually for flirting with the wrong woman. One time he'd even been caught, pants around his knees, with an ex-Marine's fiancée. That stunt had left him hospitalized for a month.
"Don't put it like that, you bastard. I was drunk," Seokjin muttered.
Jihoon burst into laughter. "So, what did they do to you this time?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Nothing?" Jihoon narrowed his eyes. "That's weird."
"How is that?" Seokjin snapped.
"Usually, you'd get robbed and beaten up before dragging yourself to a pay phone and begging me to pick you up."
Seokjin froze words caught in his throat. He knew Jihoon was right, but Jihoon was like a book full of hidden paragraphs always something hidden between the lines. With nothing to fire back, he stayed silent.
"You kids aren't from Shanghai, are ya?"
Both turned toward the driver. He was a balding man with sun-worn skin, his face lined with deep wrinkles that somehow made him glow.
"Uh… no. We're Korean," Jihoon answered.
"Ah. Your Mandarin's surprisingly good."
"Thanks, I guess," Jihoon muttered, swallowing down the sting in the man's tone. Racism was something he could never get used to, no matter how casual.
"So, how was your stay here?" The driver's eyes flicked to Jihoon's reflection in the rearview mirror, dissatisfaction glinting in them.
"Oi, sir. You got something you want to say?" Seokjin's sharp words cut the tension.
The driver's gaze snapped back to the road. He exhaled slowly, almost like he was steadying himself. "I'm sorry, boys. I shouldn't blame you for my past mistakes." His voice carried the weight of old regrets.
Trying to shift the mood, he asked, "You kids still in school?"
"I se—" Jihoon began, but Seokjin jumped in.
"We are. Same university," he said, his tone lower but still firm.
"Oh really? That's wonderful." A smile cracked the old man's face, softening his wrinkles. "It's good to see young men working hard. Makes me happy."
"Right! We just want to make our parents proud." Seokjin's cheeks flushed red as he jabbed Jihoon with his elbow. "Right, Jihoon?"
"Uh, yeah. We just… want to make them proud." Jihoon looked from Seokjin to the driver. Just a moment ago, the man's eyes had been sharp as knives, but now he was laughing freely at Seokjin's clumsy stories about failed romances.
Jihoon watched, puzzled. Seokjin had always been unpredictable, but also reliable. Somehow, he'd shifted the whole atmosphere of the cab. To a passerby, it might have looked like a man sharing a joyful ride with friends.
Before long, the cab slowed to a stop.
"Ah, here we are," the driver said, his voice tinged with sadness.
"Thank you, sir. Keep the change," Seokjin replied, handing him 700 yuan.
Jihoon stepped out with his backpack and lifted his eyes to the futuristic airport towering ahead. Crowds surged in and out, dragging luggage, hurrying toward flights.
"Katie, I just got to the airport. I'll be in Seoul in five. Yeah, I got the project. I told you I would—the character designs were amazing."
The voice pulled Jihoon's attention to his right. A slender young woman stood there, dressed in gray sweatpants and a Seoul National University jacket. Her face was hidden by dark brown hair as she looked down at her phone.
She's the one who got the project, Jihoon realized. She must be from SNU too.
All kinds of thoughts ran through his head, but only one thing was certain: he couldn't give up. He would keep pushing forward until he reached his dream. His arm still trembled from the memory of the hotel, but his eyes burned with determination.
The girl lifted her head. Their gaze locked. Jihoon froze, caught staring.
"Beautiful…" he whispered before he could stop himself. Her light brown eyes matched her hair, her flawless face softened by the pink sheen of her lip gloss.
Her expression twisted in disgust. "Weird," she muttered, turning away and dragging her black suitcase behind her.
Jihoon stood there, stunned as mixed thoughts ran through his mind.
"Sh—She just called me weird? " It was in Korean maybe she assumed I was Chinese
"Hey Jihoon, wadup, what's with the long face" Seokjin said while walking towards Jihoon
"Huh.. nothing I saw a girl wearing our school jacket" Jihoon said while pointing towards the girl still pulling her luggage towards a gate
"Hmm... That's Seo - Yeon" it only took Seokjin a few seconds to recall who she was
"Seo - Yeon?" I have never heard that name before.
"That's because Seo -Yeon isn't amongst any of the popular clicks, in fact no one really knows anything about her apart from her being the genius of the engineering department, most of her classmates say she's some kind of crazy genius that none of the professors bother with, she's hardly ever in class but submits all her projects in time and in perfect order, she's always been top of the in the last two semesters basically the best student any professor can ask for but I wonder what she came to Shanghai for" Seokjin said while they walked towards the airport check
"Well, she, she's the one that won the competition..." Jihoon muttered
"WHA—WHAT, SHE WAS THE ONE THAT OUT DID YOU?!"
"Hey reduce your voice before you attract attention towards us" Jihoon said attempting to cover Seokjin agap mouth.
Seokjin slapped Jihoon's arms aside before turning towards the place Seo - Yeon had disappeared too.
"She wo— I see that's how it is huh. Removing his glass and cleaning his face, Seokjin slowly turned towards Jihoon
" Oi Jihoon remember what I said before we got to Shanghai?"
Face devoid of any emotion.
What you said? Come on, man trying to remember what you said is like trying to memorize every word from a madman."
"You little shit! You never take anything your manager says seriously!" Seokjin snapped, lunging at Jihoon and trying to lock him in a headlock.
"Wait what the hell, Seokjin?!" Jihoon yelped, twisting out of reach.
The two crashed to the floor, limbs flailing as they wrestled like kids. One fought to gain control, the other did everything possible to wriggle free. Laughter mixed with grunts, and soon enough, curious eyes began to gather around them.
"What are you kids doing?!"
A deep, booming voice cut through the commotion.
Jihoon froze mid-grapple, Seokjin's arm halfway around his neck. Both turned toward the source a burly airport security guard in a blue shirt and plain black pants, pushing through the small crowd that had formed.
Realizing the attention they'd drawn, the boys scrambled to their feet, brushing dust off their clothes.
"What the hell do you kids think you're doing, making a ruckus in the middle of the airport?" the guard barked, his thick brows furrowed in disbelief.
"Oh nothing, we were just trying to see who had a better grip strength" Seokjin responded with a bright smile on his lips
"You .... Tried checking who had the better grip strength...by wrestling in the middle of the airport?" The security guard couldn't believe the words coming out from his own mouth.
"Yes, right, Jihoon?" Seokjin shot him a pointed look.
"Ah… yeah, we were," Jihoon stammered, bowing slightly.
The guard eyed them both for a moment, then sighed. "You kids should be more careful next time. Don't hurt yourselves or anyone else."
He shook his head, dispersing the small crowd before walking away.
Seokjin dusted off his shirt, then glanced sideways at Jihoon. "Anyway, Jihoon… remember what I said? That the only person standing in your way of getting that contract in all of East Asia was Suki-chan—the Japanese indie manga artist with all those underground awards?"
Jihoon slung his backpack over one shoulder and replied, "Yeah, I remember. But no Japanese illustrators were even invited, though."
Seokjin adjusted his glasses, his gaze drifting toward the direction Seo-yeon had walked. His voice dropped.
"What if Suki wasn't in Japan…" He paused, his tone sharpening. "…or rather, what if she isn't Japanese?"
Jihoon turned to Seokjin, his face frozen in confusion.
"Huh? You shouldn't go around saying things like that. Someone might be listening."
"Think about it, Jihoon." Seokjin's voice dropped. "Suki's never accepted a single award she's won in the last five years. Ever wonder why her chapters take so long to release?"
"Now that you mention it…" Jihoon frowned. "I just assumed it took her a while to finish and submit them."
Seokjin's expression hardened as he slowly turned to face him.
"Jihoon… Seo-yeon is Suki Chan."
The words hit like a blow. Jihoon's arm was slick with sweat, his mind blank, refusing to process what he'd just heard.
"What do you mean, Seokjin?"
Still facing the walkway Seo-yeon had disappeared through, Seokjin spoke in a low, deliberate tone.
"I've always noticed strange inconsistencies in her manga like she'd mix up 'he is' and 'his.' At first, I thought it was a translation issue. But it kept happening. Every single chapter. So I dug deeper, hoping to find out why…"
who the translator was to either correct them of the mistake but the more I looked but I couldn't find a single information on them, the website link always on the final panel of the Manga was a link to a ramen shop in Shibuya and the name turns out there's no translator with that name in any large studio at least not any in Japan but actually one in Seoul. Now I know why, Seo-yeon is Suki Chan, Jihoon you never stood a chance
No one in their right mind would give a huge opportunity to like that to a tiktok artist over a mangaka with experience and recognition.
Standing in the middle of the airport talking about a futile solution to a dead project felt surreal to Jihoon as he stood there for quite a while before slowly facing Seokjin with a bitter smile on his face.
"Thanks man, you've stood by me through it all"
Seokjin gently nudged his glasses with his index and middle finger she tried to hide the smile
"Let's go home Jihoon
They walked towards the check-in counters, the hum of rolling suitcases and distant flight announcements filling the air. Jihoon handed over his passport and e-ticket to the attendant, barely paying attention as she printed the boarding passes and tagged their luggage. Everything felt mechanical the motions of travel, the rhythm of goodbyes.
After the security check, they slipped off their shoes, dropped their phones and belts into trays, and waited as the conveyor belt hummed their belongings through the scanner. The two passed through the metal detectors and reclaimed their things without a word.
At the departure gate, the light from the runway spilled through the glass walls, tinting Seokjin's face in soft amber. Boarding had begun.
Groups being called one after another, Jihoon clutched his boarding pass for a moment, staring at the printed seat number like it held the answer to something he'd missed.
Jihoon walked carefully down the aisle, glancing at the seat numbers while trying not to bump into the crowd of passengers doing the same. Behind him, Seokjin followed, eyes darting left and right as he silently prayed to share a row with a beautiful woman.
"Fifty-three here's our row, Seokjin," Jihoon said, turning back as if to shut him up.
"Really? That was quick," Seokjin replied, adjusting his glasses.
Jihoon slid into seat 53A, the window seat, grateful for at least that small comfort. He could see the glittering sprawl of Shanghai one last time before leaving.
Seokjin took the seat beside him, still rambling, his eyes flicking toward every passenger walking down the aisle. His hopes, however, were soon crushed when a pregnant woman in her mid-forties, dressed in a light sky-blue summer dress, stopped beside them.
"Excuse me," she said softly.
She lowered herself carefully into the aisle seat next to Seokjin with a polite smile. Having stood in line for nearly half an hour, her feet throbbed in her sandals, her back aching from the weight of her pregnancy. She would've done anything for a glass of cold milk an odd craving, but lately her body seemed full of them.
"Hey, Noona," Seokjin said suddenly, flashing his signature grin.
The woman blinked, startled. How did he know she was Korean?
The engines roared to life beneath them as the plane taxied down the runway. Jihoon leaned his head against the window, watching the lights blur into long streaks of gold.
Beside him, Seokjin had somehow struck up a conversation with the woman.
"So you're heading back to Seoul too, Noona?" he asked with a smile.
She nodded. "Yeah. My husband's waiting there. It's been… a long month."
Her tone carried a kind of quiet exhaustion, but she smiled nonetheless.
"That makes three of us," Seokjin chuckled. "We're from Seoul too. University students."
"Ah, I thought so. You both look so young," she said warmly, her hand resting gently on her belly.
Jihoon offered a polite smile but didn't say much. His thoughts were somewhere else back in that elevator, in that hotel, in that moment when everything had changed. The faint scratch on his arm still itched, a constant reminder that what he saw was real. No matter how hard he tried to forget, his mind kept replaying the scene like a film stuck on repeat.
Time slipped by. The woman laughed softly at something Seokjin said. The plane steadied in midair, the low hum of the engines fading into white noise.
Then, about an hour into the flight, the cabin lights flickered. A low tremor shook the seats.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the pilot's voice came over the speakers, calm and steady, "we're experiencing a bit of turbulence. Please remain seated and keep your seatbelts fastened. There's nothing to worry about."
The plane rattled again, harder this time. Overhead bins clattered. A few gasps rippled through the cabin.
Jihoon's pulse quickened. He turned to the window, trying to distract himself but froze.
There was nothing.
No clouds. No horizon.
Just white an endless, blinding sea of it.
"What the…" he whispered.
He pressed his hand against the window, but instantly yanked it back. The glass was freezing cold, biting against his skin. Impossible. It was the middle of summer.
"Jihoon?" Seokjin asked, noticing his expression.
Before Jihoon could answer, a soft gasp echoed from the other side of the cabin. Then another. Passengers began standing, peering out the windows.
"Is that… snow?" someone murmured.
Snowflakes drifted past the glass slow at first, then in thick waves, swirling in the pure white void outside. The temperature in the cabin seemed to drop. A baby started crying. Someone screamed.
The flight attendants rushed down the aisle, their smiles trembling.
"Please, everyone remain seated!" one shouted. "It's just temporary weather please sit down!"
But Jihoon couldn't take his eyes off the window.
Because among the falling snow, he thought he saw something move.
He squinted through the thick curtain of white. At first, it looked like nothing more than a mountain massive, jagged, and buried under layers of snow. It shouldn't have been there, not at this altitude, not in the middle of the sky.
"What… is that?" Seokjin whispered, leaning closer.
The turbulence hit again, harder this time, shaking the plane so violently that the overhead bins rattled open. Passengers screamed as bags tumbled out.
Jihoon barely noticed. His eyes were locked on the shape outside. The mountain no, whatever it was seemed to stretch upward, the mist thinning just enough for him to see its surface shift. What he thought was snow began to slide, dripping like thick frost melting from something alive beneath.
Then, impossibly, it moved.
The entire mass shifted, breaking free from the white void as if it had grown legs. The air itself seemed to hum, the clouds bending around its colossal form. Gasps and shouts filled the cabin as passengers pressed to the windows. Someone tried to record, but the moment their phone lifted, the screen flickered and died. Another passenger cursed as his camera froze mid-recording.
Every electronic device in sight went black. The air filled with static.
The "mountain" straightened, its body crackling with shards of ice that broke off and vanished into the clouds below. Jihoon couldn't breathe. Its silhouette was enormous far larger than anything human, yet vaguely shaped like one.
Then, it turned.
Slowly, almost lazily, the thing turned its head toward the plane.
A sound like a low rumble of thunder rolled through the air as its massive hand rose, chunks of ice and stone crumbling from its palm. Jihoon's mind refused to process what he was seeing. The hand opened, revealing a mountain's worth of rock and snow clenched between fingers the size of skyscrapers.
"Jihoon…" Seokjin's voice cracked beside him. "Tell me that's not"
But Jihoon couldn't answer. He could only watch as the giant's arm drew back like a man preparing to throw.
The creature's arm tensed. Every muscle if they could even be called muscles shifted beneath the layers of white frost and stone. The clouds churned violently around it, swirling like waves around a sinking ship.
Jihoon could only stare, frozen in disbelief. The mountain no, the thing lifted its massive arm high above its head. The air pressure inside the cabin dropped, making everyone's ears pop. The hum of the engines faltered for a split second.
And then
It hurled the mass of rock and ice straight toward them.
A deep roar followed, echoing through the hollow air as the sky itself seemed to shatter under the force. The chunk tumbled through the clouds, spinning end over end, growing larger and larger until it filled the window entirely.
The plane lurched. Oxygen masks dropped from above. People screamed.
In the cockpit, the pilot's trembling hands gripped the controls. The co-pilot's voice was lost in static. The radar screen flickered and went dark.
"…God help us…" the pilot whispered under his breath.
Back in the cabin, chaos erupted. Passengers yelled, clinging to their seats, others sobbing or praying. A suitcase flew from an open compartment, crashing into an armrest.
The pregnant woman beside Seokjin let out a terrified cry, clutching her stomach as pain tore through her body.
"Please someone, help me!" she screamed, voice cracking, tears streaming down her face,
Jihoon couldn't move. The deafening roar outside grew louder until the entire cabin was filled with blinding white, frozen in place Jihoon could do nothing but watch in fright. It was the same, the same thing back at the elevator. He froze and waited for death. This time nothing was going to save him. Not the slow descent of the elevator nor his best friend
He slowly turned towards Seokjin who's designer jacket was off and wrapped across the pregnant lady. Fingers clutched her tightly but a wide smile still on his face.
His last words as he turned to face his one and only friend
"Everything's gonna be alright Jihoon"
Everything went silent.
Time — 12:00 pm