Darkness.
Pitch black, thick, suffocating. It wasn't just an absence of light; it was a weight pressing down on him.
Drip... drip...
The only sound that pierced the roar of rushing blood in his ears. It was the sound of his own blood falling from his shredded leg onto the wet moss beneath him.
Hot...
The pain. It was white fire. His left leg no longer felt like part of him; it was just a mass of pure agony attached to his hip.
Ghgh... ah...
He tried to breathe, but the air caught in his chest like a shard of broken glass.
Chyeeee...
The hiss.
It was coming from above him. The foul, musky animal scent, now mixed with the sharp, metallic tang of his own blood. The creature was inhaling him. Savoring the scent.
It's... it's going to do it. It's going to tear me apart. Just like the other man.
The image of Hyun-Soo flashed in his mind. Her pale face on the hospital pillow.
...Sorry. Hyun-Soo... I'm sorry. I failed.
[72 Hours.]
I'm going to die here. In this forgotten place. And she'll be kicked out of the hospital. She'll die because her brother was "Scrap".
Rage.
A sudden rage, cold and sharp as a blade, pierced through the fog of pain.
No.
I won't die like this. I won't die as prey for this damn thing!
"AAAAAHHHH!"
It wasn't a scream of pain this time. It was a roar of fury.
He pushed himself backward with both hands, dragging his ruined leg behind him. Squelch! The sickening sound of his leg pulling free from the blood-soaked moss.
The pain was unbearable, as if someone were pouring molten salt into the wound, but he ignored it.
Move. Move. Move!
Klak!
The creature moved. It wasn't playing anymore.
Ji-Won saw the two red dots rushing toward him in the dark.
No time!
He kept crawling backward frantically. His outstretched right hand behind him hit something...
Something soft, cold, and clothed.
The corpse!
He didn't hesitate.
In one desperate motion, he used the last of his core strength to push off and twist, positioning the lifeless body of the other "Scrap" between him and the attacking beast.
Here! Take this instead of me!
SHHH-CRAAAACK!
A horrific sound.
Not the sound of metal. The sound of cold flesh and brittle bones shattering.
It wasn't a scream. Corpses don't scream.
The creature drove its claws deep into the corpse's chest, expecting warm, resisting flesh, finding only something cold and lifeless instead.
CHYEEEEE?!
The creature let out a shriek of confusion and rage. It had been tricked.
One second.
That was the second Ji-Won had bought.
While the creature struggled to pull its claws from the tangled bones of the corpse, Ji-Won reached out into the dark, gasping, searching frantically on the wet moss.
Where is it? Where is it? Damn it, where...
Clink!
His fingers brushed against something cold. Hard.
The crowbar!
He grabbed it. His grip was weak, but it was enough.
CRAACK!
The creature ripped itself free from the corpse. It spun around. The red eyes searched for Ji-Won in the dark, and found him.
It found him raising the rusty crowbar, still on the ground, his leg destroyed, but no longer unarmed.
"Come on. Come on, you bastard."
Ji-Won whispered it, blood dripping from his teeth where he had bitten his lip too hard.
The darkness was no longer total.
Ji-Won could now see the outline of the creature, sketched in the faint blue and green light of the glowing fungi on the surrounding trees.
His eyes had adapted.