Asiya stood in front of the half-open door, her eyes fixed on the darkness inside as if she were staring into something far deeper than just a room.
A cold breath of air drifted out toward her. It was not natural cold—it felt heavy, damp, and suffocating, as though it carried something unseen within it.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the black stone in her hand.
It was warm now.
Too warm.
As if it were responding to something hidden inside.
A quiet unease settled in her chest.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
A few steps behind her, Jun, Uncle Gu, and his wife stood in silence.In the room the darkness beyond it felt oppressive, as if crossing that threshold meant stepping into something they could not understand.
"Yan has been like this for a year," Uncle Gu said in a low, restrained voice.
His eyes never left the room.
"He never wakes up… no matter what we try."
He paused, his expression tightening slightly.
"…but sometimes, the monitors spike for no reason."
The words hung heavily in the air.
As if even speaking them made the situation more real.
More dangerous.
The cold from the room seemed to deepen.
"Uncle… give me what I asked for," Asiya said quietly.
Uncle Gu did not question her. He simply nodded and handed over everything she had requested.
Asiya gave a small nod and turned toward Yan. Without saying anything, she tied a red thread around Yan's wrist, her movements steady and precise. Then she tied the other end around her own wrist. After that, she carefully arranged the items she had prepared, forming a boundary around the bed and placing everything neatly beneath it.
When she was done, she sat down beside the bed, holding the black stone firmly in her hand.
The lights were turned off, leaving the room in darkness.
Only the pale moonlight filtered in through the window, casting a faint, cold glow across her face.
Jun stood near the door, his expression tense and uneasy.
"Is this really necessary?" he asked in a low voice.
Asiya nodded calmly.
"Yes. If I want to reach him, I cannot fall asleep."
She slowly closed her eyes before continuing,
"I have to go while I am awake."
The moment she finished speaking, the temperature in the room dropped suddenly.
The air became still.
Even time itself seemed to slow.
Jun felt it immediately.
Something was wrong.
"Asiya—" he began, but before he could finish—
a knocking sound echoed through the room.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound came from the door.
But the door was already open.
Jun frowned and slowly turned his head toward it.
No one was there.
Then the sound came again.
Knock. Knock.
This time, it was different.
It was coming from inside the room.
From the wall behind Asiya.
A cold chill spread through Jun's chest.
"Asiya…" he called, his voice dry and strained.
But she did not respond.
Her eyes remained closed, and her expression was unnaturally calm.
Then, without warning, she whispered,
"I can see it…"
The faint light in the room dimmed even further, as if something was swallowing it.
"A road… no… not a road…"
Her brows drew together slightly.
"It's a city."
In another place—
Yan stood alone in the middle of an empty city.
Towering buildings surrounded him, but they were distorted, twisted at unnatural angles, as though reality itself had been bent out of shape.
The windows were completely dark.
Yet it felt as if something was watching him from within.
The sky above was a deep, suffocating crimson.
There was no sense of time.
No movement.
Only a frozen, endless moment stretching into nothingness.
Yan continued walking, though he did not know how long he had been walking.
Suddenly, a voice echoed faintly in the distance.
"Yan…"
He stopped immediately.
The voice felt familiar.
Too familiar.
Slowly, he turned around.
There was no one there.
Then the voice came again.
"Yan…"
This time, it was right beside his ear.
Yan's breath caught in his throat.
"W-Who's there?" he asked, his voice trembling.
Silence answered him.
Then—
a laugh.
Soft.
Broken.
Unnatural.
Back in the room—
Asiya's body trembled slightly.
"He's not alone…" she whispered.
Uncle Chen stepped closer, his unease growing.
"Who is with him?"
Asiya did not open her eyes.
"Something is calling him…" she said, her voice shaking.
She paused, then corrected herself.
"No… it's not calling him…"
Suddenly, she opened her eyes.
Something terrifying flickered within them.
"It's holding him."
The air in the room seemed to freeze completely.
"Something doesn't want him to return."
Uncle Chen instinctively took a step back.
Behind him, his wife began to cry silently, her fear too overwhelming to contain.
"Then what are you going to do?" Jun asked, his voice tight with tension.
Asiya slowly rose to her feet.
Her shadow stretched across the floor—
but it moved strangely, as if it were not perfectly aligned with her body.
"I will bring him back," she said calmly.
"No matter what."
At that moment, a faint sound echoed through the room.
A sharp, splitting noise.
Crack.
A thin fracture appeared along the wall.
Akash froze in place, his eyes fixed on it.
From within the crack, it was not darkness that emerged.
Something was looking back.
Watching them.
Asiya's lips curved into a slow, unsettling smile.
"The door has opened," she said quietly.
Her voice no longer carried the softness of a child.
"Now… they can see us too."