The silence was worse than the roar.
The city, once deafening with the collapse of towers and the shriek of resonance, lay still. Dust swirled in lazy currents, thick enough to sting the eyes and coat the tongue with grit. Fires burned in distant husks of buildings, but even they seemed muted, as if the world itself dared not disturb what had just passed.
Min-joon lowered and Lin carefully onto the cracked pavement, his chest heaving, his face streaked with blood and sweat. Lin's body convulsed in his grip, black runes pulsing faintly across his chest and arms, flickering with the remnants of abyssal energy. Chains slithered beneath his skin like worms struggling is to burrow free.
"Stay with me," Min-joon whispered, his voice trembling but firm. "You're not gone. You're still here. I've got you."
Lin's eyelids fluttered, his breath ragged. Every inhale was a battle, every exhale a rasp of pain. He wanted to answer, but his voice cracked into silence. The weight of what he'd endured hadn't left—it was carved into him.
Keller stumbled closer, one arm clutching his ribs, his pistol dangling loosely from his other hand. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the black chains flickering under Lin's skin.
"That thing…" His voice was gravel, low and harsh. "It didn't just test him. It marked him."
Min-joon's jaw tightened. "Shut up."
Keller sneered, though it was weak, half-broken. "You saw what I saw. That wasn't resistance—it was… acceptance. Look at him! Those chains aren't his anymore. They're—"
"Shut. Up." Min-joon's voice cracked into a snarl, louder now, fierce with protective fury. He pressed his palm against Lin's shoulder, grounding him, as if shielding him from Keller's words. "He fought it. He fought harder than anyone could. Don't twist this into something it's not."
Hwan's laughter broke the silence, sharp and grating. He staggered forward, arms spread, eyes wild with ecstasy. His voice carried with manic clarity through the dust.
"Not acceptance… not rejection either. Transcendence!" His knees buckled, but he remained upright, trembling like a zealot at the altar of his god. "The abyss pressed, and he did not shatter. He changed. Don't you see? This is what it wants. This is what it needs! A vessel who can endure its weight!"
Min-joon rounded on him, his eyes blazing. "You think this is some kind of blessing? He almost died!"
Hwan grinned, teeth bloodied, eyes fever-bright. "Blessings are just survivals of curses. The abyss does not give freely—it demands. And he paid! He paid in blood and bone and screamed until the air split! And now… now it has chosen!"
Lin stirred weakly at their voices, his throat dry, words catching like stones. "…No."
It was a whisper, but it silenced all three of them.
He forced his head to turn, his gaze locking first on Min-joon, then Keller, then finally Hwan. His eyes were bloodshot, rimmed with crimson veins, yet within them flickered a sharpness untouched by resonance.
"I am… not its vessel."
His voice cracked, but his will was iron.
Keller's jaw clenched, his suspicion hardening. "Then why are those things still crawling under your skin?"
Lin swallowed the pain. The runes pulsed again, dim, faint, but undeniably alive. "Because I made them. Not it. Me."
For a moment, none of them spoke. The city groaned distantly, the wind pushing dust down empty streets.
Min-joon's grip tightened on Lin's shoulder. His lips trembled—not with fear, but with relief. "Then hold onto that. Don't let go of it, no matter what."
Hwan's laugh broke again, softer this time, almost reverent. "Deny it if you want. But every crown begins with a refusal. That's why you'll wear it."
Min-joon surged to his feet, fury brimming, ready to strike Hwan across the face. Keller stepped between them, holding up a bloodied hand. His expression was unreadable, caught between grim respect and gnawing distrust.
"Save it," Keller said flatly. "We don't know if that thing is coming back. And if it does… we're not ready to fight again."
Min-joon spat onto the ground, but he didn't argue. His fists shook at his sides.
Hwan only smiled wider, lips split and raw, as if he'd already won something.
Lin lay back, staring at the cracked sky above, where faint traces of the abyss's retreat still lingered. His breath slowed, steadying. The black runes pulsed in rhythm with his heart.
He thought of the voice—the abyss's demand. Bear it.
He had borne it. But at what cost?
The silence stretched.
Then, in the distance, a siren wailed.
It cut through the stillness like a blade, sharp and shrill. Min-joon stiffened immediately, his head snapping toward the sound. Keller cursed under his breath, forcing himself upright.
"Locals," Keller muttered. "Authorities, scavengers, maybe worse. Whoever survived down here will have felt that quake. They're coming."
Min-joon turned back to Lin, desperation in his eyes. "Can you move?"
Lin tried. His body screamed. The chains within him rattled like blades in a sheath. But he rolled onto one side, his arms trembling as he pushed himself upright.
"…I'll walk."
Min-joon slid under his arm without hesitation, steadying him. Keller scanned the shadows, weapon raised despite his obvious pain. Hwan trailed behind them, still smiling, still whispering fragments of praise to the abyss.
They moved slowly through the ruins, leaving behind the crater where the colossal hand had nearly buried them all.
Every step Lin took was heavy, not just with exhaustion but with the awareness that the abyss hadn't been defeated. It had tested him, measured him, and found him… interesting.
The sirens grew louder. Shapes moved in the distance—vehicles, lights cutting through the smoke.
"Extraction's blown," Keller said grimly. "Whoever's out there, it's not our people."
Lin's chains pulsed faintly, restless. His voice came low, ragged but resolute.
"Then we disappear. Before the abyss—and everyone chasing it—finds us again."
The four figures melted into the ruins, carrying with them the silence of survival and the certainty of storms yet to come.