Today's Reading
"May I help you?"
"Outside. Over there. There's a thing. Something horrible!"
"Come again?"
"Someone disappeared. Over there. This huge thing absorbed a man. We need to call the police. Hurry!"
"Was there a car accident or something?"
"Not a car accident. My neighbor disappeared!"
The two women looked at each other in silence. They reluctantly followed him out of the store, more concerned about missing their soap opera than what he had to show them.
"What did you see again?" one of them asked.
He pointed to the alley, saying that a dark object had absorbed a man. But there was nothing there. No matter how many times he explained, the two women just stared at him with suspicious looks on their faces. Eventually, they walked back into the store.
He stood there alone, where that thing had swallowed his neighbor, and glanced around.
What did I just witness? What was that thing that just absorbed my neighbor? Was it a ghost? But ghosts only appear in old tales. Perhaps an animal? But an animal that large, in the middle of Seoul? Besides, animals don't absorb people whole. Then what was it? Am I going crazy? No, I know what I saw!
He shook his head.
He was as healthy as an ox and worked out often. He couldn't even remember the last time he felt ill. There was no way he was seeing things.
I know what I saw. A large black orb. A large black orb that moves slowly and swallowed my neighbor! So, if it wasn't a hallucination, where did it go? It must have followed me out of the alley. Wouldn't that mean it's out on the main road? It couldn't have gotten far. After all, it was slow enough for me to outrun it.
Jeong-su looked up and down the alley searching for the strange object, but it was nowhere to be found. When he raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, he realized he had been clenching his fist and crumpling his pack of cigarettes. He hadn't let go of them since seeing the black orb.
He felt a mix of emotions. He wondered how this could happen and wished that it was all just a hallucination. If only this hadn't happened, if only he hadn't gone out for a smoke, if only he had turned off the lights and gone to bed, he would have been able to enjoy a peaceful Sunday evening. He took the pack of cigarettes and put them in his pocket.
"Aaaaaargh!"
Someone was screaming nearby. This time, it was the scream of a woman. A scream of terror. The scream of someone in the jaws of death. A hair-raising scream of someone fighting for their life. The same scream his neighbor had made just minutes ago. As Jeong-su processed the woman's scream, the black orb emerged out of the alley wall. It crossed the width of the alley, then passed through the opposing wall and disappeared into another building.
Jeong-su immediately turned around and ran home. There was no doubt in his mind now. A woman had just been absorbed by the orb, and now it was going around the neighborhood looking for its next victim.
When Jeong-su arrived home, he paced nervously around his house. He picked up his cell phone and tried calling the police, but just as he was about to dial, his mind went blank. He couldn't remember if it was 112 or 119.
As he stood there lost in thought and holding his phone, he became afraid of what would happen if the orb followed him to his home. He locked the door, closed all the windows, and barricaded himself inside the bedroom. But he immediately unlocked the door and went back into the living room to pace.
I definitely saw that thing pass through a wall and disappear into another building.
He didn't know how this was possible, but considering the fact the orb could pass through objects, he realized he wasn't safe just locking his doors.
But if my home isn't safe, what should I do?
Finally, Jeong-su concluded he needed to run. He needed to get as far away from that thing as possible.
He found a duffel bag and packed it with whatever was in reach—not just necessities like his wallet and cell phone, but random things like hats, business cards, and matches. He didn't know why he was packing these things, but he didn't have the focus to tell the difference between what he needed and what he didn't.
...
