Jin stepped out into the dark hallway alone, the steel pipe firm in his grip.
The door behind him closed softly, and with it went the last bit of warmth the group had managed to create. Out here, the building felt dead again. The emergency lights cast everything in a dull red glow, turning overturned desks and broken cubicles into strange shadows that stretched far across the floor.
He stood still for a moment, listening for any signs another monster might be out, but he heard nothing, only the quiet groan of the building settling around him.
Jin moved carefully, each step deliberate. He avoided the broken glass where he could, stepped around fallen chairs, and kept his breathing slow. After everything that had happened, being as quiet as possible was the best move; he didn't want to accidentally attract any more sound hunters after all.
After a while of sneaking around, the break room door came into view near the end of the hall, half-open and hanging slightly crooked on its frame. A faded sign above it still read EMPLOYEE LOUNGE.
Jin approached slowly and pushed the door wider with the end of the pipe.
The room inside looked almost untouched, which was extremely weird after seeing how the entire building so far had been a mess.
Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, weaker than usual but still alive. The refrigerator hummed softly in the corner. A microwave sat on the counter beside a coffee machine that still blinked lazily like it was waiting for someone to make another terrible cup before lunch.
Disposable cups were spilled across the floor.
A chair was knocked over near the table.
A half-eaten sandwich sat abandoned by the sink, the bread dry and curling at the edges.
He didn't see anything suspicious, so he stepped inside, shutting the door partway behind him.
His eyes went straight to the refrigerator.
Please....
For once, please let something be easy.
He grabbed the handle and pulled it open.
Cold air brushed against his face.
Jin felt something close to relief, there were water bottles, energy drinks, sandwiches that hadnt been touched, yogurt cups and snacks shoved into the side shelves. It wasn't a lot, but it was better than what he had expected to find.
Jin let out a slow breath and grabbed the first bottle of water, the cool plastic solid in his hand. Then an energy drink. Then two sandwiches.
He stood there for a second, carrying all of this back through dark hallways, while possibly being attacked by monsters wasn't a good idea. His eyes moved around the room until they landed on an old duffel bag slumped over one of the chairs near the vending machine.
Perfect, he would be able to bring everything in one trip with that.
He stepped toward it and reached for the strap when a sudden chime rang in the air.
Jin froze.
Blue light flickered in front of him.
Another screen.
[ Skill Unlocked: Inventory ]
[ You have acquired storable items.]
[Activating Inventory. ]
Jin blinked.
"…What?"
Before he could question it further, something shifted in his vision. A transparent grid-like interface appeared, floating faintly in front of him.
He stared at it.
Then at the water bottle in his hand, then back at the screen.
Slowly, cautiously, he focused on storing them, and with that simple thought, the bottles just disappeared from his hand with a faint shimmer of blue light.
Jin nearly dropped the pipe from the shock of it actually working. He looked back at the floating grid, there it was, a small icon of the water bottle sat neatly inside one of the slots.
For a few seconds, he just stared, then he tried pulling the bottle back out. It reappeared instantly in his hand. Jin looked at it. Then, at the inventory screen.
"This," he muttered quietly, "is actually useful."
After that, he moved fast.
Water bottles vanished into the inventory.
Energy drinks.
Sandwiches.
Protein bars.
Packets of crackers.
Anything useful went in.
The fridge emptied faster than he thought possible, and every time another item slid neatly into place, Jin felt a little lighter. Soon enough, every item of use went into his system inventory, and then he turned toward the door.
Thats when he heard footsteps coming from the hallway outside.
Jin moved silently to the side of the doorway, pressing himself against the wall where he couldn't be seen immediately. The pipe rested against his shoulder, ready for anything that came his way.
The footsteps stopped just outside the door, then there was silence.
Then the lights flickered hard, buzzing like something had disturbed the wiring.
A shadow moved across the doorway.
Someone stepped inside.
Jin's eyes narrowed.
It was someone he knew, Kang Joon-seok, from accounting. Joon-seok, always grumbled about deadlines but never missed a single one, he always carried around gum in his pocket and offered it to anyone nearby. He was truly a kind soul, always ensuring those around him were alright, but...
The man standing there looked like a ghost of his former self.
His dress shirt was soaked in blood, dried dark across the fabric. His tie was gone. His glasses hung cracked and crooked off one ear. His hands shook badly enough to be noticed from across the room.
But it was his eyes that made Jin pause; they were so wide and unfocused, like someone trapped in a nightmare they were yet to wake from.
As he took more steps into the room, the lights flickered, thats when Jin noticed the faint violet sparks dancing around Joon-seok's fingers.
Jin's grip on the pipe loosened slightly.
He stepped forward carefully.
"Joon-seok."
Joon-seok flinched like he'd been hit. His head snapped up, and the sparks around his hand flared violently.
Jin immediately realized this was about to go badly.
A jagged blast of crackling energy tore across the room, fast enough that thinking would have gotten him killed. He twisted hard to the side, the attack missing his chest by inches before slamming into the refrigerator behind him.
The impact exploded through the break room.
Metal crumpled inward with a deafening crash. Glass shattered across the floor. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered wildly, buzzing as if they were about to die.
Cold air spilled from the ruined fridge along with the empty cans, broken shelves, and what used to be someone's lunch.
Jin didn't stop moving.
The second he dodged, he pushed forward.
Distance was death, if Joon-seok kept firing from across the room, Jin would probably end up dead, it was as simple as that.
He rushed in, steel pipe low in one hand, his other hand shooting out towards him.
Joon-seok looked panicked; his body was reacting before his mind caught up. Another burst of violet energy sparked wildly around his hand. Jin grabbed his wrist and twisted it outward. The next blast fired into the ceiling instead.
Concrete cracked overhead, dust raining down onto both of them.
"Joon-seok!"
Jin drove his shoulder into the man's chest, slamming him backward.
Joon-seok stumbled into the table, knocking chairs over as he lost balance. Jin followed immediately, leaving him no room to recover. The pipe hooked behind Joon-seok's leg, and with one sharp movement, Jin swept him to the floor, and the air left his lungs in one broken gasp.
Jin dropped with him, one knee pressing into his chest, the steel pipe raised in both hands right above his head.
Ready to end him in one clean strike, that was all it would take.
Joon-seok's hand twitched again, weak sparks crawling across his fingers.
Jin tightened his grip; his breathing was sharp now.
His body understood the art of killing too easily. It felt easy, which he hated, but if thats what it took to stop Joon from bringing every monster in the building towards them thats what he would have to do.
The pipe trembled slightly in his hands.
Joon-seok looked up at him through cracked glasses, dazed and terrified.
Then he spoke.
"Jin?"
Jin froze.
The pressure in his chest snapped all at once, as his grip loosened.
Jin let out a rough breath and lowered the pipe.
For a second, neither of them moved.
Then Joon-seok coughed hard and turned his head.
"Sorry about that," he rasped. "I probably... deserved that"
Jin stood up first, taking two steps back like distance might somehow make that moment less real.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Probably."
Joon-seok stayed on the floor for a second longer before pushing himself upright with shaking hands. He looked exhausted. More than exhausted. Like his body had been running on panic for so long, it forgot how to stop.
The violet sparks around his fingers had faded now, but the lights still buzzed weakly overhead.
He wiped a hand down his face.
"Sorry again."
Jin gave a tired laugh that wasn't really a laugh.
"It's fine."
"Yeah?"
"Pretty rude, sure, but yeah, it's fine."
That, somehow, made the tension break just enough to breathe again.
Joon-seok leaned against the ruined table and stared at the destroyed fridge.
"…I was really hoping there'd still be food in there."
Jin looked at the wreckage.
"Good news. There was."
Joon-seok frowned.
"Was?"
Jin tapped the side of his head.
"Long story."
Joon-seok nodded like he didn't have the energy to question anything anymore.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Jin studied him properly.
"You okay?"
It was a stupid question.
Obviously not.
Joon-seok gave him the exact look that he deserved.
"No, actually. I'm doing terrible."
"Good. Just checking."
That got the smallest snort out of him.
Then it disappeared.
His shoulders dropped.
His eyes went somewhere far away.
"They're all dead."
Joon-seok kept staring at the broken fridge.
"Second floor. Everyone. I was at my desk when it started. People were still arguing about reports."
A weak smile touched his mouth.
"It felt like a normal awful Tuesday."
His voice got quieter.
"Then the voice happened. The blue screens. People panicking. And then…" He swallowed hard. "The windows shattered. Something came through. Then another. People started dying so fast I couldn't even process it."
His fingers twitched, and small sparks flickered again.
"The first time my skill activated, I thought I was dying. I panicked, and this thing, Arc Discharge, just exploded out of me. Blew one of those monsters through a cubicle wall."
He laughed once.
"Great moment. I felt very heroic. Then I ran straight into a supply closet and hid."
Jin stayed quiet.
Joon-seok rubbed his face.
"I could hear them outside. Screaming. Calling for help. I just sat there with a mop bucket and prayed nothing opened the door."
His voice cracked there.
"I didn't help anyone."
The silence after that sat heavily between them.
Finally, Jin asked the only thing that mattered.
"Could you have?"
Joon-seok frowned.
"What?"
"Could you have saved them?"
He looked away immediately.
"No..."
Jin nodded once.
"Then dying with them wouldn't have helped."
Joon-seok let out a long breath, like he hated how much he needed to hear that.
"I still feel like a coward."
"Yeah, but at least you're alive to feel that way," Jin said.
That made him blink.
Jin adjusted his grip on the pipe.
Joon-seok stared at him for a second, then gave a tired laugh.
"You're really bad at comforting people."
"I know, not my best specialty."
"It's kind of working actually..."
"Don't tell anyone."
That actually got a real laugh, though it faded quickly.
Jin glanced toward the hallway.
"We've got a group holding up nearby in a barricaded room. Want to join us?"
After a second, Joon-seok nodded.
"Yeah. Okay"
He pushed himself off the table.
The lights flickered again as they stepped back into the hallway, violet sparks faintly dancing around his hand.
Jin noticed immediately.
"Your skill does that every time?"
Joon-seok looked at his fingers.
"Pretty much. Strong emotions seem to make it worse. Sometimes it just reacts before I do."
"That seems inconvenient."
"It's extremely inconvenient."
They walked slowly through the dark hallway, side by side now.
Luckily, no monsters came from their fight.
As they neared the barricaded room, Jin knocked three times against the door.
There was some commotion inside, but after a few seconds, the door cracked open, and Sora's face appeared; her eyes shifted to Joon-seok.
"Who's that?"
Jin stepped forward.
"A friend, don't worry about it."
From inside, Seul-ki muttered,
"Just let them in and stop asking questions."