They kept moving.
No one said it out loud, but none of them wanted to stop again, not after what had just happened. Standing still felt wrong now, as if it might attract unwanted attention. So they walked, keeping a steady pace down the street, staying close to the sides where the shadows gathered between buildings.
The city had changed as the day slipped away.
It wasn't just the destruction. That had been there from the beginning, cars abandoned mid-lane, storefronts shattered, blood smeared across sidewalks like something had dragged itself through. What changed now was the light.
The sky dimmed slowly, the gray bleeding into deeper shades until the buildings began to blur together. Shadows stretched longer, swallowing corners and alleyways first, then creeping outward.
It made everything harder to read.
Jin led at the front, the broken pipe still in his hand more out of habit than usefulness. The weight of it wasn't the same anymore. He'd already felt it crack, felt it give under pressure. It wasn't reliable.
Behind him, Seul-ki walked carefully, her steps still uneven but steadier than before. She wasn't leaning as much anymore, though every now and then her pace faltered just slightly before she corrected it.
Joon-seok walked on the opposite side, a few steps behind Jin, his hands loose at his sides. Every so often, faint violet sparks flickered around his fingers, small and controlled compared to earlier. The light they gave off wasn't strong, but it was enough to guide their steps.
Min walked between them.
Every few steps, his head tilted slightly, like he was listening for something no one else could hear.
After a while, Seul-ki noticed.
She glanced over at him, watching the way his expression shifted.
"…You're doing it again," she said quietly.
Min blinked, pulled slightly out of whatever he was focusing on. "What?"
"That thing," she said, gesturing lightly toward his head. "You're using your skill."
He hesitated, then gave a small nod.
"…Yeah."
Joon-seok glanced over. "Isn't that risky?"
Min shook his head.
"No, at least not like before," he said. "It's… different now."
Jin slowed just slightly, not turning back, but listening.
"Before, it just hit me," he said. "All at once, and I didn't have any control."
He flexed his fingers slightly.
"But now, after using it some more, I can control it for the most part so that I don't end up in pain."
Seul-ki frowned a little. "So you can turn it off now?"
"Not exactly," Min replied. "More like… I can choose what I pay attention to."
He glanced down the street ahead.
"If I focus, I can pick up smaller things like movement and small sounds. It's not perfect, but…" He paused. "…it's not overwhelming anymore."
Joon-seok let out a low whistle.
"…That's actually kind of huge progress."
Min gave a faint shrug.
"I think I just got used to it," he said. "I'm basically a living echo"
Seul-ki looked at him for another second, then smiled faintly.
"Echo..."
He raised a brow. "What?"
She tilted her head slightly, casual.
"Echo."
Min blinked.
"Yeah thats the name of my skill..."
Seul-ki shrugged. "I know it just sounds like a pretty cool nickname, right?"
Min looked like he was about to say something.
Then stopped, a small, almost amused breath left him.
"…Echo, huh."
"…Yeah, it is pretty cool."
Seul-ki smiled faintly, satisfied.
Joon-seok stretched his fingers slightly, small arcs of violet light sparking again.
"Guess I need something like that too," he muttered. "Right now it's just… 'guy who can't hit a target.'"
Seul-ki huffed quietly. "Accurate."
Joon-seok rolled his eyes, but the tension in his shoulders eased just a bit.
"…I really need to learn how to aim this properly," he said. "Half the time I don't even know where it's going."
As if to prove a point, a small burst of energy flickered between his fingers, lighting up the side of the street briefly before fading.
This time, it didn't explode.
It held up for a second or two.
Joon-seok paused.
"…Wait."
He focused again, and another flicker came out.
The violet light spread just enough to illuminate the ground in front of them, casting long shadows behind their feet.
"…Okay," he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. "That's new."
Jin slowed slightly, glancing back just enough to catch the glow.
"Keep it low," he said. "We don't want to draw attention."
Joon-seok nodded. "Okay, I'll try to control it."
After a few seconds of him closing his eyes, it dimmed down a bit, but he didn't let it disappear completely.
They kept moving, and time passed without them noticing exactly how much.
The streets shifted as they went by, some areas worse than others. In some places, the destruction was heavy, with burned-out cars, shattered storefronts, and entire sections of pavement torn apart. In others, it looked almost untouched, like the chaos had simply skipped over it.
That contrast made it worse; it meant nothing was predictable.
At one point, Echo raised a hand slightly.
"Stop."
They all froze immediately.
Jin's grip tightened slightly on the broken pipe.
"What is it?" he asked quietly.
Echo tilted his head.
"There are people," he said. "Up ahead. Inside that building."
Jin followed his line of sight.
A dark storefront.
Glass cracked, but not fully shattered.
"How many are there?"
"Three," Echo said after a second. "…No. Four."
Joon-seok shifted slightly. "Do you think they might be hostile?"
Echo shook his head.
"…I don't think so. They're… quiet. Not moving much."
Jin exhaled slowly.
"We go around."
They adjusted their path without another word, keeping distance, staying out of sight. It wasn't worth the risk to try to talk to them, so they passed by like ghosts.
They did that more than once.
Echo would pick something up, and each time, they avoided it.
Joon-seok spoke softly as they walked down another street that was half destroyed.
"…Is it just me," he muttered, keeping his voice low, "or have we not seen a single one of those creatures for a while?"
Seul-ki glanced around.
"…You're right."
Jin didn't slow, but his eyes moved more carefully now.
Echo shook his head slightly.
"I'm not picking anything up anymore," he said. "No movement or anything."
Joon-seok frowned. "That doesn't feel like a good thing."
"No," Jin said quietly. "It doesn't."
Because it meant one of two things.
Either they got lucky, or something else had changed.
They kept walking.
The sky darkened fully now, the last traces of daylight slipping away behind the buildings. Streetlights didn't turn on. Power lines hung dead and silent overhead.
The only light came from Joon-seok's faint glow.
And even that felt too bright sometimes.
Eventually, Jin slowed.
"…We're close," he said.
Seul-ki looked ahead.
At first, it didn't seem like much.
Just another stretch of road.
More buildings.
More silence.
Then something shifted.
The area ahead looked different.
It was subtle but noticeable.
The destruction was almost nonexistent, which was weird, even though places that didn't have much damage still had some. But this place looked like a regular night; there were even lights on in a few buildings.
Joon-seok frowned slightly.
"…You see that?"
Seul-ki nodded slowly.
"…Yeah."
Echo focused.
"…It's still super quiet," he said. "But I can sense people in the buildings around us."
Jin's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hear anything of note?"
Echo didn't answer right away.
"I can't hear anything wrong," he said finally.
That wasn't reassuring.
Joon-seok let out a slow breath as they stood there for a moment.
Trying to decide if going forward was the best move.
Then Jin took a step forward.
"…We keep moving."
Seul-ki glanced at him. "Wait a second, don't you think this is weird?"
"I do," Jin said.
"But standing here won't help us."
So with that, they moved off again.
The area ahead stayed quiet.
But they didn't stop.
Because at this point, there wasn't really anywhere else to go.
And as they walked toward the faint outline of what had to be the police station ahead, they all got the same feeling, something was off about this place.