[Tick.]
A metallic tick echoed through the intersection.
At that exact moment, a pedestrian crossing the street completely froze mid-step.
His foot hung suspended in the air.
Zekai's eyes narrowed.
'...What is this?'
It wasn't just the pedestrian.
The roaring car engines, the heavy footsteps, the casual chatter of the city—everything vanished instantly. A heavy, suffocating silence slammed down on the intersection.
Thump. Thump.
Slowly, he turned his head.
The drivers waiting at the red signal blinked too slowly. A biker turning his head moved a fraction too late, as if reality itself had become sluggish.
'Am I the only one noticing this…?'
Gulp.
Ice crawled up Zekai's spine.
Danger.
Goosebumps erupted across his skin.
Without hesitation, he snatched his dropped phone off the asphalt. The screen was still lit, showing the active call with Marcus.
"Grandpa?"
Bzzt—
A harsh burst of static erupted from the speaker.
The signal bars dropped to zero. The call disconnected.
[Network connection has been forcefully terminated.]
"Damn it."
Something was wrong.
Grandpa Marcus never called this early.
Never. Not once
His gaze instinctively lowered, shifting away from the phone and locking onto the mysterious black stone cube resting near his feet.
Earlier, inside Marcus's coat, there had only been that strange black-and-red tarot box.
But now, this cube had appeared.
He bent down and picked it up.
"...!"
Freezing pain shot through his fingertips. It felt less like a stone cube and more like a solid piece of frozen energy.
It was ridiculously heavy.
Why was Grandpa carrying this?
Before he could process the thought—
"Mr. Zekai!"
Aron sprinted up, gasping for breath, desperately clutching the mysterious tarot box.
"You forgot this—!"
BZZZZT!
Suddenly, the traffic light above them flickered violently.
The digital countdown timer glitched out completely, the numbers scrambling into unreadable symbols before flashing a bloody red.
Rumbleeee—
A violent vibration shook the earth.
It wasn't an earthquake. It was pressure. Pure, crushing pressure erupting from beneath the ground.
A pedestrian nearby dropped his shopping bags suddenly split open. Oranges rolled across the asphalt, scattering in every direction.
The owner never reacted.
He remained frozen mid-step, staring ahead like a lifeless doll.
Shadows stretched across the asphalt like living things. Then snapped back violently.
Space itself seemed to twist.
Crack!
A sharp, glass-shattering sound echoed from the center of the intersection.
Aron violently grabbed Zekai's shoulder. His entire body was trembling like a leaf.
"M-Mr. Zekai..."
For the first time, Aron sounded truly afraid.
Zekai turned his head.
A massive vortex of grey smoke twisted open in the middle of the intersection. Something inside it radiated a presence so hostile that Zekai's instincts screamed.
Yet, looking past the vortex, the rest of the city was completely normal. Cars were driving. People were laughing.
They were trapped inside a completely isolated barrier.
Aron's grip tightened painfully, his face pale as a corpse. "What the hell is this...?!"
Zekai couldn't answer.
Because at that exact moment, a flood of agonizing voices exploded directly inside his skull.
—Please!
—Run away!
—Save me!
—Please don't leave us!
"Aaaagh!"
Zekai clutched his head as a bursting pain tore through his skull. Beside him, Aron collapsed to his knees, screaming bloody murder while covering his ears.
The voices became louder, turning into a singular, booming roar that shook Zekai's soul.
"You saw it... and did nothing."
Zekai's breath caught. The voice wasn't human. It sounded like a verdict.
The surrounding air froze completely.
Aron frantically pulled at Zekai's jacket. "We have to run! We're going to die here!"
Even as panic threatened to swallow Zekai whole, he bit his tongue, using the sharp burst of physical pain to force his voice steady.
"Don't move," Zekai commanded, his voice trembling despite his best efforts. "Stay right next to me!"
The air stopped moving. Even breathing felt delayed.
"Mr. Zekai… we have to run! Right now!" Aron screamed, pulling frantically on his shoulder.
"The mist! We can still get out!"
…
Zekai didn't move an inch. His feet felt rooted to the spot by an overwhelming certainty.
'No. If we run… we die.'
The grey vortex pulsed violently. The pressure drove Aron into the asphalt.
Then, everything stopped.
The screams, the wind, the vibrations—all of it vanished.
Flash!
A blinding, explosive white light erased the entire world.
"Mr. Zekai—!"
Aron's scream was completely swallowed by the roar of pure energy. Zekai clamped his eyes shut as an unbearable weightlessness took over. His senses were completely wiped out.
After what felt like an eternity, the pressure finally receded.
Zekai slowly forced his eyes open.
"...!"
The intersection was gone. The buildings, the cars, the sky—everything had vanished.
They were standing in a vast, echoing void of nothingness.
In that chilling silence, Zekai realized a terrifying truth.
Reality folded like a turning page.
The spectator had just become the participant.
✦ End of Chapter 2 — The World Skipped a Step ✦