I stood in the shadow of an overpass, wearing a black hoodie and cargo pants I'd lifted from a drying rack behind a laundromat. The hospital gown was in a dumpster three blocks back. My metallic skeleton felt hummed with a restless energy, like a high-voltage wire vibrating in the wind.
The city around me was still "normal." People were checking their watches, complaining about the morning commute, and buying overpriced coffee. They had no idea that the "Shadow Leaks" were already here.
To my Void-Sight, the sky looked like it was being stitched together with black thread. These weren't monsters yet—they were the precursors, thin wisps of dark mana that sucked the heat out of the air.
"Forty-seven hours," I whispered.
I didn't head home immediately. If the NIS agents were smart, they'd already be watching my mother's apartment. I needed to move laterally. I needed to gather the "Common Tier" essentials that would disappear from the shelves in the first ten minutes of the Great Awakening.
I walked into a large wholesale warehouse store. I didn't have a membership card, but a slight pull on the side-exit door was enough to snap the electronic lock like a toothpick.
I moved with a predatory efficiency. I didn't grab gold or electronics. I went for the things that kept people alive in the Long Dark.
Industrial Grade Salt: Five 20kg bags. In the future, salt was more than a seasoning; it was used to create "Warding Circles" against low-level specters.
Antibiotics and First Aid: I broke into the pharmacy section, sweeping everything into a heavy-duty hiking pack.
High-Calorie Rations: Peanut butter, honey, and vacuum-sealed rice. I needed fuel for the Relic. 11% Sync required 5,000 calories a day. 25% Sync? I'd be lucky if I didn't starve to death while sleeping.
As I reached for a stack of portable solar chargers, a shadow flickered across the aisle.
The temperature dropped ten degrees. The fluorescent lights above me buzzed and flickered, casting long, jerky shadows.
[ VOID-SIGHT WARNING ] [ MINOR ANOMALY DETECTED: THE HUNGRY GHOST (LEVEL 2) ]
I didn't turn around immediately. I felt the cold air pressing against the back of my neck. A Hungry Ghost wasn't a physical monster; it was a parasite. It would latch onto a human's spine and drain their life force until they became a "Hollow." In my past life, half the city had become Hollows before the first rift even fully opened.
The ghost let out a sound like dry leaves skittering on pavement. It lunged.
I spun, my hand flashing out. I didn't have the Zero-Void Shard out—it was still fused with my Relic—but my skin was now 25% Star-Fall metal. To a spirit, I was a solid wall of anti-mana.
I caught the ghost by its "throat"—a mass of cold, black smoke.
HISS!
The spirit screeched as the silver lines on my palm burned into its essence. The Iron Core in my chest thrummed, and for a second, I felt the Relic trying to pull the ghost inside.
[ ABSORPTION UNAVAILABLE: SYNC RATE TOO HIGH FOR LOW-TIER SOULS ]
"Trash," I muttered. I squeezed my fist, and the ghost shattered into a cloud of harmless soot.
I finished my shopping. I had three massive bags packed to the bursting point. To a normal person, this would be 300 pounds of gear—impossible to carry. To me, it felt like carrying a bag of groceries.
I exited through the back, avoiding the security cameras. It was time to head to the apartment.
The walk took an hour. I stayed to the alleyways, moving with a silent, heavy grace. When I reached my building, I didn't take the elevator. I climbed the external fire escape, my metallic fingers digging into the brickwork like they were made of clay.
I reached the 4th-floor window. I peered inside.
My mother was sitting on the sofa, her hands trembling as she watched the news. The headline at the bottom of the screen read: "UNEXPLAINED ELECTRICAL SURGE AT BUKAN MOUNTAIN; ONE TEENAGER MISSING."
There was no one else in the room. No NIS agents. No police. Not yet.
I tapped on the glass.
She screamed, jumping to her feet, but stopped when she saw it was me. She rushed to the window, throwing it open.
"Min-ho! My god, where have you been? The police—they said you were hurt, they said you ran away—"
I stepped inside, the floorboards groaning under my reinforced weight. I dropped the heavy bags, and the entire room shook.
"Mom, look at me," I said, my voice steady. I pulled down my hood, letting her see the silver rings in my eyes. "The trip is over. The storm I told you about? It's here."
I walked to the front door and engaged every lock. Then, I pulled a roll of heavy-duty duct tape and the bags of salt from my pack.
"From this moment on, we don't open this door for anyone," I said. "Not the neighbors. Not the police. Not even if you hear my voice on the other side."
I started pouring the salt in a thick line across the threshold.
"We have forty-six hours until the sky turns purple," I told her, my eyes flashing silver. "And I need to turn this apartment into a fortress."