“Fuck….”
A terrible headache struck my head.
It was still dark outside, dawn barely breaking, but my vision flashed as if fireworks had exploded before my eyes.
My stomach churned as if I were suffering from severe motion sickness.
I wasn’t the type to drink— I rarely even touched a glass of soju— but right now, my stomach heaved violently, as though I’d consumed far too much alcohol.
“Fuck….”
I got out of bed, spat out a low curse, and staggered toward the bathroom.
Gripping the toilet lid, I immediately vomited everything in my stomach.
“…Why is this happening?”
After emptying my stomach, I leaned against the bathroom wall, gasping for breath.
I thought clearing my stomach would help, but the headache and nausea only worsened.
Just three days ago, I had received a clean bill of health from a comprehensive medical checkup.
There was no way I could have developed cancer or contracted some horrific disease in those 72 hours.
I was completely at a loss as to what was happening to my body.
“Food poisoning…?”
When I was younger, I had suffered from enteritis accompanied by a high fever and headache.
The pain hadn’t been this severe back then, but if I had to compare, this felt the closest.
“Goddammit….”
To get food poisoning when I hadn’t even eaten much—what terrible luck. Grumbling, I forced myself up. There should be some emergency medicine in the kitchen cabinet.
“…”
Praying that there were still painkillers and digestive medicine left, I wobbled toward the kitchen of my tiny studio.
In that short time, the headache grew even worse.
Now, I couldn’t even walk without leaning against the wall.
“Ugh!!”
Thud.
Was it the effect of the worsening headache?
My legs gave out, and I collapsed face-first onto the floor.
A dull pain spread from my knees throughout my entire body.
“119….”
I changed my plans. Instinctively, I knew this wasn’t something that could be fixed with over-the-counter medicine.
My left and right brain screamed in unison— this was serious enough to call an ambulance, to need an emergency room and a specialist’s diagnosis.
“My phone….”
Cold sweat poured down my forehead, the flashes in my vision grew more intense, and my sight blurred further.
Crawling on my hands and knees, I dragged myself toward the smartphone plugged into the charger beside my bed.
“119, 119….”
I clumsily grabbed the outdated phone and hastily tapped in the three numbers: 119.
At that exact moment, a bizarre mechanical noise emitted from the speaker.
—Beep beep beep.
“Ugh…!”
An artificial, grating sound designed to unsettle.
On the screen, where the reassuring digits 119 should have been, a new pop-up now appeared.
“Emergency alert…?”
An unskippable safety advisory message from the government— the most annoying kind.
Of all times, why now?
I grimaced in frustration.
“Fuck’s sake….”
I tapped the pop-up and immediately mashed the back button, but this piece-of-shit phone, over seven years old, lagged with every action.
Like it or not, the message seared itself into my vision before I could dismiss it.
*
Unidentified symptoms (dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, etc.) have been reported nationwide, accompanied by previously unobserved luminous fissures in the skies above certain regions. Please refrain from going outside, keep windows closed, and await further instructions. Relevant authorities are conducting urgent analysis and response measures. [Ministry of the Interior and Safety]
*
“…”
The curses died on my lips.
A gut feeling told me this wasn’t something to dismiss lightly.
I shook my head, trying to clear my fading vision, and read the message again carefully from the start.
“Dizziness, blurred vision, nausea….”
The exact symptoms I was experiencing were being reported across the entire country.
The government wouldn’t lie in an emergency alert, which meant others were suffering from the same food-poisoning-like symptoms.
A new pandemic, like COVID?
Or… could it be a zombie virus?
I wanted to ask someone, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a single acquaintance— not even the most ordinary kind.
My family had long cut ties with me after my business failed.
All I felt was suffocating frustration.
“…”
I wiped the cold sweat off the phone screen with my trembling fingers and read the rest.
My fingertips shook violently— my condition was deteriorating by the second.
“Unidentified luminous fissures….”
Luminous fissures?
I frowned at the phrase, which felt oddly out of place in a government safety alert.
The entire nation was experiencing the same symptoms, and outside, an unprecedented disaster called “luminous fissures” was unfolding.
“Ha.”
What the hell was happening?
Was this even reality?
Or was this some grand-scale hidden-camera prank by the government?
“…”
My vision darkened further, my body grew sluggish, and all strength drained from me at once.
My fingers went numb, and the old smartphone clattered to the floor.
“Ah….”
Was I really going to die like this—without knowing the cause or reason?
An indescribable fear wrapped around me. But there was nothing I could do.
Even if I had called 119 in time, my condition was deteriorating too rapidly for it to have made a difference.
“…”
With great effort, I turned my head and looked out the small window of my studio.
Just as the alert had said, the night sky was filled with blue fissures— as though dimensions were splitting apart.
“Ah….”
The last thing my fading vision captured.
It was a sight beyond belief, beyond explanation.
But one thing was certain.
It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“…”
Then, everything went black.