"Haha… I'm here! How is this even possible?!"
I stood before a familiar old apartment building. Time had left its mark on every inch of it. The cold winds of countless years had stripped away its former appearance, leaving the once-white walls stained with a dull yellow.
This was the place that held my most painful memory.
A memory buried beneath layers of dust—old, worn, and ugly. Yet at the same time, it felt so vivid that it was as if I had lived through it only moments ago.
The moment I thought about it, a burning pain spread through my chest. I could feel the veins in my neck tightening, squeezing the breath from my lungs.
The pain reminded me that this wasn't a dream.
This was real.
I had returned to the past—the past I had lost.
A second chance...
This time, I'll save my brother.
I won't let that rotten monster devour him.
Even if it costs me my own life.
I took a deep breath.
"...Ha."
Then I stepped inside the building.
The place where everything began.
The starting point of the only memory that truly mattered.
---
The lobby looked exactly as I remembered.
Right in front of me stood the ancient elevator that was broken more often than it worked. To the left sat the security booth, with a row of mailboxes beside it.
Most of the boxes were empty.
Others were crammed full of unopened envelopes, piled so high it looked like the tiny doors were about to burst open.
I turned toward the right.
The staircase.
The same old stairs, their tiles cracked by countless footsteps over the years.
As I gripped the handrail, flakes of rust stained my fingers. I wiped them away and hurried upward.
The fourth floor.
I had to get there.
Fast.
I sprinted up every flight of stairs with everything I had.
Seven exhausting minutes later, I finally reached the fourth floor.
The place where our tiny rented apartment waited.
My home.
Panting for breath, I stopped on the final step.
One more stride, and I'd enter the hallway.
But the instant I looked ahead...
The memory of my brother's death flashed before my eyes.
A freezing chill crawled beneath my skin.
It was as if an invisible blade had been pressed against my throat, waiting to slit it open.
An unbearable headache exploded inside my skull, like nails being hammered into one precise spot.
"Gh..."
I collapsed onto the stairs, clutching my head as the pain twisted through me.
---
Everything had started that day.
I'd gotten home later than usual.
I couldn't remember why anymore.
But the atmosphere inside the building had felt... wrong.
An unnatural cold seeped into my body.
Then came the smell.
Rotting garbage.
It was so overwhelming that it felt as if an entire mountain of trash had been dumped inside the building.
The stench burned my throat like poison.
I covered my nose with my sleeve and walked toward the elevator, only to find a handwritten notice taped across the door.
OUT OF ORDER.
"...Of course."
With no other choice, I headed for the stairs.
The higher I climbed...
The stronger the smell became.
"This is unbearable... Which bastard left their garbage to rot like this?"
I muttered under my breath.
Eventually, I reached the fourth floor.
And the moment I stepped into the hallway...
I froze.
"What... the hell is this?"
The corridor before me had become a nightmare.
Grotesque flesh-like veins spread across the floor and walls like invasive weeds swallowing an abandoned field.
"Wha—"
I nearly threw up.
My stomach lurched violently as acid burned the back of my throat.
Sweat covered my palms.
Inside the enclosed hallway, the rotten smell was even stronger, dulling my senses.
"Damn it... I hope Caius is okay..."
He was all I had left.
The only family I had.
"I have to get home... no matter what."
Grinding my teeth, I carefully surveyed the corridor.
It was almost completely dark.
The only light came from a flickering ceiling lamp that blinked on every so often before plunging everything back into darkness.
"Damn it... I told the caretaker to replace those lights."
Now the hallway looked like something straight out of a horror movie.
"I need to stay focused."
Whenever the light flickered on for a few seconds, I could see the grotesque veins more clearly.
Each time they looked wider than before.
Bluish-purple sacs bulged beneath the flesh.
Thick yellow pus oozed from swollen openings.
The sight alone made my legs weak.
But I couldn't stop now.
I forced myself to study the hallway more carefully.
Most of the fleshy veins covered the floor.
Only thinner strands climbed the walls.
But farther ahead...
The concentration became much denser.
As though everything originated from a single point.
"...Damn."
That point...
Was dangerously close to my apartment.
After checking everything, only one thing remained.
The timing.
The hallway light stayed on for roughly thirty seconds before going dark again.
Thirty seconds.
Limited...
But manageable.
---
I took my first step into the corridor.
Keeping close to the wall, I aimed for the narrow gaps between the fleshy veins.
One careful step after another.
The only sound was my heartbeat.
Everything else had fallen silent.
As if time itself had stopped.
I hadn't even made it halfway.
Yet sweat soaked my back, glued my shirt to my skin, and gathered across my forehead.
"I can't lose track of the timing."
Move.
Stop.
Thirty seconds.
Move again.
Counting the seconds...
Listening to my own breathing...
It felt like I was trapped inside an endless hallway.
No matter how far I walked, the destination never seemed to get any closer.
"Tch... Stay calm."
But that calmness didn't last.
"...Forty seconds?"
My face stiffened.
"That's bad."
I was only halfway there.
Two apartments away.
Every step had to avoid those veins.
I had no idea what would happen if I touched them.
Crk...
A scraping sound echoed through the darkness.
Something hit the wall.
The light suddenly flickered back on.
Startled, I instinctively stepped backward—
My foot caught the edge of one of the fleshy veins.
Thump.
I fell.
My eyes widened.
Right in front of me...
A mound of rotten flesh was fused into my neighbor's wall.
Part of the wall had collapsed, scattering splintered wooden fragments across the floor.
Yellowish-green gas hissed from the pulsating mass.
The smell nearly made me vomit.
My eyes burned violently.
It felt like chemical fumes.
Frowning, I glanced around.
"...They didn't react."
Even after touching one of the veins...
Nothing moved.
Everything remained perfectly still.
I instinctively inhaled—
Then immediately clamped my mouth shut.
Covering my nose and mouth with my sleeve, I took only the smallest breaths.
I just needed to go a little farther.
Just a little more...
The fleshy veins ahead looked even thicker now.
They pulsed rhythmically.
Something was moving inside them.
Holding my breath, my trembling hands clenched into fists as I continued forward.
One more step.
Just one.
I made it.
Then—
An icy shock shot through my spine like lightning.
"AAAH!"
My scream echoed through the hallway.
What I saw...
Couldn't be real.
"...Caius..."
My brother was trapped inside the grasp of that rotten monster.
Part of its enormous body had forced its way into our apartment.
Countless worm-like tendrils wrapped tightly around Caius' body.
I stumbled toward the doorway.
"C-Caius..."
"Caius..."
He didn't answer.
"No...!"
I wanted to move.
But fear had frozen my legs.
"Please...
My brother...
No...
You have to live..."
Silence.
My knees gave out beneath me.
Pain gnawed at my heart until I could barely breathe.
I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.
Then grabbed the fleshy veins blocking the entrance.
I clawed at them.
Punched them.
Tried to rip them apart with my bare hands.
Half-delirious, I suddenly heard a weak voice.
I looked up.
Caius...
He was calling to me.
"K... Kael...
R-run..."
His face was deathly pale.
His lips were split open and covered in blood.
He tried to say something more—
But the monster never gave him the chance.
The worm-like tendrils tightened around his body.
Tck... Crack.
I heard his bones breaking.
"NO!! CAIUS!"
I charged toward the doorway.
Toward those cursed veins.
Then something slammed into me.
My body flew backward.
Crash!
I smashed into the wall behind me.
"Cough!"
One of the worm-like tendrils lunged straight at me.
I barely managed to catch its disgusting mouth before it reached my face.
But that was only the beginning.
A far larger tendril emerged from deeper inside the creature.
It slithered toward Caius.
Then its mouth split open.
Wider.
Wider.
Like a giant python preparing to swallow its prey.
In one motion...
It devoured him whole.
Everything stopped.
Even my heart.
I could only stare blankly at the place where my brother had stood.
The place...
Where he no longer existed.