The silence Yurin left behind lasted only a few heartbeats before chaos erupted at the door.
CRASH!
The heavy black digital door, sealed by the security system, was forced open from the outside.
The head bodyguard and the security team stormed in, alerted by a critical spike in their boss's vitals.
The sight before them made the rugged men in black suits stop dead in their tracks in sheer horror.
Amidst the dim glow of the lamp left on, Ren the absolute king of this high-rise, lay in a pool of blood.
He lay curled into himself, one hand clamped fiercely over his abdomen, which was soaked in blood.
His breaths were faint and ragged. The blood spreading like a dark bloom. The face that had always been arrogant and radiating absolute authority was now deathly pale, drained of all color.
His eyes were tightly shut, dried tear tracks clinging to the corners.
"Boss! Boss!"
The head bodyguard lunged forward to cradle his master's body. He pressed his hands against the wound to stem the bleeding, feeling the chilling drop in Ren's body temperature.
Beep... Beep... Beep... A strange signal echoed from the corner of the living room. It wasn't the ticking of a clock. It was the countdown to catastrophe.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion tore through the living area, shattering the windows. Blazing orange flames erupted, devouring the room.
They rapidly devoured the velvet curtains and the exorbitant furniture. Thick, black smoke began to coil toward the ceiling, engulfing the penthouse and turning it into hell on earth.
"Fire! Get Mr. Ren out! Right now!"
The commanding shout fought against the deafening shriek of the fire alarms. His subordinates hurriedly hoisted Ren's unconscious body over their shoulders, charging through the blinding smoke and the raging inferno to escape the room.
The flames swallowed the entire living room, sealing the exit behind them.
Yet, deep inside the master bedroom, the rumpled king-sized bed and the safe hidden behind the painting stood entirely untouched by the fire.
The bedroom remained untouched—as if sealed off from the destruction. Waiting to compound his agony the day he finally opened his eyes.
Outside the towering high-rise, the torrential rain continued to lash down relentlessly, bleeding into the flashing red and blue lights of the fire engines and ambulances.
Crowds and reporters swarmed below to witness the horrifying spectacle, craning their necks to stare at the summit of the skyscraper spewing black smoke.
Click! Click! Click!
Camera flashes exploded in a frenzy as the stretcher was wheeled out of the building. The body of the fiercely influential young man was covered by a blood-stained white sheet, an oxygen mask clamped over his face.
Less than ten minutes later, Breaking News alerts flooded every social media channel. And the narrative was flawlessly twisted by an invisible hand.
"BUSINESS WORLD IN SHOCK! Young President 'Ren' of Varit Enterprise Attempts Suicide!"
"RUMORS FLY! Driven by Economic Ruin, Bankruptcy, and Freefalling Stocks, Stressed Tycoon Shoots Himself to Escape Debt!"
"Luxury Penthouse Burned to Ash... Suspected Arson to Destroy Evidence."
The rumors spread instantly.
The company's stock, already plummeting, crashed to absolute rock bottom until trading was halted. Creditor banks frantically dispatched lawyers to freeze his assets. Business partners publicly severed ties.
The empire Ren had crumbled into dust and debris in a single night. Leaving the mortally wounded king completely unaware that his throne had already been reduced to ash.
…
Inside the ICU of a private hospital.
The steady rhythm of the ventilator filled the room... Hiss... Hiss...
Ren's body lay perfectly still on the bed.
A tube and wires bound his body like heavy chains. But deep within his submerged subconscious, he was fleeing from a demon.
His entire world was a blinding white.
Ren found himself transformed back into a small boy. He stood in the pouring rain struck his skin like needles.
Right in front of him was a familiar, slender back.
Yurin's back. Yurin stood turned away from him, wearing the same high school uniform from ten years ago. Standing at the threshold of the dark, decaying gymnasium.
"Yurin." The boy, Ren, screamed, his voice trembling violently.
"Don't go. Don't abandon me."
But Yurin never looked back. He stepped forward, walking further and further away into the abyss.
Ren sprinted after him. He ran, but the harder he ran, the more the ground stretched. The distance between him and Yurin never closed.
"Yurin! Come back!" He began to weep, his hands clawing desperately at the empty air.
Finally, the tips of his fingers brushed against Yurin's shoulder.
Swoosh...
The exact second he made contact, Yurin's body shattered into dull, grey ash, crumbling to the ground. Scattering away in the wind and the rain. Leaving absolutely nothing but an agonizing emptiness in his grasp.
"NO!!!!!"
Ren screamed at the top of his lungs. But no one could hear him.
Suddenly, a colossal chain shot out from the darkness, instantly snapping around his throat. It snaked downward, binding his arms and finally shackling his legs. Violently dragging his body down, plunging him into a pitch-black, abyssal ocean.
So incredibly cold... agonizing... and utterly alone...
Beep... Beep... Beep... His pulse in the real world began to spike rapidly. His tightly sealed eyelids twitched faintly.
The mortally wounded lion was warring with his nightmare. Waiting for the day he would finally open his eyes... only to wake up in a very real hell.