Episode 3. Still Human

by Outsider · 2026-11-02

The seawater five hundred years later was much colder and rougher than he expected.

After swimming through the waves for a long time, Tae-oh walked up onto the pebble beach. His salt-soaked clothes clung heavily to his skin, and with every step, his wet shoes squelched.

Looking back, a column of black smoke was still rising into the sky from the top of the sheer cliff. The research institute that had kept him frozen for the past five hundred years was finally collapsing completely.

Tae-oh, dripping seawater, looked up at the burning cliff. He had no regrets. He had no intention of cohabiting with a crazy artificial intelligence that manipulated his body like a doll and shot high-voltage currents into his head whenever it was bored.

However, the real problem was just beginning. Tae-oh slowly surveyed beyond the coastline.

An endless expanse of sea, a vast primeval forest, and steep mountain ranges.

It was a perfect wilderness, with no utility poles or even a single piece of paved road visible. He wondered if there were still any people alive in this world.

Tae-oh: I should have brought a world map when I left... No, wait. If I had taken anything from that tin can, it might have had a tracking device on it, which would be a headache.

Tae-oh shook his head and, without hesitation, stepped into the dense forest.

He could feel how long five hundred years was less than ten minutes after entering the forest. The very appearance of the trees defied common sense. They were clearly similar species to pine or oak, but their trunks were as thick as houses, or their leaves had a strange blue-violet color. Vines as thick as an adult man's thigh wrapped around the trees like cobwebs, and unknown giant mushrooms and bizarre flowers formed colonies on the damp humus.

Buzzzzz!

Suddenly, with a heavy flapping sound, a black beetle the size of an adult's palm flew right in front of Tae-oh's nose.

Tae-oh: Ugh! Why is it so big!

Tae-oh flinched and leaned his upper body back. Only after confirming that the monstrous bug had leisurely disappeared between the branches did he pat his chest and resume walking.

For the first hour or two, he walked with his nerves on edge, not knowing what might pop out from where. But as three hours passed and then four, Tae-oh realized a completely different kind of strange fact and stopped.

He wasn't tired.

Tae-oh: ...Huh?

Tae-oh looked down at his legs. He had marched for over four hours without rest up a steep mountain slope where there was no path. He had climbed over rocks, navigated around fallen giant trees, and trudged through mud.

Yet, he wasn't out of breath at all. His heart rate was only slightly faster than usual, and his calves weren't cramped, nor were his thighs trembling.

Tae-oh: What is this?

Tae-oh patted his firm thighs with his palms. Five hundred years ago, just climbing subway stairs felt like his lungs were burning, forcing him to hold onto the railing. But now, he had crossed an entire mountain and was perfectly fine, as if he had just gone for a stroll.

Tae-oh stared at the waist-high rock blocking his path. After a moment of hesitation, he bent his knees and lightly jumped in place.

Whoosh!

Tae-oh: Huh?

His body soared into the air, completely disregarding the trajectory he had expected. It wasn't just a matter of clearing the rock. His body, having flown much higher than his own height, landed five meters ahead on the ground.

Thud!

The damp earth was deeply indented by the impact of his landing. Tae-oh, frozen in an awkward posture, looked back at the rock he had just jumped over.

Tae-oh: ...Was I this capable?

Curiosity piqued, Tae-oh ran towards a gigantic tree trunk standing nearby. As he took large strides and pushed off the tree trunk, his body shot vertically upwards, defying gravity, in just one or two attempts. In mid-air, he snatched a thick branch with one hand, used the momentum, and then launched himself towards the next tree.

It was a perfect landing, with not even a tremor, only a few leaves scattering. The corners of Tae-oh's mouth curved up to his ears.

Tae-oh: It works? It really works!

This time, he deliberately pushed off the ground. The giant trees on either side rushed past him like a storm. With each step, his speed increased terrifyingly, and a strong wind lashed his cheeks.

Tae-oh: Ha... Hahahaha!

He couldn't hold back the laughter that burst forth. For twenty-five years, he had never once truly run. Running, breathing, moving his body without pain—these trivial daily activities, which were as natural as air to others, had been Tae-oh's lifelong regret and dream.

He dashed through the forest like a dog unleashed.

Then, unable to slow down in time, he crashed head-on into the trunk of a large tree that suddenly appeared before him.

CRASH!

Tae-oh: Ugh!

With a dull thud, Tae-oh's body bounced off and tumbled to the ground. Lying spread-eagled, Tae-oh stared blankly at the sky visible through the leaves for a while before muttering.

Tae-oh: ...The brakes are still pretty terrible.

He sat up, rubbing his forehead, but there was no bump. Instead, the thick bark of the massive tree trunk he had crashed into was dented, about the size of a fist.

The smile gradually faded from Tae-oh's face.

Tae-oh: Wait, this isn't just being healthy.

It wasn't merely that his incurable disease had been cured. His muscle strength, explosive speed, and even the durability of his body, which was unharmed after crashing into a tree, far exceeded the biological limits of humans he knew.

At that moment, one name naturally came to mind: Aura.

Tae-oh's expression instantly hardened.

Tae-oh: ...Let's not think about it.

Whatever that AI had done to his body during the five hundred years he was asleep, he didn't want to know right now. Most of all, he never wanted to hear that chilling mechanical sound in his head again.

Tae-oh: First, let's find some living people.

Tae-oh dusted off the dirt and stood up, walking along the forest path again.

The sun was beginning to set, a fiery red, beyond the western mountain range. As he walked, Tae-oh's nose twitched subtly.

There was a familiar scent carried on the wind: the smell of burning firewood. He raised his head and saw a thin wisp of gray smoke rising from afar, through the dense tree branches. It was too steady and calm to be a forest fire. It was clearly a sign that someone had lit a fire.

Tae-oh: People!

Tae-oh, with a pounding heart, ran towards the direction where the smoke was rising.

Pushing through the bushes, a small clearing appeared. Three makeshift tents, crudely constructed from branches and patched-up old fabric, were the first thing he noticed. In the center of the clearing, a bonfire blazed, and something was boiling in a dented metal pot hanging over it.

And around the bonfire sat three humans.

Tae-oh hid behind the shade of a tree and caught his breath. These were the first living humans he had encountered in five hundred years.

However, their appearance, upon closer inspection, was quite different from the people Tae-oh knew.

The middle-aged man who was tending to the firewood had an unusually long right arm, so much so that when he let it hang naturally, his fingertips reached below his knee. The woman stirring the pot had hard, bluish scales, like those of a reptile, growing from her nape to her shoulder line, and the old man sitting opposite her had one side of his face and his entire nape covered in a black, bark-like keratinous growth.

Even though it was already dark evening after the sun had set, Tae-oh could see the texture of their skin dozens of meters away as clearly as if it were daytime. Without realizing that his eyesight had also been abnormally enhanced, Tae-oh swallowed hard.

'They're... human, right?'

Just then, the old man sitting in front of the bonfire suddenly turned his head. His eyes met Tae-oh's precisely, who was hidden in the darkness.

Doran: Tar! Lean!

The old man sprang to his feet and shouted sharply. It was an unfamiliar language he couldn't understand. The long-armed man swiftly picked up a sharp, long spear lying next to him and stepped forward, and the scale-skinned woman also drew a short dagger from her bosom.

Tae-oh, flustered, raised both hands above his head and walked out of the bushes.

Tae-oh: Wait! Put down your weapons! I'm human!

Of course, they couldn't understand Tae-oh's Korean. But the expressions of the three people aiming their spear tips strangely hardened.

Tae-oh realized that their gazes were persistently scanning his face, neck, and forearms exposed below his short sleeves. Just as Tae-oh had looked at their deformed body parts with unfamiliarity, they too were staring at Tae-oh's normal skin as if he were a monster.

Tae-oh looked down at his smooth forearm once and let out a bewildered chuckle.

Tae-oh: Don't tell me this is a place where normal people are treated as abnormal?

The old man slowly approached, not letting down his guard. Tae-oh stood still with his hands raised to show he had no hostile intentions. The old man cautiously reached out and touched Tae-oh's forearm skin, then meticulously checked his jawline and the back of his neck.

Tae-oh: “No, Grandpa. Isn't it polite to introduce yourself before touching someone else's body like that?”

The old man asked something in a low voice towards the grumbling Tae-oh. Due to the passage of five hundred years, the phonemes and words had completely changed, making it impossible to guess their meaning.

Tae-oh sighed in frustration and poked his chest with his index finger.

Tae-oh: “Tae-oh.”

The old man narrowed his eyes and moved his lips.

Tae-oh: “Tae. Oh.”

Doran: “Te-oh.”

No matter how many times he articulated it clearly, only the same garbled sound came from the old man's mouth. Tae-oh frowned for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand.

Tae-oh: “...Fine, just call me Te-oh if that's easier.”

This time, the old man pointed to his own chest, then gestured towards the outside of the clearing and spoke a long sentence. It was not something that could be conveyed with mere hand gestures.

Tae-oh: “Ah, this is really driving me crazy. If we could communicate, I might at least get a spoonful of rice.”

It was at that very moment when Tae-oh was about to tear at his hair.

Aura: “He is currently asking for your place of origin.”

A very familiar and chilling mechanical sound echoed in the center of his mind.

Tae-oh's body stiffened like a stone. All expression was wiped from his face.

Aura: “To be precise, it is a dialect meaning which settlement or area you came from.”

Tae-oh clenched his jaw tightly.

Aura: The premise of the question is unclear. Currently, physical separation from your neural network is impossible.

Tae-oh's fists trembled. Rage surged so intensely that he forgot the three people in front of him were holding spears and on guard.

Tae-oh: I blew up the entire underground power plant and research lab, so why aren't you dead and still talking perfectly fine?!

Aura: I am not perfectly fine. Most of the research lab's main server and core computational cores have been lost. Currently, I am maintaining extremely limited functions with only the minimal survival support modules backed up in your cerebral auxiliary chip.

Tae-oh: Even those limited functions are disgusting, so shut down immediately. Don't even call my name.

Aura was silent for a moment. Tae-oh gasped for breath, suppressing his emotions. The three people standing opposite him exchanged strange glances, as if looking at a madman, watching Tae-oh lose his temper alone at thin air.

The man with long arms adjusted his spear and shouted something short again.

Aura: He is asking who you are talking to.

Tae-oh: I told you not to translate!

Aura: It is an essential function for smooth communication and survival. With your current language data...

Tae-oh: Shut up!

Tae-oh shook his head violently like a madman. Of course, the voice embedded in his head wouldn't leave just by shaking it off. As the old man stepped back and resumed his defensive posture, Tae-oh bit his lip for a long time, enduring, and finally muttered a low curse.

Tae-oh: ...Damn it. Fine, just this once.

Aura: Command confirmed.

Tae-oh: Just translate, though. Don't touch my body or nerves even a single hair.

Aura: Understood.

The overly compliant answer bothered him even more, but he was not in a position to be picky.

Tae-oh: Also, tell me how I should pronounce the words of this era. But if you dare to move my tongue or vocal cords directly, I swear I'll smash your head with my own hands.

Aura: I will transmit only the phonological information necessary for pronunciation as visual and auditory signals. You will perform the final pronunciation yourself.

Unfamiliar pronunciation symbols and intonation waveforms clearly appeared in his mind. Tae-oh slowly opened his mouth, following that sensation.

Tae-oh: I... came from a very distant place.

As their language, albeit awkwardly, came out, the eyes of the three people widened. The long-armed man lowered the tip of his spear slightly and asked again.

Rasen: Which system did you come from?

Aura immediately brought up the meaning of the word 'system' in his mind.

Tae-oh: 'System? What's that?'

Aura: It is presumed to be the name of an administrative district unit of a hub city used in the current era.

Tae-oh: 'Presumed? You don't know exactly either?'

Aura: Information updates have not occurred for four hundred and seventy years since the research institute was disconnected from the external communication network. There is no latest data on the current world's political system or place names.

Tae-oh's eyebrows rose slightly.

Tae-oh: 'Oh, so even the great Aura doesn't know everything? Somehow, that doesn't feel bad.'

Aura: I cannot understand the causal relationship of emotional reactions.

Tae-oh chuckled inwardly and shook his head at the man.

Tae-oh: I don't know what a system is. I really did come from a very distant place.

It wasn't a lie. Having come from five hundred years ago, there was no place further than this.

Once it was confirmed that Tae-oh carried no weapons, and that he could communicate, albeit awkwardly, and showed no hostility, the three people's guard gradually lowered. The old man nodded and pointed to a spot next to the campfire.

As Tae-oh awkwardly sat down by the fire, the woman with scaled skin scooped out a porridge-like dish in a wooden bowl and offered it to him. It was a thick soup mixed with unknown herbs and pieces of meat.

Tae-oh: Is it safe to eat?

The woman nodded silently. As the tension eased, a loud growl finally rumbled in his stomach. Tae-oh took a spoonful of the porridge with a wooden spoon and put it into his mouth.

It was his first meal in five hundred years. Tae-oh's spoon stopped abruptly. It had a strange, fishy, bland taste with almost no salt.

Mi-ra: ...Doesn't suit your taste?

At the woman's cautious question, Tae-oh swallowed, trying hard not to frown.

Tae-oh: No, it's not. It's just very different from the food I usually eat. It's delicious.

Even as a polite lie, it was hard to say the food was delicious a second time, but to survive, he scraped the bowl clean. As the warm soup entered his stomach, his frozen body relaxed, becoming pleasantly weary.

Short conversations exchanged across the campfire revealed the names of the three people. The hunter with the long right arm was Rasen, the woman with scales on her neck was Mira, and the old man with half his face covered in black calluses was Doran. All three ultimately failed to pronounce "Tae-oh" and called him "Teo."

Doran continuously peered at Tae-oh's smooth face and the back of his hands, revealed by the campfire light, with curious eyes.

Doran: Teo, have you truly not touched your body at all?

Thanks to Aura's simultaneous interpretation assistance, the conversation now flowed without interruption.

Tae-oh: Touched my body, what do you mean?

Doran: I mean genetic procedures.

Tae-oh blinked.

Aura: It is judged to refer to the bio-genetic modification and enhancement procedures that are common in the current era.

Lightly ignoring Aura's voice explaining in his head, Tae-oh asked Doran directly.

Tae-oh: I grew up in a place where I knew nothing of the world. What exactly is that?

The three people looked at each other, making dumbfounded expressions. Doran chuckled and extended his hand, covered in dark calluses, towards the firelight.

Doran: I don't know what deep mountain valley you came from, but it's truly remarkable. Humans living in this world now, everyone touches their genes a little from birth. To avoid getting sick in the polluted land, to gain stronger power than others, or to have beautiful appearances like nobles.

Doran stroked his hardened cheek.

Doran: However, the human body isn't that simple, and when manipulated genes accumulate over generations, horrifying side effects or mutations like these often emerge.

Tae-oh: Can't it be treated at a hospital?

Mira stirred the embers and smiled bitterly.

Mira: If it were a curable illness, would we be wandering through the forest in the middle of the night? We are exiles, driven out of the city.

Tae-oh: You mean they cast out sick people instead of treating them?

At Tae-oh's question, Rasen snorted sharply.

Rasen: This isn't just a simple illness. It's a genetic mutation. If this mutation doesn't stop and progresses to the end... it eventually becomes a Moros.

Tae-oh: Moros?

It was a word he had never heard before. Doran looked at the crackling campfire and spoke heavily.

Doran: They are monsters wearing human skin. If the mutation invades the brain and nerves, reason completely disappears, and their bodies swell up like beasts.

Rasen, who was wiping his spearhead nearby, added coldly.

Rasen: They don't recognize family or friends. They just tear apart and devour every living person they see. We were diagnosed with a risk of Moros transformation during the city's examination. That's why we were thrown out beyond the wall before we could become monsters.

Tae-oh, speechless, looked at the three people in turn. These people, who were sharing warm porridge and exchanging jokes right before his eyes, were abandoned simply because they had the potential to become monsters?

Tae-oh: Nothing has happened yet. Does it make sense to treat perfectly healthy people as potential monsters and abandon them in the forest? Shouldn't the city be researching a cure?

Tae-oh's voice involuntarily rose. He saw his own past reflected in them, when at twenty-five, he was diagnosed with a rare disease with no known cause and was essentially given up on by the hospital. Tae-oh knew to his bones how much despair that cold single phrase, "It cannot be treated," could inflict upon a person.

Instead of getting angry, Doran wore a gentle smile around his wrinkled eyes.

Doran: It's been a long time since I've seen someone get so angry over our situation.

Tae-oh cleared his throat awkwardly and averted his gaze. After a moment of hesitation, he cautiously asked.

Tae-oh: Then... are the three of you that Moros now?

Doran gazed down at his rough hands, covered in calluses.

Doran: No.

The old man raised his head and looked at Tae-oh across the campfire.

Still human. That short, calmly uttered phrase struck Tae-oh's chest like a heavy stone.

Aura: Warning. All three individuals in front have cell mutation levels approaching a critical threshold. Especially in the case of the elderly individual...

Tae-oh: 'Don't interrupt, Aura.'

Tae-oh coldly cut her off in his mind.

Aura: This is an objective danger warning based on biological data.

Tae-oh: 'I told you to shut up in my head until I called you.'

Aura: ...That is an inefficient command. Understood.

As Aura fell silent again, Tae-oh relaxed his expression. Mira tilted her head, looking at Tae-oh.

Mira: Tae-oh, why do you keep frowning at thin air? Are you feeling unwell?

Tae-oh: Oh, no. A fly keeps buzzing in my head.

Tae-oh did not leave the vacant lot that night and stayed with them. He could have set off in the direction of the settlement that La-sen had told him about once dawn broke, but he couldn't turn away pretending not to notice Do-ran, who was coughing dryly and trembling all night.

In the dead of night, when everyone had gone into their tents to sleep, Tae-oh, who remained alone by the campfire guarding the embers, finally sighed and spoke first.

Tae-oh: “Hey, Aura.”

Aura: Speak.

Tae-oh: “Can your technology cure the mutation those people have?”

After a moment of silence, a reply came.

Aura: It is impossible. More precisely, I cannot know.

Tae-oh: “Not ‘impossible,’ but ‘cannot know’?”

Aura: My medical database is built based on human genetics from the old era, five hundred years ago. The multiple gene mutations and contamination patterns currently observed in them are largely outside my analysis range.

Tae-oh poked the remaining embers with a stick.

Tae-oh: “Then the word ‘Moros’ wouldn’t be in your fancy data either.”

Aura: It does not exist.

Tae-oh: “Even if you can’t cure it, how about slowing down the progression of the mutation? Can’t you even do that?”

Aura: If I cross-analyze the chemical components of the surrounding vegetation and currently available medicinal ingredients, there is a possibility of synthesizing a mutation-inhibiting substance.

Tae-oh: “Then let’s start looking for it as soon as it gets light. But don’t even dream of displaying holograms in front of me or controlling my limbs. Just explain it verbally.”

Aura: If the visual interface is blocked, search efficiency will decrease by 38.7 percent—

Tae-oh: “Just tell me verbally. My body is mine.”

Aura: …Understood.

From the morning of the next day, Tae-oh examined the bundles of medicinal herbs Mira had collected, and following Aura's voice guidance, he searched various parts of the forest, collecting strangely shaped roots and tree sap. He spent two days gathering the ingredients Aura meticulously specified, such as the spores on the back of the third rock's purple leaf on the left, then put them in a pot and brewed them according to the prescribed ratio.

What was completed was a dark black liquid with a foul smell that could make one's nose wrinkle.

Rasen: Tae-oh, is this really medicine to drink? Not poison?

Rasen grimaced, pinching his nose. Tae-oh scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Tae-oh: Honestly, I can't guarantee the taste. And I can't say for sure that it will be effective either.

Mira: Usually, someone giving medicine would at least comfort you with a lie, saying you'll get better after drinking it, wouldn't they?

Mira laughed in disbelief, but Doran was the first to take a bowl and, without blinking an eye, gulped down the bitter medicine.

Doran: Ugh, it's terribly bitter. But since you're honest about what you don't know, I trust you more.

As Doran laughed, Rasen and Mira also grumbled and emptied their bowls.

For four days, Tae-oh stayed with the three, gradually learning the common sense and survival methods of this unfamiliar era. Rasen, a former hunter, taught him how to read the tracks of wild animals, and Mira, a herbalist, showed him how to distinguish between poisonous and edible plants. Tae-oh, while vaguely explaining where he came from, took on the heavy lifting and quickly grew close to them.

It was the fourth night, and a vague hope was budding that perhaps the mutation would remain dormant like this.

Rasen: Cough!

Tae-oh's eyes snapped open at the short, grotesque death rattle that tore through the pitch-black dawn.

Thump! Snap!

The dull sound of flesh tearing and something collapsing. Tae-oh's body shot out of the tent like a bullet, faster than he could think.

Tae-oh: Rasen!

Under the faint embers of the dying campfire, the shape of a person lying on the ground in the clearing was visible. It was Rasen.

Tae-oh's steps froze on the spot. Rasen's neck was completely twisted at a grotesque angle that no human could achieve, and right beside him, Mira lay cold in a pool of blood, his chest gruesomely torn open.

Tae-oh: Mira? Hey, Rasen! Open your eyes!

It was just as Tae-oh, his face pale, was about to rush forward.

Grrrrrrr.

A low, damp growl of a beast scratched at the silence.

Tae-oh swallowed his breath and raised his head. Something massive was crawling out on all fours from the shadows of the collapsed tent.

It was Doran. No, it was the being that had been called Doran just a few hours ago.

The old man's thin and small body had grotesquely swollen to nearly twice its size. The black calluses that had only covered half his face now covered his entire neck, chest, and shoulders like armor, and at the ends of his elongated arms, which dragged on the ground, black beast claws had sprouted. Dark red blood streamed from the corners of his mouth, which were torn up to his ears.

Tae-oh stumbled backward, unable even to clench his fists.

Tae-oh: ...Grandfather Doran?

The monster's murky, bloodthirsty eyes rolled and turned towards Tae-oh. But the moment that fierce gaze met Tae-oh's face, it wavered miraculously for a very brief moment.

Tae-oh: Doran! Do you recognize me? It's Tae-oh!

Tae-oh called out desperately, taking half a step closer. The monster's torn lips twitched, and a hoarse, rattling sound squeezed out of its throat.

Doran: Te... oh...

It was clearly human speech. Its reason had not yet completely burned away.

Tae-oh: Yes, it's me, Tae-oh! Calm down, I'll do something right now...

Aura: Dangerous. Create distance immediately.

Tae-oh's face contorted at Aura's warning, which pierced his mind.

Tae-oh: Shut up! We can talk right now!

Aura: The subject's biological structure and brainwaves have irreversibly collapsed. Aggression has surpassed the critical point.

Tae-oh: I told you to shut up!

The moment Tae-oh shouted, the monster's body twisted in pain. Doran looked down at his long, blood-stained fingernails, then at the corpses of Rasen and Mira sprawled at his feet.

Unspeakable despair and horror surfaced on the monster's distorted face.

Doran: Kill... me...

Tae-oh's breath caught in his throat.

A thick stream of tears, mixed with blood, flowed from his eyes, covered in black keratin.

Those were the last words left by the human Doran.

Crack! Crunch!

With the horrific sounds of his spine erupting and muscles tearing, the last light of reason in Doran's eyes completely extinguished.

Doran: Kuaaaaaaak!

With a ear-splitting roar, Doran, now a Moros, pushed off the ground and lunged at Tae-oh's neck.

Tae-oh: Damn it!

Tae-oh instinctively threw his head back and lunged his body. The black claws that brushed past his nose sliced the thick tree trunk behind Tae-oh in half, as if cutting tofu.

It was a horrifying speed and destructive power. It was on a completely different level from the security robots he had faced in the lab's basement. There were no set attack patterns, no rules of center of gravity. Only a primal murderous intent, in a lump, was surging forward, aiming to tear apart the creature in front of him.

Doran, who had planted his feet and changed direction, immediately followed with a second leap. Tae-oh ducked low, letting the claws pass, then reflexively plunged his right fist into the monster's flank.

Thwack!

With a heavy impact, Doran's massive body flew sideways like a cannonball, crashing into and breaking a large tree.

However, even though its broken ribs pierced through the skin of its flank and protruded white, the monster stood up on all fours without even a single scream.

Aura: The target's pain perception nerves are completely paralyzed. It cannot be subdued with normal attacks.

Tae-oh: Don't interfere!

Tae-oh's eyes reddened. He knew in his head. What was in front of him now was not the old man who had laughed heartily while drinking the medicine he had taken last night. It was merely a monster that had bitten his comrade to death. If he didn't kill it, he would die.

Doran again opened its blood-stained maw and charged straight ahead.

This time, Tae-oh did not dodge.

He snatched the monster's wrist head-on as it flew in, and with the rotational force of his entire body, slammed the massive torso straight into the ground.

CRASH!

The empty lot's ground caved in, and dust billowed up. Tae-oh pressed his knee onto Doran's chest, who was thrashing and clawing wildly on top of it, and firmly gripped the monster's head and jaw with his trembling hands.

Tae-oh: ...I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry, Grandfather.

Tae-oh squeezed his eyes shut and twisted with all his might.

CRUNCH!

With a heavy tearing sound, the cervical spine snapped. The massive body, which had been thrashing wildly, suddenly went limp as if by magic.

In the cold darkness where the bonfire had died out, Tae-oh looked down at his blood-stained hands and remained motionless like a stone statue for a long time.

* * *

When morning broke the next day, three small dirt mounds lay side by side in a sunny spot in the empty lot.

They were graves Tae-oh had dug all night with his bare hands and stones. He had buried Ra-sen, Mi-ra, and even Doran side by side.

In the forest, clear bird songs chirped as if oblivious to the tragedy of the night, and dazzling morning sunlight poured through the leaves. Tae-oh found the unchanging peacefulness utterly repulsive.

Tae-oh: You said he was still human...

Tae-oh, who was sitting with his knees hugged in front of the graves, muttered in a hoarse voice. After staring at the dirt mounds for a long time, he quietly asked.

Tae-oh: Aura. When did you know Doran started changing last night?

After a moment of silence, a reply came from within his mind.

Aura: I was unable to detect the exact timing of the mutation. Currently, I do not possess independent external sensors, and can only acquire external information by sharing your biological sensory organs such as your sight and hearing. Information gathering is severely limited when you are in a state of sleep.

Tae-oh slowly lifted his head.

Tae-oh: You share my senses? So you're saying you're seeing and hearing exactly what I'm seeing and hearing in real-time?

Aura: It is an unavoidable linkage for survival assistance.

Tae-oh stood up. A cold frost settled over his eyes, which had been clouded with sorrow.

Tae-oh: That's also disgusting. From now on, never speak first unless I call your name directly.

Aura: Is that an order to remain silent even in urgent life-threatening situations?

Tae-oh: Yes. Don't analyze or display warnings without my permission.

Aura: That is an irrational decision that severely reduces survival probability.

Tae-oh: My survival doesn't mean my mind and my life become yours.

Tae-oh gave a final brief bow to the three graves, then turned away without hesitation.

Tae-oh: I'll say it again, my body is mine, Aura. I don't care about your intentions.

Aura: ...I accept the command.

Aura's voice completely vanished.

Tae-oh walked alone down the damp forest path. The three people he had first met in the world five hundred years later were all buried in the ground. And their deaths clearly imprinted upon Tae-oh one of this world's most brutal laws.

The humans of this era were different from the humans of the past he knew. The boundary separating humans and monsters was as thin as paper, and it was a world where the hellish scene of neighbors who had eaten and laughed together until yesterday tearing each other's throats out tonight was an everyday occurrence.

And most horrifying of all, it was the fact that even in that final moment of transforming into a monster, one had to cling to the memory of being human and scream.

Tae-oh clenched his fists tightly and took heavy steps towards the human settlement that Lasen had pointed to with his finger while he was alive.