beomgyu lost his sight - along with everyone else on earth - in the great blinding. two years later, without warning, his sight returns. as he look around, he realizes that every available wall, floor and surface has been painted with the same messa...
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Red. So much red. The pool of blood is growing sickenly scarlet, so I look away. I can't bear to look at the scene ahead of me twice.
I force myself to stand up, knees the slightest bit of wobbly due to my prolonged period of sitting down. Swiping the dust off my hands, I took a good look at my current surroundings.
The grey world is pretty much similar to what I had recalled, except they are severely lacking in human presence. I can hear my footsteps echoing after one another as I walk down the streets, careful not to step on the corpses lying messily around.
I don't know where I was headed. I just walked and walked, and my feet just mechanically put itself in front of the other, over and over again. I just wanted to walk until I saw a color other than the dull, repetitive grey, but to no avail.
Grey streets. Grey houses. Grey sky.
I wander into a narrow alley surrounded by stubby houses with tin roofs. I scrutinised the brick walls, which seemed to be engulfed in grey paint.
Grey paint? I thought to myself. It might be decades ago, but I recall that these bricks used to be painted red. I touch the walls, only to be bought about a cold, sticky sensation.
I look at my hands.
The grey paint latched onto my fingers, and I could smell the faint, odoriferous stench from a distance.
It was freshly painted. A while ago, it might even be a few minutes before I was here.
But why paint over the previous walls? I wander further into the alley, making a quick turn around the corner as I spot the familiar red walls. Only the front walls are painted over.
DON'T TELL THEM YOU CAN SEE!
As soon as I ventured further into the area, bold, capitalised sentences covered the walls, floors and any surface possible. A few spelling-mistakes reflected the vandaliser's rush in crafting the message, but the idea was clear.
Whoever wrote the message meant it for me. It was a piece of advice, a warning even. But its vagueness left me with a million doubts.
Who is 'them'? What would happen if they found out I could see? Is this message reliable, even?
Noticing the dead-end in the alley that left me no more to explore, I walked out of the paint-smelling enclosure. Then, something caught my eye.
It was cineral, monotone buildings that squeezed between one another. But in the middle was the tallest one. It was towering, almost into the ashen atmosphere, but that wasn't all.
Almost out of eye-level, on top of the building, was a bizarre object surrounded in what seemed to be a yellowish-gold aura.
What was that? I strain my neck to take a better look at it, but it was at such an inconvenient distance. Inspecting my surroundings, I retreat into the alley I had just discovered to get a closer look. As I reached a more comfortable scope, I realised that thing was moving — spinning, even, at an enormously insane speed. It was to the extent that I couldn't even notice its movements from afar. Squinting, I observed the object further and came to a sudden realisation.
It was an eye.
I took a few seconds to realise my vision had not been playing tricks on me.
It was a gigantic eye, hovering over the top of the building, letting itself rotate at an ferociously fast rate.
Then, it stopped.
It did not slow down gradually, like most spinning objects do, as far as my common knowledge allows, but it came to a stop almost instantly. I can see its olive orbs so clearly, it was as if the eye placed itself right before me.
Just as I immerse myself in the observation of the strange, giant eye, its orbs turned a crismon, alarming shade of red.
Maybe it was my previous few unpleasant encounters with the color of red, but a message immediately sprung into my mind.
RUN!
Before I could process the situation, my legs sprinted, carrying myself out of the alley as fast as I could.
"Mr. Choi Beomgyu?"
I bumped into someone, the sudden contact making my forehead ache agonisingly. It was a boy near my age, with silver hair and a futuristic-looking white coat. What looked like a pair of laboratory glasses framed his eyes as he looked directly at me.
DON'T TELL THEM YOU CAN SEE!
This message echoed itself in my mind. I don't know how trustworthy it is going to be, but my instincts tell me to follow. All I could do is hope for the best.
I stare blankly at a spot far behind the boy in front of me, just like how I was during the Great Blinding. My acting better be convincing, I thought to myself.
"Who's there?" I asked, as if I couldn't see him.
"I'm Kang Taehyun," I could see the boy furrow his brows for a second, but the sense of doubt that crossed his face vanished almost instantly as he reached out for my arm. "Why are you here? It's dangerous. Come, I'll bring you back." He said softly, as he led me gently out of the alley.
"It's extremely unsafe for people like us to wander out," He continues, "We are easily at risk — now, without sight and all."
What is he saying? I almost let that confused look show on my face, but I resisted. He could clearly see very well. For that split second, I felt relieved that I chose to follow the strange piece of advice I had just seen, but my thoughts were disrupted as Taehyun turned to look at me.
Then, those fancy lights on the top of his glasses start blinking furiously.
"Beomgyu," he smiles, though I did not understand who he was smiling for. I'm not supposed to even see his smile, anyway. "Are you okay?"
"I am, actually-" I was cut off mid-sentence as Taehyun whips out a strong source of light. The sudden brightness made me shield my eyes instinctively, before I realised I was tricked.
"So you can see," His smile grew wider as he slowly made his way toward me, and my brain started ringing. It was as if all the alarms started blaring at the same time.
ESCAPE NOW!
Without even thinking, I dashed towards the opposite direction, taking many turns in attempt to get rid of the boy behind me, realising that I had unfortunately ended up in the alley with a dead-end that I had just exited from.
In the midst of such an uneasy situation, I felt a wave of unexpected calmness crash onto me.
I think I'm going to die.
It was as if I had accepted the truth. I press my back against the chilly brick wall and wait for my consequence to arrive.
"Hey!" A voice boomed from above.
I lift my head, making direct eye contact with a black-haired boy with an urgent look on his face. He was squatting on the tin roof of the house right above me.
"What are you doing? Come up!" He reached his hand toward me, which I thankfully accepted as he pulled me up the roof of the, fortunately, single-levelled house.
