Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 96: Dominic (8)

In the ruined streets of Incheon, the blue-eyed figure scattered into white powder, carried away by the wind.

As if nothing had ever existed there to begin with—not a trace remained.

At that moment, the children who had been hiding in the corners of buildings began to poke their heads out.

At first, they looked around cautiously, but soon realized all threats had vanished. Shouts of joy erupted as they poured into the open.

[Hooray!]

The children’s jubilant cries echoed through the empty streets.

As if releasing all the pent-up energy they had been holding in, the children began running around in excitement.

There were so many of them that some bumped into each other and fell.

But even when they fell, they showed no signs of pain—instead, they rubbed their heads together and laughed, like it was all part of the fun.

I silently watched the children playing, then suddenly tilted my head back and looked up at the sky.

The sky was still filled with that bizarre, multicolored cosmos.

Purple and orange, green and red—all swirled together like a giant painter had flung paint recklessly across a canvas.

“I probably need to clean up this Corrosion Domain soon...”

There was unease in my muttering.

The multicolored cosmos filling the sky felt off.

It writhed like a living creature, and it almost felt as if something beyond it was watching us.

There was a chilling, ominous will emanating from it—something I hadn’t felt before.

I reached out and grabbed one of the children playing nearby.

The one who had waved to me first—bright-eyed and especially energetic.

“Alright. From here on out, guide me to the center of this Corrosion Domain.”

The child, eyes sparkling like they’d just been invited into a game, nodded enthusiastically.

Then, without hesitation, they started leading me.

The child weaved easily through narrow alleyways, as if they knew them well.

As we moved closer toward the center, the ominous energy leaking down from the sky grew heavier and heavier.

The familiar alleys of Korea began to warp.

The corners of buildings bent at impossible angles.

It felt like I was being sucked into that twisted cosmos above.

How far had we walked?

Sssrrrk...

Red mist began to rise from beneath our feet.

At first, it was a faint pink—but it gradually deepened, eventually turning into a thick, blood-red fog.

The mist clung to my skin with a sticky texture, creating an unpleasant sensation.

And from within that red mist, countless masks began to emerge.

Grinning faces. Faces weeping in sorrow. Faces twisted in rage. Faces serenely asleep...

Masks bearing all kinds of emotions floated in the air, staring directly at me.

In the red fog, where not even a sliver of light could break through, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) those masks drifted like ghosts, exuding an eerie atmosphere.

[What is it that you desire?]

Suddenly, one of the countless masks spoke to me.

No—none of the masks actually moved their mouths.

It was as if the fog itself had a will of its own and was whispering to me.

A strange, chilling voice echoed directly inside my mind.

[Don’t you want Seoul back?]

The voice grew clearer the further I followed the child.

But strangely, the child didn’t seem to hear it at all. They continued skipping ahead, completely carefree, guiding me forward.

That bothered me enough that I decided to pretend—just like the child—that I heard nothing.

[Let me give it back to you—Seoul. All those lost years.]

As I neared the center of the Corrosion Domain, the voice began making sweeter, more alluring offers.

Pizzas stacked like mountains, steam rising from them, smelling delicious.

A Korea that no longer saw me as an outsider.

Real, living Triceratops roaming freely across green plains.

And Seoul, just as it was 100 years ago—the time and place I so desperately wanted to reclaim.

It promised all of it, again and again, in a voice so sweet it was hard to resist.

If I hadn’t been able to see what I was seeing—those strange distortions—I might have fallen for it without even realizing it.

But...

‘...’

There was a horrific truth hidden beyond the red fog.

My vision, enhanced by Circle Energy, managed to catch faint glimpses of what lay beyond.

Inside the mist, corpses lay scattered—inside out.

As if someone had turned balloons inside out, bones and organs were on the outside, and skin was tucked inward—a grotesque inversion.

And between those corpses, strange, monstrous structures could be seen.

The surrounding buildings, asphalt, even the air—all blended into hideous shapes that defied recognition.

“The multicolored cosmos...”

This red fog, and those bizarre masks—it was likely they originated from that multicolored cosmos as well.

Just like the webbed corpses and the blue mist I encountered before.

The deeper we went, the thicker the fog became—until I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.

It was like swimming in a sea of blood. The red filled everything.

[Over there!]

But the child leading me acted as if the dense fog didn’t exist at all. They pointed beyond the mist, grinning brightly.

When I followed their pointing finger, I could barely make out a massive shape on the other side of the fog.

As I drew closer, its true form came into view.

It was a grotesque mass—as if human flesh had been torn into scraps and stitched back together.

Hundreds, thousands of people had been fused into a single colossal lump of meat.

And at the very top of that mass—

A massive mask made of blood-colored jade had been placed.

Its expression was bizarrely twisted—halfway between fury and despair.

As if every negative emotion in the world had been sculpted into a single face.

****

The Phantom with a gaping hole in its chest looked down at its wound in disbelief.

Its expression was a mixture of panic, fear, and something deeply desperate.

Staggering, the Phantom glanced around.

Its unstable gaze swung left and right—like it was searching for something, or pleading for help.

[We... we must not diminish any further.]

The overlapping voices echoed through the space.

It was impossible to tell whether it was a groan or a scream—an eerie, trembling resonance.

[We cannot... repeat that failure...]

Another voice followed. It was as though some memory from the past, some deep-rooted trauma, was suffocating them.

[There is no time left for us...]

The Phantom’s form began to rapidly blur.

The singular figure split into dozens—hundreds—of afterimages.

Each afterimage wore a different expression, each muttering its own monologue of despair in a different posture.

And then, in the next instant, the Phantom distorted into static—like an old television screen shutting off.

The noise faded, little by little, until it finally melted completely into the air and vanished.

Just like during the Great War fifty years ago.

The moment one Phantom fell, the rest had fled. That memory flashed through Dominic’s mind.

“...Huff.”

Dominic let out a deep sigh and, with trembling hands, fumbled through his jacket.

His fingers found the cool metal casing.

It was a state-of-the-art emergency regeneration kit from Chronos Biotech.

Psshhk—

With a hiss of compressed air, the nanomedical compounds were injected directly into his bloodstream.

The effect was immediate.

His torn wounds began to close rapidly, and the bleeding stopped.

His blurred vision began to clear.

‘As expected from Chronos’s premium lineup.’

Just as Dominic let out a breath of relief and tried to stand—

He felt someone approaching.

At first, he tensed, wondering if it was an enemy—but when he saw who it was, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Three figures were slowly walking toward him.

But their appearances... were strange.

The first thing that stood out was their foreheads.

Each of them had a small face embedded in their forehead.

‘Who...?’

At first, the bizarre sight made it impossible to recognize them.

But once he looked past the small foreheads and focused on their real faces, Dominic realized who they were.

Amber. Victor. And Aria.

The comrades of the Pizza Demon, A—the ones he had confirmed during the investigation.

He bowed his head respectfully and opened his mouth.

“Thank you for saving—”

But his words didn’t make it to the end.

THUUUUMM!

A massive tremor suddenly shook the ground beneath him.

And it wasn’t just a tremor.

It was as if a giant heart was pounding beneath the earth—or something massive was thrashing inside, desperate to break free.

“What the hell?!”

Victor shouted in alarm.

The tiny face stuck to his forehead made the same shocked expression, which was oddly comical—but this was no time to laugh.

The surface of the black pillar began to shift dramatically. From its once-smooth surface, something started to bulge outward.

It was...

A human face.

Hundreds—thousands—of faces, twisted in pain, sorrow, despair, and loneliness, pushed out from the surface of the pillar, then sank back in again, over and over.

“!”

Everyone fell silent as they looked up at the pillar, speechless.

And then, the pillar began to wobble violently—like it could collapse at any moment, no longer able to maintain its shape.