Chapter 6 : Inside the Belly of the Beast

“Yoon Jihan, this way!”

“I’m running straight ahead, how am I supposed to know where ‘this way’ is! You come here!”

Sekyeom flew rapidly towards Jihan, who was running frantically.

At that moment, the upper half of the house-sized monster leaped out in front of him, blocking his path.

Smaller now, the monster was faster and nimbler, easily surpassing Sekyeom’s height with just one bounce from its spot.

Looking up at the monster casting a shadow over him, Sekyeom clicked his tongue displeasedly and urgently reached out his hand.

Hastily activating his power, Sekyeom grabbed the monster and instinctively turned his head to find Jihan.

At that instant, he saw the lower half of the monster leaping high, about to fall onto Jihan’s head.

Witnessing the critical situation, Sekyeom stretched out his remaining hand and shot out chilling blue energy.

The cold energy flew towards the monster’s lower half, beginning to freeze its bottom part along with the ground.

Using two abilities simultaneously, Sekyeom clenched his teeth, feeling his insides churn from the tangled energies.

The panel on his watch was already flashing red, emitting sharp warning sounds.

[ECI Level 60%, 61%, 62%…]

The level rose rapidly, with no time to react.

While his attention was briefly diverted by the watch, the monster generated intense heat, melted the ice, and resumed chasing Jihan closely.

Meanwhile, Jihan was also fleeing the monster, but due to the significant difference in physical ability, he was quickly overtaken.

Thump, thump, the ground shook each time the monster landed.

The gradually intensifying vibrations signified the monster was getting closer.

Ignoring the dust kicking up at his feet, Jihan bit his lip hard and kept running.

Fortunately, another blast of cold energy stretched out from the ground, snatching the monster’s torso.

The heat-laden smoke and the crackling, growing ice continuously clashed as if fighting.

Steam rose from the conflict, beginning to spread thickly over the grassy area.

Smelling the watery scent of the steam, Jihan unconsciously looked back.

And at that moment, his eyes met Sekyeom’s.

His terrified eyes, fixed on Sekyeom, trembled violently.

Seeing this, Sekyeom swallowed a curse between his teeth.

The watch continued to emit sharp warning sounds.

Forcing himself to use two abilities while his energy was already tangled due to guiding deficiency was clearly straining him.

Sekyeom glanced alternately at the monster blocking his path and the one held by ice, then let out a long, deep breath.

“Yoon Jihan! Run towards me!”

Sekyeom shouted and simultaneously released his grip on the first monster.

He then gathered all his strength, focusing on reaching Jihan.

Sekyeom, a multi-ability user, concentrated fully and teleported the short distance.

He opened his arms towards Jihan, who appeared right before him.

The monster did the same.

Quickly melting the ice, the monster closed in right behind Jihan.

The other monster, having lost Sekyeom from its sight, used the connecting part between them to rapidly fly towards its other half.

“Sekyeom!”

Feeling the shadow loom from behind, Jihan instinctively called out Sekyeom’s name.

And just as fear caused him to misstep and stumble slightly, a wide chest firmly pulled him into an embrace.

Having safely caught Jihan, Sekyeom immediately tried to lift them into the air.

However, the monster, already merged back into its giant form, let out that unpleasant ‘Bboo?’ sound again and opened its round mouth

wide.

Its small, beak-like mouth opened to nearly the size of a playground, instantly engulfing the two.

Sekyeom reflexively held Jihan tighter.

Jihan, regaining his senses and opening his eyes, also saw the massive mouth closing over their heads and tightly gripped Sekyeom’s clothes.

A moment later, nothing remained in that spot.

Gradually losing its red hue and returning to pink, the monster bounced cheerfully, seemingly ecstatic.

Children remained playing in the elementary school playground after school hours.

Some kids gathered near the soccer goal, chasing only the ball, while others played in the sandpit beneath the monkey bars.

Similarly, Jihan’s friends, having tossed their bags aside in a corner of the playground, excitedly climbed onto the jungle gym.

However, Jihan merely looked up at his friends with anxious eyes.

“Jihan, hurry up and climb up too!”

“Let’s play freeze tag here.”

“Then let’s decide the tagger with rock-paper-scissors first.”

The fearless children leaped between the bars of the jungle gym without properly gripping the poles.

Especially Changsu and Homin, who were close to Jihan, zipped through the jungle gym like flying squirrels.

Watching them, Jihan’s brow furrowed more and more, as if seeing something unpleasant.

“Hey, Shin Sekyeom! Come here and play rock-paper-scissors.”

“Jihan, I told you to hurry up too.”

Homin called out to Sekyeom, who was already sitting at the very top.

Sekyeom’s gaze caught Jihan subtly stepping back, avoiding Changsu’s call.

Jihan hated high places.

More accurately, he was scared of them.

The jungle gym looked too high for the still-young Jihan, and he certainly didn’t have the confidence to play freeze tag while darting through

it.

It was scary even holding onto the metal bars tightly, let alone running between them.

He was internally fidgeting, unable to show his fear lest the other kids call him a coward.

Sekyeom, who had been quietly looking down at Jihan staring helplessly at the jungle gym, suddenly grabbed a metal pole and started

moving.

“Hey, where are you going!”

“I’m not playing freeze tag. It’s boring.”

Sekyeom practically leaped across the jungle gym bars and quickly jumped down to the ground.

Jihan, whose expression had been terrified just watching, stared blankly at Sekyeom.

Sekyeom then dusted off his hands by slapping them together, grabbed Jihan’s wrist, and strode forward.

“Let’s play something else.”

“…Something else like what?”

“Want to hang from the monkey bars?”

“Yeah, I’ll do it!”

At least the monkey bars were better than the jungle gym.

Relieved from having to climb the jungle gym, Jihan readily agreed, nodding brightly.

A deep sense of relief washed over his face, which had been anxious about being left alone.

The children who had been jeering at the two leaving the group quickly started their rock-paper-scissors game and began playing freeze tag

among themselves.

Jihan glanced back at them for a moment, then asked Sekyeom, who was leading him by the hand.

“Do you really think freeze tag is boring?”

At the innocent question, Sekyeom, walking ahead, turned his head.

Then he readily nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“I told you so.”

Even when asked repeatedly, Sekyeom’s answer didn’t change.

Finally reassured, Jihan smiled happily and swung Sekyeom’s captured wrist back and forth excitedly.

“Then, can you teach me how to walk on the monkey bars without holding on?”

“…Okay.”

“Wow, Sekyeom is really nice. You’re the best!”

Sekyeom glanced at Jihan, who had started chattering brightly as if in a good mood, then turned his head away as if embarrassed.

His steps slowed slightly, his cheeks seemingly flushed red.

Jihan firmly held Sekyeom’s hand, his eyes sparkling as he looked alternately between the monkey bars and the jungle gym.

He made a firm resolve that someday he too would play freeze tag up there with the other kids.

In that sense, Sekyeom was the coolest friend to Jihan.

A proud friend who could do many things, and a precious friend who was particularly kind to him.

“Yoon Jihan, wake up! Jihan!”

“Ughh…”

A loud voice echoed in his ears.

A hand holding his cheek gently tapped its fingers, as if trying to wake him.

The force was so weak it made one doubt the intention to wake him.

‘Don’t people usually slap the cheek to wake someone up?’

That was the first thought that came to Jihan’s mind as he regained consciousness.

“Shin, Sekyeom?”

“Are you awake?”

“Yeah. Oof, I must have fainted for a second. I was so shocked… Wait, what happened to us?”

Jihan, who had been speaking mindlessly, suddenly remembered the last scene before losing consciousness and quickly sat up.

Noticing the slightly embarrassing position he was being held in, a blush rose to Jihan’s cheeks.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“That crazy pink liquid monster opening its mouth to eat us. But where are we?”

Frowning as he tried to recall, Jihan slowly looked around.

His voice echoed in the dark space.

The echo suggested it was an enclosed area, sealed on all sides.

It felt exactly like being dropped into a pitch-black alternate dimension.

Sekyeom helped Jihan up as he looked around.

Then he casually answered the question.

“Inside the monster’s stomach.”

“Stomach? Like, on top of its head?”

Jihan tilted his head back without thinking.

Where the sky should have been, only impenetrable darkness stretched out limitlessly.

“No, inside its stomach. The stomach that digests food.”

His head, which had been looking around, snapped to a halt.

After a moment of stillness, Jihan slowly turned his eyes to look at Sekyeom.

“What are you talking about? Are you saying I… got eaten? By the monster?”

“Yeah. You and I got eaten together, nice and friendly. Luckily, it didn’t chew, so we’re still alive. Must have a good appetite.”

“…You can still joke at a time like this?”

His stress seemed to surpass a certain threshold, causing a throbbing headache.

Rubbing his forehead with his hand, Jihan stopped all movement, sensing something strange.

It was because of an odd trembling sensation coming from his back.

Silently looking down at his own hands, Jihan tilted his head askew.

Both his hands were fine.

He wasn’t trembling from fear or cold either.

Frowning slightly, Jihan finally grabbed Sekyeom’s left hand, which had been wrapped around his back, and pulled it forward.

[ECI Level 68%]

“I’m okay.”