Chapter Two: The Silence After Earth
「The Silence After Earth」
The spacecraft shook violently. Red lights flashed. Sirens howled from every corner — like a funeral march before death. "Yu" struggled to breathe, clutching his trembling chest. Everything was collapsing. The world outside the window was spinning. These were his final moments... or so he thought.
Then— Darkness. Consciousness slipped away.
... … When he opened his eyes, there was a strange heaviness in his body, as if he were sinking in a sea of gas. Through the glass of the ship, a hazy image came into view— A giant planet. Jupiter.
But Jupiter has no surface. He was falling. Endlessly falling, as if gravity itself was tearing time apart.
Then came the voice. It wasn't human. It was calm... angry... mournful.
"Why?... We let you live in peace. Why do you persist?"
Yu looked around in panic. "Who are you?! What do you want from me?!"
The voice came again — this time closer:
"You started this..."
Suddenly, everything tore apart. The spacecraft twisted. Light devoured everything.
A black hole.
And then—
Another darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't in the spacecraft anymore. He was standing. Standing on the moon.
Strange... There was no gravity, and yet he remained still.
With wide, stunned eyes, he looked ahead. And there it was— The catastrophe.
Earth. It was being destroyed.
Massive explosions, bigger than any nuclear blast humans had ever seen. Everything was burning. Continents vanished. Oceans boiled.
Yu couldn't move. His mouth hung open, whispering as if trying to make sense of it all:
"Is this a dream...? Where am I...? What's happening...?"
Before he could snap out of the shock— In the blink of an eye, he was back.
Inside the spacecraft again.
And the voice returned, louder, now screaming in his ears:
"This is your fate. Suffering… Destruction… You brought this upon yourselves."
He began to hear them.
The screams. Children. Mothers. People begging for help. Homes collapsing. Life fading.
Earth… was gone.
A silent, lifeless sphere. No light. No sound. Only—silence.
And then— The entity that destroyed Earth smiled, staring at Yu through the ship's window.
Yu whispered through gritted teeth:
"I wasn't wrong… The one who took advantage of my weakness... That's who deserves this."
Everything faded.
He passed out— And woke up.
Back in his classroom. A punch landed across his face.
A bully was hitting him again. He froze, confused.
"…Wasn't I dead? What the hell happened…?"
Then he saw her. Winter.
She was there. Without thinking, he ran toward her—
And hugged her tightly.
She looked at him, confused, and asked softly,
"Why are you crying…? It's not your first time getting hit, is it? Or did you finally feel like you had no pride left?"
Yu wiped his eyes, took a breath, and said,
"No… I just had a bad dream. But I'm not going to be weak anymore. I won't let anyone mock me again. I'll become strong. Strong enough to protect the ones I love."
Winter smiled.