I was floating in the air, looking down at the Hell Beast from a bird's eye view. I wasn't so high up that it looked tiny, but it certainly looked smaller and less intimidating from above than whenever I looked up at it from the ground level, with its massive body towering over everything else.
It went on about its usual destructive routine killing everyone in sight and walking through buildings as if it was nothing, but there was something about today that made me feel slightly less scared of it. Very very very slightly.
I had no idea how this was possible, but up from the air, I could observe it more in detail. It moved impossibly swiftly - not necessarily 'quickly', but its movements flowed. I could see its flexing muscles below the flame that covered the entirety of its body, and the two horns that rose up from its head looked incredibly sharp.
Another thing that I noticed over time was (which I never had the luxury to do) that it actually started to grow ever so slightly bigger. It was a very slow growth, but after watching it kill people for an hour or so I was one hundred percent certain that it was taller, wider, and bulkier than when it started.
The altitude I was floating at was the same, but its height was definitely rising. As I was floating above Yeoido and the destruction was taking on this small island on Han River, I had a very good reference point which was often called 63-Building by the locals, for it was a high-rise skyscraper that had 63 floors.
The Beast's height was initially just about the same as the building, but by the time it killed god knows how many people, it was definitely taller than the building, which made me theorize that perhaps, this destroyer of the world grew stronger the more lives it took.
I cursed at myself for not keeping a count of how many people it has killed already because if my thinking was correct by counting the number of lives that were lost and how much it grew, I could perhaps estimate its growth per death.
Better late than never.
I took my red notebook out and started counting the number of victims as it continued its rampage through Parliament Park. After the count of 250, the Beast was definitely taller than before without a doubt, not so much because it grew in relation to the 63-Building, but because its horns were now reaching the level I was at.
As I was thinking I should probably fly away, but without knowing how as I was pretty much just suspended in the air, it finally looked at me and started to approach. More people were getting stomped to death as it made its way and I kept on counting, and after the death of maybe 100 more people, its eyes were exactly at my eye level. I could not move away and was just stuck in the middle of nothing, and it finally got to where I was and brought its ghastly face close to me. I noticed that its eyes were bigger than my height, and just like that once when I saw it after killing Haein for the first time, I could see my reflection on its eyes that swirled and flamed in green.
It was beautiful.
Then the Beast grinned and suddenly I felt a rush of blood surging through my entire body, expanding. My veins started to pop and all the limbs started to get swollen. I felt incredible pain all over my body as I ballooned up.
Just as my body popped with a silent burst, I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of my room.
Hang on - no sun?
I looked at the window and the curtains were drawn, keeping my room dark and cozy.
What the hell?!
Could this be…?
I fell out of bed as I rushed too much to grab my phone to check that I hurt my tailbone, but this pain was nothing compared to what I'd just gone through a few 'minutes' ago.
When I checked the date I realized it was November 1st.
What?
I looked around my room and it was all just like how it was the day before - Halloween day.
Then I remembered the poor fat fuck that I had killed, Haein's cute wiggly ass in a Playboy Bunny outfit, how I crushed a can of cola with my bare hands, and how I ran away from the police at the speed that could probably give Usain Bolt run for his money.
So it was a dream?
I checked my red notebook by the bedside table and there were no marks of what I had just written 'earlier', the count of victims.
OK, so it was a dream after all.
I quickly messaged Haein.
"Are you alright?"
After a nervous few minutes of waiting, I got a message back from her.
"No. And don't contact me again"
So she's alive and her memory's remaining too.
The Hell Beast I had just seen was only a dream. The whole thing about me floating in the air should have been an obvious sign that it was a dream, but to me, it all felt so real.
I was extremely confused and didn't know what happened, but I wrote down on the note that after (probably) 500 deaths or so the Beast (probably) grew about 10 meters taller. Theorizing based on a dream was probably not very scientific, but nothing in this world, and my life felt logical or scientific anyway.
Feeling thirsty again, I went to the fridge and found a can of cola.
Should I try this again?
I squeezed the can and just like the night before, it effortlessly popped in my hand.
Fuck. I should have tried it in the bathroom.
Then a bell rang in my mind.
Hang on-. Could it be…
I touched one side of the wall in my bedroom which was pure concrete. I gently dabbed at it a few times. Nothing happened. I then knocked on it like a door and still nothing happened.
What if I give it full force?
I punched it as hard as I could and as expected, it didn't even make a dent.
However, although my hand hurt a little it didn't hurt anywhere enough as it should have.
I may actually be right on this one.
I probably go to hell for this, if I wasn't destined for it already, but I just have to test it out one more time.
I grabbed a kitchen knife, hid it under my tracksuit jacket, and headed outside.