Has it ever happened that one night you are sleeping like any other night, but that night feels longer? Whenever you look out of the window, you see only darkness, making you feel as though it is still night.
Buzz~ Buzz~
The alarm was ringing repeatedly. "Ugh, it's so irritating." A thin hand emerged from under the quilt and silenced the alarm.
A slender, fair-looking boy rubbed his eyes and yawned. As soon as he got out of bed, his feet landed directly on fluffy slippers.
Cracking his neck, he stood up straight and began combing his light brown hair with his fingers while looking in the mirror.
He looked out of the window, and the outside was as dark as midnight. "What time is it now?" he asked, reaching for his phone on the table, but his eyes shifted to the drafts scattered across it.
Keroli is a 23-year-old chief editor working for a major horror novel company. After spending 18 years in an orphanage, he now lives in the same apartment as his friend.
Keroli is fair-skinned, with brown eyes and light brown hair. Along with his small face, his height is short (5'2"), which makes him appear cute to everyone. However, he has recently taken leave from work.
When he looked at his phone, it slipped from his hand. "Is it two in the afternoon?"
Keroli came out of his room wearing pajamas, but as soon as he saw the time on the clock in the living room, his eyes widened. "It's two o'clock here too. Is this a prank?" he wondered.
Keroli went to the balcony and saw that it was pitch dark outside, but the moonlight acted like a small bulb in that darkness.
The building where Keroli lives is right next to the road, but the road was very quiet today—there wasn't a single vehicle or person in sight, though the streetlights were on.
Keroli rubbed his eyes, feeling as though he was still asleep. "Huh, why is there so much silence on the road? Is it night now?"
Keroli entered his roommate Liam's room, who was sleeping very deeply. Before waking Liam, Keroli went to the bathroom and threw a mug of water on him.
"Aaah! Keroli, are you mad?" Liam shouted as he woke, his face turning red with anger. He was about to get up from the bed and beat Keroli, who was laughing. Just then, they heard a scream from outside.
They couldn't see anyone. Then the scream grew louder, coming closer to them. Both of them placed their hands on the balcony railing and looked down.
They saw three or four people running. One of them was missing his left hand, and blood was flowing from the wound as if someone had torn it off. They were all running as if death were chasing them.
Seeing that scene, both of them were terrified, and they froze in place.
"God, what is this?" Liam suddenly shouted, looking down. In the silence, his voice echoed so loudly that the people running below could hear it.
As they ran, they suddenly stopped under the building and looked up, their eyes filled with hope that they might be saved.
"Please save us!"
"We don't want to die!"
"I am so scared! Help me quickly!"
They shouted from below, but Liam and Keroli didn't know what to do. Despite their confusion, Keroli thought of helping them.
"For the sake of humanity, wait. I'll come down now, don't worry!" Keroli shouted from above. Hearing him, they began to beg, refusing help at first but eventually pleading for rescue.
"Come inside our building, no one will harm you. I'll also call the police," Keroli said.
But they all became scared and refused, attempting to climb the building. "Liam, go bring the rope from inside," Keroli said, thinking they could pull them up with it.
Even though their apartment was on the 8th floor and Keroli knew his idea was far-fetched, he still thought of helping them.
But before Liam could go inside to get the rope, they heard the loud screams of the people below.
They saw the shadow of an animal under the burning streetlight, but when the shadow came closer, it became clear that it was no ordinary animal. Unlike animals, it lacked fur.
The creature stood up on two legs, twisting its body as it straightened, its legs and arms lengthening.
Its mouth remained animal-like, and its skin, brown and black, was dried and stretched tightly over its bones, making it look terrifying.
It was larger than a normal human, with claws like knives and sharp teeth visible when it opened its mouth to growl.
Keroli had heard of such a creature in mythology: a skinwalker.
He had recently overheard his colleagues discussing skinwalkers at work, and now, the same thing was standing before him.
Then, suddenly, the skinwalkers ran toward the people, grabbing two at a time and tearing them apart with their teeth.
The painful screams of the people echoed, but the growls of the skinwalkers drowned them out.
In front of Keroli and Liam's eyes, those skinwalkers ate the people alive.
Those skinwalkers were eating humans on that dark night. Keroli had never imagined that the skinwalkers whose stories had been going on for centuries would appear in front of his eyes. Everything changed in one night.
And while eating them, the eyes of those skinwalkers went up towards Liam and Keroli.
At the same time, Keroli pushed Liam back and got down himself, but they could not believe their eyes. Liam was actually shaking.
Keroli looked at Liam; his face looked more scared than Keroli's. They hurriedly crawled inside the house. As soon as they came inside,
Liam asked, "What was that thing downstairs?" While touching his forehead, Keroli hurriedly replied to him.
"How would I know what it was? But it looked like a skinwalker, as I heard in my company."
Liam didn't say anything after listening to Keroli. They had realized that skinwalkers are very dangerous.
Keroli went into his room and tried to call 911 in the hope that the police would come to rescue them, but the call was not connecting.
"Why isn't the call connecting now, when we are in danger?" Keroli said furiously.
But when Liam turned on the TV and saw the news, they learned something they had never imagined.
Big News: Very strange things have been happening in the country since last night. Police have received more than 100 calls since last night, saying that skinwalkers will kill them.
Initially, the police thought these were prank calls, but when every call mentioned skinwalkers, the police went to investigate.
They found out that skinwalkers have really come to our country, and they only eat humans. When our scientists realized this, they took one of the skinwalkers for research.
They also examined humans that skinwalkers had bitten, and they found out that humans whose parts those monsters eat and leave behind also became like those skinwalkers, starting to look like them.
These skinwalkers can smell our fear before attacking us. Other than that, we don't know anything about them.
Until we find out more, stay safe and don't go outside because these skinwalkers have a human-like brain.
We know you all must be anxious because the day hasn't dawned yet, but we also don't know why the night is still ongoing. So stay calm and don't be afraid.
As soon as they heard the news, their minds were shaken, thinking, What is all this? Now they would have to stay locked in the house.
They didn't know where those skinwalkers had come from so suddenly, but according to the news, they were safe in the house.
Just then, Keroli noticed that Liam was in a daze after seeing the news.
"At least we are safe here, Liam." Keroli was sitting on the sofa after saying this to Liam and calming his heart when he heard Liam scream.
"Aaaaa! Keroli, look at the balcony!"
As Keroli turned his head toward the balcony, he saw that a skinwalker had climbed up to their balcony, and the door was also open.
Seeing that, Keroli was terrified. Now that skinwalker could come inside their house and eat them peacefully, right?
"Why didn't Liam close the door when we came inside?" Keroli mumbled to himself, his heartbeat increasing as he saw the skinwalker.