Its tires skid sideways, the whole beast of metal and glass sliding out of control.
The driver's face is a blur of panic.
It's coming too fast.
Too close.
Move.
MOVE.
But my legs are lead, my brain static.
I feel the ground tremble beneath me as the truck hurdles forward.
And she just watches.
Smiling.
"Guess my job's done," she whispers.
The impact doesn't hurt.
It's too fast for that.
There's just force—all-consuming, bone-crushing force.
Metal buckles.
Glass explodes.
The guardrail shatters, twisting like paper.
And then I'm in the air.
The city spins around me, a carousel of lights and shadows.
Up there, on the bridge, she watches me fall. But I am aware that my body is heavily bleeding, given that it was my body which had hit the railing, breaking it after being pressed between the metal grilles and the truck.
Her figure framed by the broken railing, that smirk carved into her face.
And then the dark rises up to meet me.
Cold, black water.
And I crash through it.
Splash
"Huh?" I looked at everything from the bridge.
The cold water rippled far below, swallowing the mangled heap that was—me.
I blinked.
No.
NO.
That wasn't right.
I was standing here. On the bridge. My chest rising and falling, heart thudding like a drum.
Yet… there I was.
Face pale. Eyes wide. A grotesque, frozen expression of shock. Blood mixed with water, curling like dark ink in the river.
I staggered back a step, my breath catching in my throat.
But there was no breath.
No warmth in my chest.
I lifted a trembling hand to my mouth.
Nothing.
Not even the faintest puff of air in the cold.
The world below me felt distant, unreal.
Flashing lights. Screams.
Cars skidding to halts, drivers leaping out, gathering in tight, frantic clusters near the crumpled truck.
"Someone call an ambulance, NOW! We need help, fast!"
"The truck is about to explode; pull the driver!"
Someone was shouting for help.
Others fumbled with their phones.
But none of them looked in my direction.
None of them saw me.
They passed through me like mist, like I wasn't even there.
And through the growing crowd, she stood out—unmoving, untouched.
The woman in black.
The pink phone dangled from her fingers, swaying gently, the skull keychain spinning in lazy circles.
She turned, brushing invisible dust off her jacket.
A shrug.
"Daily quota complete," she muttered.
Like it was nothing.
Like I was nothing.
"What... what did you do to me?"
My voice cracked as it left me, brittle and too quiet.
But she heard.
Of course, she heard.
She paused mid-step, head tilting slowly.
I didn't think. I couldn't think.
Feet moving before my mind caught up, I lunged forward and grabbed her shoulder.
"HEY! What the hell did you—"
Cold.
Freezing.
The second my fingers closed around her, a searing chill shot through me, burning from the inside out.
My hand recoiled on instinct, as if I'd grabbed a live wire.
But the pain wasn't in my hand.
It was deeper.
Like something clawing at my very core.
She didn't turn right away.
But when she did—
Her eyes.
God, those eyes.
Flat, unblinking, colder than the water I had just drowned in.
"Behind me, human," she said, voice like glass under pressure.
"How dare you lay a hand on me?"
The words weren't loud.
But they pressed down on me, thick and heavy.
My legs weakened, and without realizing, I stepped back, my hand dropping to my side.
Fear gripped me—not the kind that makes you want to run, but the kind that roots you to the ground.
"What… what did you do to me?" I whispered again.
Her lip curled in something between a smirk and a sneer.
"Isn't it obvious?" She spread her arms in mock display. "You're dead."
Dead.
The word rang in my ears like a bell.
No.
No, that—
I glanced back at the river.
At me.
Floating. Lifeless.
The truck, now engulfed in small flames, spat black smoke into the sky.
I didn't even feel the heat.
Didn't feel anything.
The world moved on without me.
"What... what the hell are you talking about?!" I stammered, my voice rising.
I wasn't even able to make sense of the things around me, exactly what was happening.
A moment ago, I was walking with my phone, clearly bored with this life but not enough to see a daydream while moving.
It has to be a dream, but it was too vivid for my mind to accept it.
Her head tilted, eyes narrowing.
"I thought you were smarter than that," she said flatly. "Can't you use your common sense to understand that you are dead?"
Her tone was laced with boredom, like this was a conversation she'd had a thousand times before.
"C-common sense?", I felt my pupils contracting as I stood there, my body appearing translucent, fading at any moment, with memories slowly starting to blur as if I was soon going to lose my own identity.
And here this woman was saying to use common sense.
Let alone feeling anything common here, I can't even feel my own senses working properly, let alone the mind, which seems to be dissolving in the atmosphere while everything is scattering so steadily that, at this point, it appears as if I hardly know my own nature.
Yes, I forgot my name.
Who was I?
"You're dead. That's all that matters. Just wait here until the Karma Department comes to collect you."
"Karma Department?!"
I nearly laughed.
But it wasn't funny.
Nothing about this was funny.
Was this some kind of nightmare, or did I lose my mind due to reading too many fantasy web novels?
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?! You expect me to just stand here and—"
"Human, act like one."
Her glare cut me off, and her voice was as if she were looking down on my whole being.
Even though I can't feel my heart, it was as if her grip tightened around it, crushing any moment that could erase my existence.
A wall of pressure hit me, sudden and suffocating.
My fists clenched, jaw tightening, but my knees trembled.
Something in me screamed to run.
But I didn't.
Couldn't.
No matter how much fear gnawed at my bones, it burned beneath my skin, twisting into something sharper.
Rage.
Without thinking, I lunged forward, grabbing her by the collar.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" I roared. "TELL ME!"
Her body didn't move.
Not even a fraction.
But something shifted.
Her mouth twitched.
A thin, dangerous smile.
Then—
Crack.
Black.
Hairline fractures of inky blackness crawled up from her temples.
Her head tilted slowly, unnaturally, as horns began to curl from her skull—sharp and jagged, like obsidian dragged from the earth.
It was as if her black hair were taking the shape of dark tree roots; though in this case, they resembled horns, just like one of the visuals I had seen in those VFX movies representing the Queen of Valhale.
That smile widened, but her eyes darkened.
"How dare a meager soul…" Her voice dropped, lower, vibrating through the air.
"…touch me."
The air thickened, heavy with something dark and cruel. As my whole body vibrated, it wasn't just goosebumps or fear; it was as if the very atoms around me were vibrating at an enormous pace.
But then—
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
A shrill, mechanical screech cut through the tension.
Both of us froze.
Her phone—that stupid pink phone—vibrated violently in her hand, the screen pulsing red.
She slowly looked down.
I followed her gaze.
[ ERROR — A Wrong Entry is Registered by the Agent ]
[ You are Summoned by the Yam Court for violating karma ]
The words glared up at us in sharp, angry letters.
Her eyes which seems to help that black shade suddenly turned normal the black horns behind her hair which was giving away that dangerous energy vanished turning into ashes as it crumbled.
"EH?"
Before I could speak, before I could move, no, before even she could move, a crimson light burst from above, swallowing us both.
The world blinked out.