1. The Voices Calling His Name
The mall shook again.
Not from another monster tearing through concrete—but from something else.
Something that felt like pressure inside the air itself.
Outside the shattered windows, Seojin saw them:
Silhouettes.
Dozens.
All looking upward.
People—normal civilians—stumbling through the ruined streets.
Bloodied. Exhausted.
Some with weapons, some empty-handed.
And every single one of them—
Was chanting his name.
"Yun Seojin…!"
"Where is the Summoner?"
"Find him!"
Their voices weren't human anymore.
They echoed unnaturally, layered, as if something was speaking through their throats.
Seojin stumbled back. "Nope. Nope. Absolutely—nope!"
Harin grabbed his wrist, pulling him away from the windows.
"Whatever that is, they're not alive anymore. Or at least… not themselves."
"So zombies?"
"No," she said grimly. "Worse."
As the chorus continued rising outside, Seojin felt a chill crawl up his spine.
Gomchi pressed against his neck, growling a soft, protective "meeeep…"
The fox's tiny body trembled.
That terrified Seojin more than anything.
2. Shelter That Isn't Safe
They retreated deeper into the mall's interior—past clothing stores with toppled racks, electronics shops flickering with dying screens, and the smell of burnt plastic hanging in the air.
Harin halted at an employee-only stairwell.
"Up. Higher floors mean fewer escape paths for the enemy."
"That sounds bad."
"It is. But we only need to survive until the System updates again."
Seojin frowned. "Updates?"
She nodded. "After the first wave of disasters, most system-type apocalypses stabilize… theoretically."
"…you're speaking like this has happened before."
"…It hasn't. But I read a lot of web novels."
"That's not reassuring."
They climbed the stairwell quickly, breaths echoing in the narrow space.
Halfway up, something clattered behind them.
A shoe.
Just… a shoe.
Seojin exhaled shakily. "Okay. Just gravity. Buildings shake. Things fall. No big deal."
Then the shoe moved.
Not slid.
Not rolled.
It scuttled up the step like a spider.
"…Harin."
"I see it."
A hand—pale, limp, bloodied—reached around the corner of the landing.
Not attached to a body.
It crawled toward them, twitching unnaturally.
Harin didn't hesitate.
She stomped it into the step.
Crunch.
She looked back at Seojin. "Stairwells aren't safe."
"No place is safe!"
"Exactly. Keep climbing."
3. The City's Broadcast
They reached the fourth floor—a food court turned warzone.
Tables flipped.
Food spilled and soured.
Blood smeared across the tiles.
But no monsters.
Seojin exhaled in relief—too soon.
Every advertisement screen suddenly blazed to life in unison.
And a voice echoed through the speakers of the entire mall:
"Yun Seojin."
The same layered, wrong, too-many-voices-at-once tone.
The screens flickered with static—then showed a blurry, shifting silhouette.
Tall. Humanoid. Eyes burning red like coals.
A Rift Entity.
The figure tilted its head.
"We have detected an anomaly."
"You are the anomaly."
"You are ours."
Seojin's blood went cold.
Harin stepped in front of him.
"Over my dead—"
The figure on the screen interrupted, as if amused.
"That can be arranged."
The screens all cracked at once—pop—sparks flying.
Darkness swallowed the floor again.
Harin exhaled. "Okay. That confirms it."
"Confirms what?!"
"That something from the Rift wants you alive."
"Alive?! Why alive?!"
"Probably to dissect you."
"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?!"
"Motivation leads to strategy. Strategy leads to survival."
She tapped his chest. "And you really need survival."
Gomchi hopped down and sniffed the ground.
Tail stiff.
Ears flat.
Seojin knelt. "What is it? Danger?"
Gomchi stared into the shadows under a food stall—and hissed softly.
Something hissed back.
4. The Broken Food Court
From beneath the metal stalls, creatures slithered out.
Not wolves.
Not Hunters.
These were smaller—child-sized—twisted humanoids with elongated arms and no facial features except a stretched slit where a mouth should be.
Their limbs bent backward like broken dolls.
Their slit-mouths opened wide.
Chitter-chitter-chitter—
Harin swore. "Scrappers. Pack monsters."
"How many?"
"More than we can fight."
"Fantastic!"
Scrappers lunged from all angles.
Harin intercepted the first one—ramming her metal pole through its head.
But two more leaped over her, claws extended.
Gomchi became smoke—slashing one mid-air.
But the second one tackled Seojin directly.
He fell backward—
Hands slipping on debris—
Monster screeching—
[Shared Sight Activated]
Suddenly Seojin saw through Gomchi's eyes.
Heat signatures.
Movement trails.
Openings.
"Left!" he shouted instinctively.
Gomchi responded instantly—teleporting behind the Scrapper on Seojin's chest.
A slice of shadow.
The monster split.
Seojin gasped, scrambling backward.
More Scrappers poured out.
Crawling on walls.
Dropping from the ceiling.
Swarming.
Harin grabbed Seojin's collar. "Run! Now!"
They sprinted to the far exit of the food court.
Scrappers followed in a skittering mass.
Seojin chanced a glance back—
And froze.
Not at the Scrappers.
But at the center of the food court, where reality cracked open again.
A portal.
Small, unstable, red as fresh wounds.
And something enormous was trying to push through.
A hand the size of a car.
Clawed.
Burning with crimson runes.
Harin cursed. "A mid-tier Rift Guardian?! On Day One?!"
Seojin shrieked, "WHY DO THEY WANT ME SO BAD?!"
"Figure it out later! MOVE!"
5. The Roof Plan (A Bad Plan)
They burst through the stairwell again, scrambling upward as the mall shook violently behind them.
"Where are we going?!" Seojin cried.
"The roof!"
"The roof is the highest place! Monsters love high places!"
"I need open sky to fight properly!"
"You fight with a pole!"
"Exactly!"
No time for debate—they reached the rooftop door and shoved it open.
Cold night air washed over them.
Smoke rose from distant fires.
Sirens wailed.
Explosions boomed somewhere across the city.
And above—all across the dark sky—Cracks shone like bleeding constellations.
Seojin staggered to the edge.
"Daehan City… it's…"
"Gone," Harin finished quietly. "But we're not."
She faced him squarely.
"Now listen. Someone—or something—marked you. That means the first step to surviving is figuring out why."
"Yeah, great, let's analyze my misfortune instead of running for our lives."
"You can't run from a Rift Guardian."
"Oh. Good."
The rooftop door behind them rattled violently—
Scrappers slamming against it.
They were minutes away from swarming the rooftop.
Seojin trembled. "We're trapped."
"No." Harin raised her pole. "We make a stand here."
"You make a stand. I die."
"You don't," Harin said firmly. "Because you have a summon that shouldn't exist. And a skill with a question-mark ranking. And because… people don't get hunted for nothing."
She placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Yun Seojin. Believe it or not—you matter."
He stared at her, stunned.
"You don't even know me."
"I know enough," she said. "And that's more than the monsters should have."
Gomchi nudged his leg.
Eyes shining with silver-gold fire.
Shadows swirling around it.
The rooftop door began to crack.
Claws poking through.
Chittering rising.
They had seconds.
Seojin exhaled shakily.
"…Okay," he whispered. "Let's try not to die."
The System chimed.
[Combat Scenario Detected]
[Difficulty: Extreme]
[Special Condition: Summoner Anomaly Active]
[Reward Multiplier: x5]
Harin smirked. "Now that's the motivation I needed."
Seojin raised his hand, voice steadying.
"Gomchi."
The fox turned—tiny but fierce.
"Let's show them why they're wrong to hunt us."
Gomchi dissolved into shadow.
The rooftop door exploded open.
And hell poured out.
6. The Summoner Who Shouldn't Exist
Scrappers swarmed the rooftop like a living wave.
Harin plunged into them, a blur of raw strength and fury.
Her pole cracked skulls, shattered limbs, and sent creatures tumbling over the ledge.
Seojin felt the world slow.
[Shared Sight Activated]
[Shadow Resonance Active]
His senses expanded—
Harin's movements, Gomchi's teleport paths, monster positions—
All visible to him in overlapping layers of light and shadow.
"Gomchi—left flank!"
The fox appeared behind three Scrappers—
Shadow blades erupted, slicing them like paper.
"Harin—duck!"
She did, and Gomchi's shadow slash passed over her head, taking down a monster that had been leaping for her back.
"You two," Harin grunted, "are unnervingly in sync."
"I don't know how I'm doing this!"
"Then don't stop!"
More monsters climbed the walls below, claws digging into concrete.
Seojin felt a strange pull inside his chest—a tug toward the growing portal inside the mall.
The Rift Guardian's presence pressed against his mind.
Found you.
Seojin staggered.
"Something's calling me—"
"IGNORE IT!" Harin yelled. "That's how they control you!"
"But it—"
He gripped his skull. "It knows my name."
The voice thundered inside his mind:
Come to me.
Anomaly.
Catalyst.
Last Summoner.
Seojin's eyes widened.
"Last… Summoner?"
He didn't get to question it.
The portal inside the mall exploded.
A beam of crimson shot into the sky—
Cracks widened overhead—
The wind howled—
And the Rift Guardian began to crawl onto the roof.
Huge.
Armored in molten bone.
Eyes burning like dying stars.
Harin stepped back, eyes widening. "We can't fight that."
"We don't have a choice."
The Guardian reached for Seojin.
Gomchi jumped between them—
But the Guardian didn't even look at the fox.
It stared directly at Seojin.
Submit.
The world began to warp around him—
Pulling him toward the Guardian—
Reality bending—
Seojin screamed—
But the System cut in:
[WARNING: Summoner Soul Core Distortion Detected]
[Countermeasure: Forced Evolution Path Initiated]
[Skill Evolution Triggered!]
[Shadow Resonance → ???]
A surge of power exploded inside Seojin's chest.
Shadows erupted outward in all directions.
Gomchi's body lit with silver flame.
The Guardian recoiled, roaring in surprise.
And the System concluded:
[Your summon has evolved.]
[Your fate has diverged.]
[You are no longer a normal Summoner.]
[Designation Updated:]
The Last Summoner: Ascension Route Initiated.
Seojin opened his eyes—
Glowing faintly with silver like Gomchi's.
"…What… am I becoming?"
Before Harin could answer—
The rooftop cracked.
The Guardian lunged again.
And this time—
Seojin didn't run.