*A Novel*
**Prologue: The Day the Sky Split**
The steering wheel vibrated under Park Min-jun's grip as he navigated through Seoul's evening traffic. Beside him, Lee Soo-ah cradled her swollen belly, her face lit by the dashboard's soft glow.
"Thirty-seven weeks tomorrow," she murmured, scrolling through her phone. "Dr. Kim says he's already 3.5 kilograms."
Min-jun chuckled, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "Our little future taekwondo champion."
The radio played a soft ballad. The city lights blurred past. An ordinary Tuesday night.
Then the world ended.
A sound like shattering glass exploded across the sky. Min-jun slammed the brakes as a jagged wound of violet light tore open above Gangnam Station. People screamed. Car horns wailed.
From the rupture, something black and multi-jointed crawled out.
"Min-jun...?" Soo-ah's voice trembled.
His special forces training kicked in before his brain could process the nightmare. A creature—all spiked chitin and dripping mandibles—landed on a nearby sedan, crushing it like a beer can.
"Hospital. Now." He wrenched the wheel, tires screeching.
Chaos erupted in their wake. More rifts appeared, vomiting horrors into the streets. A tentacled mass swallowed a running businessman whole. A winged thing with too many eyes plucked a screaming woman from her convertible.
Three blocks from Seoul General, the monster found them.
It stood nine feet tall, its exposed musculature pulsing with bioluminescent veins. Six clawed fingers scraped asphalt as it loped toward their stalled Hyundai.
"Run." Min-jun unbuckled Soo-ah's seatbelt with shaking hands. "Take the back alleys to the ER."
Her nails dug into his arm. "Not without you!"
The creature's breath fogged the windshield, reeking of rotting meat. Min-jun kissed her forehead, tasting salt and fear. "I'll hold it off. For our son."
He was out of the car before she could protest, rolling to absorb the impact. The monster's claws sheared through metal where his head had been seconds before.
"HEY!" Min-jun snatched a broken pipe from the gutter. "Over here, you ugly bastard!"
Behind him, Soo-ah's footsteps faded. Good. The hospital was—
Pain exploded in his side as a second creature's barbed tendril wrapped around his ribs. He barely registered the new rift yawning beside him before he was airborne, the city tilting sickeningly below.
The last thing he saw was Soo-ah silhouetted in the hospital's revolving doors, her scream tearing through dimensions:
"MIN-JUN!"
Then the gate swallowed him whole.
**[END PROLOGUE]**