Prologue - 3

~cough cough~

Sho tried to feel around him but everything was numb.

‘Is my body in such a critical condition?’

‘Okay, calm down.’
‘There's no pain in my body. What exactly happened to me? I recall that I was on the rooftop feeling the cool breeze and then...Ah right. That asshole took me with him while committing suicide.’

‘Did they save me?

Maybe I am feeling numb due to the effects of the medicines....Who am I kidding?’
He was unable to feel any ground below his feet. It seemed like he was floating.

Sho opened his eyes.

But everything still looked the same.

‘Did I lose my eyesight from the accident? No, it's different. It's like I am in a void with nothing but darkness inside it.’ Sho thought.

Slowly and gradually he started to feel all of his senses, but he was still floating.

He looked around and slowly everything was getting more clearer.

‘It seems like I am not the only one here. Uncountable people are floating around me.’ Sho thought.

But it was more of a punishment than a blessing.

Why?

Because the bodies of everyone around him were something that one would not like to imagine.

‘I guess I have a little idea of what this place is.’ Sho thought.

"Ah"

Someone touched him from behind.

‘I am feeling really scared cause all the bodies around me are in really bad shape. Some of them have their chest ripped off, head crushed, twisted biceps (as if someone put his hand into a roller), and the creepiest one was a body with no bones. Her joined organs were floating(as if someone peeled off her skin) around, functioning as a normal body.’ Sho thought.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you."

‘Her voice sounds sweet. Although I know how she will be looking, I still need to talk to her because I am feeling somewhat alone here.’ He thought.

Sho turned back to see her face....

‘Eh? I was creating a character with my wild imagination but it looks like I don't need it.She is a fair-skinned girl with long brown hair. She is completely different from the creatures that I saw before i.e, a normal human body.’ Sho thought.

'Ah, It's okay.'

He started the talk.

"I was floating around looking here and there and didn't see you floating there."

‘Yeah, right. You were looking everywhere but you didn't see me floating here.’ He thought.

"By the way, do you know anything about what is this place?"

"No, it's my first time here," Sho answered

‘Is she is asking me this thinking that I give frequent visits to these places now and then?’ He thought.

'Are you not getting scared by all these people around you?'

She was quite calm for someone surrounded by all these monsters.

"No, why?"

'Well, they have all their body parts deformed into creepy creatures.'

"What are you talking about? They are completely fine."

‘Huh? What the hell?’ Sho was puzzled.

'What are you saying? Can't you see that old man with a crushed head and that boy with a ripped chest and that no-bone wo-'

"Noooooo. Why are you making me imagine all these scary things."

‘Eh? Wait...Hmm...Hmm...Let's think about it a little-1) I can see them with all their creepy bodies.2) She says that they are completely normal.It seems that one's surrounding is based on one's perspective here. Something that I am viewing is different from someone else's point of view. Then why am I able to see this girl's body as a normal human being?..Oh.Right before seeing her, I heard her sweet voice, and maybe because of that, I imagined her different than others.’ Sho assumed his self-thought theory.

‘But what is this place? I need to search more.’ He thought.

'Well then, I need to learn more about this place so I'm going for a search. See you later.'

"Ok. I am also trying to find about it so I will go in a different direction."

She was the first one to leave.

It was a never-ending place so Sho thought that they will never meet each other again.

He started moving in a random direction since every side seemed the same. It felt like he was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse trying to avoid all of them around him.Although he knew that they were like him, his perspective of them was still scary.

He moved around for XX minutes but it seemed like he wasn't moving at all.

But after a long float, he saw a region where the zombie population was denser than here.
He started floating there and reached there in a short period.

'Hmm, What are they all gathered here for?'

He started moving to the front to see what was happening.

'...'

There were many large poles here going upwards to the never-ending space and the people were moving to the other side through it.

'As I thought, there was a gate.'

Sho already had an idea that he was dead, but since there was nothing around as evidence, he was not sure if he was on the other side or not.

‘This seems the passage that connects the dead humans to the other world.’ Sho thought.
‘But what about the people who went to the other side? It is also possible that this place is not that big but is connected like a closed loop. It makes sense only if they don't have more gates prepared in different locations. Well, I reached my destination so all the other things are none of my business for now.’ He thought.

"Maybe I can learn something useful after crossing it."

Not that he had any other choice left. He can't be floating in this darkness forever. So he went through the gate.

As Sho put his first step on the other side of the gate, a voice popped out of nowhere and ringed in his ears.

It said-

"WELCOME TO HELL"