Chapter 1

“Gasp, wheeze… gasp…”

He opened his eyes, parched.

But even with his eyes open, he felt no difference from when they were closed. In a pain so intense he couldn’t even pinpoint where it hurt, the man desperately forced his eyes open, trying to survey his surroundings.

Despite his efforts, his vision remained stubbornly dark. In a pitch-black abyss where light seemed non-existent, the man desperately tried to sit up.

“Ugh!”

But the moment he tried to raise his upper body, his head spun, forcing him to slump back down.

“Gasp… gasp…”

A dizzy spell immediately followed, accompanied by a pulling sensation behind his ears. For a moment, the man could do nothing but gasp for air, not daring to make another move.

How much time passed like that? Only after the dizziness subsided could the man finally raise a hand to touch his face. His forehead and eyes felt burning hot through the back of his hand. In contrast, the warmth transferred from his eyeballs to the back of his hand was icy cold.

The man was bewildered by the temperature difference, wondering if it was even from the same person, but soon found himself drawn into the peculiar pleasure of the cold sensation from his hand cooling his forehead and eyes.

“Mmm…”

For a while, he alternated placing his hands on his forehead, trying to cool his feverish body. Only then did he begin to assess his physical state. Every inch of his body ached as if he’d been beaten… but that was likely the aftermath of having been unconscious and lying on the cold ground for a long time.

This time, he tried to sit up cautiously. First, he braced one arm on the ground, then slowly raised his upper body.

“Ugh…”

His abdominal muscles screamed in protest, but he gritted his teeth and successfully sat up. He looked around again.

Still, he saw nothing. He looked up, but all he could see was an impenetrable darkness. What in the world was going on?

He clearly remembered finishing his part-time job, cycling home on his beloved bike, and waiting at an intersection near his house for the light to change. Then, he stopped briefly in front of the crosswalk, checking his phone, when he noticed people waiting ahead suddenly murmuring and looking up at the sky…

“Ugh…”

The man had to let out a groan at the pain that shot through him at that moment. Ah… that’s right. The sky he’d looked up at then… it had also been this same inky blackness.

“Hoo… hoo…”

Just thinking about it for a moment made his head spin again. The man bit his lip and fumbled in his pocket to check for his phone.

“Ah… here it is.”

He quickly pulled out his phone. The light emanating from it illuminated a small part of the space that had previously been devoid of any light. As he looked around with a sense of relief,

“Gasp!”

The next moment, he involuntarily gasped.

And for good reason… the place he was standing was at the top of a cliff, so deep its bottom couldn’t be seen.

“Hoo… huff…”

An endless abyss, whose depth he couldn’t even begin to guess. Just by glimpsing one small part of it with the faint light of his phone, the man felt as though holes had been punched in his hands and feet, and all the blood inside was being drained away. He quickly averted his gaze, but his rapid breathing wouldn’t return to normal.

The man first re-examined his immediate surroundings.

“This is…”

The space was barely big enough for a single bed. This small, solitary ledge jutting out from the middle of the cliff was where the man now lay.

He checked for a signal. However, perhaps due to the cliff, he couldn’t get any reception. Just in case, he opened his messenger app, but it was the same result. There was no way to send a rescue request.

“Huff… huff… Hey! Is anyone there?!”

He gathered his breath and shouted with all his might. But all he heard was his own booming echo. The man shouted again.

“There’s someone here! Help me!”

But again, no answer came. What in the world had happened? All sorts of thoughts began to flood his mind, but the man shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions. Other things could wait. The only important thing now was how to survive this situation.

He rummaged through his pockets. Besides his phone, all he had was a piece of a receipt from a late-night snack he bought yesterday, his wallet, and a keychain with keys and assorted trinkets. His wallet contained only some cash, his ID, and cards. The keychain held his house key, bike key, a locker key, a multi-tool about two finger joints long, and a toy axe charm engraved with the words “I took your picture.”

“Whew…”

It was a multi-tool too small to be called a jackknife, with only four or five functions. That was all the equipment he possessed. The man examined each tool in the multi-tool. First, there was a knife too small to be called a knife and tiny scissors that couldn’t even cut the jeans he was wearing. Then came a corkscrew and a small saw that made him wonder how he was supposed to cut wood with it. And when he pushed up the end with his fingernail, he found a toothpick and a pair of tweezers.

“Whew…”

The man sighed lightly, folded the tools back into place, and put his belongings back in his pocket. His mind was still racing. However, he decided to rest for now. In such dark conditions, a single wrong move could lead to a misstep, making even such rambling thoughts impossible. If this was an accident, rescue operations would surely begin, so it would be wiser to conserve his energy and wait for rescue rather than move recklessly.

“Whew… haa… whew…”

He took deep breaths, trying to calm his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But how could sleep come easily in such a situation? Suddenly, a cold wind blew from somewhere, sweeping over his body. The man curled up, clutched his hands together, bit his lip, and waited for this nightmare-like night to pass.

He was in a semi-conscious state, neither fully asleep nor fully awake, huddled like a shrimp on the narrow rock ledge, when he suddenly woke with a start at the sound of an alarm. He quickly checked his phone, and it showed six in the morning.

However, his surroundings were still shrouded in impenetrable darkness. He looked up at the sky, but found no trace of light anywhere. What was going on? The man felt uneasy, but decided to wait a little longer.

But it was the same. An hour passed, then two, but there was no change in the darkness that enveloped him. The man grew anxious. Was he going to die here, unknown, on this inexplicable cliff edge, with no one even knowing he was alive? Was he going to die and be forgotten without anyone ever realizing he was here? As these thoughts began to surface, the man grew impatient. And countless things he hadn’t yet done, things he wanted to do, flashed through his mind, and the things he had done so far also passed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

“Damn it…”

What should he do? But the man couldn’t make a decision easily, and in the meantime, time continued to tick away. The man periodically shouted to make his presence known, but no answer came back.

“Twelve o’clock…”

At noon, a little light finally began to filter in. But as enough light appeared to allow him to make out objects, the man was once again greatly startled by the unseen cliff beneath his feet. The good news was that the distance to the top wasn’t as far as he thought. The man quietly estimated the distance to the top. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed to be about the height of three or four adult men combined.

“Can I… do it?”

His legs were still shaky from not having fully recovered his strength, but thankfully, nothing was torn or broken. The man pondered. Should he wait another day like this? Or should he risk it and try to climb up? Just judging by the time, it had already been over twelve hours since yesterday evening. Yet, there was no sign of a rescue team, or even any human presence, which likely meant the situation was far more serious than he imagined.

After a moment of deliberation, the man finally hardened his resolve. If he delayed any longer, it would quickly get dark again, and he would be stuck on this rock ledge for another day until noon, when it would brighten slightly.

The man stood up on his shaky legs, hesitating once more. The thought that he might be making too hasty a judgment crossed his mind. However, the man soon shook his head. And observing the faint indentations of the cliff that were now barely discernible, he reached out his hand. Fortunately, the man had some prior experience with free climbing, also known as sport climbing. If he hadn’t had such experience, he wouldn’t have attempted such a climb, no matter how bad the situation.

“Huff… huff… huff… huff…”

However, the man regretted his decision before he had even climbed a few meters. From below, it had looked like an ordinary cliff, but once he started climbing, he realized this precipice was closer to soft earth than solid rock. This made it difficult to find footholds that could support his weight. Because of this, the man had to dig into the wall like a mole, creating his own footholds as he climbed. This was several times harder than ordinary free climbing, and there was still doubt as to whether the footholds he created would fully support his weight.

Forcibly enduring the pain that came from the tips of his fingers as he dug into the wall, the man desperately clawed his way up. How far had he climbed like that? Suddenly, the foothold he was using for his right foot crumbled.

“Ugh!”

The man stretched out his arms, desperately clinging to the wall, barely avoiding a fall, but he couldn’t stop the tearing pain that shot through both shoulders. The man bit his lip. The metallic taste of blood spread from his tightly bitten lip. But it was not enough to suppress the pain that screamed throughout his body.

“Huff… huff… huff… huff…”

Suppressing his ragged breathing, the man took several deep breaths before slowly reaching his hand upward again. And after that grueling climb, the man finally managed to pull himself onto the top of the cliff. Without even a moment to look around, the man collapsed onto the ground.

“Gasp… wheeze…”