From the corner of his apartment room, Ethan could hear a panicked tone coming from the TV while someone read the news.
"The international organization has reported about a huge alien object moving closer to Earth."
Ethan lay idle in his bed, exhausted from his day working hard at the office, oblivious to the news. He closed his eyes and tried to recall what had happened that day.
‘My life is boring,’ he thought, remembering all that he had done in his life. He worked as an employee in a technology company and spent most of his nights playing games. This had been his routine for the past two years of living in the capital.
‘I wonder if I can change my life?’
The newsreader continued, "A strange incident occurred, and all communication media from within the country to abroad were cut off; internet, telephone, and other communication media were only available in limited areas."
Yet, the news kept going on, but Ethan didn't notice.
‘What is the meaning of this?’ Opening his eyes, he looked at the ceiling and felt a strange sensation. He felt his body being sucked into the surface of the mattress, and the tiredness that had enveloped his body and heart began to fade away.
He tried to remember some wishes he had not had time to fulfill. ‘The newest game, I haven’t played it yet. Love life? Ah, for this one, there is no hope for me. Although sometimes I need the presence of a woman in my life!’
‘I want to live a life without boredom.’
Ethan screamed in his mind, opened his eyes, and got up from lying. He walked with heavy steps towards the refrigerator, grabbing some snacks and a can of soda.
Dragging his feet, Ethan walked by and dropped his body onto the small sofa in the middle of the room.
He grabbed the TV remote lying on the floor, changed the channel, thought for a moment, then threw the remote wherever his hand went, muttering, "Bored."
He unwrapped the snacks in his hands and chewed on a few pieces of potato chips, staring at the blank wall in front of him.
"Bored."
Taking a can of drink in his hand, he took a few gulps of its contents with his eyes facing the blank wall before mumbling, "Tired, bored, bored."
After a few moments of silence, he again turned on the TV.
‘Ahh, I feel refreshed.’
He put the drink can on the small table beside the sofa and tilted his head to face the mirror standing in the corner of the room. Smiling, he touched his face and chin, rubbing them, and said, "My face is handsome, huh? Ha ha."
In the mirror, Ethan, a 20-year-old, saw himself: short black hair, several layers of thin beard adorning his chin, and smooth skin for a man’s standard. He looked unkempt due to his messy dress.
Just then, his cell phone in his pocket vibrated. It was Sierra, his younger sister, asking frantically: "Oppa? What is going on? Are you watching News on TV?"
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Ethan's attention was drawn to the news on the TV, his muscles tensing and his gray eyes trying to take in every piece of information the newsreader was passing on.
"Oppa, I'm scared."
Ethan was dumbstruck. His body turned pale. He pressed the phone against his ear and calmly replied to Sierra: "Yes, I am fine. You too, okay? We will first watch the news from the government. Please take good care of yourself and mom. I will do the same here."
Ethan heard the terror in his sister's voice over the phone. “It’s okay, take it easy,” he said calmly. “Everything will be alright. I’ll call you back soon. Take care.”
He hung up and quickly switched on the TV to the other news channel. On the screen, an expert was displaying a sequence of images from an international organization.
The images showed a startling sight—hundreds of large meteors were rapidly heading toward Earth.
‘What the—Is this the end?’ Ethan thought in disbelief.
"Hundreds of Meteors are moving towards Earth! We only have a few minutes! Collisions are bound to happen. There’s nowhere to run. Our life is coming to an end!!!!"
The disturbing visuals showed hundreds of large meteors flying toward Earth at high speed.
The expert on the television let out a scream, his hands trembling and his body collapsing to the ground.
“Stupid! Is there no one more competent to deliver the news?” Ethan said to himself, annoyed.
"This is bad news."
From the outside of his room, the sound of car sirens and screams filled the air. Ethan rushed to the window and, upon pulling back the curtains, he saw a crowd of people pouring out of the building, some of them panicking. The vehicle they were using had collided.
"I don't get it," he said, confused. "The news alone has sparked this level of fear?”
Ethan thought of his mother and sister, feeling cold sweat on his face. He threw the can he was still holding onto the floor and looked back at the TV.
On the TV broadcast, viewers watched as the night sky was shrouded in darkness due to the moonlight being blocked by clouds. However, the faint rays of light shooting into the sky provided little information about what was happening. Then, a loud clap of thunder suddenly sounded outside, followed by a powerful gust of wind entering through the window that Ethan had opened. After quickly closing the window, Ethan returned to the television with a pale face.
Suddenly, a voice could be heard from the television: "The sky, the sky is starting to split. Lord… Forgive our sins!"
The dark clouds that had been obscuring the sky parted, revealing a colossal object. The meteor stone that had been hidden by the thick cloud cover was revealed. It was a gigantic object, approximately the size of a skyscraper, and was falling rapidly toward the city.
A few seconds later, there was a collision. A powerful wave of debris and shattered buildings rushed toward the camera, and the television screen went black. In the distance, a deafening explosion could be heard.
Ethan fell to the floor, lowering his head.
The apartment shook, objects dropped, and the lights flickered before going out for a few seconds and then coming back on.
He ran to the sofa and grabbed the TV remote off the floor, changing channels in search of a broadcast that might be showing the same thing. After several attempts, Ethan finally found the broadcast taken from the helicopter. The scene showed the city flattened with a large black stone in the center, still leaving a thin layer of smoke-like burn marks.
"We report from the scene. Origin of collision, large meteor stone visible on camera. Even from a distance, it is evident that the stone is shaking very hard."
Ethan stood stiffly in front of the TV, his eyes bulging and sweat dripping from his body. "This is unreal." He felt sick.
His mouth dropped open as he watched the colossal meteor stone on the TV, vibrating as if it was alive.
Its surface cracked, and the shards didn't fall to the ground but instead floated in the air, piling up and forming the shape of what looked like a human.
"Why does the meteor stone look like it's alive?" he muttered.
"Is that… a Golem?"
He could see a creature that looked like a golem, a gigantic human shaped meteor, standing on the ground and stretching out its arms.