My heart was pounding. It was still racing. Even when I buried my face in the pillow, the thumping deep in my chest wouldn't subside.

  The moon I saw through the window was still in the same place, but I felt detached from the world. The fact that I alone was experiencing such surreal events in the middle of the night, when everyone else was deep asleep, made me feel even more isolated.

  I couldn't shake off what had happened at the gym. The moment I hesitated in front of the sandbag was clear in my mind. If I had punched it with full force then, the sandbag would have burst or flown far away.

  That certainty became even stronger the moment the coach flew into the air when I hit his mitt. But in the end, I didn't hit the sandbag.

  I couldn't damage another piece of equipment the coach cherished in his gym, but more than that, I feared the unknown power within me. That power seemed to have a will of its own. It was something unpredictable, something I couldn't control.

  It felt like another entity was living inside me. It was ambiguous whether I was moving, or if it was moving me.

  It was strange. There had been no problems during the past week. So why was this happening now, of all times?

  Could it be because of that liquid that flowed from the meteor found at Cheongryong Mountain? No other reason came to mind. Memories of that night came back in fragments. The cold liquid flowing, the alien sensation enveloping my entire body, and the moment my consciousness briefly faded.

  I tried to find information about the meteor incident online, but due to military control, detailed information was unavailable.

  The gym kept insisting I should come back, but I couldn't go. Using the excuse of being sick, I had been lying in my room for days, just thinking. Every waking moment felt like torture. It was hard to accept the reality that my ordinary life had twisted so suddenly.

  The thought 'Am I becoming a monster?' kept circling in my mind.

  But I couldn't just lie there. I decided to move my body and headed to a nearby high school playground.

  The playground was full of students. Laughter echoed pleasantly from here and there. My stuffy heart seemed to lighten up along with it.

  I walked one lap around the track. And it was as I started my second lap.

  At that moment, the strange sensation I felt at the boxing gym visited me once again. This time, not in my arm... but in my head. A feeling like something was stirring inside me passed through.

  Time seemed to slow down briefly, and the sounds around me felt distant. It was as if something that wasn't part of my body had awakened. I felt like something else had momentarily taken control of my body. It was like the sensation of someone suddenly grabbing the steering wheel of a car.

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  'What is this?'

  Thud.

  The sound of something falling came from somewhere. I stopped instantly and looked down at the ground.

  A baseball.

  A baseball rolled and stopped in front of me. When I raised my head, students who had been playing baseball at one side of the field were frozen, staring at me. About five students all had frozen expressions. Their faces were mixed with surprise and concern.

  One of them approached and bowed deeply with a worried face.

  "Mister, are you okay?"

  I asked back with a puzzled expression.

  "Huh? What do you mean?"

  "Your head, sir. You just got hit hard by a baseball."

  There was surprise in the student's voice. His eyes conveyed disbelief.

  "...What?"

  My hand instinctively moved to the back of my head. But... there was no feeling. No pain, no impact, not a trace.

  "I'm fine though? I don't think I got hit by the ball..."

  But the student still tilted his head and looked at my head suspiciously. His expression became increasingly puzzled. It was as if he thought I was lying.

  "That's strange... I'm sure you were hit..."

  He continued. "You were hit really hard..., that's strange."

  The student's eyes moved toward my head. Then he lightly touched the back of my head and asked once more.

  "Are you really okay?"

  "Yes, I'm fine. It doesn't hurt, and I didn't even know I was hit. Don't worry and go back to your baseball game."

  I picked up the baseball from the ground and handed it to the student.

  But something was strange.

  Even though I hadn't noticed the baseball flying toward me... there was definitely a reaction somewhere inside my body. My consciousness didn't notice at all, but my body had already reacted. It was as if two different things were operating inside me. One was the consciousness of ordinary human Kang Chul, and the other was... some different entity.

  'There's already something moving much faster inside me.' This thought gave me a strange sense of relief, but also a greater fear.

  Just before the baseball made contact, something inside me moved instinctively.

  Was it really because of that liquid from the meteor...? I fell deep into thought.

  That's when it happened.

  The student who took the baseball I handed him looked at it fixedly in shock.

  "What's wrong?"

  Worried that perhaps I had made a scary expression, I looked at the student, but he wasn't looking at my face... he was looking at the baseball.

  And then he said in a trembling voice:

  "The baseball... one side... is dented. It's completely caved in."

  "What?"

  I checked the ball the student handed back. The moment I took it, the center of gravity felt strange. The ball seemed tilted to one side.

  And then, I froze on the spot.

  One side of the baseball was deeply dented.

  Not just a simple mark, but completely crushed and split.

  The ball that had collided with my head... ended up like this? And yet...

  My head was perfectly fine.

  Not just fine, but I didn't even feel pain or impact. If I had received a strong impact, I should have at least had a bruise or a contusion. But my body was peaceful as if nothing had happened.

  My heart sank and cold sweat ran down.

  "Um... I'm fine. But what should we do about the baseball being like this..."

  I could feel my voice becoming dry and trembling. Cold sweat ran to the tips of my fingers.

  The student still stared at me and carefully answered. His gaze had changed. The initial concern now seemed to have changed to awe and a bit of fear.

  That look was somewhat understandable. Above all, what was shocking was the fact that he had just witnessed a scene that would be difficult to occur in reality.

  "It's okay... we should be sorry. If you're fine, I'll go now."

  The student bowed politely and returned to his friends. He left quickly, and as soon as he reached his friends, he began explaining something in a small voice.

  They occasionally glanced my way, whispering with surprised expressions. One student seemed to be saying something while pointing at me with his smartphone out. Were they trying to take my picture? Or had they already taken one? My anxiety grew.

  But the baseball... remained in my hand.

  I looked down at the deeply dented baseball.

  I slowly touched the indented part with my fingertips.

  The rough and cracked texture was clearly felt.

  'This is... the result of hitting my head?'

  I swallowed and gripped the baseball in my hand. A cool shiver spread from the top of my head.

  I chuckled briefly, then my expression hardened. This was no laughing matter. The reality I was facing wasn't something that could be dismissed as a joke.

  'Have I now entered a path of no return? How will my life change from now on?'

  Putting the baseball in my pocket, I left the playground with a confused mind.

  'But... was it really the liquid that protected me? I was known for having a stone head... but that couldn't be it, right?'