The Ending just Began

January 1, 2025

It was supposed to be a happy day, welcoming the new year that was waiting for everyone.

I, too, was enjoying my lazy holiday, watching the live broadcast for the New Year's countdown that just ended a few seconds ago. What? The show should continue even after the countdown? Well, that's outside of their control, I think.

After all, although brief, something weird was caught on live camera. At first, I thought it was part of the attraction—a large dragon-like thing roaming and mingling with fireworks blooming beautifully in the sky.

However, that idea rapidly changed.

The dragon-like thing suddenly dipped, heading for the stands where a lot of people were. At first, it was filled with screams of excitement. After all, a dragon-like thing just approached them.

However, soon enough, their screams turned into shrill ones, filled with fear and death. Blood sprayed all over the place, with the camera focusing on the dragon-like thing's mouth, with a few dozen bodies still visibly hanging between its maws.

After that, the feed suddenly got cut off, leading to the current situation.

"I wonder what happened there."

Was it just some sick surprise? A prank? Either way, I would only learn of it tomorrow, when the news covers it.

"Well, I already welcomed the new year. Time to return to my desk."

I was busy; after all, the streaming site I'm patronizing, Tremble, was doing a new-years promotion. I can't miss out on the opportunity to gain even just one more viewer!

After sitting down, wearing my headphones, and switching on the camera and microphone, I woke up my computer from sleep. And as soon as the monitor came to life...

"... What the hell?"

It was flooded almost instantly with message bubbles. I skimmed through them, reading everything, but everything was practically chaos.

"Run? Call the police? Find somewhere safe to hide?"

My viewers were turning my standby stream into their very own chatgroup, it seems. After closing the rest of the bubbles, I then began the stream once more. On my third monitor, I could see the camera's view, capturing my entire face down to my chest level.

As usual, I still look like a sleepy black-haired dude with a slightly—no, extremely handsome—face. Yep. I checked my appearance one more time to see if I missed something, like a grain of rice sticking to my lips or something.

However, I saw something weird.

"Hmmm?"

It wasn't on my face, nor anywhere in the video display, but rather across from the room, on the wide open window in front of me. I left it open to enjoy the fireworks display outside while idle, but rather than beautiful flowers blooming in the dark sky, I saw something else.

"...!"

A large, glowing ball. No, it wasn't glowing, but rather reflective. It was a sphere about as big as I was tall, surrounded by black squirming "something" that I believe I wouldn't even want to know what.

The ball suddenly moved, as if focusing on me.

Yes, the ball wasn't just any ball, but rather a gigantic eyeball!

'Don't tell me, is it the same dragon as the one on TV earlier?!'

Before I could begin to think, my body had already moved, running away from the room and heading toward the hall. It was just a few meters away, so it didn't take that long. My heart was pumping hard, letting adrenaline drive my body to its peak performance, as I opened the door.

"Sh*t!" I cursed immediately before slamming the door closed again.

Why? Well, what would you do if a giant eyeball stared you straight in the eye upon opening a door? I would definitely slam it close with zero time lag!

*SQUISHY!* *SQUISH!*

However, even though I closed the door, I could still hear the "thing" moving through the hallway. What even is that thing? I have absolutely no idea, but I'll just call it the giant eyeball monster for now.

Anyway, I couldn't leave through the hallway, and the window was also not free. I'm literally a sitting duck with nowhere to go! If I let things be as they are, then I fear that my life is forfeit.

My mind quickly ran through several options, but not one of them would ensure my safety. I backed away slowly until I could no longer go further, reaching the other end of the room.

*Clink!*

By my left hand, a familiar red cylinder was placed. When I noticed it, a plan quickly formed in my mind. Without wasting another moment, I quickly gathered what I needed. I grabbed my large blanket, tying the four corners together and creating a pocket.

Then, like a turtle hiding in its shell, I crossed it before my body while adding additional straps—the belt collection that I had. After making sure that it was already fitted tight, I grabbed the red cylinder—the fire extinguisher—and turned toward the window.

"Phew..."

The building I was in had a total of 30 floors, each about three meters high. I'm staying in a suite on the top floor, so that means roughly a hundred meters from the ground.

"If this fails, I'm dead for sure." I smiled cynically to myself before removing the fire extinguisher's pin.

However, staying here was surely equivalent to death too.

I quickly gathered all my courage and held the fire extinguisher in my hands, aiming the nozzle forward. Then, with a frenzied shout, I ran toward the window and jumped!

*SHATTER!*

The glass window broke without much effort, and some shards ended up slicing my body, especially my arms that I used to cover myself.

As soon as I got out, I saw the large eye staring straight at me. I felt goosebumps across my arm but quickly aimed the fire extinguisher forward, pressing the lever hard. "TAKE THIS, YOU MOTHERF*CKER!"

A white mist sprayed, causing the eyeball to quickly close. At that moment, I started to feel gravity taking hold of my body. I fell for a few seconds before suddenly, my body felt taut. The makeshift parachute worked! Although my fall was still fast enough to be fatal, the landing spot was a pool, so I could...

*CHOMP!*

At that instant, everything went black...

However, before that, I think I saw something weird. An octopus with thousands of eyes and mouths all over its body lay lazily by the pool as its tentacles climbed up the building.

...

Well, I'm sure that's just my imagination.

There's no way such a gigantic octopus existed.

Anyway, with that, I unceremoniously died.