By Zephyria 
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“Do you really need to bring the bag? There’s nothing in it.”
“I have snacks.”
“Just stuff them in your pockets and come.”
“I can’t.”
Leaving the house for the first time in a while, the cold air felt almost unfamiliar. Mu-hae locked all the windows he had left open for ventilation and stepped out the front door for the first time in several days.
The overwhelming attention he had received had finally subsided to some extent. Starlight Road in the middle of the day was, as always, deserted and grimy.
Now that Joo-oh’s condition—having spent his time blankly licking other people’s hands—had improved, it was time to slowly return to daily life.
The start of that was showing a sane version of himself to those who had silently waited for him while he looked like a madman.
Even so, there would be no affectionate greetings; it would all be formal check-ups and equipment repairs…
Beep.
“Everything is normal, and there are no issues externally. Your reaction speed and muscle strength are still incredible.”
After a check-up lasting about thirty minutes, Teacher Jung closed the electronic chart.
With a flick of his hand, he signaled that the exam was over and he was free to move. Joo-oh hurried over to Mu-hae.
“Are the healed areas okay?”
“Yes. There are some scars left.”
“If there weren’t, would you even be human?”
Joo-oh’s physical condition was uncannily identical to how it was before his disappearance. Not only his nutrition and internal hydration, but even his weight was exactly the same without a single margin of error, to the point where Teacher Jung had checked the machine several times.
However, facing that sight, neither he nor Mu-hae said a word. All they did was quietly glance at the projection of his empty stomach, despite the fact that he must have eaten breakfast.
“You’re not asking why I only just came back.”
“You probably had your reasons. Especially since it’s you.”
Teacher Jung slid open a drawer and pulled out something that rustled. It was a wire puzzle, still in its plastic packaging.
As the puzzle dangled from his hand, Joo-oh stepped forward as if possessed.
The moment he took it, Teacher Jung’s hand touched his black, fine-textured hair. Joo-oh, who had been enjoying the touch with a slight smile, suddenly snapped his eyes open in surprise.
“Even his hair doesn’t fall out easily.”
“You pulled my hair.”
“Right. I pulled it. Now go play or whatever you want.”
Teacher Jung looked indifferent to whatever Joo-oh mumbled. Instead, only Mu-hae felt a bit tense, observing Joo-oh’s expression.
Naturally, a shock of this level didn’t cause a tail to pop out or his appearance to change. Still, feeling inexplicably anxious, Mu-hae gently touched the back of Joo-oh’s warm neck.
The simple-minded fellow quickly brightened up again and rubbed his head vigorously against Mu-hae’s hand.
“Oh, right. CEO Gil mentioned wanting to have a meal together. Haven’t you heard from him yet?”
“Really? I was planning to go to the electronic store later anyway. I guess he’ll tell me then.”
“He said not here. People drift in and out too often. He’ll probably suggest gathering at your place after the store closes.”
“…It’s been a while since they’ve visited. How many years has it been?”
Both before and after his father passed away, CEO Gil and Teacher Jung rarely stopped by the house.
Even when he became alone at a young age, they merely provided daily necessities periodically and never once interfered with how Mu-hae lived his life.
Thinking back, it was a rather obsessive kind of distancing. It wasn’t that they lacked interest, but rather that they had drawn a line and tried desperately not to cross it.
“CEO Gil and I will split the food, so don’t worry about it.”
“They can just come as they are.”
“I have no intention of being indebted to you even for a meal.”
From the moment he was brought in half-dead, to the moment he finally found Joo-oh without a single hair out of place.
Teacher Jung must have had countless things he wanted to ask, but he never showed even a hint of curiosity, even implicitly.
Having experienced it for a long time, Mu-hae couldn’t not know. This was this man’s way of showing consideration and protection.
Mu-hae nodded silently and gave Joo-oh a light tap on the back. Even while immersed in the puzzle, the fellow keenly caught the signal, zipped up his newly bought hooded jacket, and pulled the hood over his head.
“Right.”
He turned his head as he was leaving the door.
“When I went to the electronic store before, they told me… that I don’t necessarily need to take responsibility for things like the Return flight.”
A calm gaze reached Mu-hae from behind the glasses. Teacher Jung replied in a composed voice, his hands in his lab coat pockets.
“That was always your choice.”
It was an extremely peaceful, monotone answer, as if to ask when he had ever interfered in other matters.
Well, it was the truth, so there was nothing more to say. Mu-hae gave a small nod and stepped out onto the shabby street.
“Aren’t you going to ask?”
“Ask what.”
“West Wind.”
Joo-oh, who had been quiet the whole time, asked as he followed closely behind. Despite having run away before listening to the recording from the bio chip, he acted as if he knew the contents.
Thanks to Teacher Jung’s certification that this dim-looking fellow’s brain actually worked quite sharply, Mu-hae could now roughly guess Joo-oh’s reasoning.
Since he had gone to dig up the West Wind’s weaknesses held by the vegan society, Joo-oh was certain he had salvaged something. As always, Joo-oh would act like a fool, but every now and then, he would hit the nail on the head like a well-tuned clock.
“I’ll handle it.”
If so, he had probably also realized that Mu-hae was currently avoiding the task at hand.
It wasn’t that he lacked interest in the future of the Return flight, but it was ambiguous. Mu-hae stared intently at the Link Watch for a moment before turning away and quickening his pace.
Since they had been so lenient with him, he soon returned to the defense force. As before, Joo-oh was stuck to his side.
A man who had been rescued from the outside, mentally unstable, surviving for a month by fleeing and hiding like a wild beast after being ambushed by an Aberrant. And the instructor who had eventually rescued and brought back his comrade.
The protagonists of this miracle-like story were the center of attention wherever they went. Joo-oh seemed to enjoy the favorable gazes, gulping down the drinks brought to him and enjoying everyone’s reaction.
Whenever he had spare time, Jin Mu-hae visited the archives in the building. He focused on searching for data regarding Crystal Blue or the ecology of Aberrants.
He already knew the basic common sense—that Aberrants appeared along with the emergence of Crystal Blue and remained within those areas—but now he needed deeper and more detailed information.
[The mechanism by which Aberrants are born has not yet been clearly revealed. However, just as some drugs are used as treatments despite their mechanisms being unknown, the academic community believes that interpreting the ecology and behavioral patterns of Aberrants based on their connection to Crystal Blue is the correct direction. There are over ten thousand Crystal Zones of varying sizes on Earth, and the number is gradually increasing year by year. Once a Crystal Zone is formed, it does not naturally disappear…]
Despite scouring countless different records, the information remaining in his hands was all the same superficial content.
‘Aberrants increase in number around Crystal Zones. It is presumed they can occasionally be found and survive in places without Blue, but unless there is a special reason to leave the area, most stay nearby.’
If he summarized it with his moderately quick learning ability, it amounted to this. In no record existing within the defense force could he find information regarding the disappearance of Blue or the shrinking of Crystal Zones.
It was strange. If Aberrants appeared with Crystal Blue, it would be natural to wonder if the Aberrants would also meet their end once the Blue vanished.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that information was being intentionally restricted. Mu-hae pressed his throbbing head and shifted his gaze.
Joo-oh, meeting his eyes, shook a sloshing juice bottle. It seemed to mean ‘do you want some too?’, but Mu-hae wasn’t in the mood for such things.
“…Where were you?”
“Hmm. What?”
“When you were outside. What were you doing wandering around?”
As if he hadn’t expected such a question, the red eyes widened slightly. Joo-oh rolled his eyes distractedly and mumbled in a small voice.
“I don’t know.”
“How do you not know?”
“I don’t remember well. But I followed Jin Mu-hae.”
It seemed he had chosen the wrong person to ask. Even if he asked him about the relationship between Aberrants and Crystal Blue, no sharp answer would come.
Even Jin Mu-hae himself, though human, could say nothing more than ‘it works well’ if asked about human brain function or biological reactions.
Therefore, he swallowed the words that had reached the tip of his throat.
‘I heard that if Crystal Blue disappears, Aberrants disappear too. Are you in that category?’
Only the unfinished question spun around in his head. Mu-hae’s eyes scanned the Link Watch again. The device of the Return flight where his father’s keepsake resided.
* * *
Ahead of the visit from CEO Gil and Teacher Jung, Mu-hae was unnecessarily busy.
It wasn’t as if they were coming to monitor whether he was living well; they were simply exceptionally suggesting a meal together.
For some reason, he felt as if he had to show them that he was enjoying a proper life. It was ridiculous, as they weren’t in a relationship that required such formalities.
Thanks to that, he tried moving the furniture for the first time. Since he wasn’t the type to roll around in filth, there were few places that needed tending, but as he dragged the bed away, he was slightly surprised by the luggage piled underneath.
Mu-hae used a knife to chop up a hideously shaped prosthetic penis into pieces and divided them into the trash can. He had forgotten to throw it away for a while.
They weren’t the type of people to rummage under someone else’s bed, but the mere imagination that such a thing might be discovered sent a shiver down his spine.
“Why are you throwing it away!”
“Then should I just leave this here?”
“Jin Mu-hae bought that for me.”
“I didn’t buy it for you. Just try saying that somewhere.”
It wasn’t just a feeling; actual goosebumps rose on his arms. The fact that Jin Mu-hae sat him on his lap and touched him, or that he had bought him a giant, bobbing cock, must absolutely never leak out.
Even when he received Hawkins’ gaze near Bay City, he felt like he had become an irredeemable piece of waste.
Looking at this idiot who was playing by rubbing the lubricant on his own hand instead of squeezing it out and throwing it away, he felt it would be better to reveal the Return flight and be captured than to have such a rumor spread.
Perhaps noticing his menacing face, Joo-oh clicked his tongue and nodded. Now his gaze was directed toward the dining table.
Although the visitors said they would bring food, Joo-oh’s food intake far exceeded the standard for an average adult male. After stir-frying a mountain of meat and fiber blocks, Joo-oh kept licking his lips and glancing over.
Should he praise him for being good and not snacking on it while moving around…
Knock knock!
By the time the tidying was roughly finished, the sun was already setting. At the sound of the door knocking, he hurried out to find CEO Gil and Teacher Jung standing there.
“You came together.”
“We ran into each other on the way.”
For that to be the case, they were ten minutes early for the appointment. Teacher Jung might be different, but CEO Gil almost always kept the appointed time like a knife.
The house wasn’t large to begin with, so just having two more people enter made it feel full. Mu-hae awkwardly touched the back of his head and turned toward the living room.
And only then did he realize belatedly. That Joo-oh, wearing an oversized, baggy t-shirt, was periodically sniffing the air.
It was such a familiar sight that it was only after seeing one of CEO Gil’s eyebrows lift slightly that he realized it was a strange sight.
“I put off the laundry… so there were no clothes to put him in.”
At least he was wearing pants. Feeling as if cold sweat was about to pour down, Mu-hae silently clenched his fists.
190 – I Became a Monster in a Dead Game