By Zephyria 
Prologue.
0 Confessions, 2.5 Breakups, yet Yoo Jiha remained undaunted.
This wasn’t just baseless confidence; it was based on the testimonies of those who had observed him and the man.
〈I heard he dotes on that kid? It’s suspicious that a man who’s so obsessed with anomalies and seemingly indifferent to humans is being so kind.〉
〈It does feel like he takes special care of him. Like last time at the opera house—as soon as an anomaly appeared, he protected him immediately because it looked dangerous.〉
〈They have a special relationship. If it weren’t for Jiha, he would’ve been quarantined in a lab or died already. I’d carry Jiha on my back too if I were him.〉
A special relationship.
Indeed. By all accounts, he and the man shared a special relationship. A bond woven together by an anomaly’s red thread of fate instead of the Old Man under the Moon.
He had researched and pondered various ways to confess. A confession at a fancy restaurant with a view of Seoul’s nightscape was his favorite, but he gave it up with tears in his eyes. His meager bank account, having surrendered its first paycheck to his parents, screamed in protest.
Of course, if he said he wanted dinner at a restaurant, the man would readily make a reservation, but wouldn’t it be a bit odd to confess at a restaurant paid for by the other person? Even Yoo Jiha, who had zero dating experience, knew that.
Though momentarily defeated, Yoo Jiha soon recovered his resolve. If he lacked money, he would overcome it with sincerity. He bought a steak—takeout from the most expensive and delicious restaurant his card would allow—and a mini delphinium bouquet. The language of mini delphiniums is “I will make you happy.” Just simulating the confession scene gave him goosebumps. It was too cool.
He finished the setup before the man returned home. It was a perfect plan. Finally, he heard the sound of a car parking. Then came the signs of presence. The neat, rhythmic sound of footsteps crossing from the garage through the garden, stepping off the shoes and ascending the stone porch toward the kitchen.
The man, who could move without a single trace to avoid detection by anomalies, always made footsteps when Jiha was nearby. This intentional presence, meant to ensure Jiha wouldn’t be startled, had now become a source of fluttering anticipation.
Listening to the sound of footsteps on the wooden veranda growing louder, Yoo Jiha took a deep breath. The plan was perfect. He would set the mood in the dim light and then present the bouquet that emitted a subtle fragrance even in the dark… Huh? Dark? It’s bright?
“…!”
He had forgotten to light candles instead of the electric lights. Yoo Jiha hurriedly pulled out the S.T. Dupont lighter he had secretly taken from the man’s room, but the door was already opening. In his panic, as he tried to turn around, he made matters worse by tripping over his own feet.
“Whoa!”
“You have to be careful.”
Naturally, since the man was close by, he didn’t actually hit the floor. Before Yoo Jiha could sprawl across the ground, he landed right in the man’s arms—though exactly when the distance had closed, he didn’t know.
Dusting off his clothes and checking for injuries, the man looked around with an amused expression.
“Is it my birthday today? This is a surprise gift, right?”
“T-That’s…”
The man’s eyes landed on the bouquet hidden behind the chair. It was Yoo Jiha’s tactical error in failing to account for the man’s tall stature.
“What are the flowers for? Who gave them to you?”
“U-Uh… I didn’t receive them…”
“Did you buy them on purpose? You should have told me sooner that you like flowers. Should we plant some flower seeds in the garden too?”
Mood my ass. Yoo Jiha was devastated. From the moment he foolishly almost fell, the cool confession had gone down the drain. Since it had come to this, he had no choice but to go for it.
“T-They’re for you, Mister!”
“Me?”
“I bought them to give to you.”
As the man took the bouquet with a puzzled yet smiling face, Yoo Jiha squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.
“I… I like you, Mister.”
“Hmm? Thanks. I like our Jiha too.”
“No! Not that kind of like! As a romantic interest—no, as the same sex? No, not that either! I mean I like you so much that I want to go on dates and be in a relationship with you…!”
Silence followed.
The moment he slowly raised his gaze to look at the man’s face, Yoo Jiha realized he was screwed.
* * *
The end-of-first-semester party started with alcohol and ended with alcohol. He missed the last train, and Yoo Jiha, who barely managed to board a bus heading toward his Noona’s place in Seoul, dozed off while clutching his bag. And when he opened his eyes, the sight before him was neither a bus stop nor the terminus.
Eight Phases Mental Hospital.
In the middle of a forest shrouded in fog, a red sign written on a dilapidated outer wall looked down at him. He wondered if he was still half-asleep, but the humid, bleak moisture of the forest clinging to him was too vivid to be a dream.
The people sprawled around him also began to pick themselves up one by one. They had clearly boarded the bus in a bustling downtown area, yet they woke up in a forest. The confusion of the people, some of whom slapped their own cheeks unable to believe the sight, soon turned into a commotion.
“Where is this?”
“A mental hospital? What kind of mental hospital is in a place like this!”
“My phone isn’t getting any signal!”
“Hey! Why did you bring us here!”
Someone short-tempered grabbed the bus driver by the collar, but the driver was just as clueless.
“I-I don’t know. This isn’t a bus route, and I also lost consciousness…”
Looking around amidst the panic and noise, Yoo Jiha gasped. The bus that should have brought them there was gone. All that existed were the screaming passengers and the gloomy fog enveloping the forest.
The midnight forest was utterly silent. In this hushed forest of silence, devoid of common insects, wild animals, or birds, only the old mental hospital stood eerily tall.
The situation, which they could neither handle nor understand, devolved into terror. People began to run, screaming. As if by agreement, they all headed in the same direction: into the fog on the opposite side of the mental hospital. Not a single person thought to go to the hospital for help. Human instinct was telling them: Do not enter that hospital.
However, that too was a futile act.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Sunbae Park Jun-yeol, who had boarded the same bus and leaped into the fog, came flying back out, screaming, and landed next to Yoo Jiha, who had remained stationary. It wasn’t just Park Jun-yeol. Those who tried to escape through the fog were spat back out in all directions like regurgitated food.
“S-Sunbae. Are you okay?”
The bodies of those who had entered the fog, including Park Jun-yeol, trembled with violent convulsions. Their pupils rolled back white, and their skin became abnormally thin, to the point where the outlines of bones and organs were visible from the outside. It was as if something inside the fog had wrapped around their entire bodies and squeezed out the very identity that defined them as human.
Yoo Jiha collapsed to the ground with a suffocating scream. Upon contact with the outside air, their skin regained its lost color, and the people gradually recovered their senses. However, as if their memories had been carved out, they could recall nothing of what had flashed before their eyes in the instant they entered the fog.
By then, the people stopped asking logical questions about how they had been transported to a mental hospital in the woods. This was reality. Yoo Jiha grit his teeth hard.
“W-What do we do? Can’t we get out of here?”
A young student in a school uniform asked a hollow question, on the verge of tears. Not a single person opened their mouth to answer. It was then.
Zzzzt. Buzz. ♬
In the desolate darkness, the short ringtones of mobile phones went off simultaneously. In a forest where there was no signal, the phones of the eight abandoned people rang at once.
“W-What is it!”
“Ack!”
“It’s a text, a text!”
“Look at this, should we read it?”
“First, let’s stay calm, let’s be calm.”
A man stepped forward; he spoke standard Korean, but a Yanbian dialect subtly leaked through his accent, suggesting he was ethnic Korean from China.
“There’s no other way right now. Let’s look at the text first and share what it says.”
Yoo Jiha also looked down at the screen that had lit up as he received the message, his hands trembling.
[Common Survival Rulebook for Victims of Aberrant Realm Phenomena]
This rulebook is a common manual automatically dispatched by the Water Abnormality Worship Management Bureau to respond to Aberrant Realms. This Bureau is a national agency loyal to the state and protecting its citizens, and we inform you that we will do our best for your survival and rescue. Therefore, you must also follow the Bureau’s rules.
If you are reading this rulebook, it means you have become a victim of an Aberrant Realm phenomenon for some reason. You may consider an Aberrant Realm to be a place where Aberrations (monsters)—namely ghosts, goblins, monsters, urban legends, and the like—appear. The Bureau refers to these Aberrations and Aberrant Realms collectively as anomalies.
Even if the sights unfolding before you are hard to believe, they are all true. Denial of reality will only shorten your remaining time.
Survival rulebooks specific to each Aberrant Realm are provided near your current location; please familiarize yourself with them. Most Aberrations cannot distinguish between their own kind and humans, so follow the rulebook to ensure your identity as a human is not discovered.
The rulebooks are invisible to Aberrations, so you may take them out and read them at any time, but be careful in front of an Aberration. Acting in a way that does not draw its attention will make it extremely displeased.
Your objective is survival, not the extermination of Aberrations. Even if you possess spiritual abilities, make survival your top priority.
The method of escape varies by Aberrant Realm. Additionally, as you have likely already experienced, escaping through the fog surrounding the Aberrant Realm is impossible. If you remain on the outskirts for a long time without entering the center of the Aberrant Realm, the Aberrations will perceive you as a foreign object and come to hunt you directly.
If you successfully escape, wait for the Bureau’s rescue in a safe place. The Bureau will certainly dispatch Agents to rescue you.
Do not consume any food or drink found within the Aberrant Realm. The place you are in is similar to reality, but it is not reality. All matter there is fundamentally different from reality, and food and drink are no exception.
5-1. If you judge that it is better than starving to death, eat. There is a high probability that you will be consuming rotten animal meat. In some cases, you may chew on inorganic matter or small pieces of metal, so swallowing hastily is not recommended. Furthermore, the only animals Aberrations hunt in an Aberrant Realm are humans. There is a low probability that food or drink will turn into hydrochloric acid or metal shards in your throat, but you will not die immediately.
5-2. If consumed, there is an extremely low probability that you will mutate into an Aberration. However, do not worry. The Bureau will swiftly provide you with salvation. At the very least, you will be given a funeral with a corpse that looks human.
5-3. If you no longer feel hunger, you may consume food and drink as much as you like.
If you are facing the worst-case scenario, take the medication enclosed with the rulebook. This medication has completed human clinical trials. It will be less painful than being torn apart or eaten alive by an Aberration.
If you have a pre-written will, it will be delivered to your bereaved family after censorship. Please keep in mind when writing your will that delivery may be impossible depending on the content.
A single text message clearly revealed what had existed behind the facade of the everyday life he had mistakenly believed to be ordinary.