By Zephyria 
After crying his fill, he felt relieved, but at the same time, he became terribly embarrassed. Seeing Jeil Heon’s t-shirt soaked in the shape of his eyes made him even more self-conscious. Not only had he stolen the man’s lips, but he had shown him every kind of pathetic sight today…
Yoo Jiha slightly covered his messy, swollen eyes and pointed toward the workbench.
“I found one victim here, but they seem unconscious, perhaps due to Contamination.”
Jeil Heon’s gaze flickered briefly toward the victim, who was sprawled out like a lump of meat, before he indifferently looked away.
“No other Aberrations in the kitchen?”
“Right, there was one cook entity, but it left, saying it would go boil some water.”
“Ah. So that was the one I saw in front of the furnace.”
Bending his waist, Jeil Heon brushed the tips of his fingers against Jiha’s reddened eyelids. Despite his embarrassing appearance, the gesture felt like a reassurance that any version of him was fine, making Jiha’s heart tickle for no reason.
“I’ll go handle it quickly and come back, so will you wait here for a moment? There were no other laborers or Aberrations in the kitchen, so you can relax.”
“Uh, are you going to kill that Aberration from before?”
“Weren’t you scared because of that cook entity?”
Jeil Heon tilted his head with a look that suggested it was only natural to kill it, but he didn’t miss the momentary hesitation that flashed across Jiha’s face.
“Do you have other thoughts?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Yoo Jiha shook his head. In this place, Jeil Heon’s judgment would be correct. He couldn’t afford to complicate the situation with some clumsy interference.
As Jiha pressed his lips shut, Jeil Heon playfully tapped the bridge of his nose as if telling him to relax.
“Jiha. Do you remember what I said before you viewed the stage with your naked eyes?”
How could he forget? The man who told him to do whatever he wanted because he would surely come to save him had truly kept his promise.
“It’s the same now. I can support you in everything, so you just do what you want to do. How would you like me to handle the kitchen?”
The calm voice, though not loud in volume, was etched clearly into his mind. The resonance of the voice spread through his chest, creating a warm wave.
It wasn’t empty flattery. He had truly come to save him without a single moment’s hesitation. Until now, Jiha hadn’t known that the existence of someone who cheered him on, promising to support whatever he did, could become such a reliable pillar.
“I… I’m just a rookie so I don’t know much, but I heard from the Sunbaes earlier that for an Aberrant Realm where exploration has progressed to a certain extent, it’s generally better to maintain its current state. I’m not sure how the system in this kitchen works, but rather than killing the cook and making the kitchen’s situation or the dishes served uncertain, I thought maybe we could just sneak out…”
As he spoke, his confidence dwindled, and he ended up mumbling. Jeil Heon, who had been listening intently, let out a low hum.
“…In terms of the orthodox theory of exploring an Aberrant Realm, you’re right. Unless a life is in danger or it’s an Aberration that entered from the outside, changes within the realm are avoided.”
It was a relief that he wasn’t wrong, but if so, why hadn’t Jeil Heon recalled a manual that even a rookie knew? The man himself soon provided the answer.
“But Jiha, when it comes to problems involving you, I can’t make rational judgments. If I had known sooner about the Sunbae who hurt you at Eight Phases Mental Hospital, I wouldn’t have let them out of the Aberrant Realm.”
The man who had said he would save him even if it meant closing the Aberrant Realm whispered that anyone who became a threat to Jiha deserved to be purged. Then, he asked:
“It’s probably creepy, hearing this from someone you’ve only known for a short while.”
“No.”
Yoo Jiha answered again, ensuring his hasty response didn’t sound like he was brushing it off.
“It’s not. If it were anyone else, I would have thought they were a perverted stalker, but since it’s you, Ahjussi…”
In terms of the flow of time they had spent facing each other, their relationship was quite shallow. However, just as some people spend an hour in superficial conversation while others engage in a dense exchange, so it was with them. At least, Yoo Jiha was certain of it. He knew he would never forget the moment the man kept his promise, nor the memory of him embracing Jiha’s mistakes as something that wasn’t wrong.
At that answer, for some reason, the man wore a smile of immense relief, as if he had set down a great burden.
* * *
He returned from the kitchen safely. Saying that since the kitchen recognized Yoo Jiha as a rookie, it would be better to finish things decisively rather than sneaking out and leaving room for confusion, Jeil Heon had gone to find the cook entity.
The cook entity, which seemed to read ‘rookie’ as ‘slave,’ succumbed miserably after hearing Jeil Heon’s whispers. Jiha was dying to know what kind of threat—or rather, what words—could make an Aberration tremble so violently with a single sentence, but Jeil Heon absolutely refused to tell him.
“I only want to show my pretty side to our Jiha.”
Jiha was certain that even the act of threatening would be pretty, but he returned to the box seat without ever finding out. The victim Jeil Heon had carried on his back was laid carefully in the corner of the cushion. Song Hilda and Kim Min-seop seemed to have been waiting anxiously, as they greeted him very warmly through the in-ears.
Upon checking after returning, the back of the nightgown was charred black. It was in a shape similar to the face of Cheoyong, commonly seen in Cheoyongmunbae. That must be why it had felt hot earlier.
“I’m sorry for ruining it because of me.”
“Then, should I receive compensation?”
At the playful remark made with a mock-serious tone, Yoo Jiha pondered for a moment and then held out his cheek. It was an invitation for a ‘dip.’ Jeil Heon burst into laughter.
“If you keep doing that, I’ll want to live up to your expectations.”
“I-I’m not expecting anything.”
“Our Jiha, shall we start by putting on some weight?”
“…?!”
Following the joke, his head tilted as if he were about to give a playful kiss just like before, but he paused for a moment before returning to an awkward angle. Averting his gaze slightly, Jeil Heon took back the nightgown, rolled it up roughly, and set it aside.
Yoo Jiha also broke the slightly awkward atmosphere and haltingly explained his deductions. Just then, the intermission ended, and the stage resumed.
“I don’t remember the name well, but there were famous rivals among old sopranos. I heard it was a total chaos with ‘akgaes’ and everything…”
“Akgae?”
“Malicious individual fans.”
“Ah, could it be Callas and Tebaldi?”
“Yes, yes! When I read the True Eye Text earlier, the nuance was that the two were conscious of each other. The Aberrations in the audience were even more extreme, splitting in half and causing a ruckus while cursing the opposing side.”
“In that case, the entity on the left must be imitating Callas…”
The opera singers Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi were indeed famous rivals, but he recalled seeing a theory while beside his mother that it was largely fueled by fanatic followers and the media.
Song Hilda, listening through the in-ear, marveled.
How did you think of that? I didn’t have a clue. As expected of a young person, your brain is flexible and smart!
“But even if we found out who they’re imitating, will we be able to figure out the Viewing Method?”
Jeil Heon, who had been pondering while rubbing his lips, smiled brightly.
“Isn’t it just a monster that can’t even reach the toes of the real thing, despite pretending to be a prima donna?”
In a corner seat of the general section, the victim anxiously bit their nails. This was already their fifth viewing. On the first attempt, they were lucky enough to have La Traviata performed, but they missed the timing to incite the crowd. Their luck ended there.
During the repeated viewings, everything they had brought had been stripped away. If they couldn’t pass this time, they would have to pay with their internal organs for the next turn. If they hadn’t failed to exchange their opera glasses for sunglasses during the first viewing, they would have lost their eyes as well.
‘What do I do? What do I do…’
Just as La Traviata finally seemed to begin, the flow changed strangely. The victim, who only knew the famous songs that sounded familiar, was seized by terror. They had no idea what performance this was. Furthermore, the audience entities in the surrounding seats broke into a frenzy, cursing every time the opposing singer entity appeared. Even that noise tightened around their heart, scattering their mind.
The victim covered their face with both hands. The sight of having only two arms attached to their body felt incredibly strange and frightening. Human arms are supposed to have another pair on the back, which are sometimes used to crawl instead of legs. What should they do? It felt as if their body was already malfunctioning.
It was just as the victim was barely swallowing their sobs amidst the maddening terror.
Thump! An opera glass thrown from the box seat above struck the soprano entity’s head.
「…¿¡」
The singing stopped abruptly, and a voice rang out, cutting through the silence born of shock and confusion from the sudden incident. The mid-low tone, spreading with a leisurely resonance, was not a sound that stimulated a strange unpleasantness like the vocalization of an Aberration, but clearly a human voice.