By Zephyria 
“This Hamhung Main Palace is the former residence of Yi Seong-gye, a villainous conspirator who treacherously betrayed the nation. Originally, it would have been right to trample it so that not a single blade of grass could grow, but in our Republic…”
Listening to the explanations of the guide, who was speaking fluent Japanese, the Japanese tourists sightseeing at the Hamhung Main Palace—the origin of the phrase ‘Hamhung Envoy’—suddenly became restless. A man was lying flat on the roof of the main hall. The man, possessing a tall and sturdy build rarely seen in North Korea, was so handsome that most celebrities wouldn’t even dare compete with him. Despite this, his clothes looked as if he had just crawled out of a pool of blood.
Just what kind of family delinquent was he to behave so recklessly in a tourist site directly managed by the People’s Committee? Was there such a man in the Paektu Bloodline?
Unable to contain their curiosity, one tourist raised a hand.
“What is that man over there doing?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The man on the roof.”
“There is no one there.”
“What? What do you mean? I can clearly see him.”
“There is no one there.”
“….”
The guide answered firmly with a beaming smile. Faced with such an incomprehensible reaction, the tourists looked at one another and fell silent. He was smiling and even waving his hand when their eyes met, yet the guide insisted he wasn’t there.
‘Then what is it? A g-ghost in broad daylight? No wonder there were so many strange talismans all over the city!’
Having collectively witnessed a ghost, the terrified tourists urged the guide to move to another location quickly.
At the same time, Jeil Heon, who was being treated as a ghost by the oblivious tourists, was deep in thought about whether he could contact the Management Bureau by bypassing Japan if he could borrow one of their phones. However, he didn’t know Japanese, and he wasn’t confident he could understand the English pronunciation of a Japanese person…
A few days ago, after escaping the Smiling Man’s Aberrant Realm and realizing he was in North Korea, Jeil Heon faced two paths. Either be captured as a Management Bureau Agent who had defected to the North, or secretly sneak back south.
Had he been near the Military Demarcation Line, he would have chosen the latter, but unfortunately, he was in Hamgyong Province. He could eventually return if he just headed south blindly, but before that, his Corruption Level would skyrocket, and he would become an Aberration. Moreover, he had to evade the pursuit of the North Korean authorities.
So, he decided to simply pretend to be an Aberration.
To overcome the systemic crisis caused by the Arduous March, North Korea had chosen to collude with anomalies. While the Otherworld had not been officially announced to the public, it was an open secret in North Korean society that ‘something that looks human but is not human’ existed. To survive such things, one had to pretend not to see, pretend not to hear, and absolutely never speak of them.
People had long been conditioned to thoroughly ignore ‘humans who evoke a sense of uncanny dissonance.’ Covered in blood from head to toe and possessing a high Corruption Level, Jeil Heon was a human who evoked plenty of dissonance.
Lighting the last remaining cigarette in his pack, Jeil Heon put it in his mouth, only to immediately groan and clutch his head. The fingertips holding the cigarette trembled slightly. He tried to calm his heart by pretending to be composed, but even a slight lapse in concentration allowed anxiety to tighten around him along with hunger.
How many days had it been since he last saw Yoo Jiha? It wasn’t as if there was a guaranteed future where they would meet soon. In his current state of drifting in North Korea, he couldn’t even be sure when he would return. The reality that Jiha was not near him caused a surge of restlessness, like a shipwreck being tossed about, shaking the very resolve he used to suppress the Contamination. Constantly stimulated by emotional turmoil, Jeil Heon had to fight back the hunger time and again.
After letting out a series of low groans, he turned on his phone, which had barely any battery left. As soon as the screen lit up, he saw Yoo Jiha. It was a photo he had secretly taken of Jiha sleeping with a slightly puffy face, as he looked cute after eating a late-night snack the previous day. As if it were a lifeline, he gazed at the image and pressed the photo against his forehead. The hunger finally subsided.
He missed him. He missed him so much.
Since communication had been cut off so suddenly, Jiha must be incredibly worried. Did he do well on his exams? He hoped that Jiha’s mind wouldn’t be cluttered by his disappearance, causing him to ruin the tests. He wanted to hold him tightly in his arms, breathe in the scent of his skin, rub his cheeks, and mix their warmth while tasting his sweet lips. He wanted to return to his side as a human.
…To do that, he would first have to find his role here.
Jeil Heon crushed the barely smoked cigarette and took several deep breaths. Since he was showing Yoo Jiha such a pathetic sight of drifting away, wouldn’t it be less embarrassing if he brought back at least one achievement?
‘Since I’ve fallen into North Korea anyway, I’d like to check out Gyeongdeok Palace…’
He had once wandered Gyeongdeok Palace due to the thoughts of the fused Blind Eater, but Jeil Heon’s memories of that time were very vague. However, Hamhung was also a city where traces of Yi Seong-gye’s life remained. While the energy wasn’t as dense as in Kaesong, where he became king, it was Yi Seong-gye’s hometown, so he might find a meaning that had previously escaped his thoughts.
With that mindset, Jeil Heon arrived in Hamhung today and followed the terrified Japanese tourists to look around the Hamhung Main Palace and the Hamhung Historical Museum. As a result, he discovered an artifact that seemed quite useful. Furthermore, seeing that not only civilians but even the guide from the People’s Committee regarded him as an Aberration, he thought of a way to return.
Jeil Heon threw a piece of haphazardly considered dialogue at the guide.
“I’m tired of running away from home, and I’m bored, so I want to go home.”
“Hieek!”
Hiding his guilt toward the guide, who looked as if his heart had dropped, he calmly played the part of an Aberration. His setup was that he had run away because he was sick of the Management Bureau. He was immediately escorted to the People’s Committee office, and the official in charge of anomalies recognized that the collar around his neck was a Tool used for Aberrations cooperating with the Water Abnormality Worship Management Bureau.
Under the official’s surveillance, he succeeded in using the phone there.
“Suk-young Noonaaa♡ Don’t you miss Heon? Heon is sooooo lonely being away from Noona. I want to go home to see Noona now.”
Though the name was old-fashioned, he sent an SOS to his beloved Sunbae. She would surely understand his request for help perfectly. He would be able to see Yoo Jiha soon. As his emotions stabilized, his mind began to work more sharply. Jeil Heon entered the planning phase to secretly steal the artifact he had eyed.
That night, an incident occurred where part of the Hamhung Historical Museum was damaged due to a fight between two Aberrations at the Hamhung Main Palace. However, as is usually the case with anomaly-related incidents in North Korea, it passed quietly as if nothing had happened.
North Korea had locked its national gates more firmly by colluding with anomalies, but there was one area where they cooperated with the South. That was the part concerning the Otherworld. Since the Otherworld originates from human consciousness, there were certain matters that the South and North, sharing the same cultural sphere, had to share.
“That’s probably why he disguised himself as an Aberration. If it were revealed that he’s a Management Bureau Agent, North Korea wouldn’t let him go easily.”
Hearing Jeil Heon’s childish voice filled with aegyo, Kang Suk-young shuddered with certainty, and her guess was soon confirmed. The North Korean authorities also seemed eager to send away someone else’s Aberration before it caused more trouble, so they cooperated actively.
The problem was the concern that if too much time passed, Jeil Heon might actually become an Aberration. To reunite him with Yoo Jiha as quickly as possible, Kang Suk-young went around pleading with relevant agencies, and her face became filled with the determination to twist Jeil Heon’s neck the moment he appeared before her.
Thanks to that, preparations to rescue Jeil Heon were completed in two days. A large military helicopter took off toward Hamhung, and among the group consisting of Kang Suk-young and the Enforcement Division Agents escorting her, Yoo Jiha was also included.
Jiha had flown in a helicopter before while rescuing Jeong Ing-bar, but the motion sickness was worse now than it had been then. Being a military helicopter, the seats were narrower and it was much louder, and it had to travel a long distance. Moreover, just as he was getting used to it, the aircraft would suddenly veer or move sharply up and down. While suppressing the nausea in his stomach, Yoo Jiha recalled the call logs he had received from Kang Suk-young.
The voice he heard for the first time in several days was the same. Since he was capable of shamelessly mimicking an Aberration, it seemed there were no injuries to be seriously concerned about. While he felt relieved, a part of his heart stung sharply.