By Zephyria 
It was a relief that Kanrano had brought Joo-oh back from a place where nothing remained but severed corpses and crystals.
It was even more of a relief that he hadn’t simply dumped a bothersome parasite like him with the security force or in some dark alleyway.
Given how he trusted people blindly, simply because he liked them, who knows what kind of accident would have happened if he had been wandering the unfamiliar streets.
How boring and exhausting life would have been without that idiot following him around, chanting “Jin Mu-hae, Jin Mu-hae.”
He probably wouldn’t have hunted the Thorn wolf or recovered his father’s mementos for several years.
Even if he had somehow taken on the work for the Return flight, he wouldn’t have reached the core this early.
But that wasn’t even the main problem. Jin Mu-hae would have stood alone amidst the fragmented memories of his past.
Joo-oh might have wandered back outside the city in the form of an Aberrant. Chewing and swallowing filthy, tasteless raw meat, never knowing the taste of hot dogs, meat skewers, and Fruit Tornadoes.
“The scent… hmmm. It’s gotten stronger.”
Kirrrung—. A cry that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up echoed. The fellow, completely undone, wore a satisfied expression while cradling another man’s cock deep inside his belly.
The corners of his mouth were so limp it was ambiguous whether he was smiling or whimpering. Instead, his unfocused gaze, though hazy, held a glimmer of happiness.
“Hmm, ngh…”
Despite his own scent being sweeter, Joo-oh rubbed his nose and snout against every inch of skin they touched.
Anyone listening would think the smell was overpowering, but Jin Mu-hae generally didn’t have much of a body odor. On days when he had the worst luck and had to deal with Beasts and Aberrants, this was a talent and aptitude suited for the job.
Furthermore, once such a body was washed clean, all that remained was the natural scent of human skin—the fragrance that comes from being alive.
Perhaps he liked the scent of life felt in the breath of the one he embraced. Thinking this—interpreting the situation to his own liking—made the fellow, who rubbed his cheek against him with every inhalation, seem pitiful and cute.
“Hik!”
Contrary to the sentiment, the part below became even more grotesque, roughly piercing through Joo-oh’s inner walls, which were already nearly exhausted.
He writhed his hips, breathing in short gasps. The hot, narrow inner walls tightened along the shape of the thick member.
“…!”
Jin Mu-hae frowned and held his breath. His clenched jaw hardened, and a sharp shiver raced down his spine.
The moment his vision flashed with the sensation of climax, he released his thick lust inside the other and suppressed his voice with all his might.
Just as he had always done in other matters, he wanted to appear composed and calm in front of the boy. He didn’t know how long this act would last, but so far, he had never truly broken down in front of Joo-oh.
It was a stroke of luck. Even back when he thought the boy was clueless, he had already shamelessly laid hands on him; if Joo-oh had gone and blabbed about that, Jin Mu-hae wouldn’t have been viewed as someone who simply hit and touched him.
‘Jin Mu-hae, who hits, touches, rubs his bottom, and screams’…
Fuck. Why were there so many distracting thoughts today? The horrific adjective that flashed through his mind threatened to ruin his mood.
Just as a sense of reality returned after ejaculation, making him feel as if he had encountered an irredeemable piece of trash.
“Jin Mu-haeee…”
The completely limp fellow, burning hot, called out to him weakly. The sight of his red joints in his arms and legs triggered an uncontrollable surge of violence once again.
The object that hadn’t even been withdrawn grew even stiffer and more menacing than before. Despite having just come, excitement bloomed steadily.
“What. Is it uncomfortable?”
“No, huu. Hold me. Tight, like this.”
“Lean your head.”
Heh. He embraced the smiling man without a single gap. In his heart, he wanted to wrap him up so that not a single patch of skin was visible, but that would be impossible unless he could fold and store Joo-oh like a well-dried shirt.
It was fine. Still, he was a size that was perfect for hugging. Unaware of his own thoughts, Mu-hae drove his hips in roughly with a feverish mind.
The fellow, embraced from the back, struggled every time he was thrust deep. There was no attempt to escape. Only a hint of laughter mixed into the whimpering moans, enjoying the clinging warmth.
“Like it, the best…” The chest of the one who could barely repeat similar words swelled greatly. Hieuk. After a moment of silence, his breath seemed to vanish, and the body he held flinched and trembled finely.
He moved his attached lower half endlessly. Each time, a sweet and humid scent scattered at the tip of his nose, as if bewitching him. Despite the body in his arms writhing from the rushing pleasure, it never left his embrace.
He-ek, hik, whimpers like hiccups burst intermittently from within his arms. Everything was satisfying. The pleasure that pierced through him, the warm skin, the transmitted movements—all of it.
“Jin, hng, Jin Mu-hae…”
Only after the other trembled a couple more times did he stop the fire burning below. He turned the limp head to face him.
The unfocused red eyes wandered blankly in the air before slowly returning upon finding Mu-hae’s face.
That sight was unbearably satisfying, so he nipped at him. After rubbing the nape of the neck, which had no wounds or even tooth marks, he pressed his mouth against the lips that were mumbling something.
“Game over?”
He asked in a slightly cracked voice. Joo-oh, whose fingertips were still trembling from the afterglow, stubbornly shook his head and clung to him again.
“No end.”
“No end?”
“It’s a game without an ending.”
He was a guy whose stamina was so overflowing that he had never been seen exhausted. It was funny to see him anxious that the pleasant moment might end.
Mu-hae shoved him back into his embrace and toyed with his firm chest. He didn’t know why he had been in such a hurry to pry information out of Director Gil.
Since it seemed they wouldn’t step a single foot out of the house on Starlight Road for the rest of the day anyway.
“Jin Mu-hae. Put on the glasses, too.”
“Stop talking nonsense, that item isn’t here.”
He licked the fellow, who tried to satisfy his personal desires even in the interim, as if biting him. It was an impulse he didn’t understand himself, constantly sinking his teeth in even though not a single mark would remain.
* * *
He had searched the hideout in the Jaegang District relentlessly on the first day he discovered it.
He had looked through it once more while cleaning, and whenever the work for the Return flight hit a wall, he had dug around here and there out of habit.
However, Mu-hae still believed there was information left there that he had failed to find.
The first reason was the conditional Indexing Function, and another reason was that the four pillars of the Return flight had designed and created the place themselves.
In fact, he had found clues in the hideout as recently as now.
▒▨▒▒ : While I was fixing the AC
▒▨▒▒ : Everyone else was just enjoying drinks with ice floating in them at the cafe
▒▨▒▒ : While I was the only one sweating buckets and breathing the stagnant air in the basement
▒▨▒▒ : I don’t think this is right
▒▨▒▒ : I said it’s not right
Furthermore, if he recalled past records, Director Gil’s touch would have reached even the most trivial parts.
If such a man said something remained in the Jaegang District, then it absolutely existed.
That was the reason he had dragged his stiff body toward the Jaegang District since the early dawn. Mu-hae rotated his neck with a cracking sound and packed his simple belongings.
His body, which remained fine even after sprinting several kilometers and rolling on the ground incessantly, felt sluggish as if he had finished hard labor.
In contrast, the fellow following him was irritatingly full of vitality, his eyes sparkling.
“Jin Mu-hae. Are you sleepy?”
“Did you see me being tired?”
He put on a coat that had thinned to match the weather and passed through the gate without any restriction or glances. By now, anyone in this area who didn’t know Mu-hae was practically a spy.
Those who had sent him disapproving looks when he first brought Joo-oh in now waved them through carelessly, without even thinking to check the fellow who hadn’t even taken off his hood.
“I wonder where the electricity used downstairs is drawn from?”
“Who cares. Someone’s probably working hard to provide it.”
As they descended the stairs leading underground, Joo-oh asked about a point he hadn’t considered. He didn’t answer properly, but he figured it would be Gu-reum or West Wind.
Come to think of it, wasn’t it Gu-reum, not his father’s records or the two people from Starlight Road, who told him about this hideout?
The fact that only West Wind’s records had been completely erased from this place might have been a decision she made herself.
“Where should we start searching?”
“From the places that don’t stand out.”
“Data?”
“If it were information with a password or condition, he would have told us the place to find that first.”
The flaw in the Starpath that Director Gil mentioned would either be a visible physical object or, at the very least, exist here as a means to access data.
Therefore, he had to overturn the spaces he likely wouldn’t have searched. For example…
“Jin Mu-hae, it’s dangerous.”
“It’s not dangerous, so hold the wheels so they don’t move.”
He stepped on a chair, climbed up, and touched the ceiling material. Even without much force, just a slight push opened several lids.
It looked like a passage where countless wires passed through. There was dust, but no unusual objects. Still, he gained a clue that there could be more hidden spaces like this here and there.
He also opened the ventilation cover and scanned the inside. In fact, he discovered an unfamiliar data chip there.
It was incredibly absurd that when he played it, what came out was a composite video of a tree with Teacher Jung’s face shaking.
He felt an indescribable emotion once at the clean face without a single scar, once more at the clumsy electronic music, and finally, at the suspicion that Director Gil was likely the one who made this.
“I guess there is something here.”
Joo-oh spoke those words as a form of consolation. Though he didn’t know why he was trying to console him, seeing how his face was flushed with excitement, it probably wasn’t sincere.
256 – I Became an Aberration in a Dead Game