By Zephyria Lee Hyun-muk, who had instantly woken up and saved Yohan from Yoon Seung-ryong’s grasp, brushed his neck where he had been held. Confirming there was nothing wrong, he calmly greeted him.
“How are you feeling?”
“I, I’m fine. Maybe because I slept so well… But, um, Yoon Seung-ryong has woken up….”
“Hmm, I see.”
Lee Hyun-muk didn’t even glance at Yoon Seung-ryong, who was rolling around the living room, his sole focus on checking Yohan for any abnormalities. Yoon Seung-ryong, who had just escaped the agony of his head splitting open, crawled on the floor, letting out a pained cry.
“Aaaagh… Seriously, I… I know this isn’t a dream or an illusion… Fuck… My head…”
Still paying no attention to Yoon Seung-ryong, Lee Hyun-muk headed to the kitchen. He relit the extinguished burner and began stir-frying the ham Yohan had been cooking. Yoon Seung-ryong, clutching his head and groaning, stared blankly at the sight. Sniffing the air, he muttered.
“What is it? Why does it smell so delicious all of a sudden…?”
Yohan glanced at Yoon Seung-ryong, then scooped three bowls of white rice and opened a can of kimchi. He added leftover grilled pork from yesterday, ssamjang, vegetables, and cucumber and carrot sticks to the bowls, creating a rather substantial spread. Lee Hyun-muk, having finished stir-frying the ham and onions, placed the pan on the table and gestured to Yoon Seung-ryong.
“Come and eat first.”
Yoon Seung-ryong, who had sprung up from his seat, stumbled to the table. He stared blankly at the food on the table, then at Lee Hyun-muk and Yohan. He mumbled, lost in thought.
“Have I finally died and gone to heaven? This must be an illusion. It has to be an illusion. There’s no way such a wonderful sight could be real, fuck. The Team Leader killed me and sent me to heaven.”
Setting aside the fact that he called Lee Hyun-muk a bastard, Yohan, feeling pity for Yoon Seung-ryong’s disbelief in reality, urged him on.
“You must be hungry, please eat.”
Honestly, eating such a mountain of pork belly alone would have kept one full for a month, but Yoon Seung-ryong seemed different. He gripped his chopsticks with trembling hands. Then, he put a spoonful of warm rice into his mouth first. After a few chews, his eyes widened, and he wolfed it down.
However, he chewed the second spoonful of rice incredibly slowly. It was similar to how Yohan had eaten when he first treated Lee Hyun-muk to his emergency rations. He was trying to savor the rare opportunity that had come after so long.
Yoon Seung-ryong ate without a word, dipping crisp cucumbers in ssamjang, adding kimchi to his rice, and taking a large spoonful of the stir-fried ham and onions. After finishing the first bowl, he asked with utter servility.
“Hah, can I have just one more bowl… Please…?”
Yohan, feeling deep sympathy, scraped the remaining rice and served him a heaping bowl. This time, Yoon Seung-ryong devoured the food ravenously. For dessert, he opened a can of fruit cocktail. After shamelessly licking all the empty bowls clean, he closed his eyes and seemed to savor the aftertaste of the meal for a long time. Like someone waking from a happy dream, he let out a long sigh and then asked.
“It seems it’s not an illusion or a dream… Team Leader. What in the world happened?”
“How much do you remember?”
As Lee Hyun-muk’s question made Yoon Seung-ryong furrow his brow, he looked even more disreputable and menacing. Come to think of it, he was still naked. But neither Lee Hyun-muk nor Yoon Seung-ryong seemed to care about his nudity at all. Only Yohan suffered silently in his heart.
“Maybe… about 30 years ago? No, 50 years? …80 years ago? I think I was buried in the ground after fighting like dogs with the Team Leader… That’s when my back folded backward, and I suffered for a long time…”
Yohan couldn’t believe his ears. His back folded backward? It must be an exaggeration. Lee Hyun-muk offered a calm consolation.
“You must have had a hard time. Seeing as you mistake something from three months ago for such ancient history. And you’re remembering completely random things.”
“No… Three months ago? That’s not right? It feels like 30 years ago? And my back definitely folded backward?”
At Lee Hyun-muk’s firm denial, Yoon Seung-ryong became extremely confused, then shook his head.
“Anyway, that’s not important right now. Who is that? Why are the Team Leader and I perfectly fine? Did we… escape the Abyss? Were we rescued?”
As Yoon Seung-ryong spoke, he became increasingly agitated, his breathing growing ragged. He seemed not to have yet seen the characteristic dark red sky of the Abyss outside the veranda window.
“No. Look out the window.”
Startled, he finally turned his head and looked behind him. Seeing the dim, murky sky, Yoon Seung-ryong’s face became expressionless.
“…Ah, I see. Well… there’s no way, is there.”
His tone instantly became slow and sluggish, and Yoon Seung-ryong deflated like a balloon losing air. Lee Hyun-muk, unconcerned with the other’s mood, continued speaking.
“This is Yang Yohan. He fell into the Abyss not long ago, and he recently Awakened as a Purifier. So he can heal Corruption.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Even if you’ve lost your mind, you wouldn’t say such things.”
Shaking his head, Yoon Seung-ryong let out a snort of laughter. His giggling was utterly scathing.
“There’s no way such a good thing could happen in this fucked-up place. Something that hasn’t even happened outside the Abyss?”
Yoon Seung-ryong’s eyes began to turn rapidly bloodshot, and he started muttering, tearing at his hair.
“Fucking hell, fuck, fuck, purification? Heal Corruption? Bullshit, fuck, stop your damn lies. If something like that existed, I wouldn’t have spent my days scooping muddy water from a cave ages ago, ages ago. Drinking, drinking, eating, drinking, drinking, and eating again, and still being fucking hungry…”
Yoon Seung-ryong, truly consumed by Madness, began to mutter rapidly. While Yohan froze in fear, Lee Hyun-muk approached with a clenched fist, his face calm and unfazed. Seeing him raise his fist high, Yohan instinctively stepped in to block him.
“N-no! He’s injured. If you hit his head, his condition might worsen!”
“Yohan-ah. Things that are broken are fixed by hitting them.”
As Lee Hyun-muk spoke such absurd words with confidence, Yohan bravely glared and shook his head. Then, he quickly scattered light towards Yoon Seung-ryong. It was only a handful of light, as his abilities had been depleted purifying Yoon Seung-ryong yesterday, but he poured it in diligently. Yoon Seung-ryong, who had been twisting his ears as if to tear them off, looked up. He finally seemed to see Yohan properly, his face blank.
“Uh, but… what is your ability, really… This feels so good…”
He gazed ecstatically at the fragments of white light Yohan scattered. As he carefully cupped his hands and absorbed it into his body, his eyelids, which had closed involuntarily, twitched. With his mouth agape, he leaned towards Yohan, about to move closer. Just then, something flew heavily towards him. Smack!
“Aargh!”
Yohan cried out in surprise as a fist finally struck the crown of Yoon Seung-ryong’s head. Lee Hyun-muk scooped Yohan up and placed him on the sofa far away.
“It’s better to keep some distance, Yohan-ah.”
Then, he approached Yoon Seung-ryong, who was rolling on the floor clutching his head, and said in a gentle voice.
“If you don’t get your act together right now, I can give you plenty of time to calm down, Seung-ryong-ah. You like crawling underground, don’t you? How about under the yard of this house? Want to be buried for a week?”
It was a chilling threat, completely at odds with his calm voice. Sensing danger, Yoon Seung-ryong jumped up and knelt. Keeping his gaze lowered, he used polite speech for the first time.
“Ah, no…”
Despite groaning from the intense headache, Yoon Seung-ryong couldn’t even lift his head. Yohan’s pupils trembled, having only ever seen Lee Hyun-muk as a gentle team leader, respected and trusted by his team members in documentaries. He couldn’t tell if he had always been like this or if he had become this way after falling into the Abyss.
Lee Hyun-muk, who had completely subdued Yoon Seung-ryong to the point he couldn’t even squeak, went to do the dishes. While he clattered away washing dishes, Yohan, feeling somewhat shrunk, crept over and slipped a chocolate bar into Yoon Seung-ryong. It was a precious chocolate bar newly procured from the supermarket.
“Uh, uh…”
Yoon Seung-ryong, accepting the chocolate bar, blinked as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. He unwrapped it, put it in his mouth, and let it melt for a long time before he spoke, sorting out the situation.
“…So, it’s okay to just leave him like this?”
Lee Hyun-muk, who had been listening to Yohan suggest looking for fruit trees nearby, glanced over. Yoon Seung-ryong, who had fallen into the Abyss not long ago, looked at Yohan, who was so soft he seemed utterly docile and gentle, with great concern.
“If he’s truly a Purifier, even if it’s his first Awakening, he’s definitely a High-level Awakener… but shouldn’t he be kept somewhere safer?”
“Is there any safe place in the Abyss?”
As if asking why he was saying such foolish things, Lee Hyun-muk chuckled and gestured towards Yoon Seung-ryong.
“That’s why I brought you here. You happened to be nearby.”
“Ah…”
Yoon Seung-ryong, holding the chocolate bar wrapper and fiddling with it, muttered with a silly grin.
“It’s a relief that I’m closest to the Team Leader, really.”
Soon, his attention turned to Yohan, and he approached with a wide smile. Having experienced what happened earlier, Yohan instinctively took a step back.
“So, your name is Yohan? Yang Yohan?”
“Yes, Yoon Seung-ryong-ssi…”
“Ah, why so formal, Yoon Seung-ryong-ssi? Call me Hyung. Let’s get along well from now on. The meal earlier was really delicious. Thank you… It’s been so long since I’ve been able to act like a human again…”
His demeanor was pushy, like a delinquent extorting money, but the thanks were filled with deep sincerity. The phrase “act like a human” felt strangely unsettling, but Yohan smiled, not wanting to ruin the mood. Then, he brought up what he had wanted to say for a while.
“But could you please put on some clothes, even underwear…?”