By Zephyria “…Method?”
Joo Ho-young asked with a blank face, as if he had almost no thoughts. Grasping the opponent from whom coldness leaked, Yohan answered with force.
“It’s raining. So… we just need to give him an umbrella. I’ve developed a new ability. Once Hyun-mook Hyung is purified, we can do something, right?”
Joo Ho-young’s lips parted slightly at the voice, which tried hard to steady its trembling as it persuaded him. He was the only one who didn’t know what an ‘Umbrella’ was. Because of that, he was easily fooled by Yohan’s words. Or perhaps, he let himself be fooled.
“Okay. Let’s go back… We’re going back. This time, we can’t run away… Right. I wanted to do this just once, too. Because you’re here, Yohan…”
He let out a sound that was like crying and laughing, “Huk,” then Joo Ho-young picked Yohan up again. And he started to go back to the place they had run from. The closer they got to where the Flood Rain was falling, the slower Joo Ho-young’s speed became, until he finally stopped.
“Ahak, uh, huck, uh, ugh, weeeek!”
Joo Ho-young, who had fallen, retched violently and then began to scream, tearing at his hair. Yohan got down from Joo Ho-young’s back and watched the horrific sight visible through the split Reed Sea with wide-open eyes.
There were no people there.
There were only dirty, disgusting, and horrifying Monsters.
Small Monsters and large Monsters were tangled together, growing vigorously under the black rain, then bursting and melting away. And then they wriggled, clung, grew, burst, melted, and flowed… It was like witnessing a nightmare reincarnated in reality. Yohan muttered, dazed.
“Is that… could that be Seung-ryong Hyung….”
Something crawled on the ground. A soft, squishy thing felt its way along the ground with countless tentacles, digging and eating, and burst into laughter. A giant bird-like figure, resembling Seo Yakrin, dragged its excessively long wings and approached, pecking at what crawled on the ground like a bird pecking at a bug. Then, the tentacles of the crawling thing dug into the bird’s torso and melted it. Even as parts of its body fell away, the giant bird persistently pecked and pecked at the crawling thing.
Enduring the nausea that rose with disgust, Yohan instinctively searched for Lee Hyun-muk. Despite bracing himself for any kind of monstrous form, he was the only one in human shape, his head hung low.
As the streaks of Flood Rain flowed down his head and onto his pale cheeks, it looked like ordinary rain. For some reason, something dark seemed to be flowing down from his features, soaking the ground. Even the creatures driven mad by Madness avoided only that darkness…
Yohan, who had been lost in thought, finally came to his senses. Joo Ho-young, completely out of his mind, muttered something from behind and clung to Yohan’s legs, preventing him from going further. Even if he hadn’t, he couldn’t have gone any closer.
“I… I have to purify him.”
First, I have to purify him. His trembling hand gripped his weapon and barely extended forward. Dazzling light flowed out, centered on the weapon.
And that was all.
It merely purified the Flood and the corrupted things near him; nothing else changed. Here, he was just a shining light. Streaks of light dripped from Yohan’s eyes. He cried and cried again, then finally gathered his resolve.
‘Snap out of it, Yang Yohan! Now is not the time to cry!’
He slapped his cheek hard enough to make a sound and clenched his teeth, concentrating. Then, the umbrella-like rays of light he had created before unfurled. With a long exhale, he held the dazzling rays of light over Joo Ho-young and said,
“Give me a buff, Ho-young.”
Only after receiving the light pouring down from above did Joo Ho-young lift his head blankly and, with trembling hands, cast a buff on Yohan. The light of purification that had been swirling around his body became full, as if about to overflow. Yohan created another umbrella and cast it over his own head. Then, he walked across the streaks of Flood Rain.
The black, dark Flood Rain that fell with a patter turned into clear streams of water as it passed through the shining umbrella. Yohan crossed the dark, chaotic, and horrifying reed field with slow, staggering steps. Dead birds struck his shoulders and back. His vision was blurred by tears and rain, but he let it be. If he didn’t, he felt he wouldn’t be able to endure the cruel, hellish landscape around him.
Thus, Yohan barely managed to reach where Lee Hyun-muk was standing. He cast the umbrella over Lee Hyun-muk and fumbled to reach out.
“H-Hyun-mook Hyung…”
Trembling with fear, Yohan embraced Lee Hyun-muk tightly from behind. And he gasped for breath. The person who was usually so warm felt like a cold stone block, devoid of any heat. There wasn’t even the movement of breathing that a person should have, making him seem like an empty darkness in human form. He almost missed the time when Lee Hyun-muk was a Madman.
Come back, please come back. Please, come back to how you were. Come back without being scary… Yohan cried as he tightly embraced the scary and chilling figure. With his eyes squeezed shut, he was desperately purifying and purifying the other. Then, something that looked like Lee Hyun-muk moved and gently touched the hand that was embracing his waist.
Yohan.
It touched again. It was a weak force, incapable of even killing an ant. Yohan pressed his forehead against Lee Hyun-muk’s back and, trembling like a leaf, moved his hand. As he released the grip around his waist, something cool unfurled his fingers one by one.
Yohan…
It wasn’t a human voice; it was something like a strange melody, yet Yohan could understand Lee Hyun-muk’s words. Unable to bear looking at the face that was like an empty hole, he followed his guidance, crying. He gripped his weapon and raised it. Centered on the Eternal Stone, a light umbrella, just large enough to cover two people, fluttered.
Let’s bring it out.
Lifting his head, Yohan trembled and raised his weapon high. The light rays at the tip of the Eternal Stone grew a little larger.
Spread it out as wide as possible…
Like a parasol spread under the sun, a tent for a spring picnic, a large umbrella on a drizzly day, a round snow globe, a canopy draped over a Buddha statue, a veil in a cozy bedroom, curtains hung on an afternoon window… Or like you…
Something lovely and brilliantly shining.
Even now, it was still kind and gentle. Crying profusely, Yohan thought of something lovely and brilliantly shining. The first thing that came to mind was not his life on Earth. It was his home in the peaceful and cozy Japan sector. The life then, which felt infinitely short and ancient, when they ate meals together, talked, tended the vegetable garden, and decorated the house.
When he had brought Lee Hyun-muk, who had been wandering as a Madman, back to his senses, when he had grilled delicious samgyeopsal for Yoon Seung-ryong, when he had made Joo Ho-young a Game Console. They had sat around a campfire, chatted, laughed, and felt relieved. Yohan earnestly wished.
I don’t want to wander aimlessly in this desolate, lonely, and dark Reed Sea anymore. I don’t want to run away from the Flood anymore. I want to live in a comfortable and cozy place. No, what Yang Yohan desires more intensely at this very moment is…
“I wish these people… would suffer no more!”
Crying, Yohan shouted earnestly. The light rays at the tip of the Eternal Stone slowly diminished. But the light wasn’t weakening. It was condensing and shining more brilliantly and intensely. Yohan looked up at the eternally unchanging stone hanging from the tip of his spear. In this hellish place, it was the hardest part of some noble being, gathered from unwavering will.
At that moment, Yohan realized.
Ah, this Eternal Stone, it feels so familiar. This, perhaps…
And simultaneously with that realization, the light, condensed into a single point, exploded outwards.
Countless streaks of light shot up into the air, then drew soft, gentle curves, falling like tens, hundreds of meteors. However, this did not end with a single fall but became a descent of a shimmering cluster of light, forming an eternally beautiful line. The light rays, spreading in the shape of a giant dome, enveloped every place where the Flood Rain had fallen without exception. Just as when he had saved Lee Hyun-muk before, pouring out an immense amount of light at once, a halo appeared above Yohan’s head.
Now, what fell here were clear raindrops imbued with light. As they were hit by this rain, the things that had been collapsing, wriggling, crawling, and twisting gradually solidified. First, the smallest birds regained their forms. They regained their colorful feathers and soft breast feathers and chirped. Some flew outside the dome, but most remained inside, enjoying the warm light and clear rain.
Next, Joo Ho-young, wearing the small umbrella Yohan had given him, lifted his head. He looked up at the sky and smiled faintly. Then, he immediately ran into the dome and welcomed the falling raindrops. A lump of Flood that he had unknowingly and carelessly stepped on burst with a hiss and turned into a puddle.
Next, Seo Yakrin returned. Black sludge and stained feathers rained down. At the same time, the anger and hatred that had flowed from his distorted face melted away like snow that had been exposed to the sun. Peace came to one who had suffered from endless anger and despair.