By Zephyria “No, it can’t be!”
“Seung-ryong-ssi.”
“I still get chills just thinking about the first time I fell into the Flood!”
Yohan couldn’t understand what Yoon Seung-ryong was talking about at all. However, everyone else seemed to understand the conversation between Lee Hyun-muk and Yoon Seung-ryong. Joo Ho-young replied, his eyes fixed on the Game Console.
“I’m all for it.”
“Hey, Joo Ho-young!”
“Honestly, we should forgive actions committed out of madness from Corruption. Especially since Seung-ryong Hyung shouldn’t be saying something like that.”
Yoon Seung-ryong’s shoulders slumped slightly at Joo Ho-young’s words. Nevertheless, his scowling expression didn’t ease. Lee Hyun-muk placed a hand on Yohan’s back, who was nervously watching the tense atmosphere. Yohan felt a sense of stability from the warmth of his touch.
“If there’s a possibility that an exit will open when we attack that core. We have to bring her out, even if she’s a corpse, or even less than a corpse.”
“It was impossible even when Yohan-ssi wasn’t here, but it’s even more impossible now that he is!”
“Maybe it’ll be okay because Yohan-ssi is here. And honestly, as humans, shouldn’t we at least check?”
When Seo Yakrin also said so, Yoon Seung-ryong’s spirit was broken. He pursed his lips and sat down, leaning against the cave wall. He thumped his head against the wall once and said nothing more. Unable to stand by any longer, Yohan asked anxiously,
“What are you all talking about right now?”
“I’m sorry, Yohan-ah. We unintentionally excluded you.”
Lee Hyun-muk apologized first, then explained to Yohan.
“We were talking about bringing Lee Chan-ha back.”
Lee Chan-ha? The Lee Chan-ha, the deputy team leader of the Sunrise Team? Yohan, who had already felt the absence of a tanker during the previous battle, was somewhat shocked.
“But you said she was definitely dead?”
“Um… I guess I should explain what happened before first.”
As Lee Hyun-muk prepared to speak, Yoon Seung-ryong sighed and rummaged through the air, pulling out dried jerky. He was trying to soothe his low spirits by eating something. Seo Yakrin poked him in the side, and after glaring once, he distributed jerky to the rest of the group.
“Chan-ha… was the first to be swept away by the Flood, and the second most swept away after me.”
“Honestly, she wasn’t just swept away. She jumped in herself.”
Yoon Seung-ryong added in a grumpy tone. Yohan shook his head, as Lee Hyun-muk didn’t deny that she had jumped in herself. To jump in willingly into something so unpleasant and terrifying just by getting close? Yohan couldn’t believe it.
“Why did she do that?”
Lee Hyun-muk’s answer to this question was simple.
“She went mad.”
“Yeah, she was seriously mad. To the point where she fell in love with the Flood.”
Yoon Seung-ryong added. Went mad and was swept away by the Flood, and then fell in love with the Flood? Yohan couldn’t easily understand any of it. But he could guess how terrible this must have been for the group.
“As Yohan-ssi knows, Corruption makes your mind go haywire. Even with Negative Reinforcement and all that, to be honest, you just become mentally ill. But Chan-ha Hyung’s case was really severe.”
Yohan recalled each team member’s Negative Reinforcement. Lee Hyun-muk, who never gave up, Yoon Seung-ryong suffered from gluttony and lethargy, and Seo Yakrin had anger management issues. Lastly, Joo Ho-young, besides his obsession with games, showed a pronounced avoidance tendency. In fact, perhaps because he had never fallen into the Flood, Joo Ho-young’s Negative Reinforcement didn’t seem that severe. Yoon Seung-ryong said with a bitter laugh,
“His Negative Reinforcement was mysophobia.”
“Ah…”
Yohan let out a sigh. Mysophobia in the Abyss, of all things? A place that was dirty, sticky, and sludgy everywhere? Mysophobia in a world full of rot and decay had driven Lee Chan-ha mad faster than anyone else.
“She kept deceiving and instigating team members, causing all sorts of conflicts, and then one day she jumped into the Flood herself… Even when the Team Leader went through hell to save her, she pushed his hand away… and was swept away. We thought she was dead, but after a long time, she started reappearing.”
Yoon Seung-ryong said with a sigh, his tone recalling a distant past.
“And she messed with us every time. She tried her best to make team members fall into the Flood, and she succeeded with high probability. I was affected the most… and in the end, she ruined things to the point where we could no longer be a team. The Team Leader took action, but it was too late then. …But exactly what did you do to Chan-ha Hyung?”
Lee Hyun-muk, who had been listening to the tragic past, said calmly while tearing off a piece of jerky from Yohan’s hand and putting it in his mouth.
“I made him as small as possible without killing him and buried him deep. And whenever he recovered, I would go and make him small again.”
Although it was a heavily softened expression, Yohan, who immediately understood what it meant, dropped the jerky. The others calmly tore off their jerky.
“At some point, he stopped recovering at all. He probably didn’t have the strength.”
“Or maybe he pretended not to have the strength.”
Yoon Seung-ryong said, picking up and eating the jerky Yohan dropped. Lee Hyun-muk calmly admitted that it was possible and replied,
“The problem is, lately, I was also in a pretty bad state, so I couldn’t check properly.”
After those words, the surrounding temperature suddenly felt like it dropped. No, it wasn’t just a feeling. Joo Ho-young was emitting coldness with a worried expression. His face was also deathly pale, so Yohan quickly sprinkled plenty of light on Joo Ho-young. Seo Yakrin sighed deeply and asked,
“So where did you bury the deputy team leader?””
“Near the cliff in the direction of the Hong Kong sector.”
“That’s quite far. Then it will take some time for her to find us. We were all scattered until recently.”
At Seo Yakrin’s words, Yoon Seung-ryong sighed deeply again and stood up. Then, grumbling, he urged them on.
“Let’s get out of here first. It’s too narrow for five people to be in one place.”
Everyone then busied themselves with preparing to leave. Yohan glanced back one more time at the place they were leaving and followed the group. He felt a lingering unease for not having resolved his intended goal.
“So, are we heading to the Hong Kong sector next?”
“We have to, for now.”
Yohan, who had become quite somber, just nodded, but Lee Hyun-muk apologized.
“I’m sorry for lying, Yohan-ah.”
“It’s okay. I understand why you said she was dead.”
From Lee Hyun-muk’s and the other team members’ perspectives, it would have been better to pretend she was dead. Because of that, Yohan didn’t feel betrayed. Even from the brief story he had just heard, his heart ached. In the Abyss, which was already unbearable, how painful it must be for a comrade to turn into an enemy.
“She probably died by the hands of another monster because she became too weak.”
“But you still hope she’s alive, right?”
At Yohan’s question, Lee Hyun-muk looked at him and nodded silently. In his dark eyes, indescribable heavy emotions were layered. Even if they were lucky enough to leave the Abyss, it was a sediment of despair and suffering that would never disappear, even until the moment they died. Yohan couldn’t even begin to guess that suffering.
“I hope so too.”
As he said it with all his heart, Lee Hyun-muk gave a faint smile. It seemed like a long journey of searching for Lee Chan-ha would continue for a while. The Hong Kong sector… I wonder what kind of place that is.
As the group walked in silence, lost in their own thoughts, Yohan looked up. He felt a sense of relief when he saw the cave entrance. The memory of being buried alive in the Black Mountain was starting to resurface, making him feel even more so.
Yohan quickened his pace and stepped out of the cave, his smile vanishing from his face. He looked around in bewilderment.
“Hyun-muk Hyung, the fog… it’s gone.”
Lee Hyun-muk immediately approached and pulled Yohan into his embrace. The fog, which had been so thick that he couldn’t see an inch ahead, suddenly disappeared, opening up his vision. Instead, the putrid, fishy stench intensified, making it difficult to breathe, so Yohan quickly scattered light.
“What in the world is going on?”
Sudden changes in the Abyss always led to the worst outcomes, so Seo Yakrin cursed and narrowed his eyes. Yohan flinched and slowly scanned his surroundings.
As the fog receded, they could finally see the full panorama of the brine lake sector in the distance. It was completely different from the landscape one would expect from a typical lake. Along the edges of the lake, the color of which was closer to murky water, seaweed that was winding, black, and looked like human hair grew haphazardly everywhere. Large bubbles constantly churned and rose from within, hinting at what lived inside. The surface of the water was endlessly black.
“This feels unsettling.”
Yoon Seung-ryong scowled and stuck close to Yohan. He was in a stance, ready for an attack to come at any moment. It was then. The group, sensing something, turned their gazes towards the brine lake.
The churning bubbles gradually grew larger, and the surface of the lake surged upwards. No, it wasn’t the surface, but something enormous hidden within that was rising. Yohan tensed up. Was it a whale? Or a giant squid? What kind of bizarre monster would it be this time?
Amidst the taut tension, what emerged from within was surprisingly a human face.
“…Huh?”
Yohan let out a stunned sound at the completely unexpected sight. The first thing to appear from the black surface was wet human hair. At first, he thought it was seaweed, but then a straight, white forehead and a perfectly aligned nose bridge appeared. Dark red water droplets trickled down the hair. It was a beautiful and neat face. In the Abyss, where everything was twisted and defiled, its normal appearance, which would be difficult to see without one’s own purification, exuded a strong sense of incongruity.
Above all, this face was as enormous as the lake’s surface.
“Huh, huh?”
What is this? How could such a giant human face appear from the lake? The vast brine lake looked like a mere puddle, its size so unreal. Yohan was overwhelmed. It was only when the pale, white face opened its closed eyes with a flash that Yohan finally recalled whose familiar face it was.
“Lee Chan-ha…?”
As he mumbled in astonishment, the pitch-black eyes, devoid of any light, stared directly at the group and curved into a long line.
“Oh, fuck.”
As Yoon Seung-ryong and Seo Yakrin simultaneously muttered, Yohan’s consciousness abruptly cut off.