By Zephyria It was small and black, like a black pearl. But it didn’t shine or sparkle; it looked like a hole. Or it seemed like something horrifying was swirling inside. It was also like a bead holding the water of a Flood, like murky water.
A mouse, startled belatedly, scurried away. The will of something that crawled out of the Abyss rolled along the floor as if cowering and crawling. It was a movement like a disgusting worm curling itself into a ball.
Coincidentally, near this thing was a group of mercenaries who had entered to clear a Rift. The eerie thing, which had been rolling around chaotically like a tumbleweed blown by the wind, slowly stopped.
“Soon, quite a few Purifiers will emerge, won’t they?”
“I’m jealous. Even if we do nothing, people will bring us money from all sides.”
“I didn’t expect a new type of Awakened to appear so suddenly. But it’s a relief, isn’t it? We’ll worry less about Corruption.”
Near a shabby building, the Awakened were gathered, resting and chatting. Among them, an intermediate awakened person keenly scanned their surroundings as if sensing something. They looked at the spot where the black, eerie mass had been and tilted their head.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, I just suddenly felt uneasy. It must have been nothing.”
“Damn. We’re here to make money, but this place is really unlucky. It’ll drive you crazy.”
“It’s not already corrupted, is it?”
One of the Awakened, throwing out a joke, spat. The black thing, hidden in the shade, assessed them. Two strong ones, four weak ones. It gave up on the strong ones and targeted the weak ones instead. A moment later, a low-rank Awakened felt the urge to relieve himself and stepped a little further away.
Having just finished clearing the surrounding area once, he was somewhat careless as he lowered his pants. While relieving himself with a sigh of relief, the black thing crawled up onto his shoes. Then it slowly moved up his pants, then his shirt, and finally to his shoulder. One end sharpened like stretched elastic, and with a flick, it burrowed into his ear canal.
“Huh?”
By the time the mercenary, who was pulling up his pants, reacted, it was too late. His eyeballs, staring blankly into space, rolled in different directions. Murky black saliva bubbled from his mouth. Crack, crackle, the angles of his arms and legs became strange. His knees bent backward with unnatural flexibility, only to return to their original position.
What had taken root in the human body recalled the most effective method it had used before. The hallucination ability of one of the particularly delicious things it had swallowed. It judged that it would be good to use it here as well. And then it returned to the campsite.
“Why are you taking so long to relieve yourself? Constipated?”
Even though the mercenary’s body was transforming and twisting unnaturally, and the mutation was ongoing, his companions felt nothing amiss. To them, he looked just as he always did. The mercenary, whose body no longer resembled a human’s, stretched his mouth wide and said with a grin,
“Joo-eom, I had, somethin’, to dooo.”
They accepted his distorted voice appropriately within their own hallucinations. It was mealtime. The ‘mercenary’ bent his body long over the meal they were cooking. Black liquid dripped from his body. The food, which had been fine moments ago, instantly rotted and emitted a foul odor. But in their hallucinations, his companions smelled and saw the usual.
“Wow, it’s cooked well. Let’s eat now.”
Everyone scooped the food into their bowls. They ate the food that humans shouldn’t eat with gusto. Only the intermediate awakened person tilted his head, feeling a slight unease.
“Is it a bit spoiled?”
“It’s fine to eat that much. It’s usually spoiled here anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Let’s just clear the next area and get out of here quickly.”
With that, the rest of his companions ate the disgusting-looking food without a second thought. The mercenary, patting his full belly, took a sip of coffee and suddenly jumped up from his seat. Then, with a suddenly excited demeanor, he began to shout.
“Ah, that’s strange. I feel like I’ve gotten stronger. I… have that feeling. Yes!”
The mercenary, shouting with his arms spread wide, trembled as if feeling some kind of vulgar, illicit euphoria.
“I think I’ve Re-awakened!”
Then, other mercenaries began to shout as well. Although the Corruption didn’t manifest externally, they shouted, their mouths bubbling with black foam.
“Gurgle-hahahahaha! Me too! Me too!”
“Me too, me too, me too! I’ve Re-awakened!”
“Kee-hooo! Kah-hooo! I’ve Re-awakened! I’m lucky! To Re-awaken like Lee Hyun-muk!”
They all forgot that they were in a dangerous Rift area and jumped around excitedly like children. They paid no mind to the black foam bubbling out of their noses, mouths, and ears. Everyone was in a state of excessive excitement and failed to detect anything unusual.
While the corrupted humans slowly burned their life force and rejoiced, the transformed mercenary picked up a cell phone dropped by one of them. The video they had been watching while eating showed Park Seung-min’s abilities.
“Puuu-ri-fi-er.”
A manifestation of the ‘black-deep-and-twisted-unpleasant-thing,’ which had emerged from its cozy dwelling sensing danger, it had no sight, touch, or smell, only the sensation of hunger. It always detected everything through hunger. Big and delicious things, small and delicious things, exceptionally big and delicious things.
And, things it shouldn’t have swallowed. Its natural enemy, which had appeared rarely throughout the countless ages.
Something so dangerous that it had to crawl out of its cozy nest, something that absolutely could not be left as it was.
With the distorted vision of a human, which it was encountering for the first time, it barely managed to perceive a familiar form of light. However, unable to distinguish the person, the transformed mercenary clicked his tongue.
“Puuu-ri, fi-er, ah, kkh, saaa?”
In an instant, repeating dozens or hundreds of times, the pronunciation gradually became more precise.
“Pu-u-u, pu, pu, pu-pu-pu-ri, pu-ri-pu-ri, Pu-ri-fi-er! Saaa! Purifier! PurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifierPurifier….”
“PurifierPurifierPurifier!”
The obsessive cry continued endlessly until the mercenaries, who had been jumping around him, followed suit and began to chant “Purifier” as if entranced.
Yohan, waking up after a deep sleep, was happy just to see his familiar room upon opening his eyes and lounged in bed.
“This is nice!”
While Yohan was lazing around, delighted by the result of purifying his dusty room, he heard a commotion from his Hyung’s room. The sound of his awakened Hyung rushing out into the living room.
“Mother! Father! What on earth has happened?!”
“Yosep, you’re awake! How are you feeling?”
The couple, who had woken up much earlier than their two sons and were waiting after preparing breakfast, were overjoyed to see their firstborn. Yang Yosep, who was aware of his severely corrupted state, was happy yet utterly bewildered. He had been in a state of near unconsciousness and cut off from outside news, so he knew nothing of the recent astonishing events.
“Did I have a nightmare? I was definitely corrupted, what on earth is this…”
Yang Yosep, feeling his body, turned sharply upon sensing Yohan. His sharp expression crumbled upon seeing his younger brother opening the door and emerging.
“…Yang Yohan?”
Yang Yosep, approaching with a face that thought he might be dreaming this time, stood before Yohan. Although Yohan had embraced his parents and shed tears of joy immediately upon their reunion, he felt only a mix of happiness and overwhelming awkwardness in front of his Hyung, shuffling his feet. Yang Yosep felt Yohan’s body here and there with his fingertips and finally opened his eyes wide.
“You…!”
Yang Yosep, with many words he wanted to say but swallowed, suddenly hugged his younger brother tightly. At first, he seemed to be controlling his strength, but then, as if sensing something strange, he abruptly pulled Yohan away. He held something in his hand, shaking it back and forth as if trying to gauge it, and then punched him.
“Ow! That hurts!”
Yohan, forgetting his happiness and emotion, snapped in annoyance as his back and forearms were repeatedly struck as if to test their durability.
“It hurts!”
“…You’re tough? You’ve Awakened?”
Yang Yosep, muttering in astonishment that his younger brother had Awakened, was soon filled with anger.
“You reckless brat! Even so, you went to an Awakening Party without any guarantee of Awakening? It’s just called an Awakening Party, but how could you know you’d meet scamming thugs? What dangerous thing did you do…!”
“Who hits someone the moment they meet?!”
Yohan, as always, habitually ran away. He would have retorted if Yang Yosep hadn’t risked corruption to find him when he was missing. That’s why he was enduring it. It wasn’t because he instinctively felt that his brother’s strength… that is, his attack power, was greater than his own.
“Hey, you…! Aren’t you coming here?!”
“Yosep, stop chasing Yohan. It’s thanks to Yohan that you were able to recover so safely.”
Yang Hwa-pyeong shielded Yohan, and Yang Yosep paused. His own condition, with the Corruption cleanly gone, had been too baffling since earlier.
“That idiot, how? By what means?”
Yang Yosep gave up on punishing his brother for the moment and sat on the sofa, asking. Yohan, relieved, also sat a good distance away, using his parents as shields to wedge himself between them.
The story that Yohan had actually fallen into the Abyss and returned, and had even become a high-level Awakened, a Purifier, was unbelievable to him. It was a miracle that his younger brother had returned safely, but he had become a high-level Awakened? And he had survived the Abyss with Lee Hyun-muk and others? However, when Yohan demonstrated his abilities, he couldn’t help but believe.
“Him? A high-level Awakened? That guy?”
Yohan found the way his Hyung referred to him as “him” and “that guy” quite unpleasant, but he endured it. His Hyung’s fist had been too close. Yohan was frustrated that despite becoming a high-level Awakened, he, a healer, couldn’t overpower his Hyung, an intermediate dealer, in terms of strength. At the same time, he was moved to tears by the familiar daily life he had lost for a year. Yang Yosep, who had been staring intently at Yohan, beckoned him.
“Come here.”
“You’re going to hit me, aren’t you?”
“Come here when I’m speaking nicely.”
Yohan reluctantly approached Yang Yosep slowly. Standing a short distance away, he asked why. Yang Yosep, instead of hitting or scolding him, spoke slowly with a look of reluctance.
“Thank you.”
“Huh?”
“You went through a lot, and thank you.”