By Zephyria Seung-ryong borrowed Lee Hyun-muk’s clothes. He too had a fairly muscular build, but Lee Hyun-muk’s physique was so large that the clothes were a bit loose. Yohan, who had been looking at the clothes Seung-ryong was wearing without much thought, realized belatedly.
“It’s Adios, not Adidias?”
“Huh? You’re right. Is it a fake? Or is it corrupted?”
Seeing the modified logo of a famous brand, it was impossible to tell if it was a genuine item that had been corrupted, or if it was a fake from the start. While having such small talk, Yohan suddenly marveled. Meeting Lee Hyun-muk in the Abyss was already strange, but seeing Seung-ryong here too made it feel unreal.
Seung-ryong, twenty-five years old this year. As an intermediate awakened, his main ability was poison, and his secondary ability was spatial manipulation. Like any dealer, he fought using a spear, but he also used spatial manipulation to throw hidden weapons, aiming for vital spots. Yohan said, feeling relieved inwardly.
“Still, it’s a relief. Yesterday, when you fought Lee Hyun-muk, you didn’t use that, spatial manipulation.”
“Huh? I don’t remember well, but I think I did?”
“What?”
Yohan looked at Lee Hyun-muk in confusion. He hadn’t felt like he was hit by Seung-ryong’s spatial manipulation at all during yesterday’s fight. He seemed perfectly fine now too.
“It’s just that the Team leader was too much like a monster for it to work, but he probably used it. It’s not like he was affected by the poison either… Well, our Team leader is more formidable than poison, isn’t he? Even with the acidic poison, he didn’t even blink at other poisons.”
If the poison mist hadn’t obscured his vision yesterday, it seemed to have been an even more fierce and brutal fight than Yohan had imagined. It made sense that Lee Hyun-muk was sleeping; he had clearly been strained by yesterday’s events. Yohan sent a worried glance, wondering if he didn’t need purification, but Seung-ryong, feeling indebted to him for the delicious food, acted very friendly and affectionately, nuzzling up to him.
“Hyung, shall I make budae-jjigae later? You were talking about some fruit earlier, and if there’s an orchard nearby, I could catch a few for you.”
Seung-ryong was about the same age as Yang Yosep, but he treated Yohan better than his own older brother. The depth of his goodwill was almost embarrassing. Seung-ryong, excited and practically wanting to cradle Yohan, grinned.
“The Ruined City is nearby, want to go scour it for items? It’s exciting that there’s a Purifier. We can eat anything.”
“Ah, you can’t go into the Ruined City. There’s a Flood there….”
“…A Flood has already come?”
Seung-ryong looked at Lee Hyun-muk with a bewildered expression. Lee Hyun-muk, who was wiping the dirty soot off his spear, met his gaze steadily. A moment of silence passed, and as if they had communicated something, Seung-ryong scratched his head and didn’t bring up the Ruined City again. Yohan, watching his expression, asked cautiously.
“By the way, where is your weapon? If you left it in the swamp yesterday, shouldn’t you bring it?”
“Of course, I brought it. Here.”
Seung-ryong fumbled at his waist and pulled out a long spear. Yohan’s eyes widened. He was clearly wearing just a short-sleeved shirt with nothing on his body, so the sudden appearance of a spear was baffling. Unlike Lee Hyun-muk’s spear, which seemed primarily for stabbing and used as a lightning rod, Seung-ryong’s had a long blade, like a Guan Dao. Yohan, dumbfounded, asked.
“Magic?”
It was strange that he had been hiding it until now. As soon as the spear was drawn, sticky mud dripped off, emitting a foul stench. How could one hide such a smell? Seung-ryong smiled brightly, seemingly unaware of how dirty his spear was.
“No, spatial manipulation.”
“But… Hyung’s spatial manipulation wasn’t like this, was it?”
There was a significant difference in the level between a main ability and a secondary ability. Unlike Seung-ryong’s main ability, which could inflict deadly and fatal attacks, a secondary ability was typically limited to moving a few daggers a day. Yet, Seung-ryong had just pulled his weapon out of thin air, as if using an inventory skill from a game.
“Ever since I came here, I’ve gotten incredibly, strong. Incredibly, incredibly, strong… So strong that even I can’t properly keep my senses…”
Seeing the opponent’s eyes glisten and exude a dangerous aura, Yohan quickly poured purification onto him. Then, the mud of a disgusting color turned into ordinary earth tones, and the stench disappeared. Seung-ryong, snapping out of his excitement and looking dazed, shook his head like a wet dog and regained his senses. Yohan, trembling with fear, let out a sigh of relief and turned his head.
“Aaaah!”
Something wet touched his cheek, and Yohan was startled. Lee Hyun-muk’s face was so close, having abandoned his spear-cleaning, that his lips brushed against Yohan’s. Yohan thought he was also in a madman state and poured purification on him, but Lee Hyun-muk whispered in his ear.
“You have to be careful of poison.”
Only then did Yohan realize that Lee Hyun-muk had been blocking the acidic poison mud that was dripping from Seung-ryong’s spear shaft and about to fall onto his thigh. His hands were covered in mud.
“Are you okay?!”
Startled, Yohan quickly purified the remaining mud and frantically examined Lee Hyun-muk’s hands. After brushing off the dirt, thankfully, as expected of a high-level awakened dealer, the wound was already halfway healed. Seung-ryong, flustered, moved his already purified spear away and said.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry, Yohan. I… forgot for a moment.”
“No, I’m fine… but shouldn’t you apologize to him? You’re hurt.”
At Yohan’s logical request, Seung-ryong stared at Lee Hyun-muk. He apologized half-heartedly and carelessly.
“I accidentally burned myself while I was apologizing to the Team leader, who, despite folding my back in half, slicing my body, and burning it black, offered no apology whatsoever. Is it also a mistake that I offered my hand? Perhaps I feel a tiny bit sorry? Maybe?”
It didn’t sound like an apology at all. However, as Yohan listened, it seemed Lee Hyun-muk had done something much, much worse, so he had nothing to say. Seung-ryong shrugged and slowly got to his feet.
“I need to empty some trash from my pockets. On my way back, Hyung will go hunt some fruit for Yohan.”
Yohan tilted his head. Trash in his pockets? Seung-ryong’s clothes only had the pants he’d given him earlier, so where were the pockets?
‘Ah, maybe he means the space where the weapon was, not his clothing pockets… like a game inventory…?’
Spatial manipulation is an exceptionally rare ability even among awakeners. Moreover, it usually appears only as a secondary ability with strong limitations. If that secondary ability has become this strong in the Abyss, how strong must his main ability have become? And Lee Hyun-muk, a high-level awakened whose accumulated power is focused solely on one ability…?
At that moment, what came to mind was Seung-ryong’s acidic cave, which had a gaping void, and Yohan couldn’t imagine how it was created. As he stared, unable to even guess how strong it was, Lee Hyun-muk responded kindly.
“What is it, Yohan?”
Yohan suddenly felt ashamed for receiving the favor of such famous and powerful people simply because he was a Purifier.
“It feels like I’m being carried along without doing much…”
“You’re not doing much?”
Lee Hyun-muk frowned as if he had heard something he couldn’t understand at all.
“No, I don’t mean your purification ability is insignificant. It’s just… while Lee Hyun-muk has gone through so much hardship, I’ve always been hiding and watching from a safe place. I feel a bit sorry about that…”
“Yohan.”
Lee Hyun-muk cut off Yohan’s lengthening words and said firmly.
“You were the one who rushed in and saved me when I was on the verge of death. Because you didn’t run away and stayed by my side even in that dangerous situation, I am still here, like this. You saved me before you even awakened. Seung-ryong must feel the same way.”
Saved… Yohan’s face flushed red from hearing words more profound than he expected. Lee Hyun-muk gave him a faint smile.
“Honestly, I wanted to kiss your feet hundreds of times that day.”
“No! Absolutely don’t do that!”
“Yes, I didn’t because I knew you wouldn’t like it.”
Then, he gently stroked Yohan’s head. It was an intimate gesture, his palm brushing against Yohan’s earlobe. A one-sidedly embarrassing silence followed, and Yohan stammered, changing the subject.
“Ah, um, should I call you Team leader too? Even though I’m not part of the Sunrise Team…”
Now that he thought about it, calling him Lee Hyun-muk, Lee Hyun-muk, might have been disrespectful. But surprisingly, Lee Hyun-muk’s reaction was to frown slightly for the first time.
“I’m hurt.”
“What? Hurt, hurt? What about?”
Lee Hyun-muk was hurt by him! Yohan’s heart sank, and he clenched his fists.
“Seung-ryong and I have a similar age difference with you, so why am I Team leader?”
“What?”
He was two years younger than Seung-ryong and ten years younger than Lee Hyun-muk, so how was that a similar difference? Still, thinking about it, a ten-year age gap wasn’t so large that calling someone Hyung was impossible. Hesitating, Yohan opened his mouth.
“Then… Hyun-mook Hyung…?”