By Zephyria Months, or years? Though the distant period made him despair, Yohan tried his best to think positively. If he hadn’t met Lee Hyun-muk, he would have been crushed to a pulp by the murderous Eyeball Monster. So he had to be grateful for having saved his life.
“Yes, Lee Hyun-muk…! Let’s cheer up together!”
As Yohan spoke spiritedly, Lee Hyun-muk gazed at him as if he were observing a creature moving in a strange new way. In fact, to Yohan, Lee Hyun-muk, who seemed to be in his right mind, also appeared slightly off-kilter. But instead of rudely mentioning it, he rummaged through his backpack again.
“Ah, would you like to eat this too? It’s a jelly I found in a building yesterday.”
He took out one of the jellies he had diligently collected from within the dark building. Yohan, holding the bag up to the campfire, tilted his head.
“Did we even have this kind of jelly in Korea?”
Come to think of it, the jelly packaging design was rather strange. Instead of Korean, it was written in an unrecognizable language, not English, Chinese, or Japanese. As he looked at it, he felt a sense of unease. The picture on the packaging was also strange, depicting what looked like a grotesque animal. An animal that seemed not to exist on Earth.
“You probably shouldn’t eat that….”
Lee Hyun-muk said in a dry voice, seeing the jelly bag Yohan had taken out. But since it was precious food, Yohan tore open the bag. A strong fruity scent wafted out.
“The smell seems okay!”
Relieved, Yohan took out a jelly and saw it was misshapen, like a defective product. Lee Hyun-muk, watching him, took a jelly from his own hand. He then rustled the jelly open, put it in his mouth, and chewed. His expression quickly turned strange. Yohan tensed, thinking it might have gone bad, but the response was the opposite.
“…Why is it okay?”
After carefully chewing the jelly, Lee Hyun-muk took out another one, put it in his mouth, and chewed. Yohan, who had been inwardly worried about the jelly being left out for so long in the Rift, brightened.
“It must just be jelly imported from abroad!”
“…You really found it here? Not something you brought with you?”
“It was lying on the floor of the building I was hiding in. Since it was in the packaging, the contents shouldn’t be dirty.”
Saying so, Yohan put the jelly in his mouth. Though the shape was a mess, the taste and texture were like sweet gelatin, which somewhat improved his mood. He offered a few more, and Lee Hyun-muk blankly looked down at the colorful jelly.
As he put the jelly in his mouth and chewed slowly, the wrinkles between his brows deepened. He occasionally glared at the jelly as if he couldn’t understand it at all. Sometimes, for reasons unknown, he looked at Yohan with suspicious eyes. Yohan didn’t know why, but he awkwardly avoided his gaze and chewed the jelly, not wanting to offend the potentially deranged man. Then, gathering his courage, he changed the subject.
“B-by the way, have you been staying around here?”
“…No.”
Thinking Lee Hyun-muk might find the conversation bothersome, Yohan subtly glanced at him. Confirming that his face showed no signs of displeasure, annoyance, or bother, he continued.
“Oh, you haven’t! Then I was lucky. It was fortunate that Lee Hyun-muk happened to be passing by. Thanks to you, I was able to save my life.”
As Yohan spoke with forced cheerfulness, Lee Hyun-muk fell into thought for a moment. He slowly swallowed the jelly he was chewing and said,
“Perhaps… I thought I saw sunlight around here.”
“Sunlight? I was there the whole time, but it was dark for two days straight, as if there was no daytime.”
Yohan tilted his head. Having spent all that time in a pitch-dark building with no trace of light, if the sun had shone through a window, he would have known. However, instead of saying he must have seen wrong, Yohan tried to find a reason.
“Maybe, uh, the sunlight came in when the Abyss opened.”
“…Perhaps. Or maybe I was hallucinating,”
Lee Hyun-mook muttered blankly. The question, ‘Do you know how to get out of here?’ rose to the back of his throat, but Yohan swallowed it down. If he had known a way out, and if it were possible, a great person like Lee Hyun-muk would have already escaped. He wouldn’t be wandering around like this, having lost all his teammates and become a Madman. Despair, bleak and heavy, washed over him again, and Yohan sighed.
“What’s the date outside here?”
Yohan didn’t find Lee Hyun-muk’s question strange. How slowly time must feel in such a terrible place. Seeing as there seemed to be no distinction between day and night, it was impossible to keep track of the date properly.
“The day I entered here was November 7, 2035.”
At Yohan’s answer, Lee Hyun-muk, who had been silent, trembled and suddenly started laughing.
It wasn’t a cheerful laugh by any means. Yohan was terrified by the utterly chilling sound. He clutched the jelly tightly to his chest and slowly backed away. Lee Hyun-muk threw his head back as he laughed, then his shoulders slumped. The laughter subsided into a chuckle. Yohan could sense deep, profound despair emanating from him.
“Haha, hah, it was 3 years ago. Just, 3 years ago…”
The atmosphere of Lee Hyun-muk’s muttering was so grim and frightening that Yohan couldn’t even offer a common word of comfort like ‘You must have had a hard time.’ Was this what they called survival? He felt a chilling aura, as if his organs were shriveling. Moreover, whether it was his imagination or not, the campfire’s light seemed to dim only around Lee Hyun-muk.
Yohan trembled with fear and slowly retreated, but Lee Hyun-muk reached out. He grasped the bench he was sitting on. Screeeech!
“Hk…!”
Yohan, who had almost screamed, covered his mouth. He was dragged away while still sitting on the bench. The bench moved towards Lee Hyun-muk with an unpleasant sound. Despite the warning that making noise would attract monsters, Lee Hyun-muk, who had just made a racket, warned with a blank expression.
“No. This is the safe zone. I can’t guarantee your life beyond this.”
“Y-yes, Hk, I’ll, be, careful.”
Swallowing his sudden hiccups, Yohan replied. Lee Hyun-muk, who had been acting terrifyingly, watched Yohan’s hiccups as if seeing something new again. Unable to point out that staring at someone like that was rude, Yohan simply lowered his gaze.
“You seem quite timid.”
“Ah, no, Hk, I’m not…”
Yohan replied politely, his body jerking. But Lee Hyun-muk twisted his upper body to examine Yohan’s face. Then, he didn’t even blink, which was truly frightening and overwhelming.
“Are you crying?”
“Ah, no…”
Despite denying it twice, Yohan’s eyes were already welling up with tears. It was true that he was a coward and a crybaby, but it wasn’t solely because of Lee Hyun-muk. It was also the fear of the situation, that even someone like Lee Hyun-muk was in such utter despair. As if shedding the menacing aura, Lee Hyun-muk lowered his voice gently.
“Don’t worry. No matter what happens, I won’t harm anyone.”
Unable to reply, Yohan quickly nodded. As a result, a tear fell, creating a wet spot on the dusty floor. In the heavy silence that followed, only his hiccuping sounds echoed.
“Mmm…”
Yohan stirred and opened his eyes, feeling the urge to relieve himself and hunger. The first thing he saw was Lee Hyun-muk’s broad back. He was crouched, facing away from Yohan, very close. He must have been like that all night.
‘…Why am I sleeping like this?’
He remembered dozing off while staring blankly at the campfire last night, feeling sad and despairing. He had definitely found a spot with just the right warmth and curled up to sleep, so why was he waking up squished between Lee Hyun-muk and the wall? Yohan carefully opened his mouth.
“…Lee Hyun-muk?”
Despite hearing his call, Lee Hyun-muk only hummed instead of replying. He had become a Madman again overnight. This must be due to ‘Corruption.’
‘Corruption’ was when one’s body or mind became abnormal from staying in a Rift for too long or fighting monsters within it. Mild symptoms included depression or mania, unsightly spots or boils on the body, but in severe cases, parts of the body would grotesquely transform, becoming unlike a human’s. At this point, they had to be forcibly confined. Otherwise, they would lose their reason, run wild, and be dealt with by other Awakened.
So, what about someone like Lee Hyun-muk, who had stayed in the Abyss, not just any Rift, for so long? Yohan could fully understand why Lee Hyun-muk had gone mad. He must be in a severe state of Corruption. But unfortunately, there was no way to reverse a corrupted mind and body once it happened…
‘As long as I stay here, this will eventually happen to me too.’
The probability of Corruption increased the weaker one’s abilities were, making civilians particularly vulnerable. That’s why it was implicitly forbidden for civilians to stay in an Awakening Party’s territory for more than a week. Lee Hyun-muk, being strong, must have endured 3 years in the Abyss. It wasn’t for nothing that Lee Hyun-muk had asked him last night to endure for a long time.
‘Will I even last a month until I’m completely corrupted…?’
Yohan, not even an Awakened, was unsure how long he could last. He couldn’t even tell if his current gloomy mood was due to Corruption or the bleakness of his situation. Though somewhat dejected, he resolutely hardened his heart. Even if he was going to die, he had to do everything he could before he did! It was a positive mindset, close to sheer stubbornness.