By Zephyria 
Yohan, who had been sleeping soundly, stirred at the strange, damp, warm, and peculiar pressure he felt on his cheek. As soon as he woke up and lifted his eyelids, the first thing he saw was Lee Hyun-muk’s handsome face. He had been watching Yohan sleep from such a close distance that their eyelashes could have touched. Yohan, still half-asleep, mumbled and asked,
“Did you just eat my cheek…?”
“No?”
Didn’t this happen last time too? Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Yohan mumbled slowly.
“It felt like you did… My ear is damp too….”
“Yohan, it’s too precious to wear away, how could I eat it?”
Lee Hyun-muk whispered very softly into Yohan’s ear.
“Ughaha.”
Yohan, who had just heard such an embarrassingly sweet remark right after waking up, couldn’t help but burst into laughter. He then snuggled happily in Lee Hyun-muk’s warm embrace before slowly getting up. As he rubbed his eyes, Yoon Seung-ryong spoke silently over Yohan’s shoulder.
‘Team leader, have some conscience.’ Joo Ho-young also mimicked booing sounds. However, when Lee Hyun-muk gazed at them intently, both of them whimpered and lowered their eyes. Yohan, unaware of the silent conversation that had passed between the three, stretched his arms. It was time to walk again.
The four of them had searched the Reed Sea for Seo Yakrin, growing tired of eating grilled lizard and bird. About a month into this, Lee Hyun-muk declared,
“This isn’t going to work. It’ll take years.”
“Good thinking. Let’s ditch the old man and go back. Let’s go back and grill some venison.”
Yoon Seung-ryong, utterly fed up with the tedious search, exclaimed with delight. Yohan, though he didn’t voice it, inwardly agreed. The Reed Sea was truly, terrifyingly deep and vast. Lee Hyun-muk, completely ignoring Yoon Seung-ryong’s words, slowly surveyed their surroundings.
“I thought she wouldn’t have gone far with her wings injured… but it seems she flew further than expected. And facing a Flood in a low-lying area like this puts one at a disadvantage.”
“That’s true.”
Joo Ho-young, who had been diligently patrolling around once a day since the incident where they were surrounded by the Flood, agreed. Lee Hyun-muk, lost in thought, pointed to a massive clump of reeds gathered high in the distant sky and said,
“Let’s go up there and hang Seung-ryong for now.”
Yoon Seung-ryong, who had been nodding his head with his arms crossed, asked a beat late,
“…What? What did you say? What are you going to do to me?”
And a moment later, Lee Hyun-muk, having climbed onto the highest clump of reeds, hung Yoon Seung-ryong from the top of an ice pillar created by Joo Ho-young. He adjusted it so that Yoon Seung-ryong was fully exposed above the Reed Sea.
“Just as you hate Yakrin, Yakrin hates you, so you’ll make an excellent bait.”
“Ah, seriously!”
Yoon Seung-ryong writhed in disgust. Despite grumbling and complaining, he obediently crouched awkwardly on top of the ice pillar. Watching Yoon Seung-ryong bare his teeth as Flesh Birds and Bone Birds flew around him annoyingly, Yohan asked with concern,
“Will this really work?”
“Who knows… We can only hope it works. This is the problem with flying creatures. Their range of movement is too wide. We’ll try hanging him for just one week.”
Lee Hyun-muk also spoke with a voice that suggested he wasn’t entirely comfortable with hanging Yoon Seung-ryong. Both Yoon Seung-ryong, who could burrow deep underground and coil up, and Joo Ho-young, who was incredibly fast, were difficult opponents to approach similarly. However, a flying Seo Yakrin, and moreover, in the form of that monstrous bird. Recalling that both of their strategies involved luring out their targets by exploiting what they were fixated on, Yohan asked,
“Doesn’t Seo Yakrin-ssi have anything she’s fixated on?”
“She does. That guy.”
Lee Hyun-muk pointed at Yoon Seung-ryong with his finger. Joo Ho-young, who had cooperated willingly despite being hung as bait, said,
“Yakrin Noona really, really, really hates Seung-ryong Hyung. She became very quick-tempered after coming to the Abyss, and she didn’t get along well with Seung-ryong Hyung even before… that’s how it became.”
Hearing that, Yohan remembered something Lee Hyun-muk had said before.
‘Did you… deliberately scatter your team members?’
‘I couldn’t let them devour or kill each other. At some point, they stopped listening even when subdued, so I had no choice. They’re quite strong, so I didn’t think they’d die easily even if separated… And perhaps, one day, I might do the worst thing when I’ve gone mad.’
All Yohan knew about the Sunrise Team was from news reports and documentary footage. He then recalled Seo Yakrin and Yoon Seung-ryong, who seemed to have a good relationship despite their bickering. The thought that their once strong bond had fractured due to Corruption, which had driven people mad, was quite heartbreaking for Yohan.
“They did used to try to kill each other.”
Lee Hyun-muk said calmly, as if it were nothing, just as Yoon Seung-ryong yelled at the sky,
“Old man! Come out quickly! I’ll kill you right now! I have to do this because of you!”
Looking at Yoon Seung-ryong, who would have to stay up there except for meal times, with pity, Yohan asked in a worried voice,
“Will it be okay to stay here for a week? The Flood… it’s chasing us, isn’t it? Right?”
The three of them always responded positively, trying not to make Yohan worry or feel anxious. Nevertheless, Yohan knew. Not only was the Flood explicitly targeting and chasing them, but there was also a high possibility that the reason was him. As if reading his mind, Lee Hyun-muk replied,
“Considering the speed at which a large, gathered Flood moves and the range Joo Ho-young patrols, the area where we can stay safest is about a week. Remember how it took months to surround the entire sector when we were in the Japan sector?”
“Yes, I remember.”
He knew intellectually, from what Lee Hyun-muk had told him before, that the Flood wasn’t an endless phenomenon that could appear at any time. Still, Yohan felt inexplicably anxious.
“So, it should be okay to stay in one place for up to a week, probably. Joo Ho-young will also be patrolling constantly for the entire week.”
A week… Yohan looked up at Yoon Seung-ryong again. Why was he so anxious when Joo Ho-young was checking for the Flood’s approach every day? He hoped they could safely rendezvous with Seo Yakrin before the week was up and leave this eerie Reed Sea sector as soon as possible.
On the fifth day since Yoon Seung-ryong was hung from the top of the ice pillar, Lee Hyun-muk, who was spending the endlessly monotonous time with Yohan by his side, looked up. His eyes gleamed darkly.
“…Wake up, Yohan. Yakrin is here.”
At the gentle pat on his back, Yohan, who had been crouching and dozing off, snapped awake. As soon as Lee Hyun-muk spoke, a dark shadow fell and disappeared overhead. It was the shadow of the monstrous bird’s wings.
As planned, Yohan quickly jumped down beneath a large clump of reeds. He understood why Yoon Seung-ryong had jumped from a height of three stories without hesitation before. Even though it was much higher, the impact on his body wasn’t that great.
Joo Ho-young, who was already below, hid among the reeds with Yohan. This was to minimize Yohan’s exposure to Seo Yakrin’s sight. Only Lee Hyun-muk and Yoon Seung-ryong, the Dealers, stood in the visible area, looking up at the monstrous bird circling the sky, holding their spears.
Although Yohan hadn’t witnessed it directly, Lee Hyun-muk had said he had severely injured Seo Yakrin when he was buried in Black Mountain. As he said, Seo Yakrin’s flight was precarious and didn’t seem like it could be maintained for long. One wing was twisted, and dark bodily fluid was flowing from it. Eventually, Seo Yakrin slowly lowered its altitude from the distant sky. Yohan could properly discern the form of this monstrous bird.
It was a large, black, terrifying bird. With every flap of its wings, strong winds reached the ground, causing waves in the Reed Sea. When one managed to withstand the wind and look up, there was an enraged face. At the end of its long, flexible neck sat Seo Yakrin’s face. The face, unrealistically large for a human and possessing a gloomy golden hue, contorted like a demon.
Seo Yakrin opened its black lips wide, and with a screeching sound, its body expanded as it sucked in the wind. Then.
Aaaargh! A monstrous roar of rage erupted. Yohan, quickly covering his ears, groaned in pain that pierced his head. Blood was streaming from his ears. His eardrums had been damaged by the monstrous roar. Fortunately, the regenerative power of a High-level Awakener quickly healed the torn eardrums. Joo Ho-young, quick to notice, leaped up when he saw the blood flowing from Yohan’s ear.
“Yohan Hyung, you’re bleeding!”
“I’m… I’m okay. It healed quickly. Are you?”
Lee Hyun-muk and Yoon Seung-ryong didn’t even flinch at the eardrum-shattering roar. No, they didn’t seem to have sustained any damage at all. While it made sense for those two, the Dealers, Yohan felt a bit dejected seeing that even Joo Ho-young, a Supporter, was unharmed. Why was everyone so tough…
“I’m okay too!”
As he answered, Joo Ho-young took out his bow. Ice shards condensed in his hand, forming a uniquely long and thick ice arrow. Joo Ho-young nocked the arrow onto his bow and pulled the string with all his might. However, without shooting, he quietly waited with Yohan among the reeds, aiming at Seo Yakrin.