By Zephyria A lower body that looked like several human lower halves joined together, and a transparent upper body resembling an IV bottle swayed. The face, as if roughly molded from clay, sprouted multiple pale, narrow eyeballs, as if afflicted with cataracts. Then, the monsters swung two pairs of long arms, instantly constricting Lee Hyun-muk’s upper body. But Lee Hyun-muk’s movements were even faster.
Crack!
As if he had anticipated the attack, he grabbed the swinging arms and crushed them instead.
Screeeech!
The monsters shrieked in a sharp cry and quickly climbed the wall, ascending to the ceiling. Leaving countless sticky footprints, they hung upside down and opened their upper bodies. A disgusting liquid poured down. A toxic stench, resembling the smell of disinfectant, wafted out.
Lee Hyun-muk nimbly leaped onto the counter, dodging the falling liquid. While Yohan gagged from the stench, he instantly crushed two legs and then reached out with another leg. In an instant, all four legs were broken, and the monsters, unable to hang from the ceiling any longer, fell to the floor under their own weight. The monsters, writhing in pain, suddenly turned their gaze towards Yohan, who was awkwardly hiding.
CRASH!
The impact of the monsters’ bodies shattered half the wall. Yohan thought he was surely going to die, but when he came to his senses, Lee Hyun-mook was embracing him, shielding him from the shock. The medicine bottles were crushed, mangled, and burst.
“No!”
Yohan screamed, but it didn’t last long. As soon as Lee Hyun-mook pulled Yohan into an embrace and threw himself, the monsters slammed their bodies into the spot where they had been. It was the moment even the remaining medicine was completely crushed. Lee Hyun-mook threw Yohan, who was in a daze, as far away as possible. Then he immediately charged at the monsters.
In a sensation that made him feel like he would faint, Yohan blankly watched the fight between Lee Hyun-mook and the monsters. The monsters attacked with all their might, but Lee Hyun-mook persistently crushed and tore off their legs one by one. Once all their legs were immobilized, he clung to their upper bodies and swung his fists.
Thump, thump, thump!
The flesh and bodily fluid of their upper bodies, softer than their legs, splattered everywhere.
Before long, the monsters’ strength drained away. Lee Hyun-mook, seemingly satisfied after tearing the monsters to shreds, retreated. After narrowly escaping such a great crisis, the bleakness of reality finally washed over Yohan.
“Sob, sniffle…”
He crawled towards the collapsed outpatient pharmacy. The medicine bottles, all burst and crushed, were mixed with any remaining intact medicine, making it impossible to identify anything. The pain in his leg had now reached an unbearable level. While wiping away tears, Yohan reached out, refusing to give up. Tap, a strong hand grasped his wrist.
“You, why on earth did you come here?”
Yohan, pushing Lee Hyun-mook away to search for medicine, suddenly lifted his head. His eyes and mouth widened.
It was Lee Hyun-mook, unharmed! The gaze he directed at him, though dim, had no red glow and was exceedingly intelligent. The moment he saw the sane Lee Hyun-mook, Yohan’s pent-up sorrow burst forth. The tears he had just wiped away instantly welled up, blurring his vision.
“Hooong, uuuuuhng…!”
Sobbing uncontrollably, Yohan didn’t even notice that Lee Hyun-mook’s gaze was fixed on the red blood flowing from his hand. Lee Hyun-mook’s eyes narrowed as he stared intently at the red blood staining his hand. His gaze, following the trail of blood droplets flowing from his torn backhand down to his wrist, was as persistent as it had been when he tore off the monsters’ legs earlier.
“Lee Hyun-mook-ssi, if you… sob, sniffle, give it to me, sob, what do I do…?”
“…I must be crazy, I have no idea what you’re saying.”
Lee Hyun-mook, who could barely understand due to Yohan’s intense crying, sighed. Reluctantly, he tore his gaze away from the bloodstains and reached out. He lightly lifted the completely listless Yohan into his arms and detected a rather warm, abnormal heat. That alone was enough to roughly understand why he had ventured into a dangerous zone.
He left the devastated pharmacy for now. Walking down the corridor, he sensed the presence of lesser beings fleeing in droves, overwhelmed by the death of the powerful monsters. Lee Hyun-mook opened the door of a room on the second floor that felt the least ominous.
He sat Yohan, who was weeping incessantly, on a dust-covered bed and scanned his body with his eyes. He immediately found the cause. His extremely sensitive senses detected a foul, rotting smell from one of his calves. When he reached for his calf, Yohan flinched but obediently offered his leg. Lee Hyun-mook felt a strange sensation as he rolled up the loose sweatpants.
“Do I have to… cut off my leg?”
Yohan asked with choked sobs as the other person merely stared intently at the severely inflamed wound. Lee Hyun-mook replied, pulling down the rolled-up pants.
“If the damage worsens here, then yes.”
At the utterly cold response, Yohan collapsed onto the dusty bed, not caring about the dirt. He then began to wail loudly again. Only then did Lee Hyun-mook, who had been consistently emotionless to the point of being dazed, cast a slightly bewildered glance.
“Uuuuuhng, I’m dead now… My leg will be gone… I’ll have to live with one leg…”
“…Why are you getting rid of a leg that’s still fine already?”
He pulled up Yohan, who was crying like a faucet, staining the dusty bed with pale splotches. He took the bag Yohan was carrying and looked inside; it contained mineral water and a handful of chocolate bars. Lee Hyun-mook took out one of the chocolate bars Yohan cherished dearly, peeled it open, and quickly put it in his mouth.
“Hic, gurgle…”
With a flushed, feverish face, Yohan, tears streaming down, chewed and swallowed the chocolate bar. After he drank a few sips of mineral water, he seemed to calm down a little. Lee Hyun-mook briefly wracked his memory and finally recalled the other person’s name.
“Yang Yohan.”
Yohan, his eyes particularly swollen from crying or perhaps the inflammation, looked at Lee Hyun-mook as he swallowed the last bite of the chocolate bar.
“How much time has passed since we last met?”
“Probably, gasp, four days…”
Hearing Yohan’s words, Lee Hyun-mook’s head tilted slowly. His expression was one of utter incomprehension.
“How could you be back to your senses already…?”
Yohan also wondered, recalling Lee Hyun-mook’s words that he would only return to his senses in months, or perhaps years. But it was only for a moment. He trembled violently, overcome by a tidal wave of fear. The tears that had just stopped welled up again.
“If I die here, sob, how will I be handled? Will I be buried, or cremated? Or, or will you eat me, Lee Hyun-mook-ssi?”
Lee Hyun-mook, who had been staring blankly at Yohan, who was trembling like a vibrating bell from chills and fear, slowly shook his head.
“…I won’t eat you, and I won’t let you die, so don’t worry.”
“But, sob, the pharmacy is all destroyed…”
“We can raid the manufacturing room or the drug storage room.”
Only after hearing that did Yohan’s tears finally stop. He roughly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and then asked with a face that had regained a faint glimmer of hope.
“The manufacturing room, hic, and what else?”
“The drug storage room. For a hospital this size, not a regular clinic, there’s a pharmacy department… anyway, a separate place like a warehouse for storing drugs. They usually keep at least a week’s supply on hand at all times.”
Whatever it was, it sounded like there were other storage facilities besides the pharmacy that had just been smashed. Yohan, finishing the remaining chocolate bar, put on his backpack. His face, still bearing traces of tears, was smudged with dust from the bed. Watching him, Lee Hyun-mook asked calmly. Yohan’s question about being eaten had lingered.
“Did I… want to eat you, Yohan…? I thought I hadn’t resorted to cannibalism until now, though.”
“…I don’t know. It felt like… you just wanted to playfully bite me…”
Yohan averted his eyes and mumbled evasively. Lee Hyun-mook gave a bitter smile, glanced at the slowly stiffening bloodstains on Yohan’s hand, and then slowly looked away.
They returned to the destroyed outpatient pharmacy. Lee Hyun-mook indifferently crushed the mangled monsters a few more times. Yohan couldn’t tell if this was an act of vengeance or a confirmation of death.
After that, Lee Hyun-mook began clearing away the debris of the outpatient pharmacy. When Yohan hovered nearby, trying to help lift a pile of concrete, he waved him away. Despite the minimal interaction, Yohan felt tearfully grateful. Conversations with the Madman version of Lee Hyun-mook were truly like echoes that never returned.