By Zephyria 
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Disappearance
Goryeo City was quietly tumultuous. It was a contradictory expression, but few words described the situation better.
A CEO of Central with a massive factory, as well as a councilor, had been attacked by an Aberrant and turned into cold corpses, and even a young mercenary who had shown heroic traits on several occasions was found near death at the scene.
However, the news was only briefly mentioned in the closing reports; no video media outlet covered the story.
Only those in the know whispered among themselves, worrying about the increasing appearances of Aberrants.
It was said that the victims from Central often wandered outside the comfort zone to commemorate memories of their youth. A mercenary, likely passing by on a commission, must have jumped in upon seeing their tragedy.
Naturally, the result was not good. The mercenary became the sole survivor and a critically ill patient who remained in a coma for two days.
Considering the state of the corpses strewn about, his injuries weren’t that severe, but they said he suffered from hypothermia after being left out in the rain for too long.
There was news that he was receiving treatment in a temporary ward in his home district, but no one attempting to cover the incident could meet the party involved.
Instead, rumors spread among the mercenaries. They said the mercenary had gone mad.
In fact, he wasn’t the only one at the scene; a companion he always stuck with had been there too. That person had disappeared after the attack and was likely dead.
Despite this, the mercenary, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, was making a fuss about going out to find his companion.
If someone was taken by an Aberrant, the best-case scenario was that a few leftover fingers remained; usually, they were digested without a trace.
Knowing this full well, the man began wandering outside the city from that day on, searching for ‘Joo-oh.’ Everyone either pitied him or clicked their tongues at his pathetic state.
Then again, the end of a mercenary’s career is always either retirement after injury or death, so he might simply be following the same path as the others.
* * *
‘Jin Mu-hae. I like it.’
‘Pat my head.’
‘I don’t like it if Jin Mu-hae is scared.’
A faint voice, as if heard in a dream, echoed in his ears. His deeply sunken consciousness gradually awakened, and an uncomfortable sensation enveloped his body.
In the gap between the unconscious and reality, an inner voice asked. Was I sleeping? When and how did I fall asleep?
Memories of just before he collapsed came rushing back. The key figures of the vegan society. The plot they were hatching.
After falling into a trap and being captured, he had worried about Joo-oh. He had escaped by breaking his own wrists and tried to carry him away…
“Haa…”
His eyes snapped open. Jin Mu-hae tried to push himself up urgently, but he gasped at a throbbing pain.
His throat was so dry that not even a groan could escape. He simply listened to the thumping of his heart while looking around the place where he lay.
Familiar curtains. Familiar bedding. The faint scent of disinfectant was not unfamiliar.
As he looked around blankly, calming his ragged breathing, the curtains were suddenly pulled back and a tall man entered.
“You’re awake.”
It was Teacher Jung, with a fatigued face. This was his clinic.
Teacher Jung walked toward him with his mouth firmly shut. He seemed to inject something into the IV drip, and the connected arm felt a tingling pain.
“What happened?”
Disoriented, Mu-hae grabbed him and asked. Hollow eyes behind glasses stared intently at Mu-hae.
“I should be the one asking that.”
The flat voice flew over coldly. His usually serene face looked haggard, like someone who had suffered great mental distress for several days.
Only then, with his mind fully clear, did Mu-hae recall his last memory.
Joo-oh, who had been tied up tightly where he left him. Melancholy and terrified eyes. He remembered the shoulders that flinched upon seeing him.
“Joo-oh… where is Joo-oh?”
The moment he asked reflexively, a sinking sensation, as if falling off a cliff, washed over him.
His fingertips stiffened, and his breath caught in his throat. Crushed by an indescribable terror, Mu-hae widened his eyes.
Buried memories came flooding back. The scene was so vivid it felt as if he were witnessing it again…
—Krrr-rrr…
An existence he couldn’t even bring himself to look at. Joo-oh, who was shedding his human form and becoming something else.
Bones and flesh flying everywhere. A massive figure slowly approaching after killing everyone.
His body trembled as if he had witnessed something incomprehensible. Even now, sitting in a safe place and recalling it, he was the same.
Beep— Beep—!
The machine beside the bed let out a loud noise, warning of his spiking heart rate.
Thump. Only when a warm hand gripped his shoulder did his eyes, which had been scanning the surroundings, stop in one place.
“Calm down. Breathe slowly.”
He realized it at the firm voice. Mu-hae was halfway to a panic attack. His body was shaking violently, and cold sweat dripped down.
It was a reaction he had never experienced in his life. He had been in dangerous situations several times before, but he could say with certainty that he had never panicked, searching for a place to hide like a young beast.
“Haa… huu…”
He felt as if red eyes were flickering, watching him. At the sudden symptom, Teacher Jung’s brow furrowed deeply.
“It was only you.”
“Huu… what?”
“You were the only one found alive there.”
Teacher Jung didn’t go out of his way to say unnecessary things, but he wasn’t the type to make things up out of consideration for others.
As the unvarnished fact pierced his ears, Mu-hae’s strength suddenly vanished.
Mu-hae leaned against the headboard of the bed and calmed his labored breathing. His fingertips were still trembling slightly.
“Excessive bleeding and hypothermia… you almost ended up in the incinerator with the medical waste.”
“…”
“I gave you medicine, so rest for now. CEO Gil will be here soon, so don’t show him the same sight.”
Contrary to the harsh words, his dry face was full of worry. Mu-hae nodded, forgetting even to respond.
There was no point in asking if CEO Gil had come here. He must have come in and out several times, waiting for the sleeping Mu-hae to wake up.
With a rustle, the curtains were closed, and he was left alone again in the space of about one pyeong. Mu-hae blankly lifted his arm and shook the IV line, feeling the pain in his side, which had been throbbing agonizingly, gradually subside.
However, the instinct that still had a bright red light on would not settle. The sensation of something constantly squeezing his heart… the degree was different, but he had felt a similar sensation somewhere before.
Realizing this, his body, which had been barely holding on, wavered. It felt as if the world was collapsing.
“He’s awake?”
Before long, along with the sound of the chime, CEO Gil’s voice was heard.
He must have rushed over as soon as he got the call. His cracked voice panted with breathlessness.
“See, I told you he’d wake up. I told you I wasn’t leaving.”
“Then were you going to sit and wait by his side for a day or two? Let me see your forehead. I need to see if you have a fever again.”
“I need to see him first—”
“Sit. Unless you want to be tied up and lie next to Mu-hae.”
The conversation he unintentionally overheard was disgustingly familiar. No wonder they were warning him; it seemed another red light had gone on regarding CEO Gil’s health.
No doubt he had stayed up all night just to wait for the fallen man.
Though once he received treatment and went to the electronic store, he would probably scrape for repair costs with a lukewarm face, as if he had never worried.
Even though the shock still shook his head, he couldn’t let it show in front of him. As the curtains opened, Mu-hae greeted CEO Gil with a normal face.
“You crazy bastard. A guy whose only asset is his body, throwing himself around every single day.”
“My financial situation is like that because I haven’t recovered all my debts yet.”
“That damn 200,000 Deal talk. Anyone hearing that would think they ripped you off!”
CEO Gil, with a fever-reducing sheet on his forehead, was dragged to the next bed in indignation. Listening to the bickering, Mu-hae quietly closed his eyes.
His head… felt like it would split. All sorts of memories ran wild, eating away at his mind.
The disappeared Joo-oh, the red-eyed Aberrant, and the weakness of the West Wind obtained from the vegan society’s chip.
—…will be kidnapped. Once we take a hostage and get the ransom, we can hand the child over to your place. So, if you just open the way, it means both parties will get a good result.
—Are you sure? The father…
Even though it was information that could only be described as shocking, he felt strangely little emotion.
Everything felt bland, as if he had rubbed a handful of salt on his tongue.
He felt as if he were still asleep. It felt like he was having a strange dream.
It seemed the drug Teacher Jung had administered was a fairly strong painkiller. His vision gradually blurred, and Mu-hae quietly closed his eyes.
Jin Mu-hae stayed in bed for another day and night. He wasn’t just lying there idly.
The day after he opened his eyes, investigators from a Central agency came in a hurry. Mu-hae sat with the gauze on his head clearly visible and answered most of the questions with a claim of ignorance.
“You were looking for a Beast to sell by-products due to high recent expenses, and in the process, you witnessed an Aberrant attack. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember what kind of meeting the deceased were having at the time?”
“I don’t know. I was more of a bystander who got caught up in it.”
“What about the companion who was with you?”
“That too… I don’t know. When I opened my eyes, everything was already over.”
Upon being notified that the accident would be downplayed in the announcement, Mu-hae nodded without objection. Only after the sun set did Teacher Jung disinfect the wound and let Mu-hae go.
Five days. Had he been in a hospital bed for that long? For the first two days, he had been hospitalized in a hospital within the official residential area, and only after emergency treatment was completed and his vitals stabilized was he moved to Teacher Jung’s clinic.
Clack. Click.
The house he arrived at after being away for nearly a week was submerged in deep darkness and silence.
Mu-hae stared into the abyss-like interior before slowly turning on the light.
Snap! The brightened living room felt empty for some reason, and a strange emotion swelled up, filling his chest.
A t-shirt strewn across the bed caught his eye. Even though he hadn’t unpacked yet, he was drawn to it immediately.
It was clearly his clothes, but they were saturated with someone else’s scent. A sweet, fragrant, and warm smell…
…The worry he had been ignoring all this time clung to him like a seep.
Joo-oh…
What should I do about Joo-oh?
Should he still view that existence, which had become completely different from the person he knew, as Joo-oh?
Thud. The piece of clothing he was holding fell to the floor. Without picking it up, Mu-hae headed to the study.
For some reason, he collapsed onto the mattress that held someone else’s scent. Soon after, he fell into a light sleep.
Siiiiing—!
Swaaaaak!
The house was as quiet as a dead mouse, but the mind sunken below sleep was not.
‘You’re telling me to take him? Didn’t we agree to hand him over?’
‘The plan went wrong. Load him up first, and once we get the ransom, bury him outside.’
‘But…’
‘He saw us! Get it together!’
His head slumped, and he felt suffocated. The ropes binding his body tightened painfully around his limbs.
What had happened? After several curses were heard, the vehicle came to a rough stop.
Someone grabbed his clothes and dragged his body out the door. Tears flowed, but he couldn’t cry out loud.
Only the cloth covering his face became damp. The moment the fact that he would never see anyone again was clearly etched into his heart, even if he didn’t fully understand the meaning of death.
‘Aaaaaagh!’
A scream echoed, and the memory cut off. When he regained consciousness, Mu-hae was sitting in a forest.
Not knowing who he was or why he was there, he just blankly looked at the sky. Counting the clouds that flowed by like eternity…
“Kugh…”
Snap. His eyes opened. Jin Mu-hae struggled to push himself up, clutching the wound pressed against the mattress.
Looking at his wrist, it seemed he had slept and woken up in barely 30 minutes. Panting heavily, he turned on the nightlight, and the dim light illuminated the desk.
A small electronic frame cast a shadow, covered in a bit of dust. The yellow light reflecting off the glass was preferable to the deep darkness.
In the slightly shaking image, a familiar man was smiling. Black hair, red eyes, straight lips.
“Fuck…”
The sky he saw in the dream came back to him. He also felt the desolate emotion, as if he were drifting alone in the great ocean.
Then, like a single wave through a mind suppressed by fear, an encounter with someone flashed by.
The accident scene of Kanrano, which smelled of blood. A man with a snow-white face looking up at the sky endlessly.
‘It’s a person.’
‘Come with me. I’ll help you.’
‘I only have Jin Mu-hae.’
‘I’m going to live with Jin Mu-hae.’
Clatter! The frame tipped over at the sudden movement. Mu-hae stumbled out of the study.
He searched for his lost bag for a moment, then regained his senses and took out a new bag.
He put on the leather jacket that still hadn’t had the bloodstains removed. He shoved the spare equipment he had stockpiled into the luggage.
As he opened the front door, cold and dry air rushed into his lungs.
“I’m sorry for contacting you so late. I think I’ll need a few more Tasers.”
—What? In that state, where are you going?
“I have to find him. I left Joo-oh… behind.”
A sigh filled with pity pierced his ears, but he had no room to care.
Mu-hae ripped off the gauze on his forehead and walked as if he were running.
182 – I Became an Aberration in a Dead Game