By Zephyria “Hey.”
His ears perk up at the sound of the call.
“Snap out of it.”
At those words, his red eyes dart back and forth several times before settling.
Mu-hae feels strange. Just watching Joo-oh’s pupils constrict and dilate sends a shiver down his spine, as if a blade were pressed against his neck.
“I said, snap out of it.”
Finally, he begins to understand Mu-hae’s words. Each time Mu-hae calls out to Joo-oh, his lips twitch slightly.
Firmly. Jin Mu-hae cups Joo-oh’s cheeks with his scratched hands.
As the warmth of his skin touches him, Joo-oh’s eyes move again.
“You won’t talk?”
At the threatening warning, the strength in his rigid jaw slowly dissipates.
Just in case, he pokes his cheek with his fingertip, and the wide-open eyes gradually narrow.
“…Don’t like it.”
Only then does Joo-oh open his mouth again.
“Okay.”
“Don’t like crushed Jin Mu-hae.”
“I got it.”
Mu-hae soothes him, trying to nonchalantly brush off the chilling words.
Still, crimson blood drips from his fingertips.
“Don’t like crushed Jin Mu-hae.”
“Please.”
Injured Jin Mu-hae, Jin Mu-hae with something broken, there are plenty of normal words, but why ‘crushed’ of all things?
The chilling expression lightly stirs the excitement of the battle that hasn’t yet subsided.
If that’s the case, it would be better not to talk at all. After some thought, Mu-hae covers Joo-oh’s mouth.
Hoo. Hoo. Shallow, weak breaths tickle the palm of his hand.
“Jin Mu-hae… smell.”
Joo-oh mumbles from within his hand.
Strangely enough, after saying those words, his condition seems to improve little by little, and his eyes narrow further.
“Touch me.”
He must be regaining his senses. He finally utters the words Mu-hae was wondering when he’d say.
Jin Mu-hae raises his eyebrows and stares at Joo-oh, then tentatively moves his hand to Joo-oh’s ear.
…It can’t be helped. He needs to calm him down to check for any injuries and clean up the surroundings. Mu-hae repeats to himself as he smooths back the disheveled hair and caresses Joo-oh’s ear.
What on earth is he doing in a place like this? Regardless of the bizarre feeling, the ear in his hand is warm and soft.
The cartilage that crumples as he presses it gives him a strange impulse in his stomach.
“Huu.”
Joo-oh lets out a satisfied breath and gently closes his eyes.
He leans his head against the other hand cupping his cheek.
Then he rubs his face against the unclean hand. As if to coax him to touch him more, to stroke him quickly.
A chill.
This is really strange. Goosebumps rise up his spine again. But this time, it’s hard to tell if it’s the same dread as before or a strange pleasure.
Mu-hae presses the soft earlobe with his fingernail. He can’t control his strength, and his fingertip turns white.
His head grows hot, and it becomes difficult to tear his gaze away from the finely trembling neck.
“Smell, want to smell.”
As Joo-oh mumbles, Jin Mu-hae raises his hand again as if possessed.
His nose touches it a few times, then something moist and soft tickles between his fingers.
“Haa… fuck.”
Joo-oh, who had been inhaling deeply, begins to lick the tender flesh.
In an instant, a surge of heat rises. Is he crazy?
Unable to bear the sensation piercing his spine, Mu-hae pulls his hand away as if shaking it off.
“Don’t lick, it’s dirty.”
“Ah?”
Only then does his half-opened eyes, as if awakened from a dream, hold a look of regret.
He’s going crazy. Mu-hae, who absentmindedly touched his forehead, shuddered and pulled his hand away again at the damp feeling.
“I told you not to do weird things. If you’ve come to your senses, move.”
Joo-oh’s dazed eyes keep following his hand.
“Jin Mu-hae. Tastes like blood.”
“Yeah. It’s all scraped up and bleeding, so let’s go back.”
“Are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing, so check your own body.”
Firmly. Jin Mu-hae pushes Joo-oh’s head away and scans his body.
Aside from the Aberrant’s blood splattered here and there, he seemed fine. His clothes were just a bit dirty, not even torn.
“Thought I was going to be crushed.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Almost got angry.”
“I feel like I’m about to get angry.”
Even though he says it coldly, he doesn’t actually feel annoyed.
He knows that if it hadn’t been for Joo-oh’s help a moment ago, he could have been seriously injured.
It sounds chilling, but yes. He almost got crushed. And then the Aberrant would have come and split his head open according to its nature.
Firmly. Joo-oh, catching his breath, hugs Mu-hae’s waist. This time, Mu-hae can’t bring himself to push him away and awkwardly spreads his arms, unsure where to put them.
“Leather, not supposed to get it this hard.”
Only after hearing the mumbling does Mu-hae remember why he came here.
Damn it. He came to get leather, and he ended up in another battle with an Aberrant he never expected.
What’s worse, the Small aircraft made a strange noise and flew away. Mu-hae, belatedly thinking of his personal two-wheeled vehicle, whips his head around.
“Smoking.”
“Damn it! Let go.”
Jin Mu-hae drags Joo-oh, who is clinging tightly to his waist, towards the Small aircraft.
The carelessly discarded vehicle is badly dented. He examines it with a serious face and, thankfully, the frame seems intact.
Whoong-.
It even starts. Luckily, the important parts seem to be unharmed.
But it seems difficult to ride it right away. He’ll have to pour money into repairs again when he gets back.
“Can’t sell that?”
Joo-oh, who is examining the Small aircraft with a serious expression, as serious as Mu-hae, points to the Aberrant, panting.
The battered corpse lay uselessly in the middle of a pool of blood.
He doesn’t know. Unlike Beasts, which are used everywhere as industrial products, Aberrants have limited uses for their flesh, skin, and bones.
He could probably salvage the bones, Mu-hae was estimating when he heard a chilling story.
“Hope it killed a lot of people.”
“What?”
“Then they’ll give you money.”
Only after looking back and forth between Joo-oh and the Aberrant does he realize what he meant by spouting such a murderous thing.
If the Stonemason they just caught had harmed humans near the Comfort zone, it meant they could receive compensation from the city.
“I haven’t heard any news like that.”
If a hunting notice had been issued, it would have been conveyed to nearby Goryeo City sooner or later. There’s no way Mu-hae, who came all the way here to find Gui-ho, wouldn’t know.
Even so, the thought that maybe it’s possible lingers, perhaps because he regrets the sunk cost.
Mu-hae, who was fiddling with his Watch for no reason, suddenly stopped and paused his hand.
Welcome!
Location Information ▶ [Seogyeong City]
Today’s Weather: Clear/Dry
Recently, there hadn’t been any decent jobs except for the Company’s long-term requests.
But that was only a judgment based on income.
If he included requests with ambiguous value, he could find a plausible excuse.
Mu-hae, who was skillfully scanning the list, twitched the end of his eyebrow before long.
!Notice!
A 〈Class 1〉 Aberrant has appeared within a 100km radius of [Seogyeong City], gradually causing damage to the human and material resources of the Central Corporation.
Class 1: Stonemason ▶
Check Video Recording (Click)
Capture or Kill the Target
9,980 Deal
…Is this a coincidence?
A fresh notice, updated less than a day ago, appeared before Mu-hae’s eyes as if it were a lie.
‘It just hadn’t been conveyed to Goryeo City,’ the Aberrant they caught had originally been rampant in the vicinity, a situation that was miraculously to his liking.
“Jin Mu-hae. I’m a little hungry.”
Again. Another unlucky accident happens, somehow gets resolved, and an unexpected reward is given.
Things that happen once every few years seem to be happening like everyday occurrences from a certain point on.
Mu-hae, who had been staring at the Hologram Window for a long time, slowly turned his gaze.
Red eyes, gradually regaining their sanity, quietly met his.
It’s strange. From the day he went to explore the site of the Khan Rano disaster, he feels like he’s been caught up in a huge change he doesn’t even know about.
Is this just a simple delusion? Maybe he’s losing his mind from excessive stress.
“It’s raining.”
Drip. Drip. Thick raindrops hit the top of Mu-hae’s head.
He thought the sky was looking gloomy, and sure enough, it started to rain.
Joo-oh, swallowing hard, washes away the dirty blood from his hands.
‘I’ll help you.’
The strange feeling he felt when he first checked his father’s records. That hazy, bright feeling is circling Joo-oh again.
“Going home?”
His red eyes, as if he had never lost his mind, were solely directed at Mu-hae.
As he meets his gaze, he gets the delusion that even though Mu-hae clearly found him and took him in, the subject of ‘choice’ was not on this side.
“No.”
Jin Mu-hae closed his eyes as if shaking off a vain thought.
When he wiped his wet face and opened his eyes, Joo-oh was just an unusually handsome, unidentified housemate.
“The Small aircraft rental period is still left.”
“Then?”
“Let’s stop by somewhere else to get paid.”
Even so, he can’t stop the very unrealistic and cult-like thought that it was all meant to be this way from the beginning.
“Let’s go to Seogyeong City.”
Forcing up his sinking voice, Jin Mu-hae turned his head and gazed into the distance.
Seogyeong City is one of the cities that was built relatively late.
After Goryeo City was properly established and prospered, some of the executives moved and built a new base.
Luxuriantly growing mutant plants and the various food chains that resulted from them. A large city located nearby so that they could come and go at any time.
Seogyeong City was planned and built as an industrial complex for the primary and secondary industries. At one time, all of the massive industrial products produced by Goryeo City came from here.
However, at some point, a group of aggressive Beasts began to grow wild between the two Comfort zones.
Even Aberrants were lurking around, even though there was no adjacent Crystal Zone, and now, more than 10 years later, civilian traffic has almost completely stopped.
Nevertheless, unmanned aircraft and mercenaries for trade steadily travel between the two cities.
Even if humans are trapped in the Dome, money and goods move actively.
The area where the wealth and power of Seogyeong City gather, Central.
Huge billboards located in each high-rise building pour out flashy images, and expensive hover vehicles line the streets.
“Wow.”
Joo-oh, who had just gotten off the train, exclaimed.
The darkened city was sparkling before him with colorful lights.