By Zephyria 
‘It is possible that his memories were revived after being stimulated by Jiha while a vague level of Corruption remained.’
The Management Bureau’s purification of Contamination is not perfect. Victims swept up by anomalies had to live with minute traces of Contamination. Since it was merely residue left after purification, it rarely caused major problems, but in this case, several unfortunate coincidences overlapped.
Eight Phases Mental Hospital was the first anomaly contaminated by the Smiling Man 22 years ago. Because the wavelength and waveform of an Aberrant Realm differ from those of an Aberration, the Management Bureau failed to realize that the Smiling Man was the origin of Eight Phases Mental Hospital.
Park Jun-yeol was contaminated in that very Aberrant Realm. As his injuries were severe, the level of Corruption was deep. If the contamination spread by the Smiling Man like a toxin had remained as a residue and then surged upon encountering Yoo Jiha… and if he became infuriated at Yoo Jiha out of sheer audacity because he remembered what happened to him in the Aberrant Realm. Given his character—tripping his hubae to run away alone—it wasn’t an unfounded assumption.
“…….”
As soon as he finished work today, he would have to stop by the hospital and check with his left eye. However, what awaited him at the Management Bureau was a pile of work that had accumulated during his three-day absence and overtime.
Late at night, as soon as the nurse on rounds left the room, Park Jun-yeol ripped out the IV needle. He was visibly terrified as he hurriedly changed his clothes.
‘I can’t trust this hospital!’
Even after the accident where his arm was severed, the memories of that day had remained vague and blurry, but they came rushing back the moment he saw Yoo Jiha. It was even more horrifying that he had forgotten until now. This hospital was linked to those bastards from the Management Bureau or whatever, who brainwash people and even tamper with memories. Where was the guarantee that they weren’t performing human experiments on the patients?
As soon as he escaped the hospital, it would be better to report this to the police—no, to a YouTuber “wrecker.” Fuck, his arm was cut off because of those bastards; he should at least make some money from it. Far from providing compensation, the Management Bureau had stripped him of everything, including his stocks and coins. A place like this needed to disappear immediately. The same went for Yoo Jiha, who was in league with the Management Bureau. He would throw him in jail right away.
With a firm resolve, he stepped out into the hallway, only to realize that everything around him was pitch black.
“Wh-what? What is this!”
The hospital corridor that had been lit just moments ago, the nurse station in the distance, the ceiling, the floor—everything was darkness. He looked back, but the door to the patient room was gone.
A darkness with a thick, viscous texture was enveloping him.
「You worm.」
The darkness produced a voice with an eerie resonance. Standing there was a young man wearing a black gat and a black dopo. His face was hidden behind a fan, but the mere glimpse of his eyes allowed a beauty to flow in that made his very soul ache. No words could possibly describe or characterize his beauty.
“Ah…”
Fear vanished without a trace, overwhelmed by beauty. Park Jun-yeol gazed at the man in desperation. If only he could lick that person’s feet—no, someone like him didn’t even have the right. Ah, how could he submit to that person! He must become that person’s lowest slave. He must prove his loyalty.
「I shall make you my scabbard. Consider it a glory that a trivial creature such as yourself may be of use to me.」
It was a glory. It was the greatest, most blessed praise the world had ever known. Amidst the ecstasy of his limbs snapping and joints twisting with a sickening crunch, tears of joy streamed down his face. Aaaaaah. This is the supreme bliss.
* * *
His second love—no, he could exclude the short romance from elementary school. Yoo Jiha corrected himself. His first mature love as a working adult had been happy. However, his daily life was not.
“…Why am I so busy?”
The answer was the struggle of balancing academics, work, and romance. Now that his probation period was over, he was scheduled for weekend and night shifts, so it was obvious he would become even busier. He had no time to date. If the rabbit-like ahjussi hadn’t helped him commute to school and played with him at home, he would have withered away from longing for him.
Suffering from an intense urge to take a leave of absence, Yoo Jiha wandered the campus like a zombie today. While stopping at the campus cafe for a caffeine transfusion, he ran into the class representative. While drinking coffee side by side, a thought occurred to him, and he asked.
“Oh, by the way, how is Park Jun-yeol sunbae doing lately? Has he said anything about meeting me at the hospital?”
Hadn’t he almost had his arm broken by Jeil Heon? Given his personality, he would have spoken up already, but it had been strangely quiet for several days. The class representative looked puzzled.
“Who is Park Jun-yeol sunbae?”
“…….”
For a moment, he felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him. Yoo Jiha explained, stammering.
“The sunbae who returned to school last semester. Don’t you remember? He took a leave of absence and fled to the military while stalking someone.”
The class representative, who had been very reluctant upon hearing the news of the stalker’s return, only tilted his head. Jiha immediately called the Folklore Department office. The teaching assistant was also baffled.
How could I forget a guy like that? I’ll search the academic records for now… uh, wait a second… There is a Park Jun-yeol in our department?
Park Jun-yeol existed. Only on paper.
Records of him attending lectures, participating in club activities, doing group projects, and even receiving grades all existed, but there was no person named Park Jun-yeol. He was absent from the memories of the students who were recorded as having attended lectures, clubs, and group projects with him. Park Jun-yeol was in the group chat, and there were traces of people talking to him, but there wasn’t a single message he had replied with.
An eerie urban legend about a student with no presence began to spread through the Folklore Department.
When he shared this story on the way to the study room, Jeil Heon listened intently. He had already been wondering why Park Jun-yeol had gone missing. Since he was captured on CCTV leaving the hospital, he thought he had just disappeared, but it seemed he had been taken by an Aberration.
“To be able to manipulate even the CCTV, he must have encountered a quite dangerous anomaly.”
“Th-then, what happens to him?”
“Park Jun-yeol will become an anomaly too.”
“What?!”
“Everyone is afraid of Park Jun-yeol, right?”
Yoo Jiha’s face nodded vigorously up and down. The students, who were curious at first, shut their mouths as the records proving Park Jun-yeol’s existence continued to increase.
“Urban legends that evoke shared emotions in a group, especially intense emotions like fear, are ideal for creating anomalies. If someone who looks like Park Jun-yeol appears at school, it will definitely be an Aberration, so contact the Management Bureau or me immediately.”
As Yoo Jiha’s expression became complicated, Jeil Heon glanced at him from the driver’s seat.
“Wasn’t he the one who threw you to an Aberration and ran away?”
“I mean, he was a sunbae I disliked from the start… but he tripped me to save himself and even tried to hit me at the hospital… Now that I hear he’s going to become an anomaly, I feel a bit strange.”
Just hearing Park Jun-yeol’s name made him feel nauseous, but he didn’t wish for him to die or mutate into an Aberration. Wouldn’t harboring such feelings make him the same kind of person as Park Jun-yeol?
Above all, mutating into an Aberration didn’t just mean the end of a human life. Wouldn’t it mean that the flesh, spirit, ego, and the final shred of human dignity that constituted the human known as Park Jun-yeol would all be denied and lost?
Yoo Jiha thought that, in a sense, mutating from a human was sadder and more pitiful than being created as an Aberration from the start.
Jeil Heon’s gaze sank as he looked at him, then returned to the front. Then, as if telling him not to think too deeply, he ruffled Yoo Jiha’s hair. …It was strange. He actually felt a little energized by his touch.
They soon arrived at the study room where they were supposed to meet for the group project. As he said goodbye and tried to get out of the car, Jeil Heon stared at him instead of unlocking the door.
“Do you have something to say?”
“I know our Jiha has to go out to get good grades, but since it’s the first holiday in a while, I don’t want to let you go. Instead of helping you study hard, I’m just being pathetic, aren’t I?”
“…!”
Yoo Jiha almost replied boldly, ‘Forget it, I’ll just quit school!’ The only reason he held back was because of the man’s gentle gesture as he toyed with his own earlobe with a very regretful expression. They were only parting for a few hours, yet he found himself stirred by the man’s longing.
At this rate, forget the group project, he felt like he might pounce on him right here in the car, so he closed his eyes tightly and leaned his cheek forward. His heart pounded. To actually k-kiss on the street…! We’re like a real couple!
However, the sensation that touched his cheek was not that of soft lips.