FLIA 11

***

“Yang Yohan!”

Yohan flinched at the sharp voice calling his name. His family, each with a cold or irritated expression, glared at him fiercely. Already deflated, Yohan lowered his eyes.

“I’m not even asking you to be as good as your brother. But how can you not even be half that?”

“I get too embarrassed to answer whenever someone asks what the second son’s doing.”

“Crying again? For god’s sake, you’re a grown man, what kind of pathetic crybaby are you…”

The sharp scolding came in succession: father, mother, then his brother. Yohan had a lot to say, too. Was it his fault that he couldn’t get grades as good as his brother’s no matter how hard he studied? That he just didn’t have interest in schoolwork? That he was born overly emotional and prone to tears? He’d tried to explain, point by point, but not one of them ever tried to understand.

“You’re not even good at anything. It’s just frustrating!”

“We’ll find you a job at your brother’s company after graduation, so just work hard under him.”

“This kid’s got his head in the clouds, how’s he even going to survive like this?”

I don’t want to work under my brother! I’ve lived my whole life being compared to him, I don’t want to keep living like that…!

Just as he shouted that, Yohan woke from his dream.

“Gasp… hhh….”

His eyes flew open, and then he groaned and turned over. His nose stung, and tears trickled down his cheeks. It had been a crueler, harsher version of reality, but even so, seeing his family’s faces again in a dream was a relief. He wished the dream had lasted just a little longer.

He thought of his older brother, Yang Yosep . They were three years apart, and Yohan had always lived like prey under his brother’s thumb. Even their parents had looked the other way. Yosep had been perfect in every way, how could they not?

Wherever they went, Yosep took first place. He always entered and graduated at the top of his class, and he was articulate and well-mannered. After seeing that kind of firstborn all their lives, their parents naturally never found Yohan good enough. He’d rarely heard a single word of praise, constantly compared to his brother.

Still, Yohan hadn’t lived a bad life. Even if he never ranked first, he was in the top tier academically, and while he didn’t attend the same university as Yosep, he’d gotten into a good school for his scores. In another household, he might’ve been a perfectly respectable son. But not in his family.

That was, ultimately, why Yohan had joined a rift awakening team. Annoyingly, Yosep had even managed to awaken to intermediate level. And then came talk of Yohan working under him for life, he couldn’t bear it. Even though it was a brutal world after the Rift Disaster, and his parents had secured him a guaranteed job, he just couldn’t bring himself to feel grateful.

But looking back now, all of it felt like foolish entitlement.

“I should’ve just sucked it up and stayed…”

Letting his temper drive him to “awaken,” only to end up falling into the Abyss? That was beyond unfair. He sobbed, desperately wanting to go home to his comfortable house. When he groggily sat up with his eyes swollen from crying, Lee Hyunmook glanced at him.

“Good morning…?”

He tried greeting him, but there was no answer, just a blank, dull face. Looked like Hyunmook had turned corrupted again in his sleep. Crestfallen, Yohan checked his leg first. Thankfully, the fever had subsided, and the pain hadn’t worsened. The treatment had worked.

Yohan remained in their shelter for several days, sharing food with Lee Hyunmook. With rest, food, and sleep, the pus stopped seeping from his wound. Scabs had started forming, and the swelling had gone down significantly. His spirits brightened.

“My wound’s almost healed, right? I think I’ll be fully recovered soon!”

Chattering cheerfully, Yohan instinctively rummaged through his backpack. He pulled out one of his last precious choco bars, broke it in half, popped one half in Lee Hyunmook’s mouth, and ate the other along with the crumbs. While chewing, he absentmindedly took out his phone.

“Battery’s almost dead…”

His voice was tinged with disappointment. He had a backup charger, but he didn’t want to waste it. Besides, there wasn’t much use for a phone anymore. Across the top of the screen, it read: “No Service Area.”

As soon as he pulled out the phone, the corrupted one leaned in with interest, tilting his head curiously. Then, yawning, he began to mutter bizarre nonsense:

“Today’s weather, sunny, blood wind, I need to hang the laundry. Advisory, advisory, advisory. Typhoon strike.”

“The wolf goes chomp chomp, crash, crunch, that stone in your belly is delicious. Roll roll.”

“Lipstick, apple, tripe, rose, lantern, sunset…”

Completely incomprehensible gibberish. Of course, outside wasn’t sunny at all, it was still dark and dim. Yohan stuck his head out just in case, but saw nothing beyond the occasional wandering monster.

Trying to ignore the eerie muttering, he huddled on a pile of padded coats and tapped the phone screen. With less than 10% battery left, he opened the photo gallery. Seeing pictures from before the Abyss made him want to cry. How had something as ordinary as a café looked so warm and beautiful? While flipping through, he scowled at a photo of Park Seungmin.

“Bastard…”

Grumbling, he deleted every single photo of Park Seungmin. His battery was now down to under 3%. He knew he should save it, but he didn’t want to. He needed this for his sanity. Hastily, he soaked in the sight of his family photos, and when the battery hit 1%, he opened his chat history with them. The most recent conversation was with his brother:

Yosep: Stop lazing around at home and study.
Just because your job’s guaranteed doesn’t mean you can slack off.
If I hear anyone talking about the Yang family’s nepotism parachute, you know what’ll happen, right?

Me: Ugh, if you’re going to nag, pay me for it. And I already told you, I’m getting a job somewhere else.

Yosep: Don’t talk back.

Yosep Yang has sent you 500,000 won. Please check on mobile.

I had a lot to say anyway, so this works out.Now that you’ve taken the money, if you leave me on read, you’re dead.

Me: Okay……

Even Yosep’s scolding that had once made his eyes sting now brought tears to his eyes. As he sniffled and stared at the old texts, a drowsy voice brushed past his ear.

“Little brother?”

“AAAH!”

Yohan shrieked and practically jumped out of his skin. When he whipped his head around, Lee Hyunmook was right beside him, looking over his phone.

“Wh-when did you come back to your senses?!”

“Since you got that allowance from your brother.”

“Now that I think about it, I never even got to spend all that money…”

Once his panic subsided, what came next was joy. He had missed the lucid version of Lee Hyunmook almost like family. He had been worried he wouldn’t see him again for months, so when he grabbed his hand with a bright smile, it was instinct.

“You came back quickly again! I love it when you come back often!”

“…Mm, I see.”

Lee Hyunmook glanced down at their joined hands, clearly a little awkward, but didn’t pull away. Yohan realized what he’d done a bit too late, but the warmth of the contact made him stall, pretending not to notice.

“Ah, I really am the youngest. There’s a three-year age gap between me and my brother. I’m twenty-three….”

He’d just started sharing personal information Lee Hyunmook likely didn’t care about when the phone finally died. Yohan stroked it wistfully before carefully tucking it away in his bag. He planned to recharge it only when he really needed to see his family again.

Lee Hyunmook gave a nod.

“Let me take a look at your leg.”

Yohan obediently rolled up his pant leg. The former doctor peeled away the gauze, examined the wound, and gave a nod.

“It’s healing well.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Mr. Hyunmook! I was seriously convinced I’d either die or have to amputate….”

Yohan’s gratitude was genuine, and then his eyes widened. For just a moment, a faint smile spread across Lee Hyunmook’s face.

That’s when Yohan realized, for the first time:

‘He really is handsome, now that I think about it.’

He’d known that face from various media before the Abyss, but until now he’d only processed it mentally. Now it was sinking in for real. While stealing glances so as not to be rude, Lee Hyunmook suddenly said:

“Take off your clothes.”

“…What?”

Yohan blinked, stunned at the request. Lee Hyunmook’s expression was calm, no teasing, no indecency.

“I want to check for corruption symptoms. In some cases, cutting it out is the better option.”

He pulled out a scalpel and disinfectant. Yohan’s legs started trembling immediately. Though Lee Hyunmook claimed he was just checking for symptoms, his demeanor said he was already preparing for amputation. Terrified, Yohan instinctively backpedaled.

“I really think I’m fine, though…”

“You haven’t checked your back.”

“…Well, no, but still—!”

Half embarrassed, half terrified, Yohan hesitated. Then came Lee Hyunmook’s firm voice:

“Take it off.”