FLIA 112

Yohan finally realized that maybe for the rest of his life he might have to travel across the world, following the path the Abyss moved. He unconsciously looked at Lee Hyunmook. It seemed that what he had just realized, Lee Hyunmook had already anticipated in advance. With a smiling face, he said,

“Don’t worry. Wherever you go, I’ll always be there, and the team members too.”

The future that had not yet come already felt a little frightening and daunting, but since Lee Hyunmook said that, Yohan felt courage. The Abyss had moved around, so traveling the world was nothing in comparison. Besides, now he was a high-level awakener, and the strongest awakeners in the world would be with him, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

“…I like traveling!”

“My brave Yangyang.”

Lee Hyunmook spoke in a very kind and warm voice. Every time he called him by that nickname, Yohan felt all the happier. His chest tickled so much that he could not keep his hands still. Embarrassed, he asked,

“Can I put on some music?”

“As much as you want.”

After much thought, Yohan chose one pop song playlist and played it. A gentle ballad singing of love flowed out. After hearing only the terrible wails in the Abyss, he thought that music truly was the essence of human civilization. Swayed by the song and the mood, Yohan admired the night scenery, then suddenly glanced at Lee Hyunmook and froze.

His face as he gazed at the sparkling night view was expressionless and cold. His strangely chilling eyes were staring fixedly in one direction. …What was in that direction again? Or was he just staring without any meaning? Yohan carefully asked,

“…Can I ask what you’re thinking?”

“Of course, Yohan-ah.”

As if he had never been like a lifeless statue, Lee Hyunmook faintly smiled. His eyes that caught the city lights were only black.

“I was thinking that this scenery is very, very precious….”

And when he looked at Yohan, he was simply warm and gentle. Even so, Yohan could not shake off a strange uneasy, ominous feeling. Yet he could not pinpoint why, so he told himself it was just his imagination.

The drive that took two hours felt even shorter than expected. Even after arriving at the home he had longed so much to see, Yohan lingered after unbuckling his seat belt, sneaking glances at Lee Hyunmook again and again.

“Um….”

“What is it, Yohan-ah?”

“…Can I kiss you?”

Yohan asked in a small voice, his face red. Even so, his hand was already resting on Lee Hyunmook’s thigh, and his body leaned forward. To his brave and lively young lover, Lee Hyunmook leaned in as well and whispered,

“I don’t mind, but your parents are watching right now. Are you okay with that?”

“What? …Ah!”

Though nothing had happened yet, Yohan flinched and quickly looked back in fright. Only then could he see the figures of two people pacing on the second-floor terrace. Yohan’s face flushed even redder as he flustered. Before the panicked Yohan could rip at his seat belt, Lee Hyunmook unfastened it for him in advance and said,

“Rest well at home, and let’s meet again in a week. By then, the guild building construction will be finished.”

“Yes! …Let’s meet again in a week!”

Yohan waved until Lee Hyunmook’s car left. Then he slowly turned his head to look at his house. Seeing it again after a year was moving enough to bring tears. After cooling down a little, he stood at the gate and pressed the doorbell. An answer came right away.

-…Yohan, is that you?

“Yes! It’s me!”

As soon as he answered energetically, the gate lock opened. The moment he entered, the front door swung open and Yang Hwapyeong and Kim Yejoo rushed out. Kim Yejoo’s eyes were already brimming with tears, but so were Yohan’s. Facing the home he had long dreamed of during that year felt so affectionate and good. The tension in his shoulders melted, and he let out a deep sigh.

“I’m home….”

While a year had passed in the Abyss, only about fifteen days had passed here, so even his room remained unchanged. He came out of it and sat down on the living room sofa, his voice breaking as he trembled. Yang Hwapyeong firmly placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. The return of his child who had gone not to a rift but to the Abyss and come back safely seemed overwhelming to him. Yohan sniffled and asked,

“Did you stay up late without sleeping?”

“How could I sleep when you hadn’t returned.”

Yohan felt a little sorry for having forgotten his family and indulged in the joy of the gathering. Though he had only spent one year in the Abyss, life before it already felt distant. Even Lee Hyunmook and the others now felt almost as close as family. Seeing Yohan feeling guilty, Yang Hwapyeong quickly asked,

“So, did you enjoy the gathering with that Lee Hyunmook-ssi?”

“You’ve gotten a bit close, haven’t you? Right?”

Then Kim Yejoo asked with a somewhat anxious voice. From that voice, Yohan could sense not just happiness and expectation at his connection with the famous Lee Hyunmook, but also some desperate nuance.

“And hyung? Is he sleeping?”

As soon as Yohan asked that without any other comment, worry showed on both Kim Yejoo and Yang Hwapyeong’s faces. True to his nature of never being able to lie even if his life depended on it, Yang Hwapyeong spoke in a rather awkward tone.

“Your brother is away on outside work for a while, so you won’t be able to see him.”

“Outside work….”

At his parents’ suspicious reaction, Yohan rose from the sofa and slowly walked around the living room. Then his gaze suddenly drifted downward. There was a strange presence below. Sensitive not only to the presence of the living but also to the existence of corruption, he sensed something else as well. Raising his head, Yohan asked his parents, who were secretly sighing,

“Is hyung down there? If it’s around this spot, then it must be the liquor storage room, right?”

When Yohan pointed out the location exactly, the two jumped up and turned their heads up.

“H-how did you…!”

So he had guessed right. He had hoped it wasn’t. Yohan let out a deep sigh and headed straight for the stairs leading to the basement. Kim Yejoo, coming to her senses late, called his name and hurried after him.

“Yohan-ah!”

“I need to see my brother.”

“Wait, Yohan-ah! Your brother is….”

The movements of Yohan, now an awakener, were not something an ordinary person could keep up with. By the time Kim Yejoo and Yang Hwapyeong arrived, Yohan was already standing in front of the liquor storage room door. Unlike before, it had been replaced with a thick steel door that did not match the house, and faint noises came from beyond it. At the top of the steel door was a cross, and on the handle below, a lock that required a code to open. With hands damp from cold sweat, Kim Yejoo pulled Yohan back.

“Yohan-ah, Mom told you there’s nothing in there.”

“I know my brother’s here. Please open it.”

Yohan spoke calmly, holding back the urge to cry. Yang Hwapyeong, who had been standing silently with a heavy gaze, tried to soothe his anxious wife in a grave voice.

“Let’s open it. This is something Yohan should know anyway. Besides, Yohan isn’t the kind of kid who would go around telling others.”

“I know, I know, but still… I’m scared… What if something happens to Yohan too? He just came back, and, huuh, ah.”

Instead of his sobbing wife, Yang Hwapyeong entered the password and opened the door. A foul stench poured out. The smell was like something rotting alive, instantly recalling the air of the Abyss. Yohan noticed his father trying hard not to show it but still struggling against the stench, holding his breath for a short while. Yohan stepped inside the dark, unlit room as if it were nothing and sighed.

“Hyung….”

Even with only the faint light seeping through the door, Yohan could see clearly. On a mattress stained with some filthy marks lay a human figure. It was his brother, Yang Yosep, severely corrupted. His corruption was worse than Yohan had expected.

Disgusting tentacles sprouted from Yang Yosep’s fingertips and back, rooting themselves into the floor. It was like a plant grown from a seed in human form. He stayed curled up, unmoving, only breathing harshly. Barely touched food sat around his head. His face, the only part that remained intact, was so pale he no longer looked human. He seemed almost unconscious, yet Yohan could still tell Yosep was suffering greatly.

Kim Yejoo, watching her son with a frightened face, turned her head away as if she could no longer bear to see. Leaning against Yang Hwapyeong, she asked in a trembling voice,

“Doesn’t it seem worse?”

“No. It’s the same as last time. It hasn’t gotten worse.”

“But last time, I’m sure… No, never mind.”

Tormented, Kim Yejoo burst into tears and left the room. Yohan stood still, silently staring at his brother who showed no reaction to any outside stimulus. His heart ached as if torn apart. He felt he knew how his brother had ended up like this.

“Did hyung… become like this trying to find me?”

“Hm, at the start of the disappearance… they said you had to be found quickly, or survival chances dropped… so… so he….”

According to Kim Yejoo’s halting explanation, the moment they heard news of Yohan’s disappearance, Yang Yosep had entered a rift with guild members to search for his younger brother. Days later, Yosep returned, wrapped in sleeping bags several times over, carried back by guild members with severe injuries. No matter how one looked, he was clearly a serious case of corruption. Even in his delirium, afraid of harming his family, he had crawled into the basement and locked himself in just a week ago.

Yohan had expected as much, but that did not stop his heart from hurting. He shut his eyes tightly. Yang Hwapyeong let out a sigh as heavy as if the ground were sinking, and Kim Yejoo cried as she spoke.

“Mom knew… that once corruption gets this bad, we’re supposed to report it to the government… But… of the people who went into the detention facility… not a single one… has ever come back out….”

There was a reason why the current government, or more precisely the National Safety Department for Rift Affairs and the Rift Management Bureau, had such a poor reputation. Their suppression of the corrupted was sometimes so violent that deaths occurred, and no one who entered an isolation facility had ever been released. Even if a corrupted person still maintained rationality, visitation was impossible and contact could not be made, so it was practically the same as being declared missing or dead. Inquiries about their well-being only received what seemed like automated replies.

What was worse, quite a few were returned dead, and even then, families were not shown the body, much less allowed to claim it. The remains were immediately cremated. Because of this, no matter how harsh the punishment, not only families but even mildly corrupted people avoided reporting it. Statistics on the corrupted were not even properly kept.

So Yang Hwapyeong and Kim Yejoo had begged the guild members to keep it secret and hid Yang Yosep thoroughly. Yohan even heard they had gone as far as planning to buy a deserted island to confine him there. Biting his lip in guilt, Yohan suddenly heard a faint voice.

I’m fine…. I’m fine….