FLIA 178

Drrr. Drrr…

The sound of a serving cart being dragged could be heard from somewhere. Even in his deep sleep, Yohan, with the keen senses characteristic of a high-level awakener, flinched in reaction. The person lying beside him gently patted his back a few times, pulled the blanket up to his cheeks, and slipped out of bed without a sound. Then, before the person who had brought the cart could even knock, he opened the door.

He was trying his best to remain quiet, but the clattering movements of a stranger entering his quarters were hard to ignore. Yohan’s senses, buried deep in the soft bedding, slowly began to awaken one by one. Just as he was half-asleep, wavering between sleep and waking, a soft hand brushed against his cheek.

No, it was a mouth.

“Sleep more.”

“If you weren’t trying to eat my cheek, I would have slept longer…”

Yohan woke up from a deep sleep and complained in a low voice without even opening his eyes. Lee Hyunmook chuckled softly and licked Yohan’s slightly protruding lips. Then, he gently explored the inside of Yohan’s mouth, which was cooler than usual as his body temperature had dropped from sleeping. He crawled into the thick, soft blanket and held Yohan’s warm body in his arms.

“Mm….”

In a languid drowsiness, as if submerged in warm water, Yohan sweetly accepted the sensation of a soft, moist tongue and mouth licking him. His toes curled slightly before spreading.

Chup, Chup…

Heat gradually rose through his lips, cheeks, ears, neck, and chest. It was when Lee Hyunmook had completely buried Yohan beneath the blanket so that not even a fingertip was visible, and was savored him to his heart’s content. A rumbling sound rang out.

Grrr

Yohan suddenly opened his eyes.

“…I’m hungry.”

“That’s because you went straight to sleep yesterday since you were tired.”

Yohan groggily got up, the affectionate scolding made him smile. The light particles trapped under the blankets fluttered up. Lee Hyunmook snatched them up completely and swallowed the them. Yohan scattered a little more light before crawling across the wide bed and climbing down. It was so soft and fluffy, like being on a cloud, that he wanted to sleep longer, but hunger triumphed over laziness.

Not only the bed, but everything in the bedroom was luxurious and high-end. This was a state guest suite requiring an exorbitant fee for a single-day stay, complete with a private butler. There were also several rooms. At first, Yohan worried that people might find it strange for him to share a bedroom alone with Lee Hyunmook, but surprisingly, people accepted it easily.

‘Since he’s the most valuable person, Lee Hyunmook has to stay by his side 24 hours a day. Who knows what might suddenly happen?’

While suspicions of a romantic relationship occasionally arose abroad, it was not the case in Korea. It was a relief that there was almost no speculation anywhere that Lee Hyunmook and Yohan were lovers. In fact, it was almost disappointing. Yohan was still keeping his relationship with Lee Hyunmook a strict secret, even from his family. In any case, it was nice to be alone with Lee Hyunmook without worrying about what others thought.

“Wow, that looks delicious.”

Yohan was delighted to see the food Lee Hyunmook had ordered via room service. The quantity was enormous, as he had ordered every single dish on the menu. Naturally, it was far more than the two of them could eat alone.

“Then I’ll call everyone for breakfast!”

“I’ll do it, so wash up, change your clothes, and come out.”

“Oh, should I?”

Yohan, who was already self-conscious about his messy hair and pajamas, slipped into the bathroom. By the time he came out dressed, everyone had already arrived.

“Did our youngest sleep well?”

Seo Yakrin greeted Yohan with a voice full of affection. Yohan sat down with a shy smile.

“Did you sleep well, noona? And you, hyung?”

He knew that they were at least hundreds of years older than him, but the human eye was susceptible to appearances, so they just looked like family members with not much of an age gap. It was even more so because they had been together for four years straight.

“Thanks to you, I slept soundly. And I have some good news.”

“Good news?”

Lee Chanha waited until Yohan drank his beverage and ate some food before delivering the news.

“It is said that the rift near Incheon Port has been swallowed by the Abyss.”

It was indeed ‘good’ news. It was even more so when he recalled the people they had trapped in that rift. Only then did Yohan think of Park Seungmin and Kim Hyunwoo, including other people for the first time in a long while. Yohan felt not the slightest bit of pity for them, even though they had fallen into that terrible living hell.

“That’s good.”

Far from being unfortunate, he felt that they were finally receiving the punishment they deserved for their karma. Park Seungmin and Kim Hyunwoo didn’t matter. However, Hwang Yeongcheol and Go Jaewon absolutely had to fall into the Abyss. Even now, anger surged up whenever he recalled the suffering his teammates had endured there.

“Isn’t that a bit unfair? Yohan purified it quite a bit, so it should be much better to live here. It’s not the Abyss it used to be.”

Yoon Seungryong, having already cleaned out three plates, grumbled. The core of the Abyss had suffered a fatal blow, and the Black Mountain was gone. He vented his frustration, saying that compared to when they lived there, it must be a much better environment to live in. Ju Hoyoung chuckled.

“Isn’t that a relief? Normally, they would have died right away. I hope they hold out for as long as possible.”

Unlike them, there was no generous and fearsome team leader willing to keep them alive at all costs, nor was there a high-level purifier. The team members chuckled as they gleefully imagined just how long Park Seungmin, a low-level purifier, would actually be able to hold out. Lee Chanha, in particular, looked more than just bright; his face was radiant. He ate a particularly large amount today, as if a centuries-old blockage had finally been lifted.

“Anyway, time really flies. Tomorrow is already the day we return home.”

Yoon Seungryong muttered as he checked his phone after finishing his meal. Yohan, who was checking messages from his family, was already getting impatient.

“I want to go back right away and eat Korean food.”

After closing the Great Rift in Korea, they ventured out of the country despite opposition from the government and public opinion. It was to close the Great Rifts that would appear around the world in the future. However, unlike Yohan, the team members excluding him were not doing this out of a spirit of service based on humanity. It was because they did not want to see the Abyss return to its former state, and since they had to live on Earth for the rest of their lives, they could not stand by and watch it go to ruin.

Thus, the second Great Rift they closed opened in Tokyo, Japan. Since the Taeyang Team’s moves could not be stopped, a diplomat hastily dispatched from Korea followed them to conduct negotiations. Although a Great Rift was a devastating event for any country, the negotiations were smoother for Japan because it was more desperate due to its nature as an island. They, too, did not go out of their way to block or obstruct Korea’s attempt to use this opportunity as a stepping stone to secure favorable negotiation terms in diplomatic relations.

After successfully closing the Great Rift in Japan as well, offers poured in from various countries.

The Taeyang Team closed a Great Rift once again in Sapporo, Japan, and then moved on to the next country. Now, it seemed as though the Abyss was desperately trying to gnaw away at the land to avoid them. Of course, they had excellent means of transportation at their disposal, such as helicopters and airplanes. As long as they arrived within half a day, they could manage to stop the Great Rift.

Almost all countries welcomed the Taeyang Team and treated them like state guests. They went to great lengths to flatter them to the point of being burdensome, trying to help them gain a foothold in those countries. Thanks to this, they were able to travel the world without incurring any costs, and instead earned a huge amount of money.

Luxurious accommodations, lavish hospitality, guaranteed comfortable sightseeing, a shower of mountains of gifts, countless interview requests…

Of course, not all countries welcomed them. In one country ruled by a dictator, their entry was refused. Their plan was to conscript all the country’s purifiers and try to seal the Great Rift among themselves. Yoon Seungryong, who was watching this, found it interesting.

‘I am curious, too. Is it really possible to clear a Great Rift with only mid and low-level awakeners?’

The results were disastrous. The corruption spread faster than the forcibly dragged-in purifiers could purify. Furthermore, the fact that monsters were swarming from all directions into the area where the Great Rift had opened was another problem. With half of the awakeners fleeing, the nation ultimately could not hold out for even an hour and urgently requested assistance from the Taeyang Team.

Fortunately, it wasn’t completely too late, so they managed to close the Great Rift just in time. However, the loss of life sparked the rage of the entire nation, and as a result, the dictator did not escape unscathed.

Through this series of events, the Taeyang Team became the most famous awakeners in the world. Their popularity had exploded, going beyond mere fame. Even though they had become this famous, Yohan still couldn’t believe it.

Once during a time when he was in Japan purifying the rift zones and corrupted people. While conducting interviews and taking a city tour, Yohan discovered a familiar food. It was the canned food he had tasted in the Abyss Japan zone. Yohan shouted in delight.

‘Ah! I know this. I’ve eaten it in the Abyss. I remember it being delicious.’

That was all there was to it, but Yohan was surprised to hear the news that the canned food sold out that very day. It was also fascinating that he had immediately received several boxes of canned food as a gift from the Japanese government. That day, while reminiscing and sharing the canned food with his teammates, Yohan spoke out of genuine concern.

‘Won’t my personality go awry if I keep getting treated like this? If I misbehave, please make sure to give me a good scolding.’

Upon hearing that, the group just laughed and actually spoiled him even more than before. He still had no idea what was so funny.

Anyway, from then on, Yohan went about his life constantly telling himself to stay humble. In any case, far from feeling arrogant, he still felt nothing but burden. Since people recognized him wherever he went, he only thought that he would definitely need Lee Chanha’s abilities to move around comfortably in the future.