FLIA 181

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁠⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁠⁠⁠⁣⁣⁣⁣⁠⁠⁣⁠⁣⁣“What kind of nickname?”

Lee Hyunmook smile at Yohan, who he had been diligently undressing. He looked at his shy young lover and took his bare chest into his mouth. A crimson blush bloomed like a flower petal before slowly fading away. Yohan sometimes regretted awakeners’ exceptional regenerative abilities.

Anyway, what should I call him…? As a warm hand slid down his waist, Yohan let out a pleased sigh and blurted out without thinking.

“Jagiya.” (‘honey,’ ‘babe,’ or ‘darling’)

The moment the words left his mouth, he was startled and burst out laughing. His face instantly turned bright red.

“Argh, that’s weird! No, that’s not it! Something else….”

“Jagiya?”

“No! Don’t call me that!”

Even though they had been lovers for so long, the nickname made him squirm. His feet tickled, so he wrapped his legs around Lee Hyunmook’s thigh and pulled him closer. The giggling laughter gradually melted away. It was because Lee Hyunmook had moved down from his chest to his lower abdomen.

His hands pulled Yohan’s pants halfway down and gripped his plump buttocks. A warm, moist mass of flesh licked up the inside of his thighs, leaving a sweet, steamy sensation. Tracing slow paths deeper inside, where he was most vulnerable, he sucked and licked until lewd slurping sounds echoed. Yohan reflexively tried to close his thighs.

“Huh, uh, ah…”

Lee Hyunmook’s eyelashes, lowered in concentration, brushed against his skin, making him feel ticklish. With every wet sound, his hips twitched. He heard a rustling sound, and before he knew it, fingers slick with gel were rubbing his perineum. He had grown accustomed to the slow penetration; now it was just stimulating.

“Can we just do it? Anyway, uh, I’m strong enough…”

As Yohan pleaded impatiently, Lee Hyunmook stopped moving. Seeing desire surge in his usually calm and tender gaze, Yohan gulped. As Lee Hyunmook withdrew his fingers and kissed him suggestively, Yohan wondered exactly which part of his earlier had made him so aroused.

“Alright. I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt as much as possible…”

His low voice seeped into Yohan’s very being and sent shivers down his neck. The sound of a zipper sliding down, followed by the rustle of fabric. Soon, a thick tip settled between his buttocks. Even though that was all that happened, his body was already on fire, and Yohan was groaning. Just as the wet glans was about to sink deep inside him, a loud ringtone blared from the clothes tossed far across the bed.

Yohan froze. Lee Hyunmook also paused his movements before thrusting deeper. Yohan gasped as he glanced at his phone. It was an unfamiliar ringtone, one he hadn’t heard in nearly three years. And for good reason: it was a ringtone assigned to a specific person.

“Hyung, that…”

“Yes, Yohan.”

“It’s the Rift Management Bureau calling… right?”

“Hmm…”

Lee Hyunmook grunted. Yohan could feel the object buried inside him grow slightly bigger. A wrinkle had formed between the eyebrows of the man who never usually frowned. Meanwhile, the ringtone continued to sound without stopping. Yohan let out a deep sigh. It felt as if the whole world was conspiring against them… Just then, the ringing stopped abruptly. Yohan, who thought he knew why the ringing had suddenly stopped, looked up at Lee Hyunmook.

“What if it’s an emergency? It’s only rung once in the past three years…”

Jeong Siyoung really didn’t make calls unless it was an absolute emergency. The last time she’d called, the first and only time, it was because a massive flock of owls, possessing incredible stealth and man-eating tendencies, was causing a wave of disappearances.

The furrow between Lee Hyunmook’s brows deepened slightly. Finally, he stepped back and pulled out the cell phone he’d hidden in his shadow moments earlier. The ringtone began again. Lee Hyunmook awkwardly covered the lying Yohan with a blanket as he answered the call.

“Yes, this is Lee Hyunmook.”

Yohan pricked up his ears. As expected, it was Jeong Siyoung calling, and it was an urgent matter. In short, corrupted seaweed was proliferating at an alarming rate near the east coast, completely engulfing the nearby villages. The Rift Management Bureau had attempted to tackle the problem several times but couldn’t resolve it, which was why they had finally called him.

–I’m sorry to interrupt your rest right after you got back, but I’d appreciate it if you could come as soon as possible. We’re mobilizing military and police forces to remove it, but at this rate, the entire east coast will be covered within a week.

“Understood. We’ll get there as quickly as I can.”

The urgency in his voice made it obvious this was no time to be lounging around the villa. While Lee Hyunmook was contacting Lee Chanha, Yohan got up without a word, quickly washed up, and got dressed.

Seaweed? What could it be that’s making Jeong Siyoung act like this?

***

Yohan’s curiosity was soon satisfied.

“What am I looking at…?”

Ju Hoyoung muttered in disbelief while rubbing his eyes. Jeong Siyoung’s report had been so brief that it had actually downplayed the severity of the situation. She’d said the village was covered, but upon arriving in Samcheok, the entire area was swarming with a repulsive, writhing red seaweed. From the concrete roads to every visible surface, everything was littered with the red seaweed, giving off a damp, salty stench.

“It’s been a while, everyone.”

Jeong Siyoung approached with quick steps. Even though it had been three years since they last met, she offered a brief greeting before getting straight to the point.

“As you can see, the seaweed is constantly sucking up seawater through its stems. The salinity of the soil in Samcheok has already reached a level where plants cannot grow. We’re doing our best to prevent it from spreading toward the mountains or farmlands, but its reproduction rate is too fast, it’s impossible to control.”

It was exactly as she said. Every time the seaweed writhed, the saltwater it had drawn up from the sea seeped out through its leaves, moistening the surrounding area. Metals already exposed to the saltwater were turning red with rust. The nearby buildings were also in poor condition.

“No matter how much we remove it, it keeps crawling out of the sea. However, if we purify it, it does revert to ordinary seaweed…”

“So that means we have to go directly into the sea and remove the roots.”

“Exactly. We’ve sent submersibles several times, but the propellers kept breaking down, making it impossible to explore for more than ten minutes.”

It was clear why Jeong Siyoung had called them. In other words, a purifier with powerful purification abilities and awakeners to assist and protect him needed to go into the sea. The Taeyang Team, who had just returned from their trip, was the perfect choice. After hearing a detailed report from Jeong Siyoung, the Taeyang Team went down to the coast and put their heads together to figure it out.

“I can’t do anything besides casting buffs…”

“I can block the seawater with my shield. But I can’t guarantee how long I’ll be able to withstand the water pressure. I’ve never been in the deep sea before…”

“I’ll try to assist with my telekinesis too. If all else fails, I’m sure the team leader will figure something out…”

“Well then, since I’m useless, maybe I’ll just go sightsee underwater…”

The four trailed off and looked at their team leader. With that half-baked plan (to rely on Lee Hyunmook if things went south) Yohan agreed to go along without much protest.

First, they launched the boat. Since the propeller and motor were constantly getting clogged with seaweed and breaking down, the boat’s propulsion relied entirely on Seo Yakrin’s power. Even after reaching the middle of the sea, red seaweed still swirled all around them. The sea, no longer blue, rippled ominously. It felt unsettling to venture into those depths.

The team members each donned the oxygen respirators provided by the Rift Management Bureau. Blocking out seawater and supplying oxygen were two entirely different matters. The oxygen tanks provided by the Bureau each lasted four hours. However, since Yoon Seungryong had his “pocket,” staying longer wouldn’t pose a major problem for oxygen supply.

Lee Chanha wrapped a shield around the ice platform Ju Hoyoung had created. Once all preparations were complete and the ice platform was removed, the blue sphere formed by the protective shield began to sink into the sea.

“Oh, it’s going down.”

Yoon Seungryong’s face was pressed against the shield. They had only gone down a little, but it was already getting dark because of the seaweed. Yohan immediately emitted a bright light. Long strands of seaweed swaying from all directions scraped against the shield, making a rustling sound. Seo Yakrin rubbed her chin and muttered.

“Come to think of it, there was a salt lake in the Abyss, but there wasn’t an ocean. That’s strange when you think about it.”

“Wouldn’t it be too much to swallow a sea? Land stays in place even if it’s corrupted, but water is always diluted. It needs to be corrupted to consume anything.”

“Since when do you sound reasonable?”

“And since when are you the one using your brain?”

“Do you want to die?”

“Who started this argument in the first place?”

While Seo Yakrin and Yoon Seungryong were having a friendly conversation, the shield had already reached a pitch-black area. Seaweed leaves, growing thicker by the moment, stuck to the barrier, coated in sticky sap. Each time, Ju Hoyoung would freeze them, and Seo Yakrin would shatter them as they descended deeper and deeper. Finally, with a dull sound, they reached the bottom. Lee Hyunmook scanned the surroundings and asked Lee Chanha.

“What’s the water pressure?”

“It’s manageable for now. I think we’ll be fine for a couple of hours.”

“Yohan, do you know where we need to go?”

At Lee Hyunmook’s question, Yohan immediately nodded. There was a reason they hadn’t brought a support with detection abilities. When it came to corruption, Yohan’s detection skills were comparable to those of a support. As expected, amidst the murky, muddy-water-like corruption flowing in all directions, there was the source that felt unusually heavy, like a boulder. Yohan pointed confidently in one direction.

“It’s this way.”

“Yakrin, Hoyoung. Clear a path.”

“Yes, Team Leader!”

As Ju Hoyoung froze the seaweed, Seo Yakrin pushed the shield in the direction Yohan was pointing. The shield advanced through the seaweed, which crumbled with a crunching sound. The initial fear and trembling were short-lived; boredom soon set in from the repetitive work. Ju Hoyoung tapped his game console and spoke when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

“Oh, come to think of it, did you hear the news? I heard that part of Hong Kong has returned.”

“You mean they restored the rift?”

“No, they say the land that had been swallowed by the Abyss has returned.”

“Wow, really?”

Yohan was astonished by the good news. He had always believed that once the Abyss swallowed a piece of land, it could never be restored. This must mean that the Abyss was gradually growing weaker from starvation. As they chatted about this and that, they advanced for a little over an hour and eventually discovered a rift in the deep sea. Seaweed extending from the rift swayed in all directions, sucking up seawater.