FLIA 2

Yohan had wanted to awaken and become independent, to finally show his family, who had always looked down on him, what he was capable of. That’s why he resolved to risk it all and enter a rift with a high awakening probability. As it happened, Park Seungmin claimed to know some people and introduced him to a mercenary team. They were what you’d call an “awakening party for hire”, a team that ran paid awakenings for others.

To Yohan, the group didn’t seem problematic. They appeared fairly average and decent, and the rift they entered didn’t seem particularly polluted either. The monsters were weak. Everything seemed to be going fine, until the Abyss opened.

It happened on the second evening, while the group was relaxing and eating. Yohan was the first to notice it. He’d gotten a strange, crawling feeling and looked around, only to come face to face with that.

It looked like the lips of some colossal being, more precisely, like a crease or fold between them. But it was unlike any rift. It was far in the distance, but the moment he laid eyes on it, he instinctively understood: It’s about to open.

He shouted, “It’s the Abyss!”

Even compared to the “rifts” that threatened humanity worldwide, the Abyss was in a class of its own. Rifts were dangerous, yes, but civilians still had a chance of survival. The Abyss, however, once it appeared, not even awakened beings could make it out alive. Everything caught within was rapidly obliterated. The only way to survive was to run.

Even Lee Hyunmook, the famed and powerful awakener, had vanished here with his entire team, never to return. Being lost to the Abyss was considered equivalent to death.

“W-what?!”

No sooner had someone screamed than the Abyss began to open. The dark crease in the earth spread into a gaping surface in an instant, growing at an astonishing rate. Beyond that darkness, terrible forms stirred and shifted.

The group dropped everything and ran. But the Abyss expanded with terrifying speed. They pushed themselves to the limit, believing they might still outrun it, until Park Seungmin shouted, pale-faced:

“Just throw one person in! We’re all going to die like this! What if it suddenly speeds up?!”

Yohan’s eyes flew wide. The Abyss didn’t expand infinitely. Once it consumed a certain amount, the spread would noticeably slow, and that effect was stronger with living beings.

Like humans, for instance.

At Seungmin’s shout, every mercenary turned toward Yohan and Seungmin, the only civilians.

Yohan froze as the weight of their cold, predatory stares hit him. Then, all at once, Seungmin shoved him as hard as he could. A friend he’d known since middle school. A ten-year bond, snapped in an instant.

Caught off guard, Yohan tumbled to the ground. The pain of his twisted ankle didn’t even compare to the overwhelming shock and betrayal. How could you…? His stunned eyes turned to Seungmin, who, to his horror; was smiling.

As if he felt joy watching Yohan die.

What cut Yohan deepest wasn’t the mercenaries’ indifference, or the team leader binding him to keep him from escaping, it was his friend’s betrayal. Tears welled in his eyes as he trembled and screamed, not for mercy, but in rage:

“You call yourselves human?!”

It was the kind of reaction they expected from someone about to be fed to the Abyss, so they ignored it.

Yohan thrashed, screaming at the team leader holding him down:

“Let me go! I said let go! You mushroom-cap-looking bastard!”

“Mushroom what?”

The insult was so bizarre the team leader, Kim Hyunwoo, paused. As he tied Yohan down, he muttered, “Mushroom cap…” then blushed furiously.

“You little—”

He turned to retaliate, fists clenched, but the team held him back.

“Don’t! The more intact he is, the better it works!”

“Yeah, just leave him. We’ve done this before, haven’t we? The Abyss is right behind us!”

“You lucky bastard, you’re only alive right now because of the Abyss.”

Yohan was dumbfounded. What restraint? Falling into the Abyss was basically a death sentence!

As the darkness crept ever closer, Yohan screamed one last time, at the figure of Park Seungmin fleeing in the distance:

“Park Seungmin! I swear one day—!”

Before he could finish, the Abyss swallowed him.

As soon as it did, the black zone vanished.

Yohan felt a revolting suction and spinning, like being sucked into a giant vacuum. He screamed, but the sound faded into emptiness. Then everything went black.

Crash!

With a thunderous noise, he slammed into something and debris scattered around him. Luckily, the impact broke the bindings.

Shaking uncontrollably, Yohan curled into a ball, clutching his head.

Time seemed to blur, either an eternity or a blink.

But he kept falling into darkness.

Deeper. And deeper still…

“…Hah!”

He jolted awake, breathless. Cold sweat soaked his entire body. Still curled up tight, he wiped at his dry, crusted eyelids and exhaled shakily, then screamed.

“Aaaah!”

Two bloodshot eyes were staring into his face, up close.

As Yohan shrieked, a large hand clamped down over his mouth.

“Shhh.”

The warning was clear.

Yohan whimpered and fell silent, his eyes glistening with fresh tears. The terror of reality returned in full.

The man—no, the being, watched him curiously, like he didn’t understand why he was crying.

Then, the stranger spoke:

“If you make noise… the monsters come.”

Yohan’s eyes widened.

Despite his terrifying appearance, the man’s voice was unexpectedly pleasant, low and soft, almost soothing.

And somehow… familiar.

Where have I heard that voice before?

No, wait. That didn’t matter.

He was human.

There was another living person here.

Relief surged in his chest, dissolving the heavy despair. Maybe survival was possible in this place after all.

When Yohan finally stopped making noise, the man loosened his grip, but didn’t let go. Instead, he gently ran a hand along Yohan’s cheek, eyes narrowing as if savoring the warmth of a fellow human.

Long, tangled white hair obscured half his face, making it impossible to read his expression.

“Thank you… for saving me. I… I’m Yang Yohan,” Yohan said shakily.

It was a reflex, an instinctive desire to express gratitude to another sentient being.

At his words, the stranger tilted his head and slowly repeated:

“Thank… you… for… sav… ing… me…”

Yohan’s face went pale.

Something about the way he repeated it, slow and hollow, felt off.

This man… he wasn’t normal.

Now that he thought about it, the way this man had destroyed that eyeball monster with his bare hands, it had been the work of a lunatic.

The fragile hope in Yohan’s chest quickly gave way to fear.

“Say more,” the man muttered, roughly squeezing Yohan’s cheek.

“Go on.”

“W-what should I… say…?”

Yohan’s voice trembled as it barely emerged from his throat.

This was a man who had shredded a monster with his hands.

That meant he could do the same to Yohan without effort.

The stranger lightly tapped Yohan’s cheek. To Yohan, it felt like being slapped.

“W-when did you come here? I-I just fell in… two days ago, I think. I was hiding in a building, then came out to look for food, and… the eyeball monster—uh?”

In the middle of rambling whatever came to mind, Yohan suddenly froze.

Watching the man up close, something clicked.

His voice, his face…

“Lee Hyunmook?!”

Yohan pointed at him before he could stop himself.

Disheveled white hair, filthy clothes… but the face was unmistakable.

Lee Hyunmook, Korea’s first awakened. A rare high-level awakener. The strongest damage dealer in the country. Admired for both power and character. A national hero.

He had disappeared during a rescue mission, swallowed by the Abyss. His memorial still received flowers from grieving citizens.

But here he was.

Alive.

Right in front of him.

As a madman.

Yohan couldn’t believe it. His jaw dropped.

“Lee Hyunmook… you’re alive?!”

“Ahh…”

The man gave a vague, affirmative murmur. His crimson eyes narrowed, and his mouth curled into a strange grin.

“Yeah. I’m Lee Hyunmook. I was. …Yeah. I’m Lee Hyunmook.”