FLIA 38

***

“Umm….”

Slowly awakening, Yohan stirred in a warm, comfortable place, drifting half-asleep. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes wide. Quickly lifting his head and glancing around in panic, he realized he’d slept deeply enough to drool. Yohan discreetly wiped his mouth and awkwardly tried to clean the damp fur beneath him with his sleeve.

Last night, he’d fallen asleep in the fluffy-tailed monster’s embrace, but now another monster had also settled nearby. The tip of one of its tentacles was touching him, surprisingly firm and pleasantly warm rather than unpleasantly squishy.

Feeling their gaze, Yohan cautiously released another wave of purification, another bribe, just in case they were considering eating or attacking him today. These creatures must have been extremely corrupted; no matter how much purification he gave them, they showed no sign of reverting to their original forms.

The two monsters seemed content enough to leisurely enjoy Yohan’s purification energy. Eventually, the monster that had hunted the banana yesterday stood up lazily and wandered off again. When it returned after some time, another caterpillar-like creature dangled from its shoulder, this one much longer and even creepier.

Could this be another banana?
Filled with tentative hope, Yohan purified it, but his face quickly turned pale. It wasn’t a banana; it was a snake.
Right. Of course jungles had snakes. But as long as it wasn’t another caterpillar, Yohan felt he could manage to eat it somehow.

Amazingly, the monster could even build a fire. It fumbled around briefly, and suddenly flames burst to life. The snake meat, surprisingly, tasted chewy, savory, and reminiscent of chicken. After the satisfying meal, the fluffy-tailed monster wrapped Yohan up again. As he was carried, he quietly spoke to the small creatures trailing nearby.

“Hey… where are we going?”

He worried that they’d ignore him, but surprisingly, they responded sincerely.

[Don’t know.]

[Only they know.]

“Then, could you maybe ask them to move a bit slower?”

[Won’t work.]

[They never listen to us.]

Apparently, being small, they were ignored by the bigger monsters. Feeling sorry for the little ones, Yohan carefully took out some leftovers from his sleeve, banana and snake meat wrapped in leaves, saved just in case.

“Want something to eat?”

He handed pieces of meat to the small creatures scurrying along beside him. Oddly enough, they didn’t eat it, instead, they stuck it on their heads and bodies, chirping cheerfully.

[I have a banana decoration now!]

[Mine looks pretty cool too!]

Maybe they weren’t hungry after all.
But then he felt eyes on him and looked up; both larger monsters were staring blankly at him. Worried he’d done something wrong by sharing the food, Yohan shrank back. The monsters seemed to mimic a sigh. Huh? Monsters sighing now?

Days passed with Yohan carried along by the fluffy-tailed creature. Even in resignation, he kept looking back, hoping to see traces of anyone else. A gloomy sigh slipped out each time. His only consolation was that these two monsters regularly provided comfortable sleeping spots and decent meals. By now, he was certain they had no intention of killing him. At last, they arrived near a wide river.

“A river…”

Yohan murmured blankly. The crimson river flowed swiftly through the jungle, apparently fed by some source even here in the Abyss. Occasionally, something enormous and terrifying jumped out of the water, definitely corrupted wildlife.

The monsters exchanged low growls again, apparently discussing something, and this time the tentacled monster picked Yohan up. Frozen in its unfamiliar embrace, he watched nervously as both fluffy-tailed monsters calmly approached the river and dove right in without hesitation. They swam surprisingly well.

Though he’d grown used to the fluffy-tailed monster, Yohan remained fearful of the tentacled one, shivering nervously. The tentacled monster stared down at him before gently rocking him back and forth. At first confused, Yohan soon realized, the monster was clearly trying to comfort him, gently soothing him like a child.

Wait… it’s comforting me because I’m scared? Confused rather than fearful now, he tilted his head. Just then, the fluffy-tailed monster emerged from the river. On its tail, it carried a creature resembling a deep-sea fish. Yohan avoided its eerie, almost-human eyes as he purified it. After purification, it became an ordinary, if unusually large, jungle fish.

The two monsters skillfully cleaned and sliced the fish into neat chunks, skewering them onto sticks. Soon, they had another fire burning and cooked the fish expertly using their tails and tentacles. Yohan accepted the grilled fish blankly. It tasted surprisingly good, savory, juicy, delicious….

‘Wait… savory? As if someone seasoned it with salt or pepper…?’

His chewing slowed. A sudden thought flashed through his mind, striking him like lightning.

“Uh… um?”

Wait, could it possibly be—?

“Ah?!”

Yohan suddenly raised his head and stared intently between the fluffy-tailed monster and the tentacled monster. Both creatures calmly watched his reactions. Despite their strange appearances, their actions suddenly seemed familiar. The fluffy-tailed monster gently took the grilled fish from Yohan’s hands, expertly removed the bones, and handed it back. Something clicked in his mind.

“W-wait a second!”

Having come to a sudden realization, Yohan shot to his feet. Bright bursts of purification spilled from him, filling the surroundings as he furiously rubbed his eyes. Staring intensely at the two monsters, his mouth slowly fell open. The shapes of the pitch-black, abyss-like fur-tailed monster and the tentacle creature gradually twisted and changed.

Until finally, they returned to their original forms!

“Mr. Hyunmook! Seungryong-hyung!”

Yohan cried out, voice nearly a scream. The terrifying and grotesque creatures he’d seen until now turned out to be the two people he’d desperately missed. It felt utterly unbelievable. Yoon Seungryong, who had previously been a tentacled monster sprinkling salt on grilled fish, called out joyfully.

“Oh! Yohan, you finally came back to your senses!”

“Sit down first, and finish eating, Yohan-ah.”

Lee Hyunmook, formerly the fluffy-tailed monster, gently seated the shocked, staggering Yohan back down, feeding him another bite of fish. Still dazed, Yohan accepted five more bites before finally managing to speak, still stunned.

“So… I was hallucinating? Ever since that flower field, the whole time?”

“Sorry. It was my oversight. Seungryong and I are so used to these things that I didn’t even think you wouldn’t have resistance. Thankfully, you realized it yourself and purified it.”

As Lee Hyunmook apologized softly, he fed Yohan another salty, tender piece of fish. Yoon Seungryong nodded emphatically.

“That’s right. If you hadn’t realized it yourself, you could’ve stayed that way for months. Honestly, we were worried, since it seemed like you kept seeing us as monsters.”

Only then did Yohan notice something else. On Lee Hyunmook’s and Yoon Seungryong’s spear tips were dried bits of banana and snake meat, the pieces he’d given to the small monsters days ago. So… they’d never been small monsters to begin with.

“Ahhh…”

Mortified, Yohan clutched his head in embarrassment. Every shameful action since he’d fallen under the hallucination flooded through his mind, crying, screaming, vomiting, hitting, even attacking them with a knife. It was a relief that the knife had broken against a high-level awakener’s skin instead of causing injury. Brightening even more intensely from humiliation, Yohan complained indignantly:

“But why wasn’t the pollen purified?”

“Because your purification depends on your perception,” Lee Hyunmook explained.

Yohan frowned, confused. “Perception…?”

“Things that clearly cause harm, like contamination, dust, germs, or mold, those are easy purification targets. But if you’re uncertain or don’t perceive something clearly as harmful, purification is slower.”

“But… it caused hallucinations in me, didn’t it?”

Unable to understand even after Lee Hyunmook’s explanation, Yohan questioned him further. Lee Hyunmook hummed thoughtfully before patiently continuing at Yohan’s level:

“Is soap harmful to the body?”

“No… right?”

“What if soap entered your bloodstream? Or consider lethal doses of painkillers or artificially injected hormones?”

“Ah…”

Only then did Yohan grasp Lee Hyunmook’s meaning. Salt on the fish was a harmless seasoning now, but excessive amounts could easily kill someone. Even penicillin, known as an antibiotic derived from mold, wouldn’t necessarily be purified if Yohan took it at this moment. The same logic applied to steroids, painkillers, or hormones in the body.

Yoon Seungryong chuckled lightly.
“You were mentally out of it, but physically you were fine. You remember the monkeys happily dancing into death in that flower field? Maybe your purification only filtered out the addictive substance causing pleasant hallucinations. Well, I’m not a pharmacist, so I can’t say exactly.”

The conclusion was that Yohan had luckily realized something odd, purified the hallucinogenic substance, and returned to normal. At this realization, Yohan dropped down onto all fours, burying his head in embarrassment as yet another humiliating memory surfaced. Aaaagh! He screamed inwardly.

“I’m so sorry! These past few days, I’ve been petting you so rudely, Mr. Hyunmook…!”

“No, not at all. I rather enjoyed it.”