FLIA 39

Lee Hyunmook smiled kindly as he answered, and Yohan’s face turned bright red. He was ten years younger, and yet he’d treated him like some furry beast, shamelessly petting him all over. There was no way that could have felt good. Yoon Seungryong added with a sulky look,

“You didn’t even touch me once. Kinda hurt my feelings, what kind of monster did I look like?”

“Some pitch-black tentacled thing… seriously creepy….”

Yoon Seungryong pulled a strange face, but Yohan, still writhing in embarrassment, didn’t notice. Looking back, it was baffling how he didn’t question it. Even if they’d been purified, what kind of monsters would take care of his sleeping arrangements, feed him, and carry him around?

“It was just too weird. Now that I think about it, there’s no way monsters would be that kind.”

“And do you think either of us, me or the team leader, would just let you get taken away in a situation like that?”

“Right… yeah…”

Lee Hyunmook and Yoon Seungryong were always hyper-aware of Yohan, never letting him out of their sight. And back then, Lee Hyunmook had been right beside him. There was no way he could’ve missed something happening that close. Yohan sighed.

“Well, at least I think I’ve learned something. If a monster’s acting kind, I should stop and be suspicious.”

“Yohan-ah, even if a monster seems kind, don’t follow it. You don’t think there are monsters in the Abyss that lure people in like that?”

“Ah…”

Yohan fell quiet at Lee Hyunmook’s warning. Come to think of it, he’d already once been lured away by a monster mimicking a subway in the Ruined City. He scratched his neck awkwardly. Thinking about it now, it seemed the hallucination didn’t just mess with his vision, it dulled his judgment too. Otherwise, there’s no way he would’ve cried and panicked like that….

Yoon Seungryong tore off a chewy piece of fish cheek, popped it into Yohan’s mouth, and put the other side in his own as he spoke thoughtfully,

“Yohan must be particularly weak to hallucinations. There’s no guarantee he won’t get caught again, we should come up with a plan.”

“Yeah. There’s a limit to how often we can carry him around. And if the hallucinations lead to self-harm, it’s dangerous.”

While Lee Hyunmook and Yoon Seungryong exchanged silent glances, Yohan, oblivious, plucked the food skewered on their weapons. Thinking about it now, talking to the weapons and trying to feed them must’ve looked completely deranged.

“While I was hallucinating, I saw the weapons as little monsters… and they talked to me. I gave them food, and they were happy they had decorations…. Ugh, it’s so embarrassing. I must’ve looked totally weird, huh?”

Yohan said sheepishly, but Lee Hyunmook and Yoon Seungryong gave each other odd looks. Yoon Seungryong glanced at his spear, gently stroked it, and joked,

“If they talked, maybe they really did talk? I swear these things have grown a bit of self-awareness after all this time in the Abyss.”

“Huh?”

Startled, Yohan looked at Lee Hyunmook, thinking it was just a joke, but he nodded too.

“There are times when they get oddly warm. Like after a long fight.”

“Oh, yeah. Mine vibrates every time it gets dirty. Sometimes I think it’s swearing at me. Probably ‘cause they’re made from monster byproducts or something?”

Yohan stared at the weapons with an uneasy look. After a moment of thought, he pulled out the banana and snake meat from their spears and replaced them with large flower petals. Yoon Seungryong snorted with laughter when he saw it.

“By the way, where are we now? How far until we reach the Russian zone?”

“About that…”

Lee Hyunmook started to answer, but then abruptly stood up. Yoon Seungryong reacted the same way, hurriedly stuffing the grilled fish into his inventory. Seeing them move, Yohan stood up too, looking around nervously. Lee Hyunmook muttered with a blank expression,

“Toward the river.”

“Oh, fuck.”

Yoon Seungryong swore and broke into a sprint. Lee Hyunmook didn’t even bother explaining, he simply grabbed Yohan and bolted. It was only then that Yohan began to understand why they were acting so urgently. The chill he’d felt before crept up his spine once again. The red river water began to darken, like ink bleeding into it, and then something began to emerge.

Yohan’s eyes widened.

It was that same overflowing bubble-mass he’d seen in the swamp, now rolling downstream!

With a sickening crunching noise, the mass convulsed, then branched out wooden-limb-like appendages from its body. It started to chase after them at terrifying speed. Lee Hyunmook shouted,

“Don’t attack it! Don’t even touch it!”

“I know!”

These two had fought through poison and splattering monster guts without a second thought, but this time, neither of them even glanced back, they just ran. Watching the black masses flooding after them, Yohan yelled in a panic, his body glowing in alarm.

“Is that thing supposed to do that?!”

“I’ve never seen it either!”

Yoon Seungryong swung his spear horizontally. Slash! A wall of trees was felled in a single sweep.

As the logs crashed down, some of the black masses slammed into them and burst with a pop! From the ruptured bubbles spilled grotesque, writhing things. A tree touched by one of the bursts instantly twisted, cracked apart, and turned into some creepy crawling aberration. One of the creatures that got hit let out a scream, swelled grotesquely, and then melted into a puddle, yet somehow still moved, making Yohan gag and slap a hand over his mouth.

“Ah, fuck, what do we do?! It just keeps coming!”

Yoon Seungryong shouted, drenched in sweat as he kept cutting down trees. He let out a strange, trembling laugh, almost like a sob. Being chased at such close range by the Flood was driving him into a frenzy. Behind the laughter was a fear so deep it couldn’t be grasped. Growing anxious, Yohan released a concentrated burst of purification toward Seungryong. Then something suddenly came to him.

‘Wait… could it be…?’

He was still holding the pieces of banana and snake meat he’d taken off the spear earlier. He clutched them tightly in his palm and forced his radiant energy into them. When he threw the snake meat to Seungryong, he caught it without even looking, saw what it was, and immediately stuffed it into his mouth. With a long sigh, he looked visibly better. Yohan turned to feed the banana to Mr. Hyunmook, but then hesitated.

If he could purify the corrupted… then what about the source of the corruption, the Flood? Driven by that hope, he poured so much purification into the banana that it began to glow on its own. He hurled the glowing fruit toward one of the approaching floodspawn. As soon as it was hit, the thing abruptly shriveled up, crumpling into nothing but a dry, wet stain. Yohan clenched his fist and shouted,

“It worked!”

“What? What did you do?”

Yoon Seungryong, still avoiding looking directly at the Flood, was confused.

“I fed it a banana!”

“What?! Why waste something so valuable!”

“I can imbue food with my powers!”

Realizing it too late, Seungryong was impressed. He rummaged through his ‘pocket’ and pulled out what looked like dried jerky made from snake meat.

“Here, do this one too! I-I kind of urgently need it right now…”

His eyes shimmered faintly red as he spoke. As Yohan infused the jerky with purification and handed it over, he looked toward Mr. Hyunmook. He was met with calm, pitch-black eyes, there wasn’t a hint of fear. He must’ve been holding up better since he was in direct contact with Yohan. Still, just in case, Yohan stuffed the jerky into Mr. Hyunmook’s mouth and shouted,

“Is there, anything, anything else we can throw?!”

“Oh! I’ve got trash!”

Mumbling with a full mouth, Seungryong began pulling out miscellaneous junk from his coat, used canned food containers, scraps, and more tumbled out. He ripped the metal cans apart with his bare hands, turning them into dozens of shards. As Yohan moved to grab them and infuse them with energy, Lee Hyunmook stepped in and took them instead.

“Do it like this.”

Yohan hesitated, afraid of hurting him, but time was short, he poured all the light he could into the shards. The metal turned blazing white, as if lit by fire, gleaming like pieces of a supernova. Lee Hyunmook gripped them tightly, gave the Flood a brief glance, and hurled them like throwing stars.

A few of the searing-hot metal shards pierced the floodspawn.

Pop-pop-pop!

The masses shuddered, stopped, and then burst like balloons or shriveled up as if deflated.

“Yes!”

Yohan beamed, until his smile froze. The remaining floodspawn began to merge, slowly, squelching together into one massive lump. Though its speed slowed, it no longer fell apart when hit.

“Aaagh!”

Just looking at it made Yohan feel sick and his eyes burn. He squeezed his eyes shut. Thankfully, they were putting more distance between them now. But it didn’t last.

As the grotesque mass grew larger, it began to emit a presence that affected them all, Yoon Seungryong most of all. He staggered, then suddenly flopped down in the middle of the chaos.

“This is annoying. I’m not moving anymore.”

“What?! Seungryong-hyung?! This is not the time!”

Yohan cried out in desperation, but Seungryong ignored him completely. Lost in madness, he buried his face in the dirt. Lee Hyunmook grabbed him by the scruff and tried to run, but the moment he lifted him, a jagged blade shot out of Seungryong’s arm and stabbed straight into Hyunmook’s thigh, anchoring them both to the ground.

“Just lie down. Let’s all rest together…”

His pupils had turned pitch black, and he grinned with a sickening calm. Lee Hyunmook staggered and came to a stop. Sweat streamed down his face, not just from the wound. Yohan could tell he was struggling to resist some overwhelming, unknowable madness.