FLIA 48

“No! Stopstopstopstopstop… I won’t let you get away with this.”

A crackling, faint shape hissed the warning as it gnawed on its own fingers hard enough to draw blood. But Lee Hyunmook turned away without hesitation and smashed the next collection piece before setting it on fire. Yoon Seungryong whistled with a smirk.

“Damn. That’s cold.”

Ju Hoyoung stomped his feet in fury as he watched his beloved treasures, which he’d collected with such care, get destroyed. He screamed and finally couldn’t hold back, he lunged. But Hyunmook struck him down with a bolt of electricity without a second thought.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Electrocuted and scorched, Ju Hoyoung screamed as he ran away. He’d vanish in an instant, then reappear again in a panic whenever Hyunmook resumed destroying the collection. He kept darting in and out, sobbing and scrambling to save the creepy-looking doll that seemed to be his favorite. After wrecking the entire floor, they moved downstairs, and Ju Hoyoung started throwing himself in front of Hyunmook’s attacks. He didn’t care if he got hurt, he was determined to save his prized possessions.

“Wait, hold on! Just wait a second…”

Watching Seungryong stand by idly and Hyunmook fry Ju Hoyoung without batting an eye, Yohan finally couldn’t take it anymore and intervened. He just couldn’t bear to see Ju Hoyoung in so much pain. As soon as the attacks stopped, Ju Hoyoung, blackened and scorched, began desperately gathering up his toys. He was clearly trying to move them somewhere safe. Hyunmook, completely unbothered, said:

“Yohan-ah, this really is better for Hoyoung in the long run.”

“Still, this feels like a bit too much. We’ve got plenty of time… can’t we just try a different approach, just once?”

Ju Hoyoung glared at them with eyes full of hatred, and the sound of him grinding his teeth filled the air, louder than before. Seungryong picked his ear and shrugged.

“Honestly, I think if we kept this up for just another hour, we’d have him.”

“Another whole hour?!”

Yohan was horrified. These people were brutal…! Did they really mean to spend a full hour torturing Ju Hoyoung with electricity?

“Mr. Hyunmook…”

A good idea suddenly popped into Yohan’s head, and he looked at Hyunmook with pleading eyes. Seeing Ju Hoyoung suffer made Yohan feel just as miserable. Hyunmook seemed conflicted, so Yohan softly added:

“Hyunmook-hyung…”

Hyunmook flinched. Seeing him waver, Yohan figured he was making progress. Glancing at Ju Hoyoung, he continued earnestly:

“Let me just try once. If it doesn’t work, I’ll give up.”

“All right, if you want it that much, Yohan.”

Hyunmook smiled warmly and lightly tapped Yohan’s cheek with the back of his hand.

“How could I say no to you?”

Yohan felt his head spin. He was supposed to be winning Hyunmook’s favor, but somehow, it felt like he was the one falling deeper. Clearing his throat, he explained his plan. Hyunmook and Seungryong both seemed intrigued after hearing it.

“Not bad. Sounds pretty doable too.”

“Right? I thought it might be worth a try.”

Yohan’s simple, intuitive plan went like this: repair and purify a game console, then use it to lure Ju Hoyoung. The guy clearly couldn’t resist toys and games, so there was no way he wouldn’t fall for it.

“Do you happen to know what kind of games Ju Hoyoung likes?”

“Uh… not exactly, but I think I’d recognize it if I saw it.”

Seungryong tilted his head, thinking. Thankfully, this building was full of Ju Hoyoung’s old collection. Most of it was well-maintained and not in bad shape. While receiving a stream of death glares from Ju Hoyoung, the three of them searched through the game machines and picked out the ones in best condition. Yohan purified them. Luckily, there were many of the same type, so they were able to gather usable parts.

After several days of scavenging, squinting at endless components, the three of them managed to assemble two or three handheld game consoles and one mostly intact arcade cabinet. Yohan clenched his fist and gave Hyunmook a sparkly-eyed look.

“Now it’s all up to you, Mr. Hyunmook!”

Ju Hoyoung’s murderous gaze, which had been simmering since they began dismantling his consoles, now looked sharp enough to kill on its own. While Yohan stole guilty glances at him, Hyunmook just shrugged and grabbed the wires.

Obviously, electronics needed electricity to work. Which meant Ju Hoyoung had never been able to power any of these game machines, no matter how obsessively he’d hoarded them. But now, he had a living generator right in front of him. One that could freely control voltage.

Hyunmook gripped the wires and started channeling electricity into them. He slowly increased the output. The first arcade cabinet didn’t respond. Then the second… the third. As he tried again, at last, one of the machines flickered to life.

Too excited to contain himself, Yohan jumped.

“It’s working! It turned on!”

Bright lights flashed on the screen as cheerful Japanese music and sound effects rang out. Curious to see the reaction, Yohan glanced back at Ju Hoyoung, and saw the eerie, ghostlike figure staring blankly at the arcade machine, completely transfixed. Brilliant colors danced over his blood-red eyes. Even after Hyunmook cut the power, Ju Hoyoung stood there in a daze, staring silently in their direction.

“Does this one work too?”

Yohan held out a small handheld console that Ju Hoyoung had been particularly fond of. It had taken quite a bit of effort to replace the parts and reassemble, though luckily they’d had dozens, maybe even hundreds, of the same model to work with. Hyunmook silently sent electricity through the wires. After a moment, the screen lit up, and a little character popped onto the display. Yohan jumped with excitement.

“Wow! This one works too!”

When he looked back at Ju Hoyoung, he saw him glaring with a burning intensity, neck stretched out like a crane. But it seemed fear still held him back, he made no move to come closer. Thinking they needed to tempt him a little more, Yohan spoke up.

“Anyone up for a round?”

Moments later, it was Yohan himself sitting in front of the powered-up arcade cabinet, awkwardly scratching his cheek.

“I’m actually not very good at games…”

“That’s fine. You’re awakened now, aren’t you?”

Seungryong said brightly, then leaned in and whispered near Yohan’s ear in a low voice:

“Besides, being bad at it might actually be better.”

Why would that be better? Yohan didn’t quite get it, but decided to trust Seungryong’s advice. He gently took hold of the joystick, being extra careful not to break it with his enhanced strength, and inserted a handful of salvaged coins. A cheerful chime rang out.

Maybe it was thanks to his awakening, but his reflexes and reaction speed made the game feel easier than he expected. It had been a while, and the game was fun. Still, remembering Seungryong’s advice, Yohan intentionally skipped over power-ups and wandered around aimlessly, wasting time.

From a distance, Ju Hoyoung started grinding his teeth again. This time, it seemed he was frustrated in an entirely different way.

–Idiot! Moron, dumbass!

Ah. So this was why Seungryong told him to be bad on purpose. The realization struck Yohan instantly, and he made sure to aggravate Ju Hoyoung as much as possible. He pretended not to notice an item glowing at the edge of the screen, and walked right past it. Ju Hoyoung began hopping up and down in rage.

–That’s not how you do it! No! Nooo! Stop!

Cursing nonstop, he twisted and writhed like he was in agony. Yohan kept playing like he hadn’t heard a thing, fighting the boss–and just before the boss died, he deliberately let himself get a game over, leaving the enemy with just a sliver of health. He stood up with a casual shrug. Ju Hoyoung collapsed face-down, pounding the floor in frustration.

“Guess I’ll try a different game!”

Pretending not to notice Ju Hoyoung at all, Yohan picked up the smaller handheld that Hyunmook had charged earlier and started playing. Ju Hoyoung let out a pitiful groan.

–Aaaaaaagh…

For a while, Ju Hoyoung stood there, unable to tear his eyes away, stomping his feet in frustration, then slowly, very slowly, began to creep closer. Yohan turned his head slightly but acted like he hadn’t seen him. Though he kept glancing at Hyunmook warily, Ju Hoyoung’s gaze was fixed firmly on the game screen.

After a moment, like he was being drawn in, he approached the arcade machine and sat down on a stool-shaped seat. His shape flickered, unstable and distorted. For the first time, Yohan was able to look at him up close.

His skin had turned a sickly bluish hue, and he looked like a shriveled mummy. His eyes were dark, distant, and tinged with red. Already grotesque, his appearance had only gotten worse after being scorched repeatedly by Hyunmook. Even after sitting down, he didn’t dare touch the machine. He stared down at his own soot-covered hands. It seemed he was worried about dirtying the console.

Watching from a short distance away, Yohan carefully sent out a wave of light. Glimmering particles settled onto Ju Hoyoung’s hands, dissolving the ash and cleaning them. Only then did Ju Hoyoung look away from the game for the first time, staring blankly at Yohan.

Then, with trembling hands, he slowly reached out and wrapped his fingers around the joystick. As the screen responded to the slightest movement, his eyes widened in shock. He gasped, and then, focused entirely on the screen.

–This is fun.

All he did was scroll through menus and options a few times with the joystick, but even that made him mumble:

–Fun… it’s so fun. Really fun.

And just like that, Ju Hoyoung selected “Start Game.” The protagonist appeared on the dazzling screen and began to move. From that moment on, he didn’t leave the chair. He played, and played, completely absorbed for hours.

While Ju Hoyoung was lost in the game, Yohan poured all his purification power into him. Gradually, the red glow faded from Ju Hoyoung’s eyes as he crouched in front of the screen, engrossed. The soot darkening his skin cleared away, and even his blue-tinged complexion slowly returned to its original tone.

And at last, he looked like a terribly thin, but unmistakably human, figure again.