FLIA 55

The Eternal Stone, now rendered transparent by Yohan’s purification, slowly spread its light and stripped the filth from the surrounding rock. It looked as though the stones were being awakened one by one by the stimulation. I hope this doesn’t cause trouble later… Scratching his cheek, Yohan chose the flattest part of the ground and curled up. He stared blankly at the endlessly beautiful Eternal Stone cavern.

If I mined all of this, I’d be filthy rich.
He tried calculating how much Eternal Stone cost per carat on Earth, but strangely, he had no desire to take any of it with him. Time passed like that. With nothing else to do, Yohan wandered around gloomily, admiring the crystals, playing games, trying to pass the time despite his fear and boredom.

Rumble…That ominous tremor echoed once again. Having avoided using his battery-hungry game device to save power, Yohan had been left only to stare blankly at the Eternal Stones. Now, fear gripped him. Without thinking, he clung to the nearest large crystal.

BOOM! A deafening explosion burst through the cavern as something smashed through the ceiling and leapt down. Amid the swirling black dust, a familiar man landed, scanning the surroundings slowly with an expressionless face. His eyes gleamed faint red, and the eerie shadow beneath him remained pitch black even in this dazzling crystal cave. Yohan’s eyes and mouth flew open in terror.

“Uh, uh–!”

It was Lee Hyunmook! The person he’d been so desperately waiting for had finally found him. Yohan’s heart leapt with joy.

Overwhelmed, he couldn’t even form words as he scrambled forward. Smiling brightly, Lee Hyunmook spread his arms and caught Yohan in a tight embrace as he dove into his chest. The red glow faded from Hyunmook’s eyes, and his unnaturally long and dark shadow began to shrink.

“My precious Yangyang, were you scared? Did you cry?”

Regardless of Hyunmook’s unhinged tone, Yohan was too relieved to care. He broke down sobbing in earnest. When the light overhead reached his body, the black grime clinging to Hyunmook vanished.

“Hyunmook-hyung… I really… sniff… thought I was going to be trapped here alone… until I died…”

As he blurted out all his sorrow in broken sobs, Hyunmook gently licked Yohan’s cheek. He licked and sucked away the salty tears until his cheeks turned pink, then moved on to Yohan’s trembling lips. The moment Hyunmook began sucking on them, Yohan’s tears stopped cold in shock. As he tried to say something, a warm, soft tongue slipped into his mouth.

“Hngh, mmm… ngh…”

The sudden intimacy after days of isolation was so overwhelming, Yohan couldn’t do anything. Only after drawing out every drop of Yohan’s saliva did the red in Hyunmook’s eyes completely disappear. With his eyes closed, he spoke softly to Yohan, who trembled in his arms.

“I told you, Yohan-ah. I never give up…”

Yohan, cheeks burning bright red, barely opened his eyes. The aurora-like lights of the crystals shimmered in his vision. Tears welled up again as he recalled the conversation he’d played over in his mind countless times while trapped in the Black Mountain.

‘My Negative Enhancement… is that I never give up on anything.’

The power to never give up on anything.

‘I never once gave up on saving my teammates, on escaping this place. And now, on keeping you by my side. I never have, and I never will.’

His eyes told Yohan that no matter what happened to him, he would never be abandoned, he’d be protected and searched for, over and over again.

Yohan, sniffling through his tears, caught a glimpse of Hyunmook’s hands and arms. He gasped.
They were torn and tattered, flesh shredded and bleeding. For someone with such incredible regenerative power, to be left with wounds like that, how much must he have endured?

A swell of emotion overtook him, and he clung tightly to Hyunmook. Through his ear pressed to Hyunmook’s chest, he could hear the rapid, powerful heartbeat. The brilliant light flowing from Yohan’s body soaked into Hyunmook. Yohan nuzzled his forehead against Hyunmook’s chest.

You call that a “Negative” Enhancement? I’d rather call it the desperate willpower of someone who’s kind and lonely…But instead of saying any of that, Yohan let out a shaky sigh. The only thing he could offer in return was purification, so he poured all the brightest, warmest light he had into Hyunmook and whispered,

“Thank you for not giving up on me…”

Hyunmook’s arms tightened around him. For finding him in the Black Mountain, for enduring all this time in the Abyss with superhuman resolve, Yohan could only be grateful. He sighed again, but then a thought popped into his head, and he asked with a stuffy-nosed voice,

“Did you… scatter the team on purpose?”

Thinking about it, if even a high-level awakener could go mad from corruption, and all the team members had been on the verge of losing their minds, not even Hyunmook could’ve done anything. Hyunmook nodded slowly.

“I couldn’t let them end up killing each other. At some point, they stopped listening even after I subdued them. But they were strong, so I figured they’d survive if I split them up… and maybe–maybe if I lost my mind too, I wouldn’t do something terrible.”

He said it as if it were nothing, but Yohan could tell it had been the best decision he could make at the time. Corruption truly was terrifying, stripping humans of their reason, driving them to madness. Yoon Seungryong, back in the Swamp zone, had hardly even looked human or spoken coherently.

Just then, they heard movement. Yoon Seungryong crawled through the hole Hyunmook had made and flopped onto the floor with a splat. His body looked so limp and boneless that Yohan rubbed his eyes in disbelief. When he looked again, Seungryong was back to his usual self, groaning. Yohan rushed to him and began purifying right away.

“Seungryong-hyung, are you okay?”

“Yohan-ah…”

Looking deathly pale, Seungryong barely raised his head and apologized weakly.

“I’m really sorry… I was so close, and I still couldn’t protect you.”

“No! It was a completely unpredictable situation, right?”

Yohan turned to Hyunmook for confirmation. Thanks to Yohan’s purification, Hyunmook’s wounds had healed almost instantly, and he nodded.

“Exactly. The Black Mountain’s never tried to actively abduct someone like that before.”

So it was an abduction after all…
Yohan now understood, the Black Mountain did seem to possess some kind of awareness. Just like the Flood, perhaps there were beings composed entirely of Eternal Stone, lifeforms beyond what he could’ve believed before.

“Whoa! What is all this? Did Yohan-ah, no–Yohan-hyung do all this?!”

Startled by the voice, Yohan turned to see Ju Hoyoung jumping lightly down through the ceiling. A white frost flowed from his entire body, and his skin was pale blue like he had frostbite. His tone was odd, and he was grinning strangely. Alarmed, Yohan rushed over and poured purifying light on him. Hoyoung melted onto the floor like ice, collapsing limply.

“When Yohan-hyung suddenly disappeared, I really almost cried, you know…”

He clung to Yohan’s foot, dragging out his words. While Yohan stood there flustered, Yoon Seungryong sluggishly crawled over and latched onto one of his legs too. Even more bewildered, Yohan looked to Hyunmook for help.

“Hyunmook-hyung…”

Striding over, Hyunmook wrapped his arms around Yohan from behind and said,

“You must be tired too, Yohan. Why don’t we sit down and rest for a bit?”

He pulled Yohan into his lap and sat down with a thump. With Hyunmook’s face buried in the back of his neck, Yohan’s face turned beet red. Ironically, since the Black Mountain was uncorrupted, the trio hadn’t reached dangerous levels of corry despite being separated for several days.

“Still… this place is seriously amazing. Who would’ve thought something like this could exist in the Abyss?”

Yoon Seungryong, finally calm after absorbing Yohan’s purification, muttered in awe. Ju Hoyoung was also marveling at the dazzling, crystal cave. Only Hyunmook stayed glued to Yohan, touching him contentedly without even looking around. Flushed to the tips of his ears, Yohan tried to play it cool as he responded,

“It’s all Eternal Stone, actually.”

“Huh?”

“Wait, this is all Eternal Stone?”

Blinking, Seungryong picked up a small piece beside him and popped it into his mouth to bite it. Ju Hoyoung hurriedly scanned the cavern and then stiffened as he shouted,

“The whole Black Mountain is Eternal Stone?!”

“Holy shit. That’s the scariest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Seungryong spat the stone out, cursing. The two of them shuddered like they’d just witnessed something horrific. It seemed they, too, had realized just how many lifeforms the Abyss must have devoured. The wonder of the crystals quickly turned to horror as they both turned to Hyunmook, pleading.

“Team Leader, let’s get out of here already.”

“Yeah, it feels like we’re in a million-year-old mass grave.”

Hyunmook ignored them completely and just yawned lazily into Yohan’s neck. The slow, warm breath gave Yohan goosebumps, and he shifted slightly, saying,

“Hyunmook-hyung… I want to leave too.”

“…Now you’re calling me hyung?”