FLIA 82

Lee Hyunmook eyes widened for a moment at the uncharacteristic reaction, he chuckled and pulled Yohan into his arms. He let out a long sigh like he had just emerged from a prolonged nightmare, Yohan finally shifted his gaze elsewhere.

It seemed that the only one who had managed to remain sane inside Lee Chanha’s hallucination was Lee Hyunmook. Ju Hoyoung, who had conjured up an ice castle that could rival any famous animated film, stood frozen in a daze. Seo Yakrin dragged her massive, crooked wings along the ground, and Yoon Seungryong, who had half-transformed into something insect-like, glanced around while grappling with her. Seo Yakrin sighed and released Seungryong from her claw. No–she only pretended to and then smacked him with her wing.

“Aagh! That hurts, you old hag!”

“Oops, my bad.”

Yoon Seungryong glanced at Yohan and quickly scrambled to compose himself. Seo Yakrin also hastily folded her wings back in. Yohan wondered how she managed to store such massive wings, but that wasn’t important right now.

After confirming that the three had snapped out of the hallucination, Yohan turned his gaze to the salt lake. Lee Chanha’s massive, beautiful face loomed over it, eyes wide open. His gaze was fixed on the Black Mountain that Yohan had just purified. Countless bubbles surged violently from the half-submerged lake.

Then Yohan gasped in shock and murmured in disbelief.

“What… is that…?”

As the hallucination dissolved, Lee Chanha’s once pristine, pale skin began to rot away. His smooth forehead melted, and his nose collapsed and dripped downward. Only then did Yohan realize that the beautiful face he had seen had been an illusion.

What emerged in its place was a grotesque mass of black, soggy, lumpy boils. Some kind of foul fluid, maybe pus or slime, oozed out endlessly. With every ragged breath from the monstrous Lee Chanha, a horrible stench wafted out. The foul odor that had filled the salt lake was the scent of Lee Chanha decaying alive. The man known for his obsessive cleanliness had become more filthy and revolting than anyone else.

■■■■■…
■■■… ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■■…

Unlike the hallucination, the twisted mass of flesh now let out incomprehensible screams as it slowly dragged itself out of the lake. Dozens of warped, embedded eyes between folds of flesh all turned toward the black mountain. The bloated body crawled sluggishly toward the purest, most brilliant light in the abyss.

The three who had come back to their senses regrouped around Yohan. Ju Hoyoung murmured bitterly.

“Chanha hyung, this is what you’ve become, huh… He didn’t look this bad the last time I saw him.”

Yohan felt sympathy. He remembered Lee Chanha’s flawless, even handsome face before he fell into the abyss. To come to this place, lose everything he once was, and continue to deteriorate without end, it must have been an unbearable agony. No wonder he was the first to go completely mad.

The grotesque mass finally came to a stop at the foot of the Black Mountain. Stretching out his lumpy flesh, Lee Chanha covered part of the mountain with his form but didn’t come any closer. Seo Yakrin sighed and frowned in confusion.

“Why isn’t he coming closer?”

“He’s afraid of defiling it,” Ju Hoyoung murmured. He remembered how, before being purified, he had hesitated to touch the newly cleaned game console, afraid his filthy hands would sully it. It had felt too precious. Yohan had helped him overcome that hesitation. Ju Hoyoung glanced at Yohan.

Yohan let out a deep breath to steady himself and poured more more into the purification. The radius of the glowing dome expanded rapidly, barely brushing against part of Lee Chanha’s form.

■■■■■…! ■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■!

Lee Chanha let out a hideous scream. The parts touched by the light shriveled and dried into a crust. With cracking, snapping sounds, the outer layers flaked off. As with Yoon Seungryong, the purification seemed to be excruciating, but Lee Chanha did not retreat. Instead, he advanced further, pressing more of his body into the light.

‘Hoyoung-ah and Yakrin noona didn’t seem to be in much pain during purification, but Seungryong hyung and Deputy Leader Chanha are reacting differently…’

Yohan suddenly realized. Could the severity of the pain depend on how deeply they were affected by the Flood? Hoyoung had never truly fallen in and retained his human form. Yakrin had once fallen in the Flood but grew wings afterward, likely preventing future corruption. Even when corrupted, both of them could speak coherently.

But Yoon Seungryong and Lee Chanha… They must have been affected far more deeply by the Flood. Then what about Lee Hyunmook? Shouldn’t he be suffering even more?

Tearing his eyes from the disintegrating Lee Chanha, Yohan looked at Lee Hyunmook. He couldn’t begin to guess what kind of being Lee Hyunmook was, aside from knowing that the man cherished him. All Yohan could do was hope his pain was a little less than before.

As more of his body entered the purification zone, Lee Chanha gradually disintegrated. His enormous body, once large enough to fill the salt lake, had shrunk by half when his screaming finally started to form coherent words. He kept muttering, “Clean… I’m getting clean…”

He no longer oozed rotting pus. The putrid lumps dried and crumbled like dirty clay hardening under the sun.

When his body shrank to half again, even the festering, never-healing wounds began to slowly close. His regenerative ability had returned thanks to the purification. After another halving, the grotesque bulges faded beneath the skin. Then another, and another…

Eventually, Lee Chanha had brought his entire body into the purification field. He now resembled a completely clean human. Even the black tears that had streamed from his eyes turned clear. Slowly, Lee Chanha lifted his head.

“Ah… Aaah…”

Still unable to speak properly, he frantically touched his face, ran his hands down his now smooth limbs. Tears streamed from his wide eyes. After checking his body over and over again, he looked up at Yohan, who was barely standing and leaning on Lee Hyunmook for support.

Staggering forward, he suddenly collapsed. Then, crawling on all fours, he dragged himself to Yohan and dropped before him. He pressed his forehead to the ground and murmured,

“Thank you… Thank you…”

The others either stared blankly or glared at him in resentment. No one tried to stop him. Only Yohan averted his gaze. He felt embarrassed that a naked man, let alone the Sunrise Team’s deputy leader, was offering thanks in a near full-body prostration.

“Um, Seungryong hyung… Could you give him something to wear?”

Yohan who was asking for clothes from Lee Chanha let out a shriek. While he was momentarily distracted, Lee Chanha had kissed his foot…! Laughing awkwardly, Lee Hyunmook picked Yohan up and moved him to another spot.

***

Just like in the Reed Sea, the purification field remained intact for a long time after being cast. The group spent time in what was now a partly white mountain. The Black Mountain no longer felt dangerous, on the contrary, it even felt like a newly formed safe zone.

Lee Chanha, who had been expressing gratitude repeatedly, finally got dressed but seemed completely out of it. Unlike the others who quickly regained their senses, he simply stared at the glittering Eternal Stones and his clean hands and skin. After spending several days in a daze, he finally spoke.

“My name is Lee Chanha. Please feel free to call me that.”

“Hello, I’m Yohan. As you probably know, I awakened as a purifier.”

Yohan greeted the final member of Sunrise Team warmly. Lee Chanha smiled gently face and he replied politely.

“Yes, thanks to you, Yohan-nim,¹ I was able to return to a proper state. I sincerely thank you once again.”

“No, no…!”

When Lee Chanha tried to bow again, Yohan barely managed to stop him. It was all too overwhelming.

“Please, just call me Yohan! And drop the formal speech, too!”

After much pleading, Lee Chanha finally agreed to call him “Yohan-gun,”² but the honorific speech remained. His gaze toward Yohan was not just reverent. It was practically blind devotion. Especially when he knelt and looked up at him… It reminded Yohan of the way the others said Lee Chanha supposedly worshipped the Flood. Now, it seemed that devotion had simply transferred to him.

1. 님” (nim) is a honorific suffix that expresses high respect or esteem. It’s used after someone’s name or title when you want to be very polite or formal.  ↩︎
2. suffix “-gun” (군) is similar to saying “Mr. Yohan” or “young man Yohan”. It is more formal than ssi” (씨) and it’s used for younger men or when someone wants to show special courtesy or admiration. ↩︎