Free Web Novel“Ha....”
With a nervous grunt, Go Jaewon flung the recorder aside. There was no way he could make the recording public. It needed to sound realistic—this one was filled with nothing but insane rambling. If he released it, people would only accuse him of fabricating it. Especially now, when public opinion against him was at its worst. Considering the testimony of everyone in the café, it would be safer not to release it at all.
He gulped down glass after glass of hard liquor. Ever since Awakening, it was difficult for him to even get drunk, so it took at least three bottles of strong sorghum wine or whiskey just to feel the faintest buzz. Empty bottles were already scattered around him. This wasn’t just one night’s worth of drinking, but there was no one left to stop him now. The space once filled by the Golden Bug Team, the core of the Sunrise Guild, was desolate.
‘If you were truly innocent, if you had nothing to hide, this place would have become Taeyang Guild by now!’
He remembered Elena, the captain of Golden Bug, accusing him with a tone not of suspicion but of absolute certainty. Groaning, Jaewon clutched at his head.
The Sunrise Guild was a shell of itself. When Hyunmook returned, the guild members who had stayed out of sheer stubbornness finally left after the disastrous press conference—where Jaewon alone was absent—and after hearing of Hyunmook and the rest of the Sunrise Team’s official withdrawal. They resigned or transferred. Taeyang Guild even paid their penalties for breach of contract, so not a single one hesitated to leave. The few who remained gave off the air of people too lost to find anywhere else to go.
People who once praised Sunrise as Korea’s greatest guild had now turned their backs. Many outright called him a traitor. Everywhere he went he met only contempt and scornful stares. Not long ago, on his way to work, he’d even been pelted with rotten eggs. The guild’s inbox and phones were flooded with curses, accusations, demands—operations were nearly paralyzed.
But worse than all of that was what had happened today. His hand trembled as he reached for another bottle.
‘Monsters....’
No matter how he tried to deny it, his old comrades no longer seemed human. Most terrifying of all wasn’t Chanha, who surely hated him the most—it was Hyunmook. He had always radiated pressure as a high-rank Awakener, but when they met at the café, it had been completely different.
Could re-Awakening really be real? Had Hyunmook and the others re-Awakened? Just what kind of place was the Abyss? Jaewon gnashed his teeth. If only Hyunmook and his team had never returned alive.
His old comrades looked as though they truly wanted to kill him....
If he had known it would come to this, he never would have refused the government’s proposal back then. Regretting, he drank again and again, his throat burning. His body still shivered. Legs bouncing with nervous energy, head dizzy from half-drunkenness, he thought,
‘Would they really kill me?’
In the past, he could have sworn they never would. But now? Now he wasn’t sure. He kept glancing around, afraid Chanha, Yakrin, Seungryong, and Hoyoung might suddenly burst through the door and slaughter him.
‘And that shadow from the captain... was it really not an illusion?’
No matter how he tried, Jaewon couldn’t shake the thought that Hyunmook and the others had been deeply contaminated. If they were mad, what couldn’t they do? Feeling the chill of death, Jaewon’s thoughts turned frantic. Why live under ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) threat in Korea at all—should he defect overseas instead?
If only he could reveal that his old comrades were contaminated. He didn’t know how they had passed the contamination tests, but he was convinced of it. No—he wanted to believe it. Just as he reached for another bottle, there was a knock at the door. He jumped violently.
“Wh-who’s there? Fuck!” freeweɓnøvel.com
Clutching the Eternal Stone weapon Seo Yakrin had once crafted for him, Jaewon shouted. When the door suddenly swung open, he nearly suffocated with fear. But the figure who entered, though unfamiliar, looked strangely familiar.
“What, you were in here? Why the swearing?”
“...Uh, your name, Park....”
Jaewon, drunk, struggled to recall. The man frowned, scanning him up and down with a scornful look.
“I’m Park Seungmin. Didn’t you get the government notice? They told me to work here starting today.”
Jaewon finally remembered—the first Purifier’s name had been Park Seungmin. Without asking permission, Seungmin strode inside and pinched his nose.
“Ugh, why are you sweating so much? And the alcohol stench...”
Though clearly displeased, he magnanimously released a faint glow. In an instant, the room was cleansed. Jaewon, staring blankly at the purified space, burst into a foolish laugh and hurled his bottle to the floor.
‘A high-rank Purifier joining my guild...! Even if the sky falls, there’s a way out after all!’
So what if Sunrise was no longer the strongest? A guild with a high-rank Purifier—Taeyang Guild wouldn’t be able to touch that. With this thought, Jaewon forced down his unease.
* * *
Yohan’s adjustment to guild life was smooth.
Every day, reporters crowded outside the building, desperate to find another survivor of the Abyss. But loyal guards kept them away. And with twelve new Awakeners joining at once, no one could pinpoint who the survivor was. The Rift Management Agency seemed to be guarding Awakener information more strictly than expected.
The Little Sheep Team members were all around Yohan’s age. Most had Awakened recently, with little real rift experience. They were young, cheerful, slightly nervous, and proud to have made it into Taeyang Guild after fierce competition.
“So who do you think the survivor really is?”
“Low-rank strength-type Awakener? There are already four of those among the rookies. And who can even confirm that ability’s real? Fake news is everywhere these days.”
“I’ve seen so many rumors online about people re-Awakening.”
“Maybe the survivor didn’t even join Taeyang Guild at all? Honestly, if it were me, I’d just lock myself at home forever after coming out of the Abyss....”
“Even if he’s a parachute, he at least has rift experience, right? He’s been through the Abyss.”
Whenever conversations like this came up, Yohan, the not-quite-but-still parachute, felt awkward. He also felt guilty hiding his ability from them.
The new recruits were diligently learning from the veteran Golden Mary and Taeyang-Orium teams—how to write basic expedition reports, how to minimize contamination, how to clean weapons properly, how to build teamwork, how to train, what to watch out for inside rifts....
It was knowledge Yohan desperately needed. Though he had fought and survived monsters, he had no guild training, no basic Awakener common sense.
After training, he would hang out in the second-floor lounge or cafeteria with the others, pretend to go home, then quietly slip into the conference room, where he met up with the Taeyang Team after work. Today, when he arrived, Hyunmook was already there.
“Yohan, making friends?”
The words sounded less like a lover’s and more like a parent sending their child off to school for the first time. Hyunmook casually lifted the bag from Yohan’s shoulder. It was the standard rift survival kit issued that day, meant to be studied until it became second nature. The huge age difference flashed in Yohan’s mind, but he forced it away. Outwardly, Hyunmook looked like he was in his twenties—that was enough.
“The bag isn’t even that heavy.”
Yohan tugged it back. Despite all it contained, the bag was designed to cling perfectly to the body, never hindering even the most intense movements.
“Not heavy, huh?”
Hyunmook smiled softly, eyes curved in warmth. The way his lover always spoke to him—gentle, affectionate—sent shivers through Yohan every time. And he loved it.
“I get along fine with the team! Ani-yang Team too—everyone’s great. But somehow...”
Was it just his imagination that everyone seemed to like him more than usual?
Back in school, Yohan hadn’t exactly lacked popularity. He was fairly handsome, sociable, easygoing, with plenty of friends of both sexes. Aside from Park Seungmin, his friends had all been good people. Even teachers had doted on him.
But even with all that, he couldn’t shake the feeling he was unusually well-received this time. Was it because he was a Purifier? He tilted his head, then quickly shook it. Stay humble... don’t get a big head. It was the mantra he’d repeated to himself ever since becoming a high-rank Awakener.
