Free Web Novel“On my back.”
“...Huh?”
Yohan, backpack strapped tight, blinked in confusion. Hyunmook swung his own backpack around to his front and motioned with his hand.
“You’re too slow.”
“A-are you sure? It’s going to be too heavy...”
Yohan asked sincerely, worried. If Hyunmook carried him, that would be the weight of a grown adult man plus two loaded backpacks. But at his concern, Hyunmook let out a loud laugh for the first time. Yohan stared at him with wide eyes.
“You think this is heavy? That’s the weirdest thing I’ve heard all day.”
Yohan belatedly remembered—Hyunmook was a top-tier Awakened. Even his brother, a mid-tier Awakened, could punt monsters like soccer balls and drag enormous beasts around with ease. A top-tier would be far beyond that. Even though he knew it logically, Yohan still felt bad.
Hyunmook scoffed, then suddenly stepped forward and hoisted the awkwardly standing Yohan onto his back in one swift motion. Before he knew it, Yohan was piggybacked.
“P-please take good care of me...”
He hadn’t been carried like this since he was a kid. Embarrassment flushed Yohan’s face. Hyunmook responded with a nonchalant “Yeah,” and began tearing at the mattress they’d left behind. Though Yohan knew they had to abandon it, a pang of regret flickered in his eyes.
Hyunmook ripped the tough, durable cover into long strips and, like swaddling a baby in cloth, securely tied Yohan and himself together. He bounced in place a few times to check the bindings, then stepped out of the shelter. Yohan, who had clung to the comforts of the place until the last second, instinctively looked back as noise erupted behind them.
The city ruins, once silent, now roared with chaos. Like animals sensing an incoming disaster, monsters were shrieking and wailing from all directions. Why hadn’t he noticed this before? Yohan shrank instinctively in fear, clinging tightly to Hyunmook.
“Keep your mouth shut. Don’t bite your tongue.”
Supporting Yohan with one arm, Hyunmook warned him. Yohan quickly answered, “Yes!” and clenched his mouth shut. And then—Hyunmook began to run.
Yohan’s eyes bulged. Carrying a grown man and two packs, Hyunmook sprinted like it was nothing. The speed was intense—like being on a motorcycle or in a car, the world whipped by at a dizzying pace. Streets Yohan had struggled to traverse for hours vanished in seconds.
And the monsters, too.
Screeches and shrieks tore through the ruined city. Hidden beasts now charged from every direction. Even though Hyunmook had warned him to keep quiet, Yohan let out a short scream. Sharp claws narrowly missed his arm.
“Gah—!”
He managed to shut his mouth again, but the danger wasn’t over. The monsters, madder than ever, began chasing them with wild intensity. A humanoid creature, long-limbed like a person but running like a beast, lunged with its mouth wide open—aimed straight for Yohan’s feet.
Without breaking stride, Hyunmook twisted his body and landed a brutal heel kick to the creature’s face. Crack! Its jaw shattered, and the monster went flying. A beast the size of a mid-sized car was tossed like a ragdoll. Hyunmook leapt onto another attacking monster’s back, used it as a springboard, and soared higher—weightless. A fifth-story window loomed ahead, filled with more monsters.
Crash! A long-necked beast inside lunged through the glass. Hyunmook stomped its head down and launched higher. In seconds, they were on the rooftop of a seven-story building.
Yohan clung like a baby koala, too overwhelmed to scream. Staying silent was the best he could manage. Hyunmook continued, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with uncanny precision. Eventually, Yohan realized why.
There were no quiet streets left. Every monster hiding in every building had now emerged. Horrific shapes rampaged in the open, biting and clawing one another. Yohan turned pale watching them slaughter each other and buried his face against Hyunmook’s back, silently begging:
‘Please... let him stay sane until we escape...’
He could feel it in his bones—if the madness returned, Hyunmook would leap straight into that chaos and join the slaughter without hesitation.
Thankfully, perhaps thanks to drinking Yohan’s blood, Hyunmook remained lucid. Without a word, he vaulted from rooftop to rooftop, cutting across the ruined city. What had taken Yohan nearly three hours to reach—the hospital—came into view in less than ten minutes. Inside the shattered glass, a red siren flickered, possibly signaling the presence of another surviving Red Head. Twisted shadows danced in the flashing light.
They passed the hospital in a blur and entered what had once been a bustling downtown area. It was quieter here—perhaps because it lay farther from the Flood—but an eerie unease still hung in the air.
Without slowing, Hyunmook began scaling a high-rise that was easily over twenty stories tall. Yohan stifled another scream, clenching his jaw and fixing his gaze on Hyunmook’s neck. A disturbingly warm wind whipped across his face.
Not a single bead of sweat. Hyunmook climbed like it was nothing. And then they reached the rooftop. For the first time, Yohan saw the entire ruined city.
It was a city of ash-gray.
Unlike a normal city that glows like a jewel box at night, this one was drowned in darkness. As if stitched together from the remnants of destroyed Korean cities, it was a graveyard. Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of writhing shapes filled the landscape with horror. Yohan turned his gaze and froze.
Far in the distance... something monstrous approached.
The Flood. He understood now why Hyunmook described it the way he did. Something invisible—formless—was sweeping toward them like a tidal wave from the city’s edge. A malignant force spread outward, unraveling and collapsing everything it touched.
No—crushing, mixing, twisting. The strange became stranger, the warped more grotesque, like dough rotting and fermenting until it burst with foul, writhing filth. Nauseated, Yohan covered his mouth to keep from vomiting onto Hyunmook’s back. freewёbnoνel.com
“Ugh... mmgh...”
“Don’t look. It won’t do you any good.”
Taking his advice, Yohan forced himself to look away. The nausea subsided slightly. Hyunmook scanned the area carefully for several minutes. Then, he pointed.
“You see that black mountain?” frёeωebɳovel.com
Yohan followed his gesture—and sure enough, there it was. A black mountain-like shape, pressed right up against the ruined city.
“Y-yeah.”
“There’s a gorge over that way. It leads to another zone. It’s risky, but passable. Once we cross, we’ll be safe for a while.”
“G-good! Let’s go—now.”
Having seen even a glimpse of the Flood, Yohan’s voice cracked with urgency. Hyunmook double-checked the straps securing him, then began his descent down the high-rise. It was even scarier than the climb. Yohan had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming.
As the Flood drew closer, the chaos returned. Monsters danced in violent madness, but Hyunmook weaved through them like wind. He only struck when necessary—perhaps because he didn’t want to endanger Yohan on his back.
How long did they run like that?
Eventually, the black mountain appeared ahead. Yohan, catching his breath, had a sudden thought.
‘Wait... didn’t he say mountain-like? Then it’s not... an actual mountain?’
But it looked like one. If it wasn’t a mountain, then what...?
He clung tighter to Hyunmook instead of finishing the thought.
They weren’t the only ones fleeing the Flood. Monsters were, too. Some had enough self-preservation to stop ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) attacking one another and instead thrashed around in desperation, fleeing toward the black mountain. They clustered there—but kept their distance from Hyunmook.
‘Come to think of it... even in the city, we weren’t attacked that much.’
Like the monsters feared him—as if they sensed what he was. Maybe they could feel he was a top-tier Awakened?
As they neared the gorge, Yohan’s thoughts wandered.
And then, suddenly, the earth shook violently with a deafening roar.
