Free Web Novel“That guy?”
Yohan tilted his head, confused. Having watched countless documentaries, vlogs, and videos about Sunrise, he remembered Yoon Seungryong as a cheerful, energetic guy. Maybe a bit of a punk, sure, but still dependable and lively. Greedy with food, maybe—but lazy? That didn’t fit. Hyunmook gently reminded him of one important truth.
“Yohan, you know how contamination tends to negatively intensify someone’s personality traits, right?”
“Ah—yeah, I’ve heard that.”
‘Negative intensification’ was a well-known symptom of contamination, referring to the extreme exaggeration of someone’s inherent traits.
For example, someone with a temper might spiral into full-on rage disorder. Or someone normally calm might lose all restraint and blow through their entire fortune gambling or chasing indulgence. Of course, most people just summarized it as “contamination makes you go insane.”
“The last time I saw Seungryong, he tried to eat the flesh off my thigh.”
“...Excuse me?”
Yohan wondered if he’d heard wrong. Who ate what off whose body?
“So this time, we’re going in with both our bodies and minds fully prepared.”
This wasn’t food greed—this was cannibalism. ...Could they just not bring this teammate back?
That question rose all the way to Yohan’s throat but was ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) barely swallowed down in time.
* * *
Hyunmook’s plan was simple:
1. Train Yohan.
2. Locate Yoon Seungryong.
3. Beat him into submission and purify him.
The word “training” immediately filled Yohan with dread. He’d seen those Sunrise documentaries—team members collapsing, vomiting from the brutal drills burned into his memory. As he stepped into the yard in comfortable clothes, Hyunmook laid it out for him.
“Starting now, what you need to learn is how to sense danger and how to dodge.”
“Okay! I’ll do my best!”
Steeling his resolve, Yohan braced for the worst. He expected brutal, tear-inducing drills fit for a hellish world like this one. But then Hyunmook raised his left hand and said:
“We’ll start with the basics. For today, just try not to let this hand touch you.”
“Got it! I’ll dodge it no matter what!”
Yohan clenched his fists tightly, expecting a fierce punch. But instead, what approached was a slow, outstretched hand—more like the lazy swipe of a cat’s paw than an attack. Confused, Yohan stepped back just in case. It was the kind of thing even a kindergartener could dodge, but Hyunmook nodded with approval.
“Good job.”
“Uh... thank you?”
“Let’s keep that up for an hour.”
Yohan nodded again. The hand came in slowly, this time from below toward his side. Yohan dodged again. The sluggish attacks kept coming, gradually getting faster.
‘Something’s off about the way he moves...’
As he kept dodging, Yohan noticed something strange. By focusing only on Hyunmook’s hand, it began to feel like a creature of its own—slowed down several times like monster footage in slow motion. It was clearly deliberate.
Hyunmook kept the training up with intervals of an hour each—attack, then rest. Every time Yohan adjusted to the speed, Hyunmook increased it just a little. After three or four days, the pace had become intense. Breathing hard and wiping sweat from his brow, Yohan asked after a full hour of evasion:
“Is training supposed to be this... easy?”
“You’re a high-tier Awakener now. Just laying this foundation is enough to keep you alive. You don’t have the strength or stamina of a tank or a melee dealer, but your reaction speed’s on par.”
Then Hyunmook picked up a small stone and casually flicked it. With a sharp screeee, it whistled through the air and embedded itself into the barn wall with a thunk. He pointed.
“That’s the speed you were dodging just now. That’s fast enough to avoid most monster attacks. For a mid-tier Awakener to reach this point would take years of training.”
Yohan stared at the rock, stunned.
“Your hand was that fast?!”
“It means dodging that tree monster’s attacks in the forest wasn’t just dumb luck, either.”
Only then did Yohan realize how intense the training had been. Since the speed had increased little by little, he hadn’t noticed. He truly felt like a high-tier Awakener now.
Next, Hyunmook began using both hands. With the same speed but twice the attacks, Yohan’s confusion skyrocketed.
“Ah!”
“Gotcha.”
Yohan flinched as he was caught for the first time. But there was no pain. Hyunmook had simply tapped his unguarded side and stepped back. He shaped his hand like a bird’s beak and said calmly:
“If this had been a monster’s claw or jaw, it would’ve torn you apart. And it wouldn’t kill you instantly, so it would hurt a lot.” freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
It was a chilling statement.
He then began demonstrating—with pin-point grips on Yohan’s vital points—exactly what kind of injuries he’d suffer. Ligaments shredded. Blood spraying like a fountain. Organs spilling out. The scariest part was the line he always ended with:
“But don’t worry. You’re a high-tier Awakener. You’ll probably recover after lying down for a few days. Worst case, we’ve got morphine. Good thing we grabbed some at the hospital, huh?”
Winded and nearly in tears, Yohan threw himself even harder into the training. By the end of the day, he managed to dodge both of Hyunmook’s hands for ten straight minutes. Hyunmook, satisfied, praised the completely exhausted Yohan.
“Well done. At this level, you’ll be able to survive against most monsters. Even if it’s only for a minute, that’s all I need to take over.”
“Wooow...”
Yohan crawled across the dusty ground like a limp noodle, too tired to care how filthy it was. The spot he dragged himself through sparkled clean, like it had been mopped. Finally reaching the couch, he collapsed onto it. Seeing how grimy he was compared to the perfectly tidy Hyunmook made him a bit embarrassed, so he purified himself. Hyunmook sat on the edge of the couch and watched Yohan melt into a puddle.
“You should eat and sleep.”
“...Sleepy...”
Right now, food meant nothing. Yohan burrowed into the corner of the couch, his purification power quietly flowing out and polishing the worn leather. Hyunmook gently patted him.
“Then lie on your stomach. I’ll give you a massage. Otherwise, your muscles’ll be in agony tomorrow.”
“A... massage...?”
Yohan’s mind snapped awake. A memory he’d buried in urgency resurfaced—of that underground worm-tunnel he’d mistaken for a subway, when Hyunmook had grabbed and kneaded his ass like a lump of dough.
Thinking back, it hadn’t been meant as harassment. Hyunmook had later explained that the hallucinations in that tunnel made people walk straight into the monster’s jaws. Grabbing Yohan was the only way to shock him out of it.
‘I figured if I told you it was a subway station, it would limit the range of your hallucination.’ freēwēbnovel.com
In hindsight, Yohan had been captivated by the fake station and its fake people. Without that jolt, who knows what he would’ve done? Hyunmook apologized sincerely, and Yohan had accepted it—told him not to feel bad.
Still, of all times, that memory had to come back now?
Half afraid of giving himself away and half terrified of sore muscles, Yohan nodded cautiously.
“Then... please take care of me...”
He crawled onto the bed and lay flat, trying to suppress any weird thoughts. He remembered the Sunrise documentary—Hyunmook was known as a leader who personally gave post-training massages. Every time he did, the team members looked like they were being tortured. He remembered his brother Yang Yosep teasing, “If you ever get a sports massage, you’ll sob and spill all your secrets.”
‘I won’t cry, no matter how bad it hurts.’
With that firm resolve, Yohan took a deep breath. But when Hyunmook sat down somewhere between his lower back and hips, Yohan’s heart pounded like crazy. Good thing he was lying face-down—his flushed face was hidden.
“You can fall asleep during the massage if you want.”
As he said that, Hyunmook placed his hand gently on Yohan’s nape. Can anyone even sleep through a sports massage? Yohan wondered as he tried to relax every muscle in his body.
Oddly... it didn’t hurt.
‘Wait. Isn’t this dangerously close to a gentle massage?’
Hyunmook’s strong fingertips pressed just hard enough to feel good, unraveling each knot in his muscles. There was pain, sure, but it was the satisfying kind—dull pressure that gave way to cooling relief. A languid groan slipped from Yohan’s lips.
Then Hyunmook had him flip over once—gently relaxing more muscle groups—and flipped him again. That’s when it happened.
