Free Web NovelYoon Seungryong stared at Yohan intently, as if he’d just stumbled upon something extremely amusing or intriguing.
“Only twenty-three, huh? Wow... twenty-three. I can barely even remember what that was like.”
Despite his twenty-five-year-old appearance and the casual smile on his lips, his eyes weren’t smiling at all. They were endlessly dark, unfathomable — almost inhuman — yet when they met Yohan’s, they carried the faintest glimmer of light. Seungryong buried his face into the mattress near Yohan and spoke in a muffled voice.
“That thing... doesn’t it seem like it’s after Yohan?”
“Without a doubt. The ruined city overflow came way too early. Strange phenomena started happening after Yohan fell here.”
Seungryong said nothing, his head resting near Yohan’s side. Half-asleep, Yohan muttered something unintelligible, then shifted and draped his arm over Seungryong’s head without a clue. Rather than shrugging it off, Seungryong didn’t so much as twitch.
“I’ll do my absolute best, but... if something goes wrong, if there’s truly no hope... this time, please kill me. Don’t keep me alive out of stubbornness.”
His voice was slow, deliberate. He was remembering a time long past — when he had begged, over and over, to be killed, and Lee Hyunmook had cruelly kept saving him instead. Even when Seungryong had said he’d rather die human than live as a monster, Hyunmook hadn’t so much as listened.
“This time... for sure, I’m begging you. Ah, please. I’m so, so happy right now... but after experiencing this, I don’t think I could endure living through another stretch of that endless time.”
“...”
“I’ll do whatever you tell me to, team leader.”
Just as he had before falling into the Abyss, formal speech came naturally. That was how desperate he was — he couldn’t even lift his head from the floor. Regaining his sanity, even briefly, was both blissful and unbearably painful.
After a long pause, Hyunmook finally replied.
“...Alright.”
With a faint, shaky laugh, Seungryong lifted his head and looked down at the oblivious, peacefully sleeping Yohan. Watching him was so calming it made Seungryong sleepy too. That samgyeopsal was so damn good. He remembered little of his time as the centipede monster, but the taste of a meal after so many years was unforgettable.
Had food always tasted this good when he was human? He swallowed, savoring the memory. After a moment, he seemed to recall something and murmured a quiet, “Sorry.” This time, Hyunmook gave no reply.
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Jungle
Unlike their trip to the ruined city, moving to this new zone took much longer. It was over a week of trudging through dark, barren wasteland before they finally crossed over. If not for Seungryong’s ability to store large amounts of food, they might have gone hungry the entire way.
“Jungle?”
At the end of the wasteland, Yohan stared blankly at the tropical rainforest ahead. Compared to this, the black forest wasn’t even a forest — just a swamp with a thin fringe of trees. Seungryong, slowly savoring a jelly candy in his mouth, tilted his head.
“Was this always a jungle?”
Hyunmook narrowed his eyes, as if recalling something, before answering.
“No. It used to be wasteland. Looks like part of a rainforest fell here recently and expanded fast.”
“Ah, damn... jungles were already bad enough, and now it’s bigger?” freeweɓnovel.cøm
Seungryong’s grimace made Yohan uneasy. If even crossing the wasteland had been hard, this reaction meant the jungle would be far worse.
“Can’t we go somewhere else?”
“That’d be difficult. Hm... Right, Yohan, you probably don’t know. I’ll draw you a rough map of the Abyss.”
Seungryong began sketching in the dirt with his spear tip.
“You first fell here, in the ruined city. This is the swamp, and this is the jungle.”
According to his map, the ruined city — considered part of the Korea zone — was centrally located, flanked by the swamp and jungle. Seungryong also briefly pointed out other zones: Russia, Japan, Hong Kong.
“Get the picture? We escaped from the ruined city to the swamp, but the swamp wasn’t great either — remember those weird blisters? So now we’re moving into the jungle... But to get to another zone, we have to cross it. I’d rather head to the Japan zone, personally...”
He glanced at Hyunmook, who stood with arms crossed, eyes fixed on the jungle.
“No. We’re going to Russia.”
“Well, Russia zone’s not ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) bad either.”
Shrugging instead of arguing, Seungryong brushed dirt off his spear. Before entering the jungle proper, they decided to have a solid meal — in case they couldn’t cook inside.
“Me, me, me! Please let me cook from now on! I’ll be the team cook, okay?”
Having tasted several of Hyunmook’s and Yohan’s meals over the past few days, Seungryong went so far as to kneel in earnest. Hyunmook didn’t seem to care either way, but Yohan felt a twinge of guilt.
“But if you’re always the one cooking, I’ll feel bad...”
“If you’re gonna feel bad, feel bad about your cooking skills. Stop wasting good ingredients.”
Blunt as ever, Seungryong rummaged in his storage, producing two cans of ham, sauce, pre-cooked rice, and more. After Yohan purified the items, he lit the burner, sliced mushrooms and vegetables from the black forest, and stir-fried and stewed them until a proper budae-jjigae came together.
“...That looks amazing.”
Watching him cook, Yohan swallowed audibly. The first bite — after cooling it with a few puffs — was deep, spicy, and instantly satisfying. Layering ham and mushrooms over fresh rice, he felt pure happiness. Now he understood perfectly why Seungryong insisted on being the cook. freewebnoveℓ.com
“I’ll look forward to more from now on.”
Having tasted real Seungryong cooking, Yohan shed his guilt instantly. He’d just have to work harder on purification instead. Over crisp apples for dessert, he asked,
“There must be a lot to eat in there, right? Tropical fruit?”
“Sure, plenty of fruit... and bugs, and plants...”
At the word bugs, Yohan’s eyes twitched. He hated bug-type monsters most of all — they were repulsive even in their natural form, and even more so when contaminated. Sighing, he stared into the jungle.
“We go in thirty minutes. I’ll take the rear, Yohan in the middle, Seungryong in front.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Got it! I’ll stick close!”
Seungryong beamed, patting Yohan’s shoulder like a fond older brother, then warned,
“Make sure you never get separated from us. I won’t let you be alone, but the inside’s so tangled you need to be extra careful. If we do get separated, finding each other is hard.”
“I’ll never let that happen!”
Just imagining being alone in that jungle was horrific enough. Unlike the ruined city, wild nature had almost no landmarks to navigate by. Seeing Yohan’s expression, Hyunmook softened his tone to reassure him.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be watching from behind the whole time.”
“Exactly! With both of us here, you won’t get separated.”
With two of the most skilled people in Korea at his side, Yohan felt reassured and smiled.
After dessert and an extra thirty minutes of rest, the three entered the jungle in single file. Even with all the encouragement beforehand, Yohan was quickly unnerved. Tense, he spoke softly,
“There’s so much presence here... but it’s too quiet.”
Since Awakening, his sharpened senses could detect monster presences. Now, his senses were flooded with them from all directions — yet apart from the occasional slithering sound or the thump of something heavy moving, there was nothing.
“In places like this, the weak ones stay silent or they get eaten.”
Hyunmook’s reply was calm, his voice not lowered in the slightest. He prodded at bushes with his spear without hesitation. That attitude, more than anything, eased Yohan’s fear — a reminder that Hyunmook was strong enough not to need stealth here.
