Free Web Novel‘Right... bathroom...’
Unable to hold it any longer, Yohan got up from his spot. The moment he moved—despite having ignored Yohan’s voice and name completely until now—Lee Hyunmook instantly turned to look at him. With wide eyes fixed on the mad hero, Yohan spoke as politely as he could.
“Um... I’m just going to relieve myself for a bit. That’s... okay, right?”
Hyunmook only stared blankly. [Contamination] often came with mental illness, but thankfully, it didn’t seem like Hyunmook’s condition had turned violent. Still unsure if the man understood him, Yohan glanced around.
They were inside what must once have been a small commercial building, now heavily damaged. There wasn’t a working bathroom in sight. Carefully peeking outside, Yohan saw a few buildings nearby that looked relatively intact—but the ominous air surrounding them made him hesitate. Eventually, he decided to do his business somewhere just outside the building.
As he was walking, he glanced back.
Hyunmook had quietly started trailing him.
Feeling awkward, Yohan tried again, politely.
“Mr. Hyunmook, sir... I really need to go...”
But of course, you can’t expect a proper conversation with a madman. Yohan bit his lip, fidgeted for a while, then gave up. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
‘Whatever... we’re both guys anyway...’
He positioned himself behind a tilted utility pole, turned his back, and started unzipping his pants. Doing his best to ignore the fact that Korea’s most famous Awakened was standing behind him, he tried to relieve himself.
And that’s when Hyunmook finally spoke.
“Trick...”
...Trick?
“The stream goes trickle, trickle...”
Yohan’s face flushed red as he stopped midstream in sheer embarrassment. He whipped his head around.
Did... did he really just start singing that now?! Isn’t that borderline harassment? But then he reminded himself—Hyunmook was crazy. And worse, he was crazy and strong. So Yohan responded as respectfully as possible.
“P-please don’t sing that kind of song.”
“......”
“You... won’t, right?”
Gently coaxing him again, Yohan tried to finish what he’d started.
But the lunatic sang again.
“The stream goes trickle, trickle...”
“Aaagh!”
Teeth clenched in shame, Yohan hurried to finish up. Hyunmook continued, deadpan:
“The fish go swimming, swimming... arms and legs go wiggle, wiggle...”
Yohan tilted his head. That was... a well-known children’s song, sure, but wasn’t the next line supposed to be something like “the willow sways and the nightingale sings”? Did he... rewrite the lyrics? Creepy as hell.
Then—
CRASH!
A chunk of nearby concrete burst open. Something lunged out.
A massive grey frog.
No, could it even be called a frog? It was bigger than a person. Its limbs were long and rubbery like steel beams, and it opened its gaping mouth with a screeching, “Kyaaaak!”
Yohan froze in place.
Hyunmook stepped forward.
Just like with the eyeball monster, he smashed his fist into the grotesque creature. Wham! Its head caved in, the body bursting like a water balloon as it splattered to the ground. Hyunmook, expressionless, finished his song.
“The frog goes ribbit, ribbit.”
Yohan could barely catch his breath. But one thing was certain now: if Hyunmook followed him to the bathroom again, he’d just have to live with it. His dignity was nothing compared to his life. Or better yet, he should just start using indoor corners. Hugging the wall, Yohan tried to calm his racing heart.
‘Are all the monsters here like that?’
The ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) giant grey frog could’ve easily swallowed him whole. He hadn’t even noticed it—probably due to its camouflage. The limbs looked like metal, the skin like concrete. It had blended in with the debris perfectly. Yohan had been right next to it and hadn’t sensed a thing.
“Thank you for saving me...”
Yohan finally managed to thank him, voice trembling. The lunatic didn’t respond—he just tapped the dead frog with his toe and gave a weird little grin. Yohan swallowed hard. The power that had reduced the massive frog to pulp was terrifying.
‘Mr. Hyunmook... when he was in his right mind, he said he’d never hurt a person, even if he lost control.’
But how much of a madman’s promise could you really trust? Fear bubbled up again, but Yohan quickly shook his head.
‘If I don’t trust even him, then I have no one left!’
So he’d trust him. And who knew? Maybe, by some miracle, he’d meet another survivor. But then Yohan immediately shook his head again. No. If even someone like Hyunmook had gone insane from [contamination], what were the odds anyone else was still sane? And even if they were, how long would that last?
Trying to rein in his spiraling thoughts, Yohan hurried back into the building. Hyunmook trailed after him, still playing with the frog’s corpse. When they entered, Hyunmook’s eyes briefly looked... gentle.
But then—
Splurt.
Something wet and heavy dropped in front of Yohan.
He screamed silently.
Hyunmook had ripped a leg off the frog and thrown it down in front of him. Thick black tar-like fluid oozed across the floor. Hyunmook crouched with a grin and started singing again.
“Fox, fox, what are you doing?”
No. No way—
“Eating dinner! What’s the side dish? Froggie!”
The tune was a complete mess—comically bad—but not funny in the slightest. Yohan trembled uncontrollably.
“Uuugh...”
“Is it dead? Or alive? It’s dead!”
Grinning wide enough to show all his teeth, Hyunmook’s face went terrifyingly blank. He nudged the frog leg closer to Yohan and stared.
Yohan squeezed his eyes shut. This... this was definitely...
“You... you want me to eat that, don’t you?!”
Whimpering, Yohan scrambled away from the disgusting, twitching leg. He dug frantically through his bag.
“Wait, no—it’s okay! I still have food! Edible food! So I don’t need to eat the frog!”
Thankfully, Hyunmook didn’t get angry. He just looked a bit dejected, like a wild dog whose gift had been rejected. With a strangely sad look in his eyes, he plopped down right next to Yohan.
Yohan shakily opened his emergency rations. He tore open a package, mixed the contents with spicy red pepper paste, and split it in two.
“This’ll taste better than that frog. Promise.”
Hyunmook narrowed his eyes at the dish. He buried his face in the bowl and sniffed deeply... and just stayed there, frozen. Even while Yohan wolfed his portion down, Hyunmook didn’t eat. He just stayed locked in a trance, drunk on the smell.
Yohan took the chance to check his supplies.
‘If I share with Mr. Hyunmook and eat twice a day... it might last a week?’
But water was still the real problem.
Sighing, he glanced over—and noticed Hyunmook’s side was already cleaned out. Only an empty wrapper, licked spotless, remained. Somehow, that made Yohan feel worse.
“Um, Mr. Hyunmook... I’m going to go look for more food now.”
Even rationing wouldn’t keep them going more than a few days. They needed water. They needed food. His heart was still pounding from the earlier scare—but they couldn’t starve to death here. They had to eat to keep moving.
‘If Mr. Hyunmook survived for three years, there has to be something here...’
A flash of a horrible thought crossed his mind—maybe Hyunmook had survived by eating that disgusting frog meat. But Yohan shoved it away. Just looking at that thing made him feel like he’d be [contaminated] if he even touched it.
“So... will you still follow me around?”
Even though conversation didn’t work, Yohan made the request out loud—pleading for protection. Then he dusted off his pants and stood up. Hyunmook didn’t reply, but as Yohan started walking, the man silently followed him. Yohan couldn’t help but feel like he was dragging around a stray dog.
What Yohan was aiming for now was any kind of food left in the buildings nearby. Thankfully, the [rift] he had entered wasn’t that old—so there should still be some edible supplies.
‘Even an office would work. There’s gotta be instant coffee at least.’
He approached the nearest building. Or, he tried to.
But then Hyunmook silently stepped forward and blocked the door.
Yohan flinched as his blood-red eyes met his own.
