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The King of the Wild
Swaaahhh— Clear water poured down, shaking the brightly colored leaves. Yohan, having watered until the can ran dry, smiled with satisfaction. Then he scattered the byproducts he had brought—finely chopped remnants of monsters purified and butchered.
“Grow strong.”
The leaves and vines writhed, clamoring as they devoured what Yohan threw. Once, the sight would have terrified him, but now he could calmly prune overgrown stems and branches.
The plot he was watering now held onions, scallions, perilla leaves, lettuce, and other vegetables. At first, he had tried growing purified plants, but the toxic soil overwhelmed them—they rotted quickly and yielded almost nothing. So he had chosen instead to cultivate them in their contaminated state, harvesting when needed. The drawback was that the onions and scallions often spilled over the fences, waging war to devour each other, and he had to break them up.
After watering, Yohan sprinkled faint purifying light, like insecticide. Without such occasional treatment, the plants would mutate into grotesque forms and the danger level of the garden would rise sharply. Finishing his work, he turned to see Joo Hoyoung approaching with a spring in his step, holding a basket brimming with writhing fruit.
“Hyung! Finished harvesting!”
“Good job, Hoyoung-ah.”
When Yohan looked, some of the indescribable produce inside the basket were shrieking and trying to escape. But Hoyoung skillfully subdued them with sharp flicks of his finger. Once Yohan hurried to purify them, they at last returned to something resembling normal fruit. Enormous bananas, pineapples with rinds harder than steel, and unidentified tropical fruits filled Yohan’s eyes with delight.
“Oh! Mango. I haven’t had one of these in ages!”
The fruit plots were far more dangerous than the vegetable ones, so Yohan was usually barred from going alone. He had often seen monsters try to steal fruit, only to die on the spot and become fertilizer.
Even now, Lee Hyunmook was scorching a fruit tree black with electricity. Any plant that grew too dangerously was executed on the spot. Perhaps because of this, whenever Hyunmook appeared, the plants shrank back trembling.
“Yohan, it’s safe to come closer now.”
When Hyunmook beckoned, Yohan quickly approached. Hyunmook handed him something, which Yohan purified before accepting—a cherry, unusually large and glossy.
“Today it’s the cherry tree acting up.”
His smiling face was so striking that Yohan found his gaze captured. Hastily regaining composure, he nodded eagerly.
“Must be a strong tree. This cherry’s as big as an egg.”
The three returned with abundant harvests to their new quarters. Since Hoyoung had joined them, they had moved to a larger, more comfortable building. Where the old place had been like a shabby guesthouse, this one resembled a well-kept inn. For four people, it was more than spacious.
At the entrance, Yoon Seungryong squatted lazily, yawning. Seeing them, he sprang up, brightening at the sight of Yohan and the food.
“How’s the rice paddy doing?”
“Seems to be growing well! It’s coming up fast.”
“Even hell has perks. Who knew farming could be this easy?”
Whistling, Seungryong carried food inside. Easy farming, yes—but only because they were Awakened. For an ordinary person, every step of watering, fertilizing, and harvesting would mean risking their life dozens of times.
As Yohan followed inside, he happened to glance at the dark red sky. It had already been months since they began living here, in the Abyss. Would the day ever come when they could leave? With a small sigh, he recalled what Hoyoung had once told him months before.
* * *
‘To me, this place feels like a giant stomach.’
That was how Hoyoung began, when he spoke of the way out he had once witnessed.
‘Before settling in the Japanese sector, I wandered through various zones. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t shake the sense that we’re being digested inside something’s stomach.’
A giant stomach... The metaphor had shocked Yohan, chilling him. It felt disturbingly accurate.
‘The more we’re contaminated and broken down, the more we’re digested. The Bumram—that’s like strong stomach acid. After it passes, the land becomes worse than before. When it sweeps through enough times, you can no longer recognize what was there. Eventually, it turns to mush, clumps together, and disappears.’
Hoyoung guessed that the barren wastelands were places where the Bumram had passed repeatedly until nothing remained. Then he added:
‘And what happens if you overeat, beyond what the stomach can handle?’
He scrunched his pale face and mimed retching. Hyunmook frowned.
‘You mean it vomits back up?’
‘Exactly! I saw it once myself. Maybe fifty years ago...?’
Hoyoung trailed off, glanced at Yohan blinking, then corrected himself.
‘...Or maybe five months ago. Time here feels so slow. Anyway, a new zone appeared. I was watching, thinking I might salvage something from it—but then it vanished. Shot away, outside. It looked like it bounced back to our world.’
For a fleeting moment, faint hope glimmered on # Nоvеlight # Hoyoung’s face before fading again.
‘It reappeared later, but... If I’d been in that zone then, I could’ve been expelled with it. Back to the outside.’
Listening, Yohan’s heart pounded—it sounded so plausible. But Seungryong only shrugged, skeptical. freёwebnoѵel.com
‘That’s a long shot.’
‘Of course. Usually, you only realize a new zone appeared after the fact. You’d need pure luck. And new zones don’t pop up that often. Since Yohan-hyung came in not long ago, that means this place fed recently.’
Neither Hyunmook nor Seungryong showed a flicker of hope. Their eyes were worn past old, showing only resignation. Seeing their reaction, Yohan too calmed down.
‘So... how slim are the chances?’
‘Winning the lottery would be easier. You don’t know where a new zone will appear. Even if it does, the odds of being thrown outside are tiny, like Hoyoung said.’
Hyunmook gestured toward Hoyoung. Look—if even someone like him hasn’t escaped, what chance is there? Only then did Yohan accept reality. If someone as quick and resourceful as Hoyoung hadn’t made it out, then escape was nearly impossible. And yet, Yohan clung faintly to hope. Without it, despair would swallow him whole.
“Here, Yohan. Eat plenty.”
“Thank you.” freewёbnoνel.com
Seungryong’s voice drew him back. Gratefully, Yohan accepted the dish—golden roasted potatoes, grilled meat, and heaps of fruit. They rationed cans and sauces carefully, so their meals had grown fresh and primitive. Seungryong sighed.
“If only we could get chili seeds.”
“Right? But until purification, we never know what they are, so it’s always a miss.”
Yohan shared his frustration. They tried to gather every kind of vegetable and fruit seed, but chili was the hardest to find. More than once, what looked like chili turned into cucumber, eggplant, or sponge gourd after purification. He regretted not securing them back in the Korean sector. Half their gochujang was already gone—it felt like such a waste.
“Since we’ve got beans now, maybe I’ll try making doenjang or soy sauce. If I shape it like meju, something will ferment eventually.”
Their mealtime talk was peaceful. Hoyoung, face buried in his console, ate distractedly like a spoiled youngest brother, while Hyunmook ate in silence like an eldest son. With four of them, the quarters felt lively.
While eating, Yohan stole a glance at Hyunmook. Truthfully, what troubled him wasn’t just their dwindling seasonings. After months here, his relationship with Hyunmook hadn’t advanced at all. And there was no chance for it to.
‘Well, how could there be time alone?’
Though they had assigned private rooms when they moved, it was meaningless. The three contaminated men clung to Yohan like cold people huddling by a fire. He couldn’t bring himself to demand solitude. And lately, he was feeling the limits.
‘Even with my daily purification, just being here means the contamination progresses.’
As long as they remained, complete recovery was impossible. Only his endless purification kept them sane. Worse, his power seemed strongest while he slept—so every night, they ended up sleeping together in the biggest room. With that, the chance to be alone with Hyunmook was zero. Half-resigned, Yohan had given up.
