Follow the Sheep into the Abyss

At Lee Hyunmook’s words, Yohan’s chest sank with a thud. Though Hyunmook often teased him, he knew well that he never joked about things like this. Fear gripped him, and Yohan followed. Hyunmook rushed back to their dwelling almost at a run, and the moment he arrived, he ordered Yoon Seungryong and Joo Hoyoung, who were still stuck flat to the floor,

“Get up. We’re moving to another sector. Everyone, pack within five minutes.”

“What?!”

While Yohan cried out in shock, Seungryong and Hoyoung jumped up without a word. Hoyoung bolted off somewhere, while Seungryong ran toward the room they used as a food storage. Yohan stood dazed for a moment, then fumbled hurriedly to pack his things.

Packing did not take long. They had always kept themselves ready for the flood, thanks to being ambushed by Bumram twice already after falling into the Abyss. They had prepared so they could leave at any moment. But while Yohan had grown relaxed during the past few months of relative peace, Hyunmook and the others showed not a trace of shock.

“...Is it Bumram?”

“Better to hope not. It’s safer to move to another sector.”

Hyunmook slung the pack onto Yohan’s back, speaking gently. Yohan clutched the straps tight and stepped outside, casting lingering looks at the dwelling they had carefully maintained, praying Hyunmook’s intuition would be wrong. Yet, in truth, Yohan too felt an ominous dread pressing upon him. Bad dreams, poor condition from the morning—it all seemed to point toward this moment.

“Leader!”

Hoyoung, who had packed fastest and scouted the route ahead, came running back with a grim face.

“It’s Bumram!”

At those words, Yohan’s heart dropped again. Images of every encounter with Bumram flashed in his head, and he cast one last desperate look at their familiar home. Hoyoung shoved his game console into Yohan’s bag, speaking quickly.

“All the escape routes into other sectors are being swallowed. Looks like the entire Japan Sector is surrounded.”

“Fuck...”

Seungryong, chewing anxiously on jelly candy, spat curses. Yohan’s mind went white. The entire sector... surrounded by Bumram? As panic spread, only Hyunmook remained composed. While Hoyoung gnawed savagely at his nails, Hyunmook asked evenly,

“You’re certain the Japan Sector is encircled?”

“From what I saw, yes. Looks like it’s been waiting for this, closing in slow, tightening the net....”

Gooseflesh broke across Yohan’s arms. He had never wanted to confirm it this way—that Bumram was deliberately targeting them. At first he thought it coincidence, the second time suspicion, but now it was certainty. As if with reason and intent, Bumram tracked them and had now closed a siege.

“S-Should I try to break through? I managed last time, didn’t I?”

Yohan recalled driving Bumram back in the jungle sector. Hyunmook shook his head.

“No. Too dangerous. And even then you only drove it off, and the exhaustion nearly killed you. If it can encircle the Japan Sector, it’s far beyond your strength.”

“Then... what do we do now?”

Despair leaked into Yohan’s voice. If they couldn’t break through, would they just be swallowed alive here? Unlike the Ruined City, the Japan Sector had no tunnels connecting outward. Hyunmook paused only briefly before deciding.

“There’s one path it hasn’t sealed.”

“There is?!”

Yohan’s eyes lit with hope. Hyunmook nodded. Seungryong and Hoyoung only clicked their tongues, as though they already knew the answer.

“The Black Mountain.” freёwebnovel.com

Hyunmook’s gaze fixed on the towering black ridges ahead. Yohan’s face went pale. It looked like a mountain, but he knew well it was not.

* * *

Yohan remembered too vividly fleeing Bumram through the Ruined City, when they had tried to escape into the Black Mountain gorge—only for the “mountain” itself to move and seal shut, sucking in monsters. Even now, the memory raised his hackles.

‘Less dangerous than Bumram, but worse than those subway tunnels....’

Even that enormous, serpentine creature that lured and devoured men had been more than they could handle—and now they were plunging into somewhere worse. Yohan screamed inwardly and nearly burst into tears. He held it back with all his strength.

He was an advanced Awakener, his speed meant to rival Hyunmook’s and surpass the two mid-tier Awakeners. Yet he felt as if they were all adjusting to his pace. Hoyoung he could accept, but for himself to lag like this made the title “advanced Awakener” feel hollow.

To quicken their escape, Hoyoung ran ahead, laying patches of ice. They had to move fast, before the Black Mountain pass was cut off. Behind them, the city was beginning to stir—the same sinister, dreadful atmosphere they had once suffered in the Ruined City.

Though he was stronger now, recalling that time brought Yohan’s tears back. He wiped them quickly, hoping no one saw. But Hyunmook and the others noticed.

“Yohan, you’re scared and hurting, aren’t you.”

“Yohan-hyung, I’ll make us a great place in another sector.”

“Yeah, Yohan. Things like this happen all the time in the Abyss.”

At least they didn’t scold him like his brother. Even so, Yohan burned with shame and wiped his eyes again, voice stuffy as he asked,

“Then... even being chased by Bumram like this happened before?”

“No....”

Seungryong answered gloomily, making Yohan wilt further. Perhaps Hoyoung’s constant anxiety was contagious, for Yohan found himself biting his lip nervously. The Black Mountain loomed closer when Hyunmook suddenly called, calm and fearless,

“Yohan. About what I was saying earlier....”

“What you were saying earlier?”

Blinking, Yohan remembered the conversation cut off before Bumram’s siege.

“My corruption enhancement is....”

At those words, Yohan momentarily forgot Bumram. His eyes widened, swirling with complicated emotions. He glanced at Seungryong and Hoyoung, about to ask—but Hoyoung’s scream tore through.

“Bumram! Bumram!”

It must have realized their escape, for Bumram surged from all sides, waves of black sludge tightening the noose. Yohan’s face went ghostly. Even so, his reaction was mild compared to the others.

“Uwaagh—ugh!”

“Ahaha, hahahah! Fuck!”

Hoyoung gagged violently, while Seungryong burst into deranged laughter. Hyunmook, grimly enduring, would soon break into madness as well. Yohan lifted his weapon, pouring light into it—thankfully fully restored after a night’s rest. Radiance spilled out, scattering the gloom.

“Uhh... uhhnn....”

Seungryong and Hoyoung shivered like freezing men, instinctively pressing close to bask in Yohan’s glow. Hyunmook raised his voice at Yohan.

“Once we’re inside the Black Mountain, no matter what happens—don’t stop running!”

“Yes!”

Trembling, Yohan answered. Hoyoung bolted first, then Seungryong, then Yohan, with Hyunmook last. Hoyoung plunged into the Black Mountain without hesitation, Seungryong right behind, and Yohan—terrified—followed them in. A moment later, Bumram heaved after them, black sludge writhing up the slope. Yohan’s face drained white.

But then—

The flood slipped back down, unable to climb. Though it thrashed to pursue, it could not set foot on the Black Mountain. Yohan soon realized why: the ground itself flowed downward like an escalator, forever sliding, pushing it back.

The Black Mountain would not allow Bumram to climb. It only exuded its cold, dreadful aura.

“Hff... hff...!”

Panting, Yohan glanced around. Aside from the endless black, it looked like any mountain—rocks, trees, slopes. Yet he felt watched from every direction. As his eyes darted around, Hyunmook warned softly from behind,

“Yohan. Just fix on Seungryong’s back and keep running.” freewёbnoνel.com

“Y-Yes!”

His reply shook. Remembering how the Ruined City’s monsters were swallowed whole by this ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ “mountain,” his steps faltered. Fortunately, it did not seek to devour them. It only observed, silent.

As they ran through this living-dead mountain, Yohan recalled the stories: the Black Mountain stretched across the entire Abyss, all ridges connected as one. It was the only place Bumram could never trespass. But why—that, even Hyunmook did not know.