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When Yohan stirred pleasantly in his sleep and suddenly opened his eyes, what he saw was an obsidian cavern. No—no, not obsidian. This was... a cavern formed from black Eternity Stone, the hardest material in existence. Terrified, Yohan darted his eyes around.
But... Hyunmook-hyung saved me. Why am I back here again?
Didn’t he break through the ceiling and pull me out? Then why was I here again? Had he been dragged back while sleeping? Frozen with fear, Yohan barely remembered that he could purify Eternity Stone. But no matter how much light he poured out, purifying again and again, the Eternity Stone never changed into a transparent, beautiful crystal.
Why... why isn’t it working? Why won’t it work?
When purification failed, he tried to break his way out by force, but only shredded his own hands to ribbons. Worse, rumbling came from every direction as the stone floor and walls began to close in. No matter how he searched for an escape or shouted Hyunmook’s name, nothing happened.
In the end, Yohan was trapped in a coffin-like space. He wept in terror, and yet felt briefly relieved that at least there was light.
Then—flick.
The light trembling in his palm went out. Darkness. And silence. It pressed on his lungs until he could hardly breathe. Buried alive beneath the deep black mountain, Yohan screamed. Trapped in eternal, lightless blackness—
“...Hhhk—haah, haah!”
Yohan gasped sharply and his eyes flew open. Thank God—this time it was not a cavern of Eternity Stone. He lay in the shelter of the great hollow tree, its interior glowing faintly with the motes of light he had spilled while asleep.
A nightmare. Just a nightmare. Relief flooded him. The horrid dream was born from that terrifying incident of being trapped in the black mountain. Even knowing it was only a dream, Yohan felt shaken and miserable. He sniffled and rolled over—then caught the murmur of voices.
“Ah! Don’t do it like that!”
“You’ve got to strengthen your weapon first! Power matters most!”
“That’s not the kind of stage this is, I’m telling you!”
Puzzled, Yohan listened more closely. It was Yoon Seungryong and Joo Hoyoung bickering. He lifted his head a little and peeked out: outside the tree hollow, the two were hunched over a game console, heads pressed together. The sight of such peacefulness eased him a little. He watched them for a moment, then turned—and froze.
Right nearby, Hyunmook was lying down, chin propped on his hand, gazing steadily at him. Their eyes met, and Hyunmook’s eyes curved as he smiled. Then he flipped back his own sleeping bag in a gesture that could only mean come in here.
Yohan glanced back at Seungryong and Hoyoung to make sure they weren’t watching, then crawled hesitantly over. He slid into the sleeping bag, already warm, and let out an involuntary groan of comfort. There was nothing in the world like another’s body heat to soothe the heart.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
Hyunmook asked as he pulled the covers up around him, his voice unfailingly gentle. That only made Yohan feel more wretched, and he fought to hold back the tears stinging his eyes as he nodded. His voice, thick with emotion, muttered complaint:
“I don’t ever want to be left alone again.”
“I’ll never leave you alone again. I promise.”
Like rolling a kimbap, Hyunmook bundled him tightly in the sleeping bag and pulled him firmly into his chest. His large hand patted Yohan’s back soothingly. The tears he had been holding back leaked out, but the terror in his heart eased. Slowly, Yohan breathed out the remnants of the nightmare.
“My timid little Yangyang.”
Hyunmook murmured softly. Yangyang? Yohan jerked his head up.
“Did you just call me Yangyang?”
“No.”
The denial came so smoothly, so calm, that Yohan almost doubted his ears. He narrowed his eyes and stared into Hyunmook’s, searching. No red tint of madness was there. Suspicious, Yohan insisted:
“I swear you said Yangyang.”
“Me?”
Hyunmook feigned ignorance. Yohan grew unsettled. After all, during their days in the black mountain, none of them had received much purification. Maybe the madness was flaring again? Worried, Yohan pressed out mote after mote of light into Hyunmook. Hyunmook’s eyes softened drowsily with the purification. For a while, they rested in that quiet peace, Yohan snug in his embrace. At last, Yohan spoke.
“I... I’m curious about something.”
“What are you curious about?”
Hyunmook’s voice was so tender that Yohan’s heart thudded violently.
“Is purification more effective... with bodily fluids? I mean, not blood, but...”
Flustered, Yohan trailed off. Hyunmook leaned in, gazing at his face. With his thumb, he pressed Yohan’s lips.
“This way makes my head clearer.”
“O-oh... I-I see. B-but I-I meant... tears, actually....”
Yohan’s face went crimson, his voice shrinking to a murmur.
“I’ll keep that in mind next time.”
Ahh! What does he mean he’ll keep that in mind?! Even Yohan’s own answer made him squirm. He twisted his body as if to escape, but Hyunmook only pulled him in tighter, embracing him so firmly it felt as if he wanted to fold Yohan entirely inside himself. The warmth of the sleeping bag grew even deeper. In his rich, resonant baritone—like a voice made to read aloud—Hyunmook said:
“But it’s not only because it clears my head.”
“N-not only...?”
Yohan swallowed hard, heart hammering so fiercely it might burst from his chest.
“It’s because I liked it better that way.”
His heart nearly stopped. Blood rushed to his face, burning red. Yohan buried half his face in the sleeping bag and muttered faintly:
“...Actually, I liked it better too.” free𝑤ebnovel.com
At that, Hyunmook sighed. Alarmed, Yohan lifted his head—only to hear:
“Yohan, what am I supposed to do when you’re this cute?”
...What had he just heard?! Yohan screamed silently inside and poured waves of purification into him before hiding under the covers again. Hyunmook clearly wasn’t in his right mind. Soaked in light, Hyunmook chuckled softly and covered Yohan with his body. The weight was oddly comforting....
Thanks to that, Yohan slept on without another nightmare. When he woke, he stretched with a groan. But when he opened his eyes, the tree hollow was empty. Rubbing his swollen eyes, he crawled outside to find Yoon Seungryong laying out a line of things.
“Oh, Yohan. Perfect timing. Can you purify these?”
“Wh-what are these?”
Perhaps because he had spilled purification in his sleep, the grass near the tree glowed with a faint green sheen. On that green patch lay about twenty grotesque creatures, many with disturbingly familiar shapes.
“Shall we roast some birds today?”
The birds varied in size and form, but fell into two categories: dried up like corpses with little but bone, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) or so plump they looked like round balls, questionable if they could even fly.
Yohan crouched and purified the birds. They returned to somewhat normal forms, though still strange and unrecognizable, like foreign species. As Seungryong began to prepare them, he blinked in surprise.
“These are almost nothing but meat.”
The bony ones had little flesh but were savory; the plump ones, as Seungryong said, were entirely meat, soft and fatty. While the birds sizzled, Seungryong drooled. Soon Hyunmook and Hoyoung returned from scouting, arms full of vegetables and fruit.
“Did you sleep well?”
Hyunmook greeted. Yohan tried to hide his racing heart and answered calmly that he had. But it wasn’t so easy to stay calm when tainted fruit in Hyunmook’s arms suddenly sprouted writhing tendrils. Yohan quickly purified them. Peeling one, it looked like a banana, but a bite left him tilting his head.
“What is this supposed to be?”
“Uh... maybe try cooking it?”
Scratching his cheek, Seungryong put the mysterious fruit over the grill. They roasted the strange fruits and several birds, still unfamiliar even after purification. The bony birds had little meat but were tasty, while the fleshy ones were delicious.
After eating their fill, Yohan looked around. While he slept, the others had tidied the area. Grass waist-high was cut down, leaving bare blackish-red earth, and nearby trees had been uprooted and split. The landscape was still heavy with contamination, yet it reminded him of something.
“Was this originally a savanna climate zone?”
“Maybe. Africa, perhaps? But we haven’t found a water source yet, and the humidity’s low.”
Hoyoung frowned. Water was always critical, especially since his combat ability relied on freezing. But soon his worry eased. That afternoon, fat raindrops began to fall. Hyunmook, who had been cleaning his weapon, leapt up.
“Yohan, inside.”
It was less request than command. Yohan obediently crawled into the tree hollow, the others following just as a black downpour crashed down.
It had rained occasionally back in the Japanese city zone, but never like this. They quickly set out bowls to catch as much as possible. Unlike Earth’s water, this rain was reddish, stinking foully, filling the bowls to the brim. Hoyoung froze falling drops into ice and gathered the shards. Purifying it all, Yohan once again felt grateful for his Awakening. Without it, they would have been forced to drink this filth.
And so, with that short storm, their days in the new zone began.
