Free Web NovelSoon after, they were each confined in separate military trucks. As a fellow high-tier Awakener, Jung Siyoung boarded together with Lee Hyunmook. When Yohan, anxious and restless, kept glancing at him, Hyunmook waved his hand as if to reassure him not to worry.
“See you later, Yohan.”
“Yes...! I’ll see everyone later!”
If he said they would see each other later, then surely it would be so, right? Suppressing his unease, Yohan obediently climbed into the military truck. Two soldiers who seemed to be mid-tier Awakeners boarded with him. They still kept their hands on their rifles, wary, but their attitude was quite friendly.
“Would you like some water?”
“Th-thank you.”
With trembling hands Yohan took the bottled water and drained it in one breath. Only then did it truly hit him that he had escaped the Abyss. Even though he had cried so much earlier, more tears leaked out uncontrollably. All the terrifying, exhausting memories from the Abyss flashed through his mind. The soldier silently turned his head away, pretending not to notice. Sniffling, Yohan asked in a choked voice:
“What... what’s today’s date?” frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
“It is November 22, 2035.”
As he set the capped bottle down, Yohan’s head went blank. It felt like being struck hard on the back of the skull with a hammer. Doubting his own ears, he asked:
“What? Not November 2036?”
“It is November 22, 2035.”
The soldier’s voice was full of pity for someone just returned from the Abyss. But Yohan could not believe it. After all, he had fallen into the Abyss on November 7, 2035. Yet this person was claiming that not even a single month had passed since that day.
He had spent an entire year in the Abyss, and yet out here not even a month had gone by? Muttering that it was impossible, he asked urgently:
“Could you show me the date? A calendar, anything?”
The soldier sighed lightly and held out his wristwatch. Clearly displayed there was today’s date: November 22, 2035.
How could this be? He had lived a whole year in the Abyss, and yet here only fifteen days had passed? Was he dreaming? Was this truly reality? Suddenly Yohan remembered the past. The first time he met Lee Hyunmook, Hyunmook had asked him for the date.
“What is the date outside?”
“I entered this place on November 7, 2035.”
And upon hearing that, Hyunmook had burst out laughing like a madman and said—
“Ha ha, haah, it was three years ago. Just... three years ago...”
Now that he thought about it, there had been many strange points. Even with Joo Hoyoung present, the group had bluntly treated Yohan as the youngest. They often let slip words as though they had lived well over several decades.
At last Yohan grasped the truth. His hands shook violently. Two weeks here equaled a year in the Abyss. A single day here was nearly a month there. Time flowed utterly differently.
Then just how many long years had Hyunmook and the others endured in that place? In that dreadful hell where even one year felt like several decades... by simple calculation, over thirty thousand days. Nearly ninety years.
But Yohan felt instinctively that they had endured even longer than that. The regret, despair, resignation, and rage written on their faces spoke of time not just ninety or a hundred years, but far beyond even what he could imagine. They had borne a truly ghastly, endless span of time....
“U... hhic. Hhhk...”
Overwhelmed by emotion, sobs broke from Yohan’s lips. To think that Lee Hyunmook, Lee Chanha, Seo Yakrin, Yoon Seungryong, and Joo Hoyoung—all such kind, good people—had lived without promise in such unending torment... it was unbearable. Pitiful, and more pitiful still. His heart ached as if their suffering were his own. By the time the soldiers, flustered, offered him a handkerchief, it was soaked through, and he wept ceaselessly all through the transport.
Thus when he arrived at the Rift Management Agency’s examination room, the inspector was startled by Yohan’s swollen face. Looking like someone who had been sobbing the whole time, Yohan drew a tense remark:
“...Excessive emotional outbursts are also one of the contamination symptoms.”
Contamination? As a purifier, his body carried not the slightest taint. Afraid he might be dragged into a detention cell, Yohan quickly shook his head and answered in a nasal, tear-clogged voice:
“No, it’s just... thinking that I finally escaped the Abyss, I... I got overwhelmed. I miss my friends and my family too, hhic.”
“Ah...”
Well, that could be so, the inspector seemed to think, relief crossing his face.
Under many watchful eyes Yohan stripped off all his clothes. Naked, embarrassed, yet everyone acted with professional detachment. Just as Hyunmook had done in the Abyss, they examined him thoroughly. They combed through his hair, checked ears, eyes, mouth, and even the most private areas with a light to confirm there were no rashes. Since there were no visible symptoms, it meant his contamination level was low, and the examiners seemed reassured.
Next came a process that could only be described as sterilization, after which he donned a loose set of clothes. Then they ran X-rays and even a CT scan, confirming no foreign organs or masses existed in his body. Only then was Yohan declared safe. But when he suddenly had a nosebleed, the examiner was alarmed, thinking it a contamination symptom.
“Are you all right? No other abnormal symptoms?”
“No, it’s because... I used my ability too much.... I’m exhausted....”
This was not a lie. To escape the Abyss, he truly had to fight with all his might. Even with Joo Hoyoung’s buffs and the aid of the Black Mountain, purifying an entire city had been no easy task. Now that the tension had eased, he collapsed weakly. A soldier who had been monitoring him quickly helped him up. Yohan expressed faint gratitude.
“Thank you...”
“It seems you overused your ability. You should eat and then rest well.”
Accustomed to using powers to the brink in battles against contaminated or monsters, the soldier recognized the condition immediately. The examiner, noticing Yohan’s pallor, nodded in agreement. Stumbling, Yohan asked:
“Excuse me, what about the others?”
“They should be undergoing examination,” the soldier answered gruffly.
“When can I see them?”
“Once all examinations are complete and they are deemed safe, you will meet again.”
Though uneasy, Yohan firmly trusted Hyunmook and the others. This was all a necessary procedure; surely they had let him go alone for that reason. Still, he worried how the results might turn out for companions whose very bodies had changed ‘slightly’ during their time in the Abyss. Exhaustion weighing heavily, he dragged his feet after the soldier.
The room they reached was an isolation chamber with double transparent glass doors. Perhaps meant for mild contamination cases, it had a TV, a bed, and everything needed for daily living. Yohan ate half-heartedly and collapsed on the bed.
Now and then someone would rouse him or check on him, but Yohan was too far gone to respond, sleeping as if dead. When he awoke, an IV drip was attached to his wrist. Sunlight streamed through the window, and he gazed at it as though spellbound. That dazzling blue sky—he could never grow tired of it. Before long, an inspector entered, as if they had been watching for when he woke.
“Yang Yohan, how are you feeling?”
“Much better after sleeping well.”
The inspector nodded, observing him carefully through the glass before marking something on a tablet—likely a contamination checklist.
“Any rashes, itching, numbness? Any hallucinations, voices, ominous visions of the future, depression, or lethargy?”
Only after Yohan denied all did the double doors open. Flanked by soldiers on each side, he followed the inspector. After several more tests, they reached a place where Jung Siyoung was waiting. Yohan’s eyes widened, and he gathered his energy back into his body just in case.
“Yang Yohan? Please, sit here.”
Unlike before, Jung Siyoung wore no contamination-prevention gear. With hair roughly brushed and tied back, sleeves rolled up, she looked extremely busy. Only her left arm was wrapped tightly in a latex-like material. Feeling a strong urge to purify her, Yohan took a seat.
“You must be hungry, having fasted for the examinations. Eat a little first.”
The intense hunger made him gratefully accept the bread and milk she offered. The sweet jam bread and milk brought tears to his eyes again. Milk... such a thing had been unthinkable in the Abyss.
“It’s... delicious. Thank you.”
When Yohan sniffled, Jung Siyoung clicked her tongue and pushed over more snacks. Before meeting Yohan she had already interviewed Hyunmook and the rest of the Sunrise team. And though they were Awakeners, she had felt a powerful dissonance the whole time. Hyunmook, perhaps understandable—but even the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ mid-tier ones gave off that same strange feeling.
Compared to them, Yohan felt like a small animal. No dissonance, only a warm, comforting presence. His face, like a boy barely out of high school, drinking milk with teary eyes—she glanced again at the file in her hand.
Yang Yohan, twenty-three. Second son of Yang Hwapyeong, president of Samyeong Pharmaceuticals, and Kim Yeju. According to witness reports, he had joined an Awakening Party and vanished after a monster attack.
Before her was exactly that pampered young master who had returned after suffering terrible hardship. Her voice softened.
“First, could you tell me how you ended up entering the Abyss?”
