“Since the Abyss return, it’s been a long time since we’ve all met again. Mr. Lee Hyunmook is still as reliable as ever. Hahaha! And our Mr. Lee Chanha, why is it that every time I see you, you get even more handsome? Mr. Seo Yakrin, you’ve grown even prettier too?”
“Tch.”
Lee Chanha’s gaze was icily cold, and Seo Yakrin openly snapped in annoyance, yet Kim Jongseok, dripping with cold sweat, stubbornly kept up his greetings. He warmly fussed over Yoon Seungryong and Joo Hoyoung as well, but when it came to Yohan, he passed by without even offering a handshake. Strangely, the Taeyang team seemed to like it better that way. Seo Yakrin patted Yohan’s back kindly.
“Right. Our Yohan isn’t something to be pawed at.”
Yohan, who had been standing quietly, trying to avoid attention, trembled at that. Wait—did she just say pawed...? And wasn’t that loud enough for Kim Jongseok to hear too? But he just smiled as if he hadn’t heard anything at all. That was one hell of a poker face.
“Come now, everyone, please take your seats.”
Since this was a celebratory event for the Abyss returnees, the main guests—the Taeyang team—were seated at the place of honor. Starting with Lee Hyunmook right beside Kim Jongseok, the seats were arranged in order of age. Naturally, the lowest seat was Yohan’s.
But when Yohan went to sit, Yoon Seungryong plopped down in his chair first.
“I like this spot.”
“I’ll take here.”
Joo Hoyoung quickly swapped the nameplates and sat on the other end. In the end, Yohan wound up in the very center, flanked on either side by Lee Hyunmook and Lee Chanha. It was the position of someone being completely protected no matter what happened.
Because of that, Kim Jongseok ended up seated right next to Joo Hoyoung, his face souring. Joo Hoyoung noisily began gaming, even putting on earphones so he couldn’t be spoken to. Seo Yakrin, seated nearby, crossed her arms in a bored manner. Yoon Seungryong, interested only in food, flipped through the pamphlet.
“From the smell, looks like there’s a buffet inside. When’s the meal?”
Even Yohan, with his senses sharpened, couldn’t smell anything from the annex, so that sense of smell was impressive.
‘But still... something...’
Restlessly fidgeting, glancing around, Yohan caught Hyunmook’s eye.
“What, is your chair uncomfortable?”
“No. But something keeps bothering me... It feels strange....”
He couldn’t put his finger on it, but an unpleasant, itchy discomfort prickled him. The closest comparison was like a cockroach crawling around nearby. Then his gaze met Park Seungmin’s across the way.
Park Seungmin’s glare was burning. His face said he could not accept why Yang Yohan was the one smiling and enjoying himself in that seat instead of him. To that greedy betrayer, Yohan deliberately flashed a wide grin. Watching Seungmin fluster in outrage felt good.
‘The purification I gave him that day must be just about to wear off, isn’t it?’
The overflowing purification had never been his own. It wasn’t replenishable. It had only been piled up high, like a mountain of rice heaped on a bowl. What he had been allowed was only the size of the bowl itself. And that bowl wasn’t even a rice bowl—more like a tiny soy-sauce dish....
-We will now proceed with the Rift Management Agency’s Abyss Returnees Commemorative Ceremony. All attendees, please take your seats.
Everyone followed the announcement and sat. Journalists’ cameras clicked, dozens of live-streaming phones aimed forward. Most lenses were fixed on the Taeyang team, the hottest topic, and on Park Seungmin, the so-called purifier.
Normally Yohan would have been busy covering his face, shy of the cameras. Not today. That unpleasant sensation gnawed stronger and stronger. He wondered if it was just disgust toward Park Seungmin and Go Jaewon, but no—that wasn’t it. And it wasn’t only him who sensed it anymore.
As the ceremony went on, Hyunmook murmured quietly.
“Chanha.”
Just the name, and Lee Chanha immediately nodded. Yohan was too on edge to even notice the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ glances the teammates exchanged. The feeling was vague, like a warning signal breaking up under interference.
-It is deeply moving to hold such a meaningful event today. Nowhere in the world has there ever been an Awakener who returned from the Abyss, but our proud Republic of Korea has produced the first. Korea now possesses Abyss-returned Awakeners! Please applaud them!
Kim Jongseok’s lines from the podium were so tacky that Yohan forgot his unease for a moment and just stared. Applause thundered. Yoon Seungryong openly gave Kim Jongseok a once-over filled with disdain.
-And has our country not had another great fortune recently? Purifier Park Seungmin! Please, come on up! Don’t be shy!
Wait—wasn’t this supposed to be a ceremony for Abyss returnees? As Park Seungmin climbed the stage, Yohan blinked in disbelief. This was nothing more than a publicity event for the so-called high-tier purifier.
‘Thank God I’m not up there....’
Looking so very self-satisfied, Park Seungmin seized the mic. Just as he began to introduce himself—
-Hello, I am high-tier purifier Park Seungmin....
BEEEEP! His greeting wasn’t even finished before a piercing feedback shriek tore through the hall. Kim Jongseok kept his smile, but as the noise grew only louder, his face finally twisted. He jabbed a finger at the speakers and roared.
“Technician! Who’s responsible? Fix it now!”
Officials scrambled below the stage. When the sound still didn’t stop, they cut the power. Thunk. A heavy silence fell. Onstage, Seungmin scowled, then forced his expression back into shape.
“Uh...!”
Yohan suddenly jerked to his feet, the sensation crawling sharply over his skin. Some journalists turned toward him—then shrieks tore the air.
“AAAAH! What the hell!”
“Monsters! Aaaaahhh!”
From among the crowd, twisted creatures appeared one by one. People leapt up screaming. And yet, looking closer, they weren’t ordinary monsters. They were people, horrifically contaminated.
“Where’s the purifier? Purifierwherepurifierwherepurifierwherwherepurifier—”
“Purif... aaaah... puri... aa... save... meee....”
“Urghhh, hurrk!”
On one man’s forehead, a nauseating skin-flower bloomed, pistils and stamens made of hair writhing. Another staggered and dropped to all fours like a beast. A third retched endlessly, vomiting filth.
Yohan realized: the discomfort he’d been sensing all along came from these severe contamination cases. What had been a fuzzy, jammed signal now rang crystal clear. He opened his mouth.
“Those people...!”
Even as he spoke, Lee Chanha grabbed him into his arms and leapt high. Yohan flinched in surprise, but Chanha’s hold was firm. He landed in the press section, where the crowd was thickest. Blue light spread wide as he cast a barrier, enclosing the panicking people.
“Ah! Lee Chanha, the Awakener!”
“Everyone, inside here!”
At his shout, the mob surged gratefully into the shield. The barrier was broad, enough to contain many. Yohan, held tight in Chanha’s arms, scanned the chaos. BOOM! A crash rang out—Hyunmook had slammed one swollen contamination victim into the ground.
“Pur... ri... fier... puri... fiiiier....”
Hyunmook frowned as the pinned man muttered. Every contaminated one was seeking the purifier, as if brainwashed.
But that wasn’t all. More of them burst from the small woods outside the hotel annex, swarming in.
“Seo Yakrin! Joo Hoyoung! Find where they’re coming from!”
At Hyunmook’s command, the two vanished toward the trees. Hyunmook and Yoon Seungryong grappled barehanded with each contaminated. With so many civilians, their true abilities couldn’t be unleashed—only brute strength.
“Puriii-fier! Hack, hack! Purifier!”
“There! There’s a light! A light! Lightlightlightlight!”
‘Of all things....’ The barrier was far from the stage. Kim Jongseok and Park Seungmin, trapped up there, paled as the horde swarmed toward them. Special Suppression Division agents formed a screen, but their numbers left gaps. An infected nearly dragged Seungmin down as he scrambled, screaming.
“Lee Chanha! Not there, here! Protect me! I’m the high-tier purifier!”
No matter how desperately he screamed, Chanha kept his shield over the civilians, unmoving. Realizing it was no use, Park Seungmin turned in a panic, shouting at Go Jaewon.
