<6>
The Last
“Ugh....”
With a pounding headache, Yohan regained consciousness. Forcing his heavy eyelids open, he saw the familiar sky of the Abyss.
“Hyunmook-hyung...?”
As if by habit, Yohan first looked for Lee Hyunmook. But the one who had always stayed by his side, almost never leaving him, was nowhere to be seen. Jolted fully awake, Yohan jumped to his feet. No one was around. Not Hyunmook, not the others.
“Seungryong-hyung? Yakrin-noona? Hoyoung?”
Yohan’s frightened voice echoed back at him. He was lying near the briny lake, and all around were traces of battle. By now Yohan had grown familiar with his companions’ abilities, and he could tell whose traces were whose. The frozen lake was Joo Hoyoung’s doing. The ground blackened with poison was from Yoon Seungryong. Seo Yakrin’s telekinesis had pounded craters into the earth, and scorched lightning marks belonged to Lee Hyunmook. All around lay heaps of slain monsters.
“Where... where did everyone go?”
The gigantic face of Lee Chanha that had floated on the briny lake was gone as well. Alone again.... Fear and unease welled up, and Yohan began to cry. Hyunmook-hyung had promised he would never leave him alone again. No matter how long Yohan stared at the lingering traces, he could not even guess what had happened for them to leave him behind.
Was it because of those monsters? Because Yohan had lost consciousness and could not use purification, everyone succumbed to madness and raged, and Hyunmook had to leave him behind to control it all?
Scouring the area, Yohan found evidence to support his grim suspicion: marks as if a colossal centipede had crawled, enormous scattered feathers, even a frozen path cutting across the lake.
“Uhhk....”
Panic-stricken, Yohan floundered helplessly. The traces scattered in different directions, making it impossible to choose which to follow. And there was no sign at all of Hyunmook’s trail. As he wiped at his tears with his sleeve—
Kirrreuk.... From the ground came a bubbling sound, and two eyes suddenly popped up. Yohan thought it was another monstrous mudskipper, but it wasn’t. Crawling forth came a colossal crab with massive pincers. Yohan screamed, barely dodging the claws that aimed to snip him in half.
Clang! Clang! The savage clipping of steel shears resounded. Terrified, Yohan looked up at a gigantic hermit crab rising from the mud. A dark shadow loomed above him.
Krrrhhk.... Spewing filthy foam, the hermit crab charged, and Yohan ran for his life. Splashing across the muddy field, he spotted a cave in the black mountain. Big enough that the crab surely could not enter.
“Uwaaaah!”
Screaming, Yohan sprinted with all his might. He barely made it inside as the claw swiped past his back. Sharp pincers stabbed into the cave entrance, sending a few Eternal Stones tumbling down. Shaking, Yohan crawled deeper inside until he could no longer be seen. Only then did the hermit crab give up and retreat.
Finally catching his breath, Yohan slumped onto the cave floor, clutching his bag tightly. Then he raised his head. Somehow, from deep within the cave, he thought he heard familiar voices.
“Hyunmook-hyung?”
He shot up and ran inside. Could the mountains of monsters outside have all come from this cave? Was that why the others went in? With such hope, he ran all the way to the end—only to find not a single monster, just the hollow core of the Abyss.
And where the core had been, a circular exit stood.
Like the mouth of a sack or a pair of lips suspended in the air. Beyond it was the Earth—reality itself—that he had longed for so desperately. Yohan staggered and leapt into the center of the Abyss. All the countless monsters were gone. Running in a frenzy, he stood before the exit, unable to believe his eyes.
“What is this....”
His trembling hand reached toward it. The moment his fingertip touched the shimmering surface, he was sucked inside.
When he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, he was staring at a dazzlingly clear sky. Sunlight poured down on his face so bright it made him cry from joy. White clouds, blue heavens, fresh breeze....
“Ah, huhh, I-I’m back... I’m back! It’s not the Abyss!”
It was a return so absurdly easy it felt hollow—and yet, overwhelmingly joyous. Like a madman, Yohan shouted and gazed up at the endless blue sky.
“Ah! A person, a person!”
“Hey!”
At the voices calling him, Yohan blinked and turned. Civil servants from the Rift Management Bureau nearby had spotted him and were running over in shock.
“Did you just come out of there?”
“My God, someone survived the Abyss!”
“We’ll need to confirm your identity. Please state your name. ...Yes, Yang Yohan, is that correct?”
Officials in clean clothes surrounded him, wrapping a soft blanket around his shoulders and pressing into his hands a bottle of clear water—something never found in the Abyss. They started leading him to safety, and Yohan, almost unconsciously, took a few steps. But then he snapped back to himself, urgently asking what he had momentarily forgotten in his joy.
“What about the Sunrise Team? Where are the others who came back?”
“What are you talking about? Sunrise Team?”
“You are the first person to return from the Abyss.”
Blinking, Yohan froze. If any of the Sunrise Team had returned, these people would certainly know. That meant—he had escaped the Abyss alone. His gaze turned back. At the exit he had just emerged from, the loathsome dark of the Abyss shimmered.
He didn’t want to go back. More than anything, he wanted to follow these people home, see his family’s faces, lie in his familiar bed, eat warm, delicious food. But... but....
“...There’s no way they left me alone. Then... they’re still inside the Abyss.”
Muttering, Yohan wrenched free from the officials’ grip. Alarmed, they shouted.
“Hey! What are you doing! Stop him!”
“You can’t go back there!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Yohan sprinted and dove back into the exit. But instead of the Abyss’s core, he plunged into endless freefall. Dizziness swept over him, and—something constricted around his waist.
Struggling to lift his head, Yohan saw the officials beyond the exit. One of them tipped up his cap and smiled faintly. Yohan’s eyes widened. The face—it was Lee Chanha! A terrifyingly flawless, beautiful face. Though the lips did not move, a strange voice resounded.
Ah, is this not it?
So very brave.... Or is this place so lovable? Couldn’t you leave?
This place is indeed lovely enough to die—die—die for.
But it is not an easy love. Painful! Agonizing! I want to stop loving it! But I must love it!
...If not that, then perhaps this instead...?
......
.....
“Gah!”
Yohan’s eyes flew open, drenched in cold sweat. What? It had been a dreadful nightmare. His head throbbed from a vicious headache. Groaning, he felt around his waist—nothing there.
“Where... am I?”
Lifting his head with effort, he looked around. The bed beneath him was soft and plush. The sheets were clean, smooth to the touch. It felt wrong, so perfect and spotless that Yohan kept stroking them, uneasy.
He pulled his gaze from the white bedding to the room. Warm sunlight streamed in through a large window, lighting up the pristine chamber. Apart from the bed, there was no furniture. No stain, no speck of dust—only whiteness. He tried the door, but it would not open, so he wandered the room aimlessly.
Knock, knock—. A rap at the door. Startled, Yohan froze, tense. The door opened, and someone stepped in. Recognizing the figure, Yohan’s eyes went wide, and he ran to him at once.
“Yang Yohan-ssi, good morning....”
“Hyunmook-hyung!”
Clutching ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) him tightly as if afraid to lose him again, Yohan buried his face in the broad chest, exhaling in relief. Yet strangely, the embrace felt cold.
“Oh dear.”
A voice, warm with laughter yet awkward, spoke, and a gentle hand caressed Yohan’s back. Something felt off. Yohan lifted his head—and a handsome, refined face smiled down at him. Feeling an uncanny dissonance, Yohan remained bewildered. He understood nothing.
