Yohan’s eyes widened. Did that an he was stronger than his brother now? That was the first thought he had—until he belatedly registered the word Hyunmook had added: purification. This ti, instead of being surprised, he tilted his head in confusion. Purification? He prided himself on being well-versed in the classifications of Awakened abilities, but he had never heard of such a thing in his life.
“You can cure contamination.”
Still dazed, Yohan couldn’t easily accept what Hyunmook had just said. The idea that he could cure contamination didn’t sound believable at all. Then Hyunmook glanced around and reached out to pick sothing half-buried in the dirt. It was... a frog!
“Wait a minute, the frog looks normal?!”
Since falling into the Abyss, Yohan had never seen a single living creature that wasn’t monstrous—except for himself and Hyunmook. He shouted in shock. The frog in Hyunmook’s hand let out a weak croak and struggled a little. It was huge, yes, but there was nothing odd about it. It was a perfectly normal, healthy frog.
“That’s one of the monsters you purified earlier. Looks like the others all ran away.”
“Uh, uh, I-I...”
Only then did Yohan begin to slowly realize what was happening. He had beco a high-tier Awakened—and now he could cure contamination. ...He could cure contamination, which had always been known to be incurable?! Yohan was more overjoyed by this than by becoming a high-tier Awakened. His emotions stirred the cluster of light around him, which scattered into even brighter rays.
“No wonder it was weird. Usually, food starts rotting, decomposing, or mutating the mont it enters the Abyss. But everything you picked up sohow looked and tasted edible. And you, no matter how much ti passed, showed no signs of contamination.”
Only then did Yohan realize why Hyunmook had always hesitated to eat the food he’d scavenged or looked at it with suspicious eyes.
“Then... then... does that an you can return to normal now?!”
Could he stop eting the terrifying madman Hyunmook from now on? Yohan asked excitedly, and Hyunmook gave a faint smile. Then he replied.
“Maybe, no.”
“That’s great...! ...Wait, what? No?”
Yohan blinked in confusion. Hyunmook dusted himself off and stood up. As Yohan tried to follow, Hyunmook gently pushed him back down and said,
“To return to normal... I’ve been here far too long.”
“But... isn’t it too early to say that for sure? I haven’t even properly used my ability yet...”
Hyunmook didn’t argue with Yohan, but he didn’t agree either. He just smiled.
“I’ll go pick up so supplies. Sit here and rest.”
Before Yohan could say anything more, Hyunmook was already striding away. Still dazed, Yohan watched the man who had nearly died earlier bend down to pick up a dented can.
Suddenly, a bird fluttered past above Yohan’s head—one that looked just like the ones he’d purified. It chirped as it flew. Now that he looked around, even the grass that had turned a dark, dull brown was a vibrant, healthy green. The area within the range of his ability was faintly lit as if touched by sunlight.
“Can’t return to normal, huh...”
Yohan shook his head, mumbling in disappointnt. Hyunmook had been too quick to declare that. If he kept purifying and purifying again, until it worked—then maybe, soday, Hyunmook could return to normal. With that resolve, Yohan opened his eyes wide.
And the light that had been drifting above his hands fizzled out.
“Huh? Uh, what?”
“What’s wrong?”
Hyunmook returned with an armful ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) of canned food and set it down. Yohan groaned in distress and cried out in panic.
“My ability... isn’t working anymore!”
“It’s normal. Right after Awakening, you can’t control your power properly. And you just used it all up at once. Co on, let’s eat.”
Thanks to Hyunmook’s calm and composed tone, Yohan was able to settle down quickly. Just as he said, he did feel like sothing inside his body had been hollowed out.
Once Yohan had been soothed, Hyunmook began sorting through the cans. One-third had beco completely inedible during the fight with the monster, another third had burst or been crushed. The remaining third were still intact. Yohan sighed with regret.
“What a waste...”
“Well, we can’t do anything about the ones that burst. We’ll just have to eat them all now.”
Nodding, Yohan began opening the cans one by one. But then, he noticed Hyunmook crouching near the fire, skewering sothing. When he looked over, his jaw dropped. Sohow, without Yohan noticing, Hyunmook had caught, cleaned, and prepped three frogs and was now roasting them over the flas.
“F-Frogs?!”
Startled, Yohan pointed at them without thinking. Adjusting the angle of the skewers, Hyunmook replied,
“Either way, if we let them go, they’d die or turn back into monsters. It’s better to eat them and turn them into calories.”
It was a bit of a shock, but Hyunmook had a point. Yohan rembered how the insane version of Hyunmook had once tried to serve him rotten monster frog legs. Compared to that, these roasted frogs were actual food.
“They’re kind of big, though...”
The biggest frog Yohan had ever known was a bullfrog, and these were clearly larger than that. Slight exaggeration, but they were about the size of a chicken.
“The poison or contamination would’ve disappeared during purification, but the overgrown body mass would’ve stayed the sa.”
“I see...”
Yohan suddenly beca curious. If he purified a giant monster frog, would it turn into a giant frog leg he could eat? And then he had another thought.
“So... if I hunt other monsters and purify them, I can eat them too?”
“Yeah. You’ve got one less thing to worry about—food and water. Normally, eating that stuff speeds up contamination.”
Yohan’s eyes sparkled so much that Hyunmook unconsciously reached out. When Yohan flinched in surprise at the touch on his flushed cheek, Hyunmook followed with a soft stroke of his hair. Yohan’s face grew even redder. The sound of frogs crackling over the fire echoed between them.
It was the first ti since falling into the Abyss that they had a full, satisfying al. There were more dented cans than expected. Though Hyunmook said he didn’t need to eat, Yohan bravely tried one of the frog skewers. The look was unappetizing, but it tasted surprisingly good—like underseasoned chicken.
After their satisfying al, the two of them began reorganizing their supplies. Since Hyunmook’s backpack had been shredded to pieces, they retrieved the mattress cover they’d used to tie themselves together. Using it like a sack, they wrapped up the cans, and Hyunmook slung Yohan’s pack over his own shoulders.
“Your arm’s broken. You need to be careful.”
“...Thank you.”
Yohan answered awkwardly. Since his Awakening, the pack didn’t feel that heavy anymore, but he was grateful for Hyunmook’s gesture. With the crisis behind them and their stomachs full, Yohan got chatty again as he followed behind Hyunmook.
“Do you think I could punch monsters away with one hit now too, like you?”
Hyunmook glanced back with a faint smile and answered firmly.
“Of course not.”
“W-What?”
“If you’re a healer-type, probably not. Especially if you haven’t trained or had any real combat experience.”
Co to think of it, Hyunmook was right. Not all Awakened had the sa strength or stamina. Hyunmook was a lee DPS or a tank—among the strongest physically. Next ca supporters, then healers. Yohan, not discouraged, asked again.
“Then... am I stronger than a mid-tier DPS?”
“If it’s a ranged DPS, maybe.”
Encouraged by that, Yohan asked again with a flutter of hope.
“Then what about lee DPS...”
“You’d lose. Why?”
“My older brother is a lee DPS... He’s so damn smug about it.”
Yohan replied with a sulky look this ti, and Hyunmook asked with a hint of amusent,
“Want to punch him?”
“...If I could, yeah.”
But his face darkened right after. It wasn’t just the limits of class or tier—it was because unless he escaped the Abyss, it would never be possible. The mood sank instantly. Yohan quickly tried to lift the mood again.
“By the way, do you know what this place is? Where do we go next?”
The hellish subway tunnel was behind them now, and the place where they’d fought monsters was a fairly wide plain. And surrounding that plain was a dark forest.
“I gave nas to each zone myself. The place we stayed before was the Ruined City, and this place... I guess you could call it the Swamp Zone.”
“Swamp... zone...”
Just hearing the na gave off an overwhelming sense of hardship. Yohan silently prayed that his hunch was wrong.
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