174 – An Untimely Graduation # 3

174 – An Untimely Graduation # 3

Flash-.

Hanamjin, asleep in his chair, snapped his eyes open.

Those eyes scattered a rainbow-like, ethereal light left and right, a sight that sent shivers prickling down Yoo Yeoreum’s spine.

What that meant was ‘warning.’

“Everyone, get away!”

Kwaaang-!!!

Had Yoo Yeoreum not shouted so quickly, everyone would have been caught in that explosion and severely injured.

Yoo Yeoreum, whose physical abilities were tough in many respects, was the first to regain her senses. The presidential residence, including the office itself, had crumbled as if hit by a bomb.

Amidst the scattered debris of concrete and cement, stood Hanamjin. He appeared completely unharmed by the massive explosion.

“Deok-sun-ah, are you alright?”

Geum Taeseong cleared away the collapsed concrete and helped Oh Deokhee to her feet.

Oh Deokhee found herself supported by Geum Taeseong, a situation that felt rather romantic, making her heart flutter. Yet, at the same time, she was terrified by the explosion and the anomaly caused by Hanamjin.

Because something felt distinctly off.

“What in the world is going on? Has Namjin fully awakened as the ‘Red King’ or something?”

Oh Deokhee gazed at Hanamjin, standing amidst the ruins.

The sight of him scattering rainbow-like light from his ethereal eyes in all directions was both incredibly mystical and chilling.

“An unusual glint in his eyes….”

Team ‘No Leftovers’ had fought many beings with glowing eyes like that, and they knew exactly what state Hanamjin was in.

Hanamjin had become possessed by a demon.

“Namjin really has become the ‘Red King’.”

Oh Deokhee, full of all sorts of knowledge, was quickly coming to a conclusion.

Just then, Yoo Yeoreum took a deep breath, inhaling the mana in the air through her skin, and shook her head.

“No, that’s not the ‘Red King’ or anything like it. I encountered the ‘Red King’ in the Great Labyrinth a few times when I was kidnapped by Hanamjin. That’s something else.”

Yoo Yeoreum had a good sense.

Even if she couldn’t explain it exactly, she could vaguely understand that the current Hanamjin had become something different from the ‘Red King’ she had seen before.

“Then our plan worked!”

Baek Yeoul exclaimed, elated.

But Yu Yureum’s tale was far from over.

“I don’t know why, but from this moment on, nothing that happens will be strange. Everyone, be careful.”

Yu Yureum heightened her vigilance and tension to the absolute maximum.

Her instincts told her that Ha Namjin was something even more dangerous than the “Red King” she had encountered before.

*Attack first, or be destroyed*—that animalistic sensation dominated her mind. She gathered every ounce of strength in her body and coiled it around herself.

*Wuuung…*

Yu Yureum began to radiate light, truly like the sun.

She burst forth, fast as light, and struck Ha Namjin’s unguarded face with her fist.

“What…!?”

But Yureum was caught utterly by surprise.

Her fist, infused with all her might, was blocked with utter ease by Ha Namjin’s index finger.

And that wasn’t all.

Yureum realized her fist was stuck fast to Ha Namjin’s finger, impossible to pull away.

*Slithering…*

To be precise, her fist was being absorbed into Ha Namjin’s finger as if being devoured. Slowly, like a deer sinking into a swamp.

Startled, Yu Yureum swung her other fist at Ha Namjin’s face.

*Swoosh…*

But rather than the sensation of striking a face, it felt like hitting a wet clay doll. And that fist, too, was slowly absorbed into Ha Namjin’s face.

“Yureum Kick!”

Growing impatient, Yureum kicked Ha Namjin’s groin with all her force.

*Swoosh…*

But even Yureum’s foot was being sucked in, absorbed into Ha Namjin’s legs.

Yu Yureum was, in truth, being devoured by Ha Namjin, who had become a ‘swamp’.

“To think I’d become one with Ha Namjin like this.”

Eventually, Yu Yureum was absorbed completely by Ha Namjin, leaving not even a strand of hair behind.

“Changshik! Give me some chocolate!”

Having noticed something, Oh Deokhee extended her hand to Changshik.

Choi Changshik took bottle caps out of his pocket, exchanged them for chocolate, and handed it to Oh Deokhee.

Oh Deokhee tossed it at Ha Namjin with a *whoosh*.

*Slither…*

The gold coin chocolates clinging to Hanamjin’s body vanished without a trace, just like Yu Yeoreum from moments ago.

Even if it was impossible to know precisely what had become of Yu Yeoreum and the gold coin chocolates, it was undeniable that Hanamjin was sucking things in, as if absorbing them.

“He’s getting bigger with each thing he absorbs. A total giant…”

The problem was, the enlarged Hanamjin was beginning to prey on the children.

“aaah! I, I don’t taste good! Friend! aaah! Isn’t this…wrong between men!?”

Hanamjin descended upon Choi Changshik.

Choi Changshik was instantly absorbed into Hanamjin.

Hanamjin’s rainbow-colored eyes, having erased Choi Changshik, sought its next victim.

“Huh? Me?”

Greatly flustered, Oh Deokhui stumbled backward and fell.

*Thump-*

Hanamjin didn’t miss the moment Oh Deokhui landed hard on his rear. He extended a hand toward Oh Deokhui, and just as it was about to seize his head, something *thwacked-* Hanamjin’s palm.

“Hanamjin, you son of a… Always causing trouble the moment I leave for a second!”

It was Seo Gaeul.

The miraculous power swirling around Seo Gaeul’s palm had, momentarily, forced Hanamjin back.

However, Seo Gaeul was bleeding profusely from every part of his body.

The injuries he’d sustained in the battle with Gu Sejun.

“…I don’t need an explanation. I can see things aren’t good.”

Seo Gaeul rubbed his increasingly blurry eyes and surveyed the surroundings.

He didn’t know the specifics of what had happened, but he knew for certain that he had to stop Hanamjin.

Thankfully, Seo Gaeul had a trump card.

*Shing-*

Seo Gaeul raised his sword, “Danpung.”

“Kore says… This sword was forged from pure hatred to kill the ‘Red King’ during the population control era. No matter how much you’ve been eating, even you will feel a world of pain if you’re stabbed by this.”

Hanamjin, who had been absorbing anything and everything like a starving man picking up fallen food, took a step back, greatly wary of Seo Gaeul and the sword in his hand.

“Hanamjin, to be honest, you ruined my life. And I ruined yours. We’re each other’s enemies. Perhaps… I’m simply doing what we should have done long ago.”

*Shing-*

Seo Gaeul aimed “Danpung” at Hanamjin.

Immediately, Baek Yeoul cried out.

“Seo Gaeul, don’t tell me you’re thinking of killing Hanamjin…!?”

Seo Gaeul, instead of answering, glared at Ha Namjin.

Then, she dropped the sword she held in her hand.

Clang, thud-.

The cursed blade embedded itself in the floor.

Seo Gaeul, instead of aiming the sword at Ha Namjin, slowly approached him, extending her hand to embrace the boy’s shoulders.

“Seo Gaeul! What are you doing! You’ll be absorbed!”

Baek Yeoul, tense because she thought Seo Gaeul would stab Ha Namjin, was once again bewildered when she didn’t.

In truth, Seo Gaeul was being absorbed into Ha Namjin’s body, as if pulled into a vortex.

Seo Gaeul, too, questioned her choice to embrace Ha Namjin instead of stabbing him.

It wouldn’t be strange if they became enemies, like sworn rivals.

Could this be some sort of Stockholm syndrome?

‘No, it’s probably something clumsier and more awkward than that.’

The emotion Seo Gaeul harbored for Ha Namjin was fittingly labeled ‘Scorpion Syndrome’.

Just about right.

“Ha Namjin, you’re still in there, right? You can still hear me, can’t you?”

“Seo Gaeul, you! Even in this situation, you’re still batting your eyelashes like a fox! Get off me!”

Baek Yeoul, intending to save Seo Gaeul and separate her from Ha Namjin, grabbed Seo Gaeul’s shoulder and pulled with all her might.

However, Ha Namjin tried to absorb even Baek Yeoul whole. Oh Deokhui, who was watching this scene, grabbed Baek Yeoul’s arm, but it was no use.

“Hyaaak! I’m being eaten too!”

“Ugh….”

“Deoksoon-ah!”

In the end, even Geum Taeseong disappeared into Ha Namjin’s body.

# # #

From birth until now, he had always been alone.

He had refused to become entangled with others, and it seemed he had always been met with wariness.

An anomaly.

It seemed he had always been called that.

The loneliness was vicious, like a never-ending hunger. The pain of never being able to be with anyone kept sharpening his heart, dyeing it like dark clouds.

Then, he would act out of spite, and be even more rejected by others.

A cruel, vicious cycle.

“Black Cloud,” then, was always lonely.

It wasn’t as if it willed itself into being, a fearsome entity called “Annihilation.”

“Black Cloud” was born of the Red Kings’ terror.

More like fear of “Annihilation” taking shape, solidifying.

Therefore, from birth, it was an obstacle to be shunned, overthrown, overcome.

But when I swallowed that pitch-black annihilation whole, I sensed the loneliness, the bleakness, dwelling inside it.

Born only to be hated.

Its loneliness was so like mine, and that was why it so easily seized control.

It devoured everything through my body.

But even when it filled me with other people, that solitude could never be filled.

Only suffering grew, like an unending thirst.

“Where in blazes is this! It’s so dark, I can’t see a thing!”

“Changshik’s voice…Jina, are you in here too?”

“My guess… is we’re inside Namjin’s body…”

“Namjin! Where are you!”

Only the voices of those devoured echoed loudly inside me.

Familiar noises to me.

But not to Black Cloud.

It hated these sounds.

And so, a rift formed between me and Black Cloud, who had been perfectly one.

Thanks to that, I could regain even more control over my own body.

In that instant, Seo Gaeul’s voice rang clear in the darkness.

“Namjin, weren’t you curious what ‘Squishy-Squishy’ is? I can tell you now if you snap out of it!”

What? Squishy-Squishy…!?

That word alone felt like frying my brain.

“I’ll even make kimchi stew! With lots of ketchup, just the way you like it!”

What?

It’s true I like ketchup, but I like it in ramen, not kimchi stew.

Even when my mom made kimchi stew, she kept putting ketchup in it, and it was awful. I just didn’t complain because I’m a good son.

Just thinking about that taste again makes me want to heave.

Ulleong-ulleong-.

No, really, my stomach is churning something fierce.

The extreme nausea snapped me awake.

I opened my eyes to the ruined presidential residence and mounds of concrete before me.

Looks like I’ve managed to regain control of my body.

“I did it! I’m amazing—Uweeueuek-!”

Gaining control was great and all, but wouldn’t you know it, the churning in my stomach finally exploded, unleashing a torrent of vomit.

I was ejecting everything I’d frantically swallowed.

There was Yu Yeoreum, and Baek Yeoul, and Seo Gaeul, kids like Changshik and Deoksoon, too.

Dalgrak-.

And then I spat out a round pebble onto the ground.

The Conceptual Stone of “Immortality.”

It seemed the Conceptual Stone of Immortality, which I hadn’t managed to digest, had sprung out from my gut.

Somehow, my body, which had grown so large, had also returned to its original size.

“Uweek-.”

And lastly, a pitch-black cloud of darkness also came up.

It was “Annihilation.”

So, it finally escaped back into the world.

“Hey! You, get over here!”

I couldn’t let that thing escape like this.

So, as I reached out toward it, my pants pocket bulged—and something popped out.

━Gyuiing.

It was my emergency ration, Eeng-Eeng!

Was my emergency ration, Eeng-Eeng, feeling some kind of appetite for that cola-flavored cloud?

Sky-blue cloud Eeng-Eeng approached the black cloud.

The two clouds, without eyes, seemed to gaze at each other, finally bringing their fluffy bodies together.

The scene looked just like an embrace.

“So, they really are the same species.”

With my stomach completely emptied, and a lighter heart, I came to a conclusion.

The cloud of Annihilation and Eeng-Eeng are the same species.

The two clouds, plump and shifting, drifted languidly -whoosh- towards the sun-brightened sky far away.

It was good, seeing them so amicable.

The Cloud of Ruin always seemed so forlorn in its loneliness.

Having found a friend so like itself, perhaps its sorrow would ease a little.

“Hanam-jjin! Sleeping in a chair is what does it to you!”

Thwack-!

Just then, someone kicked my backside.

“From now on, sleep in a bed, or on a blanket on the floor!”

It was Bbang-ddaengyi.

Beside him, a whole mess of boisterous friends.

“I, I’ve come back to life!”

“A peculiar experience…”

“Deok-soon-ah, are you alright?”

It wasn’t only that strange cloud who had found its likeness.

Neither had I.

Foolish friends who plunged headfirst into danger without a second thought.

The connections I dreamed of in that leaky shack with the hole in the roof – they were all here.

I’m glad to be alive.

Swish-swish – Yoo Yeo-reum stroked her stomach.

“Having become one with Hanam-jin, it might be starting soon… a baby…”

“Yoo Yeo-reum, are you truly insane?”

Seo Ga-eul’s face scrunched up in a ferocious frown.

So much had happened, but seeing Seo Ga-eul made my head feel like it was frying.

“So, what is Mal-lang-mal-lang anyway?”

The decisive phrase that brought me back to my senses was none other than Mal-lang-mal-lang.

“What it is is…”

Seo Ga-eul, uncharacteristically, hemmed and hawed.

Then, in a very small voice, he said:

“Actually, it’s not that impressive. You might be really disappointed when you actually see it. Might even find it funny. But if you’re really curious, I can tell you…”

“Seo Ga-eul, I was born to receive Mal-lang-mal-lang. You don’t need to drag it out.”

“…Alright, so the Secret Squish is, like, a technique born from the endless warring between forest sprites and field sprites. It’s truly a secret weapon to… stop war.”

*Thump.*

Seo Gaeul pulled me into an embrace.

“It’s about hugging with all your love. So our hearts can be as close as possible.”

In other words, the “Squish” I’d dreamt of for so long was just… a hug. Though I suppose it was simpler than I’d expected, or imagined.

As I said before, I was living to receive this “Squish.” And that wasn’t even a little bit of a lie, to the point where I felt like maybe this was what I was born for.

Opening your heart and hugging someone felt *that* good.

Everything felt so soft and malleable, the subtle anger and loneliness coiled within me seemed to wash away, as if cleansed.

If we could truly embrace each other like this, surely war and conflict would simply vanish. Soon, Yoo Yeoreum reached her arms out to me, too.

“Jinah, let’s become one again.”

“You guys, get away from him! Hanam-jjin can’t breathe!”

“Don’t know what’s going on, but feels like we gotta have a victory hug.”

“…We survived, after all.”

Everyone swarmed me, and we hugged like one big lump.

We were so intertwined, you couldn’t tell who was who. The clouds drifting in the sky would probably see us as just one little dot.

I wished they could.