By Zephyria 
✽ ✽ ✽
The final battle had been long. It was deep into the night when Edokus’s core was destroyed, and it was afternoon by the time he crossed over to Earth. Excluding the time spent talking with Tae-un, he had been in a state of tension for nearly an entire day, so he was considerably exhausted. Despite that, he woke up as the first light of dawn broke.
Seeing that the ceiling reflected in his eyes was not a temporary structure on a battlefield, Kim Si-baek sat up in surprise. Looking around, even the style of the room was unfamiliar. As he gradually recognized the interior decorated with a bed, a nightstand, and picture frames, an involuntary chuckle escaped him.
This was not mak slecht. This was Earth. His hometown. The place where the people he missed, and Tae-un, were.
‘…It wasn’t a dream.’
Kim Si-baek rubbed his face. Around the time he arrived at mak slecht, he had always wandered his homeland in his dreams. Dreams of returning to Earth. Dreams of meeting his younger siblings and the nuns. Dreams of embracing a brightly smiling Tae-un. Because they were dreams, they were poignant and beautiful; and because they were dreams, those forgotten memories had felt futile, only to become reality after several decades.
Last night, despite his fatigue, it seemed he couldn’t sleep deeply because of this exhilaration. The smell of home or the air of his hometown didn’t feel quite real and had changed quite a bit, but this was the place he had longed to return to so desperately. He was happy to have returned with a time difference of only 21 years, and he was happy to confirm that Tae-un had grown up well without any trouble.
‘I thought I had completely given up on returning, but I guess that wasn’t the case.’
The joy of returning to Earth outweighed the bewilderment of suddenly disappearing from mak slecht. Kim Si-baek slowly rubbed the upper left side of his chest, which was providing a pleasant thumping, and got out of bed. Biyendwe, who had been sleeping curled up against a cushion beside him, stirred slightly.
He carefully parted the corner of the curtain, making sure not to make a sound. The face of the young man faintly reflected in the transparent window was familiar from seeing it for decades, but the landscape unfolding below was strange.
It wasn’t even Seoul, but Daejeon.
Though it wasn’t the Han River, a stream stretched out long, and people who had come out to exercise since dawn were strolling or jogging along the riverside path. The sight of birds floating leisurely, gathered on the water’s surface, was so peaceful that it felt like a lie that this place had also become a world where magical beasts appeared.
According to Tae-un, the magical beasts began to appear 21 years ago, immediately after he disappeared through a rift. He couldn’t yet tell if the two situations were related or if it was a mere coincidence.
‘I’ll have to send Lord Biyendwe back to mak slecht.’
When the time came, he must send Biyendwe back. Biyendwe was his god, but not the god of this Earth. What would be the end of a god isolated in a world without a single believer?
But as for himself…
Kim Si-baek fiddled with his ring out of habit and infused it with divine power. A photo appeared. These children, who had been so small, must have grown as tall as Tae-un.
‘No. No one would have grown as much as Un-i.’
Even though it was a trivial thought, a smile spread across his face. Since Min-hyung and Ga-eun were originally tall, they must have grown rapidly, and he wondered if Eun-ho, who he worried about because he never gained weight, had become sturdy. He hoped Han-gyeol had grown up healthy, reading books in moderation and exercising.
The images of his grown siblings, which he had only pictured in his imagination for decades, flickered in his mind. After today, which was a holiday, he would be able to meet them soon. How much would they be like his imagination? How different would they be?
The thumping of his heart quickened slightly. Kim Si-baek knew that the thing making his heart beat was excitement. It was an emotion he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
Perhaps it was the final consideration of the fate that had flung him into mak slecht—that it sent him back to his hometown when he decided to rest after running without pause for long years.
There were many precious connections in mak slecht as well. There were many who would grieve his sudden disappearance. But didn’t he have memories and time built up over a long period? Even if he had to say goodbye, his past decades would not be forgotten or negated. As long as they remembered and longed for each other, they could wish for each other’s happiness from afar.
Yes, this was his hometown, the land where his siblings were and where Tae-un welcomed him. The land he had returned to.
And the land where he must continue to live from now on.
Taking Biyendwe, who clung to him the moment he woke up, into the living room, he found Tae-un just opening the bedroom door.
“Are you going to work on a Sunday? This early?”
Surprised that he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, he asked, and Tae-un nonchalantly brushed back his hair with a gloved hand.
“I find these clothes comfortable.”
“Aha.”
That could happen. There are probably a few more people in the world besides my kid who wear suits as homewear because they’re comfortable. Probably.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah, the mattress was great.”
“It was worth spending the money.”
When he laughed aloud, Tae-un looked down at him with an expression that suggested he hadn’t said anything particularly funny. Kim Si-baek swallowed his laughter and patted his cheek.
“I guess it’s just that it feels real all over again. I had given up on ever having a conversation like this with you. I’m truly happy.”
How long had it been since he had an everyday conversation, like a morning greeting, with him? A gentle warmth spread through his chest, which was full of excitement. The corners of Tae-un’s mouth also relaxed.
“Twenty-one years have passed, but I haven’t aged at all. How did you recognize me right away? Normally, I should be a complete middle-aged man by now.”
“Maybe it’s because you were an adult to me even when you were young, so I couldn’t really imagine you getting older. I think it’s because I kept chewing over the last image I had of your face.”
Tae-un hesitated for a moment and then cautiously asked back.
“…What about you?”
“Hmm?”
“You recognized me as ‘me’ immediately, too. When I was young, I was small and cute, but now I’m weathered like this, I’ve grown huge, and I’m in my thirties…”
Biyendwe looked at Tae-un in horror as he described himself as “cute,” but in Kim Si-baek’s eyes, he only saw a sulky, deflated figure.
“Oh, you’re still bothered by me saying you looked weathered yesterday? It was a joke, a joke. I was so surprised that I made a mistake.”
As he hurried to make excuses and soothe him so the boy wouldn’t feel more upset, only then did Tae-un stealthily gauge his reaction.
“…Really?”
Biyendwe became extremely distressed witnessing the coquetry of a fully grown adult male, but Kim Si-baek went a step further.
“Of course! What animal did I say our Un-i resembled back then?”
“A chick.”
“You’re still exactly the same.”
Kim Si-baek was completely sincere. If one were to gather the cutest, most lovely, and most poignant emotions in the world and give them a name, it would be Tae-un.
Even though he had grown over ten centimeters taller than him, and even though he had put on muscle that made him look at least 20 or 30 kilograms heavier, to him, he still seemed like the tiny five-year-old child who used to gaze up at him in the semi-basement room. Just as the fourteen-year-old Tae-un had been, so was the thirty-five-year-old Tae-un.
The way his sharp eyes softened when he looked at him, and the way his cold voice mixed with soft aegyo when he answered him—it was all the same. He was invariably Tae-un.
Kim Si-baek was very pleased that there was a landscape that remained unchanged, and that its name was Tae-un, despite the long passage of 21 years and the world becoming a place where magical beasts appeared.
[Death and Beauty are covering their ears in agony.]
Biyendwe, reading his surface psychology, was tormented by the reality that Tae-un—who was the size of two air conditioners put together—looked like a chick in his apostle’s eyes. To the point where he momentarily forgot his fear of the unfamiliar world called Earth.
However, unlike the distressed Biyendwe, Tae-un’s bright smile, now looking relieved, filled Kim Si-baek’s heart with pride.
“I’m confessing this now, but I actually didn’t know you’d grow this much. I just thought if you grew really well, you’d be about my height. Or maybe around here? But the reality turned out to be the opposite.”
Kim Si-baek smiled playfully, placing his palm horizontally at the tip of his nose.
“Did you grow about 50 centimeters? Your growing pains must have been terrible during puberty.”
“It really was hard…”
Tae-un whispered weakly in a deep bass that sounded like it was echoing in a cave, leaning in with a familiar gesture. Then, with a strong hand that could easily break a door, he gently touched his forehead and let out a delicate sigh.
“When I said my joints were aching and hurting, Min-hyung just scolded me, asking if I was an old man.”
“If I had been there, I would have at least given you a massage.”
Tae-un’s eyes, which had been lingering like a pure-hearted female lead in a drama, sparkled like a carnivore that had spotted an opportunity.
“It’s not too late now, Hyung.”
“Huh? What?”
“The massage.”
“Ah… should I?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, alright. Go over to the sofa.”
What could he possibly refuse for Tae-un, whom he had met after decades? The sight of Tae-un leaping onto the sofa with lively steps was as adorable as a child excited to receive a toy.
[Death and Beauty are gravely concerned that my apostle suffered brain damage while passing through the dimensional portal.]
The joyful time passed in the blink of an eye. The stories accumulated, as vast as the gap of 21 and 68 years, were endless. Before they knew it, the night had deepened, and Kim Si-baek’s heart swelled with even more excitement at the thought that he could meet his other siblings tomorrow.
“Did you tell the other kids? They’ll probably be busy working during the day, so I wonder if they can make time after work?”
Tae-un’s expression, which had maintained a beaming smile until now, stiffened mechanically. He bit his lip and rubbed his face before spitting out difficult words.
“…I couldn’t tell you this yesterday because I thought you’d be shocked.”
“Hmm?”
“After you disappeared like that, there is no one who remembers you. You’ve been erased from everyone’s memory.”
“What do you mean by…”
As he blinked blankly, not immediately understanding what was being said, Tae-un let out a dry, brittle laugh.
“Hyung, for 21 years, while searching for you, I thought I had gone crazy.”