By Zephyria 
“You’re here?”
Tae-un’s expression as he greeted him in the representative’s office was nonchalant. There was a consideration in his plain words and manner, as if he didn’t want to place any burden on Kim Si-baek’s choice, which brought a bitter smile to Si-baek’s lips. Had his agitation been so apparent that the boy felt the need to worry?
“Can I see your hand?”
“My hand?”
Tae-un tilted his head in confusion, then obediently placed his left hand on the palm Kim Si-baek held out.
“Take off the glove.”
Still looking puzzled, Tae-un removed the leather glove from his right hand and presented it. On the back of the child’s hand—which had grown so much compared to old memories—calluses and scars remained distinct and rough.
The first person to carve a scar into this child’s hand had been him.
〈Hyung. Please don’t be sick… I hate it when you’re sick… If you leave me like Mom and Dad did, I’ll kill myself too…〉
Recalling the tiny hand that had clung to him while he was drenched in blood, Kim Si-baek stroked the hand of the now-grown boy. If he were to turn away and leave, how many more scars would be carved into the back of this hand, and onto those cheeks?
The shock of losing his existence had merely blurred his vision; perhaps the answer to his dilemma had been decided from the start.
“Hyung. Is something wrong?”
Tae-un tilted his head worriedly. Even in a world that had forgotten him, the voice that called and followed him unchangingly wrapped around Kim Si-baek softly.
Tae-un was here. The younger brother he had personally named. His child.
Even if everyone else had forgotten, his child, Tae-un, remembered him.
“If you’re not too busy, would you like to go outside with me?”
“…Alright.”
Perhaps he had read his heart. As Tae-un quietly bowed his head, his eyes looked somewhat precarious.
It was a sunny day.
This was the first time he had stepped outside the building since the first day of his return. Unlike the chaotic first day, Kim Si-baek looked around his surroundings slowly. The bustling street centered around the 7777 Guild headquarters was full of people’s vitality.
“I saw on YouTube on my way to work today…”
“The cost-performance of the manufactured magical tools is…”
The daily lives of people brushed past him. Despite the world becoming a place where lives were threatened by magical beasts, people continued to live without despair. Among those passing by on the street, who could possibly know of the foretold destruction?
[Death and Beauty close their eyes with a sigh.]
Not seeing Tae-un, he looked back to find him standing under a dark shadow, away from the gaze of the crowd. One of the people heading into the 7777 Guild happened to spot Tae-un and approached him. It was Lee Han-gyeol.
Lee Han-gyeol’s complexion looked better than yesterday, as if he had gotten some decent sleep. He spoke familiarly to Tae-un, who stood there without much reaction. Like a long-held longing.
The shadow of the heart, which he could not face due to the pain and loss of being forgotten by everyone, gradually became distinct, and the image of Lee Han-gyeol’s miserably sprawled corpse faded. He could make it disappear. He could turn it into a future that would not arrive. As long as he had the resolve.
“Un-ah.”
Feeling a vibrant color being painted over the ashen shadow, Kim Si-baek walked toward Tae-un. Lee Han-gyeol, looking between the two, quickly bowed his head and stepped away.
Only the two of them remained under the shade where Tae-un stood. His younger brother, now much taller, gazed down at him blankly.
“I was going to go back, but I can’t. Even if my younger brothers or the nun don’t remember me, I remember them.”
The precious people he had tried to forget, and thought he had forgotten, but in truth had not forgotten a single one of, were alive. Could he turn away from them? Could he leave them knowing that destruction was imminent?
If that were possible, he would not be Kim Si-baek.
[Death and Beauty fall into a melancholy silence.]
“I should try as much as I can.”
He laughed lightly and gave a playful tap to the back of Tae-un’s hand.
“That doesn’t mean I’m giving up on going back. Quests have an end eventually, right? It’s not like I can return to mak slecht immediately, so I’ll try to find a way while slowly completing the quests.”
“….”
It was while Tae-un’s unreadable gaze stared at him silently. Suddenly, a system window appeared in the corner of his vision.
[The system has been waiting for the Returner’s answer! (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑) At this point, it’s time to reveal a gift for the Returner, isn’t it?]
If you successfully complete the final quest and save Earth from destruction, the path to return to mak slecht will open before the Returner.
[Then, our beloved Returner, fighting!]
The system message disappeared before he even had a chance to react. Kim Si-baek, staring blankly into the air, twitched his lips once and then bit them hard.
“Ha…”
It was absurd. After unilaterally cornering him, the system had tossed out the method of returning to mak slecht as if granting a casual act of generosity. And Kim Si-baek knew that he would desperately cling to the generosity the system had arrogantly offered. Because, as of now, this was the only way to return.
The system must have been certain of what choice he would make. Otherwise, it would have presented the sweet reward of ‘make bad’ while he was still floundering in his worries.
Now, Kim Si-baek’s goal was completely fixed, whether by his own will or another’s. To prevent the destruction of Earth by fulfilling the quests assigned by the system.
The feeling of being toyed with in the palm of the system’s hand was extremely unpleasant, but there was no other way. He had to prevent the destruction of this world to save Tae-un and his other brothers, and then return to mak slecht.
“Hyung? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
Perhaps unsettled by his sudden change in mood, worry clouded Tae-un’s eyes. Kim Si-baek shook off the unpleasantness with a bitter smile.
He would have to explain things to Tae-un, but not right now. For now, he wanted to focus only on the time spent with him.
Steadying his heart, Kim Si-baek cupped Tae-un’s scarred cheek.
“Un-ah. It would be a lie to say it wasn’t a shock to be forgotten by people. But still, you remember me.”
“….”
“Even if everyone forgot me, you didn’t, and I’ve met you, grown up safely. That’s enough for me.”
Tae-un, who had been listening in silence, took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against the nape of Kim Si-baek’s neck. Enduring the heavy weight pressing down on him, Kim Si-baek patted his back. It was a back broader and firmer than his own.
“Hyung, you really haven’t changed. So…”
The low words at the end crumbled inside Tae-un’s mouth, and for a long time afterward, Kim Si-baek did not know what he had been trying to say.
At that moment, he also did not know the voice that was encroaching upon Tae-un’s brain.
「Splendid.」
A layered voice sent its admiration.
「Our child. You knew what the apostle of the young god would decide.」
Ah, yes. Tae-un closed his eyes while leaning on Kim Si-baek. There was no need to hold on or plead. Because he knew that even if he fell into confusion, he would eventually choose the ‘right’ thing. His brilliance, which would never be worn down or faded by any storm.
‘That’s why, Hyung.’
Beneath the hidden face that Kim Si-baek could never see, a self-destructive madness flickered.
‘If it’s you, Hyung, you will definitely…’
✽ ✽ ✽
Before they could enjoy the joy of defeating Edokus, a new chaos struck mak slecht.
The apostle of Death and Beauty, who had raised the fame of the god Biyendwe—once a god whose name was rarely known, let alone having believers—to a god known by everyone in mak slecht, had disappeared along with his god.
Gloiuken An Tr Suapshekh Elwid, the grand warrior of Death and Beauty, paced anxiously in front of the prayer room. Since she could feel the divinity connected, however faintly, at least her god was safe. But what about the apostle, who was no different from her teacher?
‘Judging objectively, the possibility of Lord Biyendwe, who manifested as an avatar, surviving alone is extremely slim. His Excellency must be protecting him.’
So, while she concluded that the two were likely safe for now, she was still uneasy. After guarding the prayer room for a long time while calming her racing heart, the heavily closed door finally opened, and the pontiff of Death and Beauty emerged, supported by priests.
“Your Holiness!”
Gloiuken quickly ran and knelt before the pontiff. The pontiff, who had been synchronizing his soul with the divine realm for a long time, placed a wrinkled hand on Gloiuken’s shoulder with a very exhausted expression.
“The detailed reason is unknown, but it seems Lord Biyendwe and the apostle have been transferred to the world that was the apostle’s original hometown.”
“Do you mean the place called Earth?”
“That is correct. Because the young god was swept up in it, the divine realm is also in great turmoil. We have decided to open a dimension boundary in mak slecht to bring the two of them back. Furthermore, since the fragments of Edokus disappeared with them…”
As if even speaking a short sentence was taxing, the pontiff breathed heavily several times and finished his words in a slow but firm tone.
“Grand warrior. I shall give an oracle to you and your sibling.”
Gloiuken politely kissed the back of the pontiff’s hand.
“It is what my sibling and I desire. We will surely bring back His Excellency the apostle and our god.”