By Zephyria 
[Sisters, brothers. To be honest, I’m a survivor of the Id Portal at the MA Department Store.]
Bae Jihan, who already had a decent number of subscribers from posting game play videos at school, spent his broadcast enthusiastically chatting about his survival in the Id Portal rather than gaming.
[One swing of that mister’s sword and a magical beast died, for real. You guys have no idea how cool he was in the Id Portal…]
[I’m even on texting terms with him! Maybe it’s because he looks so young that I don’t really feel it when we talk in person, but when we text, he’s kind of like an old man.]
[So anyway, I was walking up the department store escalator with him, and suddenly he just scooped me up in his arms. …Oh, yeah. A princess carry, just like he did for Guild Master Tae-un. He held me and leaped a few times, and we went from the 4th floor to the 8th floor instantly! Insane, right?]
[I blinked, and I was on the 8th floor. Guild Master Tae-un was there too, and since I’m kind of tall and have some muscle, I guess I looked heavy. As soon as he saw the mister holding me, he got angry, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, and threw me backward. I’m not even that heavy.]
[I flew through the air twice that day. Once because the mister carried me, and once because Guild Master Tae-un threw me.]
Parts of this broadcast were regenerated as captures titled “The Airheaded Bottom Who Cheerfully Trolls Tae-un.”
I always thought our Guild Master was totally nuts, but he’s actually really patient in front of that hyung lol
His fans whispered that Bae Jihan was likely the first and last person to ever troll Tae-un and remain unscathed.
While various topics were flooding in, Kim Si-baek was pondering a completely different kind of problem.
‘Should I move out?’
Tae-un’s confession… he wasn’t sure if the sweet word “confession” could be applied to such aggressive sex-flirting, but regardless, he had rejected the confession repeatedly. Naturally, Tae-un must feel uncomfortable.
Moreover, to be honest, it was true that every time he saw Tae-un, the thought of kissing naturally came to mind, leaving him feeling restless.
At the same time, he had officially become a hunter. If he felt that Tae-un was acting awkward, he decided it would be best to maintain some physical distance and find a place to live outside for a while.
However, despite his worries, Tae-un remained the same.
“Hyung, it’ll be annoying for a while because people will recognize you, so do you want to order dinner at home today?”
These were the first words Tae-un casually dropped upon coming up to the penthouse on the evening he had rejected the confession. Kim Si-baek felt inwardly relieved that Tae-un’s behavior had returned to how it was before the giant vine incident, and he treated him comfortably—while trying his best not to look at the man’s lips.
A few days passed like that. He looked around the Management Center, the site of the incident, in the early dawn, but there were no particular changes. The slim hope that there might be traces of the chaos grand warrior vanished. Gwak Yun-sang seemed extremely busy with the cleanup, so he hesitated to ask for other materials.
Returning home without any results, Kim Si-baek booted up his laptop and clicked the mouse. The mouse pointer wandered around before clicking on the news tab.
“Do you know how to look up old newspapers?”
Biyendwe, who was hopping around playing a rhythm game on the tablet Tae-un had given him, narrowed his eyes.
[Death and Beauty demands to know how long he must keep spoon-feeding you.]
“I’m too lazy to type… Ow.”
After trying to use the god as a search bot and rubbing his pinched finger, Kim Si-baek slowly typed in ‘how to look up old newspapers.’ Fortunately, this time, a relevant site appeared immediately without any wandering. It seemed Earth’s information on past media was also public.
What he needed to search for was already decided. Kim Si-baek took a breath and slowly moved his fingers. Characters were entered into the search bar one by one: National Fencing Representative Kim Si-baek.
“…”
It was something he didn’t necessarily need to be nervous about. He had already seen the news articles Tae-un had clipped. Yet, checking it again, he couldn’t help the feeling of a cold sinkhole opening in the depths of his heart.
Articles about the national fencing representative were searchable, but not a single one intersected with the person named Kim Si-baek. Not only the international competitions he had entered, but all the domestic ones as well.
Recalling the articles and interviews reporting the news of the first-ever medal in Olympic fencing, he wore a bitter smile. He had lived so diligently, yet it was this easy for the traces of a life to vanish.
[Death and Beauty watches you with concern.]
“I’m fine. I already had an immunity shot, so I knew.”
Responding playfully, Kim Si-baek began to calmly read the articles, searching for the vanished traces. He intended to analyze the parts he hadn’t been able to think deeply about before, as the reality of his disappearance had been too shocking when he first received the newspapers from Tae-un.
‘I’ve registered as a hunter, and since there are no quests right now, I have some spare time. I’ll probably be busy once I officially become a guild member.’
The void left by Kim Si-baek was a mess. In the lists of Korean athletes who competed in the Olympics or Asian Games, he was deleted entirely, leaving the count one person short. In the records and award lists of domestic matches, another athlete’s name was recorded instead of his. His younger siblings’ memories followed the former pattern.
‘From what the kids said, it felt like there wasn’t even anyone similar to me.’
If so, what about the latter case? Could it be a clue as to why his existence had vanished from Earth?
At least looking at domestic competitions, the fencing club members from high school should have retained their memories. However, finding the members from that time was a distant prospect. He couldn’t keep asking Tae-un for help forever.
‘Ah, come to think of it, Un-i mentioned Tae Cheol-hun?’
Kim Si-baek pushed the search date further back. August 199X, the time he took a long-awaited break after the President’s Cup National Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships. That very summer when he met Tae-un.
〈It seems hyung’s memory was replaced by a random local person passing by.〉
Just as Tae-un said, Kim Si-baek’s role at the time had been replaced by an anonymous man. Unlike the memories of the commotion that had lasted for a while, once his role was changed to someone else, the articles from the beginning of the incident became very meager. Even Tae Cheol-hun, who had been sentenced to death, had his sentence reduced to life imprisonment.
“Tae Cheol-hun is said to be at Jeongseon Prison, so I should be able to meet him. I’ve also just received my new ID card.”
[Death and Beauty asks where Jeongseon Prison is.]
“…Where was it?”
Unable to stand Kim Si-baek’s “eagle-typing” method, where it took several seconds to enter a single consonant or vowel, Biyendwe searched for it himself on the phone. The location of Jeongseon Prison, where serious criminals were incarcerated, appeared quickly.
When Kim Si-baek struggled to find the menu button on the Ministry of Justice’s Correction Service website, Biyendwe fluttered his wings and slapped the back of his hand.
[Death and Beauty beats his chest, saying he can’t stand the frustration.]
“Oh, then could you find out how to apply for a visit?”
Together with the baby crow’s feet, which touched and moved the screen with familiarity, he looked through the website. As it happened, same-day visit applications were possible.
[Death and Beauty asks what happens if a man like Tae Cheol-hun refuses the visit.]
“I’ll just say I’m a reporter or a novelist researching a story based on a past incident.”
Kim Si-baek gave a bitter smile.
“He loved chatting in interviews back then, too.”
[Death and Beauty explains that in modern terms, he’s an attention seeker.]
“What is an attention seeker?”
The internet-addicted baby bird chattered excitedly, and Kim Si-baek nodded along as he applied for the visit over the phone. As expected, Tae Cheol-hun did not refuse the visit.
Tae Cheol-hun, the mass murderer.
The culprit who murdered Tae-un’s parents and neighbors 30 years ago, kidnapped and imprisoned the young boy, and the person who dragged Kim Si-baek’s life as a fencer into the mire.
✽ ✽ ✽
If he said he was going to visit Tae Cheol-hun, Tae-un would definitely insist on coming along. Although the current Tae-un didn’t seem to harbor great resentment toward Tae Cheol-hun, it couldn’t be comfortable to meet the man who murdered one’s parents. Thus, he played dumb until they had lunch together.
Today’s cafeteria menu was pollack stew. While Kim Si-baek felt unsettled by Tae-un’s attitude—claiming he was being filial to his elders while bringing him the hot soup—Tae-un casually dropped a question while chewing on a piece of pollack.
“Hyung. Where are you going today?”