By Zephyria 
“Hey, you bastard!”
Though there was no crosswalk and he couldn’t see a thing, Na Jeong-woo leaped across the roadway. Screech! Screeeech! The sounds of panicked cars slamming on their brakes and a barrage of curses rained down behind him. It was a commotion so great that it was a miracle no traffic accident occurred, but he ignored it all.
The foreigner, who had been walking briskly, eventually started to run, but it was impossible to shake off a hunter who was using abilities to accelerate. In less than two minutes, Na Jeong-woo grabbed the man by the shoulder.
“Repeat after me: you’re dead… huh?”
“Wh-wh-wh-why are you doing this?”
Na Jeong-woo’s eyes widened as he held the foreign man with a grip that felt like it would crush bone. The person trembling like a frightened rabbit was indeed a young foreigner, but not a man—a woman.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You look just like a fugitive from our guild.”
As he awkwardly let go, she hurriedly rounded the corner. Watching her flee, Na Jeong-woo scratched his head. Strange. From a distance, he was certain it was a man.
Edokus didn’t stop walking until he was at least ten blocks away from where he had encountered Na Jeong-woo.
“Haa, haaa…”
Having fled so frantically that he was completely out of breath, he collapsed onto the ground, unable to control his shaking legs. His body had truly become pathetic and weak.
‘Damn apostle.’
Gasping for air, Edokus clutched his head. Since his composite sketch had been distributed to the 7777 Guild members, he could no longer even perform reconnaissance. He had been able to bewitch the man just now because he had used him as a puppet once before, but would that work on other Awakened?
He had lost any way to track the apostle’s movements. Edokus felt an agonizing anxiety, fearing that the apostle might appear at any moment and slit his throat.
To make matters worse, he could no longer work his part-time job.
‘That jerk! Isn’t this a violation of portrait rights…’
The fact that his sketch had been distributed to the 7777 Guild meant that the convenience stores outside the barrier were also dangerous. Members of the 7777 Guild often stopped by convenience stores while heading out for field hunts.
‘Damn it, I haven’t even received this week’s pay yet.’
Edokus shuddered at the apostle’s cruelty in cutting off his source of income first. Since he had been handling his food and lodging at the convenience store, he now had nowhere to stay. Then again, the thought of going into the field and blending in with magical beasts was terrifying because of the hunters who came to hunt them.
As he was gripped by a fierce dilemma over whether he should lie down on a newspaper in the Daejeon Station plaza, he heard footsteps. The sound, which he thought would pass him by, grew steadily closer and then stopped right in front of him.
“Wow, the quest actually led me to you. To possess magical energy… you’re a very unique person, aren’t you? But are you even human?”
✽ ✽ ✽
The difference between the poison and the reagent Kim Si-baek manufactured was the inherent divine power. The reagent would be absorbed into the body, fuse with the residual poison, and mix with the divine power. The principle was that the evenly mixed divine power would purify even the residual poison.
‘If it were an apostle of a god with a divinity close to purification, they wouldn’t need to take the long way around like I did.’
For the current Kim Si-baek, this was the best possible measure. Since it was an indirect purification, pain similar to the symptoms of an illness occurred, much like the general process of recovering while suffering through a disease. Kim Si-baek remained highly alert, wondering when he might feel a fever coming from Tae-un.
However, Tae-un was fine. Too fine.
Because the bed destroyed this morning had not yet been cleared, Tae-un had come to the sofa wrapped in a blanket, pretending to be a patient, and was now lying with his head on Kim Si-baek’s lap, watching TV. He was munching on strawberries that Kim Si-baek had trimmed the stems off of with a paring knife.
[Death and Beauty says that if you’re fine, then there’s no problem. He adds that not everyone feels pain when purifying old poison with this method.]
“That is true…”
[Death and Beauty warns you not to worry, as your brother is the picture of health.]
Just as some people recover quickly from the same cold due to their immunity or physical strength, while others see their condition worsen into a severe illness.
Tae-un, accustomed to the sight of Kim Si-baek conversing with Biyendwe—which to others looked like he was muttering to himself while looking at a bird—kept his eyes indifferently on the TV screen. Then, as if suddenly noticing something, he fluttered his long eyelashes delicately and rubbed his cheek against the lap he was using as a pillow. The groan that escaped his pale lips was quite frail.
“Ah, I’m dizzy…”
Hmm, this is just an exaggeration.
Whether Kim Si-baek narrowed his eyes in certainty or not, Tae-un let out a sorrowful moan.
“I think I’d feel better if Hyung kissed me…”
“Wouldn’t a god’s blessing be more effective than a priest’s?”
As Kim Si-baek held Biyendwe with both hands and aimed for his backside, Tae-un suddenly played innocent, as if he had never been exaggerating. It was a peaceful afternoon.
The day passed without incident until dinner—specifically, until Kim Si-baek spoon-fed him porridge again.
“What are you going to do about the bed?”
“I’ll clear it out slowly and then order a new one.”
“I’ll sleep on the sofa until then, so you use my room.”
“Hyung, you’re so bold…”
Tae-un’s cheeks flushed red as he sat on the sofa, having tried to lie on Kim Si-baek’s lap again immediately after dinner, only to be nagged that it would hinder his digestion.
“Who knows what I might do to the blankets and pillows that smell like Hyung…”
“I’m taking the blankets and pillows with me to sleep on the sofa.”
“Your scent is on the bed, too.”
[Death and Beauty suggests that you just destroy one more bed while you’re at it.]
The voice was still something he wanted to punch, but since it also meant things were peaceful, Kim Si-baek felt a subconscious sense of relief. Noticing his expression, Tae-un gave a bright, crescent-eyed smile and leaned against his shoulder. A slightly hot body temperature was transmitted, but it was merely a mild fever.
“I don’t think anything serious will happen, but since we don’t know how it might worsen, please tell me immediately if you feel unwell, don’t hold it in.”
“Mm-hmm, I will.”
Listening to the voice that dragged out the end of the sentence like a spoiled child, Kim Si-baek stroked his hair.
As the anxiety that their relationship might change subsided, the child’s desire reached him more vividly.
If he had known that the other person was projecting an unwanted desire onto him, he would have cut it off long ago. But the person was none other than Tae-un. While turning away, he finally faced what he had chewed over for a long time, and the shape became clearer.
Even though he intuitively felt that the other’s fire would eventually consume him up to his head, the fact that he was letting it happen was…
It was Tae-un’s voice that rescued Kim Si-baek from the thoughts that seemed to deepen yet only vaguely circled the perimeter. Tae-un stood up with a beaming smile.
“I’m just going to the bathroom for a moment.”
Still wrapped in the blanket to maintain the appearance of being sick, Tae-un trotted into the bedroom.
“Not using the bathroom outside?”
“It’s embarrassing.”
The moment the door closed, the expression of Tae-un, who had entered the bedroom so nonchalantly, completely changed. He leaned against the wall as far from the door as possible, but soon slid down to the floor. His head felt as if it had been plunged into boiling water, and his senses were turned upside down in a chaotic mess. Damn it. To keep this symptom from being discovered, he had no choice but to stay away from Kim Si-baek, but he didn’t want to. He couldn’t.
After how they had met, how could he distance himself?
Tae-un grit his teeth and pressed hard against his forehead. He had to calm it down quickly so it wouldn’t be found out.
Seeing Tae-un disappear into his bedroom where the broken bed lay, Kim Si-baek hugged a cushion and stared blankly at the TV. Even after he changed the program to an animation for Biyendwe and a considerable amount of time had passed, there was still no sign of Tae-un from the bathroom.
[Death and Beauty suspects that the digestive system of my apostle’s brother is suffering from a profound impairment.]
“Un-i is a fairy, so he only eats dew. He went to wash up.”
At the deadpan response, Biyendwe wore an expression of sheer disbelief. Regardless, it was true that he was taking too long, so Kim Si-baek, growing worried, headed toward the bedroom.
“Un-ah, what’s taking you so l—”
Kim Si-baek, who had only poked his head through the door to ask, was struck with horror. Tae-un was not in the bathroom, but collapsed in the corner of the bedroom.
“Un-ah!”
It wasn’t an exaggeration. Stepping over the wreckage of the bed, Kim Si-baek rushed over to help Tae-un up, and he froze white. Biyendwe, who had also flown over in surprise, froze stiffly.
What emanated from the unconscious Tae-un was a thick, viscous magical energy. A magical energy that should never be detected from a human, let alone someone who wasn’t a magical beast.