By Zephyria 
Magical energy is the source of magical beasts, originating from chaos. There were two cases where this energy could be felt from a human.
First were the seed bearers who, deceived by a chaos grand warrior, became their followers. In Mak Slecht, they were referred to as traitors or apostates. However, this was not the case for Tae-un. Not only would Kim Si-baek, who was closest to him, have noticed long ago if Tae-un were a seed bearer, but above all, he trusted Tae-un.
Why would Tae-un ever sell out a human?
That left only one remaining cause.
Kim Si-baek spoke slowly, steadying his dizzy head.
“Lord Biyendwe, it would be best if you left.”
[Death and Beauty hurriedly leaves the scene, leaving a word for their apostle not to overexert themselves.]
The swirling magical energy was too thick. It would not be good for a young god to be directly exposed in their avatar form. Understanding his intent, Biyendwe left the room, leaving behind only a gaze filled with lingering worry.
“I’m… fine…”
Perhaps having regained consciousness for a moment, Tae-un tried to push Kim Si-baek away and stand up, but his arm gave out with a limp thud. The magical energy clustered around his body surged even more intensely. He must have been forcibly suppressing the magical energy just like this—so that it wouldn’t be exposed externally.
Then, since when?
He tried his best to remain calm, but the triggered anxiety would not subside. The shock of seeing Tae-un collapsed overlapped with the sight of him coughing up blood at the amusement park, sharply scratching at his brain.
Only then did Kim Si-baek realize that even the hands he had raised to pray were trembling. He pressed his entire palm against his erratically pounding heart and steadied his breathing. If he faltered, who else could treat Tae-un?
Barely managing to steady his voice, he softly recited a prayer. As a barrier to seal the magical energy formed around Tae-un, his steep breathing subsided slightly.
As Tae-un’s body became a bit more comfortable, he tried to push him away again, but Kim Si-baek gripped his hand firmly. Upon physical contact, the magical energy felt even denser. Kim Si-baek stripped the glove off Tae-un’s left hand, which was fidgeting to break free.
“….”
His bare hand, seen for the first time, had been corrupted into a pitch-black color, with the magical energy consuming not only the skin but even the nails.
Kim Si-baek closed his eyes tight. The guess he had made upon sensing the magical energy gradually became clear. After confirming that the skin of the wrist wrapped in the sleeve was also stained black, he began to unbutton the shirt without hesitation.
“Hyung, it’s embarrassing when you suddenly do this.”
Despite the idle remark, Tae-un tried to pull his body back to shake off Kim Si-baek, but his limbs, lacking strength, would not obey.
Having easily stripped the shirt from the struggling Tae-un, Kim Si-baek couldn’t help but groan the moment he saw the bare body, even though he had expected it. The source where the magical energy had taken root was around Tae-un’s heart. The magical energy, clumped in the shape of a heart, was spreading out like blood vessels, consuming the physical body.
Only now did he realize the true nature of the black tattoo visible above the collar. The rest of the left half of his body, hidden by his pants, must also be entirely corrupted into black.
His head spun. This was not the result of being exposed to magical energy for just a year or two. The fact that he had completely failed to notice the symptoms was also a shock. No matter how others felt, as a priest, he should have realized sooner how desperately Tae-un—who always seemed composed—had been suppressing the boiling magical energy within him.
When their eyes met, Tae-un looked down with a resigned expression.
“…When you hunted the upper-class in Busan, you weren’t just poisoned, were you?”
It was a confirmation, not a question. Even in his weakened state, Tae-un faintly curled the corners of his mouth. There was a brief moment of hesitation, but Kim Si-baek, anxious with worry for him, failed to notice it.
“I swallowed magic stones without refining them. To treat the poisoning.”
It was an accumulation of magical energy caused by the overuse of magic stones. Since Earth lacked the technology to refine magic stones, he had heard that it was actually safer from overuse and that such a problem had never occurred until now, so he hadn’t paid much attention.
“Thanks to that, the poisoning symptoms improved a lot, but, well… I didn’t know that using toxic energy to erase poison was a stupid move, as the magical energy is even more fatal than the poison.”
His tone was light, as if trying to brush off the situation as nothing. Kim Si-baek tried to organize his thoughts calmly. If he had swallowed the magic stones of a named magical beast without refining them, it was a miracle he hadn’t died instantly. The fact that he was still alive was nothing short of a miracle.
The precarious balance that had been maintained even while being consumed by magical energy had been disrupted by the absorption of reagents following a new poisoning; how could he have possibly controlled the magical energy? If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have searched for another purification method instead of reagents, even if it took longer.
Kim Si-baek felt miserable at the result caused by his own failure to recognize Tae-un’s symptoms. How, how could he have not known while staying and interacting so closely with him? A sharp edge of guilt clawed at his chest. How many times had Tae-un collapsed alone in places where he wasn’t present?
“…So that’s why you said your senses became sensitive when I blessed you.”
Now that he knew the circumstances, several things he had overlooked in the past were belatedly understood. Since the divine power, which is the polar opposite of the magical energy invading the body, had an effect, he had no choice but to show an oversensitive reaction.
Even so, the reaction had been quite extreme… did that mean his condition had worsened that much?
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I got used to it.”
The child who often exaggerated his pain but hid it tightly when he was truly hurting had grown into an adult who remained the same. Judging by Tae-un’s expression and tone, it really seemed as if he were used to it and was fine.
Though that was absolutely impossible.
Swallowing a bitter pain, Kim Si-baek brought his hand to the blackened skin. Perhaps because it was his hand, or because it was the hand of an apostle, Tae-un flinched noticeably the moment the hand touched his bare skin.
Contrary to his casual words and demeanor, the body touched by the hand was trembling slightly. The breath escaping through his teeth was rough, and cold sweat poured down his forehead. It must be that the barrier of reason and divine power, which had suppressed the magical energy for over a decade, was barely allowing him to endure.
One incomprehensible question vaguely lingered.
‘If the symptoms were this severe, why didn’t I see it last time?’
There was a time when he had treated and changed the clothes of Tae-un after he lost consciousness at the amusement park. The bare body he saw then had made his heart ache due to various scars, large and small, but the symptoms of magical energy consumption had not been as prominent as they were now.
At that time, the toxic energy had been quite active. If he attributed it to the fact that the magical energy had subsided for a while because of that, it wouldn’t be an inexplicable problem, but…
‘There aren’t enough cases.’
In Mak Slecht, there were no cases of people taking the extreme measure of swallowing magic stones to treat poisoning, as the divine power treatments provided by priests were readily available.
After guessing the reason with a few theories, Kim Si-baek soon cleared his thoughts. Right now, the urgent matter was not explaining the cause, but treating Tae-un.
“Un-ah.”
Kim Si-baek spoke, lightly pressing the skin that felt as deep and dark as an abyss because it had invaded the pale flesh.
“Let’s start the treatment now, before it’s too late.”
The divine power of the priests serving Biyendwe focuses on granting death to magical beasts. Just as an old poison cannot be detoxified all at once, it is impossible to immediately purify the magical energy that has invaded him. His divine power was also not abundant. However, he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
As he attempted to purify the magical energy little by little, Tae-un pulled his body back.
“Hyung, you know from last time. I become incredibly sensitive.”
“…I know what you’re trying to say. But do you think I’ve only purified the magical energy of one or two people in Mak Slecht? There were no problems.”
“Those people probably weren’t in heat for you.”
“….”
He was right. A body that becomes hypersensitive to divine power usually experiences an extreme sharpening of the five senses. In severe cases, some felt an excruciating pain, as if their entire body were being sizzled by ordinary sunlight.
In Tae-un’s case, the sense that became sensitive seemed to be touch.
“So, do you plan to just endure it like this?”
Tae-un faintly curled the corners of his lips, which were about to distort from pain.
“Who knows what a dog in heat might do to you, Hyung?”
It seemed he was losing his composure. He was even using rough language he had never used before in front of him. Kim Si-baek let out a bitter smile.
“Do you think I can’t even subdue one patient?”
“Hyung, fuck. Forget it, I’ll handle it myse—”
Ignoring the protest to endure until the end, Kim Si-baek held his left hand and whispered a prayer.
Following the prayer to wash away evil energy, a gentle divine power dwelled in his hand. Tae-un’s captured hand trembled violently. The lips that were about to tell him to stop were pressed inward and bitten. Thick droplets of sweat fell from the bridge of his nose as he lowered his head.
Silence fell over the bedroom. It was not a quiet and pure silence, but a humid stillness where the steep breath was being forcibly suppressed.
“….”
Tae-un didn’t say a word, but the ragged sound of his breathing and the intermittent tremors carried more meaning than anything else. His shoulders shook, and the sound of his uncaptured right hand scratching the floor echoed. Kim Si-baek pretended not to notice the violent throbbing of the pulse in the left hand as he purified the magical energy.
“…Let’s stop here for today.”
Tae-un was panting with his head bowed. He had only performed the purification he had done casually in Mak Slecht, but strangely, Kim Si-baek’s own mouth felt dry, and he swallowed hard.
“Does your body feel… a bit better?”
Before the last syllable could even fall, the captured hand conversely grabbed his hand. In an instant, his vision spun, and Tae-un moved on top of him.