By Zephyria 
Although the initial chaos had been settled, society continued to creak in various places, and life was just as difficult and grueling outside the borders of Seoul. The slaughter and massacres carried out in Seoul took place under the guise of civilization. Even when lives weren’t taken directly, it was done in a subtle and lethal manner.
When one thought about it, it wasn’t much different from the world before the Great Cataclysm. Gu Yeong-min was only able to properly see the hidden side of society—which he had been too young to notice in the past—after humans had fallen to the very bottom.
Was a world that creaked and rolled forward, fueled by bloated and rampant human desire, a correct one? Gu Yeong-min believed it was not.
Some described the Great Cataclysm in this way: as the punishment and wrath of a god intended to penalize humanity.
Such thoughts usually led to pseudo-religions, and Gu Yeong-min judged this to be another malignancy unique to humans—exploiting one’s own kind for personal greed—but he agreed with the sentiment to some extent.
‘It’s a massive cleaning to sweep this world away.’
Among the infinite number of species, only humans—specifically, those in a few countries called the First World, and among them, those with privilege. He believed it was a cleaning to purify a world that was rotting for the convenience and pleasure of a tiny minority of “humans,” who didn’t even make up 0.00001 percent compared to all living creatures in the world.
Due to the Great Cataclysm, magical beasts appeared, and the mass death of humans delayed global warming by three centuries. It was the birth of a being that preyed upon humans, who had once reigned at the very top of the food pyramid. A top-tier predator species that appeared like a miracle, leaping over countless stages of evolution.
When he realized this, Gu Yeong-min became a demonic terrorist.
Civilization was something to be destroyed, and humans deserved to go extinct. Of course, that included Gu Yeong-min himself.
〈Since you’re going to commit terrorism anyway, why not do it productively?〉
It was an ironic piece of humor that the one giving him revelations manifested as a boy in black clothes, the savior of the Seoul refugees, and he quite liked this humor.
Later, after meeting Edokus, he learned that the boy in black was a Servant of Chaos who wished to bring ruin to the world, but the title wasn’t particularly important. The only thing that mattered was the fact that the boy in black was the being who granted him the power to carry out his heavenly mandate.
For the day he would achieve his goal, Gu Yeong-min donned a natural-looking mask again today and blended into human society.
“Oh, a new strategy video was posted on the Seven Guild’s YouTube. Hunter Kim Si-baek’s field hunting.”
It was during their break after lunch. As the person who spoke placed the phone playing the video on the table, the civil servants of the Supernatural Phenomenon Response Agency’s Field Analysis Division huddled together. Gu Yeong-min was among them.
Field hunting videos were common. However, a video showing someone with an injury so severe that bone was visible being healed instantly was something that could only be seen on the 7777 Guild’s account.
While pretending to watch the video, Gu Yeong-min stared at the quest floating on one side of his vision.
[Quest 06]
[Germinate a magical beast seed in the field south of Kaesong.]
The content was clear, without any unnecessary modifiers. A faint smile escaped him as he recalled the knowledge and abilities he had gained through the various quests, large and small, that had followed since receiving the revelation. He was likely the only person in the world to have successfully germinated a magical beast seed artificially.
Just then, the civil servants watching the video let out exclamations. As seen from their reactions, videos featuring Kim Si-baek boasted unrivaled view counts, even those uploaded recently. Even shortly after being posted, the view count updated in real-time and comments were added rapidly. Comments in foreign languages were also frequently seen.
The public’s reaction since Kim Si-baek’s appearance had generally been like this. Even those who distrusted healing abilities began to believe as testimonials from those who had experienced it firsthand and from other hunters poured in, and as unedited original videos were uploaded.
Those who distrusted him to the end were merely a minority—either conspiracy theorists who doubted everything or those harboring inferiority complexes. Since such people wouldn’t have believed anyone other than Kim Si-baek anyway, they were irrelevant.
In other words, the public trusted and grew enthusiastic over the fact that the sole healer was even kind enough to bestow his abilities generously.
‘What if this unique existence were to die or disappear?’
Would the cheering public then fall into frustration, discouragement, and despair? He thought this would also make for a quite interesting method of terrorism. Gu Yeong-min shifted his gaze again. He saw the quest. The quest only provided the direction; it was his job to weave those threads together to construct the background.
✽ ✽ ✽
As the new year began, Kim Si-baek became busier in many ways. Thanks to Tae-un’s money—or rather, assistance—the materials were gathered more easily than expected, so he began working step-by-step with the help of Lee Han-gyeol. During the lulls between quests, he worked hard on guild matters as a hunter and raised the name of the baby crow by treating injured or exhausted people.
Checking in on Hyo-ju Agnes was also included in his busy daily routine.
“What did she say?”
He quickly asked Tae-un, who had just finished a call with Sister Benedicta.
“She said her sister is doing well. I asked her to give New Year’s greetings on your behalf as well.”
Tae-un gave a small smirk at the sight of him nodding with a relieved expression.
“When you came back from the orphanage, the atmosphere with the sisters seemed strained, so I never imagined she was your sister. You didn’t show it at all in front of them, but you’re still worried, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t even know I had a sister, but… I just want her to be doing well.”
Kim Si-baek laughed softly. Don’t people generally become desensitized to stimulation as they age and become elderly? Kim Si-baek was the same.
He had become hardened and rigid as much as the years he had lived, yet the existence of a sister still created gentle ripples within him. The fact that words like ‘sister’ or ‘family’ still provided a heavy resonance at his age meant it was likely one of his fragile points.
And the most fragile part of all was probably this fellow right in front of him.
‘As I age and become elderly…’
Slightly shocked by the sentence he had just recalled, Kim Si-baek hurriedly erased the thought. In mak slecht, there are apostles and grand warriors who are nearly 200 years old, so he is still… young…
Regardless, the most important part of Kim Si-baek’s routine was the time he spent with Tae-un. Tae-un insisted on calling this a date. Whatever the name was, Kim Si-baek decided to fully savor the time with him.
“Then shall we continue?”
Even if it was a board game played in the CEO’s office during lunch.
The game the two had originally attempted during lunch was Halli Galli, which allows for a quick round. Kim Si-baek, who had never been particularly interested in games, hadn’t known. He hadn’t known that even with the same game, the level of immersion could differ significantly depending on who the opponent was.
Having become excited following the ringing of the bell, Kim Si-baek became overly immersed the moment he secured the cards and slammed the bell—BAM! The solid wood table, which had been purchased and had guarded the CEO’s office for a long time since the guild building was erected, ended up splitting wide open.
〈…〉
〈I thought you only broke beds with your waist strength, Hyung, but you can break other things too. How erotic. Do you want to break me too?〉
〈…Let’s be quiet.〉
That was last week’s incident.
Despite being a kid with plenty of money who spent it lavishly, Tae-un didn’t replace the cracked table and instead displayed it in the CEO’s office as if to show it off. Kim Si-baek felt distressed every time he saw the table while entering and leaving the office.
〈What on earth were you two doing in the company, of all places, to make the table… No, never mind. Please, I beg you, do not explain it to me.〉
Yang Eun-ho’s reaction—staring with cold eyes before slowly backing away—was also extremely distressing. Not only was he falling for games at his age, but to show such a disgraceful side in front of the younger ones…
Trying not to look at the crack in the table, which seemed to widen slightly every time he saw it, Kim Si-baek threw the dice onto the game board. To make the most of the short lunch break, they had to play the game quickly.
Thus, a psychological war involving game pieces and cards played out quite fiercely, and this round ended in Tae-un’s victory. Kim Si-baek smacked his lips. Since they had agreed from today that the winner’s wish would be granted rather than just playing, he had really wanted to win, but he lost.
Tae-un asked while tidying up the cards.
“Want to do two more rounds and make it a best-of-three?”
“I think time is getting tight to keep going.”
“We can just continue after lunch break ends.”
“Aren’t you going to work?”
“Playing with Hyung is my work.”
Kim Si-baek gave a gentle pinch to the cheek of Tae-un, who was saying things that wouldn’t fly. While pretending it hurt, Tae-un maintained a beaming smile.
“What wish were you going to make if you won?”
“…A new table. You?”
“Oh, I don’t have anything special. Just something small.”
“I wonder what our Un-i’s wish is that he’s hesitating so much?”
Because he didn’t answer immediately and played coy, Kim Si-baek became curious. As he leaned over the table to ask, Tae-un, sitting opposite him, loosened his tie, gripped it with both hands, and pulled it taut.
The smile blooming on the boy’s face was as beautiful as a flower in full bloom.
“Hyung, close your eyes.”