By Zephyria 
✽ ✽ ✽
Kim Si-baek didn’t possess a particularly vivid imagination, but he could envision a few possibilities for the contents of a quest aimed at preventing the end of the world. Killing a terrifying magical beast, crushing a conspiracy sprouting in secret, saving a crucial figure whose existence affected the fate of Earth, and so on.
Thus, without fully letting his guard down, he waited for the system window to display new text, but…
[Death and Beauty wonders if the system window of my apostle is malfunctioning.]
The system window remained silent for several days. It was to the point where his previous worries—about what he would do if a quest appeared that was too difficult to handle alone—felt pointless; absolutely nothing happened.
It was the same even when he asked the empty air what on earth kind of quest it intended to throw at him to be taking this long.
‘And after forcing me to complete the quest by claiming it would tell me how to return to mak slecht…’
What was more frustrating was the reality that, without relying on the system, the path back to mak slecht was completely dark.
“If I had known this would happen, I should have learned magic too.”
[Death and Beauty points out that with my apostle’s intellect, dimensional travel would have been impossible even if he had spent a hundred days learning magic.]
“….”
Indeed, unless one was a genius mage like Gloiuken’s younger sibling, how could a mere human learn and cast dimensional travel magic?
No matter how much he agonized over it, the quest was the only thing to cling to. He had no sense of when the actual start would be, and the final fulfillment of the quest might take decades or even over a hundred years.
[Death and Beauty consoles you, saying that your god will not arbitrarily withdraw the protection once bestowed, even in another world, so do not worry.]
As long as the god’s protection was granted, apostles and grand warriors did not age. Even if a hundred years truly passed, Kim Si-baek would remain the same, but the problem was the flow of time itself.
“I trust Lord Biyendwe, of course… but time flows differently in mak slecht and on Earth. If I return after a hundred years, wouldn’t hundreds of years have passed in mak slecht?”
“…!”
As if he hadn’t considered that, the baby crow curled up on the cushion flinched violently.
It is said that eternal youth or immortality is humanity’s greatest desire, but a human with a heart so weak as to crumble under such one-dimensional desire would never have become an apostle or a grand warrior in the first place. Because of this, although apostles and grand warriors could theoretically enjoy an infinite life, those who actually lived for hundreds of years were extremely rare.
After fulfilling their mission, they would age and die according to the natural order, gaining a place of rest as honorable holy spirits in the divine realm. Kim Si-baek would likely be the same, and he hoped so.
Therefore, even if he managed to return to mak slecht, if hundreds of years had passed, the apostles and grand warriors of other gods would have died off, and no one would remember him. Just like on the current Earth.
The hypothesis that he could become someone who is accepted neither on Earth nor in mak slecht made his mouth taste bitter. Swallowing the bitterness, Kim Si-baek stroked the now restless Biyendwe.
“It’s just an extreme example. Surely it won’t take a hundred years.”
He had spoken gloomily since morning, quite unlike an adult. Changing the mood with a forcedly bright voice, Kim Si-baek washed his face briefly and went outside.
“Hyung, did you sleep well?”
Tae-un greeted him with a morning greeting today as well.
“Did you sleep well too?”
Seeing him made the melancholy melt away. As Kim Si-baek responded warmly to the unchanging morning scenery, Tae-un tapped his own cheek.
“Hmm?”
“A morning kiss. It’s a bit sad that the last kiss you gave me was with lips that smelled of alcohol.”
At the request filled with affectionate coquetry, Kim Si-baek burst out laughing. A happy memory surfaced.
When they were young, Kim Si-baek often gave kisses to the younger children at the orphanage, but once the kids grew a bit older, they didn’t want such things. Once, while drinking with the priest, a drunk Kim Si-baek had opened his arms, offering to give them kisses. The children had run away, calling it creepy, or flatly refused, saying they weren’t children anymore, or avoided him because he smelled of alcohol.
Only Tae-un had smiled brightly and leaned in. After kissing those plump, flushed cheeks mercilessly, Kim Si-baek had reflected on his behavior the next day after sobering up.
“That really brings back memories. When was that? We were so young, yet you remembered it so well.”
“I remember every single moment I spent with you, Hyung.”
Though he was no longer plump with baby fat like back then, his cheeks, still flushed red, were cute. Since he was sober now, unlike when he was drunk, Kim Si-baek lightly pinched and shook Tae-un’s cheek instead of kissing him.
The quest remained silent and the day of return seemed distant, but he was happy that Tae-un was by his side at this moment.
The attack of the magical beasts, which had been watched with concern not only by the grand warriors but by the entire nation, was repelled without significant damage. Since the reason for the sudden rampage was unknown, the world remained noisy even after several days. The news was entirely about that topic.
President Kang of the Chinese restaurant near the 7777 Guild headquarters looked pityingly at Seo Gae-un, who was inhaling jjamppong and fried dumplings across from him.
“If you’re so hungry that you’re eating like you’ve starved for three days, you should’ve just skipped out on work. It’s not like anyone at your rank is going to give you a hard time.”
This was Seo Gae-un, who had cleared the Id Portal this morning. She could have rested and then written the report, but due to her personality of following the rules to the letter, she had gone straight to work and starved until now.
“It’s because it was bearable.”
“Ugh, honestly. She wasn’t like this when she was a kid, but after going to the army, she came back completely influenced by some weird crowd.”
After scolding his old friend, President Kang switched the TV channel with the remote. Every screen told the same story.
“It must have been a pretty big deal. Does your guild know anything?”
“I don’t know… I’m not sure about other things, but there’s speculation that the Seoul reclamation operation scheduled for next year might be postponed indefinitely because of this incident. Since the rear can’t be breached while pushing the Seoul front.”
“The president’s campaign promise was the reclamation of Seoul.”
“Were there any presidential candidates who didn’t make the reclamation of Seoul a promise?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Since there was nothing particularly interesting on other channels, President Kang left it on the news and stretched. Since it was early before lunch, Seo Gae-un was the only customer.
“To be honest, it’s been 20 years since I left, and my family didn’t have real estate in Seoul, so I don’t feel a strong need to reclaim it. The horrific memories are the strongest, after all.”
Chewing on a piece of chewy tangsuyuk, Seo Gae-un nodded silently. Horrific memories… she was right. Since she was born and raised in Seoul, she naturally had many memories, but the cruelty of the Great Cataclysm had crushed them all.
‘If it hadn’t been for Tae-un oppa, it would have been impossible for me and the other kids at the orphanage to escape Seoul without dying or being seriously injured…’
Even thinking about it now, the escape from Seoul at that time felt like a miracle.
“Ah, right. By any chance, does Tae-un oppa have a lover?”
“Did someone nag you to introduce them to him again?”
“No, it’s just… I heard from President Choi of the Korean restaurant over there this morning. He said that for a few days now, Tae-un oppa has been ordering two servings of full-course meals to his house.”
Seo Gae-un was surprised by those words. Because they were in a close relationship, almost like family privately despite him being the Guild Master publicly, it was even more surprising.
Tae-un was eating? And at home with someone else? Tae-un was a man who wouldn’t even touch food unless it was a business meeting. Wasn’t he a human who replaced all essential calories for living with energy bars? Just the other morning, she had meddled out of concern after seeing him with an energy bar in his mouth.
“President Choi, that old man’s mouth is not light at all. He was spitting saliva, saying that for a person who has aged as much as he has, a change in behavior means either they’ve had a near-death experience or they’ve found a lover.”
“That’s not entirely wrong…”
“Did he really call a lover over to eat together? Do you know anything?”
“I haven’t heard. He’s not the type to make it obvious. But really, I hope he found a lover who could change his heart, just as they said. Please, let me see him eating a proper meal like a human being.”
It was before those words even finished.
With the sound of the chime, the door opened, and the employee who had been fiddling with their phone at the entrance table reflexively jumped up to greet.
“Hello, huh, hello. Guild Master…”
There were several guild headquarters near the restaurant, and each had a Guild Master, but there was only one Guild Master who made a part-timer shrink in fear while greeting. President Kang peeked his head out from the inner table where they were eating.
“You’re not very polite. It’s Tae-un oppa.”
“Already? I didn’t hear that he had a lunch appointment with anyone today…”
“Hic.”
The eyes of the two widened as if they had seen something they shouldn’t have. No matter how poorly Tae-un ate, as the Guild Master, he had plenty of dining appointments to grease the wheels of social life. So, it was fine that he stopped by for an early lunch… but what was that sight?