By Zephyria 
‘……No. That can’t be right.’
No matter how natural it was for men to experience physiological phenomena in the morning, and no matter how loose the home wear was compared to the suits Tae-un usually wore—leaving no room for such things to be hidden—it still couldn’t be. It made no sense. It was a size no human could possibly possess.
‘It, it must be his forearm.’
Yes. It was possible for an arm to slip under the covers while sleeping and be felt between one’s legs. Kim Si-baek tried to flee from reality with this absurd nonsense and hurried to get up, but the arm wrapped around his waist remained immovable.
“Si-baek hyung……”
Tae-un even called his name faintly, as if in a dream, clinging to him even tighter. Their bodies pressed together. Tae-un’s forearm—yes, forearm—which pressed down as if crushing his thighs, slid right between Kim Si-baek’s legs, which were equally stifled by morning physiological phenomena.
“……!”
A silent scream erupted in Kim Si-baek’s throat. The pressure blatantly pressing against such a sensitive area sent shivers down his spine. What should he do? How could he escape from here, from Tae-un’s genitals—no, forearm?
While he was flustered, Tae-un let out a soft “Mmm” and buried his face, still lost in whatever dream he was having. As his weight shifted, their bodies naturally pressed closer. Especially the lower halves. Their genitals, both stiff and swollen beneath their underwear, were pressed firmly against each other.
‘Aaaagh……’
Kim Si-baek’s complexion went from pale to practically blue. If it had just been a slight brushing of their lower halves, he would have desperately pretended not to notice, but with this tight contact, the sheer mass of the pillar poking into his own genitals was far too vivid.
If Tae-un woke up in this situation, it would be even more disastrous. Kim Si-baek twisted his body, trying somehow to escape without waking him, but it had the opposite effect.
As he squirmed like a pillow cushion, Tae-un frowned in his sleep and pulled him deeper. Their legs tangled, and their thighs locked tightly. Not only was the mass of the genitals—felt even through the pants—rubbing against him, but Kim Si-baek could even feel the outline of the testicles beneath. The thick testicles pressed firmly against his own stifled, swollen genitals.
“Hngh.”
A shallow, reflexive moan escaped as his sensitive area was stimulated. He quickly clamped his hand over his mouth in surprise, but the sound of the moan had already reached his own ears.
So panicked that he couldn’t even think of a common-sense response—like using strength to pry open the arm holding his waist and slipping out of bed—Kim Si-baek finally……
K-boom!
He slammed his fist down onto the bed with all his might.
The impact, which the mattress couldn’t fully absorb, caused the bed frame to snap with a single blow. The shock reverberated downward, and the creaking bed legs collapsed rapidly.
Crash! Bang!
In short, the bed collapsed.
“……Hm?”
Tae-un, who had been sleeping soundly, snapped awake from the shock of his head suddenly dropping. His gaze was sharp, unlike someone who had just been in a deep slumber. He looked at the collapsed bed, Kim Si-baek’s reddened neck as he avoided eye contact, and then at his own arm wrapped around the other’s waist, and then his gaze softened.
Tae-un closed his eyes tightly, looking deeply disappointed.
“I didn’t dream about fucking hyung……”
“……That’s not it.”
“Sometimes beds break during cock-play in life, so don’t be too surprised. Ah…… why don’t I remember this? Was I good? Even if I wasn’t, please understand that I did it in my sleep. I’ll do better next time.”
“I said it wasn’t that.”
“Then did hyung fuck me? I love that hyung’s waist strength is this powerful……”
“…….”
Kim Si-baek grit his teeth and pried Tae-un’s arm off. Then, forcing his eyes away from the other ‘forearm’ between their legs, he stood up from the shattered bed. Tae-un gave a shy smile and made a gesture with his right hand as if gripping something, shaking it up and down.
“Hyung, you should at least cum before you go.”
“…….”
Instead of an answer, the only sound was the thud of the door closing. He would have to check later if the door frame had also been smashed.
Once Kim Si-baek left, the smile that had filled Tae-un’s face vanished instantly. Tae-un pressed his palm against his temple and leaned his head against the crumpled mattress. Looking up at the ceiling from the tilted floor of the bed, the world seemed twisted enough to cause motion sickness.
He must have had the same dream.
A dream of the future that should have been. A dream where everything followed the proper order.
“Heh……”
A faint sneer leaked through his teeth, then surged silently but violently like a wave. Between the fingers covering his face, a stain of grief-stricken madness and guilt blurred.
That’s why, hyung.
You shouldn’t have saved me. You should have just let me die.
✽ ✽ ✽
The patient, who had been lying in bed all day, stood up perfectly fine the moment his caregiver, Kim Si-baek, went downstairs. Seeing this, Yang Eun-ho’s eyes grew hollow.
“What.”
“……It is nothing.”
Yang Eun-ho wondered how great it would be if eyes were detachable, so he could just take them off in times like this…… While indulging in this futile fantasy, he finished the report he couldn’t complete yesterday regarding Na Jeong-woo’s interrogation.
After hearing the report, Tae-un waved him off, and he hurried back to the office.
Left alone in the large house, Tae-un frowned. According to what he heard from Kim Si-baek yesterday, the one who had bewitched and manipulated Na Jeong-woo’s mind was Edokus. A chaos grand warrior who had come from mak slecht.
“Why did you hide the fact that such a guy existed?”
Though it was quiet now, chaos would surely be pursuing him. Sure enough, as soon as he asked the empty air, a voice echoed in his head.
「It is a broken vessel. It is such a trivial existence that it shall not harm thee.」
“Did you bring him from mak slecht specifically to screw me over?”
「The Beginning was omnipotent, but the gods who split off as immeasurable numbers and purity dwelled within it are not omnipotent. Had we been omnipotent, we would not have been defeated and would have possessed mak slecht.」
“…….”
「Child. What have we done in this world for thy sake until now? Even though we have little strength left after bringing the apostle of the young god, would we have brought a broken vessel solely to torment thee?」
For my sake? Tae-un sneered coldly. Were those hellish times truly for his own sake?
Reading the surface psychology, chaos gave a calculating laugh.
「It was because of the time we gave thee that thou met the apostle of the young god. Who saved thy fate, which would have ended at the age of five?」
“Right. Because he met me, Si-baek hyung’s life got twisted.”
Tae-un spat out each word as if chewing them. In his heart, he wanted to mash the brain from which this voice emanated into a pulp, but he had already experienced that doing so was useless.
Suppressing a murderous intent that was akin to self-harm, Tae-un organized the situation. So, Edokus’s intrusion into the amusement park incident was purely accidental. It was an unforeseen variable, but since it ended up resolving well and enhancing Kim Si-baek’s reputation, it didn’t matter.
The problem was that he had done something stupid by falling for Na Jeong-woo’s poison. Tae-un grit his teeth and pressed the scar on his left cheek as if scratching it.
Even if the poison from the upper stream was unavoidable, he couldn’t let him find out about this.
Unexpected variables were irritating. He had obsessively controlled every variable to create a perfect background and lead things into a natural situation, yet a guy he hadn’t even anticipated had popped up.
Above all, he couldn’t forgive the fact that it had stimulated Kim Si-baek’s trauma and put him in danger, even for a moment.
Just as his heart was leaning toward finding and killing the man, the voice of chaos spoke.
「Absorb it.」
“What?”
「It is nothing more than a fragment, but it is a being that has undergone exuviation from humanity. Taking it shall aid thee in thy control.」
At those words, Tae-un instinctively looked down at his left hand. He had forcibly suppressed it so that Kim Si-baek wouldn’t notice while he was unconscious, but it was stained black once again.
A momentary impulse surged, but Tae-un quickly erased it. Chaos could not be trusted. How long had chaos toyed with him?
‘But since I don’t know what other variable it might become……’
After contemplating, Tae-un decided. He would keep Edokus within his sight.
✽ ✽ ✽
[Death and Beauty consoles you, saying that your god understands everything.]
“That’s not it……”
[Death and Beauty pats your shoulder, saying that such things can happen when things get intense.]
“I am innocent.”
[Death and Beauty advises that one only becomes an adult after smashing a bed or two.]
“I am already an adult.”
He should have quickly erased the morning’s events from his memory so that Biyendwe, who read surface psychology, wouldn’t find out.
Filled with bitter regret, Kim Si-baek descended to the laboratory of the 7777 Guild’s research department. The head of the research department was waiting there. Upon hearing the news that an antidote was being prepared, the head, curious about a formula he had never heard of in his life, had asked to be present.
While Biyendwe—who felt like he had suddenly become a top expert upon coming to Earth despite his knowledge of magic remaining the same—was flying around and inspecting the lab, the remaining attendees arrived.
“A-Ah, hyung-nim! You say it’s a new type of magic?”
It was Yang Eun-ho and the mage Lee Han-gyeol, who had almost called him ‘Dad!’ before changing the title after receiving a glare.
“The system is entirely different, so strictly speaking, it is not magic.”
“Ohh, what system is it?”
“Since it uses the power of faith……”
“Ohhh!”
Unlike the research head, who calmly pretended not to hear the cult-like term ‘power of faith,’ Lee Han-gyeol was purely excited.
Now that there was a gap in the conversation without having to worry about Tae-un’s reaction, he showed his friendliness toward Kim Si-baek. Seeing Lee Han-gyeol, who was over 30 but still acted like the youngest with an energetic response, made Kim Si-baek feel good as well.
The non-stop chatter eventually flowed into his acquaintance with Justina.
“I joined our shelter late, but I’ve collaborated with them steadily. They say Tae-un hyung is more reliable than several grown men despite being young. He helped a lot when Sarang was born. He even cut the umbilical cord himself.”
Kim Si-baek was puzzled. It was different from what he had heard from Tae-un.
“Wasn’t the person who cut the umbilical cord at that time Hunter Seo Gae-un?”