By Zephyria 
Edokus was spending his days in a state of anxious comfort. The anxiety stemmed from the apostle who was likely hunting him, and the comfort was thanks to an environment where he no longer had to worry about money.
“You’re practically a professional loafer.”
A scathing voice reached the ears of Edokus, who was sprawled carelessly on the sofa watching TV. The owner of the voice was Ahn So-hee, a demonic terrorist who shared the same goals as Gu Yeong-min.
Ahn So-hee claimed that Gu Yeong-min was useless despite his decent appearance, and that the success of their plans thus far was thanks to her skills as a genius hacker. She boasted that during the recent amusement park incident, she had hacked perfectly to ensure Gu Yeong-min’s trail wasn’t picked up. Although, because Gu Yeong-min messed up the timing of the bloom, both of them ended up trapped in the Ferris wheel.
Regardless, her achievements at the amusement park were recognized, and she had recently become a seed bearer.
〈That guy is a white-collar worker with no stamina and no exercise. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t even have attempted a terror attack before being snatched up by the NIS.〉
〈You fainted at the amusement park too, didn’t you?〉
〈Whatever. It would’ve been weirder to be wide awake in that situation.〉
They pretended to be a couple or newlyweds when operating externally to take advantage of their appearance as a young man and woman, but in reality, they were not.
“Once you start eating my food, you’re nothing but a parasite.”
Unlike Gu Yeong-min, who was generous toward Edokus, her attitude did not change even after learning what he was.
〈In a word, isn’t he just a loser who ran away from his own world?〉
Since it was painfully accurate, he couldn’t even protest. Edokus quietly pulled in his sprawled legs and politely offered the TV remote. Ahn So-hee took the remote with a snort.
The YouTube channel analyzing the ecology of magical beasts, which Edokus had been enjoying, was changed to the boring and stiff news.
“So, do you have a plan for the future?”
“If I can’t defeat the apostle, I want to flee overseas.”
He was extremely anxious because not only apostles but also Servants of Chaos were present in Korea. It was a sincere answer, but contempt flickered in Ahn So-hee’s eyes as she looked at him.
Edokus grumbled under his breath and averted his gaze. Only after spending a lifetime being hunted and threatened because he was the last remnant of a fallen kingdom would one realize that survival is an absolute value.
In truth, there was no easy way. An apostle wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice, and above all, since his facial reconstruction had been publicized, it wasn’t easy to approach them. Even Gu Yeong-min, who received one-sided instructions from the Servants of Chaos through something called quests, had not yet come up with a concrete plan.
〈Wouldn’t a good method come to mind if you two met in person to deliberate?〉
Gu Yeong-min, unaware of Edokus’s inner thoughts, said something terrifying. As far as Edokus was concerned, he wanted to avoid facing the Servants of Chaos of this world if possible—preferably, absolutely. How would that be any different from a rabbit walking into the jaws of a lion?
Meanwhile, he felt miserable thinking that a rabbit would be quicker and have a nastier temper, making it more likely to survive than him. Just as he was sinking into self-loathing, feeling inferior to an animal, Gu Yeong-min burst through the door.
“He has given us a new quest!”
Ahn So-hee, who had been watching TV with indifference, brightened up, while Edokus wore an ambiguous expression, wondering if he should run away right now.
“What is it?”
Gu Yeong-min declared dramatically, spreading his arms wide.
“North Korea.”
✽ ✽ ✽
It was not an unfamiliar or strange sight in mak slecht for a believer who had received a divine utterance from a god to answer in a monologue. Even if a young child suddenly began muttering to themselves, parents would take them to a temple first, rather than a psychiatrist.
In Earth, where divine utterances were not common, Biyendwe gazed objectively at his apostle and wondered how that sight appeared to others. He reached a conclusion.
Honestly, he looked a bit like a crazy person.
“Are you really not going to tell me why you gave me a quest to play with a dog? Did you know that the Somang Orphanage raises dogs?”
“If I had completed the quest through a method other than the orphanage, wouldn’t the next quest have been an explicit instruction to go to the orphanage?”
“Did you want to show me your younger sibling?”
“Why do my mother and sibling remember me? Does it have something to do with us being blood-related?”
“Is the reason Un-i remembers me because I was the last witness?”
Biyendwe could not see the system, but seeing Kim Si-baek get irritated—which was rare for him—it seemed the system was playing dumb or refusing to communicate. Tae-un, who was peeling a hallabong and popping the pieces into Kim Si-baek’s mouth one by one, looked like he didn’t mind either way.
“I told you to stop acting cute.”
“Hyung. What is it saying?”
“It keeps ignoring me, and then it answers with ‘Ehet.’”
“Ehet.”
“…….”
Caught off guard, Kim Si-baek fell silent, his earlobes turning a faint red. Biyendwe shook his head and sighed. Even without reading the surface psychology, it was obvious what his apostle was thinking.
Kim Si-baek belatedly cleared his throat and straightened his posture, but his expression remained quite softened.
“……Anyway, stop acting cute and give me a proper answer.”
[(^3^)♥]
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop acting cute?”
[To dismiss the system’s strenuous efforts to maintain a smooth relationship with the returner as ‘acting cute’ is a ‘hing’ (pout).]
Though he had been pressing for answers since returning from the orphanage, the responses were like this. Even the patience of Kim Si-baek, who was regarded by the 7777 Guild as being halfway to Buddhahood, reached its limit. A fair amount had accumulated over time.
He decided to go on strike.
“Fine. There is a limit to how long I can follow along while enduring being intimidated with claims that Earth will be destroyed without any explanation of the reasons.”
[ㅇㅅㅇ)?]
“To put it bluntly, whether Earth is destroyed or not, I can just find another way and return to mak slecht.”
[ㅇ0ㅇ)!]
“Following these useless actions called quests is the bare minimum of my duty. But in a situation where you show me not a shred of respect, how long do you think I will follow a one-sided obligation?”
Kim Si-baek lay down on the sofa defiantly.
“Whether you send quests or not, I’ll do as I please from now on, so you do as you please too.”
The rectangular system window trembled. It almost looked like it was shivering.
Unintelligible input
A sequence of meaningless words was output haphazardly and then cleanly erased. Then, a new quest appeared.
[It is a fact that Earth will be destroyed! The system may hide facts, but it has never lied to the returner! You must not stop carrying out the quests!]
[Quest 13]
[Get up from the sofa!]
[Time remaining: 05 minutes 00 seconds]
He couldn’t even bring himself to scoff. Earth would be destroyed simply because he didn’t get off the sofa? Kim Si-baek ignored it and closed his eyes.
……Still, worried that it might actually be destroyed, he counted numbers in his head. 1, 2, 3, 4…… After counting to 250, he opened his eyes slightly.
[Quest 13]
[Get up from the sofa!]
[Time remaining: 09 minutes 10 seconds]
About four minutes had passed, but the time had actually increased. That wasn’t all.
[Time remaining: 09 minutes 11 seconds]
[Time remaining: 09 minutes 12 seconds]
[Time remaining: 09 minutes 13 seconds]
The remaining time was creeping up in real-time. Kim Si-baek let out a hollow laugh and closed his eyes again.
“Explain. Until then, no matter how much you cling to me, I’ll do as I want.”
Quite a bit more time passed, but the situation remained unchanged. Was it intending to keep wielding and using him one-sidedly until the end? While chewing on the hallabong entering his mouth and sighing inwardly, Tae-un’s voice drifted into Kim Si-baek’s ear.
“If you keep your eyes closed, won’t you miss it even if the system answers?”
“……!”
Having gained a great realization, he opened his eyes. The quest content had been updated.
[Quest 13]
[Get up from the sofa! I said get up! Please get up! Please get up ㅠㅠㅠ]
[Completion Reward: The system’s answer]
[Time remaining: 18 minutes 37 seconds]
Without further hesitation, Kim Si-baek lightly pushed himself up.
[Quest 13. CLEAR]
“So, what is the reason? Explain.”
[ㅇㅅㅠ]
[ㅠㅅㅠ]
[ㅠ0ㅠ]
It was only when Kim Si-baek began to have destructive and violent thoughts about erasing every emoticon in the world that a sentence finally appeared in the system window.
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