By Zephyria 
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It wasn’t that he had completely forgotten, but Kim Si-baek’s question about Edokus brought it back to mind.
He knew of the man’s whereabouts, but from what he had heard, Edokus seemed to be staying quietly, shut away inside his house. Though he had lost most of his abilities, his knowledge remained intact, making him somewhat useful.
Tae-un decided to leave him be for the time being instead of killing him.
The individuality field was a gift for Kim Si-baek. If the stage could be expanded, it would be best to do so as much as possible and as naturally as possible.
No matter what happened within the field, Kim Si-baek would be the hunter who stood out the most.
✽ ✽ ✽
Kim Si-baek was curious about what this ‘good thing’ was, but Tae-un refused to tell him, saying that gifts are only enjoyable when opened personally. Kim Si-baek let it slide, but Biyendwe did not.
‘If it’s a material gift, it wouldn’t hold much value for Si-baek. I wonder what it is?’
[Death and Beauty glances at you, asking if you want to know the gift his brother said he would give.]
Kim Si-baek, who was contacting Yang Eun-ho, replied while keeping his eyes fixed on his phone.
“I’ll find out in time.”
[Death and Beauty says your god wants a spoiler. He demands that you at least try to guess.]
“Hmm… if it’s something good for me, there’s only one thing.”
The recovery of divine power. There was nothing else, was there? He didn’t need offerings, nor did he crave power.
“I don’t know what will happen in Seoul, but I’ll need a certain amount of divine power to be able to handle it.”
[Death and Beauty mentions that my apostle’s brother once proposed building a temple.]
“Surely he wouldn’t build a temple in North Korea?”
There had been dictators in North Korea who were revered like gods in the past, but that was a separate issue. Kim Si-baek laughed it off, wondering how Tae-un could possibly do such a thing, and Biyendwe shifted his attention as Lee Han-gyeol’s prayer reached them.
[God of Death and Beauty. After lunch, I’m going to verify the new formula I wrote for expanding the properties of decomposition magic, so I’m praying because I need a ‘prayer meta’ to succeed. If I fail, my research funding will blow up and my thesis will vanish with it. By the way, why does Tae-un hyung hate the idea of my mentor becoming my adoptive father? Ah, is it because there’s a 65-year age gap, so asking to be adopted is a rude request? In that case, maybe an adoptive grandfather…]
Occasionally—to be honest, quite often—Lee Han-gyeol mixed incomprehensible nonsense into his prayers, but he remained a believer who conveyed his heart while reciting the god’s name.
The apostle had increased his recognition by slaying magical beasts and impressing the public, and though there was only one, a believer had finally appeared. Once the basic formalities were in place, the recovery of divine power proceeded smoothly. Since Kim Si-baek possessed pure divine power, the efficiency was high.
Above all, every time his apostle engaged in a large-scale battle, he left a powerful impression even on the world that had forgotten his existence. It wouldn’t be easy to do this every time. The baby crow’s cheeks puffed up high toward the ceiling.
Meanwhile, Kim Si-baek struggled and finally managed to download the attached file from the email he received from Yang Eun-ho. Biyendwe, who was reading the data tracking Edokus’s movements, looked slightly surprised.
[Death and Beauty is bewildered that Edokus lived such a diligent life.]
“I agree…”
As a result of backtracking using Edokus’s composite sketch, it was revealed that not only did he frequent the cafe in the guild building, but he had even worked part-time at a convenience store near the barrier. Kim Si-baek, who had lived like an unemployed person without earning a single cent since returning to Earth, had a brief moment of self-reflection.
Surprisingly, at the convenience store, far from harming anyone, he had worked hard. In fact, he had been deceived by the store manager and worked 12 hours a day for a weekly wage lower than the minimum hourly rate. The work log of the foreign worker who fell victim to employment fraud stopped after the composite sketch was distributed.
“He visited once more even after quitting the convenience store without notice.”
Kim Si-baek tapped his finger on a CCTV capture from the street. It showed him standing face-to-face with Na Jeong-woo. The interrogation report also detailed Na Jeong-woo’s frustration at having been deceived by Edokus and letting him slip away.
[Death and Beauty wonders how you can be sure when the face isn’t clearly visible.]
“The clothes are the same.”
Kim Si-baek showed the CCTV photos from the convenience store and the building’s cafe in sequence. Edokus only had two sets of clothes: the clothes he wore for work and the clothes he wore for going out.
[Death and Beauty is speechless.]
Biyendwe was flabbergasted by Edokus’s unimaginable destitution, but Kim Si-baek calmly analyzed the data.
“Unless the work records or CCTV were manipulated, it’s highly likely that the incident at the Management Center was not Edokus’s doing. Edokus was working at the convenience store at the time of the incident.”
[Death and Beauty speculates that it might have been the work of a Servant of Chaos born on Earth.]
“Perhaps, but… it feels too crude for someone to wait 21 years only to start their first activity by controlling a single magical beast. When Edokus began his activities, a city of 500,000 people collapsed.”
Edokus had opened the curtain of destruction by collapsing an entire city. Compared to that, as he had felt at the time, the scale of the Management Center incident was very modest for the work of a Servant of Chaos.
He needed more data on similar incidents. Witnessing Kim Si-baek struggle to send a text to Gwak Yun-sang, the baby crow let out a deep sigh and waved its wings, telling him to move aside. While the crow tapped the keypad of the phone with its feet to enter the text, Kim Si-baek read the remaining materials.
He tracked Edokus through CCTV footage, but it ended completely after Edokus encountered a certain man in an alley ten blocks away. The man, wearing a cap pulled low, skillfully led Edokus into a CCTV blind spot and disappeared.
It wasn’t strange for there to be a human collaborator, but it felt somehow familiar. Not enough to recognize immediately, but a vague sensation that he would likely go “Ah!” once he heard the explanation.
‘Who is it? The people I’ve met on Earth are either guild members or hunters…’
Biyendwe, having efficiently entered and sent the text, fluttered up and perched on his shoulder.
[Death and Beauty asks why you aren’t treating your brother even though you have enough divine power and time has passed.]
“Ah, did Han-gyeol pray again today?”
[Death and Beauty is pleased that he is a good believer who prays diligently, despite not looking like it.]
Only after chatting for a while did Biyendwe realize that Kim Si-baek had subtly changed the subject without giving a direct answer. He wondered if he had avoided it on purpose, but since it was a past topic, he decided to keep it to himself.
Of course, Kim Si-baek had intentionally withheld his answer. It wasn’t something to discuss in detail in front of a minor.
The cradle, wrapped in Christmas centipede lights, twinkled brilliantly. During his days growing up in the orphanage, it had been the day he looked forward to most in the year, but to the current Kim Si-baek, it was merely a dizzyingly flashy light.
[Death and Beauty is satisfied, saying your god’s avatar’s feathers shine beautifully under the lights.]
As long as the god liked it, it didn’t matter.
After adjusting the intensity of the cradle’s rocking with the remote, Kim Si-baek checked the data Gwak Yun-sang had sent.
The situation abroad was the same as in Korea. There were no signs that magical beast seeds had been artificially germinated, and the Management Center incident was the first in the world where a magical beast appeared in an environment where magical energy had been safely purified.
‘The intention is so ambiguous…’
The same unanswered question lingered. It could be an intention to test how much his abilities were, or how humans would respond.
Lost in thought, Kim Si-baek looked back at the cradle once the surroundings became quiet. Under the twinkling lights, the baby crow had fallen asleep.
With a faint smile, he stood up quietly. The silence was broken as soon as he opened the door.
“Whoa, you scared me. What are you doing here without making a sound?”
Tae-un, who had been waiting in front of the door, uncrossed his arms and smiled. Kim Si-baek closed Biyendwe’s door quietly.
“Is he asleep?”
“He just fell asleep.”
“Then I can kiss you.”
Now that they had finally become intimate, Tae-un—who could only cling and rub against him during the day because there was a minor in the house—did not miss the opportunity.