By Zephyria 
“Aren’t you staying cooped up at home too much?”
“……Hmm?”
“People need to get some sunlight to live. What if you ruin your health like this, Hyung? If you get sick, I’ll be so upset that I’ll get sick too.”
“That wouldn’t be good.”
Kim Si-baek grew serious. How many times had Tae-un collapsed in front of him? It would be a disaster if such a fragile child actually fell ill.
Even Biyendwe, who had been absorbed in a game on his phone, turned his head.
[Death and Beauty asks if you even know how long it’s been since you’ve seen sunlight.]
Kim Si-baek felt awkward. Neither of them were wrong, but he did have an excuse. Tae-un’s excessively large house even had a home gym, so there was no reason to go outside to exercise.
Thanks to that, his daily routine had become monotonous, consisting entirely of eating, exercising, and studying via the TV.
‘……No, is the problem that I’m studying via TV?’
He thought he was keeping up with the breathless pace of the changing times, but to others, he looked like a textbook shut-in. He had learned that specific term from a documentary he watched this morning.
‘And while there’s no need to tell Un-i, I don’t really want to get deeply entangled with people on Earth, a place I will eventually leave.’
Regardless, it was true that he had been shut inside.
“You’re right.”
“Right? In that sense, tomorrow, let’s go on a da—”
“I think I should head to Seoul tomorrow.”
“…….”
“What were you going to say?”
“I was going to say I want to go to Seoul with Hyung.”
“Oh, we’re on the same page.”
Clenching his fist, Kim Si-baek lightly bumped it against Tae-un’s hand.
“But Seoul is blockaded because of the magical beasts, so you can’t go without a permit. It’ll be hard to get one and go tomorrow, so how about the day after?”
“No. I’m not planning to go deep into Seoul, just near it. Since the space of destruction shown by the system was in Seoul, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to go nearby and look around.”
“I love it. Then, after breakfast tomorrow, I’ll provide the guidance service—”
“You have to work.”
Kim Si-baek firmly cut off Tae-un’s quick response. The corners of Tae-un’s eyes drooped.
“How can I let Hyung go alone when it’s dangerous?”
“I’m the one in danger?”
Kim Si-baek let out an involuntary chuckle. Even if his power wasn’t fully restored, how could he possibly be in danger?
Sure enough, Tae-un shook his head.
“If Hyung isn’t there, I’m the one in danger…… I’ll be so restless and anxious because I miss Hyung that I won’t be able to hold meetings properly, I won’t chew my food thoroughly, I’ll feel bloated all day because of indigestion, I won’t be able to sit still in one place and will pace around until my calves cramp and hurt, and even after Hyung returns in the evening, I’ll be too exhausted to move, and then Hyung will give me a massage, right?”
“I thought you said you were all grown up.”
“Only my body grew; you know I’m always a baby in front of Hyung.”
Tae-un pursed his lips primly. His mouth, poking out like a duck’s, was so cute that one wanted to pinch it with their fingers. It was a finishing move that could bring Kim Si-baek down with a 120% probability, but occasionally, it didn’t work.
“Un-ah, Hyung really likes seeing you work hard at the company. How cool is it that you’re running a company of this scale at your age?”
Kim Si-baek was quite weak for him, but there were times when aegyo didn’t work. For example, the fact that a student must not skip school without permission. In a broad sense, skipping school and missing work at a company were similar.
Tae-un, who had been pleading, raised both hands in surrender.
“Instead, I’m going to text you every time I miss Hyung, so you have to reply immediately. If you don’t, I’ll pout.”
[Death and Beauty is complaining that that brat’s texts seem to arrive at one-second intervals.]
Biyendwe finally shuddered at the constant vibration sound. Unfortunately, Kim Si-baek did not know how to switch his phone to silent mode.
Feeling the phone vibrate incessantly, he descended into the subway. The 7777 Guild headquarters was close to the subway entrance, so getting this far wasn’t difficult.
The problem was the subway.
“……Eh, they don’t distribute subway route maps separately these days.”
In his hazy memories, printed route maps were distributed for free at every subway station, but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find any. As Kim Si-baek moved his head back and forth while looking at a large route map screen, Biyendwe offered advice.
[Death and Beauty shouts, asking what the hell you’re keeping that phone for if not to use it.]
“Ah, right.”
Kim Si-baek awkwardly took out his phone. Un-i had installed a subway app for him yesterday, but what was it called……
In truth, Kim Si-baek was clumsy at reading maps. Even in mak slecht, whenever a long-distance trip was necessary, subordinates handled everything from checking maps to miscellaneous preparations.
After fumbling through eight different subway lines, he slowly pulled a map of Daejeon out of his pocket.
[Death and Beauty cannot stand it and steps in.]
Biyendwe fluttered down, pecked at the hand trying to take out the map to push it back in, and tapped the phone with his foot. The map app launched.
“Wow, how did you know how to do that?”
[Death and Beauty shrugs and tells you to enter the destination.]
Now the path finally became somewhat clear. After checking the phone thoroughly, Kim Si-baek passed through the ticket gate using the card he borrowed from Tae-un. He had only visited Daejeon a few times for matches during his athlete days, so the surroundings felt very unfamiliar.
‘……Not just Daejeon, but everywhere will feel unfamiliar.’
Kim Si-baek smiled bitterly and boarded the subway that had just arrived. Once he sat down and found some breathing room, he leisurely checked Tae-un’s texts. A chat room appeared with a photo of himself as the background.
♥Un-i♥
Hyung
(Chick emoticon waving hello)
I just got into the office
(Selfie with the view from the office window in the background) It’s smaller than the Han River, but the Gapcheon view is pretty too, right? Hehe ♡
(Selfie with a plaque in the background)
I received a Businessman Award
This one is from last year
(Selfie with a sculpture on a console in the background) There was an S-class magical beast I hunted 9 or 10 years ago Of course, I didn’t hunt it, the guild members did
I just cheered hard
(Squirrel emoticon waving pom-poms)
I forgot the name
Anyway, it was carved from that magical beast’s bone It feels like a waste of money, though
(Selfie with a PC in the background)
This is the computer I use for work (୨୧ ❛ᴗ❛)✧
How many selfies is this kid sending? Even while thinking that, he diligently saved the photos. They were pretty.
Wondering if he should send a selfie back, Kim Si-baek opened the camera app and became flustered.
‘How do you take a selfie?! Un-i took it with this screen immediately?’
He hadn’t turned the phone around to take it like a folder phone, but he had no idea how to do it. Biyendwe also had no interest in cameras, so he didn’t know how to take a photo.
Meanwhile, in the subway, there are always people who habitually glance at the phone screens of those next to them. The man sitting next to Kim Si-baek was one such person. While scrolling through his phone and yawning, he peeked at the neighbor’s screen for no particular reason and felt himself wake up instantly.
‘Tae-un? Isn’t that Tae-un from Seven? But…… why is the texting state like this?’
The selfies taken in the office, the background photo of the chat room—they were all Tae-un. However, the gap between the selfies where he puffed out his cheeks and made a V-sign and his soft, gentle tone of voice left the man aghast.
‘Was his personality always like that…… I heard he was a mad dog? That he was fucking temperamental?’
He suspected it might be someone else who looked similar, but seeing the ominous scar on the left side of the face—which was difficult to imitate—and the sculpture in the background, it was definitely Tae-un. That sculpture was made from the bone of the Myeong-sa, an S-class magical beast Tae-un had hunted in the Geumgangsan area upon the request of North Korea.
The man had seen it on the news before. It was the sculpture that appeared alongside the famous anecdote of the North Korean government, having failed raids repeatedly, officially requesting the specific individual named Tae-un to exterminate the beast.
Then why was Tae-un acting so incredibly cute for this person…… He truly did not know the reason. Truly. Absolutely.
Just as the man’s brain was refusing to comprehend the circumstances, Kim Si-baek suddenly turned his head. As if he had known he was being watched, a piercing gaze stared directly at the man.