By Zephyria 
The realization was sudden, and it arrived as a new wave of confusion.
Were the Servants of Chaos not beings that opposed Kim Si-baek? Why were they helping him?
According to Edokus, not once in mak slecht had a chaos grand warrior ever cooperated with them. Since the gods they served had spent eons killing one another in a cycle of endless slaughter, how could their priests possibly compromise?
Above all, it was said that once one received the grace of Chaos and became a complete servant, all the will they possessed before exuviation was forgotten. Edokus himself had lived his entire life engraving his mother’s words—to not resent the world—into his heart, yet he had claimed that upon becoming a grand warrior, he became filled with hatred toward the world crafted by the god.
Thus, based on Gu Yeong-min’s knowledge, it was absolutely impossible for a Servant of Chaos to help an apostle of another god of their own volition.
‘I need to ask Edokus if my guess is correct.’
After confirming there was no one around, Gu Yeong-min hurriedly took out his phone. Although he had agreed to meet him again at night, this was no time to worry about the hour.
And then, a quest was generated.
[If you wish to leave at least a corpse behind, commit suicide right now.]
Unlike the business-like sentences of before, a numb tone that revealed the person behind the words struck his eyes vividly.
More than the content of the message—which could hardly even be called a quest—he was startled by the change in tone and looked around. It was out of the thought that a Servant of Chaos might be watching him, but what entered his field of vision were several people walking quickly toward him.
Gwak Yun-sang and Kim Si-baek were in the lead. Tae-un followed a step behind.
The moment he felt his eyes meet Tae-un’s, the magical energy secretly embedded in his heart by the Servant of Chaos began to move regardless of his will. The ferocious current starting from the heart raced through his blood vessels in a single breath, invading his brain.
The brain, consumed by magical energy, rampaged wildly. The magical energy inherent in Gu Yeong-min was the energy he had received from the Servant of Chaos. The consumed brain projected visions of the memories dwelling within its original owner.
Kim Dae-ho, who became the host of the Id Portal at the Management Center.
In the vision, Kim Dae-ho released poison gas in a subway, fired randomly at evacuating people, and then committed suicide by self-detonating. Countless people died and died.
Gu Yeong-min, who germinated a magical beast seed at the amusement park.
In the vision, Gu Yeong-min used his status as a civil servant of the Field Management Division to manipulate information regarding the magical beasts in the field, driving major guilds to the brink of annihilation. Countless people died and died.
Ahn So-hee, who had helped Gu Yeong-min.
In the vision, Ahn So-hee hacked the magical energy purification system, causing magical beast seeds to germinate throughout the metropolis. Countless people died and died.
And then, and then again.
Visions of demonic terrorists, some known to Gu Yeong-min and some not, unfolded endlessly. The demonic terrorists who had carried out all sorts of terror in the visions had died while performing extremely trivial quests as seed bearers over a decade ago.
A hollow laugh escaped him.
‘I thought servants were those who carry out the will of Chaos to destroy the world? This is protecting the world…’
Before that thought could reach its end, Gu Yeong-min’s consciousness was severed.
Because Gu Yeong-min was not visible among the civil servants, they suspected he might have noticed something and fled, but that wasn’t the case. After hearing from another employee that he had gone to rest for a moment because he wasn’t feeling well, they were able to find him quickly upon searching.
“Gu Yeong—”
It was just as Gwak Yun-sang was about to call out.
Gu Yeong-min’s frozen body transformed grotesquely. Parts of his skin swelled up like balloons, and blisters erupted while simultaneously rotting away. Before the horrified Gwak Yun-sang could even react, Gu Yeong-min became more of a piece of putrid meat than a human being.
As Gwak Yun-sang reflexively tried to draw his sword, Kim Si-baek stopped his hand.
“…This is the end of a seed bearer whose magical energy has rampaged. Magical energy is not something humans were meant to harbor in the first place.”
His voice was calm, yet it held a hint of complexity.
“Then, is he… dead?”
“He is in a state where he can neither die nor live.”
Kim Si-baek toyed with an unfamiliar necklace for a moment and drew his sword, but Tae-un stepped forward.
“I’ll do it.”
“Un-ah.”
“Hyung shouldn’t get human blood on his hands here.”
Before Kim Si-baek could respond, Tae-un snatched the sword from his hand and precisely sliced through the center of the lump of meat. A clot of something that was neither a human heart nor a magical beast core flowed out as blood.
✽ ✽ ✽
While Gwak Yun-sang agonized over how to handle the situation and Kim Si-baek sank into thought while looking down at Gu Yeong-min’s corpse, Tae-un managed to find a moment to be alone.
‘Was it your doing that brought those bastards from mak slecht?’
「Did we not tell you that we are not omnipotent?」
‘You were the one who asserted that it was impossible to cross the dimension boundary with human abilities.’
「It is true that the divine history cannot be achieved with human abilities alone. The magic circle to form the passage between dimensions was received from the god, and the energy to light the path belonged to our grand warrior.」
The sound of molars grinding echoed from between Tae-un’s teeth. A pleasant, booming laugh rang out in his head.
「Did we not tell you from the start? To absorb our grand warrior.」
‘You should have told me first that Edokus could be the catalyst for crossing dimensions!’
「Our child. The choice was always yours.」
With a cascade of laughter echoing from all directions, Chaos vanished. Tae-un rubbed his face harshly and took several deep breaths.
It was already difficult to control his murderous intent with just Cloud, but now those who shared the time of a Kim Si-baek he didn’t know had appeared. How deep and wide must their affection be, to go so far as to cross into another dimension? How much must Kim Si-baek cherish and love them?
He could not stand the thought of others being held more precious than himself by Kim Si-baek. The memory most intensely engraved in his life had to be him.
Tae-un did not want to be forgotten by him. He didn’t want to remain as a faint memory or a warm glow. He didn’t want to be a peaceful, soaking thought, but an eternal memory that made the soul tremble just by recalling it, one that would always bring him back to life.
✽ ✽ ✽
Korea was buzzing with news of an individuality field raid where an unprecedented S-class magical beast’s evolution was witnessed and the evolved beast was successfully repelled. Amidst that commotion, the incident where six people, including Ahn So-hee, turned into lumps of meat was quietly settled without being reported to the press.
Five of the six, including foreigners, were demonic terrorists being tracked by the National Intelligence Service. There was a high probability that the remaining one was also a demonic terrorist. Furthermore, these individuals, who were seed bearers, had mutated at the same time as Gu Yeong-min.
They were merely lumps of meat with breath still in them, possessing neither reason nor nature. Tae-un had informed Gwak Yun-sang that unless they intended to leave them be, the only way was to kill them, but it was uncertain if this was carried out. There were surely those who would want to collect them for research.
Meanwhile, Gwak Yun-sang’s insistence that Gloiuken and Nasluik were NIS agents was more or less accepted by others. To be precise, those who witnessed Gloiuken talking to a baby crow simply accepted that they were the same kind of cultists.
Despite being a high-ranking official, Gwak Yun-sang took care of trivial matters like a low-level employee. He arranged separate rooms for Gloiuken and Nasluik, and he even sourced a footrest from somewhere for Gloiuken, whose height made standard beds unsuitable.
“Well, a manager is usually just a slave.”
Gwak Yun-sang could not deny Tae-un’s clear definition.
Before leaving the siblings’ rooms, after entrusting Biyendwe—who wanted to spend time with the grand warrior he hadn’t seen in a long while—to them, Kim Si-baek called Nasluik.
“It must be very unfamiliar, but please get some good rest. I’ll come back in the morning. Also, this is a sacred relic containing the magical energy of the seed bearer who died today. Since I can’t use magic, it was made somewhat crudely, but unlike its original purpose, it captured the magical energy emitted at the moment of death, so I can’t use it properly.”
“I thought I would return immediately after serving Your Excellency, so I didn’t prepare many materials… and there are no artificial spirits…”
“I’ll try to get whatever materials are needed somehow. But if there are no artificial spirits, um, is it really difficult?”
“I’ll take this opportunity to further develop my magic in a meager environment!”
After handing over the sacred relic and returning to his room, before he could even take out his card key, the door swung open from the inside. A long arm reached out from beyond the door, pulling him in instantly and overlapping their lips.