By Zephyria 
〈You must not resent the world. What you should resent is your grandfather, who should never have become king, and your mother, who failed to stop him.〉
Suddenly, the voice of an unfamiliar woman echoed in his ears. Simultaneously, visions of a life he had never lived began to tear through his brain. Airborne warships bombing the royal palace of a metropolis unlike any found on Earth. Family members fleeing from death. A terror that pursued them endlessly even after they barely managed to settle. Fear. Fear. Fear.
The lingering remnants of a human life. Evidence of humanity.
Tae-un pressed his forehead, stifling a groan. Occasionally, a nauseating sensation washed over him, as if someone else’s ego had entered his mind and was squeezing his brain.
If it had been physical pain, Tae-un would have been unfazed. He had been accustomed to the pain of limbs being torn apart or the agony of nearing death since he was five years old. However, this affected his soul, not his body. It was a fundamental confusion, as if his soul were being struck directly. A fear that was not his own invaded and scratched at his soul in succession.
His already chaotic senses were violently overturned. He felt as if he might vomit, or as if a giant, rusted nail were hammering into his organs. It felt as though an invisible fuse had been lit, searing through his nerves.
〈It’s okay, ■■■. If you’re scared, come to Mother as much as you want.〉
In place of a mother completely lost to memory, the unfamiliar woman embraced him.
Dammit. Tae-un bit back a curse, clutching his forehead. This was why. This was why Chaos had told him to absorb Edokus.
Chaos was right that absorbing Edokus would be beneficial. However, there was a truth it had withheld. While he became able to control the magical energy eroding him more easily, his soul suffered a blow far greater than that.
Furthermore, the damage to his soul was carving away the already dwindling time he had left to endure as a human. The reprieve he had barely earned through Kim Si-baek’s purification was being burned away moment by moment.
So far, he had narrowly avoided being discovered by Kim Si-baek, but at this rate, it was only a matter of time. One eventually grows accustomed to pain. He would eventually grow accustomed to this thing eating away at his soul. So, if he could just hide it well until then…
“Un-ah?”
As a clear voice called out to him, his clouded senses were washed clean. Then, the person in front of him came into view. He saw him looking at him with a face full of worry.
“Are you not feeling well? I knew you overdid it while hunting the dragonfish.”
This kid always hides it when he’s actually sick… Kim Si-baek muttered to himself as he brushed Tae-un’s forehead. Tae-un only then realized that cold sweat had been streaming down his brow.
The fear receded. The voice of the unfamiliar woman faded. His ego and soul stood upright once more. His existence proved that he was a single entity called Tae-un.
「Child, though one step remains, you have become a proper follower of ours, so I ask again. What is your true heart’s desire?」
‘To get my brother back, obviously.’
「Ahaha, is that truly so?」
Tae-un finally understood why Chaos had sneered at his answer of wanting Kim Si-baek back.
“…Brother, before becoming an apostle or a grand warrior, you get asked by a god what your heart’s desire is, right?”
“Yeah.”
It was true, but Kim Si-baek tilted his head, wondering when he had told Tae-un that, only for another urgent question to follow.
“What did you say?”
Feeling suddenly bashful about answering Tae-un, Kim Si-baek cleared his throat and whispered softly.
“Your happiness.”
“….”
“I said I hoped my younger brother, whom I left behind on Earth, would live happily.”
Tae-un stared blankly at Kim Si-baek, who was smiling with an embarrassed expression, before pulling him into a hug and burying his face. The sensation of the hand stroking his back, though puzzled, was excruciatingly painful.
Tae-un had always hoped he could die with him. To meet a final death with the one who had ended his cycle of infinite deaths.
When he was snatched away beyond the rift, he hoped to get him back. For a return where he would not suffer, Tae-un had worn himself down.
He believed that was his heart’s desire.
‘…I was wrong.’
The true wish he had only now clearly realized was something he could never achieve.
✽ ✽ ✽
‘He seems to be unwell…’
Kim Si-baek glanced worriedly at Tae-un, who was in a video conference with Yang Eun-ho. Since hunting the dragonfish, his complexion had occasionally turned deathly pale. Kim Si-baek had pretended not to notice because it was obvious Tae-un was trying not to show it, but when they crossed paths in the hallway, he couldn’t ignore it; Tae-un looked so ill he seemed as if he might collapse at any moment.
Was it an aftereffect of using too much magical power during the dragonfish hunt? That thought crossed his mind, but he remembered that Tae-un seemed fine immediately after the hunt.
‘Was it starting from the next morning?’
He was deeply concerned about what had happened when Tae-un went out alone that night, but Tae-un remained nonchalant, claiming it was nothing. Perhaps he was just being overly sensitive…
Kim Si-baek let out a sigh. Unlike with Tae-un, he could easily identify why he himself had become hypersensitive. It was because he sensed that the end of the quests granted by the system was near.
‘I really hope we can analyze the passage with Nasluik’s magic.’
He looked down at the bracelet he was unconsciously fiddling with. It was his sacred artifact, Sonas, which he had received back from Gloiuken.
Sonas meant happiness. It was a weapon he had crafted while praying for the happiness of a child far away when he became an apostle and a grand warrior. Although it was a bracelet, its form could change into a sword if divine power was infused into it.
It had been less than four months since he left it at mak slecht, yet it felt strangely unfamiliar, as if he hadn’t worn it for a very long time.
A new quest appeared over the bracelet he was awkwardly touching.
[The individuality field and the dragonfish were merely passing points along the way. As the returner has likely guessed, the next quest is to hunt the S-class magical beast, Kun, of the Han River.]
[This is the penultimate quest, so please hang in there a bit longer! Fighting until the day we stop the destruction of Earth!]
[Quest 15]
[Defeat Kun (0/1)]
[Time Remaining: 360 hours 00 minutes]
The quest text, which lacked the usual flamboyant emoticons, somehow seemed to mirror his own feelings, making his heart feel even more unsettled.
Including Kun, there were only two quests left.
There really wasn’t much time left now.
The period suggested by the quest was roughly two weeks. It was the same date as the projected plan the government had coordinated with the guilds. Gloiuken and Nasluik also readily offered their help.
“We must naturally lend a hand for Your Excellency’s return. Above all, as priests serving a god, we cannot allow this world to be destroyed by the bastard child of chaos.”
Gwak Yun-sang, who had already been eyeing Gloiuken for effortlessly blocking the dragonfish’s attacks, was delighted. Since succeeding in the Kun raid was urgent regardless, he decided to push forward while vaguely glossing over the siblings’ identities.
“Actually, among the hunters who saw the two of you in person, all sorts of rumors are circulating—that you forced an awakening of traits, or that you succeeded in human experimentation. I will neither deny nor confirm those. Whatever happens after that, well, it’ll work itself out. I don’t intend to think about what happens after the Kun raid succeeds.”
Kim Si-baek was worried about whether it was alright to handle things so haphazardly, but no other method came to mind.
In truth, Gloiuken’s combat power was not complete, much like Kim Si-baek’s. Not only was divine power lacking, but the use of sacred artifacts was also impossible. There was simply no way to explain the magical tools—the necklace and belt that stored the suit—which far surpassed the level of technology on Earth. However, in a test where only the shield was deployed, it was able to block an attack from a magical tool whose output had been adjusted to be similar to Kun’s power.
And Lee Han-gyeol, who had become curious after hearing about the siblings from Biyendwe, came to Gaeseong to help procure the materials needed to reinforce the power of the sacred relics as requested by Kim Si-baek from Nasluik.
“What is needed is your pitiful intelligence. Low level. This society of magic.”
“Wow. My magic is basically at a preschooler’s level.”
The translation magic was still a mess, but somehow the two were able to communicate. Having assumed it was a common medieval fantasy because it was another world, he was thrilled to find it was a near-future SF genre with highly developed magical engineering.
[Death and Beauty notify you that your younger brother’s faith has deepened slightly.]
It seemed that not only the sacred relics, but with Lee Han-gyeol’s mediation, they were also improving the barriers and magical tools to be used for the Kun raid with Nasluik’s help.
While spending such busy days, Lee Han-gyeol came to see Kim Si-baek. He happened to be with Gloiuken at the time.
“Brother, were you in our country before the Great Cataclysm?”
“I was.”
“Then… I’m asking this just in case… did you ever visit our orphanage to volunteer?”