By Zephyria 
“Specifically, what?”
“I just didn’t think Oppa would save men who were older than him.”
“……Ah, I see what you mean. Looking back, Tae-un’s situation at the time was definitely awkward.”
“It’s not like there was some sudden catalyst that would make Oppa change his mind, right?”
“Did something happen without us knowing? He’s not the type to go on and on about how he’s suddenly okay with things.”
Seo Gae-un sighed.
“That may be true, but I’m worried he might just be forcing himself to bury it.”
“Eh, no way. He’s seemed perfectly fine until now. He must have had a chance to overcome it somehow.”
Tae-un’s long-standing trauma regarding adult men had been resolved after the Great Cataclysm occurred. Faced with an emergency where not only his own life but the lives of others were at risk, he seemed to have washed away his trauma as he rescued people and protected them from magical beasts.
The range of activity for the children living together in the orphanage had been narrow. The same went for Tae-un. If there had been an adult man he felt close to, there was no way they wouldn’t have known or remembered.
“Ah, I don’t know.”
The more he thought about it, the more his head felt tangled, so Pi Min-hyeong roughly ruffled his hair.
“Let’s just assume he met him by chance during an overseas business trip and fell in love at first sight. His eyes are already rolled back in passion; does it even matter now how they hit it off?”
“You’re right.”
Seo Gae-un also stretched, shaking off her doubts.
Pi Min-hyeong, Seo Gae-un, Yang Eun-ho, and Lee Han-gyeol.
The common thread among them, having shared their childhood since the orphanage, was their absolute trust in Tae-un. Even if Tae-un brought home a 94-year-old instead of a 49-year-old and said he was marrying him, they would eventually accept it. They could never have imagined the truth—that Kim Si-baek’s real age required adding 3 to 94.
“In that sense, when Hyung-nim and Tae come back, do you want to have dinner together tonight?”
“I’ll pass.”
However, trust and romance were separate matters, and Seo Gae-un firmly shut down Pi Min-hyeong’s “misery loves company” tactic of ensuring she suffered mental pollution along with him.
“Right. Where did those two say they were going today?”
“Uh, to the invitation bureau to meet the Director.”
Director Noh welcomed Kim Si-baek and Tae-un with great pleasure. Kim Si-baek responded to her expectant, moist gaze—curious if he had decided to settle in Korea—and a bright smile blossomed across Director Noh’s face. However, as soon as explanations about another world and the past 21 years came out, her expression became very serious.
After a silence as if chewing over his words, Director Noh awkwardly opened her mouth.
“I had considered that international issues might arise depending on Mr. Kim Si-baek’s circumstances, but I didn’t anticipate dimensional issues…… I insisted that my employee must have learned martial arts, but you aren’t from a wuxia world, are you?”
Since it sounded like a joke, Kim Si-baek simply answered with a smile. He felt that if he revealed his actual age was 97, it would be too much for her to handle.
The problem was his whereabouts in Korea 21 years ago. Since all memories and records had been lost.
He coordinated with Tae-un to fabricate a suitable lie for this part. The story was that he had taken the GED, worked for a small company with only five employees, and was then transported to mak slecht during the Great Cataclysm.
Because many records were lost during the Great Cataclysm, unidentified missing persons are still discovered occasionally, but the fabricated story had many holes. Not only were there family issues, but even if he took the GED for middle and high school, he should have graduated from elementary school. If someone were determined to be suspicious, they could search for students who graduated elementary school in the same year as Kim Si-baek.
However, Kim Si-baek played it cool. Director Noh conceded to his composed face, which didn’t look like it was lying. In truth, the past wasn’t that important.
“By the way, Section Chief Gwak mentioned that you seem to have learned fencing. Were you an athlete?”
“I learned it as a hobby. I wasn’t skilled enough to enter competitions.”
Director Noh continued her questions after that. Since they were inquiries about mak slecht rather than Kim Si-baek’s past, he could answer them easily. Her expression became complex upon the explanation that magical beasts had been appearing in mak slecht for a very long time.
“I’m a bit dazed because too much information came in at once today.”
Director Noh laughed, gesturing as if she were surrendering.
Kim Si-baek was inwardly impressed by how quickly Director Noh accepted things. Even Gwak Yun-sang, who was present as a middle manager who knew the circumstances, still hadn’t closed his gaping mouth.
People’s thinking tends to stiffen as they age, yet Director Noh tried to understand even the absurd claim of dimensional travel. It was fortunate that someone as flexible as Director Noh held a key government position at the time of his return to Earth.
“I think I’ll need some time to digest this information. May I ask about the magical beasts again later?”
“Of course.”
As long as it wasn’t a quest, a jobless person had nothing but time. After that, the conversation shifted to relatively lighter topics.
“Does Section Chief Gwak have nothing he’s curious about?”
Director Noh’s intention was for a vivid Q&A from the person who had directly witnessed Kim Si-baek’s abilities, but when the opportunity came, he ended up asking what he was ‘really’ curious about.
“How did you happen to get to know the Seven Guild Master?”
That question contained a sincere curiosity: How did that inhuman mad dog end up wagging his tail and acting spoiled around you? Though Kim Si-baek didn’t fully understand the question.
“Seven Guild?”
“It’s my guild. Since the name is 7777, people usually shorten it to Seven.”
At Tae-un’s gentle and kind tone—having been silent until now—Gwak Yun-sang’s face reflexively crumpled before he quickly checked the room and smoothed it back over.
“Why did you name it 7777?”
“Well, nothing special. You know, lucky seven. But 7777777 was too long, and if I cut it in half, 777 looked like a slot machine, so 7777. I’ve found that in life, luck is the most important thing.”
“Did you name it with a feeling similar to looking for a four-leaf clover? It’s cute that you named your guild with the meaning of wanting to obtain good luck.”
Seeing Kim Si-baek absentmindedly squishing Tae-un’s cheeks and Tae-un beaming with joy, Gwak Yun-sang fell into a heavy silence, and Director Noh managed to maintain her expression. It was the composure befitting the head of an organization.
Unaware of this atmosphere, Kim Si-baek explained with a relaxed, smiling face, unlike before.
“I’ve known Un since we were young.”
“Ah, I see……”
Gwak Yun-sang regretted asking and seeing something he shouldn’t have. Director Noh cleared her throat and changed the subject.
“First, we must restore your resident registration, which was lost during the Great Cataclysm. Do you remember your resident registration number?”
“I remember the first part, but……”
“I know it.”
Since it was his birthdate, he would know the six digits starting with 7, but he only knew the first digit of the second half. However, before he could fall into thought, Tae-un answered abruptly.
“How do you know my ID number?!”
“Min—no, an acquaintance once stole Hyung’s ID to sign up for an adult site.”
“…….”
It was definitely about Pi Min-hyeong. Kim Si-baek clenched his fist. Those brats, who were at most middle schoolers, were looking at adult sites? As his gaze turned stern, Tae-un cautiously sensed the mood and cutely rubbed the back of Kim Si-baek’s hand, which was hidden under the table, with his index finger.
“I swear, I really didn’t look. I snatched it before he could sign up and secretly put it back in Hyung’s wallet…… really.”
“Can I trust you?”
As Tae-un nodded vigorously, Kim Si-baek’s expression softened. Then again, even if he had seen it, what was the point of interrogating him now for something done 21 years ago? Even if it had been a crime instead of signing up for an adult site, the statute of limitations would have passed.
Sensing the softened mood, Tae-un gently took Kim Si-baek’s hand and slowly scratched his palm. A sudden, chilling tickle surged up, and Kim Si-baek flinched his fingers.
Tae-un leaned in and whispered secretly in his ear. The deep, resonating voice softly brushed against the fine hairs of his earlobe.
“I always had high-stimulation things in my head that were far worse than porn, so there was no need to look.”
“……?”
High-stimulation? He didn’t think he meant ‘impotent’ (go-ja), so what did he mean?
The 97-year-old, whose consciousness remained in the 2000s, did not understand the slang of the 2020s. He had never studied it while watching variety shows on TV. Meanwhile, Gwak Yun-sang struggled to pretend he didn’t see a man in his thirties being interrogated about whether he’d watched adult material and separately noted down Kim Si-baek’s resident registration number.
Once the atmosphere had relaxed sufficiently, Director Noh spoke up tentatively. It was a question that had been subtly bothering her throughout Kim Si-baek’s story.
“By the way, on the day Mr. Kim Si-baek returned, how did Guild Master Tae-un find his way to the invitation bureau immediately? Were you in contact? I heard there were no signs of him contacting anyone separately…… and Mr. Kim Si-baek also came straight to the invitation bureau.”