A boat? A boat?
As I instinctively turned my head at those words, a rough hand seized my chin. Baek Tae-beom grabbed my face and forcibly turned it toward him.
It wasn’t until I met those blazing, golden eyes that I realized—he was holding something back.
“When you died the first time, it was because you tried to save someone else.”
“…!”
“And when you got seriously injured, it was because you tried to show mercy to that bastard Kang Si-hoo or whatever his name is—ran in trying to protect me and got hurt instead.”
“…”
“Even after all that, do you still think I’m being overprotective?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out.
“I feel like I’m going insane because of you.”
But if it came down to choosing between my life and the lives of many others, wouldn’t the rational choice be the latter? Isn’t it only natural to save the many over the one, rather than having Baek Tae-beom constantly glued to my side to protect just me?
From the moment I decided to see the people of this world as human beings rather than just text on a page, I could no longer understand Baek Tae-beom’s stubbornness.
[The Constellation, ‘One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction,’ is synchronizing with the Holy Vessel.]
Apollo, Baek Tae-beom—none of them made any sense to me.
“Are you angry?”
“No.”
Baek Tae-beom spoke firmly and yanked my hand. A monster pounced on the spot where I had just been. Without hesitation, he slashed it down with practiced ease, guiding me in the direction where he said the ship was.
“I’m just stupid, that’s all.”
The boiling lava made the inside of the cavern unbearably hot. People were either shaking off or killing the monsters as they sprinted toward where the ship was supposed to be. We felt like the only living beings in the land of the dead.
‘Well… it is a fitting thought.’
This must be the land of the dead, after all.
Just as that crossed my mind, something clamped around my ankle. Before I could even react, Baek Tae-beom had already drawn his sword and sliced off the hand that had emerged from the ground.
“Ugh, what now?!”
Undead-type monsters were crawling out of the earth, their rotting and twisted limbs writhing toward us.
[CH.#fdl990/Free Wind]: This really is endless, huh.
[CH.#fdl990/Free Wind]: Hang in there, Ga-hyeon!
[CH.#fdl990/Free Wind]: I’ll do my best to persuade Apollo somehow!
It just sounded like empty, easy talk. I wanted nothing more than for these cursed things to just sink back into the earth, so I started kicking at the crawling corpses. I’d rather fight real people. At least they die and stay dead. These things? Kill them, and they just keep coming. A total waste of energy.
“The ship’s this way!”
“Why the hell is there a ship on solid ground?!”
“Just get on! Anywhere is better than here!”
But as we drew closer to the ship, everyone froze in horror.
The entire vessel was made of human fingernails and toenails. From the mast to the deck, the hull, the railings… every piece was formed from torn-out nails. I even heard someone retch.
At that moment, I was certain.
Naglfar. The ship made as a grotesque hobby by collecting the fingernails and toenails of the dead. But who would build such a thing?
This place belonged to Hel, one of Angrboda’s three children.
No wonder there was a ship in a place like this. Lim Chang-joo shouted out:
“Do not board that ship! Stay away from it!”
According to legend, when Ragnarok arrives, that ship will ferry the dead to attack Midgard. It looked nearly complete now—and it was hideous beyond words. Then, as I turned my head, I spotted something—letters etched onto a stone tablet, as if it had erupted from some collapsed ruins.
“This is…”
[Skill: Free Language]
[You activate the skill. Skill: Free Language]
[Free Language is activated. The Constellation’s blessing is granted.]
[The humans doomed to destruction shall ?? ??
collapse to their knees,
??? ???? the mansion of the gods
shall be painted red.
And when the summer returns,
??? ??? shall turn black,
and all weather will ????]
Parts of it had been worn away, making it hard to read in full—but the meaning came through well enough.
And then—
“Look at the sky! What the hell is that?!”
Something massive was flying toward them.
***
“Apollo.”
“……”
“A! Pol! Lo!”
“Why do you keep calling me, you little brat?!”
Apollo snapped irritably, sprawled on the couch with his back to the television. Despite the live broadcast of Choi Ga-hyeon showing on the screen, he was lying there in what could only be described as a sulky protest. It said everything about his stubbornness. Hermes found it ridiculous—if he hated seeing it that much, why not just turn off the damn broadcast? Instead, he left it on and pouted like a child.
“You look so pathetic right now, you know that?”
“What the hell does it matter to you what I do?”
Apollo bristled, clearly in a foul mood. Frankly, he was seriously pissed at Choi Ga-hyeon right now. That damned idiot—whether he worried or not, it always ended in a mess. What really got under Apollo’s skin was Ga-hyeon’s complete disregard for his own body.
Just now—what was that? Tae-beom, help save the others? What, does he think he’s some noble hero? Sure, Choi Ga-hyeon was the only real key to stopping Destruction. In that sense, he could be called a hero. But Apollo still hated that kind of self-sacrificing attitude.
Would it kill him to take care of himself first for once?
That boundless mercy of his nearly got him killed already. Actually, scratch that—it did get him killed once. And if he dies again, who knows how many years it’ll take to bring him back? It wouldn’t be as long as before, but even a shorter absence might be enough for Destruction to unfold completely. And if that happens, it’s game over.
Of course, Choi Ga-hyeon was a Constellation now—death wouldn’t affect him the same way. The same applied to Apollo himself. He knew full well: Constellations, for the most part, couldn’t feel ordinary emotions. They were like static letters engraved in ancient myth—how could something like that truly feel anything?
And yet.
“…Even if someone out there is actually worrying about him, that damned bastard just…”
Hermes kicked at the air in frustration.
“Exactly! Someone is worried! Ga-hyeon’s in real danger right now!”
“Not my problem! Screw that guy!”
“What’s your deal anyway? Apollo, if you ask me, you care about Ga-hyeon more than your own contractor.”
At those words, Apollo slowly blinked. Hermes continued.
“Are you, like… in love with him or something?”
‘Love?’
Apollo snorted.
“Do I look like someone who’d get swayed by that crap?”
“You totally look like someone who’d get swayed by that crap!”
Hermes let out a sigh and hovered near the television. The screen showed Choi Ga-hyeon and his team struggling. The monster they were facing looked like a massive, three-headed wolf with wings, spewing both fire and ice—throwing everyone into chaos.
‘Looks just like Cerberus,’ he thought.
No wonder.
But out of all of them, one stood out without question: Baek Tae-beom.
Despite the damage he was taking, he charged the monster head-on and managed to slice off one of its wings. Even while riding on the beast’s back as it thrashed, he kept his balance and tore into its hide without hesitation. Like Constellation, like Contractor. Neither of them gave a damn about their own bodies—just obsessed with cutting down whatever stood in front of them.
Then came Oh Kwon-hyuk, Anubis’s Contractor, attacking the monster’s front legs, followed by more humans joining the assault. Hermes stole a glance at Anubis, who, bored with the lack of excitement, had already opened another bottle of nectar. Hermes could only sigh.
“Why are all the Constellations such a mess?”
Thinking he was the only sane Constellation left, Hermes watched the screen—then his expression changed.
“Apollo, Apollo!”
“Stop calling me!”
“This isn’t the time for that!”
Hermes tugged on Apollo’s robe and pointed at the television. Apollo, annoyed beyond belief, finally turned his head to look.
“What now?”
“Ga-hyeon’s in danger!”
“You just said that a minute ago.”
Apollo responded flatly. He batted Hermes’s hand away and sank deeper into the couch, thinking he might as well nap through this. Until—
“He’s about to fall off a cliff!”
“What?!”
Apollo shot up and turned to the screen. The dungeon raid was streaming live, and there—dangling from the edge of a cliff—was Choi Ga-hyeon, barely clinging to a jutting rock.
If he fell, he’d plunge straight into the lava.
“Some idiot got too close and swung wildly, and Ga-hyeon got hit by the monster’s tail and went flying. What now?!”
“Where the hell is his Contractor? Why isn’t he saving him?!”
“He’s fighting the monster right now!”
“Why is this bastard always one second away from dying every time you look away?!”
Apollo cursed under his breath and immediately sent Ga-hyeon an item through Sponsorship.
