The moment his words left his lips and reached his ears, Kim Sibaek flinched. …He’d thought he carried nothing but the goal of returning to Mak Slechth in his heart. And yet, without even realizing it, his subconscious had already started imagining something else—something born quietly, gradually, from the bond he’d formed with Tae Woon.
“……”
But more shocked than Kim Sibaek was Tae Woon. He stood frozen, staring down at him with wide eyes, like he couldn’t quite comprehend what he’d just heard.
Rattled by the sudden shift in emotions he hadn’t seen coming, Kim Sibaek cleared his throat and gave Tae Woon a light push.
“All right, that’s enough. I got ahead of myself. We’ve still got a long way to go with the quest anyway.”
Tae Woon let out a shaky breath and finally pulled back. Then, with a deliberately pouty look, he wiped his hands with a tissue. His voice was laced with mock sulk as he handed one to Kim Sibaek.
“Hiding from underage eyes like this… it kinda feels like we’re some married couple sneaking around after putting the kid to bed. I like it, in a weird way. But we always stop halfway, so now it just feels like we’re one of those sexless couples.”
“You don’t even want to date me. What couple are you talking about?”
“If you asked me to, I wouldn’t just fake being your boyfriend—I’d pretend to be your husband too.”
“So you’d go through the motions without meaning any of it?”
Tae Woon deflected with a laugh and pressed a quick kiss to Kim Sibaek’s forehead. Kim Sibaek resisted the urge to rub it away, instead reaching down to clean the semen off his stomach. He’d need to wash his clothes later.
“Still, isn’t this what you wanted in a partner?”
“More like a handjob partner than a proper one. Calling it an ‘HJ buddy’ just sounds weird, though.”
“I told you to stop saying stuff like that.”
Kim Sibaek smacked him lightly on the thigh, and Tae Woon let out a yelp before flopping on top of him, dragging them both back onto the bed.
“Woon-ah, go shower first.”
“Just a second. What’s the rush? It’s just you and me here.”
Then, as if remembering too late, Tae Woon grabbed the remote he’d forgotten earlier and pressed it. The bed began to rotate smoothly. He buried his face in Kim Sibaek’s neck, skin still warm and flushed from their earlier heat. The touch tickled—gentle and drowsy.
Thump. Thump.
His heart picked up again, pulsing fast. Kim Sibaek swallowed down the quiet unease beginning to bloom with each beat and stroked Tae Woon’s hair. Soft. Comforting.
He didn’t want to let go.
With his face still pressed against Kim Sibaek’s neck, Tae Woon shut his eyes tightly. Only now did his heart begin to pound wildly.
…He’s thinking about staying here instead of going back to Mak Slechth?
The thought had never once crossed his mind before. Just imagining it made his brain feel like it was melting from how sweet it was—how intoxicating.
If Kim Sibaek stayed, he wouldn’t have to worry about someone else carving their name deeper into his soul after he returned to Mak Slechth. He wouldn’t have to fight or struggle—just stay by his side. Every day could be filled with nothing but the joy of knowing he’d been chosen.
But that fantasy was just that—a fantasy. An impossible dream.
[Thus I declare: on the 7777th day, I shall bring him back.]
The voice of Chaos, echoing from the past, rang again in his head. A deep, despairing fear took root in its wake. The foolish hope of being part of Kim Sibaek’s future never rose again.
***
Mak Slechth held everything that made up Kim Sibaek—except for one thing. And Earth was where that one missing piece remained. Just one piece… or perhaps everything but that one?
That was what this choice between two worlds meant to him.
Tae Woon was unbearably heavy on his heart. But so were the divine powers that proved who he was and the future he’d begun to dream of in Mak Slechth.
Even as he revisited the past and future he’d left behind there, the balance inside him kept tipping toward Tae Woon. Kim Sibaek let out a bitter smile. That day, when he chose to acknowledge and accept his longing, he’d known this regret would follow.
To the unwavering goal of returning to Mak Slechth, he’d added the regret called Tae Woon. For now, it was just a quiet tremor, but he could already sense it growing—something massive, something he wouldn’t be able to control.
He’d accepted it, knowing full well he’d regret it. If the road to Mak Slechth opened before him again… what would he choose?
…I don’t know.
With a groan, Kim Sibaek let himself fall back onto the bed. They still had no idea when the quest would end, so for now, all he wanted was to focus on the present. On this moment, where he and Tae Woon shared their desire.
Thankfully, Biendeoé was napping, sparing him from having his chaotic thoughts exposed. Though she’d been awake for a while, she hadn’t dared speak up in the heavy silence. But when she accidentally caught a glimpse of her Apostle’s inner turmoil, she flinched and quickly stopped scanning his surface thoughts.
Was Sibaek really thinking about staying on Earth?
The time Kim Sibaek had served as her Apostle was just a sliver of Biendeoé’s divine consciousness. But even that brief sliver had colored the young god’s awareness in vivid hues.
It wasn’t uncommon for gods to develop a special attachment to their first Apostle or Paladin. But the bond Biendeoé shared with Kim Sibaek—who had been with her from the very beginning, from the moment she first awakened to her divinity—was unusually deep. Her sister, Death and Rest, had once scolded her for clinging to a human like a spoiled child, but Biendeoé had held her ground.
What’s so wrong with a child leaning on an adult?
But now, if Kim Sibaek didn’t return to Mak Slechth… what was she supposed to do?
She wasn’t upset by her Apostle’s doubts. She knew very well how much Tae Woon meant to him—she’d learned that over years of watching them together. His inner conflict had always been inevitable.
If she were being honest, she just wanted to follow him, wherever he went.
She could almost hear her sister’s voice again: “This is exactly why you haven’t grown.”
Biendeoé shook her head, brushing the thought away.
“You’re awake?”
Acting like she hadn’t heard anything earlier, she fluttered over and perched on Kim Sibaek’s chest. His hand reached up and gently stroked her feathers—warm and familiar, just like always.
***
The world was buzzing with Christmas cheer, but Kim Sibaek had his hands full with something else.
He’d traced Edokers to a convenience store he used to work at and managed to detect faint traces of demonic energy. But even his god’s Incarnate Body could barely register it—it was that weak.
One thing was clear now: Edokers had grown so feeble he couldn’t even gather followers on Earth anymore. If he caused another scene like the one at the amusement park, Kim Sibaek would have to step in personally. At least now, he knew the man’s face—that gave him a significant advantage.
The real concern, however, was the chaos-born entities native to Earth.
Should I craft a relic that can track demonic energy?
More specifically, a relic optimized with magical enhancements.
While Apostles and Paladins could sense demonic energy better than ordinary priests, they were still limited by human bodies. To overcome those limits, priests had always worked with mages—creating enchanted relics and magitech tools refined enough to detect and track magi with high precision.
Up until now, Kim Sibaek hadn’t seriously considered using one. He wasn’t well-versed in magic, and Earth’s magical development lagged far behind.
A mage’s core skill was the precise release and control of mana. Since both worlds shared a fundamental magic framework, the formulas weren’t too different. But anything beyond the basics was worlds apart. Earth’s magic had only recently reached the stage of using monster byproducts and minerals as reagents.
That’s why he hadn’t thought much of it until now. But with chaos-born forces confirmed on Earth, he figured it was worth trying—even if the results weren’t perfect.
[Death and Beauty asks: even if your brilliant and superior god helps you with her vast and genius-level magical knowledge, how exactly do you plan to create it when you don’t even have the necessary materials?]
“…Fine. I’ll write down everything I need—just read the list out for me.”
With that, Kim Sibaek filled a sheet of paper with a densely packed list of items and brought it to Tae Woon at the office.
“You need materials for a new spell? Use whatever you want from the lab. If we’re low on anything, I’ll have the stock replenished.”
“I’ll need a manastone from an S-rank monster. Any raids coming up?”
“I’ll give you one from our last hunt—my guild took it down.”
“Since this’ll be used to make a relic, I’ll also need pure materials. Ones completely untouched by demonic energy. Do we even have stuff like that?”
Tae Woon accepted the paper without a second thought, but as his eyes scanned the list, they widened. Confusion quickly settled into his expression, and Kim Sibaek glanced away, just slightly.
Even for Tae Woon… this wouldn’t be easy.
