[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Are you asking if you can have more than one Contractor?]
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Are you insane?]
It really was madness, just as Apollo had said. My body was making that abundantly clear. My head felt like it was going to shatter. My body felt like it was being torn apart. Like it would collapse at any moment. The recoil was so intense, I felt like even my fingers might scatter into dust.
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: There’s a reason everyone only has one Contractor.]
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Because it goes against the natural order.]
[CH.Individual/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: What exactly is going against the natural order?]
[CH.Individual/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Doesn’t Angrboda do all kinds of stuff using Mana Stones?]
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: You idiot, that is going against the natural order.]
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Just like the rule that Constellations shouldn’t fight each other, some things are just set in stone.]
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: But why are you even asking that?]
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: You’re not thinking something stupid, are you?]
[CH.Individual/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Apollo.]
[CH.Individual/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: When you think about it, isn’t my very existence already something that defies the natural order?]
[CH.Individual/One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: So what I’m saying is….]
[CH.Individual/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: You! If you pull some reckless stunt, you’re going to catch hell from me!]
So much for Apollo’s warnings—here I was, doing exactly that reckless thing. I could practically hear Apollo screaming in the chat. No, not just Apollo. Everyone was losing it. Even Kang Si-hoo was looking up at me, utterly appalled.
Each time I felt the impact of colliding with Angrboda, I could sense the Corruption Rate in my body rising. But I couldn’t stop.
What? If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with?
My teeth ground together with a loud crunch. Seeing those unfocused eyes, so devoid of any will to live, only made something inside me burn hotter.
And I realized something even more deeply.
I couldn’t let this happen. Kang Si-hoo couldn’t just die like this.
Look at the people you tore apart with your own hands. Look at the sins you’ve committed. Pretending it never happened changes nothing.
He had to face it. With his own eyes.
Because he was Kang Si-hoo. Even if everything had gone off the rails, he was still the protagonist.
[The Constellation ‘One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction’ synchronizes with the Holy Vessel.]
My body flickered, turning translucent like clear glass, and then returned to normal. I heard Baek Tae-beom gasp.
“Hyung, please, stop—”
His voice was choked with desperation, the words short and pleading, but I couldn’t look back at him.
I fixed my eyes on the window that had appeared—no, more precisely, the window that had appeared in front of Kang Si-hoo.
[W-ind… ¿Contract wi’th ‘One Who …Preven– Destr’? Ye/s]
I closed my eyes.
[Kang Si-hoo accepts the contract with the Constellation ‘One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction’.]
[You now have a new Contractor?]
[From this point on, you will share a portion of yourself with the Contractor.]
[Congratulations! Your first contract is ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿.]
And then, everything went pitch black.
It was total darkness.
I was inside a square room. Something sticky clung to my feet, and blood was dripping from the ceiling.
I knew it instinctively.
This was the inside of Kang Si-hoo’s soul.
Why was this happening? A system error? Or…
Was it my will?
I looked around and saw Kang Si-hoo sitting slumped on the ground. He looked utterly drained. It was like he didn’t even want to get out.
Around him were remnants of what looked like shattered cocoons. Threads were tangled messily around his arms and legs.
I walked toward him, slowly.
A sticky fluid tried to hold my feet in place as if warning me not to approach. Even taking a single step forward was exhausting.
Kang Si-hoo slowly turned to face me. His eyes widened.
“You…”
“Are you okay?”
“…You’re asking if I’m okay?”
Kang Si-hoo looked like he was about to break down.
“You just asked me if I’m okay? Are you insane?”
“……”
“Do you even understand what you’ve done? You were supposed to kill me!”
He buried his face in both hands. Even speaking seemed like a struggle.
“You know that was the right thing to do.”
“No, I think differently.”
I looked down at Kang Si-hoo.
“You’re regretting it right now.”
“……”
“I can feel it. Now that we’re contracted, I know. You’re regretting it. You’re drowning in despair. Torturing yourself, wondering why you did it.”
“There’s nothing that can be undone.”
“Yeah. Nothing can be taken back.”
“Then why the hell?”
[Your Contractor is grieving.]
[Your Contractor feels regret.]
[Your Contractor is….]
“Even if you can’t undo it, there’s still something you can do.”
I placed my hand on Kang Si-hoo’s shoulder. The moment I did, I felt the surge of energy—Angrboda’s power reaching through. I pushed back harder to shatter it.
“You already know. You were just trying to ignore it.”
[Your Contractor regrets their actions.]
My body began to scatter, starting from my fingertips. I could feel myself being ejected from that space. As the darkness closed in, something hot surged up my throat.
I coughed up blood as it trickled down my chin. Baek Tae-beom caught me before I could collapse.
Kang Si-hoo lay there blankly, dazed, completely out of it.
The situation itself, however, was simple.
To put it bluntly, I was now sharing Kang Si-hoo with Angrboda.
As a fellow Contractor to the same person.
My head was still spinning. I shut my eyes tightly and reopened them.
[CH.#32fas91/One More Dazzling Than the Sun: You little shit, you little shit! Are you out of your damn mind?! You want to die, is that it?!]
[CH.#32fas91/Free Wind: Ga-hyeon, are you crazy? What kind of suicide method is this?]
[CH.#32fas91/One Who Weaves Euphoria: …….]
[CH.#32fas91/Horseback Herald: Do you even understand what you’ve just done?]
[CH.#32fas91/One Who Guides the Dead: You’ve lost your damn mind.]
[CH.#32fas91/One Who Erases Sin: Ha, haha….]
[CH.#32fas91/Bloodsoaked Murderer: What? What the hell just happened?]
While Ares remained the only one not getting it, I looked down at Kang Si-hoo. He was muttering to himself like someone who couldn’t accept the reality in front of him. From the way he was talking, he probably couldn’t believe this was even possible.
Not that I gave a damn.
Leaning comfortably against Baek Tae-beom for support, I looked straight at Kang Si-hoo.
“Do you still want revenge? Still think the whole world’s rotten? So you wanna rip everyone apart, huh?”
“…….”
I’m not a perfect person. I don’t have the right to judge others, to decide who lives or dies.
Even though I became a Constellation, I never once believed it made me something more. I always thought of myself as just another ordinary human.
Still, I knew the line between right and wrong.
Kang Si-hoo’s gaze trembled. Watching him, I remembered the First Monster Calamity caused by Oh Kwon-hyuk and Anubis’s blunder.
I had already died once and come back. I didn’t condemn those sins for no reason.
Because anyone could make a mistake.
Anyone.
“I won’t go around saying revenge is meaningless. But do you really believe destroying the world for that is the right thing? That it’s what you truly want?”
“…….”
“It’s not, is it?”
Kang Si-hoo swallowed hard. He shut his eyes tight and then glared at me. His eyes were bloodshot red.
It stung to think we had taken the place that should’ve rightfully been his.
But even so, that didn’t erase the sins.
“What the hell do you know about me….”
“I know.”
I exhaled deeply and answered.
“I know better than anyone. So fucking well it’s driving me insane. That’s why I’m saying this.”
“I…”
“You’re not that kind of person. And I believe in that.”
He would have to take responsibility for what he did.
Even if it was just neutralizing Angrboda’s interference, it was enough.
Kang Si-hoo sat there, blank and hollow, like someone who had lost the will to fight.
“Not that kind of person? I…”
“And now’s not the time for you to give your damn monologue.”
I staggered upright and looked down at him.
“If you’re gonna die, then fix every damn thing you broke before you go. Otherwise, I’ll fucking kill you myself.”
Kang Si-hoo let out a hollow laugh.
“Aren’t you being a little too intense?”
“Then what, should I talk all sweet and lovely to the bastard who yanked my hair?”
It wasn’t just hair-pulling—you even stabbed Baek Tae-beom, you bastard. I resisted the urge to kick the guy while he was down.
Because if I did, Baek Tae-beom would definitely be like, ‘Can I do it too?’ and proceed to tear Kang Si-hoo limb from limb.
Lee Myung-won looked between us like he had absolutely no clue what was going on, and Baek Tae-beom stood frozen, expression grim.
I patted Baek Tae-beom on the shoulder and said—
“I’m fine.”
“Why do you always do this, hyung?”
“Taebeom.”
“You throw yourself into things that might be dangerous, you push yourself to save others like your life depends on it—why? Why do you have to?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop with that pathetic ‘I’m sorry’ already….”
Baek Tae-beom slowly bowed his head.
“I’m scared.”
“…….”
“I’m scared you’ll disappear any moment. I have dreams where you’re covered in blood, standing in front of me, and then vanish again. When you’re not beside me, I get so anxious I could lose my mind. Because of you, I…”
“…….”
His feelings reached me. I reached out, gently pulled him by the back of his head, and bumped my forehead against his. Baek Tae-beom’s lashes trembled faintly.
“I’m really okay.”
I told him again, like I was reassuring him.
“…Sorry to cut in when things are so tense.”
Kang Si-hoo pushed himself upright with effort. He still looked dazed as he stared at us.
Baek Tae-beom snapped.
“Say anything unnecessary and I’ll fucking kill you.”
“I do have some sense of timing, you know?”
Kang Si-hoo brushed his hair back and looked at me. The focus had returned to his red eyes. The way he stared at me—it was clear he had come to some kind of decision.
“We don’t have time for this.”
“What?”
“One of the things Angrboda’s trying to do is drag Fenrir to the surface. Since her plan was to erase the Constellation called Odin completely. But… she doesn’t have to.”
“What do you mean, she doesn’t have to?”
“Angrboda is trying to trigger destruction. Reenact it. Whether a few small steps are skipped doesn’t matter. As long as the world ends, that’s all that counts. Like she’s writing a new myth. So who cares who kills Odin, as long as someone does, right?”
It took me a second to register what he was saying. Then I asked slowly,
“Are you saying you were just a pawn in the game?”
“Pretty much.”
Kang Si-hoo laughed bitterly.
“And there’s one very important thing you haven’t realized yet.”
We emerged from Fenrir’s disgusting, reeking corpse. Outside the dungeon, we immediately took in the situation. Monsters had already spilled out due to exceeding the time limit, and some people had collapsed, heavily wounded.
Somewhere, flames erupted. Screams rang out.
“You sure about this?”
“I wouldn’t lie about something like this now.”
“Sounds like someone’s had a change of heart?”
I asked, and Kang Si-hoo replied.
Baek Tae-beom muttered with a sneer,
“He has.”
Kang Si-hoo smiled.
“Because no one’s ever trusted me this much before.”
“Ga-hyeon~!”
Then, from afar, Blue Star came running—no, flying straight toward us.
He stopped abruptly at our side and, spotting Kang Si-hoo, froze with a strange look. His expression hardened as he immediately drew his spear.
Right. There was this problem.
“This bastard…!”
“Wait. I’ll explain everything.”
“By the time you’re done explaining, it’ll be too late.”
“Just shut up and listen for a second!”
“Ga-hyeon, what’s going on?”
More hunters began to arrive—Yoo Ji-won, Oh Kwon-hyuk, Aquila, and several others.
They all looked confused, like they couldn’t understand why things were so tense—but the five standing right in front of us were clearly on guard against Kang Si-hoo.
I stepped in front of him.
“Ga-hyeon-hyung!”
“What are you thinking?”
“Please trust me. He’s not the enemy.”
“…What?”
“What the hell are you saying?”
“Kang Si-hoo was brainwashed by Angrboda. That’s all.”
At my words, Oh Kwon-hyuk’s face stiffened as he responded,
“So? What difference does that make? Do his crimes vanish because of that?”
“No. They don’t. He’ll carry them for the rest of his life.”
I looked up at Oh Kwon-hyuk as I spoke.
“He’s going to live with them, atone for them. Until the day he dies. No—until even death isn’t an option anymore.”
“…….”
“You want to kill him? I get that. But I don’t think death solves anything.”
I said it, resolute.
“That’s what I believe.”
“…We’ll talk when this is over.”
“Which is why—we have to head underground. Right now. To Gongmyeong’s underground research facility.”
“That’s right.”
Kang Si-hoo agreed. Oh Kwon-hyuk frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Kang Si-hoo looked him straight in the eyes.
“…Our Gongmyeong has done a lot of terrible things. You already know. We used children with pure power to manufacture Mana Stones.”
Even as he spoke, he looked tormented. But then he bit his lip and continued, his face hardening.
“But there’s a true purpose behind those Mana Stones. Something different.”
“The real purpose?”
“Angrboda’s ultimate objective.”
Kang Si-hoo looked at me briefly, then said—
“Angrboda is trying to break Loki’s seal.”
