While everyone stood frozen in shock, the only one who remained perfectly composed was Baek Tae-beom from the other world. Casually scanning the area, he spotted Kang Si-hoo and let out a short, derisive laugh.
“I figured you’d be here too, but… damn, what a mess you’ve turned into.”
Then, he glanced at the Baek Tae-beom who was supporting me, and sneered.
“This one’s just as useless, huh.”
“What did you just say?”
“Oh? Not that bad?”
“Hyung, who the hell is that asshole?”
What do you mean, who? That’s you.
But now wasn’t the time to explain something like that. No—it wasn’t the time to sit there paralyzed by despair. Not now.
…At least, not right now.
I roughly wiped the tears from my eyes and clenched my teeth. Shrugging off Baek Tae-beom’s hand, I slowly walked toward the other Baek Tae-beom.
“You said you wanted a chance.”
“……”
“Then I’ll give you one. A chance to atone for everything you’ve done.”
Baek Tae-beom looked down at me with golden eyes. A chill ran through me. I felt a shiver shoot down my spine. In that moment, he looked just like the Baek Tae-beom from The Apocalypse Chronicles of Another World. But then, slowly closing his eyes and opening them again, he gave me a small, respectful nod.
“As many as you’ll allow. I’ll accept them with gratitude.”
In that instant, I knew.
Maybe the epilogue I never got to see in The Apocalypse Chronicles of Another World was…
“Still, seeing the faces I killed all gathered like this—it’s a little nostalgic.”
“Can you not say crap like that?”
“Anyway, we just need to take down that big flashy bastard, right?”
As he said that, he lightly swung his sword, and an ominous black energy gathered around the blade. It was a skill I didn’t recognize. Kang Si-hoo, looking uneasy, moved closer and joined us.
“I heard if you see a doppelgänger, you die.”
“Only an idiot would say that. Guess that is you, Kang Si-hoo.”
“What the hell is going on?”
“What do you think? He’s Baek Tae-beom from a parallel world.”
Even as I explained, Kang Si-hoo wore a completely baffled expression.
“Parallel world?”
“If you don’t get it, just go with it. You’re good at that kind of thing, aren’t you?”
“…Okay, but why is he acting all friendly?”
At that, Baek Tae-beom widened his eyes slightly, then let out a stifled laugh.
“Want me to tell you why?”
“Why?”
“Because we were practically ride-or-die in that world. No one could ever come between us.”
“What?”
Kang Si-hoo turned to me with shaky eyes, as if silently asking whether that was true. I didn’t know how to respond, so I avoided his gaze.
Loki was watching all of this quietly from above, clearly entertained.
“A Constellation sacrificed himself to summon someone from another world? Amusing, sure. But in the end, you’re all going to die anyway. All you’ve done is add one more doomed soul.”
“Who said we’d die for you?”
Baek Tae-beom from the other world grinned, full of bravado. He was undeniably different from our Baek Tae-beom—more confident.
“You look like a damn trash bag.”
And much more foul-mouthed.
The clash resumed.
Loki focused solely on deflecting his opponent’s sword. His expression slowly twisted in growing panic. The skill of this other Baek Tae-beom was no joke. He might even be far stronger than the Baek Tae-beom from our world—after all, he was someone who had already brought his own world to ruin.
And I… I was the one born from that ruin.
Blood trickled down the side of my face, but my resolve never wavered. I had people I loved standing beside me. People I had to protect. That was the weight on my scale.
Just like Apollo’s choice.
“You cockroach bastards!”
At that moment, Baek Tae-beom from the other world slashed Loki’s left eye. The Constellation, who claimed to be a god and sought revenge, let out a piercing scream and covered his bleeding eye with one hand. He staggered, then collapsed with a loud thud.
We couldn’t waste this chance. In perfect unison, we charged in and slashed at Loki. His twisted scream rang out, loud enough to tear the air apart. His pitch-black hair flew wildly.
“Why… why are you interfering with my revenge?! My wish, our wish—my dream of creating a new world!”
Loki roared, overcome with fury.
“Aren’t you Destruction? You’re Destruction itself—so why the hell are you trying to stop me?! Why?!”
“I don’t want the world to end!”
“That’s a denial of your very nature! You’re rejecting the origin of your own existence!”
“I don’t care!”
Dodging Loki’s lunging hand, he climbed up onto the back of it and drove his sword down.
“I’ll deny that fucked-up bullshit as many times as it takes!”
With that, he charged up Loki’s arm. Crimson energy trailed behind his blade as he cleaved through flesh. The sword sank all the way into Loki’s shoulder, and Loki screamed, flailing his torn arm.
Every clash with Loki made him feel it—the steady unraveling of his very being as a Constellation. His power was scattering. But that didn’t matter.
This world, despite him being a foreign intruder born from Destruction, had chosen to embrace him. Even knowing his origins, it had given him the title of Constellation, bestowed him with power, and placed countless encounters in his path, as if watching to see what he would choose.
Maybe that’s what it means to love. Somewhere along the way, he had come to love not only the people beside him, but this world itself. He didn’t want it to perish. He wanted—needed—to stop the impending doom with his own hands.
Even if it was a fate already set in stone.
It felt like dragging himself up from the ashes. He didn’t pray to any god. Gods, Constellations—they were nothing but relics of a myth long recorded. That was probably what Apollo had wanted to say. Which is why he’d sacrificed himself without hesitation to summon a new human into this world.
So that we could change it with our own hands.
“I regret the things I’ve done.”
Baek Tae-beom from the other world spoke through ragged breaths. A pitch-black wing had sprouted from one of his shoulders, trailing down to the ground. Perhaps it was the price of destroying an entire world—the power that came from it.
What did it feel like, he wondered. To have destroyed everything, and now be fighting to protect a different world.
“When everything ended, I thought I’d finally achieved my revenge…”
His gaze settled on Loki, who now lay crawling on the ground.
“But no one ever tells you how fucking empty it feels after revenge is done.”
His voice was bitter with self-mockery. He blinked, casting a shadow beneath his trembling lashes. It was a face I knew too well—our Baek Tae-beom had made the same expression whenever he nearly lost me.
“There’s nothing I can undo. But there’s still time to atone. And I’ll prove it with this fight, Choi Ga-hyeon.”
He turned slowly to look at me. He had the exact same appearance as our Baek Tae-beom, yet it was impossible to mistake him for the same person. No—it was undeniably a different person.
Loki, who lay sprawled on the ground, started to chuckle, shoulders shaking.
“You say revenge ends in emptiness? …Bullshit!”
He threw his head back and howled with laughter. The madness in his one remaining eye gleamed.
At that moment, Kugugugugu—a deep rumble shook the floor. Instinct told me something was coming. I jumped back just in time as the ground split open, and a massive serpent’s maw burst out where I’d been standing.
The wall of the laboratory exploded with a deafening crash. A grotesque ship, its hull formed from fingernails, forced its way inside. Though only its bow had managed to wedge through, its immense scale made it feel like the whole thing was invading.
It was Naglfar. Corpses tumbled from its deck to the floor, slowly rising to their feet.
Jörmungandr and Hel had arrived.
“…Well, this just got complicated.”
Kang Si-hoo said, adjusting his grip on his sword. The others were already too busy battling the remnants of Loki to lend support.
Baek Tae-beom, standing beside me, bit back a grin before speaking.
“So you’re just a coward after all, huh?”
“What?”
“You’re frozen stiff just from this? Don’t tell me you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared, damn it!”
Kang Si-hoo growled in protest. The sight was so absurd it made me laugh. He glanced at me, clearly offended, but I only tightened my grip on my sword. My strength was slipping away. Death loomed close.
No. Not yet.
I could still fight.
Our eyes met for a fleeting moment, and then we charged toward the ones called “gods.” Kang Si-hoo moved to stop the dead from Naglfar, Baek Tae-beom intercepted Jörmungandr, and I drove my blade toward Loki.
But Loki had already transformed—first into a horse, dodging my attack with agile leaps. Then into a hawk, then a pig, then a snake, slithering along the floor to devour shattered fragments of mana stones.
Slippery bastard. I choked back a curse and chased him down. His belly visibly swelled with each mana stone he swallowed. Meanwhile, the remnants of Loki vanished, freeing the others to help in the fight against Jörmungandr and the dead from Naglfar.
I had feared it would be impossible to distinguish between the two Baek Tae-beoms attacking Jörmungandr, given their identical appearance. But their fighting styles were utterly different—our Baek Tae-beom fought with straightforward precision, while the one from the other world fought with cunning, his attacks shocking even the spectators.
Because of this, Jörmungandr had no chance to resist. The same went for Naglfar’s dead. Oh Kwon-hyuk and Kang Si-hoo moved with flawless synergy, scattering the undead and preventing the claw-formed ship from retreating.
Loki, bloated from mana stones, looked ready to vomit, yet still screamed in rage. He crawled along the ground, his arms severed, his legs mangled—a pitiful, almost pathetic figure.
“Why are you interfering?! Why?!”
“Because I’ll protect them!”
I finally caught up to Loki and shouted.
“The people I love, the things I hold dear, this world—I’ll protect them all!”
The world was behind me.
Running away once or twice had been enough. I didn’t want to retreat anymore. Even if everything wore down and vanished—even if it all eroded into nothing.
I stabbed Loki through the heart.
Shhk. The blade sank deep into his body. And I could feel it.
The end was near.
“Ha… haha…”
Smoke began to rise from my body. Jet-black blood streamed from my mouth. I spat out what surged up from my throat and stared at Loki, who hung his head low. With a grotesque body—arms of a pig, legs of a horse—the only part of him that still resembled Loki was his face.
And I had just pierced the heart of that creature.
Loki whispered,
“Yeah… you’ve won.”
“……”
“But, one last thing…”
Loki chuckled, a low, eerie sound.
“I’ll make sure you feel it too—that pain of losing something precious.”
“……!”
I slashed at Loki’s body in a flash. But even as he crumpled, he unleashed a final attack. A sphere of inky black liquid shot out of him. I whipped around in a panic.
And saw Baek Tae-beom standing right where it was headed.
No.
The moment I stepped forward, I felt a jarring strain across my entire body. I no longer possessed the power of a Constellation.
Because I had begun to vanish.
[<Constellation Communication Net> personal channel with ‘One Who Guides the Dead’ has been disconnected.]
[<Constellation Communication Net> personal channel with ‘Free Wind’ has been disconnected.]
[<Constellation Communication Net> personal channel with ‘Horseback Herald’ has been disconnected.]
[<Constellation Communication Net> personal channel with ‘One Who Weaves Euphoria’ has been disconnected.]
[You have exited channel #6Eusb1.]
‘So, Ga-hyeon… if you use this skill for too long, you may end up losing your human self.’
‘My human self?’
‘Not because of traps laid by someone like Angrboda, but because the Constellation “One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction”—you—might fall into your own snare.’
[The contract with the Constellation, ‘Destruction,’ has been broken.]
[You are no longer a Constellation of system #381jh051.]
The light that made up my being began to scatter. My mouth moved, silently. But no words reached Baek Tae-beom.
My body leaned, tipping toward the ground.
“Tae-beom…!”
Everything crumbled—into nothingness.
