“Hunter Baek Tae-beom, are you listening?”
Baek Tae-beom slowly opened his eyes. His cold, golden gaze, the kind that didn’t seem capable of embracing anything, swept over the speaker as he sat slouched on the sofa, one leg lazily crossed over the other. A yawn escaped him, deliberately slow and indifferent. But here, no one had the authority to reprimand a man like him.
Only Lee Myung-won furrowed his brow and rubbed his forehead.
“You weren’t listening, were you?”
“I went to bed late last night.”
“Haven’t I told you repeatedly to get to bed early before official meetings?”
“And why exactly should I listen to you?”
Baek Tae-beom leaned his head back with a deliberate smirk. His beauty was indisputable, striking even—but there was no one left who could be fooled by that exterior.
Nearly a year had passed since the First Monster Calamity, and the aftermath of the second had only just been brought under control. There was no need to question that Baek Tae-beom played a major role in the cleanup. However, the popular belief that Hunter ranks and temperament were inversely related might as well have been proven true—no one dared to provoke Baek Tae-beom lightly. He didn’t belong to any guild, practically an outlaw in all but name.
A member of the National Assembly gave a curt cough and muttered under his breath.
“Still wet behind the ears…”
There was no way an S-rank Hunter could have missed that comment, but Baek Tae-beom ignored it as if it hadn’t been said. Naturally, the meeting ended on a less-than-cordial note. Watching the others file out, Baek Tae-beom looked up at the man now standing before him—Lee Myung-won.
“What do you want?”
“I’d like to say something. Are you doing this on purpose?”
“Doing what?”
Baek Tae-beom feigned ignorance, but Lee Myung-won wasn’t so easily brushed off.
“Is this because Ga-hyeon’s memorial is coming up?”
Baek Tae-beom’s expression hardened visibly. His voice turned sharp, each word spat like a curse.
“It’s not his memorial.”
“Isn’t it time you accepted it?”
“Sorry, but he’s not dead. So shut your mouth.”
Baek Tae-beom rose abruptly and shoved past Lee Myung-won, forcing him a few steps back. Undeterred, Lee Myung-won shouted after him.
“Choi Ga-hyeon is dead! Let him go already!”
Baek Tae-beom exhaled harshly. As he strode out, people around him flinched and scrambled aside.
‘I know. I know that already.’
Baek Tae-beom knew better than anyone.
That Choi Ga-hyeon was dead.
And not just dead—he had watched with his own eyes as the body disappeared. Holding onto the tiniest sliver of hope, he had torn through the entire country searching, but found nothing. Those who had once worried about Baek Tae-beom being left alone with only his younger brother now seemed almost foolish—Choi Ga-hyeon had no ties left in this world. No known address. It was as if every trace of his existence had been wiped clean.
Choi Ga-hyeon was dead.
And yet Baek Tae-beom couldn’t accept it.
Was Choi Ga-hyeon really that important to him? The only person who mattered?
Not exactly. He still had his brother. But thinking like that only brought everything back to the beginning.
Which meant…
‘Choi Ga-hyeon…’
Everything led back to Choi Ga-hyeon. He had pulled Baek out from among illegal Hunters. He had helped relocate his brother’s hospital away from the epicenter of the First Calamity in Seoul. He had contributed to their living expenses and medical bills. He had stood by his side, believing in every one of Baek’s choices. He had helped him, held his hand, supported him.
He had looked at Baek with eyes so unwavering… that was Choi Ga-hyeon.
Baek Tae-beom felt like he was going insane.
That man had left too deep, too enormous a mark on the life of someone who once had nothing. He vanished without even giving Baek time to prepare. Now he was condemned to live forever hollowed out. The part Ga-hyeon carved out was too vast to fill. Baek had believed this was the man who had come to save his life—only for him to ruin it instead.
Each night, Baek Tae-beom fell asleep clinging to the desperate hope that Choi Ga-hyeon was still alive.
Cruelly.
Lee Myung-won didn’t understand why Baek was like this. Baek Tae-beom himself didn’t know, so how could anyone else? Shoving aside another person blocking his way, he headed toward his car parked in the underground garage. Sitting in the driver’s seat, he leaned forward and buried his face in the steering wheel.
He had to go home alone again.
Alone.
He bit down hard on his lower lip. His hollow eyes trembled, directionless. If he tried to drive like this, he’d crash. In the end, he reclined the seat and leaned back. And once more, Baek Tae-beom thought of Choi Ga-hyeon. He couldn’t erase him. The more time passed, the clearer the memories became.
Baek scrubbed his face dry and let out a long breath.
“…Fucking Constellation bastard.”
Grinding his teeth, he cursed his Constellation, who had remained utterly silent since Choi Ga-hyeon’s death. No Coins. No Messages. Nothing at all. Just the vague sensation that they were still tethered together, as proof that a contract had been made.
Was it indifference, after witnessing someone else’s worst moment? The complete contrast to Choi Ga-hyeon made the man silently press a hand to his forehead. A creeping thought surfaced—maybe his true Constellation had been Choi Ga-hyeon all along…
“Wait a minute.”
Baek Tae-beom bolted upright. His eyes trembled as he looked down at his hand. Slipped onto his finger—plain as day—was the very ring Choi Ga-hyeon used to wear.
True, Constellation, Choi Ga-hyeon.
He slowly pieced the words together. Baek Tae-beom recalled the moment he first made his contract with a Constellation.
[The Constellation ‘One Who Knows of Destruction’ wishes to form a contract with you.]
[The Constellation ‘One Who Knows of Destruction’ warns you that if you don’t sign the contract, you’ll regret it.]
[The Constellation ‘One Who Knows of Destruction’ is yelling at you.]
“U-uh… there’s this window popping up in front of me….”
“JUST DO IT! I don’t care what it is, just click!”
Baek Tae-beom’s hardened expression began to shift, subtly but unmistakably. He rolled the words across his tongue, and in doing so, recalled how Choi Ga-hyeon would always pull a strange face whenever the topic of Constellations came up—trying to wave the subject away, as if it were nothing. And since Choi Ga-hyeon’s death, there hadn’t been a single message from his own Constellation.
“Don’t tell me…”
What Baek Tae-beom felt in that instant was rapture.
Choi Ga-hyeon wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead. A chilling thrill raced through his head. He stared, dumbfounded, at his own eyes reflected in the rearview mirror. The man staring back at him looked far too happy.
Ah.
Baek Tae-beom understood.
That one word that had teased and tormented him for a year finally slipped from his lips.
“Choi Ga-hyeon.”
The first thing Baek Tae-beom did with the money he’d saved was buy a house. Once he made that decision, everything else followed easily. A place with a good view, near the Han River. He furnished the largest room for Choi Ga-hyeon. Brought in a bed, changed the sheets regularly. Because he didn’t know when Ga-hyeon would return.
Ecstatic, he even told Lee Myung-won that Choi Ga-hyeon would come back. Naturally, Lee Myung-won assumed Baek Tae-beom had finally lost his mind. He carefully suggested therapy, but Baek Tae-beom didn’t so much as acknowledge it.
Instead, he began filling the wardrobe with clothes that would suit Choi Ga-hyeon. And he prepared a seat for him, too. He founded a guild under the name “Ga-hyeon.” At this point, both Lee Myung-won, the Guildmaster of Hansung, and Oh Kwon-hyuk of Goblin, started treating Baek Tae-beom like he was truly insane.
But Baek Tae-beom had never been happier.
He admitted it: Choi Ga-hyeon was unlike his younger brother—he was unique in a different way. Trying to deny that had twisted Baek Tae-beom into what he was now.
Maybe it was too early to call it love, this emotion that was slowly ripening. A feeling so unfamiliar it felt foreign. But Baek Tae-beom accepted it, fully and without hesitation.
[The Constellation ‘One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction’ gazes upon you.]
Baek Tae-beom slowly turned his head. Fortunately, he was wearing a black suit today. Even though some blood had splattered on it from smashing a Red Apple guild member, it wasn’t too bad. He blinked his golden eyes and locked gazes with something invisible in the air.
And again, what he felt in that moment was pure joy.
An electric rush surged through his entire body—Baek Tae-beom wanted to scream with exhilaration. He released the man he’d been gripping by the collar, and as the guy tried to scramble away, Baek Tae-beom stomped him back down.
He couldn’t hold back the laughter bursting from him.
“Finally…”
Wiping the blood from his face with a sleeve, he adjusted his now-wrinkled suit. Ignoring the horrified stares of those around him, he called Lee Myung-won.
– “Hello?”
“He’s back.”
– “Huh?”
“Hyung’s back.”
– “What are you talking abou—”
“Call the hospital. Right now.”
Baek Tae-beom abruptly hung up and ran outside. He couldn’t stop smiling.
He admitted it—Choi Ga-hyeon was his one and only.
And he vowed: he would never lose him again.
Even if that bond veered into the wrong kind of madness, Baek Tae-beom didn’t care. He had made up his mind.
He would become Choi Ga-hyeon’s only one, too.
They would become each other’s only—so irrevocably bound that they could never escape.
