Wasn’t there some heartwarming story about someone who raised what they thought was a dog, only to discover it was actually a tiger, and yet the animal returned the favor in gratitude? Somehow, I could guess why there weren’t any stories like that. Probably because the moment the tiger grew up, it ate its owner.
It felt like just yesterday that Baek Tae-beom had seemed like an adorable puppy—but now it felt like my life was in danger. Baek Tae-beom hadn’t said a single word the entire time he drove with me in the passenger seat, but there was a silent pressure that was hard to ignore.
Had he known I was still alive? How did he find me? What’s with this car, and where are we even going? A flood of thoughts poured in nonstop.
Eventually, we arrived at a large department store.
‘A department store?’
Sitting there dazed, I watched Baek Tae-beom get out first and open the door for me. He naturally extended his hand, took mine, and gently pulled me along.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Why…?”
“What do you mean, why?”
He looked me up and down, then smiled with surprising warmth.
“We need to get you some proper clothes first.”
“…What?”
Dragged along before I even knew it, the department store looked like a disaster zone. The floor was littered with bloodstains like there’d been a fight, and one side of the escalator was completely destroyed. Come to think of it, wasn’t the place where Baek Tae-beom had been fighting earlier a department store? Or maybe not?
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Don’t look like a pig being dragged to the slaughterhouse.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction: Who looks like a pig right now?]
[CH. Private / One Who Guides the Dead: If. you. can’t. avoid. it. enjoy. it.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction: Enjoy what, exactly?]
“Oh dear… Looks like someone got into a fight here.”
Baek Tae-beom commented with mild sympathy. Right. Even he wouldn’t have fought in a place like this. When he gestured toward the elevator, I nodded silently. The hand gripping mine was unyieldingly firm.
“Hyung, I’m sorry for showing you something like that.”
“No, it’s not really…”
“Here we are.”
And then I realized—this department store wasn’t ordinary.
In The Apocalypse Chronicles of Another World, there was a department store made up of special floors. This was one of them. Here, you could sell or buy monster by-products, find hunter-only gear, and there was even a rooftop auction house. I didn’t need to check—most of the items on display were exactly that sort of merchandise.
As soon as we stepped off the elevator, two managers in suits trailed after us. Baek Tae-beom walked forward casually and said in an indifferent tone:
“From here to there. Only items B-grade or higher.”
“Understood. This way, please.”
The store manager took the lead and guided us into a luxurious room hidden behind a curtain. By now, I couldn’t stop myself from sweating. My pupils quivered, unsure of where to look.
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction: This isn’t actually a slaughterhouse, right?]
[The Constellation, One More Dazzling Than the Sun, lounges back with amusement.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction: That wasn’t a joke, okay? I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Baek Tae-beom suddenly got up and sliced my throat.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Why the hell would he cut your throat?]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Unless he’s kissing your neck or something.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction: Why do you keep steering this toward weird romance talk? Are you insane?]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction: Every time you do this, I feel like our country is doomed.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: DOOMED, you say?!]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction: Like a massive wooden horse is about to roll into the capital.]
Meanwhile, the staff began stacking items in front of us with professional calm. I checked the description of one and instinctively covered my eyes.
[Morning Jacket of Abundance A]
[Morning has come for the great one. Blessings have been bestowed upon you. Increases defense and enhances evasion.]
If I remembered correctly, C-grade items went for a few million, B-grade were priced even higher, and A-grade had a starting price of over a hundred million. S-grade? Sky was the limit. No wonder lower-ranked hunters worked so hard in dungeons—it was their only chance to obtain decent gear using Coins. New hunters didn’t exactly walk around with tens or hundreds of millions in cash.
So what the hell was happening right now?
Item after item worth billions was piling up in front of me.
“Tae-beom.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“…What exactly are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
He blinked innocently as he held up one of the jackets in front of me.
“This one’s too big. You need to eat more, hyung. You’ve got no flesh on you.”
“No, seriously—what are you doing…?”
“I’m making sure you never die again.”
My heart dropped like a stone. Burying my face in my hands, I let out a breath and sat frozen, blinking slowly. I inhaled, deliberately, one breath at a time. Then, struggling to keep my voice casual, I asked again.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re my Constellation, hyung.”
Only the ticking of a clock could be heard. Outside, the staff bustled around. I simply shifted my eyes, unable to speak a word. As I slowly lowered my hands, Baek Tae-beom was standing there, smiling down at me.
In hindsight, maybe it would have been stranger not to notice. My disappearance and the absence of the Constellation must have coincided. If one thought about the missing Messages and Sponsorships that had vanished ever since the moment of my death, it wouldn’t have been hard to piece it all together.
Baek Tae-beom would have also figured out the reason I’d been helping him. If he assumed it was because I was his Constellation, then it all fit together easily. And now that he’d seen my reaction—it was as if the final piece of the puzzle had been set in place.
But the most chilling part was how unbelievably natural his demeanor was. As though he’d been waiting nearly two years for this. As if he’d longed for this moment with every fiber of his being. Every movement, every word, flowed with seamless ease. I could only gape at him like a fool.
He slowly bent down toward me. For a moment, it looked like a towering mountain had bowed for the sake of one person.
“I’ve been waiting. All this time.”
“You’ve been waiting?”
“I knew you’d come back… Because the sign of my contract with my Constellation never disappeared. I always believed that the Constellation I made a contract with was you. And now, I’m sure. I was right, wasn’t I?”
[The Constellation, One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction, synchronizes with the Holy Vessel.]
“I’m really good at waiting, you know? That’s always been my only strength. Waiting for someone who wouldn’t wake up, waiting for someone who’d never come… waiting endlessly…”
Baek Tae-beom gently took my hand. To my surprise, it was ice cold, as if he was nervous. Come to think of it, his hands had felt cold the entire time we’d been holding on—but in my shock, I hadn’t noticed.
“But hyung… You saved me, you know?”
“That’s an exaggeration.”
I shook my head, but his burning gaze didn’t waver. On the contrary, he tightened his grip, lacing our fingers together so I couldn’t escape.
“You saved me. You did it for me. You gave everything for me. You rescued me.”
The ache in my hand made me wince, but he didn’t seem to notice. He only leaned in closer. Those eyes—turned gold the moment he awakened as a Hunter—filled with nothing but me. Our noses nearly brushed, and in alarm, I turned my head away.
“It’s not an exaggeration. If you hadn’t been there, I really would’ve died.”
No—you wouldn’t have. I knew the ending. To me, his words sounded like chasing illusions.
Because Baek Tae-beom would survive to the very end. Because he would destroy the world and kill the protagonist—the worst villain of all.
Because he was the villain.
And yet… What was Baek Tae-beom now?
Cringing at the pain still pressing into my hand, I couldn’t help but look at him. His bright yellow eyes gleamed like a beast’s, and he smiled.
“Don’t ever disappear from me again, hyung.”
I could only stare, spellbound by the breathtaking beauty that felt almost fatal.
“Because I really don’t know what I’ll do then.”
Something hot stirred in my chest. I clamped my lips shut, not knowing how to respond. And then, Baek Tae-beom slowly sank to his knees in front of me. From his finger, he removed a ring. It took a moment, but I finally recognized it.
The ring from the dungeon where the werewolf had been. The one I’d worn until the moment of my death.
Baek Tae-beom carefully wrapped my right hand, then slid the ring onto my ring finger. The band, which had stretched to fit his hand, shrunk down to fit me perfectly. A ruby flashed crimson.
“You’re going to stay with me, right, hyung?”
The way he stared at me, silently urging me to answer—I couldn’t help but nod. My vision was filled with nothing but Baek Tae-beom.
[Your Contractor expresses affection.]
