A week later, contact finally came from Hansung—while I was in the middle of eating the meal Baek Tae-beom had made.
“Seasoned vegetables, perilla leaves, doenjang stew…”
Korean food in and of itself is innocent, but eating it while looking at the man across from me just felt… weird.
“He looks like a damn sculpture that escaped from a museum…”
Everything in the fridge was centered around Korean cuisine. There were even neatly packaged vegetable side dishes, clearly bought from a local shop. The doenjang stew was a little on the salty side, but still edible.
I’d tried explaining to Baek Tae-beom that my body didn’t require food to function. But he wouldn’t listen. He argued that even if I didn’t feel hunger, I still needed nutrients to survive—sounded plausible enough when he said it that way.
And so, whenever Baek Tae-beom sat down to eat, I ended up eating with him without fail.
“Still makes me feel awkward though.”
He seemed to think of my body as nothing more than paper—something that would go flying if struck once. He was constantly trying to feed me more, make me move more, make me sleep more.
Next thing I knew, I was doing push-ups, swept up in Baek Tae-beom’s rhythm before I even realized it. He even coaxed me with things like, “Hyung, I bet you’d be great at working out,” and “Feels like your arm muscles are growing lately.”
“…Maybe it’s not such a bad thing?”
We were glued together practically all day, yet Baek Tae-beom never seemed to tire of it. The constant joy on his face made me start thinking, Maybe it’s fine after all.
When his phone chimed with a new message, Baek Tae-beom checked the screen, raised an eyebrow, and spoke with a smile.
“We’re heading to the Tower of Hellnest the day after tomorrow. The raid team’s already been assembled. What about you, Hyung?”
“I’m going.”
“Even if I try to stop you?”
“If I win the lottery tomorrow, then I won’t go.”
Baek Tae-beom stared at me for a moment without saying anything. I continued, shamelessly.
“I can’t leech off you or Hansung forever.”
“‘Leech off’ sounds kinda harsh.”
“Fine—living off your help forever isn’t an option either.”
“But we’re helping each other out, aren’t we?”
“Watch your tone.”
“Yessir?”
Baek Tae-beom tacked on the joke with a playful grin. I put down my chopsticks and said calmly,
“They’ve accepted applicants outside of the guild too, so there’ll be a decent number of people. And since it’s an S-Rank dungeon, they’ll have done thorough prep work. I’ll stay as far back as I can, I promise. I won’t drag anyone down.”
I had already spoken to Apollo ahead of time.
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: You said the Tower of Hellnest? What a terribly clumsy name.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Do you know what kind of dungeon it is?]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Of course I do.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: If our theory is right, Angrboda is trying to retrieve the three children stolen from her by Odin. Specifically, the ones trapped within a dungeon connected to the Otherworld.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Her children?]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: A myth is never “just” a myth. Everyone knows how powerful stories can be. She’s using that power to trigger Destruction.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: But there’s a catch.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: No matter how much Angrboda tries to exploit other Constellations or their Contractors, she’s still limited. Especially when it comes to exerting real influence on your reality.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: Then… she must be using some other means to interfere.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Exactly. Which is why you can’t afford to be careless. A dungeon hidden this deep usually has something more to it. My Contractor or yours will keep you safe, but you’d better investigate thoroughly.]
[CH. Private / One Who Seeks to Prevent Destruction: I agree. Considering Kang Si-hoo is making moves now, and suddenly a new floor appears in a dungeon that hasn’t seen updates in years…]
A stunning coincidence? No. If it were truly random, it would’ve surfaced in a different form. I couldn’t afford to let this chance slip by. One way or another, I had to confront Kang Si-hoo again—whether physically or just to speak. And given how unusual the Tower of Hellnest was, the odds of him appearing there were high.
Knowing that Baek Tae-beom wasn’t the origin of Destruction had lifted one burden off my shoulders… but in exchange, it left me more on edge. A variable beyond my control might be the one to end the world.
Though I think Baek Tae-beom may have misread my intentions slightly.
“Do you really need money that badly?”
That question left me speechless for a moment. I did need money, sure—but that was just a convenient excuse. And since Baek Tae-beom wouldn’t accept any reason besides something practical, I had to cling to the whole “urgent finances” angle.
I had shared some of the secrets I’d been keeping from him, but that didn’t mean I intended to reveal everything from now on.
The only person I needed to coordinate with was Lee Myung-won. I’d been contacting him behind Baek Tae-beom’s back, after all. No need to stir up a mess by telling Tae-beom things that would send him into a frenzy.
I could ask for Baek Tae-beom’s help too, but…
I looked at him for a moment, staring into those sharp golden eyes.
He might try to lock me up just because it’s dangerous.
In fact, in The Apocalypse Chronicles of Another World, Baek Tae-beom had locked up Kang Si-hoo several times. So I needed to tread carefully.
“Yeah. I need the money.”
“The money I gave you—”
“I’m not taking it.”
I stood up from my seat as I replied.
“I need to make a call.”
“…Okay.”
I glanced over at Baek Tae-beom, who had started clearing the dishes, then went upstairs and stepped into a random room. There, I pulled out my phone and called Lee Myung-won.
The signal rang for a while before abruptly cutting off.
– “This is Lee Myung-won.”
“This is Choi Ga-hyeon. I’m calling about the text you sent.”
– “Right. You’re talking about Ahn Ki-yoon from OO University, correct?”
“That’s right.”
– “I’ll text you the address and contact number. As for the item you requested—it’s going to take longer to find than expected.”
“That’s fine. I’ve already located Ahn Ki-yoon.”
I spoke as I looked around the empty room, bare of any furniture.
– “Understood. Anything else you’d like to ask?”
“Have you found Kang Si-hoo?”
– “Not yet. With a trail this long, something should’ve come up, but strangely enough, his personal info and records have been wiped clean. There’s definitely a large organization behind him.”
“He’s likely to show up in the Tower raid. Look into it thoroughly.”
I had given Lee Myung-won a simple excuse: I can see the future.
Since he’d already seen me come back from the dead, he had no choice but to believe me—and because of that, he was willing to follow my lead.
When I first told him Destruction was coming, the stunned expression on his face said it all. Once I explained Angrboda’s role, he looked as if he couldn’t believe any of it.
Not that I blamed him.
Believing all of it so easily would’ve been more surprising. Just recognizing another Hunter’s Constellation is rare enough—claiming I’d spoken directly to one? Even more outrageous.
Fortunately, Lee Myung-won chose to believe me.
I’d asked him to locate two things: Ahn Ki-yoon, and an item capable of restoring my soul to its original state. The latter, of course, seemed to be the more difficult task. Even in The Apocalypse Chronicles of Another World, Kang Si-hoo had never gotten his hands on it.
But if I had Ahn Ki-yoon, the story changed. He would know how to stop the cursed egg of Angrboda from multiplying within my Sanctuary of the Soul.
I ended the call and stepped out of the room—only to freeze in place.
Baek Tae-beom was standing right outside the door, still wearing his rubber gloves, water dripping from the fingertips.
“……”
“……”
“…What are you doing?”
He said nothing at first. Then, cautiously, he asked:
“Are you planning to go somewhere without me?”
I couldn’t shake the feeling that Baek Tae-beom was getting far too good at using the fact that I was weak to his face.
How the hell was I supposed to say yes to someone who stooped to eye level and looked up at me like a heartbroken puppy? Especially when he’d clearly overheard at least most of my call.
Or maybe the conversation carried into the kitchen from the room?
The sound of water dripping from his gloves echoed in the hallway.
S-Rank Awakened—was their hearing really that sharp?
Noticing that I’d drifted into thought, Baek Tae-beom asked again.
“Hyung?”
“…Yeah?”
“Are you going to leave me behind?”
The bastard. He knew there was no way I could say yes to that.
With a sigh, I poked him in the forehead and muttered,
“Get ready to head out.”
“Yes, Hyung.”
“Wait—your clothes…”
I glanced at the suit he usually wore in my memory and shook my head.
“Forget it. Just go like that.”
“Like this?”
Baek Tae-beom blinked wide-eyed in his white T-shirt and jeans.
“Yeah, like that.”
“Who are we going to see?”
“If you show up in a suit, he’ll run and never show his face again.”
I calmly gave him the answer while picturing Ahn Ki-yoon as he appeared in The Apocalypse Chronicles of Another World.
A guy who was annoyingly good at running away.
We were a bit late in finding him, sure. But considering his Awakening timeline, now was actually the perfect time.
He was probably freaking out somewhere, not knowing what to do.
