“Wherever you go, I can always find you, Hyung.”
“You didn’t cast some tracking spell on me, did you?”
Tae Woon glanced at the phone tucked into Kim Sibaek’s pocket and gave a sly smile.
“Actually, I followed the scent of blood. When I saw the photo you sent, it looked like a low-tier field, so I started scouting around. This place had the strongest stench of blood. With your level of skill, you’re the only one I can imagine wandering around a place like this.”
The idea that he had pinpointed the location from just one photo left the guild members stunned—but Kim Sibaek’s attention was elsewhere.
“Oh, the one-horned rabbit? It was really cute, wasn’t it?”
“Like me?”
“The moment I saw it, I thought of you.”
“I felt like I was looking in a mirror, not a photo.”
Only then did the HG Guild members realize who the “cute little brother who looks like the one-horned rabbit” actually was. At the same time, a memory surfaced in the Guildmaster’s mind—something her boyfriend from the 7777 Guild had told her not long ago.
“You know those shares we bought in our company?”
“Yeah.”
“Might be time to sell them.”
“Something happen with the Seven Guild?”
“Keep this quiet, but… I think our Guildmaster’s losing his mind.”
He had shown her the Anonymous Message Board with a deadly serious expression. He even swore he saw it himself at a café, practically foaming at the mouth in disbelief—but she dismissed it as nonsense. After all, wild rumors were a dime a dozen on internet forums.
Come on… No way it’s real. They’re just close, like brothers. I mean, if you’re really close… stuff like this can happen, right?!
Desperate to protect her blue-chip investments, she convinced herself of that.
Thirty minutes later, she deeply regretted that optimism.
“Hyung, Hyung. Let me grill the meat.”
“Oh, wow. You even know how to do that?”
“Totally.”
“But if you’re only grilling, how are you planning to eat?”
“That’s easy—you’ll feed me.”
A perfectly grilled lettuce wrap slipped into Tae Woon’s mouth as he opened up and said, “Ah.” The guild members beside him chewed mechanically, unsure whether the food was going down their throats or up their noses.
The root of it all had been a sincere offer from Kim Sibaek: “We worked hard today. Want to grab dinner together?” Tae Woon had glared daggers from behind that screamed try tagging along and I’ll kill you, but the moment Kim Sibaek turned around, his face melted into a cheerful smile. Faced with that gentle expression, the guild members couldn’t refuse—and were practically dragged into the restaurant.
I’m betting all my coins Tae Woon’s actually a monster wearing human skin.
This is tragic… Just minutes ago, I got threatened with death for no reason…
This isn’t the Tae Woon I know!
As their inner voices cried out, Tae Woon diligently grilled meat—until Kim Sibaek’s hand brushed against the back of his. Tae Woon’s earlobes flushed pink.
“Ah, Hyung. That’s my eroge—”
“Woonie, if you say that word one more time, I’m moving out.”
“Yes, sir.”
They were even living together. The Guildmaster stared at her phone with growing dread.
…Should I sell my shares before this goes public?
***
There have only been two occasions when divine power—something not of this world—touched Zone 0-C of Daejeon’s Barrier.
The first was right after Kim Sibaek returned and began hunting monsters.
The second—was today.
The first surge of divine energy had been brief, crashing down like a storm and then vanishing. But the second was different. The Apostle hunted monsters for half a day, offering them as sacrifices to their god. In a world nearly devoid of divinity, a potent current briefly swept through a tiny region.
It was enough to stir fragments of power diametrically opposed to divine energy.
A man, ageless and unknowable, opened his eyes. He blinked slowly, surveying his surroundings. Confusion gave way to awe—and then deepening horror.
His jet-black sclera reflected the strange light of an unfamiliar world.
“…Where am I?”
Before him stretched a bizarre realm, nearly devoid of divine presence.
***
Kim Sibaek was a thoroughly rational man—except when it came to Tae Woon. In Tae Woon’s case, his mind was like a field of blooming flowers. Though Tae Woon was a fully grown man, thirty-five years old, Kim Sibaek’s instincts and soul refused to acknowledge that fact.
And yet, there was one concern that had been nagging him for a while. One he never dared to show to Tae Woon.
Tae Woon had gone through the Cataclysm at age fourteen. There was no doubt his adolescence had been rough.
But… had he made it through with a healthy sense of sexuality intact? What if he hadn’t? What if that was why he blurted out vulgar terms or mentioned erogenous zones so freely? The kid had even shot up fifty centimeters during puberty—his body and mind must’ve been through hell.
[Death and Beauty narrows her eyes and asks what puberty and growing taller have to do with anything.]
How hard must things have been for him, to grow that tall?
[Death and Beauty firmly reiterates: that’s a completely illogical connection.]
Still, he must have had a rough time.
Overcome with sympathy, Kim Sibaek gently patted Tae Woon’s cheek, imagining the stormy adolescence he must have endured. But Tae Woon didn’t flinch from the sudden touch—instead, he leaned into it with a soft smile, nuzzling his cheek against Sibaek’s hand.
“Eat up, okay? Oh, do you have a computer at home?”
“What for?”
“So I can study the world properly. You can only learn so much from TV.”
“Isn’t it easier to just use your phone?”
Kim Sibaek, trying to hide his real intentions behind a flimsy excuse about studying, looked sheepish.
“I’m just… too slow at typing on my phone.”
“You haven’t forgotten how to use a keyboard, have you?”
“I mean… maybe I can manage with the rabbit style?”
“It’s not rabbit—it’s eagle. You know, hunt-and-peck?”
“Oh, right.”
Tae Woon chuckled and set down his spoon as he finished his meal.
“There’s a laptop in the study. Go ahead and use it. There’s no password.”
“You don’t have, like, any porn saved on there or anything, right?”
It was a hopeful attempt to volley back one of Tae Woon’s usual inappropriate remarks—some banter, nothing serious.
“That doesn’t even work for me anymore.”
“Uh…”
Kim Sibaek instantly regretted the joke. He hesitated, frowning, nervously chewing the tips of his chopsticks before asking carefully,
“So… it’s not like nothing happens at all, right?”
That could be even more serious than dirty jokes. If his precious boy had developed some kind of dysfunction—physically or mentally—and was compensating through warped behavior instead of normal intimacy, then his whole understanding of sex might be twisted… and the thought spiraled out of control from there.
Tae Woon leaned forward, arms on the table, and tilted his gaze toward Sibaek as he chewed his last bite. His eyes narrowed playfully, voice dropping to a teasing murmur.
“Hyung, do you want to check and teach me yourself?”
Kim Sibaek’s expression turned deadly serious. Yep. It was official. Tae Woon definitely had an issue with sexual perception.
He swallowed the last bite, rinsed his mouth, then laced his fingers together like a schoolteacher preparing for a stern lecture.
“You didn’t get proper sex ed in school because of all the monster stuff, right? And obviously, it’s not the kind of thing a priest or nun could really explain.”
“Huh?”
“I know it’s late, but I’ll teach you now. You mentioned wet dreams before, and since you said you ‘get hard’, I’m guessing you at least understand the basics, right?”
“Y-yeah…”
And so began a one-on-one sex ed session at the breakfast table… for a thirty-five-year-old man.
“Why does Woonie always end up running away…”
[Death and Beauty shoots him a look of pure disbelief—Do you seriously not know why?]
“…?”
[Death and Beauty shakes her head in exasperation.]
Sex education is important, though… A shame, but it is what it is. They’ll have to pick up the lesson some other time. First, he should probably take Tae Woon to a urologist—not something to be ashamed of, and he’d make sure to convince him of that.
With a sigh, Kim Sibaek pecked at the laptop keyboard using his slow, clumsy eagle-typing. 7-7-7-7… G-u-i-l-d… M-a-s-t-e-r… T-a-e… W-o-o-n… G-i-r-l… F-r-i-e-n-d…
A flood of search results filled the screen. Compared to what he remembered, portal sites had gotten way more complicated. Honestly, he hadn’t even known which icon opened the browser—Lord Biendeoé had to look it up and show him using the phone.
He combed through blog posts, news articles, shopping pages, and forum threads.
“Tae Woon lookalike”? “Boyfriend aesthetic”? What the hell does that even mean?
The search results were all over the place—anything even remotely related to the keywords came up. After twenty minutes of fruitless digging, Kim Sibaek gave up.
[Death and Beauty scolds: Why not just ask him directly?]
“If he tells me he got dumped because he couldn’t get it up, I wouldn’t even know how to comfort him…”
[Death and Beauty groans: He’s not five, he’s thirty-five.]
Even that blunt truth didn’t faze Kim Sibaek. As expected, trying to diagnose relationship problems caused by warped sexual perception through internet searches was a lost cause.
He must have had a girlfriend, right?
No way a grown man like Tae Woon still carried a crush from when he was fourteen. Kim Sibaek quietly looked down at the hand Tae Woon often clung to or touched.
It still felt like the hand of a child.
Kim Sibaek gently closed his fingers around it, as if to hold on to something delicate and precious.
