After successfully finding a place to live and stocking up on miscellaneous daily necessities, the day flew by in a flash. They had dinner at a restaurant not far from the new house. Satin could’ve cooked, but since it was their first day moving in and they were tired, they decided to put it off.
On the way back to their new home, Satin finally asked something he’d been curious about since earlier that day.
“Does that old man also hook people up with jobs?”
“Jobs?”
“He asked you, didn’t he? If you came here looking for work.”
“Ah…”
Cain, unusually, looked a bit uncomfortable and averted his gaze. When Satin tilted his head, puzzled, Cain quickly returned to his usual calm demeanor.
“He does introduce people to work, but there probably isn’t anything you could do.”
“Why not?”
“…Because the jobs are dangerous. More importantly, what kind of work do you want to do?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure.”
Satin sank into thought.
‘Should I try something like elderly care?’
He had four years of experience taking care of a senile old man—unpaid, at that. If he were getting paid, he figured it might even be enjoyable.
But then Satin shook his head.
‘No, that grandpa was pretty calm. Maybe that’s why it felt easy.’
Taking care of a more active dementia patient might be a different story altogether.
Satin thought about other things he was good at. He had a fair bit of confidence in housework. In particular, he prided himself on being a decent cook.
‘They must have housekeepers here too, right? Maybe I could look for somewhere that’s hiring a kitchen servant?’
Since he hadn’t said any of this out loud, Cain pressed him.
“Don’t just think it—say it.”
“Ah, I was thinking maybe I could do something like housekeeping.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, going to homes that need an extra hand, cooking for them, cleaning…”
For some reason, the more Satin spoke, the darker Cain’s expression grew. Satin trailed off, unconsciously closing his mouth.
Cain clicked his tongue softly as he looked at Satin’s face, then returned to his usual expression.
“I don’t like it when you look scared of me like that.”
“I’m not doing it on purpose. Really.”
“I know. That’s why I hate it even more.”
Feeling guilty, Satin gave an awkward smile. Cain sighed and asked,
“Do you want to take care of someone else?”
“Not exactly. It’s more like… that’s the kind of thing I’m good at.”
“Then how about I hire you?”
“Huh?”
“I’ll pay you a salary, so just stay home.”
Satin scratched his brow, confused.
“Um… you mean you want me to take care of you? Like laundry, cleaning, that sort of thing…”
“No. Just stay home. You don’t have to do anything.”
Satin was dumbfounded, speechless. Cain’s face grew sullen, as if sensing Satin didn’t find the offer very appealing. Then, in a voice too mature to match his childish words, he spoke again.
“Can’t you just stay at home?”
“I need to earn money.”
“I said I’ll give it to you.”
Cain’s confident answer made Satin suspicious. A twenty-year-old kid, with no adult to rely on—where had he gotten money from? Now that he thought about it, even the way Cain casually bought a house seemed a bit out of the ordinary.
“Do you have that much money?”
“No, but I have a way to get it.”
“Where from?”
“…I can’t say, but it’s there.”
That only made it more suspicious. Satin hesitated for a moment, then asked,
“Are you doing something bad?”
“…That’s not really important, is it?”
“How is that not important? Are you seriously doing something illegal?”
It was shocking. A protagonist who could have defeated the Demon King and demonic gods, then married a princess, was now casually doing shady things just to make money? Satin felt overwhelmed with guilt, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong.
When Satin stared at him with a scrunched-up face, Cain irritably ran a hand through his hair.
“Fine. I won’t do it, okay? Just stop making that face.”
“Yeah, that’s a good decision.”
“So, if I bring in money the proper way, will you stay home?”
“Huh?”
“I’m asking if you’ll stay home if I earn money through legit means.”
“Uh… no, wait, how does it end up like that?”
“I said I won’t do anything shady like you wanted. So shouldn’t you offer something in return?”
***
‘Is this really okay?’
Satin polished the smooth ceramic jar over and over again, lost in thought.
His daily life over the past few days had been too peaceful. Peaceful—a lovely word. But the problem lay in the adjective that preceded it.
‘It’s too uneventful.’
Living under Cain’s roof, Satin had come to realize just how dynamic his previous lifestyle had been.
Helping out in other people’s homes, tending to the vegetable garden, foraging wild herbs in the forest depending on the season… There had always been an endless list of tasks—spring brought spring chores, winter brought winter chores.
In contrast, this place was oppressively quiet.
The leafy greens planted in the small yard barely needed tending. The only time Satin ever left the house was to pick up groceries at a nearby shop. Most of the time, he stayed indoors, cleaning the same spotless spots over and over.
Cain had said he didn’t need to do any housework, but if Satin didn’t do something, he felt like he’d die of boredom.
No, that wasn’t the real issue. Satin wasn’t afraid of being bored—he was afraid he didn’t deserve this peace.
The Dark Age didn’t end just because the Demon King was defeated. What came next? How did the story continue? He wanted to know—but there was no way to find out. He considered going out and wandering around, hoping to uncover something.
‘Why is Cain so against me going outside, anyway?’
Cain’s separation anxiety showed no signs of improvement. If anything, it seemed to be getting worse. Every time Satin tried to go even slightly far, Cain would somehow show up out of nowhere.
‘Is there a spy or something?’
Once, Satin had gone grocery shopping around the time Cain was supposed to be back. He’d gone to a store a bit farther away, and when he returned, Cain was standing in front of the house, pale and shaken.
Cain said that if Satin had been even a little later, he was going to turn the entire neighborhood into a sea of flames. Satin wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. Honestly, it felt like he meant it—but Satin had tried to convince himself otherwise.
‘And yet he’s always going out himself.’
After promising Satin he wouldn’t do anything shady, Cain had started taking on minor jobs from the Adventurer’s Guild. It sounded fancy, but in reality, the guild was just a temp agency for short-term gigs aimed at travelers.
‘If it’s work like that, maybe I could do it too? I could hang around the guild and gather intel while I’m at it.’
Satin had that brief, ambitious thought—but quickly shook his head.
‘No way I’m risking a fiery apocalypse ending.’
Putting down the jar he’d been polishing, Satin began getting ready to head out. He needed to buy groceries for dinner before Cain got home. The food supplier was one of the few places he was allowed to visit freely.
When he stepped into the familiar store, the shop owner greeted him warmly.
“Here to buy stuff for dinner?”
“Yes.”
“I got that thing in you asked about. Come take a look.”
“The rice?”
“Yep, someone I know started stocking it.”
Excited, Satin walked toward where the man pointed. Sure enough, a sack of rice was sitting next to the flour sacks.
‘Maybe I’ll make fried rice tonight.’
He scooped some of the long-grain rice into a paper bag and looked around the rest of the shop. The store sold not just grains, but a variety of dried foods. He was debating whether to buy dried shrimp or clams when another customer entered.
“Did you hear the news?”
The newcomer immediately addressed the shop owner. From the look of it, he wasn’t a customer but a merchant from a neighboring shop.
“What news?”
“They say something weird’s going on in the capital.”
“You’ll have to be more specific than ‘weird’.”
“You remember that strange fog that showed up here recently?”
“Yeah, things felt off back then too.”
“Sounds like it’s the same in the capital.”
Satin found himself instinctively listening in.
The shop owner stepped out from behind the counter and asked,
“What do you mean, the same? Has the Demon King reappeared?”
“No, this time it’s even worse. There’s talk that a demon god is descending.”
“A demon god? Isn’t that just a dumb rumor?”
The neighbor grew serious and shook his head.
“No, the story supposedly came from the Temple itself.”
“From the Temple?”
“It’s not an official announcement yet, but the merchants who supply the Grand Temple heard about it. Apparently, a divine prophecy was delivered. And its contents…”
The neighbor trailed off mid-sentence. Both he and the shop owner turned their eyes toward Satin at the same time.
That’s when Satin realized he had been standing way too close, clearly eavesdropping. He gave an awkward smile.
“Uh… I’ll just pay for these.”
He never got to hear the rest of the story as he left the shop, but he didn’t feel particularly disappointed. Even without the details, he had a pretty good idea of what was going on.
Hurrying back home, Satin silently marveled.
‘Wow… the plot really keeps moving forward no matter what. How is this even possible?’
But his amazement was short-lived, and soon his earlier thoughts returned.
‘Dark Age really is a masterpiece.’
He hadn’t seen it through to the end, but he could still tell. His older sister had written it—of course it was a masterpiece.
‘But the world I was expecting wasn’t Dark Age.’
When he met the angel, he’d imagined something more like a pastoral novel. A peaceful setting, kindhearted people, and a story centered around the protagonist’s inner growth.
And that was the problem. He’d, in a way, lined up in the wrong queue. He thought he was getting on a gently spinning teacup ride—only to find himself staring down the longest rollercoaster in all of Asia.
He’d unknowingly strapped himself in, and now he wasn’t sure what to do.
‘Should I just keep riding this out, or try to get off halfway?’
Of course, with an actual rollercoaster, there’s no such thing as a mid-ride exit. But luckily, this time it was possible.
‘All I have to do is not interfere with the story.’
