“Honey, did you forget what to say because it’s so true?”
When I forgot to respond to the illogic, Parallel World Ruvlian said. I had no more sanity left to lose. How could someone only say things that leave people speechless? That too is a talent.
“You were saying such absurd things that I was watching to see how far you’d go.”
“You don’t have to beat around the bush like that to say you want to hear my voice more. My honey is quite shy too.”
Are you crazy? Ah. You are crazy. At the dog’s howling that surpassed Ruvlian’s bullshit, I unknowingly asked a crazy bastard if he was crazy. If he wasn’t crazy, there’s no way he’d say such things.
I was about to open my mouth to tell him to stop babbling, when Ruvlian stood blocking my front. Parallel World Ruvlian was hidden behind his fairly broad back.
“Ruvlian?”
“Yees.”
Ruvlian answered without turning around. I didn’t know why he suddenly moved in front of me, but the confrontation between the two people continued.
“How old is me from this world who’s blocking my honey?”
A leisurely voice pierced my ears. It was a gentleness that seemed not to even judge him as an enemy. Just like regarding Ruvlian as a child far younger than himself, not even worthy as an opponent.
There was no way Ruvlian wouldn’t know that fact. Perhaps that’s why his voice was much softer than usual. He was the owner of a dirty personality who couldn’t stand losing.
“I think I’m younger than the ‘ahjussi’ who’s making passes at my honey?”
It wasn’t my imagination that there was particular emphasis on the word ahjussi. Though I couldn’t see Parallel World Ruvlian hidden behind Ruvlian’s back, judging by how it went quiet for a moment, the jab seemed to have landed.
‘God. Are you there?’
[Yes. I’m here!]
While Ruvlian engaged in a war of nerves to buy time, I needed to find a way to deal with that crazy bastard. There was a mountain of things I wanted to ask, but killing or sending back that bastard came first.
But why was God so excited? The voice I heard was both high and bright. It felt so out of place with this situation that it seemed alien.
‘Why are you excited?’
[Me? No. I’m not excited. I absolutely didn’t think about how I like love triangle stories or that Ruvlian is the legal wife and Parallel World Ruvlian is the concubine who suddenly got in between!]
…What was the point of saying you didn’t when you said it all? God emphasized that they weren’t excited, seemingly unaware they had said everything they were thinking.
To think about love triangle stories when the balance of the world they manage had collapsed. I wondered where the god who had been saying they needed to save the world until just moments ago had disappeared to. I also wondered if being different from humans allowed them to be so carefree. Having thought that far, I held onto the question I’d had for a while. Since the confrontation between the Ruvlians was continuing for a long time, it seemed I could think a bit more.
_oOo_
Parallel World Ruvlian looked at Ruvlian. A sneer slipped out at the sight of him stepping forward to protect Baek Sihyeon, not even knowing he’d fallen into a trap.
His eyes were fierce, but to him it was nothing. Unless it was the cuteness of tickling the sole of a foot with foxtail grass, that is.
“Isn’t ‘ahjussi’ even ashamed? An old man making passes at our honey who’s much younger.”
Below the roundly curved eyes, pupils that hadn’t yet lost their light clearly gazed at Parallel World Ruvlian. To him, Ruvlian’s spirit, his warning, was simply pathetic.
‘Should I just kill him…?’
An impulse arose. He wanted to slam his head into the ground. If he did that, Baek Sihyeon’s face would be dyed in a mess, and the floor would be soaked with blood. Parallel World Ruvlian looked at Baek Sihyeon standing still and curved his lips even more roundly. It was a deep smile filled with obsession.
“‘Baby’ is still young so he doesn’t know how to use his head. Far from protecting our honey… he’ll just be a burden.”
The mature and rich voice didn’t hide its ridicule and mockery. The voice contained enough sincerity that anyone who heard it would consider it truth.
Ruvlian unknowingly put strength into his hands. The force in his fists was so strong that his hands trembled. He knew he was overreacting. However, strangely, when he looked at the person standing before him, his emotions couldn’t easily calm down.
It might be because everything—his gestures, his manner of speaking—was so leisurely. If not that, it might be because someone terribly identical to his future self was spouting nonsense. Or maybe the existence itself was just annoying.
Ruvlian stopped making futile suppositions as he considered them one by one. He had no intention whatsoever of becoming a burden to Sihyeon. Ruvlian steadied his breathing and released the strength in his fists. He was the one who had been by Sihyeon’s side for a long time. He was also the one who had won his heart.
He said while containing the same sneer.
“A ‘ahjussi’ who’s not even a rival sure talks a lot.”
It was a perfect taunt from a natural-born tank.
_oOo_
“Does the still young ‘baby’ not know his place? I don’t want to threaten a kid who’s much younger… but you keep being annoying.”
I didn’t hear the middle part because I was contemplating. Whether they were dissing each other’s ages, Parallel World Ruvlian was calling Ruvlian baby.
To call someone with the same face as yourself baby. I couldn’t gauge how much crazier he wanted to become. Wasn’t he already crazy enough? If he went any crazier, it seemed like no one could handle him.
Still, the war of nerves between the two showed no end in sight. I didn’t know what they had so much to say. As time dragged on, the thought that something was strange suddenly flashed through my mind, but the flow in the air was the same as usual. Nothing had changed. Though I felt uneasy, there wasn’t enough time to think about this further. I pinpointed and asked God about the part I found suspicious.
‘That Ruvlian over there, are you going to kill him?’
When I asked directly, God made a groaning sound. Then answered me with a question in return.
[Do you think Sihyeon can kill him?]
‘What do you mean? You said I just needed to bring Ruvlian.’
When I asked what you’d do, was the ambiguous answer because you couldn’t kill him? For that to be the case, it seemed like you didn’t know back then that this crazy bastard was the one who disrupted the world’s balance.
‘When did you find out?’
[What?]
‘That Ruvlian from another world is the rift culprit.’
Come to think of it, you said you’d tell me what a rift was but didn’t give an answer. Starting from leaving him alone while knowing about Ruvlian’s existence, there were tons of things you didn’t tell me. Since now wasn’t the situation to ask, it seemed I’d need to set aside time later and shake everything out.
[Remember when I appeared while screaming? I found out then. I felt an enormous energy that was hard to ignore nearby, so I went to inform Sihyeon. I realized it when I saw his face then. Gods can read human lives.]
‘What do you mean by asking if I can kill him?’
[Parallel World Ruvlian is a bit different from this side’s Ruvlian. It’s like a secret of his birth… It’s personal so it’s a bit awkward to say, but he received much higher quality education and has abundant experience too.]
God’s voice contained complexity. That also meant he could never be killed.
[Sihyeon. Parallel World Ruvlian cut off the Demon King’s neck. And not having come from another world, just with his own power.]
My face crumpled at once at God’s words. I was the one who killed the Demon King. Normally, the me who exists in the parallel world should have been the one to kill the Demon King for it to make sense. But then why Ruvlian in the parallel world? I thought maybe the parallel world me wasn’t a Hero, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I was about to speak to God again to ask about this when I felt subtle mana moving.
Immediately, I pulled Ruvlian and dodged the spot. A magic circle spread on the floor where we had been standing. If I’d been just a bit slower, we would have been caught.
…But didn’t he use magic too blatantly? Feeling something was off, I looked at Parallel World Ruvlian, but his expression was no different from before. Not a single change in complexion.
“Honey. I’m so happy that you’re still the same.”
Saying words whose meaning was unclear, he smiled with his eyes thinly folded. We had escaped the magic, and there was no mana felt around us. But strangely, I felt anxious. I felt like a small animal caught in a trap without knowing it.
What is it? What exactly did I miss? I needed to find it. The trap Parallel World Ruvlian had laid that I didn’t know about. That’s when it happened.
“Si, urk.”
Suddenly, Ruvlian beside me covered his mouth and bent at the waist.
“What’s wrong?”
“Urk… I’m, I’m fine.”
Blood poured from Ruvlian’s mouth. His hands became covered in blood. As I urgently examined Ruvlian, a languid voice spread.
“How is it? Do you like it, honey? It’s a forbidden curse that slowly drains life force the closer the designated person is.”
Ruminating on the words ‘the closer the designated person is,’ I cast a strong protective magic on Ruvlian, then put as much distance between myself and Parallel World Ruvlian as he had put between us.
I couldn’t know if his words were lies or truth, but the speaker was someone who had no need to lie.
A forbidden curse. I had heard about forbidden curses. Because God had told me I had talent in curses too. However, such curses required a part of the designated person’s body. There was no way that fake had met Ruvlian.
Then.
“Crazy bastard…”
“Even if you’re stupid you’d be cute, but our honey is needlessly smart too.”
From Parallel World Ruvlian’s slow words, I could be certain my thoughts were correct. That crazy bastard had used a part of himself. Whether this side or that side, he was Ruvlian after all.
The long pointless conversation seemed to be in that context too. Because the longer time dragged on, the more advantageous it was for him. When I felt something was off, I should have dug deeper somehow.
I’d been completely had.
