A Human Who Lives for the Hero’s Mission
While shoving his annoyingly handsome face close, Ruman slowly opened his mouth.
“Ren, don’t you know your hyung? A human who lives for the hero’s mission could never quit!”
Ruman’s teasing whisper pierced my heart.
‘A human who lives for the hero’s mission.’
It wasn’t wrong.
Hyung was this country’s hero rather than my hyung.
My breath, my chest felt suffocating.
“The law of the land is strict, so obey the command.”
“…I accept His Majesty’s command.”
Hyung, who had maintained silence at my yelling voice, immediately knelt on the cold ground at Ruman’s words.
The reddish-brown envelope stamped with the imperial seal descended upon him as he bowed his head and held out his hand.
Hyung stood up holding the letter, and Ruman’s mouth opened.
“‘The Seventh Hero Temarr shall return to the royal capital immediately upon receiving His Majesty’s command!'”
It was a voice that rang out loudly.
Ruman’s low voice resonated majestically on the hill.
From this humble nest that barely has a place in this insignificant village! My most beloved hyung!! The wicked order to hand him over again… had finally been officially issued.
Only now could I see it.
The multiple emblems hanging proudly on Ruman’s jacket.
One of them signified a hero, and another was an emblem signifying an executor—one who executes the king’s orders on his behalf.
It’s over… I’m losing hyung again.
“Sssss…hic…hic….”
Unable to hold it in, wheezing breaths leaked out.
I shouldn’t collapse, but what dominated my mind more than that thought was!
“Ren?”
Hyung’s voice filled with confusion and
“What’s that?”
Ruman’s face looking at me following that sound.
“Fu…ck……”
Again…! I’m losing him again!
It was the sense of loss that I was losing hyung again.
Unable to contain my anger, I trembled violently, and just like that, I plummeted to the ground.
“Ren!”
Temarr hyung’s voice sounded like a death cry.
***
“Ren!”
Temarr hurriedly lifted Ren up.
Seeing Ren collapse like a paper doll, his heart seemed to sink.
Temarr also gasped for breath. Cold sweat flowed from his forehead.
Ruman watched this with rather curious eyes.
For Temarr to break out in a sweat.
Ruman withdrew the hand he had extended to support him and followed Temarr inside.
The brothers’ cabin was modest to the extreme.
To put it nicely, it was ‘modest,’ but in reality, it was very shabby.
“Where did you put all the money to live so wretchedly poor?”
Temarr laid Ren on the hard, worn bed without caring about Ruman, who was opening and rummaging through various parts of the cabin without permission. He covered him with a blanket and placed his hand on his forehead to check for a fever.
“……”
“Looks like he collapsed from excitement.”
When Ruman leaned against the doorway and spoke as if it was nothing, Temarr finally turned to look at Ruman.
A handsome man who didn’t fit in a rural village.
His face was too splendid to be called a knight.
Unlike his platinum hair that had faded in the sunlight, Ruman’s golden eyes still sparkled like the first day.
“Why did you provoke him.”
His tone was full of sighs.
It didn’t sound like blame, but he was clearly reproaching him.
Ruman shrugged his shoulders.
“He’s the one who headbutted me first. Temarr, favoritism is bad.”
Ruman pointed at Temarr with his finger and wagged it with a serious face.
“He’s not sick, is he.”
“He collapsed from excitement. It’s natural that his stamina is worse than heroes like us.”
At his nonchalant answer, Temarr, who had been looking at Ren’s face lying down, seated Ruman at the dining table.
Creak.
The chair made a sound as if it would break completely.
“Whew. Temarr. Should I buy you a house?”
“You?”
Temarr asked back and laughed calmly.
Ruman sniffed the cheap tea placed in front of him and shook his head.
Ruman, who prioritizes profit, would never do anything without any benefit.
The two, who had been together for quite a long time, knew each other all too well.
“Where did you put the money? Did you bury it in the ground?”
“Never mind. More than that… come to the royal capital. Why so suddenly?”
“Ho. Temarr. Are you choosing after hearing the reason?”
Ruman flicked the cup with his finger.
With that small movement, the tea water splashed here and there.
It was because he put strength into his finger.
“No.”
At Temarr’s answer without hesitation, Ruman grinned.
“That’s right! That’s the Temarr I know. Your brother has become pitiful.”
Ruman’s face as he said that didn’t look sympathetic at all.
“Buy some good tea. What is this?”
Ruman clicked his tongue and shook his head.
He swept back his hair and looked around the cabin swiftly.
“No matter how I look at it, this is really too much, isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
Though it would be reasonable to feel offended, Temarr simply looked around the cabin following Ruman’s gaze without showing any sign of it.
Though worn and peeling here and there, it was clean without a single cobweb or speck of dust. Isn’t this a good house?
“It’s much better than when I was wandering the streets.”
“Are you still talking about something from ages ago?”
Ruman frowned.
“Are you comparing living during missions to living in a house?”
Seeing Ruman looking at him with a disgusted expression, Temarr shook his head.
“When I was young.”
“When you were young?”
An unexpected light appeared in Ruman’s eyes.
It was because Temarr had rarely talked about his own story.
No, the praised heroes selected by the royal palace were generally like that.
After ‘he’ died during the first mission… they were reluctant to talk about each other’s past. Because if they shared too much, the wound of loss would be even greater.
Ruman gulped down the cheap tea in one go to hide his darkened complexion.
“Ugh.”
It was a taste that made his eyes pop open.
This is more like… medicine than tea.
“Is it that bad?”
Temarr, who had stopped talking about the past, showed interest in the tea.
“Have you never tried it before?”
“I don’t drink tea.”
“Then what is this?”
“It’s tea that Ren drinks.”
“Isn’t there something wrong with your brother’s taste?”
Ruman glared at the bedroom where Ren was with a mercilessly crumpled face.
“Even so, what kind of tea is this to serve to a guest!”
“Is it?”
“You should have noticed when you weren’t drinking it!”
“I told you I don’t normally drink it.”
“I don’t want to know that.”
The latter part somehow sounded bitter.
Ruman, who was shuddering and shaking off the bitter taste, looked at the darkening sky.
“We’ll leave in the evening.”
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know either.”
Ruman shrugged his shoulders.
His golden eyes sparkled and shone mischievously.
“There’s no way you’d be assigned a mission you don’t know about.”
“Hmm. Should I tell only you?”
Ruman shook his head toward Temarr, who was glaring at him asking what he was scheming. His thin hair fluttered following the head shake. The brilliant sunset light coming through the open window dyed his hair red.
Like that time he saw on the battlefield.
Temarr lowered his eyes, then looked at Ruman again.
The afterimage of the battlefield quickly disappeared.
But as quickly as it disappeared, it would quickly come to mind again.
Right now he’s by Ren’s side, but someday he won’t be.
Seeing the bitter smile on Temarr’s lips, Ruman tapped the old wooden table.
“Hey. Did you hear me? You have no interest in me at all?”
“Aren’t you the one among us who has the least interest in others?”
“Temarr! I’m touched that you said ‘us’! But you’re the one with the least humanity. I have so much affection!”
Ruman seemed genuinely aggrieved.
When Temarr laughed, Ruman sighed.
“This mission is my last.”
“Is it such an important mission?”
Temarr’s face changed. It was the face of a hero clad in steel. Ruman was more familiar with this side too. Usually, Temarr seemed emotionless, which was somehow scary. When he was with his brother, he seemed to have some humanity, but there was a feeling that something was lacking.
‘Anyway, these so-called heroes have no humanity.’
Ruman grinned while having thoughts like spitting in his own face.
“Very important.”
Ruman suddenly thrust his face forward.
“Because it’s work escorting a hero.”
“?”
“Delivering the royal command to you is my last mission.”
“……”
“When you said you’d quit being a hero a year ago, I thought I should do the same someday.”
He recalled the cheers that poured into his ears each time they slaughtered the battlefield with blood, and each time they returned with victory.
“Being a hero is a one-season business. You have to make a hit once and quit. You know that the higher your fame rises, the more your lifeline dangles?”
“Our king is not that kind of person.”
“Oh. As if I’d flatter him! Of course. That kid is our friend. But can you trust the people around him? People change, Temarr. Be careful. People like you are the easiest to be used.”
“Like you were?”
At Temarr’s words, Ruman made a stung expression.
“Let’s set aside trivial stories. We have to leave in the evening, so prepare.”
At Ruman’s rebuke, Temarr sighed, then walked around the cabin once.
He opened the kitchen cupboard, opened drawers, and opened the wardrobe that was falling apart, but all he had to pack was the childhood portrait of the two of them that he had drawn with Ren sometime ago.
Everywhere were only Ren’s belongings.
A small rabbit doll and one storybook. A chipped bowl. A broken plate and dishcloth. One flowerpot that Ren was growing.
There wasn’t a single one of Temarr’s belongings. Still, he would return after completing missions. For the past year, they had lived together without going anywhere, yet he had so few belongings. Temarr could only stand there dumbfounded with a strange feeling.
He was born and raised here. Ren had only a few belongings, and he didn’t even have that much. It was an indescribable feeling.
“Temarr. You have a crystal orb, right? This is the last time anyway and I didn’t want to bother returning it later, so I left it behind on purpose. With that, you can tell His Majesty….”
