After swapping the parallel world Baek Sihyeon with Baek Sihyeon and returning to his original world, Ruvlian Belitent lived diligently until the age of eighteen when the Hero would appear. He maintained appropriate relationships with his family, nanny, and servants, and unlike before, he didn’t leave the family estate. It was more convenient to become the Duke and keep Sihyeon by his side. Strangely, there were no titles in the parallel world Baek Sihyeon’s world, but in his own world, one needed a high title to accomplish what they wanted.
And in the year he turned eighteen, the Hero appeared.
Those eyes were inorganic, unlike Sihyeon’s. It was hard to believe the same light brown eyes could be so different. The curse he had placed remained, but the Evil God dwelling in his body told him to bind it more firmly. That way, it would be easier to transform him into the Demon King when released later.
Even though they went on subjugation together, there was nothing enjoyable about it. Occasionally, in places thick with demonic energy, he saw Sihyeon whose fate had been reversed by the Evil God’s power and mana. The other version of himself from another world clinging to his side was irritating. Because he could see affection filling Sihyeon’s eyes—Sihyeon who hadn’t loved him even after dozens of regressions.
[Drop that annoying human into another world. You can just drop him there and turn him into the Demon King, so what are you agonizing over?]
‘Shut up.’
The Demon King whispered, but Ruvlian suppressed the impulse. Because he had gone mad after reversing time so many times, there had been a time when he kidnapped and confined Sihyeon. It was something he did during subjugation as soon as he turned back time. Of course, that also ended in death. He gradually lost his vitality and took his own life.
He had also tampered with his memories, but at that time, he hadn’t taken measures to prevent the Evil God’s power from growing strong like now, so both divine power and mana were overflowing. In less than a month, Sihyeon recovered the memories bound by mana and broke the confinement magic. After escaping, he confronted the Demon King alone and died.
At other times when he was far more insane than now, he had killed everyone Baek Sihyeon had become close to. He wouldn’t put anything in his mouth. His chest stung at the gradually gaunt face and empty eyes. This wasn’t the kind of eyes he wanted to see. Though Ruvlian was alive, at the sight of him looking no different from dead, he turned back time for the first time even though Baek Sihyeon hadn’t died.
Because of such history, Ruvlian suppressed the desire to kill his parallel world self. Even now, he wanted to cross over there and interfere, but there was something he had to do here. He had to fulfill his contract with the Evil God.
Ruvlian proceeded with the subjugation at a faster pace. During subjugation, there was an incident where Montrio glimpsed him casting a curse to suppress desire on the parallel world Baek Sihyeon, but let it pass while turning pale. Thinking of him as a comrade, though he seemed to be in denial, from that day on he was paying more attention to the Hero. He was aware of it subconsciously but seemed to be deliberately denying it, which was just laughable.
‘Since when were we close.’
The subjugation ended like that with the Hero’s death. After a long, long regression, Baek Sihyeon’s fate was taken by another.
After all the work was finished, Ruvlian Belitent was finally able to face Baek Sihyeon, who ‘was’ the Hero.
_oOo_
“Huk. Heo-eok……”
I opened my eyes while breathing roughly. Even though it was just a memory, emotions flooded in as if I had experienced it directly. Several emotions mixed together at once, making it difficult to sort out. My breathing wouldn’t calm down.
Without even the capacity to survey my surroundings, I squeezed my eyes shut and just breathed heavily. Because of that, I only belatedly realized that someone beside me was patting my back at regular intervals. If someone had tried to kill me right now, I was so out of it that I would have died without being able to respond.
Gradually, my breathing returned to stability. When I looked up with tear-filled eyes, I saw platinum blonde hair swaying. Below finely curved eyes, I saw a familiar color.
“Are you calm now? Are you okay?”
I should answer, but no voice came out. I clearly thought I had calmed down, but my hands were trembling. My heart was beating faster than usual. I guess I wasn’t completely calm.
I only then realized that I had my head resting on Ruvlian’s thigh. But I had no strength. Rather, I moved my head and buried my face deeply. At the scent of his body absorbed in his clothes, my trembling hands gradually calmed down. When my heart found its original rhythm, I lifted my face from his thigh and raised my body.
“Can you get up?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
I answered while smoothing down my disheveled hair. Then I looked around at the surroundings I hadn’t been able to see, having been overwhelmed by sudden emotions and rushing memories.
As if we were inside a destroyed building, except for the area near where I had been lying, there was a lot of broken concrete, shattered glass, and other debris. It was as if a natural disaster had swept through.
“……Sihyeon, this is, well,”
“It was Ruvlian, right.”
“What?”
“Not you. The parallel world one.”
Seeing Ruvlian flustered, I corrected my words, and he nodded. I thought the inevitable question of how I knew would follow, but as if knowing my head was complicated, he closed his mouth.
I gratefully accepted that consideration and thought. The Evil God in the parallel world Ruvlian’s memory was constantly eyeing his body. However, the parallel world Ruvlian didn’t know that the Evil God could also dwell in a dead body, and when his life was fading from my and Ruvlian’s attacks, the Evil God tried to take over his body through the weakened gap, so he deliberately let my sword pierce him. Without a trace of fear or hesitation, in case his breath being completely extinguished would be fine.
For a moment, the sensation of death that the parallel world Ruvlian felt while turning back time swept over my body. I breathed slowly to forget that sensation and continued thinking. Because he didn’t die, the Evil God that had only been parasitic until now would have entered the dead body by now. If he had died and the fight had ended, there’s no way we’d still be like this inside this collapsed building.
[Sihyeon, you’re awake!]
“Sihyeon?”
When I frowned at the God’s voice ringing in my rolling head without warning, Ruvlian called me. At his worried expression, I told him the reason was the God.
‘What’s the situation right now?’
[It’s a disaster! The Evil God took over the body and it’s chaos now! And it’s the parallel world Ruvlian’s body at that! Originally, the parallel world Ruvlian was already a person of interest because he kept turning back time, but to think he made a contract with an Evil God! It’s an unimaginable situation, so without even a moment to do anything, right now this building and everything else has collapsed!]
Rat-tat-tat. The God spoke without pause like bullets firing. My head started hurting. Where did it all go wrong? Not killing the young parallel world Ruvlian? The curious parallel world Ruvlian falling for me? Me being fated to die? Without realizing it, I was looking for the fundamental cause. But there was no way an answer would come. Because of crossing worlds and turning back time with everything tangled, it became like the question of which came first, the egg or the chicken.
Sighing, I first devised a way to break through this situation based on the parallel world Ruvlian’s memories I had glimpsed. There was no method to kill the Evil God in his memories. Because every time he tried to research a way to break the contract, the Evil God persistently kept talking in his head and interfered.
But recklessly charging in without a method would be a rash act of stepping one foot closer to death’s door. As the Evil God habitually told the parallel world Ruvlian, in the end he was just a mere human. The other side was an omnipotent god.
“Sihyeon. First, think calmly. Okay?”
When had I been biting my nails—Ruvlian grasped my hand, stopping the movement of my thumb and middle finger. Warm body temperature was transmitted. He swept up my face with one hand. I became particularly impatient.
[That’s right, Sihyeon. If you think calmly, an answer might come out. Of course, there isn’t much time……]
The God also chimed in. But at the last words, I couldn’t help but become impatient again. After returning to the original world where I lived—ah, this isn’t my world. Since the world changed when I was young, it was the parallel world Baek Sihyeon’s world. So since returning to the parallel world Baek Sihyeon’s world, there wasn’t a time when I wasn’t pressed for time. Now, even though the Evil God had entered, it was because of the parallel world Ruvlian.
“Ruvlian.”
“Yes, Sihyeon.”
“But is it okay for us to be like this?”
A new question suddenly arose. Weren’t we the only forces capable of stopping the Evil God? But to be just calmly thinking like this. There was still something more I didn’t know. Feeling my face stiffen, I opened my mouth again.
“……Is everyone dead?”
“Ah. That’s not it.”
“Then?”
“Quite a lot of casualties did occur, but I think it’s better to hear about this from the God. Because it’s what the God did.”
As if it was the God’s solo action, Ruvlian shook his head. The meaning that he didn’t want to be involved was clearly visible.
[I didn’t do anything wrong! I just referenced a novel a little, drew out the latent power in all living people, and gave them a quest to stop the Evil God!]
‘……What? Are you crazy?’
When I whipped around to look at Ruvlian, he was gently smiling while pretending not to know. It was absurd. Wasn’t this like telling beginners who don’t even know how to use their power to catch the final boss first? It was almost like throwing prey in front of a beast. I don’t know what they were thinking doing such a thing even if they were in a hurry.
‘Rather, they’re obstacles. In the first place, aren’t problems involving gods something you should solve?’
[Actually, the divine realm is also in chaos right now…… It’s being suppressed, but from demon tribes to monsters have invaded and a great war between heaven and demons has broken out. For me to directly interfere, the higher-ups must agree, but that side is also in chaos so there’s no way to do anything. It’s not just that they said they’d give penalties if you don’t get consent verbally, but they actually placed real restrictions.]
It was timing as if they had prepared and aimed for this moment. Hearing that just revealing message windows like quests to people and awakening their abilities without permission would bring penalties and make things precarious, I closed my mouth. The situation is turning out badly.
Then, suddenly there was a bang sound and the wall collapsed. What came out groaning from the debris of the collapsed wall was someone I knew.
“Huh, what. Baek Shun? You were here?”
It was Lee Rihyung, healing his wounds with divine power.
