“Sihyeon?”
When I remained silent without saying anything, Ruvlian tilted his head. Following the movement, his golden hair like summer sunlight shifted to one side and became disheveled.
My gaze slid down from his hair to his forehead, from his forehead to his eyes. I looked all the way down to his snow-white chin and thought:
As expected, there’s no problem with his face.
“If you stare at me like that, I’ll get too embarrassed, Sihyeon.”
The problem is the head that makes that mouth—which looks like God sculpted it stitch by stitch—spew out such nonsense. Ruvlian pretended to be shy and let out a coy laugh.
“Then I won’t look at you ever again.”
“Hm? Why would you say that? Keep looking. Until you get sick of it.”
His eyes, which had risen sharply, folded and softened gently. Ruvlian continued speaking in a confident tone.
“Anyway, Sihyeon won’t get sick of my face, so you’ll have to look at me for the rest of your life.”
“…Do you think you’ll be pretty even when you’re old?”
“Does that mean you’ll stay by my side until I’m no longer pretty? You don’t need to say it in such a roundabout way that you’ll stay by my side for life.”
Ruvlian smiled shyly on purpose. His eyes blinked slowly. His long, dense golden eyelashes fluttered as if swaying in a gentle breeze.
“I won’t stay by your side.”
“Hm. You’ll stay by my side?”
“I said I won’t.”
“Yes. You’ve decided to stay by my side for life.”
Because of Ruvlian answering however he pleased, I felt like I was talking to a wall. I had a reality check about what the hell I was doing with this guy right now.
Since I could never win against Ruvlian when he was being this shameless, I decided to end this topic here.
“Stop talking nonsense and finish what you were saying earlier.”
I couldn’t read the flow of the conversation—how we went from him saying he went to the past 19 years ago to create an identity to him saying we’d stay together for life.
“Yes. Where was I? Hmm. I went to the past, created an identity, bought some stocks, and came back to the present.”
“…?”
Stocks… he did? I was flustered by the mention I hadn’t imagined at all, and this time it must have shown clearly on my face because Ruvlian laughed out loud. It was a refreshing, clear laugh that seemed to need the sentence “It was summer” attached to it. Still, since I was immune to Ruvlian’s appearance, I didn’t stare at his face in a daze.
“Ah, Sihyeon. What should I do? I like you so much.”
“…Well. That’s not something I can do anything about.”
Even during the Hero days, Ruvlian would occasionally confess that he liked me. As if to show the meaning behind his actions, gazes, and gestures that were distinctly different from how he treated others.
Such actions saved me, made me give up, and now made me feel indifferent.
“Just continue talking.”
I liked the present moment. Being able to treat someone who would have to leave anyway with composure.
“I confessed my love and you’re being so mean.”
Ruvlian acted cute gently. If Montrio had been next to him, I could clearly imagine him dry heaving.
“Yeah.”
“But what can I do? They say the one who loves more loses.”
Right? Ruvlian added with a coy smile.
I had more than enough words I wanted to say in refutation. The feelings I had buried deep suddenly raised their heads. But it was only for a moment, and those words never came out into the world.
I ran my hand through my hair and let out a sigh.
“Stop beating around the bush.”
“Hm. Okay.”
“So you’re saying you made money through stocks?”
“Yes. Going back and forth between the future and the past little by little.”
The first thought that came to mind was that he was definitely crazy. Ruvlian would be the only person who would use time magic—which Grand Mages yearn for—like that.
But I was tempted. Stocks with a 100% success rate. Just thinking about it was ecstatic.
“After that, there’s nothing special. I missed you so much, Sihyeon, that I came back quickly and completed the transfer procedures. I also manipulated the mental systems so that it would seem like I was at another school originally.”
Mental manipulation. I didn’t even know where to object anymore. I frowned slightly at my throbbing head and asked about the most incomprehensible point among what had just come out.
“What’s the reason you specifically went back to the past?”
“Well, if I’m going to live in this world with Sihyeon for life, I can’t let my identity become a problem, right?”
His tone was matter-of-fact. Anyone watching would think I’d promised him a future to live together for life.
I was about to say something when I suddenly thought it was strange. For him to have gone back and forth between past and present like that, yet God took no action at all. There’s no way God wouldn’t have noticed something suspicious.
What’s more, someone from another world used mana that doesn’t exist in this world, yet the world just kept running smoothly. Something was wrong. I belatedly realized that things were going strangely because I’d been bickering with Ruvlian this whole time.
I carefully pondered whether I’d missed something, but there wasn’t really anything in particular.
Ruvlian, with his brightly smiling face, might know something, but I had a feeling that even if I asked, I wouldn’t get the answer I wanted. Ruvlian, who seemed like he would tell me anything, sometimes deliberately didn’t say important things.
Knowing that he wouldn’t open his mouth easily, I wavered between whether I should press this issue or find out on my own.
When I glanced at Ruvlian, he just had an even more relaxed expression. While someone was worrying this much because of someone else, the person himself seemed to have no thoughts at all. Carefree bastard.
That’s when it happened. Suddenly, I felt something unpleasant crawling all over my body. I sensed an eerily strange presence.
A monster. This was definitely the presence of a monster.
“Si…”
I covered Ruvlian’s mouth with one hand and raised my index finger with the other hand, bringing it to my own mouth. It was a signal to be quiet, but Ruvlian flushed his cheeks red and his eyes sparkled, interpreting it however he wanted. It was just like… the expression Park Sichan had when watching his favorite celebrity act cute.
I was dumbfounded by his carefree behavior of blushing when there was no way he couldn’t have felt that presence. The problem was that it looked cute again. He should have been crazy in moderation.
Smack. I felt a soft sensation on my hand. Ruvlian actively utilized his pretty face. Just seeing his eyes smiling in crescents made my heart skip a beat.
“This isn’t the situation for…”
“Sihyeon. A monster has crossed over to this world. And one monster seems quite angry.”
Before I could even spit out a scolding to come to his senses, a bored gaze fell onto his face. It was a reaction that was somehow too calm for the situation.
“I told you not to worry.”
“Hmm. This is an unexpected situation for me too… Should we go out first?”
“No, you stay here.”
My head was complicated. There’s a phenomenon that occurs when there are signs of the world’s balance collapsing. However, in the week since I returned, such phenomena hadn’t appeared.
Exactly when did the world’s balance collapse? Even at my serious expression, Ruvlian, who hadn’t lost his composure, asked strangely.
“Why?”
“Because when the world’s balance collapses, naturally God will appear.”
You might die. The rest of the words rose to the edge of my throat. The event of me killing Ruvlian would absolutely never happen, but just as it happened to me, God might seek out a ‘Hero’ from another world.
“Are you worried about me?”
“Do you call that a question?”
At my retort, Ruvlian twisted his body around as if he couldn’t stand how sweet it was. It was also a talent to act like that while knowing his life was at stake. Because of that thoughtlessly bright guy, only my insides burned more.
“Keep your presence hidden as much as possible. I’ll be back.”
Without even listening to his answer, I quickly left the school through the back door. I was going to get an unexpected unauthorized early dismissal marked. But damn it, Ruvlian was more of a priority to me than my own future.
God would definitely come to me first. Because the perfect person to deal with monsters is a ‘Hero,’ and I have experience as a Hero.
I hurriedly moved my steps toward where the presence felt as dirty as a yakuza. Not long after, I saw a strangely shaped half-demon, half-monster form—a half-demon half-monster type monster.
In the middle of the day with strong sunlight beating down, there were oddly no people around this area.
“Hero! I came to avenge our Demon King-nim!”
The monster who said that raised its chin up high and snorted loudly in a spirited pose. With its head tilted back so high that only the sky filled its vision, I couldn’t even see the half-demon half-monster’s face. …Was the intellectual level of half-demon half-monsters this low?
I didn’t have a weapon right now to make a preemptive attack. As I watched to see how long it would keep that up, when less than a minute had passed, the monster shouted “Surprise attack!” and pointed its sword at me.
Because I’d returned to my body from before training when I came back to the original world, my body didn’t follow along as well as before, but my basic athletic ability was good so I could reflexively dodge the sword. Unlike its stupid intelligence, the sword that came in stabbing was quite sharp. The tension that had loosened quickly tightened.
But anyway, the Demon King’s revenge? There’s no way I would have left behind a monster with such strong loyalty. I remember killing every single one of the Demon King’s subordinates when I defeated the Demon King.
Why is it alive? I carefully observed the monster while dodging the sword that came in as if to stab my heart. Since there’s no way I’d forget such a disgustingly shaped guy, my suspicion only grew.
“There’s no monster like you in my memory.”
When the sword came in, I pulled my body back. Perhaps because the sword had never even grazed my body, the half-demon half-monster type monster huffed and expressed its frustration.
“No memory of me…! This Kim Jero-nim was always by the Demon King-nim’s side!”
Perhaps thinking it had been mocked, the monster got excited and swung its sword more wildly. However, the sword that had been drawing too honest trajectories just moved a bit more messily, so dodging was easy. It was to the extent that I wondered if it had stolen and learned from an imperial swordsmanship manual.
Somehow, it had become a structure where I was toying with it. Since I didn’t particularly dislike that structure, I predicted where the sword would move while figuring out the monster’s identity.
The Demon King I killed became a Demon King when a human lost reason and was dominated by desires for honor and money, so there weren’t many who devoted their loyalty. About one-seventh of all demons and the monsters the Demon King created directly.
The fact that it wasn’t all of the demon realm could be considered few in number. So I just had to think of those who were still alive excluding them, devoted loyalty to the Demon King, and were close enough to even seek revenge.
…But which ones did I kill again? And if it was always near the Demon King, there’s no way I wouldn’t have killed it.
The memory is hazy. The Demon King wasn’t particularly memorable either, so those below him were the same. The only few I remember are the ones who earnestly talked nonsense. Even tracing back my memories, I really don’t know. As if reading my expression that said I had no clue, the monster’s face distorted.
“I was the subordinate on the Demon King’s shoulder!”
“…Ah. That fluff.”
At the trembling shout filled with annoyance, a faint afterimage finally came to mind. I thought it was part of the clothing, but was it a monster? Seeing the black fluff attached to the shoulder, God had said the Demon King’s fashion sense was also poor. Even God didn’t say it was a monster, so how would I know?
“F-fluff! How could you say such an insulting thing!”
That fluff is this muscle mass with sticky liquid monster. It was at the level of being recreated.
“Ignoring me!”
“Ah. Yeah.”
[Someone asks if you’re ignoring them and you answer like that!]
A voice rang out in my head. The only one who could do this was God.
‘Why did you come so early?’
[You’re making excuses now! I had my own circumstances too…!]
Not at all. I had said it hoping they would come later, but they jumped to conclusions on their own. Must be guilty.
‘Just give me a sword.’
But I didn’t give an answer that it wasn’t. There was no need or reason to bestow such kindness.
[Okay. There’s a lot I want to talk about, like why the world’s balance suddenly collapsed, but I’ll postpone that for later.]
I clicked my tongue. I thought I should divert them somewhere before they found out the cause of the balance collapsing was Ruvlian. Otherwise, a deadly future was clear.
Of course, considering he hasn’t committed any crime yet, I thought there might be a low probability he could return to the original world alive, but harboring hope was a foolish thing.
Such thoughts disappeared with the sword that appeared along with a bright light like a flash. The sword that appeared before my eyes had a golden effect surrounding it. The appearance was also noticeably flashy, befitting the effect. This sword, whose taste was obvious, wasn’t the one I originally used.
‘Where’s the sword I originally used?’
[What don’t you like about this sword?]
‘It’s excessively sparkly. And the sword I used to use is comfortable and good.’
[But that one is too drab. A Hero should use a flashy and cool sword!]
That was right. God was a look-obsessed fashionista.
And the one being used for that was me.
