I stepped back and stared at the man who looked exactly like Ruvlian without letting down my guard. The man moved his steps leisurely and smoothly as if I was pathetic. The distance I’d widened narrowed again.
The man who gave off a dangerous atmosphere bent at the waist. I reflexively pulled my body back at the approaching face, and his red lips opened.
“Honey. If you avoid me, will I be hurt or not?”
The voice that seemed to teach a child which was the answer appeared gentle at first glance, but contained coercion.
As if telling me to choose the predetermined answer.
“How the hell would I know, you crazy bastard.”
I used smoke screen magic and widened the distance. I didn’t think it would work. Even at a glance, I could see it was mana at Ruvlian’s level.
I intended to buy time. If it was definitely Ruvlian, he would have more than avoided the explosion, so he would come looking for me soon. Or it would become an outright provocation, but I was confident.
I quickly hid between the villas. Perhaps because it was daytime, it wasn’t easier to hide my body. I thought about using stealth magic, but my instinct told me. That man would easily see through this level of magic. I stuck close to the wall while hardly breathing at all.
Then a low voice hummed a bright song nearby. It was a melody terribly unsuited to the situation. Goosebumps rose all over my body in an instant.
“Honey. Wasn’t hide-and-seek something we finished when we were young?”
My heart pounded like crazy. The sound of approaching footsteps grew smaller then larger repeatedly. He was definitely doing that while already knowing my location.
He was a real crazy bastard. I wanted to ask God. When someone clearly has mana at Ruvlian’s level and has crossed to another world so their power must be strong too, how is this balanced?
I bit my lip and thought that the only key to breaking through this situation was Ruvlian, when the sound of footsteps grew louder. The presence grew closer as if the time limit was up.
I wanted to teleport, but I didn’t know what would happen if I did. He might turn the whole area into a wasteland looking for me. If it was this guy whose head had turned 180 degrees, he’d have more than enough to do it.
When I made the decision to run around the area to buy time, a shadow lengthened from the side where light was entering. It was definitely the man. The moment I turned my back to run in the opposite direction, the man suddenly showed his upper body and asked.
“Done playing?”
[Kyaaah!!!!]
“Ugh.”
God’s scream spread through my head. At the splitting headache, I unconsciously bent at the waist and grabbed my head. And just like that, without even attempting to flee, I was caught by the man. Feeling nauseous tension for the first time in a while, I fell for even a simple trick. What a pathetic state.
“Hmm. I didn’t grab you hard… Is there a fly around here?”
The man who coldly scanned the surroundings looked at me. Eyes the exact same color as Ruvlian’s pupils were filled with madness and interest. These were definitely not the eyes of a normal person. Unless it was someone whose head had completely turned around somewhere.
[Sorry, Sihyeon… I was concerned about where the explosion happened so I went there. Anyway, it’s that guy! That guy is the rift criminal!]
‘I know. But I can’t catch him alone.’
[Of course not. That guy is the parallel world’s Ruvlian and his power has gotten stronger too. Still, if Sihyeon faces off against that man, won’t your comrade Ruvlian help you?]
…Wait, what?
Too much information came in and it seemed like I was overloading. The guy who looks exactly like Ruvlian is the parallel world’s Ruvlian, and God knew that Ruvlian had crossed worlds? I felt like I’d been hit hard in the back of the head.
Why? How did they know, and why did they leave it alone even knowing?
‘How do you know that?’
[Well, no matter how much I play around watching romance fantasy web novels, I can’t not know that. The world is one with me, you could say?]
‘Then why didn’t you expel him…’
“Honey.”
The parallel world Ruvlian grabbed my school uniform drenched in monster blood and yanked hard. My back tilted at the strong force and my head thrust forward. When I tried to pull back my face that had gotten closer, he grabbed the back of my head strongly.
“Do you have no learning ability, honey? I clearly told you. That I get hurt if you avoid me.”
The parallel world Ruvlian smiled, curving his eye corners gracefully. His cloudy pupils with no light were lifeless and simultaneously creepy. The persistent gaze didn’t think about leaving.
It was strange. I couldn’t understand. Why he was acting like this toward me. Also, what it meant that he mentioned memories as if he knew me.
‘Do I meet him in the future or something?’
No answer came back. Since God had said before that they shouldn’t reveal the future they know, it seemed to be the correct answer. Otherwise, there’s no way God, who usually answered right away, would keep their mouth shut.
“Ugh.”
Suddenly I felt pain in my head. As I looked at the parallel world Ruvlian with my eyes squinted, he spoke in a gentle and kind tone.
“You have to focus on me. I kindly even told you the answer that I get hurt, but you can’t do this. Right?”
There was no light in the bright blue pupils reflecting me. It was ridiculous to the point that I’d thought those pupils were a color I loved even for a moment. When they’re this different.
He’s a knockoff from now on. Parallel world or whatever, he’s just a Ruvlian knockoff. There was no courtesy to protect for a guy who acted rude and coercive. Thinking so, I spat out words crookedly.
“Not really?”
At the rebellious answer, the hand holding my head momentarily put in strength. Then as if it had never happened, he curved his eyes thinly while looking at me.
“Honey, what kind of confidence makes you act out like this?”
From the note opening the speech to the note ending it, it was endlessly monotonous and gentle. The gaze that was certain I couldn’t beat him didn’t leave me and clung stickily. It’s a feeling I never want to feel again, like every corner of my body was covered in mud.
“What’s it to you?”
Simultaneously with my answer, I created a dagger with divine power and stabbed the parallel world Ruvlian’s side. Whether he protected himself with mana, no wound appeared, but I could escape from his hands.
I quickly turned my head. Even if I escaped from here and hid again, it would be in the palm of his hand. It was better to endure head-on until Ruvlian was discovered by detection magic. There could be other better methods, but I was too anxious to think of them and didn’t have time to ponder deeply.
Even though I have a constitution where my hands don’t sweat easily, my hands were damp enough to feel clammy. The sweltering heat of a summer midday engulfed me. I felt more drained than usual and my body was heavy.
I tried to use temperature control magic, but the problem was that he broke through it every time I attempted it. Mana wore down as mana. Energy drained as energy. My mind was hazy.
“Honey, do you really have to struggle uselessly like that?”
The tone asking that was full of an authoritative and leisurely feeling. Somehow making a person shrink, if you faced someone who was noble to the bone, it would be exactly like this.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I slowly regulated my breathing and stomped my foot. A large-scale magic circle was created beneath my feet.
The parallel world Ruvlian raised one eyebrow as if my choice was unexpected. But that was all, as his loose mouth corners didn’t think about hardening. As if this was nothing.
“…You noticed, you.”
Actually, the large-scale magic circle was a fake drawn with illusion magic. I knew his mana far exceeded mine, but I hadn’t expected him to notice in less than a few seconds.
Anyone who knew me well would know I wouldn’t use large-scale magic that would blow away half the world, but he was someone I swore I was seeing for the first time today. Unless, like the hypothesis from a moment ago, we meet in the future.
“Why are you saying obvious facts as if testing me, honey?”
Obvious facts. The parallel world Ruvlian took it for granted that he saw through my illusion magic, which other Grand Mages would notice much later or not notice at all. It was absurd. Just how absurdly strong was he for this to be possible?
I was no match with magic. To buy more time, it seemed I’d have to create a sword with divine power and engage in close combat. The moment I gathered divine power, Ruvlian was caught in the detection magic.
Looking at the parallel world Ruvlian, he also seemed to have sensed someone approaching. Just as he was about to open his mouth while keeping me in his eyes, Ruvlian approached right in front.
Ruvlian was sweating as if he’d been running. His hair was disheveled, stuck to his forehead.
“Are you okay, Sihyeon?”
Warm-temperature pupils scanned over me. Right, he’s different in temperature from the start compared to the knockoff. The real Ruvlian had finally come.
“Yeah. What about you?”
“Of course I’m fine. If I’d come a bit faster, you wouldn’t have suffered like this…”
Ruvlian brought me into his arms. His slowly moving hand patted me regularly.
“Stop it.”
“Hm. Why?”
“Because I’m losing tension.”
Losing tension in front of a crazy bastard was the same as going onto a battlefield without weapons. Ruvlian looked at me like that and stopped patting.
[I brought him! Because I didn’t know the exact location precisely, teleportation was impossible so I had no choice but to run up.]
‘…Then you didn’t hear the question I asked?’
[What question?]
‘Never mind.’
I guess not. I wondered if we’d met in the future. If there was a future where we’d meet, I wanted to avoid it. Just dealing with that crazy bastard now was enough.
“The person over there is someone you like, right? I knew it, but… As expected, you like me too much, honey.”
I was dumbfounded by the gentle and soft voice piercing my ears. Who do I like? I escaped from Ruvlian’s arms and looked at the parallel world Ruvlian.
As if he’d been waiting for that, he curved his eyes and continued speaking.
“It’s because you like Ruvlian, honey.”
“…?”
“I’m also Ruvlian, so don’t you also like me?”
The crazy knockoff Ruvlian smiled seductively like a devil descended to earth. My brain froze for a moment. Thinking what kind of nonsense this was, I organized his statement step by step.
One. Baek Sihyeon likes Ruvlian.
Two. This world and that world. Either way, both are Ruvlian.
Three. Therefore, Baek Sihyeon also likes me from that world.
…What kind of miraculous three-stage syllogism is this? It seemed that whichever world’s Ruvlian it was, they had the talent to make bullshit sound rather like human speech.
