A scent of smoke drifted in, as if a fire had broken out somewhere. The sky flashed relentlessly. Blue, red, and yellow light mingled in the clouds, scattering in a dizzying display. KRAAANG—a falling star collided with another. A distant growl sounded.

The sky, blasted by every force, finally began to scatter rain. Plip, plop. As the raindrops fell, Han Yuhyun surrounded himself with a faint aura of fire. Even a freezing winter downpour would feel like mere dew to him, but not for the brother in his arms. If his body got wet and chilled, he’d catch a cold easily. If his temperature kept dropping, his life could be in danger.

Ssss—

A raindrop touching the flame hissed and vanished. The asphalt darkened further as it soaked up water. Han Yuhyun ran wherever his feet carried him. Peace gestured as if asking why he wasn’t mounted, but he ignored him.

As the moisture thickened, the wet-city scent grew stronger. Ghostly figures flickered around him like phantoms of dreamers who could no longer influence or be influenced. Round shapes with no discernible race, age, or gender. It had always been this way for Han Yuhyun. That was why he could never truly understand Han Yujin’s feelings.

Even his care for Han Yujin wasn’t original to him—it was behavior learned from Han Yujin. Han Yujin had told him he didn’t have to hold back, that he would accept his true self. But Han Yuhyun’s true nature was farther removed than Han Yujin could imagine. He had even forgotten the ember at the core of his being.

“…This place is—”

The road had narrowed before he noticed. Old buildings huddled damply together. Han Yuhyun blinked. A familiar alley, familiar scenery. He had come here without realizing it. His steps, that had left his current home—the nursery—had again led him to home.

He stepped into a dim building entrance. Peace phased through to follow. A mailbox stood with occasional letters peeking out. He stared at one for a moment, then moved on.

Han Yujin had sold this place and left. Han Yuhyun had bought the old home. Not much luggage had been taken, so most of the larger furniture remained. He kept it exactly as it was. At first he visited occasionally, then less and less. A home without Han Yujin was no home.

Beep, beep, beep—the door lock’s code was unchanged. He opened the door and stepped inside to a clean living room. Though he hadn’t requested it, someone was tasked with maintenance and given a keycard. He gently laid Han Yujin on the worn sofa. Rain tapped on the windowpane. The TV was gone, leaving its faded stand alone. The drawer handle he’d used often was smudged with fingerprints.

—Rrrr.

Peace, who had been scanning the room, curled up beneath the sofa. Han Yuhyun stared blankly at the house, at Han Yujin. This was the space where “Han Yuhyun” was born. A different “Han Yuhyun” had been created here by Han Yujin.

Black eyes turned to his hand. The origin flame softly coiled around the back of his hand. A red salamander leapt and moved onto Han Yujin’s chest, looking up at Han Yuhyun with concern.

—Yuhyun, sit here. Stay with hyung, okay? Hyung will want to stay with you, too!

Together with Han Yujin, Han Yuhyun’s upper body tipped slightly toward him. At that moment—

“……”

He felt a familiar presence. Though a wall still stood between them, something was drawing near. A being like himself. Soon it would step into this world. And what his brother sought was a corpse.

KRRRDD— a large section of building was sheared off, crashing down with a clamor. In the rain, a dust cloud rose, then settled as it became wet. Raindrops dripped from faded hair ends. Chains splashed water as they moved. A form trampled beneath a sole sank away as if melting. Another arcstone was clamped between Seong Hyunjae’s lips.

“You’re still inadequate as a subordinate.”

Though his power had waned forcing his entry into another world, the quality of the arcstone was unchanged. Yet compared to the time Seong Hyunjae had accumulated, it was like a grain of sand.

“Are you all right?”

Song Taewon, pursuing Seong Hyunjae a step behind, surveyed the chaos with a grim face.

“This won’t even shake me. Only a Transcendent could make contact, it seems.”

Seong Hyunjae sought external pressure to rattle his amassed strength. What he’d accumulated was not mere power like arcstones, but time imbued with experience. Ages spent seeing, hearing, and feeling every existence of every world had built up as strength.

Literally an accumulation of worlds.

Therefore, another’s arcstone was distinguished as a foreign lump, unable to merge with that accumulated mass. Had swallowing arcstones alone created a pseudo-source, Choseungdal would long ago have offered countless Transcendents as sacrifices.

Instead, he aimed to grow those unblendable power lumps, unsettle and extract from the built-up force, then gradually digest it. What should have taken ages he sought to shorten by drawing in external power. Naturally, the danger skyrocketed. A careless rush could mix in arcstones at once and become a full moon.

“Mr. Song Taewon, are you truly all right?”

The soaked gaze turned to the equally drenched man.

“Even if the only way to save Han Yujin is for me to become the source…”

“I have no right to tell him to live like that.”

Song Taewon said quietly.

“So until Han Yujin wishes otherwise, I will help you.”

“Taking Han Yujin’s side— I find that somewhat disappointing.”

“Because the current Seong Hyunjae Hunter wishes to live yet simultaneously craves death.”

“Director Song stands with those who wish to live. So do I.”

The sky quaked. Paths of light fell with the rain. Thud! The road before them caved inward as an amorphous mass writhed and transformed into a beast. A large lupine creature bounded before Seong Hyunjae in one leap.

—I am—

“Rime Jelly.”

—What?

As the wolf tried to speak its name, the chain [N O V E L I G H T] whipped. One side of the golden ring deformed into a blade. The wolf’s foreleg was cleanly severed.

“……”

“Seong Hyunjae Hunter!”

At the same moment, Seong Hyunjae’s matching arm spurted blood. He caught his falling limb. Song Taewon immediately drew a top-grade potion from his inventory and hurled it. The chain caught the bottle, shattering it and splattering the contents onto the severed arm. The grotesque subordinate watched Seong Hyunjae heal his arm with a sneer. The wolf’s limb instantly regenerated and the severed stump writhed before reabsorbing into its body.

—Any attack on me is reflected back.

“A sort of curse. I miss Han Yujin. I should have brought him, after all.”

—As long as recovery cannot keep pace—

Crackle! Electricity surged at the wolf, slicing through its pliant body in an instant, while Seong Hyunjae staggered. The beast’s strong electrical resistance could not block all damage.

—Futile.

The wolf bared its teeth. Song Taewon stepped forward, but Seong Hyunjae raised a hand to stop him. Immediately—

KRUNK—!

The chain’s tip pierced a spot in the amorphous mass: the chest.

—Wha—t.

The life core hid where a heart would be. Seong Hyunjae, tracing the current to the core, mercilessly destroyed it. At the same moment he retched blood.

“…Not exactly a pleasant feeling.”

“Did you just—.”

“It wasn’t completely dead. Perhaps it drew upon one life’s worth of power as a survival instinct.”

The wolf dissolved into arcstones. The chain wrapped them up and lifted them. In the rain, meteors continued to crash—thud, boom. A metallic giant burst through a convenience store, screeching. On the other side, a wasp the size of a forearm beat its wings at impossible speed.

Then, with a roar of engines—

“Are you both safe?!”

Moon Hyunah shouted. She was in a high-performance hypercar—with its front and roof torn off, swung forward on a mount. The metal giant, unable to dodge, collided at tremendous speed.

KRAAANG—

Crush, crack! The spearhead bent like a press. The car shattered, and Moon Hyunah and the giant flew off in opposite directions. Rolling once, Hyunah landed and immediately applied a potion to her arm. The metal giant’s chest dented, it staggered, rose, then collapsed again.

“Impressively tough!”

Spinning its broken arm, Hyunah stood. Meanwhile the wasp buzzed and let out an unintelligible shriek. Rubble around it floated up, then reformed into wasps identical to the original. Hundreds spawned at once and swarmed toward Seong Hyunjae.

“I didn’t request a refill.”

The Seeker’s chain floated up. The rings divided, but were far too few for the swarm. The hornets bristled with stingers, not only on their tails but all over their bodies. Song Taewon moved before Seong Hyunjae and stamped the ground with amplified force: thud! As he struck again, asphalt and dirt shot up like waves before the swarm.

KAGAGAGA—

The swarm spiraled, digging through the sudden wall in an instant. From one side came the clash of Moon Hyunah and the metal giant.

“Do you think electricity will work?”

“Not sure. Rather—”

The golden chains vibrated with a zzzing, then shattered into fragments. Thousands of shards encased the swarm, and currents ran over them.

“What, Seong Hyunjae’s chain can do that now?”

“It’s essence is light. Normally I can’t control it, so I don’t use it.”

Though embodied by chain, its true form was formless light. The swarm popped like microwave popcorn. Only the original wasp survived, thrashing its wings to escape the electric prison.

SLAICE!

An ice lance flew in and impaled it; it fell. Raindrops gathered as if drawn by a magnet. The giant’s legs before Moon Hyunah froze solid. Thud! Dozens of ice lances rained down toward the newly fallen meteor.

“Yerim? What about hyung?”

“Han Yuhyun is here! And he wants to help Director Sesung!”

Han Yujin’s wish, Han Yujin’s safety. Park Yerim struggled to choose. She couldn’t judge which side was truly for Han Yujin. What was clear was her desire for Han Yujin’s safety. So she hadn’t blocked Han Yuhyun, but had followed her own desire here.

“I’m standing in for him! But I still plan to help Director Sesung!”

“A little lady who thinks of me so much.”

“You should know it’s all thanks to you. Without you, I wouldn’t care about the Sesung Guildmaster either—just like Director Sesung would’ve felt.”

She said Seong Hyunjae was always cold to her, but she’d grown fond of him nonetheless. Yet perhaps Park Yerim, not influenced by Han Yujin, would never have grown attached to Seong Hyunjae as she did now.

“Yerim, be careful!”

KWAANG! Moon Hyunah struck the metal giant’s rigid head with her giant hammer.

“Don’t worry. It’s raining, and if worst comes to worst, we can duck into the Han River! It’s huge~.”

As if in answer, an ice lance that fell clattered off, and a figure wreathed in black smoke walked out. A message window sparkled before Park Yerim and Moon Hyunah.

[Be careful! The stronger the subordinate, the harder it is to clear a path—and the longer it takes!]

In other words, ever stronger foes would appear. Thud, thud, thud. Stars continued to fall; the sky was still full.

“Hyung! This is no joke!”

A frantic voice reached him. He forced his eyes open. …He wanted to close them again.

“It’s incredible, really!”

Park Ha-yul stood before him bare-chested, muscles bulging. His head was the same size, but his shoulders more than doubled. What on earth was he?

“You… this is—.”

“This is my world! I’m also influenced by dreamers’ power here!”

His dazed mind snapped awake. He bolted upright. This—so it was a dream? He—

‘…Yuhyun did this.’

He’d knocked him out. He was still unconscious.

“But powerful beings keep pouring in! I’ve grown stronger!”

Ha-yul laughed, then grew pensive. His enlarged torso deflated back to normal.

“I’m contracted proportionally to my power, so I can’t wake up with it. But hyung, you really make good contracts. Did you see this coming?”

“…I didn’t expect to be influenced by Transcendents. So you’ve grown stronger?”

“Yes! I can’t do much while asleep, though!”

What use was that? He felt like waking Ha-yul again, but that would only bolster Choseungdal’s power. Best to let him sleep on.

“Still, meeting you was easier this way. Can’t I come often? Even when you return to your world, if I think of you as I sleep, we can meet.”

“Oh—uh, well. Can you interfere with others like this too?”

“I don’t know. You made a contract with me. And I pledged my loyalty to you!”

…When did you? Ha-yul fussed. A chair and tea table appeared. He sat. Han Yuhyun worried for him.

“Even if you need something… I don’t know.”

He couldn’t have both things he wanted. He’d struggled to embrace everything, but now a moment of choice had come.

“I don’t want to worry my kids. I want to stay by my brother’s side as long as possible. But I can’t back down now. Everything I’ve endured—it feels like it’ll all collapse.”

It wasn’t just about helping Seong Hyunjae. It was his life. He decided to hold Han Yuhyun’s hand and stubbornly persist. He’d endured when he felt abandoned by his brother. Then, after returning and learning his twenty-five-year-old sibling, he’d been honest.

“I’ve faced so many things I thought impossible.”

It was hopeless. Though he kept saying he’d never give up finding his brother, the impossibility lingered. Yet he simply endured.

“An F-rank chasing an S-rank was absurd to begin with.”

He harbored no regrets. But he wondered if he must break once.

“…Ha-yul, it seems strange to say that to you.”

“Then do you want to meet others?”

“Huh? Who?”

“I’ve grown strong, and wandering through dreams I’ve seen people identical to you. And someone identical to your brother!”

“…What? You and Yuhyun?”

“Shall I summon them?”

He nodded reflexively. Ha-yul wildly flailed his arms in the air. After a moment, familiar faces appeared.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep