"The person who came with me said that as long as I stayed hidden properly, I would be fine until the sun had completely set."
Song Taewon said as he gently separated me from him.
"But it seems it noticed because of what happened just now with the bathtub breaking."
"So if you use strength above a certain level, it picks up on it?"
"It is probably because mana begins to move."
"And the reason the moonlight started attacking Director Song was, so…"
"It was shortly after we received the message saying Seseong Guild had been closed."
When Seseong Guild was sealed off, the moonlight fell away from Sung Hyunjae's pre-regression body. Had that moonlight—Crescent Moon's power—left Seseong Guild and started targeting Song Taewon?
To keep him from killing Sung Hyunjae?
'If it were me, I'd want to get rid of him while I had the chance too.'
If Song Taewon disappeared, then the possibility of Sung Hyunjae dying disappeared with him. The water soaking my feet was gradually cooling.
I pulled out a large towel and handed it to Director Song.
"It's safe to say the moonlight is definitely targeting Director Song, right? Did they say everyone else would be fine?"
"Yes. I was told that for now, it would not have enough power to target anyone besides me. They said they would explain in detail once we reached the hotel, but..."
Song Taewon frowned slightly as he looked at me.
"Who exactly is that person?"
"You came along without knowing?"
"He saved me first, and he was worried about Han Yoojin-ssi. It did not seem to be a lie. And his appearance also..."
Song Taewon trailed off. He looked like Yoohyun—or rather, Yoohyun looked like him, really, but anyway, they resembled each other.
"Uh, he's Yoohyun's teacher. Someone very strong who's lived a very long time. For now, he's on our side too."
How much of this should I tell him? Since Crescent Moon is directly targeting Director Song, I should probably explain as much as possible. The new recruit had said this and that about information, but Director Song is the person involved here.
At that moment, the bathroom door, which had been left half open, was pushed fully wide.
"Your change of clothes has been prepared, milord. Are you occupied?"
Not a butler—Sung Hyunjae stood at the bathroom entrance with fresh clothes draped over one arm. When had he gotten here? Song Taewon looked intently at the clothes hanging from Sung Hyunjae's arm.
"So my house was left as it was."
"Of course it was. If it had been me. I heard it had all been kept clean and in order."
I'd expected that too. Sung Hyunjae, who had shoved Director Song's grave into the National Cemetery in Seoul, would never have simply left an empty house abandoned. He would've kept it under his ownership and maintained it, exactly as it had looked when Director Song was alive. Without throwing away even a single small object.
Song Taewon held out his hand. Sung Hyunjae handed over the clothes with peculiar formality. Director Song took them and turned away, and the two of us left the bathroom first.
"The kids are safe too, right?"
"They even looted a convenience store on the way back. They dumped a mountain of things in the lobby, and since they still had time left, they went off to check out a few more nearby shops."
It seemed they'd developed a taste for looting empty stores. Honestly, it did sound fun. If I had enough time to spare, I'd have wanted to go to the Hunter Market and strip it bare myself. They probably wouldn't leave S-rank or higher equipment sitting out on display, but all the other expensive things would be piled there.
"Doesn't Seseong Guild have some kind of item warehouse?"
"Anything important goes into inventories."
Well, that was true. Inventories were the safest vault there was, since nobody but the owner could ever take things out. That was why some Awakened people lived as walking vaults. Without having to work hard, they could just sign contracts, keep secrets, and collect inventory rental fees.
The catch was that when an Awakened died, everything inside their inventory vanished too, so people generally did not entrust valuables to low-rank Awakened. The ones worth the most were B-rank and above survival-type defense Awakened.
"As for the elder—ah, right, Mr. Sung Hyunjae still doesn't know yet. I mean that red-eyed boy from earlier."
The pre-regression Sung Hyunjae had met him and even fought him, though.
"At first, I thought Han Yoojin-gun had finally done something reckless."
"Huh? Why would I suddenly do something reckless?"
"Driven by a desire for a younger brother even younger than your own—"
"No."
What exactly did he think of me as?
"He felt about like an S-rank Awakened, but I suppose not."
"He's a transcendent. And a very old one."
While I talked with Sung Hyunjae, Song Taewon finished changing and came back out. Nice sense, Yerim. I opened the refrigerator and looked over at the two of them.
"Let's talk for a minute. Soda, coffee, fruit juice, bottled water. What do you want?"
I gestured for them to sit and set the drink bottles down on the table with soft thunks. What time was it? There was still a little time left.
"I'll explain it again from the beginning. I returned to the past from a future five years ahead. Normally, once you return to the past, those previous five years ought to count as if they never happened—but unfortunately, that's not the case."
I pushed the orange juice bottle toward the center of the table and placed a can of coffee beside it.
"Here, we have Mr. Sung Hyunjae and Mr. Song Taewon. Even before I regressed, the two of you were fairly close, just like now."
As for me, I probably didn't need to add myself in.
"But then Mr. Song Taewon suddenly died."
Thud. The coffee can tipped over onto its side.
"The exact reason was never revealed. There were only suspicions that Mr. Sung Hyunjae had killed him. I thought that was the case too."
I set the coffee can back upright and slid the bottled water between the two drinks.
"Then I regressed. Mr. Song Taewon came back to life. You both can probably guess roughly when the regression point was. It was the day I reconciled with Yoohyun. Not long before Yerim Awakened. After that, you all know what happened."
This time, I knocked over the orange juice.
"After various things happened, Mr. Sung Hyunjae's condition got worse, didn't it. Mr. Song Taewon, do you remember asking me to use the plunder skill to lessen Mr. Sung Hyunjae's burden?"
"Yes."
"This is where Crescent Moon comes in."
I placed the soda beside the orange juice.
"Crescent Moon. One of the transcendent beings who create and manage dungeons."
I gave them a brief explanation again about dungeons, destruction, and the administrators.
"Crescent Moon set their sights on a certain human a very long time ago. Namely this orange juice here—Mr. Sung Hyunjae."
"By Crescent Moon, do you mean the moonlight that attacked me?"
"Yes, exactly. Mr. Sung Hyunjae has passed through countless worlds because of Crescent Moon. As his memories were erased, world after world kept piling up inside his body. That's why Mr. Song Taewon sensed such an unusual feeling from Mr. Sung Hyunjae. You could say he's a different kind of being from ordinary S-ranks."
Different from S-ranks, and different from born S-ranks too. Sung Hyunjae was only Sung Hyunjae. In this world, short of the transcendent beings outside it, there existed no one equal to him.
"You might say Song Taewon was simply good at recognizing monsters."
"What monster. Crescent Moon..."
I hesitated over how to explain the source. How would Director Song take that? Wouldn't someone like him agree to one person being sacrificed if it meant stopping the source?
But then again, he was also the kind of person who would never easily sacrifice someone else. Inside the dungeon, it was Song Taewon who had died instead of Sung Hyunjae. And Crescent Moon would probably not have been able to snatch only Sung Hyunjae away without affecting this world at all.
I swallowed and continued.
"They want to complete Mr. Sung Hyunjae and erase the source. I still don't know whether their goal is purely to prevent the world's destruction. Maybe they just want to become a new god."
"…Complete him?"
"Yes. Once the experiences of all those worlds completely fill him up, I think Mr. Sung Hyunjae will lose himself and be reborn as a transcendent more powerful than anyone. That's what he was struggling with back then too—because he was too full. And, as an added bonus, if Mr. Sung Hyunjae does become a transcendent, I don't think the area around him will remain intact either."
Song Taewon stared fixedly at the orange juice.
"With the plunder skill… does that mean it is possible to remove those experiences? What is piled up inside him?"
"Yes. They even said it could bring an end to Mr. Sung Hyunjae—to him, who has already layered world upon world inside himself and gone beyond even death. So."
I moved the coffee can beside the soda. Then I nudged the coffee can with the soda. The fallen can rolled across the table and dropped to the floor below.
"That's why, from Crescent Moon's point of view, Mr. Song Taewon is someone who absolutely has to be erased."
A short silence followed. Sung Hyunjae reached down and picked up the coffee can from the floor.
"It is highly likely that there was already one attempt before the regression."
"Yes. Honestly, I don't think Mr. Sung Hyunjae killed Mr. Song Taewon. More likely there was an accident while using the plunder skill, or Crescent Moon interfered."
And now that moonlight was chasing Song Taewon like this, the latter possibility seemed even stronger.
"Transcendent beings retain memories from before my regression, just like I do. That is probably why Crescent Moon is targeting Mr. Song Taewon right now. Fortunately, they have difficulty interfering directly in this world. Except inside dungeons. So inside dungeons, you need to be careful."
"It is fortunate that Korean dungeons have stabilized. Otherwise, would retirement not be worth considering?"
Director Song did not even act as though he had heard Sung Hyunjae. A shadow had fallen across his expressionless face.
"…I. Toward Mr. Sung Hyunjae."
"Meaning, Song Taewon is the only person who can kill Sung Hyunjae."
Sung Hyunjae said it.
Song Taewon covered his face with one hand. His shoulders shook slightly. …Had I told him too much all at once? Should I have gone slower? Song Taewon took a deep breath.
"So what you want from me—or rather, what I must do… I…"
Still covering both eyes with his hand, Song Taewon continued.
"Am I human?"
"Huh? Of course you're human."
"Can the word person really be placed after 'the only one who can'?"
"Well, no, I mean, if you put it that way, there's me too. I regressed too, and I had frequent contact with transcendent beings. And I was able to lessen Mr. Sung Hyunjae's burden too."
No answer came back.
Anxiousness began creeping slowly into me. Maybe I shouldn't have said it. But I couldn't exactly not say it either.
"Director Song."
"…I'm fine."
"Damn it, you think it counts if you only hide your face? You don't sound fine at all."
"In the end, nothing changes, so I'm fine."
"Director Song, you—!"
"Han Yoojin-ssi."
Song Taewon's voice was trembling. Sung Hyunjae reached out and caught my shoulder, as though stopping me.
"He needs time to sort out his thoughts."
…At last, unable to say anything more, I hesitantly stood up from my seat.
"Please come eat dinner before it gets too late. I'm asking you."
"Yes."
I came out with Sung Hyunjae. Nothing should happen inside the hotel, but still.... I let out a sigh while pressing the elevator button.
"I didn't expect him to be the part you were worried about."
The part about my regression had passed without causing any huge reaction. Director Song had calmly compared it against what Moon Hyuna told him and even used it to verify things. He had already known about his own death, and about Sung Hyunjae being connected to it.
What happened at the Management Office had hit him hard, but fortunately Hyuna-ssi had helped him sort himself out, and outside the dungeon there were people waiting who were alive and well. So I had thought that even if I told him about Crescent Moon and Sung Hyunjae, it would not cause much trouble.
"Song Taewon's existence presented itself almost too perfectly."
As we stepped into the elevator, Sung Hyunjae said it.
"He appeared at the exact right moment, when I had very little time left."
"…It could still be a coincidence, couldn't it?"
"It could also be inevitability."
"You mean Director Song isn't… an ordinary person?"
"Well."
Sung Hyunjae shrugged, as though even he did not know.
"But he is human."
His golden eyes curved softly.
"Who in the world could look at Song Taewon and say he is not a person?"
"…Director Song could."
"All the more reason he might be one, then."
The elevator reached the first floor. He kept agonizing, wavering, struggling. But just as Sung Hyunjae said, if he really were a monster, he would not agonize like that at all.
"You talk well enough, so why don't you try persuading Director Song?"
"It has nearly been four years now since I first came to know Mr. Song Taewon."
So this was the sort of thing even four years wasn't enough for, huh. Well, if Sung Hyunjae had succeeded in persuading him, perhaps the outcome before the regression might have changed at least a little. We stepped out of the elevator and headed toward the restaurant.
"I couldn't hide it forever, but would it have been better to keep it from him longer?"
"It is better now, while there is a threat. He is a man who values duty over his own pain."
So being in a situation where he had to move, even if forced, was better than sitting safely in Korea and digging himself into the ground? Well, when I was the one rolling head over heels through danger, it had felt easier on me mentally too. There hadn't been any room left for useless thoughts.
Ugh. At the very least, I needed to make sure he ate a good dinner. Just in case, let's cook the lobster through too. Even an S-rank could be sensitive to food that upset the stomach when their mind was troubled. Raw things might also be hard on the appetite.
When I entered the restaurant, I saw Young Chaos sitting upright on top of the table. And in the open kitchen, my pre-regression self kept sneaking glances at him. The moment he saw me, he beckoned me over.
"…He really has nothing to do with Yoohyun?"
As soon as I came close, the me who was me lowered his voice and asked.
"Nope. The elder's lived way longer, so Yoohyun just happened to be born looking like him."
Even as he nodded at my answer, his eyes would not leave Young Chaos. The faint, faraway look on his face made it painfully obvious what he was thinking. Yoohyun really had been sweet and cute and lovable around that age.
At the same time, we both turned to look at Yoohyun, who was taking out the dishes.
"How did a kid that small grow up like that?"
"Watching kids grow up really is amazing."
"There was a time when I used to carry him around."
"I've carried Yoohyun even after he grew up."
"What?"
The me who was me looked me up and down like he couldn't believe it.
"Though by 'carry,' I meant I literally lifted him."
"Yeah, I picked him up. Straight up."
"…Does that even make sense? With those arms?"
"I'm serious. Right, Yoohyun?"
"Yeah, it's true. And besides, hyung was the only one who ever carried me."
Yoohyun answered with a smile, then suddenly frowned slightly.
"Except Bak Yerim."
So that whole thing had really bothered him that much. Yeah, I was in the wrong. Even if my arms had broken, I should've carried him myself. At Yoohyun's words, my pre-regression self made a mildly sulky face.
"It's not like I couldn't lift you. I'd be stronger than him, too."
"I was C-rank then, you know?"
"Just as I thought."
"What do you mean, 'just as I thought'? I could do it now too. Hey, I'm a grown man."
"Without all your gear?"
"Without all of it. Obviously. Yoohyun, come over here."
"No, hyung. Your leg's injured right now."
My little brother slowly started backing away. He did have a good body and enough muscle that he was pretty solid for his height, but still, there was no way I couldn't lift him. Come here.
"You want to die?"
At that moment, Young Chaos's voice rang out all at once. For a second I wondered what the hell he was talking about and hurriedly turned my head. Young Chaos and Sung Hyunjae were facing each other.
Still seated upright on top of the table, Young Chaos tipped his chin up slightly and went on.
"If you follow me, I'll kill you."
"Elder?!"
No, why did he keep trying to take him away?
"Why are you trying to kill a perfectly fine person!"
"If this one disappears, Crescent Moon will pull back. Chatterbox at least tried to negotiate, but Crescent Moon is different. Much more dangerous too."
"Even so, it's not like you're just taking him away!"
"Then what, do you think I'd keep a thing like this alive and carry it around? Fight Crescent Moon head-on while he chases after me?"
"Well, no, I mean, but still."
Of course, just as Young Chaos said, dealing with Crescent Moon on top of Chatterbox would be difficult. It would definitely be easier if at least one of them backed off on their own, but even so.
"I'm sorry, but."
Sung Hyunjae, who had only been listening up until now, finally spoke.
"I already have a prior engagement."
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