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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: All Master's Game Broadcast
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"...Let's talk inside first."
"Yeah. I was watching to see how long you'd keep me standing at the door, and now you're finally letting me in."
Haesung shrugged cheekily in reply, and Hayun regained her usual carefree attitude.
"Of course I have to let you in. If I don't, Mom and Dad will kill me, you know?"
"The one and only daughter? No way they'd do that."
"...They spent hundreds of thousands of won every month posting ads looking for you. At the very least, won't I get a smack on the back?"
"...Ahem."
Of course, that carefree attitude couldn't fully shake off the heaviness that came from a decade of time.
Hundreds of thousands of won a month.
It wasn't a huge amount of money.
'But it's definitely not a small amount either.'
Spending hundreds of thousands every month on a son whose whereabouts were unknown was no different from pouring water into a leaky jar.
And yet, Haesung's parents never stopped spending that money each month to find their missing son.
"Where are Mom and Dad?"
"They're out at work. Me... I'm kinda doing remote work, so I'm home."
"Remote work?"
"...I'll tell you later."
Even for the brazen 'Mint,' it was too much to confess right away to her brother, whom she was seeing again after ten years, that she was doing internet broadcasts.
Haesung didn't pry as he watched Hayun wave her hands dismissively, her face slightly flushed.
'She'll tell me eventually. Or I'll find out somehow.'
He could press her and get an answer, but he saw no need to push his one and only family member.
They'd be living together from now on anyway, so he'd learn naturally. He didn't want to nag Hayun, who clearly didn't want to spill it right away.
Instead—
"I'm thirsty. Got any cola?"
He simply flashed a grin and ordered a drink from Hayun.
* * *
Clink—
As Haesung looked around the living room and gazed at the family photo on top of the TV, a glass filled with ice-cold cola, chunks of ice bobbing in it, was placed in front of him.
"Park Hayun's special ice-bobbing cola, served~"
"...You made the cola yourself?"
"Bought it from the mart."
"And the ice?"
"Our home water purifier makes ice~"
"...So what did you do to make it Park Hayun's special?"
"A beautiful girl fetched the ice and poured the cola. That makes it special."
"...Let's not talk anymore."
Haesung swallowed a sigh with a grinding of his teeth as he watched his little sister wink and blow him a kiss, reminding him of the feats of divine slayers.
It had been hundreds, thousands of years since he'd last seen his little sister.
Feeling the dormant sibling DNA awaken, Haesung chugged the so-called special(?) cola Hayun had brought to calm his irritation.
"...Good stuff."
"Because your cute little sister brought it?"
"Don't test the limits of my patience, little sis."
"Why not?"
"None of the ones who tested those limits met a good end."
"...What the hell have you been up to?"
Even the refined fragments of his killing intent were enough to make the twenty-year-old Hayun shrink back, so Haesung quietly crunched on the cold ice in his glass.
"Just rolled around in some war zones."
"War? Where the hell is there a war on Earth these days?"
"...Well, you don't know everything about the world, do you?"
"...You just don't wanna tell me, right?"
"Similar to how you're not telling me what you do."
"...Ugh."
Everyone has things they want to keep hidden.
Out of embarrassment.
Out of shame.
Or—
'...Not wanting to worry others.'
When their own secrets were revealed.
Not wanting those around them to fret over them.
Even without Haesung saying it outright, Hayun could tell why he was hiding it.
Maybe because they were blood-related, or just a woman's intuition, but she didn't ask any further.
'He'll tell me eventually.'
Blood is thicker than water.
Just as that saying wasn't empty, Hayun figured Haesung would come clean on his own someday, like she would.
And so, the two spent time together without prying into each other's lives at all, until it was time for their parents to come home from work, greeting them together.
It was the first time in nearly ten years that the siblings had welcomed their parents home together, and they couldn't hide their awkwardness—
"Is it really... Haesung?"
"...Yes, Mother. No, Mom. It's me, Haesung."
Haesung felt glad he'd waited as he watched his mother, voice trembling, touch his face.
"...You're back safe. No injuries?"
"Yes. I'm fine. I'm your son, after all."
"Yeah, my son. Smart and sturdy since you were little. Welcome back. You're really back!"
Haesung felt moisture gather in his eyes from the warmth of his mother hugging him tight, tears streaming down her face.
Haesung, who hadn't shed a tear even in the worst agony but instead spat fury with a face twisted like a ferocious demon—
'Guess I don't need to hold back anymore.'
There were no more targets for his anger in this world, no more he needed to kill.
A peaceful world.
And with the final missing puzzle piece of their peaceful family returned, there was no need to endure pain and sorrow any longer.
"I'm home."
Tears welled up in Haesung's eyes for the first time in ages and finally spilled over.
Haesung's father patted his shoulder wordlessly and nodded lightly, shedding tears himself.
"...Jeez, why's everyone crying? You're making me sad too."
Even Hayun, who had watched the sudden flood of tears calmly, rubbed her reddened eyes and started crying again.
The tearful reunion lasted about thirty minutes before finally calming down.
* * *
"...Mom and Dad, seriously. We could've just eaten whatever was at home. No need to go to the mart this late."
"And yet here you are smiling."
"Wh... When did I smile?!"
Right after the emotional reunion, Haesung's parents rushed off to the nearby large supermarket.
To feed their son who'd returned after ten years, they planned to buy premium Hanwoo beef and all sorts of meats, along with tofu and vegetables for stews.
Seemed like they intended to make every dish they could right away, and they even pre-ordered a ton of delivery food for Haesung.
Bossam, jokbal, pizza, chicken, burgers—
The sheer volume was questionable whether they could eat it all, but Haesung didn't stop them.
'Won't get sick no matter how much I eat anyway.'
His near-superhuman body burned a ton of calories.
Plus, he wouldn't bloat no matter how much he stuffed himself.
And above all, he didn't want to leave or limit the food that was their parents' love.
"...Whew, was trying to diet, but the world won't let me."
"Stay out of it. I'll eat it all."
"What nonsense is that! How's one person gonna eat all this?!"
"I can. You just watch me eat from the side. Chew on some chicken breast."
"...Oppa, you know what that means?"
"What."
"Diets always start tomorrow!"
With mountains of delivery food and the piles their parents had made from the mart haul in front of her, Hayun reached out for the grub without hesitation.
Haesung stifled a laugh at his absurd little sister and waved her on, then started devouring the food himself.
Stuffing a chicken leg in his mouth and pulling it out with just the bone left was a given, as was wrapping six pieces of bossam in one bite.
Hayun, munching away beside him, gawked with her mouth wide open as the food vanished in seconds, realizing Haesung hadn't been bluffing.
"...What? What kinda nonsense is this? Oppa, are you shitting it out right after eating? Straight line from esophagus to asshole... Ow! Ack! Ow!"
"Talk like that and you'll never get married."
"...I said it, no need to punch— I surrender."
Hayun, grumbling and about to add one more jab, raised her hands in surrender at the sight of Haesung raising his fist again.
Haesung lowered his fist upon seeing Hayun munch on her chicken wing with both hands up, then focused back on eating.
With Hayun, who ate impressively well for her small frame, and Haesung boasting infinite appetite worthy of a superhuman body, even the mountain of food eventually hit bottom.
His parents teared up again, thinking Haesung must've been starving out there, but things settled once he sweated it out explaining that wasn't the case.
* * *
"Hey... why do you fill every ice cream pint with mint chocolate?"
"Why? Mint choco's delicious."
"...You're really never getting married."
After the meal, as Haesung reached for ice cream for dessert, the sight of a full pint of mint chocolate made his appetite vanish, so he poured himself a glass of cola instead.
One cola with bobbing ice made for a neat finish, he thought.
"Oppa, aren't you curious what I do?"
Hayun, who had turned around in her recliner, asked with a serious face.
Haesung crunched some ice and replied calmly to her question.
"I am."
"Then why don't you ask?"
"Not hard to wait till you tell me."
"...What if I never tell you, even on my deathbed?"
"I'll just ask Mom and Dad."
"That's cheating! Total cheat!"
"Why."
"They don't even know!"
"That's your problem."
"Ugh...."
Hayun steeled herself and confessed her job to Haesung, who chuckled and finished his cola.
"I... do internet broadcasts!"
"...Broadcasts? Like streaming online or something?"
Hayun puffed up with pride at Haesung's slight surprise, despite his calm demeanor.
"That's right! A mega-corp with thousands of viewers!"
"...Is that a lot?"
"Ah, you wouldn't know, Oppa. It's decent. Way more than most office worker salaries. Sure, in this day and age, there are tons of ultra-corps with tens of thousands of viewers."
Haesung looked a bit puzzled at her explanation.
"But what exactly do they watch you for to draw that big a crowd?"
"My face! My gaming skills!"
"...Tch, doubt it."
Haesung tilted his head at the lame response.
Maybe it was sibling synergy, but by Haesung's standards, Hayun wasn't that pretty.
Just average-looking?
Plus, with his superhuman memory holding memories from hundreds, thousands of years ago—over a decade by Earth time—her supposed final selling point was dubious too.
"You suck at games."
"...Ugh."
Gaming skills.
At that, Hayun protested with an indignant whine.
"That's 'cause you're a monster at them! Never let me win even once since forever!"
"Sorry, but I don't like throwing games I can win. And it's not like I never let you win. That one time I did, you threw a tantrum crying and screaming 'you're messing with me' and lay down on the street demanding a rematch. Who was that?"
"...Blood's blood."
Of course, her resistance didn't last long.
Sharing the same blood, Hayun matched Haesung's competitive spirit and skill hunger.
Well, to be precise, just the competitive spirit.
Her actual skills were way below his.
But Hayun didn't care.
"Let's play a match on my stream tomorrow!"
"Confident?"
"Of course! Even you've never played VR games before!"
"...Ah."
The game she was challenging him to was none other than the VR game Haesung had seen on the street.
Haesung, who'd vanished, had never played it once.
A third party might call it petty, but Haesung didn't mind.
"Just don't flop on the ground when you lose."
"...I won't!"
Hundreds, thousands of years.
That was how long Haesung had rolled in that other world.
And in all that time, whether games, wars, or battles—
He'd never lost once.
VR game?
First time playing?
None of that mattered to Haesung, the undefeated All Master.
"Hehe, worry about embarrassing yourself in front of my viewers, Oppa~"
Only Hayun remained blissfully ignorant of the truth, giggling away.
Hayun was thrilled at the thought of beating her brother—who'd even gone all-out against her at five years old in the arcade—and had no inkling that the Haesung missing for ten years might be better at games than her.
Especially VR games.