◈ Episode 390. Declaration of War (2) [Understanding Darkness].
Was it the influence of having understood even a fraction of Granpel’s past through that curse?
The vestiges of the Claudie family overlapped upon the scenery of the main house.
“……!”
It lasted but a moment, yet vividly so.
Soon, busy sounds could be heard from beyond the door.
Voices brimming with vitality made me—no, made Granpel—stop dead in his tracks.
What roused me, who had been standing in the yard for a while, was the call of my sworn enemy, I Yerim.
“Are you here?”
Because I had watched, I knew.
What kind of end Granpel’s sister had met.
On ‘that day’ when the Claudie family fell, Granpel’s sister had fallen at the hands of the Shadow Mercenaries, commissioned by the great evil. The silver hair said to be circulating in the black market was the only trace she had left behind.
And.
‘……No.’
Granpel’s vision was overlapping his sister onto I Yerim.
I, I Hoyeol.
Truly, this was an unavoidably awkward situation.
‘No matter what, this isn’t right. Granpel……!’
To look at her and think of your sister—
Wouldn’t that be an insult to your sister?
Why, even her voice from just now was the same.
*You’re here?*
How could just two words overflow with such mischief?
It was to the point where I was genuinely curious.
‘Damn it.’
But at the same time, I was someone who had decided to fully accept the history of the Claudie family.
Because there were faults.
It meant I could not simply ignore Granpel’s emotions.
‘……This is really unfair.’
Why did it have to be I Yerim?
If it had been my eldest sister, at least the overlapping vision—and your pitiful emotions—would have been somewhat understandable…….
I was so genuinely aggrieved that I was on the verge of tears.
Amidst that, I Yerim spoke.
“……I Hoyeol, are you crying?”
Am I crying?
See, even now she doesn’t spare a moment from teasing me.
She has no intention of understanding her only younger brother’s feelings.
‘I’m crying because I’m aggrieved. Because I’m aggrieved.’
Seeing that she only thinks of teasing me even in this situation.
In all honesty, I wanted to turn away without answering.
But that was impossible given Granpel’s decorum and love for his family.
Then, I had no choice but to put on a brazen face to full use.
I opened my mouth seriously.
“I have been waiting, Sister.”
“……Damn, can’t you do something about that tone, Hoyeol?”
“I am merely maintaining proper decorum.”
Born in the same year.
I Yerim and I, who had never spoken kindly to each other since we were young.
I feel like dying even as I say it, but I Yerim hearing it can’t be entirely pleased either, can she?
Good.
It’s a drastic prescription.
I did not suppress the rising formality.
“I shall follow you, Sister.”
“Follow? You’re telling me to lead? Do I look like a Demon Lord like you? It’s not even ten steps from here to the living room, Hoyeol. What leading are you talking about…….”
“Even with each and every step, I shall observe propriety.”
“Uweh.”
I didn’t want to admit it, but we’re siblings, so we can’t help but resemble each other.
Just as I shudder at Granpel’s decorum, I Yerim can’t help but find it hard to endure.
In the end, I Yerim makes a disgusted expression and briskly brushes past me.
“Mom, Hoyeol is heeere!!”
She shouts loudly even before the front door opens.
Only then did I turn my body.
Through the crack of the open door, Arang’s voice is heard.
“Uncle’s heeere!”
At this moment, the main house that should have felt warm according to Granpel’s emotions.
Why did it feel ominous, like a rift of appropriate level, immeasurable level……?
‘Please, may I not die of shame.’
I moved my steps with that resolve.
Clack…….
“Are you hurting anywhere, my son?”
The moment Madam Choe Ganghui saw my face, she burst into tears.
Since many things had happened since the first and last time I visited.
I could fully understand how she must feel.
‘……Though I don’t understand the effect.’
Is she really my mom?
I had heard from my sisters.
They say when she goes outside with Mom, people ask if they’re sisters.
It seemed that calling [Aria Moss] the elixir of youth wasn’t for nothing.
‘I thought it was an exaggeration, but it wasn’t.’
And perhaps because I had brought such Aria Moss as a bribe…… no, as a gift?
The reunion with Madam Choe Ganghui was concluded amidst the commotion of my sworn enemies.
“Unni, this is that thing! The one Mom used!”
“Oh. I Hoyeol, now you catch on immediately? See, we weren’t talking about that in the group chat for nothing! Hey, I Yerim. There’s a proper order to everything. Tsk, put down what you’re holding.”
“Guys, that’s not what’s important right now, is it?”
Seeing how even the eldest sister’s gaze, while mediating between bickering No. 2 and No. 3, was fixed on the Aria Moss…….
I sure brought it well, Hoyeol.
‘So it was worth making that donation to the Goddess Church.’
Tap.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Father, President I Junuk, patted my shoulder without saying much else.
Judging by his expression, his tightly pressed lips seemed to indicate he had finally set his mind completely at ease.
“I’m glad you look healthy in both body and mind.”
Next would have been the time for my sworn enemies to torment me.
But my only nephew, Arang, saved me.
Arang had always followed me well, but.
As I had felt in my studio apartment, Arang seemed to like my changed tone and behavior even more.
“Arang. Uncle is tired.”
The eldest sister added, troubled by Arang who showed no intention of letting go.
She said he must have watched a movie with princesses and princes very immersively.
“What, prince? Arang, you can’t be fooled?”
I Yerim snorted, and the eldest sister was at a loss.
“What should we do, he’s tired, Hoyeol?”
“It’s fine.”
Prince and princess…….
It’s fine to immerse yourself as much as you want right now, Arang.
Please don’t immerse yourself in dark history too late, like this uncle.
Thanks to Arang, who wouldn’t think of letting go, business didn’t come up immediately.
‘Sometimes I really wonder.’
Granpel’s incomparably picky palate.
I had worried a little about what if he fussed over the side dishes even at the family dinner table.
Fortunately, no such blasphemous thing happened.
At least at the table with his blood relatives, Granpel’s temper was infinitely generous.
Of course.
“Hoyeol, do you want coffee?”
“If there is green tea, I would ask for that.”
“Green tea? We only have tea bag green tea, is that okay?”
“It couldn’t be better.”
But it seemed he couldn’t give up on that damn green tea.
Outside the window, the sun had set.
Arang, who had been full of energy until just now, had fallen asleep on my lap before I knew it.
The eldest sister tried to lift and move Arang, but I shook my head.
“Aren’t your legs numb? Arang has grown a lot now.”
“Look at those chubby cheeks from eating well, Arang.”
“I Yerim, you mind your own belly fat.”
“Unni, even dogs aren’t bothered when eating.”
For something like this to make my legs numb—
My body, which had processed absurd physical training every single day, was excessively sturdy.
That’s right.
There was no problem with my body.
My sense of shame was the problem.
‘……It’s serious, really.’
The living room.
Eventually, the whole family had gathered.
In such a place, I was shamelessly spewing honorifics and extreme courtesy that I had never used in my life.
Was it fortunate that everyone except me had grown accustomed to this manner of speaking?
Conversations no different from usual were going back and forth.
“How was Arcana? Couldn’t you take some photos?”
“Maybe later we can travel there too.”
“Ah, Hoyeol. Can we go to Yusra for summer vacation? It’d be nice to take Mom and Dad. The Golden Palace there is crazy pretty. It’s all over Insta~”
I was relieved inside.
‘I’m glad it’s peaceful, but.’
Even if my eldest sister and younger sister showed no particular reaction.
Why was I Yerim so docile?
Why, how much had my heart pounded in front of the full-length mirror?
‘The Thousand Outer Heavens, the Demon Lord, the Dark Dragon……!’
I Yerim.
She had felt like someone who was itching for a confrontation with me.
Anyway, it was fortunate.
Both Mom and Dad seemed to erase their worries after seeing me unharmed.
‘Yes, good is good.’
How good would it be if I could stop here?
But I cannot hide a single thing.
A body incapable of even white lies, let alone empty words.
Even.
—“As it happens, there was something I needed to tell you.”
Words once spoken must absolutely be kept.
So I.
Only after completely emptying my green tea did I open my mouth.
Clack.
Truly, bluntly and directly.
“I will be entering the Demon Realm.”
Though it was obvious, my sisters and my parents didn’t know much about Arcana.
But the threat of Arcana was common knowledge now.
Among them, demon-type monsters were a catastrophe-level threat to humanity.
“……The Demon Realm?”
That the homeland of such demons was the Demon Realm?
It was widely known through the AAU.
The warm and friendly atmosphere sank in an instant.
Talk about pouring cold water, Hoyeol.
But it was something unexpected.
“I knew it. Come back safe.”
My sworn enemy, who I thought would dissuade me more fiercely than anyone.
I Yerim said that.
With eyes and voice devoid of even a hint of mischief.
“After you come back, visit home often, got it?”
……What the?
Creepy.
Did she suddenly grow up or something?
……
*After Hoyeol left.
Silence lingered in the living room.
He would enter the Demon Realm.
To hunt the Demon Lord.
To protect reality and the Arcana continent.
Hoyeol had a clear grand cause.
But they didn’t care about such grand causes.
Madam Choe Ganghui opened her mouth.
“The world? Our Hoyeol is more important to me.”
Father, I Junuk, nodded silently and deeply.
Family and the whole world.
If they had to choose between the two, they were people who would naturally choose family.
No. 2, I Jiyun, recited the search results.
“The Demon Realm……. They say it’s more dangerous than the Arcana continent. Still, our Hoyeol doesn’t lie? When he entered the Arcana continent, he said there was nothing to worry about, but this time he didn’t say that.”
I Eunhye continuously stroked the sleeping Arang’s head.
“He said he had something to tell us, that he was coming home, so I had a feeling it was something serious……. I didn’t know Hoyeol was facing such a thing. He must have worried so much alone, right? Am I even his sister?”
“Unni. If you say that, what does that make Mom and Dad, and the rest of us sisters?”
Tch.
I Jiyun said awkwardly and looked at her younger sister.
Her only younger sister, just like her younger brother—I Yerim.
There was something she was curious about.
“I Yerim, what were you thinking when you said that?”
Born in the same year.
Now she could read her inner thoughts just by looking at her expression.
I Yerim was not her usual self.
Among the three sisters, I Yerim undoubtedly thought about Hoyeol the most.
It was just that her way of expressing it wasn’t honest.
Thanks to the one-year age difference since Hoyeol’s most difficult times, I Yerim was the one who had watched over him from the closest distance.
“That ‘come back safe’—did you mean it?”
I Jiyun was bewildered.
That she couldn’t stop Hoyeol?
She already knew that.
She knew through TV that a Player was a job you couldn’t quit even if you wanted to.
Besides, our Hoyeol was so capable.
She had often seen it in internet comments.
There were times Earth would have been destroyed without Hoyeol.
It was already too many to count on one’s fingers.
However.
I Yerim silently nodded.
She hadn’t expected I Yerim to react like that.
I Jiyun asked just in case.
“Did you two talk about something beforehand?”
I Yerim shook her head.
Even though she was open about everything with her unni, mom, and dad, she didn’t want to speak right now.
The vivid scene remaining in her head.
The pouring sunset.
Under the shadow of the backlight.
Hoyeol, who turned his head, was shedding tears.
Drop—
She had unintentionally witnessed the tears falling down his cheek.
That was why she had acted even more playfully toward Hoyeol and brushed it off.
Because she had no idea how to react.
But.
“I have some tact too, you know.”
She could tell.
Her only younger brother definitely wouldn’t want to reveal to the family that he had shed tears.
Of course, I Yerim didn’t know why Hoyeol had shed tears.
But that wasn’t the problem.
“And he always keeps his word. Right, Hoyeol?”
Because we’re family.
*I was once again reminded that Granpel’s temper was only docile in front of blood relatives.
AAU Branch Chiefs’ Meeting.
As the Chief Executive of the Yusra Branch, I looked at the branch chiefs gathered in one place.
And opened my mouth.
“Is it simple incompetence, or if not, is it collusion?”
You’ve all lived comfortably until now?
Your complacency has been revealed by this situation.
I hope you too can feel something called shame.
‘……Like me.’
I, who have caught even the mages of the Magic Tower—who are called Transcendents—like mice.
Such a me spoke with sincerity.
“From this moment, I will uncover the truth.”
It was time to find the loach.
But it is not I who will stir the muddy water to catch the loach.
Because from now on, it’s not me who must prove innocence, but you lot.
I declared.
“Until you prove your innocence. No one may leave this place.”
I had no intention of wasting precious time on such matters.
Even more so when considering the time difference between the Arcana continent and reality.
So.
Crackle-freeze!
[『Absolute Zero』].
First, I shall freeze the flow of time itself.
“It may be a bit premature, but sometimes cold green tea isn’t bad either.”