Chapter 431 – The Brothers’ World
The overpowering smell of blood faded, and the rock wall disappeared. In place of the giant dragon’s corpse appeared a scattered mountain of presents and toppled Rudolph decorations. Over the soft white carpet, blood that had run along the Thunderbird’s vestment dripped down, drop by drop. Red spread across it in scattered blotches.
“Don’t be stubborn. What are you going to do if you don’t leave?”
It was all over. Rauchitas was dead, and my brother was alive. Both of them were safe. So all that remained was to get out of the dungeon, and yet now, at this point.
“You can tell too, can’t you.”
The Han Yoojin holding his brother in his arms smiled.
“That it’ll be hard to get out safely. We can even share skills. We’re that close. Since this is still a dungeon, it might be possible to remain as separate entities here, but if I leave? If I become Han Yoojin, not a monster.”
If even that one final barrier of being a monster inside a dungeon disappeared.
“I might be fine. There are cases where monsters get taken outside dungeons. If we don’t interfere with each other and live apart, maybe it’ll be okay. But Yoohyun…”
Both our gazes turned to Yoohyun at the same time. My brother’s eyes blinked slowly.
“He wasn’t even a boss monster. Was he.”
That was right. I had wondered if Han Yoohyun might be the final boss, but my brother, my brother was only one simple device. Was it because he was someone who had died and been cut away from this world? He had not even managed to become a monster.
“Do you really think he’ll be fine, even after leaving the dungeon?”
“……”
“No, right now, even leaving here wouldn’t be safe. Because he’s right outside.”
He meant Yoohyun waiting outside. An incomplete fake facing the real one. It was obvious as daylight which side would suffer a problem.
Unlike the two Han Yoojins, he might collapse without being able to preserve his sense of self, or be absorbed by the real one.
“…Hyung.”
Yoohyun, who had only been listening to the conversation between the two of us, opened his mouth.
“You can go.”
My brother weakly pushed at my chest. The tips of his fingers trembled, and unmistakable fear flickered across his face. I clicked my tongue at him as if in reproach. Then I took his hand.
“What are you talking about. I said I’m not going.”
“But.”
“We’re never going to be separated again. Yoohyun. Never again. Absolutely never.”
He said it with satisfaction. For some reason, I got the absurd feeling that he was almost bragging to me. That he would never let go of his brother. That he would never take his hands off him.
That he would keep staying together with him.
“…Hey, even so. You never know.”
Even knowing persuasion was impossible, I still opened my mouth. It was a ritualistic protest.
“Instead of just giving up like this, we should at least try…”
“What do you mean, giving up.”
He even frowned as if he’d heard something ridiculous.
“Who said anyone was going to die? Hey, our world is here.”
As he soothed Yoohyun, he lifted the corners of his mouth. His eyes were not discouraged in the slightest.
They were full of strength, if anything.
“For us, this place is the real thing. The world where my brother and I lived, and where we’re together. This place is real, and we’re real, and you lot are the fake ones who suddenly barged in.”
“You…”
“So we’ll live.”
He said it with complete confidence, as though it were only natural.
“I have absolutely no intention of dying. I’m going to live with my brother, just the two of us. Until the very end.”
“…That.”
“They said this dungeon won’t be reset.”
“…They said they’d close it. That it had too many errors. That it was a place that never should have come into being in the first place.”
“Yeah. Close it. They said they’d close it, not that it would disappear. It might stay preserved while closed.”
It was only a simple hope. But saying he might be safe if he left, and saying the world inside the dungeon might continue to exist, were not all that different.
Which hope Han Yoojin chose to lean on was up to him.
“Take it.”
Han Yoojin took off the vestment and tossed it to me.
“All the weapons are smashed, and there’s nothing left.”
“You… bastard.”
My chest tightened. I walked over to the bastard holding my brother. If I went with my heart, I wanted to throw one last punch.
“What if something happens, and you just hand it back like that?”
“You said it was a gift. If it had been a coat, I might’ve used it to wipe my face.”
“Even so, you have to take care of Yoohyun! There’s nobody else here. Haeyeon is obviously empty, and all the people outside, we got rid of every last one of them.”
Seseong, the Awakened Management Office, the Korean Hunter Association, and even the place Yerim had gone to. Even Riette, whom Noah had met, had disappeared. At best, there might only be a few people left wandering the streets. No, since we had noisily drawn in the Hunters and cleaned them up, there might be only two people left in this place.
Only the two people in front of my eyes.
“Damn it, and you’re saying there are no weapons left. Hey, even I’m A-rank if you take away the gun… wait. The gun.”
At the end, I hadn’t used the gun because the charging time was too long. So of course it should still be fine. My bastard self glanced at me, reading my mood, then pulled out the wildcat gun as if he had no choice.
“You said to pack it.”
“No, you…”
Yeah, right, this bastard was me too. It wasn’t as though I didn’t want to shove the gun, the shoes, and even the jacket into his arms, but I had a long road ahead of me too. I took the gun back, and instead pulled out the weapons still left in my inventory. And the other items too.
“This is a cookie that makes your body smaller. I can’t give you many, but there are ten. It’s useful in all sorts of situations. I’ll give you one universal key too. It’s good for three uses. There are tons of places in this neighborhood to loot. Though you’ll probably loot them just fine on your own. And two single-use teleportation items. They’re expensive. Use them only when it’s really urgent.”
Since I was leaving now anyway, I kept only a small amount of potions and dumped out the rest.
“Are you cleaning out your storage? There are plenty of things like that in this neighborhood too.”
“You don’t know whether they’ll keep staying intact or not. We need to prepare. This is dried fruit. Once we leave, secure water and food as fast as possible. You know there’s a convenience store right next door, right? The department store food market was still there too. Stuff like canned food lasts a long time.”
“You nag too much. I’m worried I’ll start wanting to go inside. Hurry up and leave.”
I waved my hand at him as if telling him to get lost already.
“Same to you. Take good care of my brother.”
“Even if you didn’t say—”
“Don’t die.”
“……”
“Live somehow. No matter what you have to do. That’s how we’ve lived, isn’t it.”
As if to show me, he spread out his palm.
“It’s because we survived that we’re here. Even now.”
This moment, right now, this ending.
I took a step backward. My gaze, which had been resting on me for a moment, shifted to Yoohyun. It was a gentle look. I turned around. The lobby full of Christmas decorations came into view. At the far end of it, I began walking toward the door where the noon sunlight was filtering in.
“…I’m sorry, Hyung.”
“What are you sorry for now.”
“You might have been okay too, and yet…”
“I’m the one choosing not to go.”
I walked forward.
“Yeah. But I’m happy. I’m glad you stayed with me… I shouldn’t feel this way.”
“What do you mean, you shouldn’t. Hey, I feel good too.”
“…I’m really happy. So happy.”
“Then why are you crying. Don’t cry. Should I light the candles on the cake? It got a little messed up, though.”
“That’s still okay.”
“Let’s make a wish too. I could only buy a cake, but is there anything you want?”
“As long as I have you, Hyung. All my wishes have come true.”
“Then, my beloved little brother—”
I pushed open the glass door. I cut off the last Teacher skill that had still been connecting us. The sunlight was dazzling. Reflected in my eyes, which narrowed instinctively, were the people waiting outside.
“Hyung!”
I heard my brother’s voice. I hurried down the stairs. Maybe the wall that had been blocking him was gone now, because Yoohyun came running toward me.
“What happened, ahjussi!”
“That blood isn’t yours, right, Mr. Yoojin? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
Yerim and Noah shouted anxiously. I told them no, that I was fine. I could feel Sung Hyunjae’s gaze as well as Chief Song’s. Yoon Yoon yelped in fright and ran off.
“Hyung, Hyung is—”
“Let’s go.”
I grabbed Yoohyun’s arm. Startled, my brother looked toward Haeyeon Guild. He looked around for me, who could no longer be seen.
“But…”
“I left him behind. Yoohyun.”
I looked up at my brother. His black eyes trembled faintly as he looked back down at me.
“I left him behind.”
“…Hyung.”
“Let’s go.”
I started walking. My brother followed obediently. I opened my drying mouth.
“Your birthday still hasn’t come yet. And I’m going to buy you the cake myself.”
I handed the vestment to Yoohyun.
“I’ll order it in advance and put your name on it too. Number candles are cute. I need to prepare a present too.”
Just like before we were split apart, I would prepare each thing one by one myself. I would sing the birthday song for him myself too.
“On the day before your birthday, let’s decorate a huge tree too. All together.”
“Together?”
“Yeah, of course we should do it together. A really huge one. Should we put it right in the rooftop garden? It’s been a long time since we made a Christmas tree.”
“I only ever got to look at one at Uncle’s house.”
We reached the road. I stopped and turned around. The Haeyeon Guild building was quiet. The windows, full of sunlight, sparkled. It itself looked like a Christmas ornament. For the day meant to be blessed.
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“So let’s go home.”
I missed our home terribly. I wanted to sleep deeply without thinking about anything, wake up, eat breakfast with nothing having happened as usual, sit side by side on the sofa, and exchange idle chatter about nothing in particular.
“…Yeah, Hyung. Let’s go home.”
Yoohyun nodded. Nobody asked me what had happened. Yerim made a large sphere of water for me. I took off my coat and put it into my inventory, then washed my face. The water, which dirtied quickly, got replaced cleanly, and I even dunked my whole head in it.
It was lukewarm water, but it felt cool.
“I made good use of them, Yerim. Thanks.”
I returned the ring and shawl to Yerim. I held out the handcuffs to Chief Song as well.
“I used them well.”
“They are not mine.”
“They were borrowed items, weren’t they? Naturally, that means from their owner.”
I pushed past Chief Song’s refusal by saying that something might still happen. Then I thanked Noah too, and looked at Sung Hyunjae.
“Ahem, Silekia belongs to me now.”
“I’m sorry I could not be of help.”
“…No, if you put it like that, it stings my conscience. I used the coat well. And the electricity you put into it too. It helped a great deal.”
Sung Hyunjae smiled. Something about him felt a little suspicious. More precisely, since he had stayed up all night yesterday, there was a strange feeling as if he had been lost in other thoughts. Then again, he had always been the kind of man whose insides were hard to read.
“They say the gate opened at Seseong Guild. Since the dungeon itself is unstable, they want us to come out quickly.”
Young Chaos said that after receiving a message from Newbie. Yerim went and found Yoon Yoon and brought them back, and Noah transformed into his full form. Riding on Noah’s back together with Young Chaos, I headed for Seseong Guild. Beneath the long road of clouds stretched across the sky, the city in daylight spread out below. Far in the distance, the Han River flowed.
At the sudden flapping of a flock of startled pigeons taking off, my heart thumped a little.
“So even if there aren’t people, there are animals.”
“That’s how dungeons usually are.”
Thinking about it, we had eaten live lobster too. There might even be fish swimming in the river. It was quiet, but it was not a world that had completely stopped.
Not long afterward, we landed in front of the Seseong Guild building, which had become ruins. I had half expected it, but I could not sense any sign of people at all. The rooftop seen from Noah’s back was empty too. Only ownerless tables and chairs lay scattered around.
The dungeon gate was glowing in front of the collapsed stairs.
“You’re going back, Elder?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll be seeing you again soon anyway. You still have to teach the kids.”
“The kids?”
“You agreed to look after our third one too, Yerim.”
Young Chaos wore a when did I ever? expression.
“Well now, perhaps it’s because of your age—”
“The eldest?”
“I leave it in your hands, great and kind, strongest and coolest Elder Chaos in the universe.”
“Just hurry up and get out already.”
Clicking his tongue shortly, Young Chaos disappeared. Now we really had to leave.
“I wonder how much time passed outside. I should’ve asked. Newbie?”
I called out just in case, but there was no answer. If a whole day had passed outside too, the military might have been standing by. So, in preparation for the worst, Sung Hyunjae and Song Taewon decided to go out first.
About ten minutes after those two left, we stepped into the gate as well. The world before my eyes flashed white for a moment, and then, and then… huh?
“What?”
I came to a stop in a pure white space. Normally, the wrecked island should have appeared right away. Had the destination changed? But there was nobody else here either. I was alone.
“Yoohyun? Yerim?”
I called the others, even Peace, but there was not even a response, much less any sign of presence. Was it another error again? Newbie?
“That was fun!”
At that moment, someone’s lively voice rang out. The instant I recognized it as a voice I had heard before, I jerked in alarm, but the scenery around me changed. In the middle of a forest thick with greenery floated a familiar figure.
“You…!”
“That was really fun!”
Ruka Feiya, the King of Harmlessness, smiled brightly as she clapped with two hands instead of tentacles.
