A heavy silence settled over us. For a long while, no one spoke. I needed time to calm my thoughts, and my brother needed time to regain his strength.
The stillness stretched on, broken only occasionally by the gentle sound of flowing water.
“Mercenary Lord. Please, sit down first.”
Han So-young, who had been leaning against the stone wall, spoke cautiously. It wasn’t so much a command as a plea. I collapsed into a chair, absentmindedly chewing on a cigarette filter.
After a moment, when the filter was thoroughly crushed between my teeth, my brother slowly lifted his head.
“…Hey, did you see the message?”
“A text?”
“No, not a text.”
“…?”
He muttered, “You haven’t seen it yet,” then told me to check the user info. Though I was still resistant, I opened the window without protest—it wasn’t difficult.
As the familiar interface appeared before my eyes, something caught my attention—a tiny flicker, like a small dot, shimmering near the bottom.
Curious, I stared at it.
『You have a message. (Y/N)』
A new window suddenly popped up.
“A message?”
“See? Read it.”
Though hesitant at first, drawn by curiosity, I reached out and pressed Y.
I nearly jumped. I expected a message window, but instead, a vivid voice echoed in my mind—like Hwa-jeong speaking.
You probably already know that I’m the cause of that confusion.
I’m honestly afraid of how much you’ll resent me once you understand everything.
Being hated by you is my greatest fear.
That’s why I’m leaving this long explanation.
But first, I must admit—I did something I’m not proud of.
No excuse will justify my wrongdoing.
…Still, if you’re willing, please hear me out.
It was Seraph. No matter how many times I read it, it was Seraph. The moment I realized it was him, I focused intently.
As your assistant, I am bound by terms that prevent me from causing you harm.
I want to assure you that I did not act out of malice.
Yeah, that makes sense. Even if Seraph lied with good intentions, he never led me astray. My brother, too.
I knew that, but this was something else entirely.
I imagine you, Su-hyun, must have had complicated feelings as well.
While waiting day by day in the summoning chamber, I learned your intentions from a conversation with another user, Lee Yoo-jung.
To open a passage connecting the two worlds.
Then return to Earth, spend several years sorting things out, and come back to the Whole Plane.
It wasn’t a bad choice.
In fact, it was quite reasonable.
But once I realized you would return to Earth at least once, I couldn’t help but worry…
So what’s the problem?
In other words, they are the same yet distinct.
Therefore, when the two merge, the principle is that the derived being should be absorbed into the original.
From this perspective, returning to Earth means the Whole Plane’s ‘user’ is overlaid onto the Earth’s ‘human.’
In other words, the ‘human’ vessel is refilled with the ‘user’ water.
Seraph’s voice continued patiently, as if soothing a restless child.
Especially for the receiving ‘human,’ there’s inevitably a disconnect.
Living an ordinary life for decades, then suddenly absorbing memories and experiences from an unknown world is an enormous burden.
He wasn’t wrong. Even Jo Seung-woo said only a few of the over forty returnees responded.
I was skeptical, but mere speculation was meaningless, so I began an experiment.
Experiment?
and current user Kim Su-hyun,
I ran a kind of return simulation.
And the results…
Unfortunately, they were as expected.
My eyes narrowed as I heard the outcome.
If even once the desired result had appeared,
I might have chosen that path.
But every simulation without exception ended the same way:
Despite differences in timing, human Kim Su-hyun couldn’t endure the experiences and memories of the user and ultimately made an extreme choice…
…Su-hyun.
Human nature forms much like inertia.
Like habits or routines repeated so often they become second nature.
The experiment’s results revealed one truth:
The nature of user Kim Su-hyun, hardened by inertia, had drifted too far from the untouched humanity of his earlier self to be reclaimed…
I groaned involuntarily. My head felt foggy.
Though I didn’t want to believe it, I was aware of Seraph’s concerns to some extent. That’s why, when I sensed Lee Yoo-jung was about to stray, I even destroyed the Scrub to set things right. I was already too late, but I thought maybe she wasn’t.
Sometimes staying up all night, sometimes watching you endlessly under the guise of observation.
I tried to rationalize that it was just a simulation and reality might differ.
But no matter how I tried to think positively, I only grew more convinced that I couldn’t let you go without intervention…
I sympathized with Seraph’s worries. I understood his intentions and plans. But the more I listened, the more questions arose.
I’m the one who came back this cycle, the one who obtained the Zero Code. I’m the one involved.
So why did Seraph suffer alone? Why didn’t he even give me a hint?
Human Kim Su-hyun cannot handle user Kim Su-hyun…
But then, a thought struck me like lightning.
The moment I accepted this unwelcome truth, ironically, a new path opened…
A new path?
“Su-hyun.”
At that moment, my brother’s voice came unexpectedly. Since the voice didn’t continue, I glanced sideways. He was staring at me.
“Do you regret it?”
“…What?”
“Do you regret this situation?”
“Is that even a question?”
What was he talking about? I was speechless. Regret?
“Yeah.”
I do regret it. Of course I do. I regret it like crazy.
I had decided to return to Earth, but I never wanted to come back like this. When Gehenna left silently with Su-na, I suffered severe aftereffects. I resented Gehenna so much then. Now, though it wasn’t by choice but by circumstance, I did the same thing.
To be honest, I could understand opening the passage on my own. But at least I wanted a proper farewell. If I’d had that, I could have sorted out my feelings somewhat. There would have been regret, but no remorse.
“I honestly want to go back to the Whole Plane right now.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Growling, I spoke, and my brother slowly stood up. He looked at me and gently tapped his own head.
“Ah, Su-hyun. You can see for yourself—I suffered severe dissonance when I returned. It was indescribable.”
I stared blankly.
He asked if I regretted it, then switched to talking about dissonance.
What was he trying to say?
“…But you know what?”
Then—
“Didn’t you find it strange watching me?”
As he spoke, a sudden shock hit me like a hammer blow to the head.
“What…?”
Right.
Why?
Why had I missed it all this time?
Looking back, I should have noticed the moment I saw myself on the train.
Why was I wearing armor instead of a military uniform? And why did it feel normal?
I should have felt dissonance returning to Earth, but I didn’t.
When I barely managed to focus on my brother, he wasn’t looking at me anymore. Instead, he gazed nervously at the sky, muttering quietly to himself.
“It’s coming.”
A strange remark.
Then he smiled faintly.
“You can look forward to it. That’s why I said you’d understand a little, even in that state.”
My brother’s and Seraph’s voices overlapped.
As I instinctively looked up, a single blue light pierced the sky beyond the translucent window.
The blue glow was heading straight toward me.
Moments later—
Seraph’s voice continued, and—
Flash!
The blue light pierced down onto the crown of my head almost simultaneously.
“A user doesn’t accept a human… but rather, the human accepts the user…?”
It all happened so suddenly that I could only mutter in stunned disbelief.
So, Seraph sent me away and brought the me from Earth into the Whole Plane? That’s why I was wearing armor instead of a uniform?
Seraph’s calm voice echoed in my ears.
And the dissonance my brother warned me about—
It came slower than I expected.
“Ugh!”
Without any warning, a stabbing pain surged at my temple. Instead of fading, it only grew stronger by the second, pressing against my skull as if something was being forcibly shoved inside.
Clenching my teeth and enduring the pain, my vision suddenly split in two, then merged back again. I nearly lost my balance but managed to steady myself.
Damn it, the blurring focus only made the pounding headache worse. Now it felt like the world was spinning around me. Is this… the dissonance?
But even as I struggled, Seraph’s voice rang clearly in my mind without pause.
And when the passage back opened after those five years,
she hoped the Whole Plane would be seen not as a place to unleash slaughter and battle lust,
but as a home where she could reconnect and find solace.
Suddenly, I felt my center of gravity drop sharply. Unable to withstand the combined assault of pain and dizziness, I collapsed to my knees. I sensed hurried footsteps approaching from both sides, but I just fell forward with a heavy thud.
And with that, I closed my eyes.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
Sorry for the delay.
I’ll post the next chapter right away.