Chapter 87

“Hyuk-seo hyung.”

“Sorry. It seems the negotiations have broken down.”

I tried to call out to stop him, but my voice didn’t reach him.

Frustrating.

It seemed like Hyuk-seo hyung had already made up his mind long ago.

He was too anxious about his sister’s impending death to make a rational decision.

“Let him wander as he pleases. After all, the demon horse is just a spirit entity, so there’s no merit in taking it hostage. Well, with your personality, you probably wouldn’t do that anyway.”

Hyuk-seo hyung looked at his younger sister with a sorrowful gaze.

Seeing that, Eun-hyeon slowly put down her teacup.

“Just because the negotiations have broken down doesn’t mean I’ll let you go easily.”

And as her tail began to sway behind her, Hyuk-seo hyung’s shadow also started to ripple.

“Just because you won’t let me go doesn’t mean I can’t leave.”

“Well, it’s just a matter of buying time. But.”

At that moment, a man outside the café started walking towards us.

Black martial arts attire and flowing white hair.

The moment I faced him, with his wrinkled middle-aged face, Hyuk-seo hyung’s face twisted in anger.

“Damn it, can’t you even show some manners?”

“The one who negotiated with you was Kang Ha-chan, not me. Of course, I had to prepare.”

The person outside was none other than Geumgang-ho Gye-du-sik, a national hero of our country.

“You know I’ve disliked you for a long time, right?”

“Yes, I know that very well.”

With those words, Eun-hyeon’s nine tails spread out, and everything around us was engulfed in pitch-black shadows.

Seeing that, red lightning crackled around me.

“…I wasn’t done talking.”

Seeing my angry face, Hyuk-seo hyung hesitated.

The massive aura flowing from my body was something even Hyuk-seo hyung couldn’t ignore.

At the same time, as I glared at Eun-hyeon, she slightly averted her eyes with a guilty expression.

She had judged from the start that the conversation between me and Hyuk-seo hyung wouldn’t go well.

“What difference does it make if it’s not over?”

Hyuk-seo hyung and I locked eyes.

In the intersecting gazes, Hyuk-seo hyung moved first.

A massive spark erupted.

But this is inside a café.

There were other ordinary people here, so I couldn’t extend my hand with full force.

Watching Hyuk-seo hyung’s shadow thread narrowly miss, I gritted my teeth.

“I’ll be going.”

“…Eun-hyeon, even I’m angry about this action.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Eun-hyeon chased after him.

As I walked out of the café, I saw Gye-du-sik chasing after the shadow flying at an incredible speed over the building, stepping on the building walls.

Behind him, Eun-hyeon was wildly firing silver bullets at the shadow, but the shadow just swallowed them whole, not slowing down at all.

“…Did oppa leave?”

At that moment, a voice came from behind.

As if sobered up, she was leaning against the wall, looking up at the sky.

She already had a resigned expression, having given up on stopping her brother.

She had already argued with Hyuk-seo hyung, so that was that.

“Eva nuna.”

“I’m sorry, Domi. I got you involved in our mess. And Giraseong did such a thing to you. It’s all my fault.”

“…Eva nuna, you were working with Giraseong too?”

“Only for a short while. I left almost immediately because their actions were dirty, but my brother is still doing this…”

Eva nuna’s face darkened.

Then, she let out a long sigh and looked up, smiling faintly.

“…I’m sorry. Even if I can’t stop Giraseong, I’ll stop my brother.”

Hearing that, as Eva nuna was about to turn away, I reached out and grabbed her wrist.

It was obvious what she was trying to do.

“…”

I silently looked at her.

She’s a spirit entity.

Even if she was originally a Returner, as a spirit entity, she couldn’t fully wield her original power.

So, how could she stop Hyuk-seo hyung?

The answer was simple.

If the cause was removed, Hyuk-seo hyung would have no reason to move.

Her earlier smile was one of letting go of everything.

She had already let go of her life long ago.

She thought that if she let go of her already short life and stopped Hyuk-seo hyung, that would be it.

These damn twins were so caught up in their own thoughts that they couldn’t see anything around them.

“…Domi.”

Twins are twins, after all. Their actions were too similar.

“Oppa and Giraseong…”

“Even if nuna stops Hyuk-seo hyung, Giraseong won’t stop. They’ll target Si-ho no matter what.”

Giraseong is targeting Si-ho.

Even if Hyuk-seo hyung is out of the picture, Giraseong’s goal won’t disappear.

“But I have no other way.”

Eva nuna’s eyes wavered.

Eva nuna must have tried to find a way until now.

She kept looking, looking, and looking, but ultimately couldn’t find an answer and had to let go.

“Baek-san.”

So, I called out the strongest person I knew.

My gaze turned to Baek-san.

My friend, who always had an answer for me, was silently looking at me.

“Just one.”

And Baek-san’s mouth opened.

“At this point, it’s uncertain, but there might be a way. There’s a record in the World Returner Association.”

My mind became extremely calm.

“Tell me.”

“It’s someone I looked for when you died. But I couldn’t find them in the end. Are you sure? It might be a waste of time.”

“I don’t care.”

If I could sit these damn twins down and scold them to my heart’s content, it didn’t matter.

“Then.”

“Can you stop Ha-chan from being so angry?”

At that moment, before Baek-san could speak, another voice came from behind.

The voice was very familiar to me, so when I turned my gaze, Seol-hyang was walking towards me.

She looked at me briefly, smiled, then approached and gently held my hand.

“Sorry, I didn’t want things to turn out like this.”

“…Seol-hyang, you knew about Eva nuna and Hyuk-seo hyung’s true identities, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, not long ago.”

Seol-hyang had found out through investigation that Eva nuna was Hyuk-seo hyung’s twin sister.

Well, it’s natural to find out when digging into the enemy’s background.

And knowing that, she might have chosen not to appear at this gathering.

She let go of my hand and stood in front of Eva nuna.

Eva nuna also seemed to know Seol-hyang.

“…Iron-Blooded Empress, it’s been a while.”

“Still calling me by title? Asura still calls me by title too.”

“We agreed not to get too attached by calling each other by name. It’s a message to not get attached to someone with a limited lifespan.”

The two conversed as if they knew each other.

Since Hyuk-seo hyung was formerly a member of the World Returner Association, she must have been too.

“You were watching my back too, weren’t you?”

And as if she already knew, Eva nuna asked, and Seol-hyang nodded.

The most likely place for Hyuk-seo hyung to appear was by Eva nuna’s side, so it was natural.

“I’m sorry for the trouble my brother caused.”

“Yes, it’s quite troublesome.”

Seol-hyang answered bluntly and then looked at me.

“So, let’s resolve that trouble.”

At the word “our,” my eyes slowly widened.

Seol-hyang must have known and been watching this situation all along.

And her appearance here now must mean something.

She smiled at me.

And that smile was so dazzling that I almost felt mesmerized.

“Seol-hyang.”

“Yeah, I’ve found a way to resolve this.”

My childhood friend’s declaration was the most reliable thing in the world.

Baek-san and I locked eyes.

He nodded.

Probably indicating that the method he thought of and Seol-hyang’s were the same.

My childhood friend might be the most genius person in the world.

“You’ve found a way to resolve this?”

Eva nuna asked in surprise, and Seol-hyang nodded.

“Ryeong-ju, I’ve found a way to save you.”

“How…”

“There’s always a way if you look for it.”

Then Seol-hyang looked at me.

“But first, Ha-chan, I need your help to save her.”

I immediately nodded.

“Tell me.”

I had already guessed that it was related to me since she came here.

From the moment Baek-san mentioned the master piece pointing to me, the flow of this situation seemed to align with that.

Hearing my answer, Seol-hyang then said something I never expected.

“Juk-sim, we need to persuade that person.”

I really didn’t expect that at all.

Juk-sim.

Why did that name come from Seol-hyang?

I, Eva nuna, and everyone else looked at Seol-hyang with questions.

Only one person, who appeared late, was scratching their cheek with an awkward expression.

That person was none other than Nae-ki.

“Hmm, so that’s what you decided.”

“Nae-ki?”

As if she knew something, Nae-ki opened her mouth, and everyone’s gaze turned to her.

Under those gazes, Nae-ki stepped forward and looked at Seol-hyang.

“Association President, using the story I told you like this makes me feel a bit bitter.”

“We have to use everything we can.”

“Wait, am I the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on?”

I asked, looking back and forth between Seol-hyang and Nae-ki, and the two looked at each other.

Their eyes seemed to ask who would explain, and in the end, Nae-ki stepped up.

“Well, first of all, Domi, I’m a Returner, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s right.”

“I returned very recently.”

Recently.

Hearing that, something came to mind.

The period when Nae-ki hadn’t logged into the game for a long time.

During that time, Nae-ki had been caught in a dimensional shift.

“Could the game you mentioned be…”

“Right. I’m a Returner from a game. To be precise, I’m from a modern fantasy virtual simulation world.”

Virtual simulation.

To be exact, it’s a dimension with much more advanced science that reached a singularity and created countless abandoned virtual spaces.

The most peculiar thing is that only the mind gets caught in the dimensional shift, while the body remains in this dimension.

Thus, the body essentially falls into a vegetative state, and sometimes the body dies first due to such events.

“The World Returner Association maintained my body while I was in that dimension.”

That’s why Nae-ki and Seol-hyang were familiar.

After all, since Seol-hyang is the president of the World Returner Association, most Returners would meet her at least once.

“The problem is, I’m the type who doesn’t contact others and lives alone. So, my body was left in a vegetative state for quite a while.”

“It wasn’t just ‘quite a while.'”

At that moment, Seol-hyang clicked her tongue and added.

“When we found Nae-ki, Lee Eun-ha, she had already stopped breathing once.”

Hearing Seol-hyang mention Nae-ki’s real name, Lee Eun-ha, my eyes widened.

That meant Nae-ki had died once.

But Nae-ki is alive and well now.

What Seol-hyang was saying seemed contradictory.

“…Are you saying that Juk-sim was involved in Nae-ki’s death and resurrection?”

And I blurted out what I inferred from the conversation.

My words were correct, as Nae-ki nodded in response.

“When I was wandering around that dimension, my vision suddenly went completely black. I was placed in a pitch-black space, and then a message came.”

“That was Juk-sim, right?”

“Right. The message said they would fix my body and to wait a bit. After that message, my vision returned.”

I fell into thought.

Juk-sim, who had been playing games with me all this time.

According to Baek-san, my guild members were intentionally gathered around me, so it wasn’t surprising that Juk-sim was related to Returners.

In fact, Juk-sim’s peculiar actions all made sense now.

But bringing someone back from the dead?

Even the Saint, a master of healing magic, couldn’t do that.

Baek-san’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“…The person I’ve been searching for so long was this close?”

A sense of futility seemed to flow from Baek-san’s voice.

Well, of course.

If Baek-san had known Juk-sim’s identity, he would have tried to save me first.

But the fact that he didn’t means Baek-san never found Juk-sim.

At that point, whatever happened to Juk-sim, she never revealed herself.

And now that she’s by my side, Baek-san must feel utterly defeated.

‘Maybe in that worldline, Juk-sim and I…’

We might not have known each other like we do now.