CH 27

I accidentally raised a tiger because I thought it was a dog. But was there any moving tale where the beast returned the favor? I knew why there was no such thing. It must be because the tiger ate up its owner as soon as it grew up.

It feels like just yesterday that Baek Tae-beom was like a cute puppy, but now my life was threatened. Baek Tae-beom put me in the passenger seat and didn’t say anything while driving, but I felt the unspoken pressure.

How did you know I was alive? How did you find me? What is this car and where are we going? My thoughts flowed endlessly. Finally, we arrived at a large department store.

‘A department store?’

Baek Tae-beom, who got off first, opened the car door as I sat with a baffled face. He guilelessly reached out his hand and led me by holding mine.

“Come in.”

“Why…?”

“Because.”

Baek Tae-beom looked up and down at my outfit and smiled quite affectionately.

“You have to match my clothes first.”

PR/N: it actually doesn’t mean it but.. ‘we need to start with the clothes.’ is more correct. Just a note. The translator wanted to keep this one for fanservicing.lol

“What?”

The department store we came into was not at all in decent shape. As if someone had been fighting here, there were bloodstains all over the floor, and one side of the escalator was smashed. Come to think of it, wasn’t this the place where Baek Tae-beom fought earlier in a department store? Was it?

[CH.Personal/One Who Is More Dazzling Than The Sun : Don’t gawk like a pig being taken to the slaughterhouse.]

[CH.Personal/One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall: Who has a pig-like face now?]

[CH.Personal/One Who Leads The Dead : Inevitable. If not. Enjoy. This.]

[CH.Personal/One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall : What are you enjoying in the first place?]

“That… It looks like someone fought here.”

Baek Tae-beom said regrettably. Yeah. There is no way Baek Tae-beom would fight in a battle in the middle of a place like this. I nodded as he told me to get into the elevator. The firm grip of the hand holding mine felt unbelievably tight.

“Hyung, I’m sorry I made you see something like that.”

“No, it’s alright….”

“Well, we’re here.”

It was then that I realized this department store wasn’t just an ordinary store.

In <The Fall of Another World>, there were department stores with special floors. And this was one of them. Here, you can sell loot from monsters or buy them. And on the other hand, sell exclusive items for hunters. There was also a separate auction house on the rooftop. Even without having to check, I could notice most of the items on display were like that.

As soon as we got off the elevator, two managers dressed in suits followed. Baek Tae-beom walked casually and said indifferently.

“From here to there, only items of B-grade and higher.

“I understand. Please come this way.”

The store manager seemed to take the lead and showed us to a luxurious-looking room with curtains. I couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat at this point. My pupils shook wildly, not knowing where to put my gaze.

[CH.Personal/One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall: This isn’t actually a slaughterhouse, is it?

[The constellation, ‘One Who Is More Dazzling Than The Sun’ is lying down and looking around as if things were interesting.]

[CH.Personal/One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall: I’m not joking? Now, all of a sudden, Baek Tae-beom will jump up and hit me on the neck, right?]

[CH.Personal/One Who Is More Dazzling Than The Sun : Why would that guy hit your neck?]

[CH.Personal/One Who Is More Dazzling Than The Sun : It would be a different story if he gave you a kiss on the neck instead.]

[CH.Personal/One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall : You still want to keep telling strange love stories? Are you crazy?]

[CH.Personal/One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall : Every time you do that, the chances of the country being ruined increases.]

[CH.Personal/One Who Is More Dazzling Than The Sun : That’s damn nonsense!]

[CH.Personal/One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall : It looks like a huge  wooden horse is going to be the one to invade our country.]

PR/N: I don’t know what the horse means either. It’s mostly likely related to the huge meteor that causes the end of the world. (I think it has to do with a Trojan horse but I have no clue)

Meanwhile, the staff were calmly stacking items in front of us. I checked the information on one of them and closed my eyes.

[Abundant Morning Jacket A]

[For mornings of the grand, this will take care of you. Your defense and evasion ability is increased.]

Obviously, as I remember, the price of a C-grade item should be several thousand, B-grade above it, and the general price of A-grade should be around 100 million. S-grades speak for themselves. Low-grade hunters aren’t working hard in dungeons for no reason. It’s because the idea is to at least be able to get good equipment with coins. Because, of course, there’s no way the people that just became hunters would have a few thousand or a hundred million.

But what was this situation?

Hundreds of millions worth of such items were piled up in front of me one after another.

“Tae-beom-ah.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“…What are you doing now?”

“What I am doing.”

Baek Tae-beom blinked casually and brought one of the clothes and hung it in front of me.

“It’s a bit too big. Hyung needs to eat more. You don’t have much fat.”

“No, what are you doing….”

“I’m trying to help hyung avoid ever dying again.”

My heart sank. As I exhaled with my face buried in my hands, I couldn’t move and only blinked my eyes. Just breathe in slowly. I tried to ask again in a carefree voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Hyung is my constellation.”

I could only hear the sound of the clock’s second hand moving. The clerks moving outside were bustling. I looked around with my eyes, but I couldn’t say anything. As I lowered my hand slowly, Baek Tae-beom stood there as he looked down at me, smiling.

On the other hand, it may be strange not to notice. He must have felt my absence and the absence of his constellation at the same time. Considering the messages and sponsorships of the constellation that have disappeared after my death, it might have been natural to infer my identity.

He would have suspected why I helped him as well. Because it was simple to think it was because I was his constellation. And lastly, he saw my reaction, which would confirm as much to finally complete the puzzle.

But the creepiest thing was Baek Tae-beom’s overly natural attitude. It was like he had been waiting for this for years, as if he had always wanted a day like this, everything felt natural. I looked at Baek Tae-beom foolishly.

He bowed slowly toward me. For a moment, it felt like a huge mountain was bending over for a single human being.

“I’ve been waiting, for so long.”

“You were waiting for me?”

“I knew that hyung… would come back again. Because the contract that I signed with my constellation still existed. Because I kept believing that the constellation who signed with me was hyung. And I was right, wasn’t I?

[The constellation, ‘One Who Seeks To Avoid The Fall’ is synchronized with the body.]

“I’m really good at waiting. That was the only thing I was ever good at. Waiting for someone who won’t wake up, waiting for someone who won’t come… I’ve been waiting for so long….”

Baek Tae-beom carefully grasped my hand. Surprisingly, even though I was nervous, my hands were incredibly cold. Come to think of it, my hands seemed cold the entire time he held me. I was so flustered that I didn’t notice.

“But hyung saved me, you know?”

“That’s too much of an exaggeration.”

I shook my head, but Baek Tae-beom’s hot gaze still did not slacken. Instead, he grabbed my hand and held it so tightly that I couldn’t escape.

“You saved me. You gave everything to me. You took care of me, just for me.”

I frowned at the tingling sensation, but Baek Tae-beom ignored it and continued to lower his head, bringing his face closer. His eyes, which turned gold as soon as he awakened, captivated me. Thinking that our noses would soon touch, I hurriedly turned my head.

“I’m not exaggerating. Without hyung, I would have really died.”

No, you wouldn’t have died even if I wasn’t there. To me, who knew the ending of <The Fall of Another World>, the words he said were like a cloud in the sky, waiting to just disappear.

Because Baek Tae-beom is the villain who survived the novel from start to finish, just to destroy the world and kill the protagonist.

Because he is the villain….

But what could the current Baek Tae-beom be called?

I had no choice but to look at Baek Tae-beom as I frowned at the constantly applied pressure on my hands. Then, Baek Tae-beom smiled with his bright yellow eyes like a beast.

“Don’t disappear in front of me ever again, hyung.”

I couldn’t help but stare at him as if possessed by his fatally beautiful appearance.

“Then I really don’t know what will happen to me.”

My stomach fluttered. Not knowing what to say, I kept my mouth closed. Baek Tae-beom slowly knelt in front of me and took off the ring he was wearing in his hand. I belatedly realized what that ring was.

Wasn’t that the ring that came out of the dungeon where we caught that giant werewolf, and the same ring I wore until the moment I died?

Baek Tae-beom gently slipped the ring on the ring finger of my right hand, which he was holding tenderly. The ring that had stretched slightly to fit Baek Tae-beom’s finger quickly shrunk to fit mine. The red ruby glistened in the light.

“Will you always stay by my side, hyung?”

I nodded my head unconsciously as he stared at me, begging for an answer. My sight was filled with Baek Tae-beom only.