As befits a country where delivery services are well developed, the jjajangmyeon arrived quickly. Jeong Dajeong even poured himself some soju, making a show of getting into the mood.
“Weren’t you bad with alcohol?”
The memory was still vivid of how he’d gotten so drunk at the welcome dinner for new employees that he’d staggered around, barely knowing how he made it home. Well, it hadn’t been that long ago.
“Come on, it’s a holiday, and we just moved! If you want to drink with me, just hold out a little longer. You’re still a minor, so wait a few more days. Let’s drink together later.”
“I wouldn’t drink even if you offered.”
Alcohol. Even if it were given to me for free, I’d refuse. I could never understand why people chose to destroy their own brains.
“Do you know how much alcohol destroys brain cells? Just because you sober up doesn’t mean your body recovers. Once you get drunk, it takes at least several days to recover—”
“Hey, just let it slide today. To celebrate getting out of that place.”
“…”
At those words, I fell silent. In the new house, the only sounds were Jeong Dajeong cheerfully pouring drinks and Leo, excited at the sight of the jjajangmyeon, burying his nose in the bowl and chomping away.
Well… he did go through a lot.
A run-down neighborhood on a steep hill, rented at a very cheap price; so old that anyone seeing it would be shocked such a place still existed in modern Seoul. In summer it was hot enough that you didn’t need a sauna, and in winter there were many days when not only hot water but even cold water barely came out. Yet even that shabby house had been a financial burden for Jeong Dajeong, who’d aged out of an orphanage and had to support himself. All the more so because he also had to take care of a young younger sibling—me.
Honestly, it would have been easier if he’d just left me at the orphanage and moved out on his own, but Jeong Dajeong stubbornly refused.
“Family shouldn’t live apart,” he’d said.
From an objective standpoint, as a Demon Lord who remembers a past life, Jeong Dajeong’s sense of family honestly went beyond what’s normal. Just because you’re blood-related doesn’t mean it’s all good. How many siblings get along fine, then fight over inheritance and don’t even show up to each other’s funerals? In fact, among those who tried to kill me across my two lives, one was my own blood relative from my previous life.
Perhaps Jeong Dajeong clung so stubbornly because the only blood family he’d ever had since birth was me.
Holding up his glass of soju, Jeong Dajeong let out a small laugh. “My top priority was saving money as fast as possible and moving somewhere nice, and my Daon made that dream come true. And insanely fast, too.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“No, nothing. It just reminded me of when you were little… ugh, it’s bitter.” He drained the soju in one go and grimaced.
Memories from when I was young.
“What memory?”
“Hmm, like how you threw a huge tantrum, crying and screaming, telling me not to go to your elementary school entrance ceremony? So I ended up skipping it that day.”
“That can’t be true.” Even if something had happened, there was no way I would have clung to Jeong Dajeong, crying and making a scene. If anyone cried, it would’ve been him.
Looking frustrated, Jeong Dajeong thumped his own chest. “No, it’s true! I can’t believe you don’t trust me. Ah, if only I’d had a camera, I could’ve taken proof…”
“You’re talking nonsense. You’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk yet… I just don’t know when you grew up like this. You’re almost an adult.” As he said that, Jeong Dajeong poured himself another glass of soju.
That was too fast. I frowned. “Isn’t that a bit fast?”
“But you still look like a kid to me, a kid. So…” He hesitated, then finally spoke. “I really, really hate that you’re a Hunter.”
So this was the main point. No wonder he was drinking even though he couldn’t handle alcohol. Still, this wasn’t the first time he’d said something like this. Ever since he found out I’d gotten an S-rank on the ability test, he’d been looking into whether there was any way to avoid mandatory service, or if a retest was possible.
“Well, I’m human too. Moving into a place like this, worth billions, earning money that ordinary people can’t even touch, with great security… there are good sides, too.”
“Yeah, there are lots of good sides.”
“But I still hate it. I worry too much. You’re risking your life.” Clutching the soju bottle as he lamented, he clearly looked drunk, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t sincere.
I’d never seen Jeong Dajeong like this before.
“But seeing you get caught up in two Dungeon Breaks in less than a month, I can’t even tell you to just go back to being a normal person.”
“Yeah, you’re well aware.”
“And here I am, not even being any help to you, just moving into a house paid for with my sibling’s life…”
“I’m not dead yet, you know?”
“Moving out was my goal, but now that we actually did, I’m so scared. It feels like things I can’t handle are happening. I almost want to go back.”
Most people would prefer a house like this, straight out of a drama, over a place with mold and rusty water, but Jeong Dajeong was saying the opposite. Maybe feeling like he was benefiting from his younger sibling weighed on him. I could vaguely understand. Still, I shook my head. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but it couldn’t be helped.”
His feelings were admirable, but coming here was an unavoidable choice. If only I hadn’t been flagged in the ability test in the first place, none of this would have happened…
“It’s already happened. Wishing it hadn’t, hoping it didn’t—none of that helps.” No matter how much of a demon one might be, changing the past is impossible. “Fear is an emotion you can control. Don’t take on things that haven’t even happened yet.”
After hearing me, Jeong Dajeong lowered his head.
“…I figured you’d say something like that, Daon. Did you try that MBTI test I told you to take? What did you get?”
“Yeah. It said I’m normal.”
“That’s not what that test is for.” A long sigh escaped from Jeong Dajeong.
And listening to him, I found myself surprised. For him to say something so weak…
Perhaps because he was conscious of being the older sibling, he’d always avoided showing me a vulnerable side… Maybe my becoming a Hunter had shocked him more than I thought, or maybe he felt a sense of loss, like watching a child who’d grown up and become independent after making all their decisions alone.
Honestly, either way, it was bothersome. I do care about Jeong Dajeong as family, but bothersome is still bothersome.
In the end, I stood up from my seat. “Are we done talking? I’m tired, so I’m going to sleep.”
"Daon."
“What now.”
“That video of you saving the lady boss… when I went to work, that’s all people were talking about.”
"..."
“They were all saying how amazing it was, that an incredible mage had appeared.”
Anyone with eyes would say the same, but Jeong Dajeong wasn’t just anyone.
“But when I saw that video, I really scolded you. I yelled at you, asking what you thought you were doing when you were in danger.”
“You did.” It rang painfully in my ears.
After letting out a soft sigh, Jeong Dajeong spoke as if making an important confession. “But… honestly, I also thought you were really admirable.”
“…”
That was something I’d never heard before. Up until now, he’d always told me that if I ever ended up in a situation like that again, I should run away without looking back.
“My Daon, of all people, you, running out to save someone else.”
“…”
Jeong Dajeong wasn’t saying this for no reason. I had always been a strange child. The reason I’d stopped him from going to my elementary school entrance ceremony was because that day’s fortune had been bad.
I couldn’t use magic yet, but I could manage a few small tricks. And that day, at the road near the elementary school, there’d been a major traffic accident.
“…I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I can come to work anymore.”
The teachers who took care of me quitting were frequent occurrences.
“This isn’t right, I know, but your eyes are just too creepy.”
“It’s not about being childlike or not—Daon is just… too strange.”
“She’s completely different from the other kids.”
There was no way a child wouldn’t notice what adults noticed.
We were just a family who happened to be together from birth. In the end, even for Jeong Dajeong, who was clearly my family, there must have been more than a few times when I gave him the creeps.
“Come to think of it, I was always telling you that, wasn’t I? To give up your seat to the elderly, and to hold kids’ hands when crossing the street.”
Jeong Dajeong didn’t abandon me. This kin of mine grinned. “You were really cool, Daon.”
And that smile, unlike the pitiful rambling he’d been going on with until now…felt a little different.
Up until now, everyone on the internet had praised my overwhelming magical ability, analyzed the influence I would newly bring, and evaluated my actions. Among those, there was certainly praise, but… hearing those words from Jeong Dajeong, and no one else, made them sink in more deeply somehow.
Why was that?
Not knowing what to say, I stared blankly at Jeong Dajeong for a moment.
This feeling… what did you call it again?
“Meowk!”
Crash!
Just then, Leo, who had been silently burying his face in the bowl and eating jjajangmyeon, started coughing and tipped the bowl over.
“Gyaa!”
“Throat! Throat!”
“Ahh, look at Leo! Did the noodles get stuck in his throat?”
“Kack!”
Thanks to Leo doing something stupid at just the right moment, the awkward atmosphere was broken. For once, a familiar did something befitting a familiar…
After I thumped his throat, Leo quickly spat the noodles out, hacking and coughing as he knocked the jjajangmyeon bowl over.
“Enemy!”
“Enemy, my foot…”
Did his intelligence really drop along with his size? Why is everyone around me this stupid?
Leo made an expression of deep offense. “Meanie!”
“Man, I’m exhausted. Daon, you must be tired too. Go to sleep early. You can rest tomorrow, right?”
“Probably.”
Leaving Jeong Dajeong to clean up, I went into my room. A huge, plush bed greeted me. It was luxury bedding I’d never seen even once since coming to Korea. It seemed Han Jaeyeong had put a lot of thought into it.
Thump! Leo jumped onto the bed before I did. When the small-bodied leopard leapt onto the massive bed, the mattress bounced.
“Get off.”
“Myaak!”
I grabbed the back of the leopard’s neck, who was boldly occupying the center, and tossed him onto the floor before lying down squarely in the middle.
“Meanie! Meanie!”
Even after being thrown down, Leo eventually came back and stuck tightly against me.
It had been another busy day. I closed my eyes, trying to sleep.
…But sleep wouldn’t come at all.
“Admirable, huh.”
I sank into thought. Why had that word, of all things, shaken me?
As I examined my own feelings, I soon found the answer.
“You’ve done well, little sibling. You’ve grown exactly as I expected.”
Because I’d heard something similar before.
“My righteous little sibling.”
Crunch! The plastic cup in my hand crumpled. Startled, Leo, who had been pressed tightly against me, jerked upright.
"Enemy? Enemy?"
“…I was thinking about an enemy.” I bit my lip.
I don't like it.
I started to dislike the word “admirable” itself. Jeong Dajeong had called me admirable because he judged my actions to be right, just as most people would. Just as the system, a collective intelligence, had rendered its verdict.
That very “justice” had already killed me once.
I became the “Destroyer of Worlds” because I was deemed a threat to the survival of most humans in that world, and I was killed by the hero acting under the king’s command. And now, in this world, my blood relative from my past life has appeared as an “Enemy of Humanity”…
And the system of this world is trying to have a hero eliminate his master, who has become the new Demon Lord.
The system also wants me to participate in this new justice.
But what, exactly, is justice?
If sacrificing oneself to save others is moral.
If sacrificing one to save ten is just.
If killing one is necessary to save ten—
The quest “Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿” is in progress.
The system requests that “Jeong Daon” provide support to “Yu Hanul.”
Is that killing also justice?
Suddenly, the image of the hero standing alone, shabby and hollow after slaying the Demon Lord, came to mind.
And so I became curious. What answer would the hero who killed me give to that question?
“…Leo.” As I wiped the jjajang sauce off the leopard’s chin with a tissue, I asked, “What do you think I should do?”
Leo yawned. “You’re going to do whatever you want anyway, Master.”
…Whoever made him was truly a smart one.