CHAPTER 75……………………………………………
After the meeting ended, I was on my way home, having firmly refused Kang Kwon-hoo’s insistence on driving me back. Just thinking about running dungeons starting tomorrow made my steps feel inexplicably heavy.
How did things end up like this?
As the subway rattled along, I replayed the conversation we’d just had.
〈Um… earlier, when Jisoo was talking about the dungeon, you didn’t say anything, did you?〉
I cautiously spoke up to Kang Kwon-hoo, who had suddenly suggested going to a dungeon, but my resistance didn’t seem to faze him at all.
〈Listening to everyone, it sounds like they’re all implicitly aiming for the top contributor guild position. In that case, going into a dungeon is the natural next step, isn’t it?〉
I wasn’t thinking that at all. I had no intention of stopping Kang Kwon-hoo from aiming high, but I had absolutely no desire to pursue it myself.
〈I’m fine with it. I have work tomorrow, so I’ll probably join late, but I’ll keep the day after tomorrow free.〉
Ryu Jisoo replied while checking her calendar on her phone.
〈Where are we going?〉
〈You two should do your rank check tomorrow first. You can get it done starting at 7 a.m. We’ll decide which dungeon to enter based on that. I’ll make sure everything’s well prepared, so even a slightly higher-rank dungeon should be fine.〉
Ryu Jisoo didn’t seem to trust Kang Kwon-hoo as a person, but she trusted his ability more than anyone’s. You could tell just by the way she nodded without objection—despite opposing Jun’s suggestion to tackle a high-rank dungeon earlier.
〈Then I’ll distribute the tracking items in front of the dungeon I guide you to tomorrow.〉
That was the end of it. The conversation ended without giving me any room to object.
Can I really go around calling myself a guild master?
The more I chewed over every exchange, the stronger my sense of doubt became.
And the next hardship is already waiting for me.
I got off the subway near my apartment and climbed the stairs one step at a time. It was quite late, yet there were so many people around that shoulders kept bumping into mine.
Should I tell Baek So-hyeok that I chose the Chaos faction?
Even if I confessed, I wouldn’t escape his anger—but it wasn’t something I could hide either. He wouldn’t like me continuing the quest line in the first place, and choosing the opposing faction on top of that? There were more than enough reasons for him to take offense.
Should I say I had no choice because I accepted a special quest?
It was a tempting idea, but I quickly discarded it. First, it would only give him more things to worry about. Second, I didn’t want to give even the slightest hint that I wasn’t the original Baek Woojin.
“I don’t want to go home.”
Was this how a student felt, trudging home with a failed exam in hand? With nowhere else to go, I wandered aimlessly around my neighborhood. By the time I had spent thirty minutes circling what should have been a fifteen-minute walk from the station, I was sitting on a swing at a playground.
“Hyung, what are you doing here?”
I looked up in a hurry at Baek So-hyeok’s voice above me. Seeing the two guild members standing behind him, it seemed he was still on duty.
“What about you? What are you doing here?”
“A gate opened nearby, so I handled it and was on my way back.”
The playground was a bit removed from the main road—impressive that he’d spotted me from so far away.
“I’ll head home from here. You two should clock out as well and come in tomorrow afternoon.”
Baek So-hyeok turned back to speak, perhaps feeling sorry for keeping the guild members waiting.
“Yes, Guild Master. See you tomorrow. And good night to you too, hyung.”
Maybe because he’d been attending training at Dohwawon for a while, the male guild member spoke to me familiarly, even calling me “hyung,” as if he’d grown fond of me.
“See you tomorrow.”
The other guild member greeted us too, her face bright with excitement at the mention of an afternoon shift.
“Let’s go home too. It’s late—why are you out here getting bitten by mosquitoes?”
“It’s autumn. What mosquitoes?”
“You don’t know? Mosquitoes still come out in autumn these days.”
It was the kind of everyday conversation real family members would have. If I weren’t carrying a ticking time bomb inside me, I might have felt at ease.
“Yeah. You should get to bed soon too—you’ve got work tomorrow.”
Unlike me, with my open-and-close-whenever convenience-store-owner lifestyle, Baek So-hyeok was practically an executive at a major corporation.
Doesn’t he get tired living like this?
His stamina must have been incredible, but it was still a brutal schedule. And on top of that, he had to look after an incompetent older brother in his spare time. I wondered if he ever got to rest. Not wanting to waste any more of his time, I hurriedly got off the swing and stood beside him.
“Did you just come back from a meeting with your guild members?”
Before I was mentally prepared, a direct hit landed.
“Yeah.”
Next, he’d ask about the outcome of the meeting. I wanted to stall with some small talk, but my brain was too busy scrambling for excuses to manage that.
“I’ve been hearing that the Chaos Guild is switching from the Chaos faction to the Order faction.”
Chaos was the name of the guild Kang Kwon-hoo had belonged to. I grabbed hold of my pounding heart and asked as calmly as I could,
“How did you hear about that?”
Until our meeting ended, Chaos had been planning to choose the Chaos faction. Which meant Baek So-hyeok had obtained fresh information—less than an hour and a half old—faster than anyone else.
“Does that matter?”
I no longer needed to look for excuses.
“What matters is that Chaos suddenly changed course around the time you would’ve finished your meeting. That means Kang Kwon-hoo altered his plan. He’s the type who doesn’t want to let go of either side, so the Chronos Guild you’re in must’ve chosen the Chaos faction. Am I wrong?”
Baek So-hyeok already had it all figured out.
“So what, are you going to ask why I didn’t listen to you? Or are you planning to stop our guild even if you have to threaten us?”
“No. Why would I interfere with your guild?”
Given how serious he’d sounded when he said he’d do anything to protect me, I’d thought that was a real possibility.
Right. Baek So-hyeok is a rational person.
I felt relieved that the people at the center of these choices were, at least, sane.
“Then I’ll just go with the Chaos faction too. Problem solved.”
“What?”
“I told you. No matter what happens, I’ll protect you. It’s easier to respond to danger if we’re on the same side.”
My mind went completely blank.
What the hell is happening…?
The Chaos Guild, which was originally supposed to go with the Chaos faction, had chosen Order instead. That alone wasn’t a major issue—because Kang Kwon-hoo, who was practically its core, still ended up choosing Chaos.
But hearing that Dohwawon, Baek So-hyeok’s guild, would choose the Chaos faction carried a very different weight. This would instantly and bizarrely overturn the original story.
“Weren’t you going to choose the Order faction? If you’re abandoning your own principles just because of me, that’s disappointing.”
“‘Just because of you’? Don’t decide my evaluation of you on your own.”
Baek So-hyeok spoke in a tone almost like he was soothing a child. I’d braced myself for a cold confrontation, even without raised voices, so it caught me off guard.
“A stable world can be built by using wishes wisely. But if you die or get hurt while doing quests, that’s irreversible. The best scenario would’ve been for you to go Order with me—or not do quests at all—but I’ve learned that you won’t be persuaded by me.”
He opened the front door and gestured for me to go in first. Even in a serious conversation, his ingrained consideration never disappeared.
“I think part of the reason our relationship went wrong is because I tried to force you. It’s late, but I’ve decided to change my approach from now on.”
The more emotionally mature Baek So-hyeok became, the more ashamed I felt. And somehow, his kindness no longer felt comforting.
The story I knew is falling apart.
I’d only meant to make small adjustments, but the very framework of the story was changing. I couldn’t say what kind of future this rift would create—or whether it would be better than the original story. That uncertainty terrified me.
What if things are getting worse because of me?
The selfish desire to live comfortably, the half-hearted resolve to protect those around me—what if those choices ended up threatening this world instead? The thought sent a chill through me.
“Don’t change because of me. You shouldn’t do that.”
Side characters changing, or even villains reforming, didn’t disrupt a story too much. But if it was the protagonist, it was different.
“Sometimes it feels like you’re afraid of something, hyung.”
I couldn’t tell whether the “hyung” he meant was me, or the original Baek Woojin.
If he means me, he’s read me perfectly.
He might have noticed how I was constantly chased by quests, how I feared my identity being exposed. But this was something I alone had to carry.
“That’s not true.”
And so, in the end, I told another lie.
