Chapter 134

“Based on the information you’ve given me, there’s nothing I can do to help you right now. I’ll ask around, so just go back for today.”

“Hmm, I shall do that.”

“And don’t you dare go licking your lips thinking about raiding other Magic Towers. I can see exactly what’s going on in that head of yours.”

“Tsk.”

Under Moon Ah-rin’s sharp gaze, I had no choice but to return to the dormitory. To make matters worse, my smartwatch was back on ‘Kids Lock’ because someone had supposedly overspent on in-app purchases.

It wasn’t me who bought the 115,000 KRW (VAT included) Blue Mana Stone Package; it was Mala-nim. I failed to see why I was the one being scolded. In this situation, I was the one who wanted to run away from home, yet the perpetrator had vanished first, leaving me utterly baffled.

“Mala-nim? Are you here?”

Back at the dorm, I began a full-scale search the following day. I scoured everywhere Mala-nim might hide—the training ground warehouse, under the floorboards of Commander Ha Yeri’s office—combing through every nook and cranny. I didn’t find a single trace, not even a smear of residue.

[MISSING TENTACLE]

(Photo)

It’s a pure white tentacle that looks like this. It hasn’t been seen since yesterday, so I’m searching urgently. Unlike typical tentacles, it doesn’t cry out with a ‘Kieeeek!’; instead, it communicates through specific voices in your head, like telepathy or a channel.

I’m worried it might get attacked by the many stray cats I feed near the Bureau ㅠㅠ

If anyone has spotted it, please click the profile and contact me via SenaChok.

Reward offered (one box of Choco Pies).

Ha Yeri: Was it YOU who set up a stray cat feeding station behind the Bureau headquarters!?

I even posted on the Special Unit Bamboo Forest board, but the number of leads I received was exactly zero. As things reached this point, I began to lose my mind.

Mala-nim was like my light and salt, a being that had been with me since the Demon Realm. I couldn’t sleep a wink if she wasn’t by my side for even a single day, so the shock of this sudden disappearance was truly gargantuan. After a few days, even the memory of Mala-nim’s face was starting to drift into the distance.

This couldn’t go on. I had to go back to the beginning and start over.

Why did Mala-nim run away?

Moon Ah-rin spoke as if she was certain it was because of my bullying, but the bond between Mala-nim and me wasn’t so shallow that it would snap over something like that. Of course, I might have been a tiny bit neglectful—perhaps as much as a single drop of sweat on Yoo Se-byeol’s foot after training—but that shouldn’t be a reason to leave without a word.

Mala-nim’s words have meaning, and her actions have a basis.

When I returned to the room, my roommate Alexei was diligently sharpening his axe blade. Seeing him triggered the memory of our last conflict before Mala-nim vanished. It was definitely the issue of the ‘Adoption Contract’—Mala-nim had tried to become Alexei’s little sister.

“Is something the matter, Hayan?”

“Alexei, my sister has disappeared.”

“Hayan’s sister?”

“Yes. Do you have any idea where she might be?”

“Hmm… I am not sure.”

As he fell into thought, I climbed up to the second floor of the bed—which was no longer mine—and found a crumpled piece of paper. I thrust it in front of Alexei’s eyes and asked again.

“This thing.”

“Oh, the adoption contract Hayan’s sister gave me. Come to think of it, I was supposed to tear it up if I lost.”

“You don’t have to do that right now. What did she say when she gave this to you?”

It was still a hard fact to swallow, but apparently, Mala-nim spoke fluently when alone with Alexei. And she had said there was a ‘profound purpose’ behind drafting the adoption contract.

As expected, Alexei took out his glasses, read the contract carefully, and then spoke as if something had just occurred to him.

“Ah, that’s right. I remember now.”

“What is it?”

“Hayan’s sister spoke about the reason she wanted to become my sister. Of course, even without a legally binding paper like this, Hayan’s sister is basically like my own sister.”

“No, Alexei’s sister… I mean, my sister is not your sister. Please don’t speak like that; it’s confusing. Anyway, what on earth is the reason?”

“I do not know if it is alright to say this. To put it simply, it is marriage with Hayan.”

“Pardon?”

Marriage between me and Alexei? No, surely not that. They must have meant a union between me and Mala-nim.

Alexei stood up and reached onto the bed, pulling out a thick law book he used instead of a pillow. He flipped through it skillfully and showed me a specific legal clause.

“Perhaps because you were separated at a young age, Hayan’s sister seemed as ignorant of this country’s laws as I am. Still, she knew that siblings cannot marry.”

“Well, that’s obvious.”

“So, the solution she spent a long time coming up with was to erase herself from the family register. However, according to Article 809 of the Civil Code here—the prohibition of consanguineous marriage—marriage between siblings is prohibited in principle.”

“…….”

“I know this now because I study law as a hobby, but I didn’t know much back then. Anyway, that contract was written for that reason.”

I finally understood what the ‘profound purpose’ Mala-nim mentioned was. The reason she tried to become Alexei’s sister wasn’t because she hated being mine, but because she wanted a different relationship altogether.

This was the same Mala-nim who still had trouble distinguishing individuals—unable to tell Kang Ha-neul apart from others even after knowing him for a year. That same being had actually looked into blood relations, the institution of marriage, and even the existence of family registers.

This effort was far greater than an entomologist memorizing the individual characteristics of every single ant.

“There could be many reasons why Hayan’s sister ran away, but do you think she perhaps thought this paper was torn?”

“I see.”

Of course, marriage isn’t merely a matter of family registry; it’s based on blood relations. As long as Mala-nim was already registered as my younger sister, marriage was impossible, but regardless, I felt I understood why she had run away.

The next thing to find out was where she was now—and exactly what she intended to do.

“She will return when she gets hungry. How could a frail human survive alone in this dangerous world?”

“Right? She’s just an ordinary person….”

“Of course, considering her elusive nature—appearing and disappearing at will—and the way I’ve seen the stars themselves avert their gaze when she’s looking up at the sky while Hayan is asleep at dawn, I do get the feeling that Hayan’s sister is a being of a much higher status than a commoner.”

“…….”

Since he started reading those difficult books during the promotion evaluation early this year, Alexei was gradually showing the side of an intellectual who possessed both literary and martial arts prowess. While I would have dismissed his words as nonsense in the past, I had no choice but to take his expert opinion into account now.

“Brother.”

“What is it, brother?”

“Hypothetically speaking. If, as you said before, my sister is actually a being of incredibly high status—equal to an Outer God—what do you think will happen from now on?”

“An Outer God? Hmm…”

An Outer God refers to a being that manifests its raison d’être to the world. They represent and deploy various phenomena such as rules, laws, and truths, and sometimes ruthlessly sever the links of a reality that has grown too frail since the emergence of the Gates.

Revelation, judgment, salvation, and justice.

What would happen when Mala-nim—who harbors none of those within but was born of the void and pursues only chaos—reveals her true identity to the surface? When those purple eyes reflect this land and find it utterly disappointing that it forbids marriage between siblings and treats a painstakingly drafted document as a mere scrap of paper?

Alexei drew a clear and definitive conclusion to that question.

“Wouldn’t the world meet its end?”

“Of course, I don’t actually think Hayan’s sister is such a grand being.”

Right, of course not. Even if Mala-nim got angry and exerted her influence as an Outer God, it wouldn’t lead straight to the apocalypse. Even if some disaster struck, could the world really get any crazier than it already is?

Since the descent of Flauros, Daegu is still burning, and in the outskirts of Seoul, which were affected by the Thirteen Palaces of the Void, gravity inversion phenomena are a common sight. Despite this, the Bureau opened the Gyeongbu Line and developed Daegu into a tourist attraction. Trampoline parks have been installed throughout Seoul, and it’s literally ‘rising’ as a new extreme sport.

In a world where tentacles grow all over the city and people enjoy rafting with the dead on the Han River, there shouldn’t be any room left for Mala-nim’s chaos to take root.

However, as if mocking my expectations, I faced a horrifying reality starting the very next day. A truly, utterly horrifying reality.

“Hayan, I wondered where you went, but here you are slacking off in yet another bizarre place.”

Special cleaning period.

Ha Yeri found me while I was searching for Mala-nim inside a system air conditioner. She had come up after hearing strange noises from the ceiling while the general cleaning was underway for each unit.

The back area of the Bureau, which I had dubbed the “Web of Light,” had been expanded repeatedly at a significant cost. Ha Yeri, leaping lightly off the floor to reach the center of the air conditioner, bent her waist and entered the space I had expanded with magic.

“I’ve cleared away the feeding station. Don’t feed stray cats without permission; it causes complaints. If you really want to help, there’s an abandoned animal shelter affiliated with the Bureau where you can volunteer—wait, what is all this?”

A sofa, snack crumbs, and even a beam projector for enjoying War of the Monsters on a large screen. Finding a place reminiscent of an underground hideout right above her head, Ha Yeri moved past shock into a state of semi-enlightenment.

“Ouch! Such a low passage… good grief. Just how far did you build this?”

Having unauthorized facilities within the Bureau building was a serious security issue. Now that I’d been caught, I should have immediately dropped to my knees and begged for forgiveness, but I could only stare at her blankly at the sight that defied all common sense.

“Hayan, say something this instant. This space is—“

“Commander Ha Yeri.”

“Yes?”

Every passage in the “Web” was manufactured with a ceiling height perfectly matching Commander Ha Yeri’s height. The construction company had expressed reluctance, saying it would cost several times more, but it was a product of uncompromising craftsmanship.

In other words, it was impossible for her to hit her head on the ceiling here. The situation that just occurred could only mean one thing.

“Did you… grow taller?”

“Pardon?”

The world had ended.