* * *
The first thing I see is ‘You look completely out of it.’
Given the situation, there was no way I could take that well.
“Seriously, ha…”
I let out an involuntary sigh and ruffled my already messy hair.
Maybe I should be grateful that the message came when I was alone.
If it had arrived while I was with others, I would’ve had a hard time keeping my irritation in check.
“Haa…”
I made a point of exhaling loudly before sending a message to Noah.
‘What the hell is going on? You said the tarot reading predicted nothing would happen…!!’
As soon as the message popped up, I shook my head.
‘No, never mind. I already know the reason.’
The accuracy of tarot readings was 70% from the start.
It was just my luck that this time, I fell into the remaining 30%.
[If you think about it, the tarot reading wasn’t actually wrong.]
Staring at Noah’s reply, I lowered my head.
Ever since the Manifestation ceremony ended, I kept thinking about it.
Was the tarot reading wrong?
Or was it my question?
Maybe it was my interpretation of the answer.
Either way, both possibilities existed.
And just now, Noah had denied the first one.
‘Which only makes things more complicated.’
Back then, I had asked:
‘Will the curse interfere during this Manifestation ceremony week?’
And the tarot reader had answered:
[As long as the radiant sun stands guard, there will be no room for darkness to seep in! What you’re worried about won’t happen!]
If Noah was right and the reading wasn’t wrong, that meant two things.
First, the ‘prophecy’ during the ceremony was not the work of the curse.
And second…
‘If something had gone wrong, Raizen might have lost control on the spot.’
After hearing that so-called divine voice, Raizen had stood still on the platform.
He was standing upright, yet somehow, he looked unstable—dangerously so.
I wanted to run up to him immediately, but I couldn’t move.
I was left anxiously pacing in place when I noticed a faint black mass forming beside him.
If the Duchess hadn’t intervened, I might have acted out of desperation and used my holy power right then and there.
‘In the end, all I could do was call out to him in my mind.’
And yet, as if he had actually heard me, the black mass completely disappeared from Raizen’s side.
Then, he turned his head and looked straight at me.
I swear, it wasn’t just my imagination.
‘Which only drove me even crazier.’
How else could you describe a moment like that, if not fate?
Someone like me was far too weak to those kinds of things.
The tarot had been accurate.
It had said that darkness would find no place to seep in—but it never said it wouldn’t try.
A bitter chuckle slipped out.
‘So what the hell was that? A prophecy? If the temple had orchestrated it, they sure seemed just as shocked. And they wouldn’t have the power for something like that.’
[It was]
A brief response.
No period, no ellipsis. Just two words.
I waited in silence for the next message.
[The work of the ancient gods. They are the ones who want the human world to collapse. Or rather, that faction of them does.]
‘What the…’
Bullshit.
I knew the ancient gods didn’t particularly like humans.
A long time ago, a human had the audacity to kill a god, and in turn, humanity had been cast out of paradise.
But even so, hadn’t the ancient gods always intervened to help whenever humanity was in crisis?
That’s what the novel had said, at least…
‘Was that a lie, too?’
A dull ache throbbed in my temples.
I pressed against them as I stared at the chat window.
[Until now, their interventions were within limits they could tolerate. But this time, the line was crossed. So they declared that from now on, they will intervene as much as we do.]
‘That… doesn’t sound good for me.’
It felt like my brain had turned into a tangled mess of threads.
‘So they’re just going to keep doing this?’
[This was a declaration of war. They bypassed a proxy and delivered a divine voice directly. That’s a heavy penalty for them. And they did it knowing full well. For the next few years, at least, they’ll stay quiet.]
‘So using a proxy is still fair game?’
A brief silence followed before Noah replied.
[Yes.]
‘Then… they’ll just pretend to behave while searching for a new proxy?’
Noah didn’t answer.
But his silence was an affirmation.
[I think I already know who it’ll be.]
Four years from now, Kim Minsoo would possess the body of Karon Luavis.
Or worse—if that faction got to Kim Minsoo’s soul before Noah’s side did, then Noah’s side wouldn’t be able to interfere.
‘Just like how the opposing faction hasn’t tried to approach me.’
Because I was already under Noah’s jurisdiction.
[Kim Minsoo isn’t coming.]
The words left my lips before I even realized it.
“What did you just say?”
‘No, hold on. Hold on a second.’
‘Why isn’t Kim Minsoo coming? Are they saying he isn’t going to transmigrate?’
‘Are you crazy— No, are you serious?’
Isn’t there a chance I won’t be able to break Raizen’s curse?
And with nothing but holy power as my weapon, there’s no way I can properly fight the Demon King.
If Kim Minsoo handles everything, then maybe I can at least help with sealing the Demon King again at the very end.
No— even if it’s not Kim Minsoo, there still needs to be a hero to clean up if Raizen really turns out to be the true mastermind.
Are you saying you’re going to transmigrate someone other than Kim Minsoo?
Please, tell me that’s the case.
There’s no way you trust me enough to give up on Kim Minsoo.
[It is you who shouldn’t trust us that much.]
Huh?
Just then, a message window popped up in a dazzling array of rainbow-colored letters.
It was a color I’d never seen before, yet it felt strangely familiar.
‘No way… is it that ancient god?’
The one who annoyed the hell out of me using internet slang straight out of Korean online forums.
[Nope! We’re still putting Kim Minsoo in. We have full authority over that guy—]
[■■, stop.]
This time, the text was dark blue.
The same color as the ancient god who once scolded me, saying, ‘How dare a mere human try to negotiate with a god? Just do as you’re told.’
‘What is this, a group chat?’
Suddenly, I felt all the strength drain from my body.
I lowered my head and massaged the stiffness in my neck.
The rainbow god’s words echoed in my mind.
‘They’re saying the authority over Kim Minsoo belongs to Noah’s side?’
In that moment, fragmented thoughts scattered in my mind began to piece together.
In the novel, Kim Minsoo made a contract with the ancient gods.
He was supposed to defeat the Demon King and save the world.
The ancient gods would fully support him in that process, but if he failed, his soul would belong to them.
That was how the novel ended—an ending that never really made sense.
Yet here I was, someone who possessed a body years earlier than Kim Minsoo, and of all things, someone with holy power.
‘Wait… Has this world been reset?’
A theory popped into my mind.
The novel only contained part of the truth.
Kim Minsoo failed.
The world was destroyed.
And Noah’s ancient gods reset time to prevent humanity’s downfall.
‘Once? No… how many times?’
At some point, they must have decided to try a different method.
That method… being me.
‘But how… How could I be a new method?’
It didn’t make sense.
I was just some guy who lived in Korea, read a fantasy novel called ‘From transmigration to Hero,’ and happened to meet an hyung who looked exactly like Raizen.
‘A hyung with the same face as… Raizen.’
Until now, that’s all I thought it was.
But what if it was the other way around?
What if that hyung was the one who had Raizen’s face?
“…….”
I could no longer ignore the possibility I had been denying.
‘I met someone with the exact same face as Raizen when I was in Korea.’
I didn’t even know why, but tears welled up in my eyes.
I clenched my jaw, trying to suppress the sob that threatened to escape.
[Raizen… Is he that hyung?]
No message appeared.
That silence sent chills down my spine.
‘Say something. Anything. You brought me here because you needed me, right? I did everything you asked!!’
[I’ll tell you.]
A new message appeared—this time, in black text.
It was Noah.
[Raizen is the brother you met.]
Thunk—
It felt like my heart had just dropped to the floor.
“Why…? How…?”
[★Time for some exposition!★]
Once again, the rainbow-colored text popped up.
[Hey, that’s enough. Shouldn’t this be plenty already?]
[What, are your eyes just for decoration? This is not enough, dude.]
[■■!!]
[Whatever~ Noah and ■■■ already agreed, so step aside, boomer.]
As the ancient gods continued their chaotic group chat, I struggled to suppress my emotions.
I wiped my blurry vision and focused on the message window.
[You were right. This world has repeated multiple times. Then, for some reason, that bastard’s soul got flung out to another world. We searched our asses off for him, but somehow, he ended up back here. Creepy as hell. When we traced his soul, we realized he had been in Korea. He didn’t reincarnate—just temporarily transmigrated as someone.]
“Temporarily transmigrated?”
Then that still didn’t explain why our faces were the same.
‘Then why did he look exactly like my brother?’
[Hey, ever wonder why you only remember your hyung’s face but not his name or anything else?]
Damn it, this god’s speech pattern was really starting to piss me off.
‘How the hell would I know?’
[Hahaha]
Another message appeared.
[Because you were the only one seeing his true face.]
‘……What?’
[Transmigration means entering another person’s body in another world, but it doesn’t change their appearance. It was a temporary transmigration, yeah. But for some reason, you saw the transmigrated soul’s real face instead of the body he was in.]
A shiver ran down my entire body.
‘That doesn’t make any sense. Why would I be able to do that?’
[ㅎㅎ;; Yeah, no clue.]
With an annoyingly casual tone, the unidentified ancient god responded.
[That’s why we brought you here.]
* * *
