* * *
A sharp grinding sound filled the room.
Raizen finally realized he had still been staring at the full moon and yanked the curtain shut roughly.
The deep navy fabric swallowed the light, turning black in the darkness.
He stared at the curtain for a moment before letting out a quiet laugh.
“Fine… I’ll just use another method.”
If he couldn’t isolate Sean, then he would narrow his world instead.
‘Gently, kindly, until he melts into it completely.’
He just had to keep doing what he had been doing all along.
Then, all the missteps he had made would serve as stepping stones for his future plans.
‘And today, I even wrapped things up neatly.’
There was no need to overthink it.
In the end, everything would go exactly the way he wanted.
“…….”
And yet, what was this strange sense of unease?
The nagging feeling that he had already veered far off course.
That no matter what he did, no matter how he tried, he would never be able to return to the original path.
Pushing the feeling aside, Raizen reaffirmed his resolve.
‘Everything will go my way in the end.’
In the shadowed corner of the vast room, where not even the moonlight reached, a deep darkness stirred.
As if it were alive.
∗ ∗ ∗
[Stop now.]
The message flashed before my eyes, and I immediately lowered my hand.
“…Phew.”
It wasn’t as exhausting as before, but I still had my limits.
Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I focused on the glass orb in front of me.
The transparent oval was now filled with divine energy—about three-fifths full.
A quiet sigh escaped me.
‘My progress is way too slow.’
Ever since I resumed training, I had been doing this nearly every day.
And yet, the amount of divine power I could store in the orb hadn’t increased much.
‘If I can’t even do the basics, how am I supposed to move on to advanced techniques?’
Right now, all I could do was store power.
Basically, all I had learned was how to release energy.
It wasn’t like I could shoot energy blasts or anything…
[You worked hard today.]
Seeing Noah’s message only made me feel more frustrated.
‘What is he thinking?’
I needed to master divine power as soon as possible to lift Raizen’s curse.
Come to think of it… Noah had never once mentioned a way to break the curse.
‘Why…?’
The way he was acting, it almost felt like he was deliberately stalling for time.
Just then, another message appeared before me.
[You look dissatisfied.]
Of course, he wouldn’t just let it slide.
Sometimes, he really did feel more like a doctor monitoring his patient.
Then again, keeping an eye on me was part of his job.
There was no point in trying to hide it—he’d just get even more persistent.
And honestly, I was getting annoyed.
[You seem far too relaxed.]
[What’s the rush? You weren’t even chosen as a saint.]
[That’s true. I wasn’t chosen as a saint, yet I can still use divine power.]
The reply that should have come instantly didn’t.
Noah had chosen silence.
Sigh.
Swallowing a breath, I gave a small nod.
[I’m sorry. I was being too sensitive. I’ve been feeling frustrated lately, and my mood hasn’t been great.]
Damn Raizen.
This was all because of him.
‘No, that’s not it.’
The real problem was how easily I let myself get worked up over his attitude.
‘Sei, how do you want them to see you?’
I knew it was coming, so why did I let myself get so riled up the moment Raizen tried his usual tricks?
What I felt back then was, pathetically enough, betrayal.
But Raizen had genuinely seemed curious—he got angry when I said I didn’t want to make waves.
‘Which makes this even more embarrassing.’
I acted all defensive, only to flinch at the slightest push.
‘The more I think about it, the worse it gets.’
I had no right to be upset, considering I was deceiving him too.
Frustrated by the memories creeping back, I ran my hands through my hair, messing it up.
“…Ha.”
[Hey.]
Noah, who had been silent, finally called out to me.
[Huh?] I replied, and a message popped up immediately.
[You seem frustrated that your skills aren’t improving fast enough, but trust me, you’re already doing great. And…]
‘And?’
[You overthink things too much. Stop overanalyzing and just go with the flow. If your emotions pile up, go somewhere quiet and scream it out. I think that’d do you some good.]
“……”
[That’s all I can say.]
‘Am I losing it?’
For some reason, his words felt like comfort.
Come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time.
‘But that doesn’t mean I can let my guard down.’
If I was going to build walls, they needed to be impenetrable.
A single crack was all it took for everything to collapse.
Noah wasn’t on my side.
If anything, he belonged to the ancient gods—his kind.
And there were too many things about him that I couldn’t fully trust.
He had a reason for bringing me here, yet he wouldn’t say what it was.
Even though he knew I had some idea of his goal, he refused to tell me how to break the curse.
Aside from calling my power “special divine energy,” he wouldn’t elaborate on it at all.
‘…Even so.’
In this world, Noah was the only one who knew I wasn’t really Sean—that I came from another world, from Korea.
He was the only one I could be myself around, without pretending.
‘Honestly, I’m tired.’
Constantly doubting, constantly being on guard…
It was exhausting.
No matter how many times I told myself to stay focused on my goal, as soon as I opened my eyes, I found myself analyzing every word, every action around me.
And then there were the kind-hearted people of the ducal household, who treated me with warmth, unaware of how desperately I was deceiving them.
The guilt crushed me to the point of anger.
‘Don’t be kind to me. I’m not Sean.’
And yet, the thought of them hating me made me sick.
So I kept up the act.
Even so…
[Hey, are you okay?]
‘No.’
But there was nothing I could do.
This world was full of things I had no control over.
Hiding my real thoughts, I pretended to be startled.
[Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment.]
[I told you not to overthink.]
[Haha… Guess it’s just my nature.]
[Hmm…]
He didn’t seem satisfied with that answer.
I waited for his next words, but suddenly, the magic orb vanished.
[That’s it for today’s training. You’ve worked hard, so get some proper rest.]
Just like that, Noah escaped. Annoyingly so.
✦ ✦ ✦
I hadn’t planned on taking Noah’s advice, but in the end, that’s exactly what happened.
Holding in emotions until they were about to explode wouldn’t do me any good.
If I let things build up any further, I’d probably snap in a big way.
So I did something reckless.
Not much, really—I just used the birthday gift Noah gave me and slipped away to the forest behind the duke’s estate.
Since it was an awkward hour, there wasn’t a soul in sight.
After making sure I was completely alone, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
And, surprisingly, I felt a little better.
After that, I went back to my routine.
The only things that mattered now were the New Year’s banquet and my quests.
I filtered out Raizen’s words and actions, only taking in the necessary information, and that kept me from getting irritated.
Before I knew it, the last day of the year had arrived.
“Tomorrow’s already the new year. Time flies, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it really does.”
Spending the final day of the year in a foreign world…
For a brief moment, I wondered what date it was back in my original world, but I pushed the thought away.
No use dwelling on questions I couldn’t answer.
“All done, young master.”
As always, Mila carefully dried my hair. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror before turning to look at her.
“Thanks, Mila.”
“There’s no need to thank me. Serving you is my greatest joy.”
“I’m glad I met you, Mila.”
That was my genuine feeling.
If not for her, adjusting to this world would have been so much harder.
The duke and duchess cared for me, but they weren’t always around. Mila, on the other hand, was a constant presence, always kind to me.
She had no idea how much that meant.
“Now then, shall we head to dreamland?”
“Yeah.”
I lay down, and Mila tucked the blanket up to my chin.
“Good night, Mila.”
I wanted to say “Happy New Year,” but this world didn’t use the same concept of luck as Korea did. Instead, they had their own blessing.
“May the gods’ grace be with you in the new year, Mila.”
Hearing the traditional blessing, Mila smiled softly.
“And may even greater grace be upon you, young master.”
She placed a gentle kiss on my forehead and whispered,
“Sleep well.”
“You too, Mila.”
Click.
The door shut.
I reached out, turned off the bedside lamp, and pulled the blanket over my head.
Curling up on my side, I closed my eyes.
“….”
‘Can’t sleep.’
Maybe because it was the last day of the year.
Sleep wouldn’t come, just a flood of tangled emotions.
I threw the blanket off and sprawled out.
Staring at the darkened ceiling, I shut my eyes tightly.
‘You said it yourself. We’re the only ones who have each other.’
At that moment, as if on cue, Raizen’s voice echoed in my head.
* * *
