For some reason, it was hard to picture.
It felt… exaggerated.
What reason would Raizen, whose curse had already weakened, have to be out of his mind?
Maybe noticing that I couldn’t immediately come up with an answer, Seol cleared his throat awkwardly.
[Ahem. Well, it’s obvious. It’s because of pheromones.]
“Pheromones?”
‘Pheromones? Why…?’ I almost asked, before it hit me.
‘Raizen is… a dominant alpha.’
Unlike heat, which came naturally to omegas, dominant alphas had a different kind of biological need.
Because of their intense pheromones, they required omega pheromones during rut cycles.
Rut cycles.
The moment I realized that, a sour feeling twisted in my stomach.
During those times… did he spend the nights with an omega?
The scene flashed unbidden across my mind, and absurdly, the emotion I felt was jealousy.
“…I never even thought about it.”
They had said adulthood would bring heat.
I had manifested as an omega too, but it hadn’t changed much.
I rarely felt particularly “omega-like.”
Occasionally, I went through long bouts of fever, but it was nothing like the heat cycles I had imagined.
That was probably why I had never thought much about Raizen’s rut cycles either.
[It’s only natural you wouldn’t think about it. Besides, you’ve barely ever even left the house.]
“Still… when I did, I just… handled it like a regular fever.”
[Most omegas are like that, but your case is special because of your divine power.]
“Divine power?”
I realized I’d been asking Seol a lot of questions today. Seol nodded lightly.
[Your power’s nature is like that. It protects, replenishes, and strives to keep things whole.]
“I see…”
The same power Baldur once wielded.
It really did feel too grand for someone like me.
“What kind of god was he?”
In the novel, Baldur was described as beloved by the gods, but it hadn’t said what he was actually the god of.
[Light and love.]
Such beautiful, awe-inspiring words.
Maybe that was why it also felt unbearably heavy.
“Wow… haha…”
It wasn’t clear if the sound that escaped me was a laugh or a sigh.
“That’s incredible.”
For someone like that to be killed by human hands…
No wonder the ancient gods still bore a grudge against Raizen.
Still, that was separate from my belief that it was wrong to curse the reincarnated Raizen for the sins of his past life.
“How did such a power end up… with me?”
I really didn’t know.
A god of light and love, beloved by all the ancient gods.
And he had chosen me.
‘What kind of god was Baldur… really?’
I was about to voice that thought when Seol spoke faster.
[Anyway! That’s not what’s important right now!]
“Huh?”
[Now that he’s met you, who knows what’ll happen during his next rut cycle? He probably controlled his pheromones around you this time, but you won’t be able to.]
“But… I used a pheromone suppressant when I went outside…”
Come to think of it, that suppressant had been something Seol had gotten for me, insisting I use it every time I went out.
“You…”
Now that I realized it, Seol seemed a little extra annoying today.
Avoiding my gaze, he muttered:
[It’s not enough. I’m sure he could still smell your pheromones. And considering he’s been starving for so long, this time could be seriously dangerous.]
“Starving?”
That word felt odd — as if Seol was implying that Raizen had been abstinent during every rut cycle.
[That crazy bastard’s been enduring his rut cycles without an omega, apparently!]
“What are you talking about?”
That couldn’t be true.
Rut cycles were supposed to be unbearable without an omega — like a form of self-harm.
But hearing Seol say it, I couldn’t help but imagine it.
Raizen spending all those rut cycles alone… as if he had been waiting for me.
“Why would Raizen… do something like that?”
No, that couldn’t be it.
I was just someone he’d kept around out of necessity.
He wouldn’t go that far just because I was gone.
[Anyway, just be careful, okay?]
Would being careful even help?
I wasn’t sure.
But I smiled and nodded.
“I will.”
It was probably just unnecessary worry.
Seol… always tended to worry too much when it came to me.
∗ ∗ ∗
The next day and the day after that, nothing happened. Life went on as usual.
‘No leads again today.’
Although I had left the request with the Ruin Guild, I couldn’t just sit around and wait.
I thought about what I could do with my own powers and remembered how, in the past, I had searched for the divine beast’s egg.
Back then, I had been able to sense my surroundings using only my divine power.
If I could sense divine power, surely I could sense demonic energy too.
So I searched all around Crete Island — but found nothing.
No divine power, no demonic energy.
Today was no different.
‘Just what is the temple thinking?’
I had assumed they must have had a reason for carrying out their plans specifically on Crete Island.
Since it was isolated and neutral territory, even if something happened, other nations couldn’t easily interfere.
It made sense that they’d use this place as a base to research how to create magic cores.
Yet, no trace of demonic energy could be found, and the whereabouts of the missing Tommy remained a mystery.
What exactly were they doing with the children they had taken?
‘Or… could it be…’
Was it not time yet?
It was said that magic cores grew stronger the more they fed on human resentment.
If they were torturing the children to create a powerful magic core…
At that moment, a simple bell sound rang out from somewhere.
I quickly realized it was coming from the portable communicator I kept in my ear even while at home, just in case.
Thump, thump.
My heart started to race.
Thinking it might be a message from Ruin’s Guildmaster — from Raizen — a flood of thoughts rushed in. But I forced myself to focus on just one thing.
‘Could it be they’ve found Tommy already?’
There was no other reason the Ruin Guild would contact me.
Steeling myself, I tapped the communicator twice.
“…Hello?”
[We found Tommy.]
It was the Guildmaster’s voice — calm and emotionless, cutting straight into my ear.
[No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to say that Tommy showed up on his own.]
I see. Thank goodness.
[Daniel?]
Snapping out of my daze at the sound of my alias — which today felt strangely unfamiliar — I quickly responded.
“Ah, yes. Where… where is he?”
[He’s with Jack and Derek right now.]
And then, at what followed, I had no choice but to hurry and get ready to leave.
[It seems he wants to take the two of them to the temple.]
∗ ∗ ∗
“You’re really going? Are you seriously going?!”
When I arrived at the back alley the Guildmaster had told me about, the first thing I heard was Jack’s furious voice.
I immediately muffled my footsteps and pressed myself against the wall to hide.
“Jack, aren’t you being too paranoid? The priests aren’t like what you think.”
A strange voice — probably Tommy’s — followed.
“Don’t be ridiculous! You think we’re idiots? We know better than anyone just how rotten the temple’s priests are!”
“The rotten ones are fake.”
Tommy’s voice suddenly turned chilling.
“The fake ones will be purged soon. The three priests we’re talking about — they’re the real deal, not like the ones we’ve known. Derek, you remember how kind the ones handing out food were, right?”
For priests who were supposedly so kind, they sure hadn’t cared when a commotion broke out.
Even when the kids lining up for food had scattered, they hadn’t spared them a glance.
‘So this was how they planned to lure the kids.’
Rather than having the children they “recommended” disappear one by one and arousing suspicion, this approach probably made things look more natural.
They could even spin it as saving street kids and leading them onto the right path.
“Oh, right. Derek, I heard something about your father.”
“R-Really…?!”
‘Wait.’
That was enough for me to want to reveal myself — but just as I was about to step out, someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind.
“…?!”
I almost screamed.
Barely holding it in, I turned my head.
“……”
Standing there was the Guildmaster of Ruin.
