Chapter 291: The Founding Hero (2)

The boss grabbed my limp arm and pulled me up.

“Get up already. Take this and snap out of it.”

He shoved a glass of water at me from the table, still holding the sashimi knife in his other hand.

‘Still the same.’

This man never let go of that knife, no matter what he was doing.

I took the glass he offered and sipped it like a guilty criminal.

“…Ugh.”

A groan slipped out—not because the water was poisoned, but rather…

“What? Your stomach hurting from drinking on an empty stomach?”

Sharp as ever. He hadn’t changed a bit.

“…Yeah.”

I nodded silently.

The boss looked at me sternly, his gaze burning like a spark, then sighed softly.

“Wait a sec. I’ll get you something light to eat.”

With that, he turned and headed to the kitchen.

“What the hell is all this…?”

Left alone, I drained the water in one go. Cold water on an empty stomach irritated my gut, but at least the grogginess faded.

‘This is the place where I worked under the boss.’

I examined the interior carefully before reaching that conclusion. I wasn’t so old as to forget a place where I spent nearly a decade.

“Even though it doesn’t look like it, I’m still just 18 with my whole life ahead of me…”

I murmured that while running off to the bathroom. After a short hallway and turning a corner, there it was. I stubbed my toe against some stacked soju crates.

“Argh.”

It hurt. But honestly, I was surprised. Every little detail was incredibly real. Even the pain of a stubbed toe—one of the worst pains—hit just right.

“……!”

In front of the bathroom mirror, my eyes flew open.

“God…”

I ran my fingers across my cheek as if scratching it. Did I go back in time? If that were the case, I’d think this was just some fever dream.

But the reason I was horrified was something else—I had exactly the face of Kang Geom-Ma. The same face as the character from Miracle Blessing M, and I was back in the restaurant where I worked on Earth.

Everything was confusing. Not just the situation, but also the fact that the boss treated me the same as always.

“What are you doing?”

A voice suddenly rang behind me. I turned as if caught stealing from my mother’s purse. The boss clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“Here I was wondering what big thing you were doing with the bathroom door open, and you’re just rubbing your face? You that into your new look?”

“It’s not that…”

“Then what?”

“…I’m just a bit confused.”

“Confused about what?”

“……”

Since I got here, everything I said and did felt like a jittery thief. Maybe because my last name’s Kang, like Seori’s.

“Don’t overthink it. You’ll wear yourself out.”

“I-it’s not that!”

“I’ve got the food ready. Come eat.”

No choice again. After one last glance in the mirror, I left the bathroom.

Clack.

I shut the door and turned off the light. Didn’t want to get stabbed over something stupid. Not that it ever happened—but just in case.

“Oh…”

When I returned to where I’d been lying, the table was perfectly set. A full three-dish meal—by the boss’s standards, quite generous—with soybean paste soup and white rice.

My favorite meal. He’d even swept the floor while preparing it—there wasn’t a single shard of glass left.

“Sit and eat.”

Already seated, the boss nodded at the spot across from him. I hesitated a moment, but obeyed.

I sat carefully across from him. And then came the suffocating silence.

“……”

I lowered my gaze. Started counting rice grains, reflecting on everything, stealing glances at the boss.

“Doing a ritual or something?”

As expected, he scolded me. The boss was strict about table manners. He’d scolded me many times before.

‘This is definitely the boss.’

Was the world of Miracle Blessing M just too cruel? Now I doubted everything. Even with him, I wondered if he really was who he seemed.

But this man was the boss. The one who took me in, raised me, gave me shelter. A chill ran under my eyes, and my nose tingled.

Without a word, I picked up the spoon. A way to silence emotions before they spilled.

‘Damn it… it’s just white rice, but it’s insanely good.’

Maybe because I was starving? Or maybe his cooking had improved? It never used to taste this good.

I moved spoon and chopsticks nonstop. The boss watched, expressionless.

He always had that vacant look, like someone who’d transcended everything. Didn’t bother me—he was always like that.

‘Well, he is the great founding hero, after all.’

Saying he was above worldly matters wasn’t exactly wrong.

“So. What happened?”

At last, the boss broke the silence. Right before his chopsticks reached the fish stew.

“I thought you knew everything already.”

“How would I know anything when you just showed up out of nowhere? I have no clue.”

“W-wait a minute.”

I set down my chopsticks with a tap.

“It’s not that I don’t know anything.”

“You keep talking selfishly, like everyone should just get what you mean. What’s the point of being good with a sword if you have zero service spirit?”

“I didn’t mean it like that… boss.”

“What?”

“What do you think of my face?”

The boss’s brow furrowed instantly.

“This again with your delusions?”

“What do you mean?”

“A man asking about his face… You that in love with your new look?”

“So… you see me with this face too?”

“Of course.”

“Then why aren’t you surprised?”

“Why should I be?”

“No, seriously.”

I ruffled my hair roughly. I’d forgotten—back then, customers didn’t get used to his blunt way of speaking either.

‘Even so, after a while they’d say he had a face full of craftsmanship spirit and let it go.’

In short, the boss wasn’t in any position to lecture me on service.

We were two of a kind. He wasn’t any better than me.

The only difference was he talked little, and I talked too much.

He was the first, I was the second.

‘Maybe I inherited my bad temper from spending so long putting up with this man.’

Now, more than when I saw myself in the mirror, I felt like I was facing myself.

Is this what they call mirror therapy? I felt completely drained.

“You’ve always looked like an adult on the outside, but inside, you’ve always wanted someone to lean on.”

The boss continued, his gaze calm.

“Look at you now. You assume I know everything. But conversation isn’t just words—it’s about sharing feelings too. If only one side talks, that’s a report, not a conversation.”

Ah. Now I got it. This man.

“I don’t know what you’re going through. I can only guess.”

Wants to talk with me.

“So tell me, while we eat.”

Though his expression remained serious, I sensed a kind smile beneath it.

“Tell me what happened in my homeland—in the academy I founded for you.”

***

The Chief listened with his eyes closed. I told him what happened during my first year at Joaquin Academy.

In short, during that year I nearly died once a month. No exaggeration. Midterms, the buffalo dungeon, Avalon Island, the Joaquin incident, the defense of Gehenna Gate.

Accidents and scenarios where one wonders how they’re still alive. I don’t know if it was good or bad luck, but I can only say Heaven protected me.

And not just that. In the end, I was even struck by Leon and thrown into space. And as if that weren’t enough, I crash-landed on the Moon.

That’s where my memory cuts off, and now I’m here, eating with the Chief. Saying it aloud, it sounds absolutely absurd.

‘Well, there was no logic when I went from Earth to the world of Miracle Blessing M either.’

One day I simply woke up in someone else’s body. I wasn’t hit by a truck or thrown off a building.

It just happened. Like a year and a half ago. Like now.

And the source of all this causality-less chaos sat right in front of me.

The founding hero, Balor Joaquin. His earthly name was something as warm as Ho Ah-Hyun.

“…So that’s how it went.”

The Chief opened the eyes he had kept closed. Despite the gravity of his words, his tone was surprisingly flat.

“Do you have any idea?”

“Yes.”

“Please, tell me. Why did I go to that world? And how did I end up here after a Dragon Ball with Leon?”

“Is that a question or a complaint?”

The Chief looked at me with his chin resting on his hand.

“A question.”

“Well, it sounded like a complaint.”

The Chief sighed and spoke.

“I can’t answer the first question. It wasn’t something I intervened in. All I did was recommend a game styled after my homeland.”

He took a sip of soju and continued.

“To be honest, I was surprised too. I never imagined that the academy I founded would appear exactly the same in a game. I suppose it was the will of the Observer.”

“…So the reason I fell into Miracle Blessing M wasn’t you, but the Observer?”

“Could be. Or not.”

“Did you become a sage in my absence? Your ambiguity is maddening.”

“The Observer never defines anything for certain. He only watches. Avoids interference at all costs. But if he intervened, it means the world’s timeline is in danger.”

He stopped talking and began swirling the glass in his palm.

“Looks like he sent you there to prevent that…”

His face flushed slightly; he was still the kind to get tipsy after one glass.

“…Looks like the world’s gone to hell.”

He muttered like a doomsday prophet. The world ended? I didn’t get it, so I asked.

“What do you mean, the world ended?”

“Exactly that. The world—or rather, the whole timeline—is doomed to vanish.”

“And it’s the hero’s fault… Leon Van Reinhardt?”

“No.”

He firmly shook his head and pointed directly at me.

“You.”

I pointed at myself, too.

“Me?”

“Yes. You destroyed the world.”

I didn’t understand. Seeing my confused face, the Chief put down the soju and filled the glass with beer.

“The power residing in your body could erase an entire world with ease.”

“Yes.”

He drank as he spoke.

“And you know your body is Lycan’s.”

“Yes.”

Face flushed from the alcohol, he muttered like he was savoring the moment.

“What kept the balance between those two things was your humanity. But in the end, you abandoned it. You gave in to the urge to slay false gods, and got consumed by the sword.”

He downed the half-full glass in one go. A lethal dose for him.

“You’re headed for a fate like the Sword God’s. No, maybe worse. The Sword God killed himself before destroying the world, but you’re going to cut down everything first.”

And he added.

“Apparently, the bit of humanity you had left brought you here through the ‘Reverse Demonic Eye’. But it doesn’t matter, the world is doomed.”

The Chief I remembered always had a face free of shadow. But now, his expression bore the bitterest taste in the world. That drink he was having was bitter in more ways than one.

“…I’m sorry.”

It hurt just to say it. The Chief opened his eyes, swollen from alcohol.

“You have nothing to apologize for. You gave it your all.”

He smiled calmly.

“I don’t say that just because of what you told me. It’s because I know you better than anyone. You did well. We may not understand the Observer’s will, but you did more than he expected.”

I could only sigh. Even if the Chief praised me, hearing it hurt.

“…Isn’t there another way?”

“….”

The Chief went quiet, staring into his beer glass. The dim light of the place reflected like seasoning on the counter.

Without looking at me, he spoke.

“There is one. But it’s not something I can recommend to my boy.”

“Please, tell me.”

I leaned toward him. The Chief gave me a squinting side glance.

“You’ll think dying is sweeter. Still want to do it?”

I answered without hesitation.

“Yes.”

“That world isn’t even your home. You don’t need to sacrifice yourself. So why?”

“Because it’s his homeland.”

I smiled faintly.

“And you’re like a foster father to me. So isn’t it the same as if it were my home too?”

The Chief was momentarily stunned. Normally, that led to a scolding.

“Idiot.”

But instead, he smiled. He tossed the beer mug over his shoulder and started drinking straight from the bottle.

Just when I was about to stop him, thinking he might kill himself, he slammed the bottle down hard and wiped his lips.

“The beginning and the end are the same.”

At that moment, everything trembled like during an earthquake. Tables, lamps, decorations—all shook. Walls and floor cracked, and pillars of light burst from the fissures.

“Return to the mythical era, before the beginning. Only then can you avoid the predestined end.”

Amid the blinding flashes, I could barely glimpse the Chief’s smile.

“Run faster than light and make time flow backward. Reverse everything.”

“……!”

As my consciousness faded, I heard his voice.

“I’m not the founding hero.”

The Chief ruffled my hair with his one hand.

“You will be, my son.”