Chapter 12: A Dangerous Homecoming

“…Atonement.”

Throughout the bus ride home, Rigor seemed lost in deep thought. Taehyun did not need to ask what was on his mind. He could guess.

It was probably about Rigor’s own mistakes and the sins of his past, something he had temporarily forgotten while taking a brief rest after everything was over.

‘I’d forgotten for a while. Rigor had done plenty of things in the past that he could regret, too.’

No. Depending on how one looked at it, Rigor’s sins might have been far greater than the watchmaker’s.

The watchmaker had ultimately been nothing more than one of the Curses Rigor had brought along, whereas Rigor himself had traveled through countless worlds for the sake of his own goals, accumulating sins along the way.

Rigor had probably been turning that fact over in the back of his mind all this time. There had simply been too many things demanding his attention after the Origin Dungeon.

He had been so busy checking Replica’s condition with Taehyun and explaining the situation to the dungeon’s inhabitants that he barely had time to breathe.

Besides, Rigor had stayed beside Taehyun while he struggled to adjust to all the changes that had followed the Origin Dungeon.

Even though Rigor himself was just as confused, he had kept wearing that relaxed smile as though he understood everything.

As they got off the bus and walked up the hill toward home, Rigor finally spoke with a sigh.

“I suppose I’ve been living rather leisurely for a while. While I’ve been hopelessly in love with you, Taehyun.”

“Don’t take that thing the watchmaker said just to provoke you too seriously. We’ve been pretty busy too, haven’t we? If we asked Replica, it could probably list off everything we’ve done during that time.”

“That’s true. But those were essentially things for the future, weren’t they? It’s true that I worked to help the people precious to me, but those are things I would have done even if I had never committed any of those wrongs in the first place.”

“…”

“Seeing the System and the watchmaker wandering between worlds to correct their own mistakes… It’s made me think.”

Taehyun could not simply comfort him by saying that Rigor had done his best in the Origin Dungeon, or tell him not to feel guilty because he had been taking it easy lately.

Rigor had done his best.

That was true.

But making amends for the past was a separate matter.

Someday, just as the others had done, Rigor would have to embark on his own journey to take responsibility for what he had done.

No.

Perhaps it did not have to be someday.

There was no particular reason to keep putting it off.

“…What is there to think about? We can start now. I finished my last final exam today, so even if we left right away, it wouldn’t really be a problem.”

“Our Taehyun is saying something frightening. The scariest part for me is taking you along. If I can, I’d rather go alone.”

“What are you scared of? Are you afraid I’ll be disappointed in you? Or that people who are angry with you will hurt me?”

“Of course both. I know you’ll get angry at me for saying this, Taehyun. But regardless of whether I believe in your strength, what I did was enormous. It’s frightening in a lot of ways.”

“You’ll just have to deal with that much fear. Don’t try to shoulder everything yourself under the excuse that you’re doing it for me. Do you really think I’m going to let you go alone?”

There he went again.

Taehyun chuckled and poked Rigor in the side.

At least he had improved compared to before. He was now willing to casually tell Taehyun about his plans instead of hiding everything.

But if Taehyun left him alone, Rigor would still charge headfirst into things he had no hope of handling by himself.

If something was truly that difficult and painful, surely facing it together would actually increase their chances of succeeding.

Rigor simply never seemed to think that far.

There was no point getting angry, so Taehyun had to persuade him instead.

“And what are you going to do if I don’t let you go alone?”

“You really do say whatever you want these days. Even if traveling to other worlds is easy, I think I can at least ask Replica to stop you if I really put some effort into it.”

“You always insist that you have nothing to do with Replica, and yet when it matters, you’re even going to ask Replica for a favor just to stop me?”

“Are you jealous again? If you’re going to act like this, how did you even decide to leave alone in the first place? Fine, then. Go somewhere by yourself. By the time you finish whatever you have to do and return, maybe my feelings for you will have cooled off and I’ll be happily flirting with Replica.”

“You’ve really gotten shameless lately, Taehyun… No, wait. What kind of conversation is this? What are we even talking about?”

Perhaps even he found the conversation ridiculous once he heard himself saying it. Rigor stopped speaking seriously and began to chuckle.

What were they talking about?

Obviously, they were talking about stopping Rigor from going alone.

They were practically one being now. There was no way Taehyun could simply send him off by himself.

“…So let’s go together. It’s more ridiculous to think there are still depths to you that I haven’t seen. Since we’re doing this anyway, let’s see everything and come back.”

“What kind of logic is that? Well, I suppose you were never the type to back down easily.”

Though he grumbled as though he found Taehyun absurd, an awkward smile lingered around Rigor’s lips.

When Taehyun took Rigor’s hand, Rigor carefully tightened his grip in return.

See? For someone who had insisted on going alone, he had actually wanted Taehyun by his side all along.

“…All right. Then let’s go together.”

“You should have agreed from the beginning.”

Now that things had turned out this way, Taehyun might have to travel a long way with Rigor during the upcoming vacation.

Q-Type and Seohyun would probably be perfectly fine together, but perhaps it would be better to leave them in the care of the other Curses and adults. It was a shame that Taehyun could not take everyone along, but this was not a vacation or a trip for fun.

It would be better for only those who needed to go to go.

However, just as Taehyun was making plans in his head, Rigor suddenly spoke.

“But I have one request. You can come with me to every other world, but there’s just one place… I have to go there alone.”

What was with this guy?

Taehyun had thought he had finally convinced him, so he was about to protest when he suddenly stopped.

Rigor’s face had gone frighteningly pale.

This was not merely embarrassment or worry.

Realizing that, Taehyun found himself asking without thinking, overwhelmed by the seriousness in Rigor’s expression.

“Where?”

“The world where I originally lived.”

Taehyun had expected it to some extent, but hearing it directly from Rigor made the thought feel far more overwhelming.

As Taehyun hesitated, Rigor continued.

“It’s not for any other reason. It’s simply too dangerous. You may have guessed, but… that world has never undergone dungeonization. It remained frozen on the brink of destruction for a very long time, and only recently did it manage to avoid destruction and begin rebuilding itself with the System’s assistance.”

Now that Rigor mentioned it, that was true.

The other Curses had experienced their entire world being turned into a dungeon, and had gone through the cycles alongside the inhabitants of that dungeon.

Rigor, however, had endured those lonely cycles entirely by himself.

Strictly speaking, there was also the Emperor, but his circumstances were somewhat different.

While Taehyun thought about it, Rigor continued.

“They don’t know about the cycles that went on for so long. They have no way of knowing what I did, what kind of pain accumulated across countless worlds because of my stubbornness, or why I eventually came to respect the choice not to restore worlds to the way they originally were. Even if someone explained it to them, they would only see it as someone else’s story. They wouldn’t be able to feel it as vividly as those who actually experienced it. They might even think I was lying.”

“…”

“So that world is dangerous for you, Taehyun. They don’t understand the weight behind your choice. In other worlds, even if I were condemned, you would still be respected as the person who ended the cycles. But that won’t happen in that world.”

“…”

“And I know what kind of people survived until the moment that world froze on the verge of destruction. If the people who stubbornly held on until the end of the world, even using His Majesty’s sacrifice as a stepping stone, end up resenting me for failing to restore the world and try to kill me… Well, it’s embarrassing to admit, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to protect you.”

As Taehyun listened, one thought naturally came to mind.

‘Do we really have to go to such a frightening place?’

It was a cowardly thought, but he understood Rigor’s fear precisely because of that.

The people who had never shared any of the time Rigor had experienced, who had only felt the despair of the world’s destruction and the confusion that followed its restoration.

If those people placed all the responsibility on Rigor and demanded his life, would Rigor really be able to reject them and escape?

“…Are you confident you’ll come back safely?”

“I don’t know. I’m not even sure of that.”

“…”

“I don’t even know when would be the best time to go. Maybe I should go as soon as possible, like someone who wants to get hit first, and let them vent their anger. Or perhaps I should wait until they come to their senses and can look at reality more calmly. Though I don’t know whether time will actually make them calmer.”

“I suppose that’s true. If you wait too long, they might become even angrier and ask why you only came now…”

Rigor scratched his head with a complicated expression.

By this point, Taehyun was beginning to feel a headache coming on as well.

What were they supposed to do?

Rigor stubbornly wanted to go alone, but Taehyun was uneasy about letting him go by himself.

Perhaps if they asked several companions to come along, Taehyun’s safety could at least be guaranteed.

But was it really right to put other companions in danger because of Rigor’s personal circumstances?

“For now, let’s think about it, Taehyun. No matter what, we don’t have to leave today.”

“Right. We still have time, so let’s not get too anxious.”

As Taehyun answered Rigor, he suddenly stopped.

A strange sense of foreboding had seized him.

It was true that they did not have to leave today. They really did have time.

So why did he feel as though they needed to make a decision quickly?

Ridiculously enough, the answer to that foreboding revealed itself almost immediately.

“Taehyun, wait…!”

Rigor suddenly grabbed Taehyun and yanked him backward.

Before Taehyun even had time to react, a blinding flash tore across the perfectly clear sky, followed by a thunderclap that shook his eardrums.

What the hell was this?!

For a while, Taehyun panicked because he could see nothing through the intense light.

Only after his vision finally recovered did he understand what was happening.

A massive crack had appeared as though splitting the sky apart, and several people were jumping down through it.

Astonishingly, Taehyun recognized several of their faces.

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