The sounds of billiard balls hitting against one another echoed from the spec force captain’s office in the Empire State Building. Everyone knew Douglas Montgomery was a billiards addict, so having a billiard table in his office was nothing unusual.

“Whoa, you’re not half bad,” Douglas said as he chalked his cue stick, playing four-bar billiards with Seong-Hwi; first to five hundred points won. “Are you sure you’ve never played billiards?”

“Yeah. I’ve never had anyone to play with, in the first place,” Seong-Hwi replied.

“Wow... What a miserable life.”

“People don’t usually say that just because they haven’t played billiards, do they?”

Seong-Hwi smirked as he stared at Douglas, a middle-aged white man chewing gum, with a delinquent-like smile, where one couldn’t tell whether he was genuinely smiling or mocking. His pale blond hair and green eyes added to his delinquent appearance.

Douglas Montgomery is a righteous man, Seong-Hwi said inwardly.

Unlike his delinquent appearance, Seong-Hwi respected Douglas because he knew his nature. He had not joined a clan because he believed that one must not be biased if one were to be the captain of the special cases task force.

Hence, he always fulfilled his duties without walking on eggshells and did his best to help the weak and innocent. It was unfortunate that such behavior got him on the wrong side of powerful people, and he would be found as a corpse in a filthy alley in a few years.

Seong-Hwi hit a white ball with his cue stick, which hit a red ball that then hit Douglas’s yellow ball.

“You fucked up! You know that jajangmyeon is on the line, right?” Douglas said as he pointed at the two jajangmyeon dishes, which their noodles had already gone soft.

“How do you know about that Korean tradition? Besides, it doesn’t even cost that much.”

“Nah, the cost doesn’t matter. What matters is that I get to beat you and eat free jajangmyeon. I doubt you know the pleasure it brings because you have no friends, RB.”

“RB, huh?” Seong-Hwi mumbled.

RB stood for Record Breaker, the alias recently given to him by the ranking bureau. He never had such an alias in his past life. In his past life, he was known as either Thousand Skiller or Dark Human Killer.

“What? You don’t like it? I heard someone call you Rainbow Wings,” Douglas said.

“Anything but that. I’ll take Record Breaker.”

Douglas snickered.

Seong-Hwi asked, “Is this what you call an investigation?”

“Huh? No, it’s more of an interview. I’ve already heard the details of what happened in Capella Circus Theater from the leader of Pursuit Team 5. If I had to label you, I’d say you’re a witness.” Douglas smiled and continued, “I understand what you've done. I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with the leader of Pursuit Team 5, but it doesn’t change the fact that you helped her and stopped my moronic subordinate from doing something absurdly stupid. Thanks to you, we don’t have to worry about a confrontation with Fox Village. I may not look like it, but I’m thankful.”

He added spin to a yellow ball, which hit two red balls.

He continued, “Besides, you have a first-class murder license. We can’t hold you accountable for anything.”

“Then why did you call me here? I thought it was to get something out of me, like my objective, or my skills.”

Seong-Hwi had made ample preparations for any possible question Douglas might ask, but they had only been playing billiards.

Douglas pointed at Seong-Hwi with his cue stick and answered, “To come to my own decision after meeting you.”

“What?”

“I don’t care about your objective or skills. Though I’d bet Jose, the ranking bureau director, would die to know.” Douglas snickered as he locked eyes with Seong-Hwi, but his eyes were not smiling. “I only wanted to meet you as you are. I wanted to determine whether you would bring harm or benefit to the Union—to humanity.”

“So? What decision did you come to?” Seong-Hwi asked.

Douglas tapped his shoulder with the cue stick as he remained silent and then said, “I’ve decided to leave it pending. I can’t quite tell. I’ve never met a human like you before. It’s as if you have multiple personalities.”

Seong-Hwi was slightly surprised, but did not express it.

Douglas continued, “You sometimes hit the ball straight as if you have nothing to lose, but other times hit in a calculated way like a physicist. You also sometimes play like a novice, but other times let your intuition take over like a master. I can’t figure you out at all.”

He stared at Seong-Hwi in fascination, but Seong-Hwi was more fascinated that Douglas had read him so thoroughly based on his billiards habits.

“If your eye for people is so good that you can tell what they are like by playing billiards with them, why have you never noticed Kim Seo-Gyeong’s true nature?” Seong-Hwi asked.

“Che, you’ve got me there. Charming Musk, was it? Quite a crafty skill,” Douglas shrugged as he chewed his gum and got ready to hit the ball.

A yellow ball hit two red balls, and they magically gathered in the corner. Douglas then weakly hit the yellow ball to score points endlessly.

Seong-Hwi said dumbfoundedly, “That’s dirty.”

“I’ve heard people use that excuse in the cruel world of competition.”

“You’re not salty because I mentioned Kim Seo-Gyeong, are you?”

“Not at all. I’m simply broadening my new friend’s billiards knowledge,” Douglas remarked as he snickered and continued to score points by trapping the two red balls in a corner.

Seong-Hwi shook his head and said, “If you were judged based on your billiards psychology, you’d be a petty man more than willing to commit dirty plays.”

“Anything for free jajangmyeon!”

Douglas instantly won five hundred points and slurped the jajangmyeon on the table. He chewed on the thickened noodles and asked, “Hey, munch, munch. Do you wanna join the spec force?”

“I refuse.”

“Munch, munch. I expected that. I thought I’d ask anyway.”

“Is the interview over?”

“It is. You’re going? What about the jajangmyeon?” Douglas asked, his lips covered in the black jajangmyeon sauce, as he pointed to the chair across from him with his chopsticks.

Seong-Hwi smiled as he sat on the chair and mixed the jajangmyeon. He asked, “You’re good with chopsticks. Are you sure you’re not Korean?”

“Munch, munch. I have a Korean friend. He’s the one who showed me the pinnacle of all food, jajangmyeon. It is the greatest thing to have existed in this century.”

“That’s for sure.”

The two ate jajangmyeon as they chatted without substance. This was their first time meeting, but it felt like they were long-lost friends.

***

Seong-Hwi left Douglas’s office and encountered two individuals who had been waiting for him. One was a short-haired woman, and the other was a middle-aged man. They were Kim Seo-Yeon and Ma Sang-Sik.

“It appears the captain likes you,” Seo-Yeon said once she noticed the black jajangmyeon marks on Seong-Hwi’s lips. “He never eats jajangmyeon with those he dislikes.”

“What an honor,” Seong-Hwi answered as he examined Seo-Yeon.

Her injuries were healed, and she seemed psychologically stable.

“Cheon Seong-Hwi, I have something to ask you... May I?” she asked.

Seong-Hwi nodded.

“Do we... know each other?” she asked as she conflictedly stared at him.

Seong-Hwi seemed to know her, but she did not.

It’s a strange feeling... Why do I feel so at ease whenever I’m with him? Seo-Yeon wondered.

She hoped he would say that, although she did not remember, they had some sort of relationship on Earth. A large void had formed in her heart after Seo-Gyeong’s betrayal. Deep down, she wished for Seong-Hwi to fill it.

“No, we don’t,” Seong-Hwi replied.

“Oh...” Seo-Yeon mumbled once he gave her the opposite answer to what she had hoped.

Seong-Hwi stared at her and thought, Of course, we know each other. We’ve spent years together in the same clan, after all.

However, that was only in his memory. He had no intention of forcing his memories on her.

“Then why did you help me? Why did you warn me to be careful of Kim Seo-Gyeong?! Why did you save me?!” Seo-Yeon shouted, her voice getting louder.

Seong-Hwi tilted his head and asked, “Are you dissatisfied?”

“No! It’s just...” Seo-Yeon realized she was too loud and lowered her voice. “I... don’t understand.”

Seong-Hwi stared at Seo-Yeon, biting her lip, as he thought about how she felt.

She must be confused. I don’t blame her.

Her older brother, whom she believed was the only one she could trust, thought of her as a tool this whole time. She already had a scar made by her family, which likely widened more because of this incident. Seong-Hwi understood why she would doubt the goodwill of others.

He replied, “The world is full of things you can’t understand, just like how family members can become your worst enemy.”

“Considering he thought of our family as fake, I can understand why he did what he did,” Seo-Yeon remarked coldly.

She abandoned her ideals of family. She realized one could only count on oneself in this world.

“You said that families stay with you in misery, and celebrate with you in joy, but humans can’t duplicate. They can’t be with you forever,” she said firmly.

The wound in her heart appeared to have worsened and was festering.

She’s showing signs of herself in my past life. She’s becoming an incarnation of distrust.

Seong-Hwi was sorry that he hadn’t taken measures sooner. If events had gone according to the original history, Seo-Yeon would have been betrayed in a few years. Hence, he had warned her about Seo-Gyeong, hoping she would slowly figure out Seo-Gyeong’s true nature, because the resulting shock would be far less.

However, history changed. Thumper, who followed Seong-Hwi to the Capital, introduced the Fox Village beastfolk to Jurie. As a result, Seo-Gyeong, driven into a corner, decided to use Seo-Yeon much quicker than planned.

No, that’s not it. My greed also played a part. I unconsciously wished Seo-Yeon would acquire the Millennium Nine-Tailed Fox.

In Seong-Hwi’s past life, Seo-Yeon obtained the awakened version of her D Weapon at the cost of an unhealing wound in her heart. Knowing its immense power, he wished she would acquire it again, despite knowing it couldn’t coexist with her happiness.

I’ve... made a mistake.

He wondered what he could say to a distrustful woman who was utterly disappointed in the world.

He remarked, “Humans can’t duplicate, huh? I didn’t mean what I said in a physical sense, but in an emotional sense. If one’s heart is always with you, what else would you call them but family?”

Not even Seong-Hwi understood what he was talking about.

He wondered, If that’s true, does that mean my mother, whose existence is like a brand burned on my heart, is still family?

“Your heart, always being with them? Is that why you avenged your little sister, whom you’ve been separated from for years?” Seo-Yeon asked as she turned to Sang-Sik beside her.

Sang-Sik said, “I’ve been after you since Earth, Cheon Seong-Hwi. The only part of the crime I didn’t understand was the motive. I don’t understand why you killed Kang-Hyun-Tae for the sake of Shin So-Eun and Seo Dong-Hyun, whom you’ve been separated from for years.”

Seong-Hwi’s expression hardened as he recalled Dong-Hyun, So-Eun, and the day that greatly changed his destiny.

Why did I kill Kang Hyun-Tae?

Despite his psyche being corrupted from borrowing several destinies, he could never forget some things.

He could never forget the little girl wearing a hair band with a cherry ornament, crying in front of the podium during the requiem for Mother Maria. The world’s irrationality, in the form of the murderer Kang Hyun-Tae, appeared before So-Eun, killing her with the fetus inside her.

He could never forget Seo Dong-Hyun, despairing over the deaths of his wife and unborn child, fervently searching for anyone who could alleviate his frustrations.

Seong-Hwi couldn’t denounce them as his younger siblings only because they were not blood-related. He did not particularly think of them as family during their days in the children’s home, but rage and sympathy boiled inside his heart when tragedy struck them.

“You’re asking why I killed Kang Hyun-Tae? I don’t know why you don’t understand something so simple.” Seong-Hwi’s eyes set ablaze as he continued, “I kill whoever lays a hand on my family. That’s it.”

“Urgh,” Sang-Sik groaned as he stumbled, exposed to Seong-Hwi’s overpowering bloodlust.

Seo-Yeon stared at him blankly and said, “B-but... You haven’t seen them for years, and you guys weren’t blood-related!”

“Why is that so important? Seo-Gyeong may think of family as fake, but I don’t,” Seong-Hwi answered.

It was not just So-Eun and Dong-Hyun. Jurie, Lina, Leo, and every former Calasanz member were family to him. Although everyone entered the world alone, they were all headed in the same direction. He did not know a better word than family to describe companions on one’s adventure.

I will never abandon those I’ve taken in, unless they decide to first. I don’t want to become as irresponsible as my mother, who abandoned me.

He wanted to become stronger and become one of the Ten Lords and Fiends one day. Since one gained far more than they lost in life, he needed power to protect them all.

Seo-Yeon stared blankly at Seong-Hwi’s determined eyes. She realized not everyone was like Seo-Gyeong, and that people like Seong-Hwi existed. She was envious of Shin So-Eun because she had an oppa who avenged her.

She wondered, Why don’t I have a family like that? Why does only misfortune find me? Why can’t I receive love like this?

The resentment and envy swirled inside her head, painfully scrambling her brain.

“Could I... join that family?” she asked unconsciously.

Although shocked by what she said, she did not renounce her words or try to play it off. She simply stared at Seong-Hwi desperately. Her words from Seong-Hwi’s past life echoed in his head.

“If only you had been my oppa, Seong-Hwi oppa...”

By the time Seong-Hwi met Seo-Yeon, her heart was already closed tightly shut. Although she loved the Calasanz clansmen like her family, she never outright said they were her family. However, she was not the same as her past self; her heart was still open, and she was still holding on to the thin sliver of hope.

Seong-Hwi’s lips quivered as he remembered the moment of her death at the hands of Dragon King Regnator.

If her destiny intertwines with mine again... Will she face the same end as her past self?

However, he smiled despite thinking such things because Mother Maria’s words echoed inside his head.

“Destiny is weak to the brave and strong to the cowardly. Become someone who grabs hold of his destiny.”

I won’t be able to do anything if I get scared of every little thing. My struggles in this life aren’t to repeat the past, but to change it!

Seong-Hwi remarked, “I suppose I have a new little sister.”

Seo-Yeon expressed surprise as Seong-Hwi was about to walk past her.

He grabbed her shoulder and said, “I’ll give you some allowance when we meet again.”

Seong-Hwi walked down the hallway and disappeared.

Sang-Sik sighed and said, “Huuu... I’m sorry to my wife, but... I don’t think I can arrest him. Team Leader?”

“Stay... right there.”

“Pardon me?”

“Stay right there! Don’t you dare come closer!”

Sang-Sik stopped as he was about to approach Seo-Yeon and said, “Oh... Yes, ma’am.”

Seo-Yeon placed her hand over the shoulder that Seong-Hwi placed his hand on. Her fingers trembled as tears trickled down her cheeks.

“It’s real this time... right? It’d better be...” she mumbled tearfully.

Sang-Sik remained silent until her weeping stopped.

***

“That was unlike me,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he left the Empire State Building, disguised as Smith with the skill, Myriad Faces. “Well, I don’t regret it.”

He looked up at the sky. The clouds were moving like wagging fox tails.

“I’ve spent more time than I’d expected. I have to meet Jurie and take Muka immediately.”

It was time to head to Ferrum, the capital of the dwarves.