“Transmigrant?”
“Yeah. Unlike you Returnees, it refers to those who came from another world. In other words, those who weren’t originally from here.”
Xiao Yun drank straight from the bottle.
Unlike usual, he seemed unusually serious.
He was such an unpredictable person that it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Taeseong reached out his hand.
“Give me a drink too.”
“Of course.”
When Xiao Yun handed over the bottle, Taeseong also drank straight from it.
The lukewarm liquid slid down his throat and into his stomach.
Though it wasn’t hot, his throat and stomach heated up in an instant.
It was a strong liquor.
“Bitter.”
“Is that so? I like the taste. When I drink this, even if just for a moment, it feels like I’m back home.”
“…….”
The word “home” made Taeseong pause in thought. Somehow, he felt that Xiao Yun’s situation wasn’t all that different from his own.
“Isn’t it strange? From your perspective, I’m an Otherworlder. Can you imagine what I felt when I found this liquor from my world existing here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Resentment.”
“For what?”
“For the fact that something exists here that keeps me from forgetting the world I came from.”
“I don’t understand. How is such a thing possible?”
“I don’t know. But is there anything in this world that we truly understand?”
“……I suppose not.”
Dimensional Transfer, Transmigrators, Possessed Ones, Returnees, Anomalies, Creatures, Entities, Spirits, Yokai, Abilities, Elementals, Curses, Magic, Folklore, Myths, Legends, and countless other phenomena and beings.
And the organization known as Tree, which governs and controls them all.
How much of it did they truly understand?
“That’s how it is. I don’t even know why I ended up in this world.”
“…….”
Taeseong had no words to spare. He, too, could relate to Xiao Yun’s words.
Before being swept up in the Dimensional Transfer, Lee Taeseong had, strictly speaking, been an ordinary human.
Of course, his profession had been far from what most would call normal, but it was still within the realm of human affairs.
If he hadn’t experienced Dimensional Transfer, would he ever have realized that this hidden side of the world existed?
Why had he been caught up in the transfer?
Since when had this world taken on this form?
Why did beings from other worlds keep drifting into this one?
He knew nothing.
To Taeseong, this world was filled with nothing but the incomprehensible.
“The researchers at Tree use terms like ‘Multiverse’ broadly and ‘Parallel Universe’ more specifically.”
“Multiverse?”
“Simply put, it means that countless worlds similar to this one could exist. That’s why a liquor from my world could also exist here.”
As Taeseong mulled over those words, he slowly nodded. It seemed plausible enough.
“There’s no need to overthink it. This is just one of many theories, after all. Lee Taeseong, do you know the term ‘Murim’?”
Hearing the word “Murim,” Taeseong instinctively thought of Team Leader Taesan.
—Do you know what my title was there? It was Blood Sea Fist Demon. I only swung my fists to survive, but that title stuck. They said I created a sea of blood from the people I killed… Hah, ridiculous.
“I’ve heard of the term ‘Murim Returnees’ before.”
“That’s right. They may not have all come from the exact same world, but since they’re all labeled with ‘Murim,’ there must be a common foundation. I was a Murim warrior. We also called it the Jianghu.”
Taeseong didn’t respond and simply listened calmly.
“I was the head of a rather large clan.”
“…….”
“Tang Unryong. That is my real name.”
Even the one who spoke it seemed unfamiliar with the name, his lips moving awkwardly as if it had been a long time since he last uttered it.
Taeseong stared into his eyes.
In the eyes of Xiao Yun—no, Tang Unryong—the world he had been born in was lost in the past.
“The Greatest in Sichuan. The Head of the Tang Clan of Sichuan. One of the Ten Greatest Masters Under Heaven. The Poison Demon Divine Doctor. I had many names, but…”
“…….”
“In the end, I was just someone’s older brother.”
Taeseong grabbed the bottle without a word and took two swigs before speaking.
“You must have cherished your sibling.”
Xiao Yun nodded.
“Though we didn’t share a drop of blood, they were my only family. They were terrible at expressing emotions, always acting indifferent, but deep down, they were a soft-hearted child. My only wish was to see them meet a good partner and build a happy family.”
His calm voice carried a yearning that even time couldn’t conceal.
Only then did Taeseong understand why Xiao Yun had reacted so sensitively to the word “sibling.”
“…Is that why you joined Tree?”
Xiao Yun answered with a faint smile.
“That’s right. Since I got swept up in this damned transfer, that kid is probably acting as the temporary head now. They’ll be pretending nothing is wrong, all while struggling against the unrest within the clan and the parasites trying to take advantage. On the outside, they’ll seem calm, but inside, they’ll be burning up with anxiety.”
Then he added—
“I have to go back. For them, if nothing else.”
It wasn’t something he was saying to Taeseong. It was a vow to himself.
A promise that he would return.
“Did Tree offer you a deal? That if you worked as an administrator here, they would send you back to your original world?”
“In a way. But you’re a Returnee yourself, so you should know. From the beginning, our choices have always been limited.”
“That’s true.”
This insane man was like a past version of himself.
Someone who had suddenly fallen into an unknown world, desperately struggling to return home.
Taeseong recalled his own bloodied self, climbing a mountain—overlapping with the man before him.
“If Tree doesn’t keep their promise, what will you do?”
“Then I’ll handle things my way.”
He meant he would become Tree’s enemy.
For a moment, Taeseong pictured Xiao Yun, classified as a Beta-grade entity, standing against the administrators—including himself.
“How old do I look?”
Xiao Yun’s sudden question made Taeseong glance at him before answering honestly.
“Thirty?”
“Around the age of eighty, I underwent rejuvenation, and it’s been over two hundred years since I arrived here. So at the very least, I must be over three hundred years old. I stopped counting after that.”
As it turned out, the man before him was older than even his great-great-grandfather’s grandfather.
Come to think of it, at some point, Taeseong had started speaking informally to him.
‘Didn’t I even tear off his arm?’
Reading the expression on Taeseong’s face, Xiao Yun playfully remarked,
“Are you thinking of speaking formally now?”
“Not a chance.”
“Good. That’s more like you.”
Now that he knew Xiao Yun’s true age, his way of speaking somehow felt different.
Since things had already come this far, Taeseong decided to ask all the questions he had in mind.
“How did you get that name?”
“By coincidence, the first place I opened my eyes was a country called China, which had a culture and geography strikingly similar to where I used to live. After I went around ripping heads off and tearing limbs from the pests who picked fights with me, the administrators of the Tree came looking for me.”
“The Tree intervened, then.”
Xiao Yun nodded.
“Of course. Giving an identity to an unknown outsider is a trivial matter for them.”
“Have you ever heard of someone called the Blood Sea Fist Demon?”
Having emptied another bottle, Xiao Yun pulled a new one from his coat and took a drink. The way he downed that bitter, burning liquor without so much as a change in expression suggested he was quite the drinker.
“The Blood Sea Fist Demon? What’s with that cringeworthy nickname?”
“……”
Hearing such words from a man over three hundred years old felt strange.
Xiao Yun, who had been drinking, suddenly seemed to remember something.
“Oh…! Are you talking about that big guy? I think his nickname had something with ‘Fist Demon’ in it…”
“He’s at least a head taller than me. If I had to compare, he’s like… a bear of a man.”
“Right. I remember now… Among the rising experts of the dark underworld, there was one with that nickname. He trained his external techniques to the extreme, reaching the state of being impenetrable to swords and blades. Why are you asking about him all of a sudden?”
“The captain of my management team is the Blood Sea Fist Demon.”
“…Is that true?”
“I’m not certain if they’re the same person, but their publicly available information matches.”
Xiao Yun fell into thought.
If they had truly come from the same world, then for Xiao Yun, this was an opportunity to meet someone who could talk about his homeland.
“Thanks. That’s valuable information.”
“I’m glad if it helped. You should meet him sometime if you get the chance.”
“I will. But… are you sure you don’t remember anything?”
“Only fragmented pieces. Most of my memories are gone. Why do you ask?”
“You must have noticed, but the wolf summoned by Captain Yato isn’t just an ordinary shikigami. It’s a being from another world, like me. Yet when it saw you, it tucked its tail and immediately submitted. Even now, it’s buried in your shadow.”
As if in response, a tail flicked up from within his shadow.
“Logically speaking, doesn’t it seem like you have some connection to it?”
“It does seem that way… but I can’t be certain. Maybe we were connected in the past.”
With a solemn look, Xiao Yun took another swig from his bottle before passing it to Taeseong.
“You and I both have quite the fateful existence.”
When Taeseong lifted the bottle to his lips, nothing came out.
It was empty.
“You old man…”
Grinning, Xiao Yun pulled yet another bottle from his coat.
“So when you hit three hundred, do you unlock the ability to conjure liquor from your pocket?”
“Heh. Of course. Don’t underestimate the elderly.”
Taeseong couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.
This time, they each held their bottles and lightly clinked them together.
For two people who had once torn each other’s arms off, it was a surprisingly warm scene.
Gulp. Gulp.
Before he knew it, Taeseong’s face had begun to flush.
Maybe it was the alcohol, but his thoughts started to wander.
Though the conversation had been brief, he had gained a rough understanding of Xiao Yun’s past and what kept him going in this place.
But Xiao Yun hadn’t called him here just to reminisce.
The real discussion was about to begin.
Xiao Yun was the first to speak.
“My security clearance level is equal to my administrator level. In other words, I can access any classified documents below my rank without any special effort.”
“……”
“Even if those documents contain information about another administrator’s identity.”
Taeseong asked,
“So what’s your clearance level?”
Xiao Yun gave him an incredulous look.
“Wait… you seriously didn’t know my level until now?”
“You never told me. How was I supposed to know?”
“……”
Sighing, Xiao Yun spoke in a low voice.
“Beta.”
He had expected some kind of reaction, but as usual, Taeseong simply nodded without much change in expression.
“Anyway, I used my clearance to access the classified file containing your sister’s information.”
“And?”
“No. 4427. Japan Branch Administrator. Lee Sooah. Nationality: Korean. Clearance Level: Delta. Age: 17. Special designation…”
Taking a slow breath, Xiao Yun continued.
“Red-Level Threat.”
