— At around 1 P.M. today, a group of monsters appeared in Seoul, leaving 500 wounded and 7 dead.

A news anchor reported today’s incident. With a deep sigh, Chae Shinhyuk stroked the bedridden patient. Her pale complexion stabbed at her father’s heart. Although she was an adult who would soon become a hero, Chae Nayun was still a little girl to Chae Shinhyuk.

— According to investigations, the monsters were led by an intermediate rank, grade 1 monster called beast inciter. This man-sized, badger-shaped monster has never before appeared in Korea. The association believes a third party brought it in and has set out a search.

“… Mmm.”

Chae Nayun opened her eyes as Chae Shinhyuk called for a doctor.

“You’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“… Fine.”

Chae Nayun raised her feeble body. A doctor came running in to check her pulse, but Chae Nayun pushed him away with a smile.

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I’m not injured. Didn’t the doctor tell you?”

“I, I did.”

The doctor spoke up inadvertently. Chae Shinhyuk was a powerful figure with the country’s economy in his palm. Being on this man's bad side would only make his life difficult.

“… She seems fine, so you can go.”

“Yes, sir.”

The doctor hurriedly left. Chae Nayun spoke as the door closed.

“… Dad.”

“Hmm?” 

Chae Shinhyuk kindly responded.

“About brother.”

Her low-spirited voice called up the dark past he wanted to forget. Remembering his son always caused a sharp pain in his heart. With a gentle smile, Chae Shinhyuk held his daughter’s hand.

“… What’s wrong?”

“Can I go see him when I’m discharged? I’m on sick leave anyway, right?”

“Of course you can.”

Chae Shinhyuk softly agreed as Chae Nayun leaned her head against her father’s shoulder and recalled what happened earlier in the day. The djinn from the museum, the black hand that strangled her, and a voice that mentioned her older brother. Chae Nayun’s fury suddenly reignited.

“Dad, by the way…”

Chae Nayun’s tone turned dark. Her voice carried a heavy emotion. Chae Shinhyuk worriedly asked.

“What’s up?”

“… No, it’s nothing.”

She began to loathe someone from the bottom of her heart, but she couldn’t tell her father how she felt. She thought back to how her stomach felt like burning from the djinn’s poison magic. She could clearly hear that guy even as she writhed in pain.

— I’m sure her older brother will come to comfort her.

He had mentioned her brother. Everyone in the world knew on the day the sky fell 4 years ago. She didn’t even have the opportunity to grieve then. After that day, she etched her brother’s name deep inside her heart and he became an untouchable subject. As a Cube cadet, that guy should’ve known about her brother’s condition. Even so, he mentioned her brother like that. Chae Nayun suppressed the fury in her heart and engraved his name in her head. Kim Hajin. Kim Hajin. From that day forward, Chae Nayun would no longer forget his name.

***

Seoul’s sky was dyed orange. The setting sun was no different than usual, but the scene below could only be described as pandemonium. Broken asphalt littered the road. A child cried under a telephone pole snapped in half. Ambulances drove back and forth, carrying wounded civilians or corpses. Although the dispatched heroes had taken care of the situation, the chaotic aftermath remained.

“Kim Suho, Kim Hajin. We heard the story.”

Kim Soohyuk waited for them at the portal connecting Seoul to Cube.

“We will ask for the details later. You can go back and rest for now. Agents will take care of the rest.”

For the record, agents were different from heroes. They graduated from the Military Agent Academy, but never attended Cube. They were non-combatants who had very useful abilities in day-to-day life. For example, I saw a man who fixed the broken asphalt with the wave of a hand.

“Um, instructor. Chae Nayun is…”

Kim Suho wanted to ask, to which Kim Soohyuk briefly replied.

“She’s taking a sick leave. She’s with her family right now.”

“Yes, understood.”

Kim Suho didn’t ask any more questions.

“Go back.”

Other cadets seemed to have helped with the emergency, as even Yoo Yeonha looked tired. One by one, we trudged through the portal. The odd sensation enveloping my body no longer interested me. After a short sigh, I found myself back at Cube. Without any words, the group returned to the dorms.

“… Hey.”

After the girls went ahead, Kim Suho stopped me on our way to Dorm 1.

“What.”

“Why did you say that?”

“Say what?”

“To Chae Nayun.”

What was he talking about all of a sudden? Kim Suho suddenly became more hostile when I furrowed my brows in confusion.

“Why did you bring up her older brother? In such a condescending way too.”

“What do you mean? I didn’t mean much by…”

Then I swallowed my words. This world had a co-author. My setting wasn’t the only one anymore. Something had changed.

“What about her older brother?”

Kim Suho paused in his steps at my question. He gritted his teeth and glared at me.

“Every cadet knows, but you’re going to pretend you don’t?”

“What? No, I really don’t—”

“Whatever. We can talk about it later. For now…”

Kim Suho quickly walked past me and entered the elevator. He had dark circles under his eyes. He needed to crash since he used that ability. My room was on the first floor, so I didn’t need the elevator.

***

I turned on my smartwatch the moment I sat on the couch. An internet window popped up in the air. This world’s main search engine was called Neighbor. The interface looked no different from what I was used to. First, I looked up Chae Nayun. What Kim Suho said and how Chae Nayun reacted were indeed strange.

[Chae Nayun] (Hero cadet) Family – Father: Chae Shinhyuk, Older Brother: Chae Jinyoon Education — Military Agent Academy Rank 4 — Currently attending Military Hero Academy (Cube)

“So what’s the problem?”

Chae Jinyoon. It’s not like he was dead or missing, so why were they so worked up? I tilted my head and looked up Chae Jinyoon. Then my jaws dropped.

“Huh?"

[Chae Shinhyuk’s son, Chae Jinyoon, is in critical condition from a djinn attack. The djinn suppression operation, Fireflake, succeeded… However, rookie hero Chae Jinyoon fell into a coma.]

I couldn’t understand these headlines.

“What?”

Djinn suppression operation, Fireflake. I knew what it was. It was the first operation that made Chae Jinyoon famous. He would’ve been promoted to an intermediate rank hero after successfully leading this operation and rescuing three comrades. Chae Nayun, who was only 13, bragged about her older brother who suddenly became famous. No, that was how things should’ve been.

“What the hell is going on?”

I couldn’t take it all in and took out my laptop. There must be a hint somewhere.

[Thanks to your high luck, the light bullet has dealt critical damage to the Dog of Lucius.] [With great luck, your understanding of the light attribute has increased!] [With extreme luck, you have absorbed part of the magic power from the light bullet! Your magic power has increased by 0.03 points.] [You have dealt critical damage to a more powerful enemy. The skill, Sharpshooter Reversal, has been added to your gift, Master Sharpshooter.] [You have gained 131 SP.]

I received many pleasant alerts, but turned them all off and looked for my settings book. No, I didn’t need to look for it. This settings book was something I wrote. Since what happened today wasn’t part of my setting, looking for it was useless. However, I received a message on my laptop.

[Chae Jinyoon – In the original story, he was Chae Nayun’s reliable older brother and Kim Suho’s trustworthy helper. However, it has been judged that the main character has too many helpers and this setting was changed.]

[Modified setting – Chae Jinyoon received a devil’s brand and fell into a coma in his first hero mission 4 years ago. Currently, he is a devil’s seed.]

[Note: Modified settings will appear as messages once the target, Kim Hajin, notices the change.]

I stared at the screen with a gaping mouth until saliva drooped. I barely managed to eke out a voice.

“Fucking…”

That was all I could say. If this message was true, this was an extremely serious problem. The devil’s seed was something that only appeared in the latter half of the novel. If it sprouted, the current Kim Suho was nowhere near strong enough. A master rank hero could stop it, but most had left the secular world. Even if high rank heroes came together, a few of them would surely die. That couldn’t happen because their strength would be needed later in the novel. Everything would go awry if this devil’s seed sprouted. Of course, things had already gone awry, but it was still manageable. Then what could I do? There was only one solution.

“He needs to die.”

Thankfully, the devil’s seed had an incubation period of 5-6 years. Four years had already passed. Chae Jinyoon had to be killed before the devil inside him woke up. The problem was who would kill him? I couldn’t hire an assassin. Even if I offered billions, no mercenary would be crazy enough to kill a chaebol. Not to mention, no one would believe me because the devil’s seed was undetectable. I would surely be labeled as crazy.

He needed to die and there was only one way.

“I have to kill him.”

I closed my eyes with a deep sigh. Although Chae Jinyoon was an idiot when it came to his sister, he was a reliable friend and helper to Kim Suho. In this world, he had become a character that needed to die. This shocked me, but I didn’t have the luxury of not doing anything. I stood up. My body felt heavy. My sense of familiarity towards this world transformed into greater anxiety. Perhaps thanks to my high perseverance, I headed to the training room instead of going to bed.