Kim Si-Hun’s world went white. His breathing turned erratic and his head was burning up.

He wanted to call Oh Kang-Woo but his voice was not coming out. His vision was blurring and his legs lost their strength.

Si-Hun continued to ask himself in his head.

Kang-Woo’s words that had saved him swirled around his head. Those words had been what linked the two of them; it was proof of the fact that they were more than sworn brothers.

Why was Kang-Woo saying that to Kim Tae-Hyun? It was as if Kang-Woo no longer needed Si-Hun.

They had decimated the Demon Cult and battled Satan, the Four Heavenly Kings, and even the Constellations of Evil together. They had fought frantically across countless battlefields to protect the world from the clutches of evil. So why was someone who had gotten stronger only because he was lucky, taking Si-Hun’s spot as Kang-Woo’s little brother?

Si-Hun gritted his teeth. A blazing emotion welled up from within him.

Si-Hun thought about the difference between him and Tae-Hyun. Why was Kang-Woo paying more attention to Tae-Hyun than Si-Hun?

He did not take long to figure out the answer.

That was the only thing that Tae-Hyun had that Si-Hun did not, and what was needed most in these dire times.

Kang-Woo had sacrificed everything to save the world. He understood how dependable one who possessed Deific Essence was when the world was in crisis.

If that were not the case, Kang-Woo would not pay this much attention to Tae-Hyun.

“Haha,” Si-Hun laughed dryly.

The answer that he had come to was disheartening.

Kang-Woo had reluctantly been babying Tae-Hyun and answering his childish needs because he needed to do whatever it took to have him as an ally for the sake of the world.

Nothing else would explain Kang-Woo’s behavior. Si-Hun gritted his teeth and walked away from the meeting room where Kang-Woo was sitting.

“Deific Essence,” Si-Hun muttered.

He needed Deific Essence to make Kang-Woo look his way again and to stay as his little brother.

He heard the cursed words he had long since forgotten, which had shackled his life for years.

“I need… Deific Essence.”

Si-Hun staggered down the hallway.

***

Kang-Woo slowly closed his eyes in the silent meeting room.

Si-Hun needed a unique form of stimulation to surpass the wall he had reached. He needed something that would reawaken his past trauma.

The trauma that shackled him was what drove his awakening.

Si-Hun’s trauma and his desire to be acknowledged by the most precious people in his life were out of the ordinary for most people. However, for Si-Hun, who had been abandoned by his father, harassed by his older brother, and whose life itself had been denied by the most important person in his life, it was more important than anything.

Kang-Woo remained silent. He sighed and put his hand on his forehead. “... Maybe I should’ve used another way.”

Regret belatedly swept over him. Although Kang-Woo had done it to help Si-Hun awaken Deific Essence, he also thought that it was a little excessive.

It was easy for Kang-Woo to give Si-Hun Deific Essence; he just needed to make Si-Hun his incarnation. Just like how Layla was able to use a portion of Gaia’s Deific Essence, Si-Hun would be able to use a portion of Kang-Woo’s Deific Essence as well.

Kang-Woo would’ve made Si-Hun his incarnation if Si-Hun himself had no chance of acquiring Deific Essence on his own, but it was more than possible for Si-Hun to acquire it on his own. No, it was a wonder why Si-Hun had still not managed to.

Si-Hun needed something that would allow him to surpass the wall blocking his growth.

If it was the Si-Hun that Kang-Woo knew, he would easily be able to surpass his limits and acquire Deific Essence.

Si-Hun would surely spread his wings and grow to astronomical heights.

“Deific Essence that one awakens on their own is completely different from regular Deific Essence.”

Deific Essence was a fraudulent power, but there was a massive difference between those who were born with Deific Essence without any cost and those who acquired Deific Essence on their own.

He would be reduced to someone with borrowed power despite having the potential to become a god on their own.

“I can’t let that happen.”

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. Although he felt bad for bringing back Si-Hun’s trauma, he had no other choice. Abnormal phenomena within Gates were growing; it had even reached a point where an unknown item that Tae-Hyun was wearing appeared from within it. Si-Hun needed Deific Essence as soon as possible.

Kang-Woo thought about his other party members but shook his head.

Since Si-Hun had once fallen because Kang-Woo had pushed him too far, Kang-Woo needed to dial it back a little.

He needed to tell Balrog and Layla to watch what they said to Si-Hun since those two met Si-Hun the most often.

Kang-Woo would then appear to make some sort of tearjerking performance.

“As for my lines… Yeah, let’s go with that.”

Kang-Woo was already cringing from the thought but it couldn’t be helped.

Considering what he had done to Si-Hun, he was more than willing to blurt out cringeworthy lines; after all, Kang-Woo was ultimately the one who made Si-Hun’s trauma resurface.

“That aside.”

Kang-Woo looked down at his muted smartphone on the table. It was filled with messages from Tae-Hyun.

Kang-Woo did not dislike it, but he felt that it was a bit too excessive.

Tae-Hyun felt like someone who couldn’t hold back his joy of being able to work together with his idol.

“Ngh.”Whatever the case, Tae-Hyun was exhausting to deal with.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

Kang-Woo needed to stay with Tae-Hyun until he figured out exactly what the that Tae-Hyun had obtained was.

Kang-Woo closed his eyes as he thought about Si-Hun and Tae-Hyun. He once again felt like he had flowers (stamens) in each hand.

He clenched his fists and shook his head.

“Darling… Darling…”

Kang-Woo’s sorrowful voice filled the meeting room.

***

“” Si-Hun panted heavily.

The training room had become a mess. Si-Hun took a staggering step.

“Heavenly Dragon…”

He squeezed out what little remained of his Qi and raised his sword made with blue sword energy. However, the formless sword made with sword energy dissipated into thin air.

“Haaa, haaa,” Si-Hun panted as he watched his sword vanishing. “Kurgh.”

His knees buckled from the exhaustion of pulling out too much Qi.

“No…”

He couldn’t collapse here. He put strength into his buckling knees and forcibly stood back up.

Si-Hun raised his hands again as he bit his lip. A faint blue light gathered into the shape of a sword.

He needed Deific Essence to stay as Kang-Woo’s little brother.

“Fuuu…”

Si-Hun took a deep breath in; a small amount of Qi within nature entered him through his breath.

He had a feeling that it was the final gateway that he needed to pass through to acquire Deific Essence.

It was a common stage in martial arts. Si-Hun had read hundreds of books about its theory that he had borrowed from Tan Wuchen.

“I have no idea.”

However, he couldn’t even begin to grasp what a sword of the mind was. Si-Hun, who had been growing without any barriers thanks to his extraordinary talent, was having a hard time manifesting an extremely vague concept.

“Haaa.”

Si-Hun clenched his hair and turned around. His knees buckled once again.

Si-Hun frowned aggressively.

“Huh? Si-Hun?”

Tae-Hyun entered the training room as Si-Hun was about to move his trembling hands.

Si-Hun glared at Tae-Hyun in silence.

“Mm. It looks like you’re training until quite late.”

“Yes.”

“Haha. That’s the Sword Dragon for you. I should learn a thing or two from you.”

Tae-Hyun smiled brightly at Si-Hun but it carried a tiny amount of ridicule as well.

Si-Hun turned around in silence.

“Anyway, have you seen Kang-Woo hyung?”

Si-Hun tilted his head in wonder, maintaining his frown. “Weren’t you with him today?”

“No. We were planning on meeting, but… he seemed pretty busy.”

Si-Hun remained silent.

Si-Hun smiled unbeknownst to himself from the fact that Tae-Hyun and Kang-Woo were not able to meet up. Noticing that, Tae-Hyun glared at Si-Hun in anger.“Come to think of it… I heard from Kang-Woo hyung that the reason why you weren’t able to beat me back then was because of the thing called Deific Essence.”

“...”

“Haha. I also heard that the only Players in Guardians who have Deific Essence are me and Kang-Woo hyung.” Tae-Hyun continued leisurely, “It seems… hyung and I go well with each other, don’t you think?”

“...”

Si-Hun frowned aggressively.