A Name No One May Call

No, choosing to join hands with Seolya wasn’t merely “not a bad option.”

It was rational.

Of course, it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, but that was just my personal emotional issue….

“You call him by name.”

At Seolya’s abrupt remark, my thoughts halted.

What is he talking about?

“Pardon?”

“You addressed Jeok Seobaek by his name.”

Did I?

Maybe I did.

‘That was careless.’

Still, it didn’t seem like something worth paying that much attention to.

“Are you close to him?”

Apparently, Seolya thought differently.

Rather than dodging and deepening suspicion, I decided it would be better to clear up any misunderstanding.

“Well, um, we’re from the same city. Though we grew up in different castles.”

“I heard you shared a room with him in the dormitory.”

That’s true, but—

“…We barely lived in that dorm in the first place.”

I retorted reflexively, then paused.

‘Huh?’

We only stayed there a few days. Why did we even need a dormitory to begin with?

‘…Come to think of it, doesn’t the Bran Central Center itself have far too many useless facilities?’

It hardly even appears in the game, but judging by its scale alone, it’s unnecessarily large.

Almost as if it was built for another purpose.

“I heard that you are Jeok Seobaek’s half-brother.”

Seolya’s words wiped my previous thoughts clean in an instant.

It wasn’t an impossible rumor to uncover.

But still….

“Did you investigate me?”

I genuinely didn’t understand.

“Was I worth that effort?”

The question slipped out before I sighed.

“That was foolish of me to ask.”

“Foolish?”

“Yes. A foolish question.”

Yesterday and today alike, I wore my bare face.

The player character was an underachiever whose path into Bran was unclear—investigating someone like that would be strange from any angle.

And yet.

“You were here yesterday.”

Seolya had been in this very spot yesterday.

Naturally, he would have heard the conversation between Jeok-o and me.

“If you heard what we said, then you must know.”

“That you are 13?”

“That’s right.”

It had been an obvious conversation.

Too obvious not to notice.

“You work fast. A day—no, just a few hours—and you finished digging into my background.”

“It wasn’t an investigation rushed in a few hours.”

“…Excuse me?”

I had been half-listening while denying the sibling rumor when I froze mid-sentence.

“What did you just say?”

I stared at him. Surely I misheard.

“I said it wasn’t something I investigated hastily in a few hours.”

“Wait. That means….”

“I have known that you are 13 for quite some time.”

My entire body tensed in an instant.

‘He knew before yesterday?’

How?

‘How else!’

The answer was obvious.

“Are you saying you’ve been observing me for a long time?”

What other possibility was there?

“…First, thank you for helping me yesterday. To you, it may have been no more than saving a passing insect, but for me, it wasn’t. I will repay that debt.”

As I spoke, I pressed a hand to my forehead and forced myself to think.

An alliance with Seolya is my best route.

So then….

“In any way necessary.”

Calm him. Guide this in a favorable direction.

“However, you need not concern yourself with me anymore. The rumor that Jeok Seobaek and I are brothers is baseless nonsense. So from now on, absolutely—”

“Are you flustered?”

I fell silent.

My head cooled slowly.

“Perhaps I am.”

Only then did I realize how heated I had been.

‘Why?’

“Just a moment.”

I informed Seolya and steadied my breathing.

Seolya Route Unlocked: (1/?)

Imok Route Unlocked: (1/?)

Jeok-o Route Unlocked: (2/?)

Bencel Route Unlocked

Damn it.

I opened the status window to cool down, and it only made things worse.

I woke up to this mess today.

‘They call it a trash game, and now even the convenience is trash.’

What are those numbers? And what’s with the ‘?’

‘And the top three quietly increased.’

Jeok-o, I can at least guess why after yesterday.

But the others?

Especially Imok—why? How?

‘I haven’t even exchanged a word with that guy!’

I should just ask Caliban to delete this feature.

If he refuses, at least blur it out. That shouldn’t be hard.

“Anyway, I may be repeating myself, but this is important. The sibling rumor is false.”

First, stabilize the situation.

“……”

“It really is.”

Why is he reacting like that when I’m telling the truth?

“I know Jeok Seobaek somewhat. He is hot-tempered, yes, but not excessively so. He would not let irritation at the moment ruin something important.”

At first, I didn’t grasp Seolya’s point.

On the surface, he was right.

If Jeok-o were that reckless, he wouldn’t have built such influence—even with a divine mark.

“He should have noticed me yesterday. Yet he did not.”

Only then did I understand.

“If what you say were truly a baseless rumor, would he have been so shaken?”

“If he misunderstood on his own, what can I do?”

“Misunderstandings have causes.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

Like before, he felt like a wall.

Not like Caliban.

A different kind of barrier.

[N/S: Seolya’s expression as he looked at me grew strange.]

The Seolya character route script proceeded on its own.

A new script. Rare, even.

[N/S: Anyone familiar with this man, whose expression barely changed, would have been shocked. The ever-guarded Seolya was feeling something dangerously close to pity toward another.]

Excuse me?

[N/S: In a way, the keywords would have provoked Seolya. Half-brother. Discrimination. The exploited and the exploiter.]

I shot to my feet—then staggered.

Just stood up too fast, that’s all.

“I have something to ask. Are you being threatened?”

He caught my arm to steady me.

His voice was bitter. Uncharacteristically so.

“No. You’re mistaken.”

“It does not appear that way to me.”

No. You really are mistaken.

“Yesterday was simple. Jeok Seobaek dislikes me. Probably has for a long time. The reason isn’t what you’re imagining. People sometimes just dislike others instinctively. Most people dislike insects. Most post-apocalypse creatures dislike humanity. Liking them is the minority. That’s all. Jeok Seobaek simply… dislikes me.”

“On Day 2, you transferred the territory you struggled to obtain to Jeok Seobaek.”

My face hardened reflexively.

From a third-party perspective, my actions would be hard to understand.

Even Jeok-o himself had thought so.

“In return, you received something absurdly low in value. Worse, it was compensation you requested. You looked like someone accustomed to being exploited and inadequately repaid. For a very long time.”

It wasn’t strange for Seolya to misunderstand.

It wasn’t.

“Wait.”

“You gained no status in exchange. Despite being the foremost contributor to his ascension to the rank of Count. And in his territory, there was no trace of you at all.”

That’s because I never even entered his faction….

“Then I learned you had entered Jungbaek’s camp.”

“Time. Time.”

If this continued, there’d be no alliance, no answers. I raised my hand.

“I wished to ask.”

It didn’t work.

[N/S: Seolya’s gaze followed me. It was persistent. Dark. As if he himself felt self-reproach.]

“Was helping Jungbaek your will—or Seobaek’s command?”

“Time, I said. The floor is mine—”

“If the latter, then you are ruined to the root. Jungbaek—OZ—is dangerous. He could violate you or slice you into tens of thousands of thin strips of flesh simply because he is bored—or because he desires it. Seobaek knows this.”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“But if it was your own will to enter the Central Territory.”

He looked straight at me.

I frowned.

I no longer felt like we were even having a conversation.

‘It feels like talking to a screen.’

Of course.

The character on the screen speaks freely, and my words are hollow murmurs.

“I could tell you that you chose wrongly.”

So I ignored him in turn and reached my own conclusion.

‘Seolya knows I’m 13.’

He said he knew even before yesterday.

‘He’s been watching me for a long time.’

I had assumed he followed Jeok-o to the dormitory.

But maybe he had followed me.

‘Did he come because of me?’

A chill ran down my spine.

‘And the reason he’s been observing me.’

The answer might lie in what he said earlier.

A guess, but still.

Then he offered this:

“…And I can give you a chance to correct it.”

Emotionless words.

Yet immense goodwill.

“I retract what I once said. Come under me. I owe you a debt. For a time, I can look after you.”

Not a conditional alliance.

He said he would look after me.

In other words—protect me.

From Jeok-o.

From OZ.

“….”

Perhaps my stare unsettled him. He stopped speaking.

We met each other’s gaze.

[N/S: Seolya hesitated. He seemed slightly uncomfortable with the curiosity he felt. Yet he asked anyway.]

“What should I call you?”

His eyes dropped.

To where I had just pushed away his hand.

I gently removed the arm that had steadied me and smiled.

“There is no need for you to know.”

“So Seobaek ordered you to answer that way.”

[N/S: Seolya’s elder brother despised him. He had never once properly called him by name. In secret, he addressed Seolya as Hyangrang—a grotesque centipede creature with a human face. When it grew large, it devoured people and could even assume the form of its victims.]

I think I understood now.

Why he watched me.

Why he extended goodwill.

“No.”

“….”

“It’s simply that you will have no reason to call me.”

“I….”

I don’t know.

An alliance with Seolya is not a bad path.

It’s comfortable.

A highway.

But I decided against it.

It’s better this way. For both of us.

‘Better how?’

For Seolya, he avoids a losing bargain born of misunderstanding.

And for me—

“Do you know the concept of name taboo?”

—I no longer have to endure this inexplicable discomfort.

“A king has a name, yet none may speak it. Even characters resembling it are avoided.”

Seolya paused, watching me.

As if asking what I meant.

“There is no need to know a name you will never be allowed to call.”

I said it plainly.

“This time, I will become king.”

“So there is no need for you to know my name.”

Alliance proposal—revoked.

Looks like I’m going solo again.

Honestly?

It feels damn refreshing.