The Final Sacrifice and the Echo of a Brother

“Hye……-ya?”

Thud. Roll…….

Only after Lee Hong called out his brother’s name did Lee Hye’s head finish rolling across the frozen ground.

“No, no……”

Lee Hong let out a faint, strangled groan, scrambling off the back of the monster. He stumbled forward, his hands trembling violently as he reached for Lee Hye’s severed head.

Clang.

In that brief opening, Baek Hee-do pressed his blood-slicked blade against Lee Hong’s neck. His voice was ice.

“Everyone, stay back.”

Despite the blade at his throat, Lee Hong seemed deaf to the world. He simply cradled his brother’s head against his chest, his expression vacant and shattered.

Only after seeing the Hwaryeong Sect members retreat did I find the strength to stumble toward Baek Hee-do.

“Baek Hee-do…… pour the potion, quickly. Do it now.”

“I’m fine. Are you hurt?”

“I’m not! I’m fine!”

At my hysterical shout, Baek Hee-do relented and pulled a potion from his robe, pouring it over his ruined eyes. High-grade potions were powerful, but they weren’t miracles. As I watched him with a heart full of dread, wondering if his sight would return, his expression suddenly turned savage. He reached out and shoved me behind him.

“What is it?”

“…….”

The answer didn’t come from him. It came from the distant, sharp crack of a whip.

Whish—Snap!

I froze, watching the white speck in the distance grow larger. It was Yu Sae-rim.

Dressed in his pristine white clothes, he wore his usual, practiced expression. But I could feel it—the suffocating waves of jealousy and pure, unadulterated rage radiating from him.

“If you come to me now……”

“…….”

“I will give that man a painless death.”

Yu Sae-rim had snapped. He was completely unhinged by the fact that I had abandoned him—and more so, that I had fled to Baek Hee-do.

He was beyond reason. Yet, I didn’t move toward him. Instead, I retreated further into the shadow of Baek Hee-do’s back. My heart was different now; before, my feelings were a solitary burden, but after last night, I knew we belonged to each other. I would never, even in death, go back to Yu Sae-rim.

Despite the crushing killing intent, Baek Hee-do let out a mocking laugh.

“The kid says every second spent with you is nauseating. Why don’t you just let go?”

“I will count to three. If you aren’t here by then, I am coming for you.”

“Then come. I knew this day would arrive eventually. Though, I didn’t think it would be over a man.”

“……One.”

“Shall I go first?”

Clang—!

Baek Hee-do didn’t wait. He lunged. Yu Sae-rim parried the strike without even looking at Hee-do; his eyes remained fixed on me, his gaze haunting and horrific.

“Since you didn’t come, I shall leave Baek Hee-do alive. I’ll make sure you regret this for the rest of your days.”

“……!”

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of letting you live,” Baek Hee-do spat.

Suddenly, Lee Hong—who had been held at swordpoint—seemed to snap out of his trance. Tears of blood streamed down his face. Still weeping crimson, he stood up and handed his brother’s head to his subordinates. Then, closing his eyes, he began to chant a buff.

I realized the buff was flowing toward Yu Sae-rim. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Baek Hee-do! Lee Hong is buffing him! Watch—!”

BOOM—!

Before I could finish, a single wave of Yu Sae-rim’s hand sent Baek Hee-do flying through the air. He crashed into the snow with bone-shattering force.

Baek Hee-do forced himself up, but objectively, there was no hope. Yu Sae-rim was already the superior fighter. Now, Baek Hee-do was heavily wounded, while Yu Sae-rim was empowered by Lee Hong’s fanatical buffs.

“No……”

“Don’t give up, Shaman. Because I haven’t.”

Baek Hee-do wiped the blood from his lips and tried to comfort me as I began to sob. Seeing his resolve, I could only grit my teeth.

Clang, clang, clang, BOOM—!

Baek Hee-do fought like a demon, but he only managed to leave a tiny, superficial scratch on Yu Sae-rim’s cheek. In exchange, he was systematically dismantled. His left arm—the one not holding the sword—was gone.

I saw a sharp crossbow bolt lying in the snow and grabbed it.

Drip—.

Yu Sae-rim, who had gone as far as to slice out Baek Hee-do’s tongue, tossed a piece of flesh before me as if showing off a trophy.

“…….”

My hands and feet shook, but I remained silent. I couldn’t afford to fail.

In those final moments, I watched as Baek Hee-do was picked apart like an insect. I watched the end of the man who became miserable because of me. The man I loved.

After ten minutes of butchering Baek Hee-do, Yu Sae-rim spoke calmly.

“I think it would be best if he stayed alive in this state. Is that possible, Lee Hong-nim?”

“It is no difficult task,” Lee Hong replied, wiping his bloody eyes with a cruel smile.

Squelch—!

In that exact moment, I drove the crossbow bolt into my own neck. Deeply, in one go, so that it pierced straight through to the other side.

I watched with vivid clarity as the pair-mark on Yu Sae-rim’s wrist flickered, paled, and slowly dissolved into nothing.

I think I smiled then. As for Yu Sae-rim? I don’t know. What did his expression matter to me anymore? I think he was screaming something as he rushed toward me, but……

Cradled in the arms of my captor, I called out the name of the man I loved.

“……Hee-do-ya.”

Let’s die together.

No…… let’s live together.

I’ll get revenge for you. So please, let me go back. Back to a time when I can kill Yu Sae-rim. Back to my past. I offer this life.

Let this agonizing death be undone. Let that man breathe beautifully again…… even if he forgets that he ever loved me.

The pendant on my chest began to glow with a searing, white-hot heat.

My brother and I are twelve years apart. To me, he was more like a parent than a sibling. He was a distant, towering adult.

It was the same on the day of the ‘Monster Invasion.’ Before Seong-hun Hyung opened the gate to leave, he nagged me.

‘Fold the laundry, and make sure you do the dishes.’

‘I get it, I get it……! Hyung, when are you coming back this time?’

‘It’ll take about a week.’

‘…….’

‘I’ll come back as fast as I can.’

Broken promises leave the deepest scars.

It weighed on me that I hadn’t even looked at his face when he entered the gate that day, giving only a half-hearted reply. I sent him away without seeing his face for the last time…… and it felt as though he never returned because I hadn’t looked at him.

Perhaps it was because I had always, however lazily, made sure to see his face before. That was why I became obsessed with his final footsteps.

But as I chased his trail after becoming an Awakened, I realized I didn’t know the man named Han Seong-hun at all.

‘Han Seong-hun-si? Thanks to him, twenty-five villagers were saved.’

‘You’re Seong-hun-si’s brother? Thank you so much! Truly. My younger sibling survived because of him.’

‘There wasn’t a single raid where we didn’t owe our lives to Seong-hun Hyung. I’m jealous you’re his brother. You must have learned so much from him, right?’

The “Hyung” I knew was so different from the “Han Seong-hun” people described. It was startling.

He was the epitome of a respected R-rank Awakened, with none of the laxness he showed at home. He was a leader, a man who stood at the center of the crowd, helping others and earning their genuine respect—all without ever putting on airs.

To me, he was just…… Hyung. The guy who scolded me for not doing dishes and told me to stop playing video games. The person who filled the role of a parent in a normal household.

So, if I ever found him, I wanted to ask:

Hyung, how hard was it for you?

Hyung, were you lonely?

Hyung, did you ever get angry at me for being so immature?

Hyung, how on earth did you live like that without ever letting it show?

To think that the man who carried such a heavy burden was my brother—it made me feel both ashamed and heartbroken.

That was why I had no choice but to find him. Even if everyone said he was dead, even if they called it madness, I had to follow his tracks. Because now, it was my turn to protect him.