The World I Knew Came Crashing Down
Cracks tore open, linking this world to the otherworld. At the same time, magic—or rather, Diiha, the divine power—began flowing into our reality as well. Yeah… up to that point, everything was still manageable. But then anyone and everyone, good or bad, could claim that power if they wanted it. Even though the chaos has died down since those early days, there was a time when all sorts of thugs ran wild while the authorities were stretched thin. The smarter ones among them took on D~E rank rifts, turned themselves into small-to-medium companies, and are still hanging on today. They wear suits and pretend to be ordinary salarymen, but deep down they’re no different from neighborhood gangsters. I’m not trying to stir up hate—plenty of companies aren’t like that—but at least from what Elphy experienced while working, the whole thing left a bad taste in her mouth, so I can’t exactly say anything nice about it.
“Hey… that team leader guy, Lee Chaeman or whatever his name is— is he still creeping on you? Still asking you out for drinks?”
“…”
I’m worried sick that this lovely slave of mine might get into some kind of trouble, so her master is personally asking, and this bastard is just sitting in the passenger seat, fast asleep.
“Mmm… pizza for dinner tonight… hehe…”
“…”
Pizza, my ass. Is the only thing in your head food and sex? She can’t even notice her master’s worries and just sleeps peacefully like that—it’s really frustrating. Ha… well, I guess she’s tired from work too. So I just drove on with a blank expression until something from this morning suddenly came back to me.
(A sex tape…)
(If we really run out of money… would we actually have to do something like that…?)
“…”
Every time the light turned red and I hit the brakes, that filthy thought kept circling in my head. A former soldier wasting away from some unknown illness, a demon whose social standing is on par with a criminal… maybe our only salvation really is a sex video?
(Distributing obscene material is illegal, but…)
(What if we upload it to X-Hub pretending someone else posted it for promotion…?)
(Sell it through Telegram or Patreon…?)
The actress is literally a walking embodiment of sex, and I’m not exactly lacking downstairs either, so the visuals might turn out better than expected…? I hated myself for even thinking that, but Elphy, completely unaware, just kept sleeping soundly.
“Hey… hey!”
“Mmm…? Huh? What…?”
“We’re almost there. Wipe your drool.”
“Huu… already?”
“…”
Yeah. We were already here. How the hell did this gluttonous, sleepy demon manage to hold it together when we first met…? I sighed and looked around for a place to park when I noticed the crowd gathered in front of the rift. A worry I hadn’t considered before suddenly surfaced.
“Hey. That B-rank team leader who keeps bothering you—is he still at it?”
“Huh? Oh… Lee Chaeman? He tries sometimes, but it’s fine. I just ignore him.”
“…”
Ignore him, huh… Yeah, that should work. But because C and B ranks are full of those kinds of thugs, even though Elphy said it was fine, something still felt off in the back of my mind.
“…Really? Still, if anything happens, contact me. My fists might be rusty, but my shooting’s still sharp.”
“Hehe~ Really? And this is coming from the guy who gets winded after a 100-meter dash?”
“…”
Shit… I had nothing to say to that fact, but a man’s got to keep his pride, right? I confidently told Elphy there was nothing to worry about, and the black-haired demon just smirked and opened the car door.
“Yeah, our master is so reliable~ I’ll be back, so see you tonight.”
“Ah… take care.”
“…”
Normally I would’ve gone home, done the dishes, hung up the laundry, cleaned the house, then powered up the game console in a daze and grinded dungeons. But today I wasn’t heading home.
“Haa… damn it, Minhyuk. The world’s gotten weird in just one year. Something’s definitely wrong…”
Staring at the green grass, I muttered to myself like I was complaining to someone. I poured whiskey into a paper cup and carefully sprinkled it over the grass in a circle. It was a quiet, sparsely populated public cemetery. This was supposed to be the place where a headless corpse should’ve been buried, but knowing there was nothing under that gravestone, I couldn’t even force a smile. Only after pouring half the whiskey did I manage to close the lid.
“Sorry, you bastard…”
“I should’ve at least recovered your body. The guy who called himself your closest brother couldn’t even do that…”
Once again, I apologized. Apologized that I couldn’t even buy the whiskey he liked because I had no money, only this cheap stuff. I sighed and brushed the dust off his gravestone.
(Has it really been a year since that happened…?)
(If I went back a year and told people what was coming… how many would’ve believed me?)
Looking up at the cloudless sky, I recalled what happened that day. Suddenly, unknown rifts appeared all over the world and unidentified monsters poured out. At first, people tried to stop them with missiles and tanks, but the single rift quickly multiplied beyond anyone’s ability to handle. In the terror of rifts appearing anywhere without warning, we were mobilized just seventy-two hours after the first one opened. Operation name: 72. That was the last operation I was ever part of.
They gathered mercenaries with recent combat experience for what they called the “Bridge” operation—an expedition to scout and investigate the otherworld suspected to be behind all this. I was the team leader. The first human to set foot in the otherworld… and the only survivor.
It was one hardship after another. First thirty minutes, then an hour, then two. The plan had been to gradually increase the operation time, but the Bridge closed just one minute after we started, forcing us into an unplanned exploration of that world. Yeah… if it weren’t for that old man, we probably would’ve died there. Back then neither side knew the other was also suffering from rifts, so we wandered for two days, nerves on edge, never knowing what might jump out at us. I was on the verge of collapsing when I met my savior—the old man who reached out to me in what felt like hell itself and said “Hello.” I still can’t forget him.
(Old man… what exactly was your connection to this world?)
(Did you… know this was going to happen?)
The old man we called Veron. He was the only person we met in the otherworld who could speak our languages—English, Japanese, Spanish, and Korean. The problem was his level was about that of a four-year-old, but thanks to him I’m still alive today.
(Old man…)
(…)
There were so many things I wanted to ask, so many drinks I wanted to share, but everyone except Elphy and me died on that rainy day… With a bitter expression, I poured the rest of the whiskey on the grave and stood up. Thinking about it now wouldn’t change anything. The dead don’t come back.
***
In just one year the world changed at terrifying speed. What saved humanity from the brink of extinction were beings who called themselves gods. They wiped out every monster rampaging across the planet and then spoke to us.
— Ahem…! We are gods!
— We used a bit of our power, but it’s still impossible to catch every monster pouring out of the demon realm~!
— We need your strength!!
Was that dialogue deliberately made to sound ridiculous? No. That’s exactly what the gods said, without a single lie mixed in. If you go on YouTube right now, you can still see that day’s events in a huge video. It wasn’t filmed by anyone else. The beings claiming to be gods uploaded it themselves… Yeah. At this point you probably have some idea of just how insane the world became over that one year.
Exchanges with the new world called the otherworld. At the same time, the establishment of an adventurer/hunter system based on magic and divine power. It all happened in the blink of an eye, with no one opposing it, and melted into our daily lives as naturally as a game. If you just believed in a god, they would grant you the power of magic. Who would refuse something given for free? And if you used that power to close dungeons—or rifts, as they were called—you’d steadily build achievements, your rank would rise, and fame and money would naturally follow.
— Behold!! This brilliant flame magic?
— How about it, isn’t it cool? So if you become my slave right now—no, wait!!
— Th-that’s not it. Ah! Right!! Become my follower!! Then this brilliant flame magic…!!!!
“…”
Silently waiting for Elphy, I stared blankly at the advertisement playing on the giant electronic billboard. Was that big-breasted goddess deliberately going for that kind of concept, or was she actually an idiot? There was a time when I seriously considered becoming a devout follower just because of her looks, but for some reason I could never use magic even after swearing to believe in a god. Why? Was it because I did impure things like masturbating to her? I even tried declaring I’d believe in a male god instead, but the result was the same. No matter which god I tried to believe in, nothing changed.
(…Is my faith lacking?)
(But I believe like crazy. How could anyone not believe after seeing ads like that?)
Aside from people who deliberately refused to make the oath for some reason, I was probably the only case like this… But thinking about it again wouldn’t change anything. The fact that I couldn’t use magic remained the same, which meant I was still living as a househusband, a kept man, for the past year. All I could do was lament my fate while waiting for my cohabiting partner.
(…She’s late. Nothing happened, right?)
It was only an E-rank rift that didn’t even count as a proper dungeon, and Elphy was in the very back, so nothing should’ve gone wrong. Still, she was taking longer than expected, and worry was starting to creep in when the rift finally closed. Among the people coming out, I spotted a familiar face walking toward me. It was time to go home… if only that guy following right behind Elphy wasn’t there.