Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: A Brother's Embrace
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"Huh? Su... No, bro."
On the way home.
I ran into Myung-un, who had just finished his late evening training, right at the front door.
It looked like the title "Supreme One" had stuck to his tongue.
Yong-un flashed a smile and threw an arm around Myung-un's shoulders.
"Who told you to call me Supreme One? You're my one and only little brother. Call me bro, no matter where we are."
"Bro..."
"Let's head in."
Myung-un gave a bashful smile in response to Yong-un's grin.
And with arms linked, they stepped inside.
"Looks like everyone's already asleep."
It was late in the evening, so the family was already in bed.
Myung-un naturally started moving more cautiously. He glanced at Yong-un once before quietly heading to his room.
But Yong-un softly called out to him.
"Myung-un."
"Yeah?"
"How about a quiet drink with your bro?"
Not everywhere's like this, and Yong-un's case was special, but even brothers could feel awkward sharing a drink.
It was natural for grown brothers to knock back some booze together, but in modern families, that wasn't the norm for most.
Still, Myung-un grinned at Yong-un's suggestion and gave a thumbs-up.
"Sounds good."
The empty spot left by his long-absent brother.
He hadn't shown it on his face, but Myung-un had missed Yong-un terribly.
When he heard Yong-un was back, even patrolling those gates he hated so much felt enjoyable—like he was living in a dream.
And now.
He fully realized it wasn't a dream. His brother was really home.
'Drinking with bro...'
He'd dreamed of meeting Yong-un countless times, but clinking glasses together? Never crossed his mind.
"Here."
Yong-un lightly poured the soju Myung-un had brought into a large side plate.
Though his invitation carried a heavy weight, Myung-un couldn't hide his shock at Yong-un's outrageous move of filling the huge plate to the brim.
"Bro? Not there—here."
Myung-un held up a small shot glass.
"I hoped it wasn't serious... but you mean it."
Myung-un snickered at Yong-un's furrowed brow.
"Doesn't suit your taste?"
"Of course not. You can tell from the smell it's low-proof stuff. How could real men drink that from tiny cups like teacups?"
Myung-un couldn't wipe the smile off his face at Yong-un's bold words.
Yong-un was Yong-un, through and through.
Even drinking, he was the guy everyone in Unwoo Guild and beyond called Supreme One.
"We'll drink from these."
He poured into Myung-un's plate, then dumped the remaining half bottle into his own.
Myung-un nodded, figuring it didn't matter how they drank it.
Then, as Yong-un raised his sloshing plate high, Myung-un unconsciously followed suit.
"To our family."
"To our family."
Clink.
The plates rang out with a clear chime as they touched.
Yong-un brought his full plate straight to his lips and downed it in one go.
Myung-un followed, about to set his down when he jolted in surprise and chugged the rest.
For the first time in his life, he'd one-shot half a bottle of soju.
"Kuh..."
The bitter aftertaste stabbed his nose, the buzz hitting him hard and fast.
No wonder overdoing it was scary.
"Hah, kid."
Myung-un's face flushed red in seconds.
Yong-un chuckled at his brother's vulnerable display.
"Reminds me of the first time I became Demon Head of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Spear Demon, my commander under heaven, made me drink Zhuye Qing."
"Zhuye Qing? That's booze too?"
It was booze.
Strong liquor several times harsher than soju—couldn't even compare.
Yet he'd downed who-knows-how-many glasses just for becoming Spear Demon's subordinate Demon Head.
"Can't compare to that rotgut. You look just like I did back then."
He poured more soju into the plates.
Back then, he'd been so consumed by revenge he shouldn't have survived.
Now he vowed to live for his family, burying it as a memory. Looking back, it was a miracle he'd made it.
"Hic!"
Myung-un started hiccuping.
Yong-un smiled and reached out.
"Huh?"
He pressed his finger to Myung-un's forehead and circulated his demonic energy.
It raced through his meridians, suppressing the rising buzz and expelling it outward.
A sour, acrid stench escaped through Myung-un's skin and out the window.
"Whoa."
The drunken haze vanished, his dizzy vision cleared, and the hiccups stopped.
Myung-un stared in awe at the impossible feat.
"Bro, you're amazing. I wanna be like you."
Yong-un smirked at the genuine admiration and went to sip from his plate.
"Bro didn't get this power easy either..."
But Yong-un froze, glass to his lips, at the sorrow in Myung-un's voice.
"Bro, you've been through a lot."
His brother's heartfelt words made Yong-un's eyes tremble.
Not when fighting the world's top S-Rank God of War.
Not battling viscount-level demons.
Not even when his subordinates nearly died in Demonus.
For the first time, Yong-un's unwavering gaze shook.
'Bro, you've been through a lot.'
His heart, unshaken by anything—not even the Demon King or Royal Class hunters—pounded wildly at one sentence from Myung-un.
"I had to say it. I missed you so much, bro. Welcome home."
Myung-un smiled.
Softer than any before, yet more real than any Yong-un remembered.
His heart raced, blood surging, a tingling rush through his body.
In the end, he set the plate down untouched.
Staring at his dazed reflection in the sloshing booze, he bowed his head.
"Me too..."
How long had he bottled it up?
His churning emotions, pounding heart.
He poured every bit into those words.
"I missed you... so, so much."
He looked up, and the warmth of Myung-un's words turned the tremor in his chest to teardrops sliding down his cheek.
'You've been through a lot.'
The unexpected punch to his heart lingered, filling his eyes with more tears.
"I missed my family... it was so hard... really."
"Bro..."
He'd thought revenge had killed all his emotions.
Pain was a luxury that didn't aid vengeance.
Blood and broken bones were just part of getting stronger.
From Demon Head to Great Demon, Great Demon to Demon Commander.
As Sword Demon, he'd accepted it all as normal, the only reason he lived—to avenge.
'But apparently not.'
For the first time, Yong-un—who could control his body and surroundings—couldn't control his tears.
All those "necessities" weren't true.
Meeting his family revived his emotions, making him realize it.
And those buried feelings, thought dead...
Exploded at Myung-un's words.
'It was hard. So hard I wanted to die...'
Emotions piled up growing as a slaughter demon in the Heavenly Demon Cult.
'I was scared... so...'
The fear when he tremblingly knocked on the Cult's door for his slum family's revenge.
'I missed you... so much...'
The loneliness arriving in the martial world via a gate for the first time.
All forgotten feelings erupted.
"Bro..."
Seeing Yong-un's tears, Myung-un grimaced and hugged him tight.
He witnessed an unimaginable side from the unbreakable Yong-un.
Crying like a child, emotions bursting like a dam breaking—visible even in Myung-un's eyes.
'But why...'
Instead of shock at Yong-un's weakness, guilt filled Myung-un first.
Yong-un's pain pricked his own tear ducts.
Just seeing the tears hurt.
"It's okay... everything's okay."
Tears in his eyes, Myung-un patted Yong-un's back.
That massive frame, once holding his hand as a kid, now accepted pats from grown Myung-un's palm.
A simple pat eased Yong-un's painful tears.
As if it absorbed the pain.
"You're human too, bro. Mom said bottling it up makes you sick. If you wanna cry, cry."
Sobs joined the heaving.
"Yeah, let it out. And bro, you're not alone anymore."
Was it from hearing about Yong-un's martial world life?
Myung-un shook his head firmly.
'No.'
He already knew the reason.
And he told Yong-un.
"You're... our family."
Those words shattered every dam Yong-un had built.
It felt like endless explosions.
But strangely.
The emotions he thought would kill him shrank with each blast.
Myung-un's pats reduced the fury.
'Family.'
The final word touched every thread, triggering a massive eruption.
Drip. Drip.
As tears fell and the explosion faded...
The brothers' night slowly passed.
"Get up."
He didn't even know how the night passed.
Come morning, Yong-un woke Myung-un.
"Ugh... huh?"
Was last night forgotten?
The vulnerable Yong-un was back to the Supreme One, forcibly rousing his brother.
"I've been neglecting you, my family. Gonna make it up from now on."
Still half-asleep and groggy, Myung-un didn't get it.
He scratched his head and yawned hugely.
"Yaaawn, what?"
But only for a moment.
Yong-un smiled faintly and grabbed Myung-un by the scruff.
"Huh?"
With a smile that sent chills for some reason, Yong-un said,
"I'll remodel you to the max of what I can do."
Along with the creepy word "remodel."
Before Myung-un could respond, they vanished from the room.
'Born with a silver spoon, huh.'
People who inherit the best from birth, standing ahead without effort— that's what they called gold spoons in this world, Yong-un had heard.
So he resolved.
To make Myung-un one too.
'Not parents, but a brother’s still family, right?'
Yong-un's hand rested on the center of Myung-un's spine, who sat cross-legged.
A calm, light motion, but the ground around them was anything but.
Roooar!
Whiiir!
Thick dark demonic energy swirled with crimson-black, forming a vortex.
At the typhoon's eye, Yong-un's palm met Myung-un's back.
"Family..."
If a hunter who could see energy were here, they'd freak out.
But Yong-un did it casually, mulling over last night's talk with a small smile.
Then, as the raging demonic energy faded, Yong-un's Red Heavenly Demonic Energy—from the post-cataclysm martial world, said to surpass even Heavenly Demon—surged with fierce waves into Myung-un's body.
Hummm.
The apocalyptic scene quieted.
The storm gone, residual winds brushed their bodies.
Yong-un's hand lifted from Myung-un's back.
"What should've been done long ago."
Yong-un stood, eyeing Myung-un still cross-legged.
Chest puffed under the clear sky, he checked the forcibly transformed Myung-un and smiled.
"We're family."
From now on, Myung-un would change 180 degrees.
Not as Unwoo Guild's Myung-un.
But as family to world S-Rank contender Yong-un.
'Feels good.'
Last night, unintended realizations.
Not even strong liquor, but mild soju drew out unknown emotions.
An ordinary day felt different under the bright sun as he relaxed his chest.
Looking at Myung-un, he said,
"Absorb it all, make it yours, and open your eyes. I've got plenty to teach you."
As if in reply, the crimson-black glow of Yong-un's unique Red Heavenly Demonic Energy softly emanated from cross-legged Myung-un's body.