"Where did you even come from?"

Even now, despite Melissa standing directly in front of him, part of him still felt unable to properly process the reality of the situation.

"Well..."

Melissa scratched her cheek awkwardly afterward before beginning to explain.

According to her, she had been born into a family of mages. At first, her life had been completely ordinary by modern magical standards.

She grew up with no memories or any understanding regarding Araxys, reincarnation, or her past life, simply believing herself to be another child born into a mage household.

But then, everything changed on her sixteenth birthday.

"That’s when the memories started showing up..."

At first, it had only been bits and pieces. Dreams that felt too vivid to simply be dreams. Familiar emotions toward people she had never met before. Strange flashes of memories involving another life, and another older brother whose face she could never fully remember, no matter how hard she tried.

Then gradually, the memories only became stronger.

Eventually, Melissa began piecing everything together little by little until she finally realized the horrifying truth surrounding her own existence. She remembered Araxys. She remembered the ritual. She remembered agreeing to become humanity’s salvation for Zen’s sake.

And most importantly... she remembered him.

"So after that, I tried looking for you..."

Because only now did he realize something.

"...Wait. How old are you right now?"

Melissa blinked once before answering naturally.

"Twenty-six."

Silence immediately overtook the cabin.

Because that meant it had taken her an entire decade just to find him.

Ten years spent searching endlessly throughout a world vastly different from the one she originally remembered, all while having memories from another lifetime and chasing after a brother who had hidden himself within a dimension nobody should have been capable of reaching in the first place.

And somehow, despite all of that, Melissa still found him anyway.

"...And how exactly did you find me?"

Melissa tilted her head slightly afterward as though the answer itself were obvious.

"Well..."

She pointed toward herself.

"I just followed the connection."

The moment those words left her mouth, Zen’s expression furrowed.

Because of course.

Melissa was still tied to Araxys as its anchor, while Zen himself had spent decades repeatedly exposing his existence to higher-order phenomena through reincarnation research, dimensional manipulation, and attempts at transcending the cycle.

Whether intentionally or not, his existence had already become deeply intertwined with the same forces connected to Araxys itself.

To Melissa, finding him probably felt like instinct. Like tracing a thread endlessly pulling her toward him, no matter how far he tried hiding himself from the world.

"Every time you did something with whatever it is you’ve been doing... the connection would get stronger."

Melissa slowly looked around the cabin afterward.

The countless research notes scattered everywhere. The layered magical formations embedded into the walls. The dimensional distortions fluctuating throughout the room itself.

The atmosphere surrounding the cabin no longer even resembled an ordinary human residence anymore.

"Oppa..." Melissa’s voice softened. "...You’ve been alone this whole time, haven’t you?"

"...."

Zen said nothing.

But perhaps that silence alone already answered the question better than words ever could.

The cabin itself reflected the state of his mind perfectly. Endless stacks of research notes filled every corner of the room while incomplete formulas and dimensional calculations were scattered recklessly across tables, walls, and even the floor itself.

There was no warmth here. Nor any sign that someone had truly lived here as a human being.

"...."

It did not take long before Zen completely broke down.

Before Melissa could even properly react, Zen abruptly pulled her into his arms and buried his face against her shoulder as sobs echoed.

"Oppa—"

Melissa immediately froze in surprise. This was the first time she had ever seen him like this.

A broken man who had spent more than a century drowning in guilt, isolation, fear, and obsession entirely by himself.

"I’m sorry..."

Zen’s voice cracked between each sob.

"I’m sorry..."

The words repeated over and over again afterward. For decades, Zen convinced himself he had already accepted the consequences of his decisions.

He told himself that sacrificing everything, including his own humanity, was necessary if he wanted to eventually save civilization from the Alephs.

But now, with Melissa standing before him once more, that resolve was completely shattered.

Because for the first time in over a century, Zen was forced to directly confront the one person he could never truly justify himself to.

"It’s okay, Oppa..."

Melissa’s voice softened gently afterward as she slowly wrapped her arms around him despite still looking visibly startled by his sudden breakdown.

"It’s okay..."

For several moments, she held him closely while Zen continued trembling against her shoulder like someone who had finally reached the limit. T

"I know you never meant to hurt me..."

Melissa’s fingers lightly tightened around the back of his clothes.

"And I know... you probably didn’t have much of a choice either...’

Zen immediately clenched his fists harder afterward.

For him, those words hurt even more. Because in the end, she still understood him despite everything.

"I should’ve found another way..." Zen muttered weakly between breaths. "I should’ve protected you..."

Melissa shook her head. "You tried."

"No... I convinced myself I did," he said. "In the end, I still made a choice..."

"...."

For several moments, Melissa remained completely silent afterward.

But eventually, she gently pulled back just enough to properly look up at him.

"Oppa. If you really didn’t care about me..."

The dim light throughout the cabin reflected in her eyes.

"...You wouldn’t have spent all this time drowning in guilt in the first place."

"...."

For several long minutes afterward, Melissa simply allowed her older brother to break down in her arms without saying anything further.

The cabin remained completely silent aside from the quiet sound of Zen’s uneven breathing and sobbing.

"Are you okay now?"

"...Yeah."

"Should we go get some fresh air?"

"...Ah."

Only then did he suddenly realize that for over a century, he had not gone outside even once.

"Come on, Oppa."

And because of that, Zen no longer even knew what the outside world looked like anymore.

Human civilization had continued evolving throughout the years while he remained trapped within this cabin, obsessively trying to solve an impossible problem alone.

Entire generations had already been born and died while Zen remained frozen in place mentally, endlessly chasing the same goal without ever allowing himself to move forward.

And so, for the first time in over a century, Zen finally stepped outside again.

"...Has it really been that long...?"

The world was completely unrecognizable.

The Korea Zen once known no longer resembled the nation preserved within his memories at all.

The land itself had changed drastically over the course of time, reshaped by magical influence, shifting civilizations, and the fall of old political structures following Araxys’s descent into the world.

Modern civilization, as Zen remembered it, was gone.

In its place were kingdoms. Empires, even.

City-states built upon magical infrastructure and ancient-looking architecture, vastly different from what he knew.

Massive stone structures infused with mana towered over cities while transportation systems replaced much of the technological landscape that Zen once considered ordinary.

Even humanity itself looked different now.

Over generations, the constant migration and integration of civilizations after Araxys gradually blurred the concept of race itself entirely.

The distinctions humanity once obsessed over throughout the old world had slowly faded as populations mixed endlessly across continents over the course of a century.

People no longer looked distinctly "Asian," "European," "Middle Eastern," or anything else that Zen once recognized so rigidly in the past.

Instead, humanity had become... blended.

It was common to see someone with pale skin and obviously East Asian facial features speaking with an accent originating from regions once belonging to Europe.

Others possessed darker complexions alongside naturally light hair inherited through generations of mixed bloodlines that no one even considered unusual anymore.

And strangely enough, no one appeared to care.

The world Zen originally came from had once been deeply conscious of race, nationality, ethnicity, and countless superficial differences humans used to constantly separate one another.

Yet after the collapse of modern civilization and the reconstruction of society under entirely new systems, many of those distinctions gradually lost meaning altogether.

Humanity had bigger concerns now.

Just as Araxys predicted, humanity adapted once again.

And yet, despite all the changes civilization underwent, one thing surprisingly remained.

Belief.

"...Is this the Vatican?"

Zen stared toward the enormous empire dominating the region before him. Its architecture resembled an overwhelming fusion of holy cathedrals, ancient kingdoms, and magical civilization, intertwined together into one unified authority.

An empire entirely built around religion, faith, and worship.

Massive statues depicting divine figures towered across the capital while bells echoed endlessly throughout the streets below.

Countless citizens prayed openly without shame while holy insignias covered nearly every visible structure throughout the city itself.

Perhaps religion was simply humanity’s way of coping. A method of preserving hope against a universe fundamentally too horrifying for ordinary people to truly comprehend.

"Huh...?"

Zen’s brows slowly furrowed afterward.

Because the more he observed the empire surrounding them, the stranger everything began to feel.

At first glance, it merely looked like another religion humanity had developed throughout the last century in order to cope with the collapse of the old world and the countless catastrophes that followed afterward.

But something about it felt... wrong.

The citizens continuously referred to a holy existence known as Lumine.

Massive cathedrals were built in its honor while countless priests and worshippers prayed toward it with frightening devotion.

Statues, paintings, and symbols depicting Lumine could be seen practically everywhere throughout the empire as though the entire civilization itself revolved around that singular divine figure.

And yet... the longer Zen stared at those depictions... the colder his body gradually became.

Because the holy figure humanity now worshipped did not resemble some abstract god, dragon, or incomprehensible celestial being as he had originally expected.

...For some reason, the statues portrayed someone familiar.

"Ah, I forgot to bring this up..." Melissa immediately said.

Beside him, Melissa slowly raised her gaze toward the enormous statue towering over the capital city.

"...Jihyeon..."

Silence immediately overtook him afterward.

Because the statue standing before him, the very same figure millions seemingly worshipped as Lumine throughout this empire, had a face similar to the Jihyeon they knew.

No, it was not just similar, but identical.

Even the expression carved into the statue itself resembled the cold yet compassionate look Jihyeon always had.

"...."

Zen knew.

It was her.

A perfect one-to-one resemblance.

Then, a chuckle escaped his lips.

"...You really worked hard, Jihyeon."

Even after death, Jihyeon still continued carrying humanity forward.

Eventually, Melissa tilted her head slightly beside him.

"Actually..." she began. "I’ve been meaning to ask this whole time. But what exactly did Jihyeon Unnie even do?"

"That’s..."