Chapter 68
We had a new home.
It was a house located in a safe space that we could enter and leave whenever we wanted, from anywhere, with no chance of intruders appearing.
Those two advantages alone were already more than enough to be grateful for.
But that wasn't even the end of it.
I looked at Eriel, who was standing in the center of the cathedral and smiling at me.
A powerful angel who had once reached the level of Cherub after several hundred years of training.
Eriel, a Throne who still possessed such an enormous amount of divine power that she could easily overwhelm Lee Yeonhee, who was still only an immature baby angel.
“...You're saying you'll stay in the Inner World and help us?”
“Yes. That's practically all I've done my entire life... From now on, I'd like to spend my life together with Yuhyeon. I think that would be meaningful too.”
She said that just as she had protected the Order for two hundred years, this time she wanted to help us.
It wasn't a decision created by emotions fabricated through Agape.
It was a decision born from what she genuinely wanted for herself.
There was no reason to refuse.
I gladly accepted her offer.
And just like that, my companions and I gained both a new home and a new companion.
That brought another one of our countless journeys to an end.
I always felt this, but we seemed to gain quite a lot every time we finished one.
It was the same this time, and the time before.
The things we obtained from the Mystery Mart and the Company were still proving useful even now.
Every time we went on one of these journeys, our strength jumped dramatically.
It felt great.
For the next few days, I planned to rest properly while deciding what to do next.
I could also finally check the Gallery again after not visiting for a while, flex a few times, and mess around with the Gallery users.
But before that, there was one important and absolutely necessary thing we had to do.
When you got a new house, what did you do?
Move, of course.
To bring over the belongings and supplies from the apartment, my companions and I left the Inner World and returned to reality.
The familiar scent of trees and scenery of the apartment complex greeted me.
Since only five days had passed, nothing seemed particularly different.
“But Yuhyeon Oppa, are you really planning to move?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I thought you might have some kind of story you couldn't talk about involving the apartment. You seemed too attached to it for it to just be a house.”
Come to think of it, Lee Yeonhee was pretty perceptive.
Normally, I didn't notice it much, but she was strangely sharp about certain things.
She was right.
The apartment I lived in was connected to memories from before I possessed this body, and to the family who now felt no different from strangers.
But that didn't make it more important than my life.
I was only an ordinary person who happened to possess several Mysteries.
If a Mystery or an assassin broke in while I was sleeping, I would be helpless and have no choice but to quietly offer up my neck.
There was absolutely no reason for someone like me to abandon the Inner World we had just obtained and continue living in the apartment.
And perhaps because I had encountered so many incidents during the apocalypse, my old memories had also started to fade a little.
I pushed away the unpleasant memories replaying in my head and continued walking until we reached home.
I unlocked the door and entered the passcode.
The door opened.
Thinking of Confirmation Bias and the cat waiting inside, I relaxed and reached for the door.
Then Arlin suddenly grabbed me.
Arlin wasn't someone who played meaningless jokes or acted without reason.
My body stiffened.
Hwa-ryeon and Lee Yeonhee, who had been following behind me, stiffened as well.
In the heavy silence, mana gathered around Arlin's hand.
“There's something inside.”
At those words, everyone tensed and drew their weapons.
“...How many?”
“I don't know whether to call it a person or an animal, but I'm sensing one new life-sign.”
“What about Bias and the cat?”
“Their lives don't seem to be in danger. What would you like to do?”
The intruder could have been a Mystery, so I considered taking out Lucy to check.
But I quickly realized it would be pointless.
For a Mystery to be registered in Lucy, I had to recognize that it was a Mystery and see it directly with my own eyes.
Even if the thing inside was a Mystery, I couldn't see it through the door.
I released Lucy from my hand and tensed my body.
The muscles throughout my body, strengthened by Eriel's blessing, tightened.
That alone was enough to warm me up for battle.
I held Fragment of Faith in one hand and wrapped the other in flames.
“Where's the target?”
“In the living room. Approximately forty meters away. I'll prepare a simple electric shock spell.”
We finished preparing in front of the door, then carefully opened it without making a sound.
But then I remembered.
This was an electronic door lock.
Unlike a normal lock that could be quietly picked open, an electronic lock made a sound when it opened.
Beep, beep, beep.
The door opened with a loud electronic chime.
It wasn't remotely quiet enough for the intruder to miss.
Our original plan had been to sneak inside and subdue the enemy quietly.
That sound completely ruined it.
