"Alright," Kim Byeol-ha announced one morning, spinning a ladle like a general preparing for war, "it's decided. I'm making a guild."
Across the small, overcrowded living room, Kim Eo-ra raised an eyebrow from behind her black cloth blindfold, now more for comfort than necessity. Her eyes had mostly healed, though she still couldn't handle direct light.
"Why?" she asked flatly.
"Because," Byeol-ha said, waving the ladle dramatically like a scepter, "I'm tired of wandering around like a rogue hero with bad hair. I need structure. Branding. Merchandising."
Han Seo-jin blinked from his corner. "That… that's why?"
"Also," Byeol-ha added, "to protect this world, take down corruption, build influence, and gather intelligence on the Outer Gods trying to crawl in through the cracks of reality."
"…Right," Seo-jin said quietly. "That, too."
Byeol-ha spun around, pointing the ladle at them like an accusing finger.
"Eo-ra. Seo-jin. You in?"
Seo-jin flinched like he'd just been asked to join a cult.
"Me?" he said. "I'm… I'm just a normal guy. No powers. No class. No skills. I'm the tutorial NPC at best."
Byeol-ha rolled his eyes.
"And yet, somehow, you've survived longer than most of the idiots out there with swords and glowing eyeballs. That's worth something."
Seo-jin shifted uncomfortably.
"I don't want to slow anyone down…"
"Good," Byeol-ha said, grinning. "That's my job."
Then he turned to Eo-ra, who was sitting with one leg crossed, drinking weak tea like she was born to be the classy one in this mess.
She smiled faintly. "If you want me in, I'll join. But I don't have powers anymore. The contract with the Star broke two years ago. Took everything with it."
Byeol-ha sat down across from her, face suddenly serious.
"If you had powers again… would you hurt people?"
Eo-ra paused. Then she reached out and smacked him on the forehead.
He blinked.
"...Ow?"
She grinned, bright and real.
"I'd only hurt the ones who deserve it," she said. "And I'd work for society. Help others. Always."
Byeol-ha nodded slowly, rubbing the spot where he got smacked.
"I can work with that."
Seo-jin stared at them, confused. "Wait. You… you can give people powers?"
"Let's call it 'creative redistribution of divine influence,'" Byeol-ha said airily. "Very legal. Probably."
Seo-jin had the expression of someone who was slowly realizing he'd accidentally befriended a cosmic being in sweatpants.
"Anyway," Byeol-ha continued, standing up and clapping his hands, "let me introduce you to the rest of the chaotic circus."
He turned and pointed toward the kitchen, where two small boys were arguing over whether apples counted as a vegetable.
"That's Kim Hee-chan," he said, gesturing to the taller one with a stubborn chin, "Bit-na's son. Sharp tongue. Eats like a raccoon."
Hee-chan looked up and yelled, "I do not eat like a raccoon!"
Byeol-ha grinned. "See?"
He pointed to the other one — slightly smaller, darker hair, intense eyes.
"And that's Kim Hwa-jin. Eo-ra's son. Quiet, but he bites."
Hwa-jin bared his teeth, then gave Seo-jin a solemn nod like a tiny mafia boss.
Seo-jin blinked.
"I… I know them," he said, surprised. "We used to scavenge together. Saved each other twice."
"See?" Byeol-ha said cheerfully. "Fate."
Seo-jin wasn't sure if he should be impressed or concerned.
"Okay," Byeol-ha said, hands on his hips. "So we've got me, two overworked single moms, three emotionally resilient kids, and one traumatized navigation system. Not bad for day one."
"We're not calling that the guild name," Eo-ra said immediately.
"Fine," Byeol-ha muttered. "But it would stand out."
Later that day, when the house had quieted, Byeol-ha slipped into the small, makeshift room where his eldest brother, Kim Tae-yang, lay unconscious.
The room smelled faintly of herbal salve and burnt incense.He knelt beside the cot, resting his chin on folded arms on the edge.
Tae-yang's chest rose and fell with shallow breaths.Unmoving. Quiet.
Byeol-ha's golden eyes softened.
"Hyung," he murmured, "I'm back."
He reached out and touched Tae-yang's wrist, letting a small thread of divine power slip into his brother's body — just a nudge, a ping, like tapping on a sealed door.
But the energy bounced back. Rejected.
Byeol-ha's expression darkened slightly.
The world's rules still wouldn't let him fully act.
He could heal wounds. Feed the weak. Dispel curses.
But restoring life or consciousness? That touched the law of permanence — and Earth was currently treating him like an unlicensed god trying to hack the system.
"Earth's rejecting me," he muttered. "Not aggressively. Just… enough to make me feel like I don't belong."
He exhaled.
"But don't worry," he added, tapping his brother's hand gently. "I've got a plan."
The system had holes. Glitches.If he integrated more — built ties, influenced systems, planted roots — the rejection would lessen.
He could trick the world into thinking he belonged.
A slow smile crept onto his face.
"Give me a few days. A week, tops. I'll rewrite the rules."
He stood, brushing invisible dust from his hoodie, then gave Tae-yang a mock salute.
"Rest up, hyung. When you wake up, we're going to have a full family reunion. Even if I have to blackmail the universe to make it happen."
As he stepped out of the room, Seo-jin was waiting near the hallway.
"You okay?" the boy asked.
Byeol-ha blinked, then grinned.
"I'm always okay," he said. "But I'm about to make the world very not okay."
Seo-jin didn't reply, but something in his gaze had changed — steadier. More confident.
Byeol-ha slung an arm over his shoulders as they walked back into the living room chaos.
"Now," he said cheerfully, "who wants to name our guild something completely unreasonable?"