"Welcome, Su-Ho's mother." "Ah, yes."
Hae-In stepped over the threshold of the kindergarten director's office with a tense face.
It had been exactly one week since she'd sent Su-Ho, who had had zero interaction with children his own age up to the age of five, to a nearby kindergarten.
She'd received a call asking her to come visit.
What if something had gone wrong with Su-Ho? What if he'd done something?
Following the director's guidance, Hae-In sat down on the sofa across from her, her face as dark as storm clouds during monsoon season.
The middle-aged director understood Hae-In's worry all too well.
That's why she tried her best to speak in as gentle a voice as possible, so as not to alarm her visitor too much.
"There's no need to worry so much. It's just... there are a few things we'd like to ask you about." "Yes, yes."
The director handed a sketchbook to Hae-In, who was nodding repeatedly with a stiff expression.
"Could you... take a look at these drawings?"
Hae-In took the sketchbook, and the director continued.
"These are drawings Su-Ho made."
On the white paper was a cute ant, drawn with all the skill of a young child.
Why was she being shown this?
Unable to find the meaning, Hae-In asked with a puzzled look.
"Why is this drawing...?"
The director hesitated for a moment, then spoke with a small sigh.
"I had asked Su-Ho to draw 'friends' in his sketchbook." "Ah."
Come to think of it, the ant was standing on two legs.
Only then did Hae-In realize that what was drawn wasn't a regular ant but Legion Commander Beru.
"There are more drawings on the back. These are what Su-Ho drew when I asked him if he didn't have any other friends."
Hae-In turned the page.
It was a drawing of a black figure with a red plume on its head, holding something that anyone would recognize as a sword.
'Igrit...'
Recognizing the subject of the drawing immediately, Hae-In clutched her forehead with one hand.
To someone who knew his true identity, he looked like a dependable knight. But what would he look like to everyone else?
Thinking about it gave her a slight headache.
After that came drawings of Bellion wielding an ever-growing number of swords, and of Tuji performing a magic show.
Needless to say, Hae-In's headache only grew worse as she examined them.
'...'
Misreading Hae-In's silence, the director continued with a worried expression.
"The next drawing is Su-Ho's depiction of his family."
The page turned.
Behind the figures of herself and her husband Jin-Woo were countless black shapes.
Having grown up alongside the shadow soldiers since he was little, Su-Ho apparently considered them all family as well.
'So this is what we look like through Su-Ho's eyes.'
The warmth in Su-Ho's gaze seemed to be melted into the drawing, and Hae-In felt a sting in the tip of her nose.
But the teachers, deeply unsettled by the content they couldn't understand, had reached the conclusion that something might be wrong with Su-Ho.
Naturally, the director who had called Hae-In in shared the same concern.
She spoke with an extremely grave expression.
"The last page is Su-Ho's drawing of 'our house.' That's the main reason I asked you to come in."
What would be drawn this time?
Hae-In opened the final page with a tense gaze.
A small house.
A small, ordinary house drawn on the ground.
The problem was that the ground beneath the house was filled in entirely pitch black.
Over seventy percent of the sketchbook was covered in black.
"We've cared for many children, but we've never seen drawings that depicted friends and family like this."
The director calmly pointed to the black portion of the drawing.
"When the teacher asked why he'd drawn under the house like this, Su-Ho said that his friends, his family, and a giant daddy are all down here." 'A giant daddy...?'
It was a slightly puzzling explanation, but Hae-In could roughly guess why Su-Ho had drawn something like this.
However.
"Do you happen to know why Su-Ho draws pictures like these?"
She couldn't tell other people what she knew.
Hae-In shook her head.
"I see. That's what I thought."
The director nodded as if she understood.
At first, she had even suspected that Su-Ho might be being abused at home, but she found no trace of it in his always-cheerful demeanor.
It wasn't common, but it did happen from time to time.
Children drawing the world through their own eyes.
"Perhaps... Su-Ho may have a remarkable talent for art."
The director said this as if convincing herself, then smiled.
Hae-In, who knew the cause of all this, also managed to step away from her dark expression and put on an awkward smile.
"Ah, yes, yes."
It was a relief that it wasn't anything serious.
She finally felt her mind ease.
But.
The director's business wasn't finished with the drawings.
Hesitating over whether to say it or not, she seemed to have finally reached a difficult conclusion and lifted her head.
Her eyes were far more serious than when she had handed over the drawings.
"Su-Ho's mother... there's actually one more thing I'd like to tell you."
* * *
Central Police Station, Violent Crimes Unit.
After the promotion announcements, the office was filled with excited voices.
"Senior, congratulations on your promotion!" "Congratulations!" "You've got to treat us, Senior — no, should I say Team Leader Sung?"
After being surrounded by team members for a while, Jin-Woo was only able to break free once his partner Lee Sehwan arrived.
"Hyung-nim, let's go." "Yeah."
Leaving behind the congratulations coming from all sides, Jin-Woo walked out of the office with a smile.
Lee Sehwan, who had become a seasoned detective by now, also offered his congratulations to his respected senior.
"Hyung-nim, congratulations."
Jin-Woo answered with a wordless smile.
Walking side by side with Jin-Woo, beaming, Sehwan looked around and casually sidled closer.
"So, Hyung-nim... what made you accept the promotion this time? Every time they told you to move up, you kept refusing."
Jin-Woo glanced sideways at him with a look that said it didn't matter, gave a brief chuckle, and answered.
"I ran out of excuses to refuse."
Sehwan burst out laughing at the absurd answer.
"You're really something, Hyung-nim."
It sounded like a joke, but Jin-Woo's words were no joke.
Sehwan knew this too.
Just like in any field, as detectives rose in rank, they drifted further from fieldwork.
Jin-Woo had wanted to stay in the field for as long as possible, and the higher-ups — especially Chief Woo Jin-Cheol — had respected his wishes.
But that couldn't last forever.
Once the reasons to block the promotion of a detective with outstanding results ran out, Jin-Woo had no choice but to accept the results of this evaluation.
"Hyung-nim, don't you have any ambitions? Promotions, making money, things like that."
Money, huh.
Would Sehwan believe him if he said there had been a time when he was younger than Sehwan now and earned money single-handedly that rivaled the income of any major law firm?
Jin-Woo swallowed his words, recalling the days when he ran A-Jin Guild with Yoo Jin-Ho.
'Now those are really just memories.'
But his wandering through the sea of memories was brief.
Just as Jin-Woo was about to get in the car with Sehwan, his phone rang.
'Hm?'
It was a call from Hae-In.
* * *
After answering the phone and coming home earlier than usual, Jin-Woo burst out laughing when he saw Su-Ho's drawings.
"I had no idea our son had this kind of talent for drawing."
Among them all, the drawing of Beru.
There was no five-year-old in the world who could draw an ant that well.
Jin-Woo gazed at the drawing with delight, but quickly put away his smile under Hae-In's piercing stare.
"Hmm."
Watching her husband change his attitude so fast, Hae-In let out a brief laugh.
She spoke to Jin-Woo as if talking to herself.
"I told you it's nothing to laugh about. Look at the last one." "The last one?"
On the final page was Su-Ho's completed masterpiece, titled 'Our House.'
"Su-Ho said there's a giant daddy in that black ground underneath. Does it remind you of anything... Why are you laughing?" "Ah, no. I just thought of something funny."
Jin-Woo, remembering the 'Sacred Statue of the Monarch' standing right in the middle of the Domain of Rest, couldn't hold back his laughter. Wiping the tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes, he closed the sketchbook.
Couldn't they just laugh it off and move on?
That thought flickered across Jin-Woo's face.
Hearing this, Hae-In let out a light sigh and relayed what the director had told her.
"The children are scared of Su-Ho." "...?"
The smile faded a bit from Jin-Woo's face.
"The children?"
Hae-In nodded with a worried look and continued her explanation.
"They say the children's expressions change the moment he just comes near. He's never bullied anyone or raised his voice." "..."
That wasn't something he could take lightly.
Jin-Woo's expression hardened.
The smile had long since vanished from his face.
The thing he had feared was actually happening.
'Children are...'
Children are far more innocent than adults.
He wasn't just talking about mental immaturity.
It was the purity of their senses.
Because of that, unlike adults who could control their primal instincts through reason and learning, children felt the fear of death far more vividly.
The children had tried to avoid Su-Ho precisely because they sensed that shadow of death.
'The power of the Shadow Monarch...'
It had only become Jin-Woo's problem and not a catastrophe because the power had passed to him.
In truth, that power was a terrible weapon that the 'God of another world' had hidden inside his most loyal servant, intended to destroy everything he had ever created.
If the power of the Shadow Monarch that Su-Ho had inadvertently inherited from him continued to grow stronger within Su-Ho...
'...A normal life will be impossible.'
At least.
At least until Su-Ho was old enough to perfectly control his power, it would need to be suppressed.
Jin-Woo looked at the photos hanging on the living room wall.
On either side of the largest frame, which held Jin-Woo and Hae-In's wedding photo, were many photos of Su-Ho.
And most of those photos featured the shadow soldiers.
Su-Ho's bright, innocent smile as he sat on Beru's neck, pulling at two antennae with all his might.
Su-Ho running away from Igrit, who had appointed himself as his tutor, and dueling with toy swords against Bellion.
And many other photos.
Jin-Woo began sending them one by one into his inventory storage.
"Honey...?" "Until Su-Ho can get along with other children without any problems... I'm going to seal away his power and the memories of the shadow soldiers for a while."
Su-Ho needed to learn.
Not how to be with shadow soldiers, but how to be ordinary among people and fit in with them.
Until then...
When the last remaining photo had been sent into inventory storage,
Beru, who had learned of Jin-Woo's decision, rose silently from the ground.
[My King...]
The shadow soldier's heart — who cherished Su-Ho like his own child — resonated with Jin-Woo.
But Jin-Woo's resolve was firm.
Realizing there was no way to change the monarch's mind, Beru lowered his head.
A drawing appeared before Beru's downcast eyes.
It was Su-Ho's sketchbook, held out by Jin-Woo.
[This is...?] 'A drawing of you, by Su-Ho.'
On the paper was the finest work Beru had ever seen in any drawing.
Tears welled up in Beru's two large eyes.
[My Lord... may I bid farewell to the Young Master?]
Jin-Woo nodded.
Having received permission, Beru carefully entered Su-Ho's room.
Creak.
Su-Ho's gentle, sleeping breaths sounded like sweet, soft music to Beru.
Beru quietly knelt on one knee beside Su-Ho, careful not to wake him.
[Young Master... on behalf of all the shadow soldiers, I will offer my farewell.]
A voice that rumbled low, as if heard in a dream.
In his sleep, Su-Ho turned toward the direction of the voice and murmured in his sleep.
"Captain Ant... Captain Ant..."
Watching Su-Ho, whose pronunciation of 'ant' had become far more precise than when he used to follow behind him, Beru felt a swell of pride.
Beru bowed in farewell.
[It was an honor to serve you, Young Master. Until we meet again, please take care of yourself...]
Beru pressed a light kiss to the back of Su-Ho's hand, which stretched toward the foot of the bed, then rose.
From beneath Beru's shadow, the soldiers all sent their farewells at once.
[Young Master, even without me, make sure you're thorough during study time...] [Stay healthy, Young Master.] [Sniff sniff, sob, boo-hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo.]
Having finished his farewells, Beru turned around.
Jin-Woo nodded.
Without a word, Jin-Woo approached Su-Ho and pulled the blanket up to his chest.
Then he placed his hand on Su-Ho's forehead. The powerful force of magic lingered at his fingertips for just a moment before departing.
When Su-Ho next opened his eyes, the otherworldly power and memories he had experienced would be gone.
'I hope you have pleasant dreams...'
Jin-Woo pressed a kiss to the forehead of his angelic sleeping son, then closed the door.
That day, in Su-Ho's dream, ants and knights and orcs danced all through the night.