The gentle rustle of the apple tree's leaves was the only sound in the Aetherium for a long moment. Fainyx took a slow breath, letting the warm air of his dimension settle his racing heart.
"I was also in that world where Master Yong is," Fainyx began, his voice quiet but steady behind his blindfold.
"I grew up in the aftermath of the day of the apocalypse. My biological parents were killed by monsters during one of the early outbreaks in the city. I ended up in an old, run-down building that served as an orphanage."
Yong lowered his coffee cup, his expression hardening with sympathy.
"It wasn't a place where kids got to be kids," Fainyx continued.
"The owner was just a poor old woman who barely had any money to keep the lights on. We didn't get pampered or played with. We all had to work from the moment we could walk just to afford our next meal.
But... it was peaceful in its own way. Until I was adopted."
Fainyx's grip on his teacup tightened, his knuckles turning white.
"I thought I was finally getting a real family. But my adoptive mother was severely depressed, and my new father... he was a monster in his own right. After a few years, my adoptive mother couldn't take the abuse anymore and took her own life. That left me alone with him."
Fainyx's voice grew flat, detached, as if he were reciting a textbook rather than his own trauma.
"He blamed me. He beat me. Even when i spoke up, he beat me until I can't speak anymore.. and there was the time he found out about a stray kitten hidden under my bed, he killed it. Well... That was my daily life. It was why my throat closes up. It is why I absolutely cannot use my voice around strangers. If I spoke back, it only made my throat close up."
Ruth closed his golden eyes, a low, dangerous rumble echoing in his chest at the thought of a grown man abusing a defenseless hatchling.
"When I turned fifteen I ran away from that place. It was hard since I only save up for a bit and I tried finding jobs so that I can make money but nobody wanted a mute like me so that's why I prayed every single day to awaken as a Hunter," Fainyx said, a bitter, hollow laugh escaping him.
"I thought if I just got an ability, I could fight back. I could escape being poor. But I never awakened. I remained a normal, powerless human. So, the only thing I could do was work. I worked myself to the bone, taking every odd job I could find, hiding every single coins I earned under a chair where i always sleep at. I kept pushing my body until I reached my twenties, working and working... until I couldn't anymore."
Yong frowned, leaning forward. "What do you mean, you 'couldn't anymore'?"
Underneath the blindfold, Fainyx's eyes crinkled in a sad, ironic smile. Even though they couldn't see his eyes, both masters could feel the profound sadness and lingering rage in his voice.
"I was walking home from a shift," Fainyx said quietly. "And a portal opened right on top of the street. I was swept inside a dungeon."
Yong's breath hitched. Being an unawakened civilian trapped inside a dungeon was an absolute death sentence.
"I didn't have any abilities," Fainyx whispered. "All I could do was run. I ran through the dark, terrified, with monsters chasing me. I was torn apart. By the time a Hunter strike team finally found me and cleared the dungeon, I was bleeding out on the cavern floor.
They saved my life... but the price of surviving was my body."
Fainyx raised his small, pale hand, tracing the invisible lines of old scars only he could remember.
"My body couldn't take the damage," he explained. "Even after all the healing magic and surgeries, I was permanently crippled. If I tried to lift anything heavy, my muscles would tear. My lungs were weak. I was in constant pain, covered in massive scars, and plagued by chronic weakness. I was forced to retire early in my twenties. I got a disability pension from the government, so I had enough money to survive, but I was completely trapped."
Fainyx lowered his hand, a dry, humorless chuckle leaving his lips. "I was cooped up in a run-down apartment, entirely alone. I couldn't go out, I couldn't work. So, I ended up playing that hardcore fantasy game just to pass the time. I played it obsessively for years until I finally beat it. And then, I woke up here."
Fainyx tilted his head toward his masters.
"Funny, isn't it? I reincarnated into a magical world, into a wealthy Duke's family, and yet I got an illness, the exact same frail, broken, useless body in this new life that I had in my old one. It feels like a cosmic joke. Anyway... that's my story."
Silence descended upon the clearing.
The wind rustled the leaves of the apple tree. The river flowed in the distance. But neither Yong nor Ruth made a single sound.
Fainyx waited. He shifted uncomfortably against the tree roots.
'Are they asleep?' he thought, suddenly feeling incredibly vulnerable. Had he said too much? Was his story too pathetic?
"It is not funny at all," Yong's voice suddenly cut through the silence.
Fainyx turned his head. Yong was looking at him, his black eyes glistening with unshed tears. The former S-Rank Hunter looked entirely devastated.
"To think you actually had that kind of childhood..." Yong said, his voice thick with emotions.
"Kiddo, the life you held onto was so much worse than mine. I lost my family, yes, but I had power. I had freedom. You were trapped in a cage from the moment you were born, and the universe just kept kicking you when you were down. I... I don't even know what to say."
"It is a profound disgrace," Ruth rumbled, his deep voice vibrating with absolute authority and suppressed fury. The ancient dragon crossed his arms, his golden eyes blazing. "Even we dragons, who are known as the most arrogant and prideful creatures in existence, would never, ever abandon our young. A hatchling is a treasure. We were created by the Great World Tree, alongside the elves and the fairies, to strive for peace and rid this world of evil.
To hear that your adopted father tortured you... it makes me want to burn your old world to ash."
Fainyx nodded slowly, a feeling of deep relief washing over him. "I know about the World Tree and the dragons' duty, actually. I read all the lore when I played the game."
Ruth blinked in surprise, his anger momentarily derailed. "You know our sacred history from a human game?"
"Yes," Fainyx chuckled. "I know a lot about this world. I even met the Main Character of the game." Fainyx thought of the bright, energetic boy he had befriended three years ago.
"He's actually a really good kid. Even though three years have passed, that boy keeps sending me letters through the Duke's knights, writing all about his daily life and his training. It's really cute."
Yong let out a sudden, wet laugh, wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "Look at you, calling people 'cute' like an old man. Speaking of which... Fainyx, how old were you when you passed out in your apartment? Since I was the one who got sucked into that violet portal and went missing, presumed dead by the rest of the world—I'm curious how long you lived after that."
"Well," Fainyx calculated, adjusting his blindfold slightly. "I was Thirty-six on the day I beat the game. The time you went missing is when I was Twenty-six"
Yong's jaw dropped. "Wait. Twenty-six? The time I disappeared"
"Yes," Fainyx nodded.
Yong pointed to himself. "I was only twenty when I got sucked into the portal!"
Ruth suddenly burst into a booming, earth-shaking laugh, pointing a massive, clawed finger at the human master. "Heh! Hear that, Yong? Your own frail little student is technically older than you! You should be bowing to him!"
"Hey!" Yong protested loudly, his face flushing. "I've been stuck in this fantasy world for over a hundred years! Technically, I am a hundred and twenty!"
"But in your old world, you were a snot-nosed twenty-year-old brat!"
Ruth countered gleefully, immensely enjoying his friend's suffering.
Yong glared at the ancient dragon, a wicked, teasing grin slowly spreading across his face. He leaned closer to Ruth, batting his eyelashes exaggeratedly.
"Oh, is that how it works? Well, since you're a thousand years old, how about I start calling you 'Older Brother Ruth', huh? Would you like that, Hyung?"
Ruth's face immediately contorted in absolute horror. He recoiled as if Yong had just offered him a plate of rotting garbage.
"Ugh! Disgusting!" Ruth gagged, physically shoving Yong away by the face. "Get your repulsive human face away from me! Do not ever call me that!"
Listening to the two overpowered, legendary figures bicker like children on a playground, Fainyx watched them quietly.
The heavy burden of his past life didn't vanish entirely, but as he sat there, a small, genuine smile touched his lips. Sitting under the apple tree with his two incredible masters, listening to their familiar voices, Fainyx finally felt like he could breathe.