Park Jin-ho pushed open the door.
On the floor, a figure was sleeping soundly, buried under a thick blanket. It was his younger brother, Park Si-woo, a third-year in middle school.
His only family.
Park Jin-ho shook his shoulder. Park Si-woo mumbled, turning over, before his sleep-heavy eyes finally blinked open.
His gaze drifted to the wall clock. "What? It's not even six yet."
"There's no time to sleep in."
"I'll explain on the way," Park Jin-ho said. "Just get dressed. We have to go."
"Where are we going? If you want to see the sunrise, I'd rather just sleep."
Something in Park Jin-ho's low, urgent tone stopped Park Si-woo's complaints cold. He studied his older brother's face, and the unusual gravity he saw there wiped the sleep from his own expression.
"Hyung? What's going on? Why are you being like this?"
"This is no time for sleeping. The whole world is in chaos."
"Why? Did something happen at the bell-ringing ceremony?"
"Just come outside," Park Jin-ho insisted. "We'll talk while we walk."
The brothers passed through their narrow kitchen and stepped outside. The cold air of the pre-dawn morning made Park Si-woo shiver.
They walked in silence through the dimly lit alleyway.
Park Si-woo kept glancing at his brother. What could have happened to make him look so serious? He'd never seen this side of him before, but he didn't dare press him. He trusted his brother would explain when he was ready, yet his entire demeanor felt strangely different.
No, he was completely different.
His jaw was tight, his eyes were sharp with purpose, and his stride was firm and determined. It was a stark contrast to the small, often timid brother he knew.
After they had walked for a while, Park Jin-ho finally spoke.
"Do you have any idea what's happening in the world right now?"
"Of course not. Did something happen while I was asleep?"
"Check the news online."
Park Si-woo did as he was told, pulling out his phone. He stopped walking, his eyes locked on the screen.
"Is this for real?" he whispered, stunned. "People were taken to another world by angels?"
"Only their souls," Park Jin-ho confirmed with a nod.
"I can't believe it… Don't tell me you were too, Hyung?"
Park Jin-ho nodded again.
"A hundred of us had to kill goblins in that world. We barely made it back alive."
Even though Park Jin-ho was speaking the plain truth, his brother's expression was full of disbelief.
"Then… why wasn't I taken?"
"Because you're not fifteen yet."
Park Si-woo was starting his third year of middle school, but he was still only fourteen. In this desperate situation, that was a stroke of luck.
Still unable to process it, Park Si-woo kept scrolling through the news articles. The comment sections were flooded with anguish from people who had lost their children, their siblings. There were far too many witnesses for this to be some elaborate hoax.
"How… how could this happen?" Park Si-woo sighed, looking up at his brother. It seemed impossible that the brother he knew, small and unassuming, had survived something like that.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Park Jin-ho just shook his head, but Park Si-woo pressed on. "How can I not worry? You're the only family I have left."
He remembered the day their parents died in a car crash, how Park Jin-ho had held him while he sobbed, a pillar of strength despite his own grief. To me, Hyung is like a father. He was too shy to ever say it aloud, but Park Si-woo looked up to his brother, relied on him as he would a parent.
But that was the source of his worry now. Mental strength and fighting ability were two different things. He knew his brother was strong-willed, but that didn't make him a fighter. He was small. He'd seen him get beaten up before.
Every time, he'd tell me not to worry, that he could handle it himself.
But how could he not worry? If anything happened to Park Jin-ho, he would be completely alone.
As Park Si-woo was lost in his thoughts, Park Jin-ho spoke again.
"I know what you're thinking."
He paused, his voice steady. "Don't worry. In that other world, there's a system—'stats'—that evens the playing field. Physical limitations don't mean much. Even girls can fight goblins on equal footing."
"Really?" Park Si-woo asked, surprised.
"You'll see what I can do soon enough. When you do, you won't have to worry anymore. More importantly, don't interfere."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come with me and you'll find out."
"No. I'm not taking another step until you tell me where we're going."
Faced with his younger brother's stubbornness, Park Jin-ho just let out a quiet chuckle. He'd already seen this reaction before, in his previous life. He knew exactly what to say.
He let a name drop into the cold air, and his brother’s face went rigid.
"We're going to the hideout of your bullies."
"You've been getting bullied at school lately, right? By a guy named Choi Taekyu."
Park Si-woo was speechless. He'd never been bullied before, and he loved school, loved his friends. He hadn't wanted to burden his older brother, who already worked so hard for the both of them, so he'd kept it a secret.
But somehow, Park Jin-ho knew.
"You knew all along?"
"Did you think I wouldn't?"
Park Si-woo bit his lip. He thought he'd hidden it so well, but his brother had seen right through it.
"I… I didn't think you knew."
In truth, Park Jin-ho hadn't known. Not in the first timeline. He had only found out hours after returning from that first trial, when Park Si-woo had come home with a swollen face, beaten up by Choi Taekyu and his friends.
The memory of it—the shock, the rage, the crushing guilt that his own weakness had forced his brother to suffer in silence—was still fresh. Park Si-woo was all he had.
"By the way," Park Si-woo said, his voice trembling slightly. "What did you say before? We're going to his hideout?"
"I'm not letting someone who bullied my little brother get away with it. I'm going to break his arm, if I have to."
Park Jin-ho's eyes were cold. "Arm? No, one arm won't be enough."
He was going to make sure Park Si-woo was never bullied again. And that meant putting Choi Taekyu in his place, permanently.
"I'm going to teach him a lesson he'll never forget. He won't dare bully anyone, ever again."