Inside the mansion, a humanoid wearing an apron and another wearing glasses greeted Yoon Seo. The humanoid in the straw hat who had guided him returned to the garden. The two androids circled Yoon Seo, observing Seo Chaeyoon's bare face.
"Are you really Seo Chaeyoon, yam?"
"…Yes, I am."
"Amazing, yam. Why is your face so pretty, yam?"
"Looks like they date by looking at each other's faces, myam."
"..."
"Let's talk while we eat some kimchi stew, yam."
"Wait, there's no kimchi stew, myam?"
The apron-wearing 'Yam' and the glasses-wearing 'Myam' had already set the table. Noticing Yoon Seo's empty hands, their eyes narrowed into slits. Yoon Seo, trying to hide his embarrassment, spoke.
"Kwon Jihan Hunter was the one holding the kimchi stew."
"Ah…. In six hours, the kimchi stew will be cold, yam…."
"It's fine, nyam. We can reheat it, myam."
'Myam' consoled 'Yam.'
"Let's talk while we wait, myam. Time will pass quickly, myam."
Following them into the living room, Yoon Seo looked around. It was a cozy home, carefully managed with a homely atmosphere. A table, chairs, a sofa, a standing vacuum, and a wall-mounted TV… All the furniture and appliances felt like they belonged in an ordinary household. Yet, there wasn't a single person. He could sense no life force in the place.
There was no master commanding the three humanoids.
Yoon Seo sat at a table with the two humanoids, with the sofa feeling quite comfortable. 'Nyam' handed him a cup of warm tea. Yoon Seo didn't drink it, but he sniffed it briefly before setting it down on the table.
"Are you the 'writers'?"
"That's right, myam. The three of us wrote 'Love in Hang River', myam. But we haven't even introduced ourselves yet, myam. Nice to meet you, myam. We were about to come to you, but it seemed like you were looking for us, so we waited, myam."
"You were going to come find me?"
"That's right, myam. We have something to ask, myam."
"And what is that?"
"For now, you can ask your question first, myam."
Yoon Seo, at first intending to ask about the drama's apology foreshadowing, decided to wait for Kwon Jihan to arrive, changing the question instead.
"Are you also the ones who created and distributed works on other planets hinting at the tutorial?"
"That's right, myam. As far as we know, we're the only ones doing that kind of thing, myam."
"And why are you doing that?"
Zzziing, clank. A long rod suddenly extended from the top of 'Myam's' head. Just as Yoon Seo tensed up, light began to emit from the round sphere at the top of the rod, projecting an image in the air between them. It was a type of hologram.
The vast universe spread out, and a grayish planet appeared. Unlike the blue Earth, this gray planet was filled with humanoids that resembled these aliens. The only lifeforms on this mechanical planet were plants and insects.
"What you are seeing now is our home planet, myam. In spring, the sharp smell of oil stings the nose, and in autumn, heavily charged storm clouds block out the sunlight—such a peaceful and beautiful place, myam."
It didn't sound peaceful or beautiful at all.
"There's no name for it, myam. It was destroyed 3,100 years ago, myam."
"…Destroyed?"
"That's right, myam. Our ancestors couldn't pass the final gate, myam."
As 'Myam' explained, the hologram shifted. The alien race, whose bodies were entirely mechanical, arrogantly ventured into the black dungeon. They had overcome every challenge so far, so they believed they could handle this one as well. However, they failed miserably. The black dungeon overflowed, and warped entities quickly overtook the planet. To prevent the spread of the warped entities to the galaxy, Gaia chose to destroy the mechanical planet. Under the power of the god, which could not be resisted, the planet met its end, while a few spaceships hurriedly launched into space.
"Our ancestors were on those spaceships, myam. Out of 10 billion entities, only 12 survived, myam."
[The God of Life feels sorrow.]
[The God of Death longs to see another planet's destruction.]
Yoon Seo fell silent.
This was his first time hearing about a species whose home planet was destroyed, and he didn't know what to say. "My condolences." "Rest in peace." "That must have been hard…."
But none of those words seemed enough. If Earth were destroyed…
Just then, the hologram displayed three new mechanical planets, each larger and more advanced than the one before.
"Fortunately, our ancestors rebuilt our civilization on planets in a neighboring galaxy, myam."
"…You've claimed three planets?"
"They were all uninhabitable, empty planets, myam. Our ancestors were innocent, myam."
"…Please continue."
"Even after moving to the new planets, our ancestors faced Gaia's trials. Two of the planets couldn't pass the black dungeon and were destroyed, myam."
"...."
There were so many twists in the story that it was hard to keep up.
"The planet I lived on smoothly completed the tutorial and is now at level 35, but the planets that Yam and Nyam lived on were destroyed, myam. The third generation that escaped from those planets are now wandering the universe as cosmic drifters, nyam. I, along with Yam and Nyam, am searching for an empty planet where everyone can resettle, myam."
'Myam' turned off the hologram and continued explaining.
"As we travel through the universe, we encounter many planets that will soon face Gaia's trials, myam. We wanted to somehow warn the primitive inhabitants of the events that would come to them, myam. Wouldn't it be helpful for them to mentally prepare in advance, myam? So, we've been giving hints within the bounds that the Guardian Gods won't interfere with, myam."
"The hints were so subtle that most didn't catch on."
"That's unfortunate, myam."
"But thank you. You're trying to help in some way…."
"It's nothing, myam. We received help from another highly advanced alien civilization, myam. Think of it as us paying it forward, myam."
From Yoon Seo's perspective, these mechanical beings themselves were part of a highly advanced civilization. However, he could also accept that there were even higher-level aliens out there. The universe was unimaginably vast.
"Do you need to live on a planet with constant lightning storms? This dungeon's environment seems similar to Earth's."
"This dungeon is controlled by our unique skill, so the environment inside doesn't affect us, myam. But to give birth and raise our young, we need a place where flowers bloom in spring and the skies are clear in autumn—such a dangerous place, myam."
"What about Jupiter? I'm not entirely sure, but I've heard it has lightning storms."
"The other planets in the solar system will be places where Earthlings will migrate, myam. If we claim them in advance, it will lead to war, myam."
Yoon Seo was a bit surprised.
Terraforming Mars is becoming a reality, but other planets too…?
Even though Yoon Seo wasn't particularly knowledgeable about these matters, he knew that Jupiter wasn't even considered a candidate for terraforming. This may be a fantasy era, but is that really possible…?
"Haven't Earthlings already started mass-producing antimatter, myam? With that level of atomic technology, you could manipulate the atmospheric composition of planets as you wish, myam."
"When Kwon Jihan gets here, please talk to him about that. He'll find it very interesting."
[The God of Love smiles approvingly.]
"Got it, myam. As the rumors say, you're lovers who care deeply for each other, myam."
"It's lovely, yam. They're like children, yam."
The humanoids praised them in soft voices.
Whenever Seo Chaeyoon brought up Kwon Jihan in his absence, regardless of the topic, the reaction was always the same. Whether they were Earthlings, Guardian Gods, or aliens—it didn't matter. Each time it happened, Yoon Seo would get embarrassed, goosebumps rising on his skin.
"Why are you staying here for so long? It seems you only stayed briefly on other planets, but you've been on Earth for almost 13 years now."
At Yoon Seo's question, both Myam and Yam's shoulders slumped, looking disheartened.
"It's been 14 years, myam. Follow us, myam."
Myam and Yam stood up from the sofa and headed toward the stairs. Yoon Seo followed them, climbing the creaky wooden stairs. The second floor was taller and wider than expected. And there, something Yoon Seo had never seen in real life before—only in comics—stood before him.
"This is the spaceship we came on, myam."
It was a spaceship. A round, flat, disc-shaped spaceship. Yam pulled out a round orb from his arm and held it up to the spaceship's door. With a recognition sound, the door opened. Inside the spaceship was spacious, with many rooms. Myam explained that the problem wasn't inside but outside. There was a crescent-shaped shield over the cockpit window, but it was clearly not a natural crescent. Originally a half-circle, about two-thirds of it had been torn away.
"We had an accident while landing on Earth, myam. We were severely injured, but the important thing is that the device that protects us from space radiation is broken, myam. That's why we're stuck on Earth, myam."
"That crescent foil is the device, right?"
"It's not foil; it's a Kiruv-modified super-heat-resistant nickel alloy, myam…."
Yoon Seo once again found himself wanting to see Kwon Jihan.
"The engine is fine, and we have enough fuel, myam. But because of one broken shield, we can't go into space, myam. It's so frustrating, myam."
"There's a nearby planet where we can get it repaired, but we have no way to get there, yam. Even with a small amount of F-energy, we could last long enough to reach it, but as things stand, we'd be bombarded by space radiation and die on the way, yam."
"How far is that planet from here?"
"If we take the hyper-light-speed space highway, it'll take 32 days, yam."
32 days. That was a long distance by Earth standards, but by space standards, it was just around the corner.
"That's why we wanted to meet you, yam. Is there any technology on Earth that can help us, ymam? If you can produce antimatter, maybe you could replicate the Kiruv modification we developed, yam."
"Talk to Kwon Jihan about that. I don't know much about those things. If it's Kwon Jihan, I'm sure you'll get along."
Yam and Myam exchanged a subtle smile at that. Yoon Seo had seen that expression more times than he could count.
"You keep talking about Kwon Jihan, myam. You must miss your boyfriend so much, myam?"
He'd only mentioned him twice.
"You're praising your boyfriend for being smart in a roundabout way, yam. So cute, yam."
He was just stating a fact.
"Well, of course, your boyfriend must seem like the smartest person in the world to you, myam. Isn't that how it is at your age, myam?"
"The mutual affection of you two lovebirds is so adorable, yam."
It was always like this. Even if Yoon Seo mentioned Kwon Jihan with no ulterior motive, the response was always, 'Aww~ you miss your boyfriend, huh? You're at that stage, aren't you?' The downsides of public relationships were clear.
Yoon Seo was just about to say that, objectively speaking, Kwon Jihan really was the smartest person in the world when—
Boom-!
A loud noise shook the house. Yoon Seo immediately went on high alert, glaring at Myam and Yam. But the two robots looked equally alarmed.
"W-what's that, yam? An earthquake, yam?"
"A dungeon has opened, myam!"
A dungeon?
The three of them rushed downstairs. Yoon Seo sensed a familiar presence rapidly approaching and looked toward the front door. It burst open.
"I'm here to pick up my adorable munchkin!"
The one who boldly shouted that was none other than Kwon Jihan.