Ranker Who Lives Twice

"It's a little cramped in here, huh? It may feel awkward at first, but just think of it as your own home."

After Kronos opened the front door, Rhea waved her inside. Min Chae-young paused in front of the front door's mantle. Her two eyes grew round. 'This…is cramped?' Min Chae-young felt that the world's interpretation of small or cramped had changed greatly since she last ventured out into the world.

Sesha's house was, actually, very large. The front lawn was vast, with green grass and various plants planted everywhere. The home itself was three-stories tall and looked as if it had come out from a drama. For Min Chae-young, who had lived in a cramped studio with her mother and stepfather, the size of the house and lot seemed unbelievable. The opening foyer itself was larger than the studio she had lived in previously.

'Well… They are such great people, so of course they must be rich. They're probably very well off.'

However, Min Chae-young soon understood the meaning of Rhea's words. Since Chae-young had not experienced the day of the beginning, she did not really understand what it meant, but she knew that Kronos and Rhea were figures who played a large part in it. Was it because they were so powerful and strong that they possessed such a relaxed and calm outlook on everything? Or did their relaxed and calming attitudes allow them to become powerful and strong?

Though she did not know the details of the family, Min Chae-young could see that the family was very tight-knit, so she could not help but feel a bit envious. Her own parents had always been strapped for cash and lived very tense lives. And since her parents were always tired and high-strung, if anything got on their nerves, they would instantly explode and shout out in anger. Domestic violence was a given, and the house was always filled with empty bottles of alcohol.

There must have been many reasons for Min Chae-young's mother to abandon her and leave. This did not mean that Min Chae-young forgave her mother, just that she understood the situation. If she was ever put in her mother's shoes, Chae-young did not know what she would have done. Her mother was always abused by her ever-drunk husband and probably felt stress from the thought of having to provide for her daughter, who would soon enter university. Her mother had chosen to escape from all this.

Thus, Min Chae-young could not help but think, if her mother was a bit more relaxed and calmer, if she had a bit of spare money, would Min Chae-young herself then have lived a normal life? These thoughts swirled in Min Chae-young's mind as she stood in front of the open front door. She felt that she would be unable to return to the past if she stepped past the door's mantle. Was it okay for her to live a normal life? Was it truly fine for her to live a different life?

At that moment…

"Min Chae-young."

「…?」

Sesha, who had gone in before Chae-young, reached her hand out to Chae-young. "You're visiting a friend's house. Don't think too hard about it."

「…!」

As if she read Chae-young's mind, Sesha smiled brightly. Min Chae-young nodded.

「Uhm… Thanks!」

For the first time in a long while, a smile formed on Chae-young's lips.

***

"You're not hurt anywhere, right? You're okay, right?"

"Of course, mother. Don't nag, my friend's here."

Ananta ran over to Kronos' house after hearing the news of her daughter. She was caught off guard when she heard her daughter had fallen into danger. Ananta took the time to look over her daughter a few times, just to make sure her daughter was truly okay.

Though she felt guilty about worrying her mother, Sesha also felt embarrassed at her mother's actions, which were being observed by her grandfather, grandmother, and friend.

However, regardless of her daughter's position, Ananta thoroughly looked at every inch of her daughter's body before sighing in relief. And then, with sharpened eyes… Bam! Ananta smashed her daughter's back.

Flinch. The sound of the back smash was so loud that Min Chae-young could not help but flinch.

"Ack! Mom! That hurts!"

"Of course it hurts, do you think I hit you so that it wouldn't hurt?"

Bam! Bam!"Ack! Stop it!"

Sesha tried to get away from her mother's hand, but her mother, who was a well-known high ranker in the Tower, was not planning on letting her daughter off easy.

"You only pick the most dangerous things to do, don't you? If something ever happens, I told you to use a teleport scroll or call on me!"

Other than Nephilim's Fire, there were many other options that Sesha could have chosen. From an early age, Sesha had garnered a lot of unwanted attention, and if the truth of her being a dragon species ever got out, she would fall into more trouble. Thus, Sesha and the others around her had made many preparations.

Even with Earth's system down, these other options were available for Sesha, but she had decided not to use any of them. This was what enraged Ananta.

Sesha felt wronged as she also had a lot to say about this matter. Having had an argument with her mother a couple weeks ago, Sesha had not yet apologized to her mother. Her dumb pride had stopped her from apologizing to her mother, even though she knew that her mother would accept the apology without another word. This was why Sesha had hesitated in calling her mother and how she found herself trapped within the Darkness Sphere.

"Chae-young!"

「Uh, hmm?」

"Run!"

Not waiting for a reply, Sesha grabbed onto Chae-young's wrist and dragged her up to the second floor.

"That girl!" With an exasperated expression, Ananta stared at the scurrying figure of her daughter. Ananta then plopped lifelessly onto a sofa. She felt as though she had lived through a few decades within the last few hours.

"Don't be too hard on her. It wasn't like Sesha wanted anything to happen." Kronos, who had read into Sesha's thoughts, spoke calmly with a smile.

Ananta nodded as she continued to sigh. "Well, I was just frustrated out of my mind… I'm sorry to have acted so shamefully in front of both of you."

"Don't be sorry. What mother wouldn't feel frustrated?" Kronos, who still felt guilty about what position he had put his offspring in, knew the frustration that Ananta was feeling. Then, Kronos' expression became serious. "Anyway… I'll need to have a talk about those beings called 'Stars'. Do you know anything about them?"

Ananta saw the god of king's serious expression for the first time in a while. "No. I don't have any clue. I've seen gods and demons with divine positions related to stars and constellations before… But I've never heard of beings who referred to themselves as Stars." Within gods and demons, there was the Chan Sect's Big Dipper and Little Dipper, Memphis' Taweret, and even Olympus' Krios. However, none of these existences had referred to themselves as a Star. Thus, Ananta logically concluded that these Stars were their own species…but Ananta had no clue where they originated or how they came to be.

"Did they possess a soul?"

Kronos ruled over time and death. Ananta was asking if Kronos could call upon their souls and investigate further, but Kronos responded to Ananta's question with a shake of his head.

"No, and I found that odd as well."

"Odd… Meaning…?"

"I sliced them clean through with Scythe, an instrument that is essentially made of time. They should have met their deaths, but they possessed no souls." Kronos' eyes narrowed. "It was as if they had wafted off into the air. Or perhaps rejoined their true bodies. They possessed existences, achievements, and legends…but they didn't possess a soul. I have no clue what this means. In the beginning, I thought I was being tricked somehow."

Ananta could not understand Kronos' explanation. Were there existences that did not possess a soul? That would mean the beings were like Cha Jeong-woo's previous vestige state of being…but how were they able to hold onto their legends?

Like a material, one's legends reinforced one's soul. Thus, it was nearly impossible for a soulless existence to hold onto legends. Cha Jeong-woo, who had acquired power through various iterations of the 'wheel', was an exception to this rule. These existences did not seem to possess life or death. Kronos felt that these existences, who called themselves Stars, were irregulars, beings that existed outside of the normal universe.

"Perhaps the Star Fragment that makes up the Stars consists of a soul? That's the definition of a fragment anyway, right? They're not complete." Rhea cautiously stated her opinion.

Hearing this, Kronos' eyes popped open. "They're incomplete, so the fragments devour the host's soul and move using their host's physical forms?"

"Yes. However, it seems they allow the host's soul to survive and think that it is moving of its own free will and accord."

"That's a frightening thought. It sounds plausible as well." Kronos could not help but let out an exasperated chuckle. He had recalled that the Stars had acted as if they were existences that possessed free will. However, based on Rhea's assessment, they may just be Star Fragments that manifested in being-form to search and acquire other fragment pieces. The beings themselves might not even know that they were being controlled by the Star Fragments.

"Then that means that the girl named Min Chae-young…!"

『Don't you think it would be best to stop conducting your conversation through physical voice?』

A shadow shot up amongst them with its index finger on its lips. It was Laplace. Kronos quickly realized that he almost made a mistake, but he still glared at Laplace. Was this perverted rabbit always this quick thinking?

『Ohoho! Why are you looking at me so lovingly?』

"For a moment, I thought too highly of you." Kronos decided to give up on formulating any conclusion about Laplace. The more he tried to understand Laplace, the bigger the headache he incurred.

"Anyway, we're lacking information. We don't know where they're from, and it doesn't seem like it's just a few of them either. First off, we should call on Jeong-woo." Kronos then crossed his arms across his chest and sighed heavily. "Daughter-in-law, are you able to get a hold of Jeong-woo?"

Ananta gave a bitter smile as she shook her head. "It seems like he's having a hard time with the rapidly expanding world lines. Even if I send him a message, it'll be a while before he responds."

"It seems there might be a connection between the rapidly expanding world lines and these Star fellows. The more world lines there are, the greater the number of crazy mutations."

The universe was probably not the same as what they once remembered. This was what Kronos was saying. Moreover, this was something that Jeong-woo had told his family members multiple times before.

To find the form known as 'Cha Yeon-woo', Jeong-woo had started the division of world lines. However, the more this went on, the greater the stress Jeong-woo felt in handling the rapidly growing world lines. By utilizing his divine domain of law of causality, Jeong-woo was able to somewhat control what was happening in the world lines, but it would not have been weird if something had slipped by his notice. Moreover, since there were more world lines, there was a greater chance of 'emperor' level figures appearing…

Regardless, one thing was for sure. As long as Min Chae-young was present, those figures known as Stars or whatever would continue coming. It seemed that the family may be thrown into a more complicated situation than what they faced within the Tower.

"First, why don't we conduct further investigation into the Stars and try and find the person Chae-young is trying to find? Perhaps the person she's trying to find is related to what's going on here."

"Let's do that. For a girl who hasn't opened her eyes in ten years to suddenly open her eyes… Something must be up."

The gathered had already heard about Min Chae-young's background from Sesha. They were all in agreement that something would come about if they granted Chae-young's wish.

"What was the name of the person she's looking for?"

"Son Jae-won. Fourteen years ago, he attended the same school that Sesha is currently attending. She also mentioned that he was relatively quiet."

"Do we know anything about his parents or if he had any relatives or siblings? Do we know anything else about him?"

"He always arrived early to school… He wasn't very eye-catching, but he seemed to shine, at least in her eyes."

"I guess he was her first love?"

"Husband, why are you interested in such things?" Rhea lightly swiped at Kronos.

"I must be getting old. Whenever I hear of youngsters and their love stories, my insides become scratchy. Perhaps it's because it reminds me of our own youth?"

"Ugh, this old man."

"Hahaha."

Rhea narrowed her eyes, but it did not seem she was too bothered by what Kronos said. Kronos lightly chuckled.

"Anyway, Son Jae-won… Son Jae-won… Hmm!" Kronos chuckled as he rubbed his chin.

"What? Does the name ring a bell?"

"No, that's not it." Kronos scratched the back of his head. "It's because another 'Son' has come up. I'm pretty sure this 'Son' has no relation to the other 'Son'… Hmpf! It seems I'm becoming worried over everything as I'm getting older."

"…?"

"…?"

Not understanding what Kronos was saying, Rhea and Ananta tilted their heads in confusion. Kronos waved his hands and chuckled as he spoke.

"There's something like that… Something like that…"

There were many Korean people with the surname 'Son'. Since this 'Son' was a student studying in Korea, the chances were high that he was Korean, but if that was not a restriction, there could be thousands of people with the surname 'Son' in the world. Though it seemed like a simple coincidence for Kronos… Kronos could not help but feel a bit worried about the connection.