The three astronauts were still talking when footsteps echoed through the room.
Silence fell instantly as everyone turned toward the sound.
A young man appeared.
He looked to be just over twenty. Black hair. A calm, serious expression. Yet… there was something more to him — a natural elegance, a quiet authority, as if nothing in the world could shake him.
His blue eyes were deep… impossible to read.
He was handsome — undeniably so.
But that wasn’t what stood out the most.
It was his presence.
An invisible weight filled the room the moment he stepped in. Subtle… yet overwhelming.
Now dressed in a black suit, he looked even more imposing.
For a brief moment—
No one dared to speak.
°°°
Daniel walked calmly to a nearby leather armchair and sat down.
He rested his chin lightly on his right hand, elbow supported on the armrest. One leg crossed over the other.
His gaze landed on the man called William.
The suit wasn’t ideal. Practically speaking, it was lacking. But for now… it would do.
Daniel wasn’t the kind of man who took things from others without reason.
And that man had offered something valuable without hesitation.
He would repay it.
From the moment he entered the satellite, Daniel had already sensed something unusual.
Two women and one man, isolated in space…
That was strange.
So he paid closer attention.
Using his internal energy, he examined William’s body.
And what he found…
Even he found surprising.
°°°
Since Daniel’s arrival, the two women hadn’t taken their eyes off him.
Jessica swallowed hard.
“…How can someone like that even exist…?” she muttered, barely audible.
Despite the fascination in her gaze, she didn’t dare move.
Her body simply wouldn’t allow it.
An instinct — deep, primal — kept repeating the same warning.
Don’t get closer.
This wasn’t attraction alone.
It was fear.
The same kind of fear a prey feels in front of something far above it.
Hearing her murmur, Estela pressed both hands tightly against her lower body while squeezing her thighs together.
She was sweating cold.
It felt like she urgently needed to use the bathroom.
Jessica couldn’t help but glance at her, her expression filled with confusion.
“You… don’t tell me you—?”
She didn’t even want to finish the sentence.
She already knew she was a bit twisted herself, but her friend seemed worse in multiple ways.
“Ah… sorry! I don’t know what happened… when I saw him I… I feel scared, but at the same time… a strange desire.”
Estela looked helpless under Jessica’s accusing stare.
Yet her flushed, desire-filled expression told a different story, making Jessica look at her with disdain.
“How… can a man like that even exist?”
Jessica echoed her own thoughts.
Low murmurs followed, along with a faint shifting sound from Estela that could clearly be heard.
She spoke quietly, but Jessica could see her lips moving.
“Hmph! If you’re shy, I’m the President of the United States,” Jessica thought sarcastically.
Her friend’s composure had completely collapsed in front of that man.
A faint smile appeared on Jessica’s face.
“Why don’t you try your luck, Estela?” she teased.
“I-I want to, but… I feel like I might die if I get closer!”
Jessica looked at her but said nothing.
She felt something similar herself.
Still, she kept watching the man more closely.
°°°
William listened to the conversation, his face turning bright red with embarrassment.
He wanted to say he didn’t know them.
If not for his condition, he would never have agreed to stay in space with two women, especially after learning what kind of people they really were.
William was thirty-five and had married the love of his life two years ago.
He had truly felt like the happiest man alive.
But a year after the wedding, he discovered two problems in his body.
First, he was infertile. Second, he suffered from severe erectile dysfunction.
It was so extreme that not even the strongest stimulants had any effect.
He consulted numerous top specialists.
They told him it was a rare condition medicine had never seen before.
After that, he began gaining weight uncontrollably, and his body aged rapidly, to the point where he now looked like he was in his fifties despite being only thirty-five.
He weighed 180 kilograms.
He started avoiding his wife, unable to tell her the truth or even face her.
He would go home once every two months and always used exhaustion as an excuse to avoid intimacy.
She dreamed of having children, and so did he. But he lied, saying he didn’t want kids — just to hide his shame.
His wife was eight years younger and still just as beautiful as ever.
But those years of marriage had brought nothing but suffering to the woman he had sworn to make happy.
He never forgot her crying at night, or the way she looked at him with sadness in her eyes.
She would ask if she wasn’t pretty enough, if she wasn’t what he wanted, if there was anything she could do to make him love her again.
At the beginning of their marriage, they were like rabbits, to the point she once asked him to slow down because she couldn’t handle it. But everything changed suddenly, and she began blaming herself, thinking she was the problem.
William’s heart ached every time she confronted him.
He wanted to tell her the truth — that she was perfect, the most beautiful woman in the world, and that he was the problem, that he didn’t deserve her — but he couldn’t.
His marriage was on the brink of divorce.
In ten hours, he would return to NASA’s base and then go home.
He had already made his decision.
He would tell her everything, set her free to find a real man who could make her happy… and then he would disappear somewhere no one knew him.
And end his life.
He couldn’t bear seeing her in another man’s arms.
°°°
Sigh…
Daniel exhaled deeply while observing William’s constitution.
“What a wasted talent,” he thought.
He never expected to find a constitution that, in the Murim world, was said to appear once every thousand years: the “Extreme Yang Constitution.”
A rare physique, almost on the level of his own Chaotic Body.
It specialized in fire-based internal energy, capable of turning its user into a small sun in the future.
Daniel could clearly see it — William had the potential to surpass even his former self.
“To think someone like that exists in this world…”
Even so, Daniel let out a bitter sigh.
It was an enormous waste… and a tragedy for humanity to lose such a prodigy.
“In the Murim world, he would be an unmatched genius, only rivaled by other special physiques, and even then, Supreme Physiques would be needed to surpass him.”
Daniel recalled someone from his past who had a similar trait.
Although that person wasn’t exactly an enemy, they weren’t exactly a friend either.
“That arrogant fool used to brag about having a Pure Yang Martial Body… but it doesn’t even come close to the legendary Extreme Yang Body — the so-called Burning Sun Physique.”
It might be interesting to repay that annoying acquaintance someday.
°°°
William, under those blue eyes, was sweating heavily and felt deeply ashamed.
For some reason, it felt like he was completely exposed, as if nothing about him was hidden anymore.
“Is your name William?” Daniel asked, breaking the silence.
“Y-Yes, sir!” he replied quickly.
“I’m not a man who likes being in debt…”
Before Daniel could finish, William interrupted him.
“N-No, Mr. Daniel! There’s no need… besides, this will soon just become a painful memory anyway, so you don’t need to repay me. I’m actually glad it can be useful to you.”
William was still dazed.
This terrifying man had simply appeared in space, entered the satellite, asked to take a shower, and requested a suit.
As the only one able to comply, and worried about the safety of the women, William had no choice but to give him the suit he wore at his wedding.
He feared that if he angered him, nothing would be left of him and the others.
Besides, that suit would be better off away from him anyway.
°°°
Daniel studied him closely.
He was analyzing the man’s character.
He possessed an ability called “Revealing the Hidden.”
If someone lied or held malicious intent, he would see a purple glow in their heart.
William was sincere. He didn’t want repayment.
A rare kind of person — someone who spoke without masks.
Daniel made his decision.
William would be his first disciple in this timeline.
A necessary force.
“Do you constantly sweat for no reason even when it’s extremely cold?” Daniel asked.
William’s eyes widened.
“H-How do you—?”
“Do you also have difficulty urinating, with a reddish, blood-like color and severe pain?”
William nodded, stunned.
“You’ve also begun gaining weight uncontrollably, and became infertile… and impotent?”
William, embarrassed, nodded again.
A spark of hope — long extinguished — reignited in his chest.
Tears welled in his eyes.
Before he knew it, he was walking toward Daniel, who still sat calmly in the chair.
Even though fear told him not to approach…
Hope pushed him forward.
And then—
He fell to his knees.
Tears streamed down his face.
He had lost everything… even his will to live.
But maybe… this man was his last hope.