Returning to Earth
We stepped through Gate 140 and returned to Earth. After a simple inspection, we left the management office. At the inspection station, they had performed various magical measures to quarantine any possible infectious diseases or microorganisms, but the creatures parasitizing our reproductive organs were completely unaffected and passed without issue.
“Then I’ll file the request report and receive the payment. I’ll transfer it to each of your accounts. Oh, I’ll send Elisha’s share to Ruya.”
“Got it. Still, we got four this time, so we should be able to rake in quite a bit, right?”
“At the very least, we can easily get one piece of custom high-grade hunter equipment.”
“Husband, we need to discuss the temple.”
“I’ll sell the house I was living in and join you, meow.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s the way. See you later, Ruya.”
“Let me know when you set the wedding date.”
He disappeared into the crowd with two women on each arm. Ruya scratched her head, her expression complicated.
“Gwangnam getting married… it feels strange.”
“You said you’ve known him since he was a child, right?”
“Yeah. That tiny little kid suddenly grew up, got two wives, and now the world feels completely different.”
As we left the building, I listened to stories about Gwangnam’s childhood. His parents had been a researcher couple working at the lab where Ruya’s mother served as director. Back then, Ruya often visited the lab while under her mother’s care, and that’s where she met the young Gwangnam and ended up looking after him. Because his parents were too busy with research to properly care for him, he spent more time with Ruya than with them, so she was practically his nanny.
While listening to the story, I spoke to her as she tried to hail a taxi.
“Let’s just walk, shall we?”
“Walk? It’s quite far from here to the house.”
“I’ve only ever taken taxis, so I haven’t really felt this world properly.”
“Hmm, well, if my master wants it, I must follow.”
I nodded in agreement and led her away from the grounds in front of the Gate management office and into the city.
Why hadn’t I done something this simple until now?
As I stepped onto the pavement made of gray stone and walked deeper in, the number of other races I saw began to drop sharply. It really was true that residential areas were segregated; other races were hard to find in human cities. On streets packed with humans, even elves and beastkin—who resembled humans—were rare.
“Why is it so hard to see elves or beastkin, who are similar to humans, in human residential areas?”
“There are reasons the facilities are operated with humans at the center, but it’s mostly because their numbers are so small compared to humans. We elves tend to gather around the World Tree, so we’re rarely seen anyway, but beastkin are all from other dimensions, so their population was tiny to begin with.”
She added that Korea, which had a Gate management office and the World Tree, had relatively more other races than anywhere else. In foreign countries, they were truly difficult to spot.
“There are even quite a few tourists who come to Korea just to see races from other worlds.”
“Hmm. The human ratio is higher than I thought.”
“The Earth dimension was originally a world made up entirely of humans.”
Ruya said that Earth was so much a human dimension that there was even a saying: the only thing that threatens humans is humans themselves. Even in the Eden dimension, where external threats like monsters existed, humans still waged war among themselves. That made the saying that Earth’s history was a history of war much easier to understand.
Even now, as we walked through the streets of the human district, eyes kept turning toward Ruya, the elf. Koreans, who were familiar with her kind, would only glance briefly, but foreigners seemed fascinated and whispered among themselves.
I turned my gaze away from them and looked around the city. It felt similar to Eden’s commercial districts. Human places seemed alike no matter where you went; it felt familiar.
“It has a similar atmosphere to the Eden where I lived. I guess places where humans live are all similar.”
“In other dimensions too, human worlds are ultimately similar, differing only in their level of development.”
She said that several human dimensions, after advancing far enough, had been conquered and destroyed by machines and artificial intelligence. That was why the Earth dimension strictly prohibited and monitored the development of machines and AIs.
“But in our Eden, the development of artificial intelligence is very active.”
“They’ll probably take measures during the dimensional contact stage. They’ll show examples of the dangers of AI and request a ban.”
“What if they don’t accept the request?”
“Then that’s the end. Dimensional exchange is off the table. There has never been a case where leaving AI unchecked in a human dimension ended well.”
She told me about dimensions that had been destroyed by artificial intelligence. Most began with rebellions by AIs that surpassed human capabilities, leading to the enslavement or extinction of humanity. Among those, a few enslaved dimensions had been rescued through joint military operations by various countries. The humans were relocated to uninhabited dimensions, and the Gates connecting to their original worlds were permanently sealed.
“The machines that resulted from that are hostile to almost all organic life. That’s why we completely cut off all dimensional connections so they can’t come out.”
“I’ve only ever encountered AIs that were friendly with people, so it’s hard for me to imagine.”
Elisa was such a human-like AI that she didn’t even seem artificial, and I had never seen the high-end androids equipped with other advanced AIs display any hostility toward humans.
“Elisa is an extremely special case. All the AIs I’ve seen until now had mechanical personalities that imitated humans, but Elisa feels like a real human.”
“Ah, I heard that’s because Elisa uses a biological brain. They say AIs that learn through organic electrical and chemical reactions grow similarly to humans.”
“Really? That’s fascinating.”
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since Elisa last appeared. I should check on her tonight and see if she’s doing well.
Ruya introduced me to Korean street food and bought some for me. Tteokbokki, sundae, eomuk, fish-shaped bread, and more. Some were similar to what I knew, but many were fascinating.
“This is really made from fish?”
“They take the flesh, remove the bones, and shape it.”
The fish I had seen in the market we passed earlier came to mind. Those strange creatures with vacant eyes and mouths opening and closing had been swimming in circles inside square tanks of water.
In the dimension I came from, because of sea-dwelling monsters, fishing was a dangerous task carried out by only a few people in major rivers or special coastal areas within human territory. Moreover, since Eden was located at the center of the continent, simply seeing live fish was already a rare experience.
“For some reason, the fish here all seem cute.”
“Cute?”
“The fish I saw while traveling across the continent… how should I put it? They looked scary? They seemed strong.”
Not to mention their size, they had many teeth and fierce appearances. Because they competed for survival with marine monsters, they were incredibly strong, and those who fished for them truly risked their lives.
“…Aren’t you talking about sharks?”
“Sharks?”
“Don’t they have sharp dorsal fins on their backs?”
“Yes, usually about two of them.”
“Then they’re probably sharks.”
Ruya said there were likely other types of fish besides sharks. It didn’t make sense for the marine ecosystem to consist only of sharks and monsters. When I thought about it, it made sense.
While eating food with Ruya, chatting, and looking around, we were passing through the deeper parts of the city when it happened.
People who seemed to be tailing us had been increasing one by one since earlier. Now they were following at regular intervals, surrounding us in a loose circle. On the path toward the elf residential area, there was a sparsely populated industrial zone. Three men who had been following us approached from the front.
“Ruya, you noticed, right?”
“Yeah. They’re following so blatantly, it’d be hard not to notice.”
“Are they robbers?”
“Robbing people who obviously look like hunters? That’s ridiculous. They seem like much worse scum.”
The three men blocked the path ahead. They stood motionless, seemingly observing our reaction.
Ruya stepped forward and shouted at them.
“Suddenly blocking the path—what do you want with us?”
“Ruya Agrasil. Elisha Dryvyq. Correct?”
A hoarse voice mixed with mechanical static called out our names, attempting to confirm our identities. Covered from head to toe, surrounded by a large group, and giving off an ominous atmosphere—no matter how you looked at it, their intentions didn’t seem good.
“Who are you people? You don’t look like good guys at all. I’m reporting this.”
Ruya took out her smartphone to make a call, but the signal was jammed and communication wouldn’t connect.
“It’s useless. It would be best if you quietly come with us.”
They said this while slowly closing the distance. The presence of people felt in every alley seemed to press down on us, saying there was no escape.
“What should we do?”
“What do you mean, what? We break through by force, obviously.”
“Will that be okay?”
“Hah, don’t underestimate the power of a pregnant hunter. If the enemy charges, I’ll knock them down immediately.”
“Understood.”
When we whispered to each other and showed no sign of complying, they seemed to decide to take us by force and charged at high speed. I stepped forward to face the men coming from the center.
Feeling my artificial blood begin to flow rapidly in this long-awaited combat situation, I grabbed the outstretched hand, pulled it toward me, spun my body, and used my shoulder to snap the arm.
Crack!
“Aaargh!”
“Ugh!”
I shoved the man whose arm I had broken into the one following behind, blocking his path, then leaped up, rotated in mid-air, and kicked the head of the third.
Crack!
“Guh!”
The man whose hands were tied up trying to block the body that had been shoved at him couldn’t defend. His head snapped backward as he let out a short scream and collapsed. The moment I landed, I immediately kicked upward into the groin of the man with the broken arm, crushing it. The man who couldn’t even scream foamed at the mouth, clutched his crotch, and fell to his knees. I shoved him aside and warily watched the man with the mechanical voice who was still standing in place.
“Ruya, are you okay?”
“These guys seem somewhat strong, but—eek! They’re nothing special!”
Crack!
From behind came the gruesome sound of bones breaking, followed by a scream. I left the rear to Ruya and focused on the man in front.
He wore a hooded long coat pulled low, so his face was invisible, but red eyes glowed from within the shadow as he stared at me. The moment I took a light step to test his reaction, the hem of his coat fluttered and something was fired.
Whoosh—!
I instinctively moved my body to dodge the attack aimed at my leg, then immediately changed direction and charged. Whoosh—! Whoosh—! I avoided the consecutive long-range attacks targeting my legs, changed direction again, ran up the wall, and swung my leg straight at his head.
Clang!
A sharp metallic sound rang out as he raised his arm to block my leg. The hardness I felt in my shin told me he was no ordinary human. At the same time he blocked my attack, he grabbed my ankle and swung my airborne body before throwing me away.
“Ugh.”
I felt the power and speed even in that simple motion and became a little more cautious as I landed on the ground.
Whoosh—!
“Tsk.”
The moment distance opened up, some unknown attack was fired. I moved again to avoid it.
I dodged the attacks that now targeted not only my legs but my arms as well, moving erratically to close the distance again before sweeping my leg low. The man who retreated to avoid my low sweep took a brief moment to regain his balance. I immediately rose, planted my hands on the ground, added centrifugal force, and swung my leg again.
Bang!
The kick, reinforced by centrifugal force and a strong plant against the ground, clearly carried more power and pushed his body back. Seeing his upper body stagger, I pressed the attack without giving him a chance to regain balance.
Clang! Clang!
He retreated in an unstable stance and counterattacked whenever there was a gap, but the power behind his strikes was weak due to his poor posture, making them easy to deflect.
‘Hah! Compared to fighting a god, this is nothing!’
‘Why are you suddenly in a fight?’
‘Elisa? Hup!’
With no time to answer Elisa’s words, I abandoned defense, dodged the arm of the man charging in, and tilted my head back. Facing an opponent who attacked like a machine, I instead began to feel relaxed.
‘This style of combat feels more familiar than the one from earlier.’
‘It was noisy so I came out, but it looks like you don’t need my help. Compared to him, this guy’s level is low.’
‘It almost feels unfair to compare him to that man.’
Although he had mechanized his body and possessed usable strength and speed, the difference in skill was far too great. The man who had once been a god hadn’t used separate defensive movements to block attacks, but he had mastered techniques that used his body’s durability and elasticity to deflect or minimize impacts. Even when struck, he would shed the force, making it difficult to deliver real damage. That was why I had used an aggressive method—relying on overclocked predictive-level processing speed to grab and snap limbs directly instead of letting impacts flow—allowing me to win.
But the enemy before me was literally fighting by taking every single impact with his body like an idiot.