Chapter 2
Chapter 2
An Unfamiliar Yet Familiar Reality
After leaving the gate ahead of his classmates and circulating the internal energy in his dantian throughout his body at the park, Jihun eventually made his way toward the downtown area.
“Right, that spicy stir-fried pork place. Yeah, that burger shop too. Ah, even that sauna’s still here. Wait… right. Of course it is. Am I an idiot?”
Jihun had been surprised and delighted that the modern world looked exactly the same as he remembered after ten years, only to punch himself in the head moments later.
He had just remembered that while he spent ten years in the martial world, only an instant had passed in reality.
“So it really was only during that brief moment while I charged at the King Goblin with High-Speed Movement…”
Regardless of how much time had passed in reality, however, Jihun himself was experiencing modern civilization again for the first time in ten years.
After thinking for a while and remembering the way home, Jihun quickly returned to his apartment, washed himself, and changed clothes.
Since he had returned directly from the martial world, the martial robes he wore looked completely different from modern clothing.
“My clothes literally changed in that short moment. Into obvious martial robes too. Yet nobody even noticed… My life really was that invisible to people.”
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Jihun’s head filled once more with Yeonhwa, the fiancée he left behind in the parallel world.
“—I know someday you’ll suddenly disappear from me. But please promise to marry me. At least in this world, swear that you’ll be my man alone.”
Yeonhwa.
She was the greatest blessing he encountered after suddenly falling into the martial world.
The only person he could rely on in that unfamiliar world.
Someone who gave him everything while asking for nothing in return.
Someone who simply loved him and wanted to be loved by him.
Compared to his lonely life in reality, Jihun had been far happier in the parallel world together with Yeonhwa.
Of course, he nearly died countless times, and learning martial arts had been unimaginably difficult.
And naturally, it was also an inconvenient life completely devoid of the comforts of modern civilization.
But even so, she alone had become every reason for him to remain there.
“I shouldn’t have kept using High-Speed Movement… But I used it too often fighting those vicious Demonic Cult bastards. Even though I vaguely knew something like this might happen…”
After organizing the chaotic thoughts in his mind, Jihun finally stood up and left the house again.
Even though he had unwillingly returned to reality, he still needed to readapt to the academy.
He had to raise his player level and deepen his understanding of his skill.
Because the key to returning to the parallel world undoubtedly lay within his High-Speed Movement skill.
Pizza tasted heavenly after ten years.
The ham and cheese toppings glistened with grease.
Jihun stacked two slices together and shoved them into his mouth, utterly entranced by how quickly they disappeared before he even chewed properly.
The sharply carbonated cola rivaled the pizza in happiness—
No, it surpassed it.
For ten years in the martial world, he had drunk every kind of expensive alcohol imaginable.
But this sharp carbonation—
This was what he had truly missed like crazy.
Watching Jihun devour pizza at terrifying speed while endlessly refilling cola, the pizza shop owner nervously kept an eye on him, worried he might skip out on the bill.
Fortunately, Jihun paid properly before leaving.
Thanks to the academy’s two-million-won monthly support payment, he still had enough money in his bank account to afford food.
“Still, I’m gonna need a lot more money. Now that I’m back in the modern world after so long, I don’t want to live while constantly worrying about cash anymore.”
After leaving the gate whenever he pleased, returning home, and eating pizza to his heart’s content for the first time in ten years—
Jihun finally remembered that he was supposed to return to the academy.
Leaving the pizza shop behind, he hurried toward the academy.
“Where exactly have you been? Even if the gate was successfully cleared, discussing what mistakes were made during combat and which moments were dangerous together with your teammates was also part of the mission. Did you not know that?”
“Of course I didn’t… It’s been ten years. Besides, I was in no state to think straight.”
The moment he returned to the academy, Jihun found himself being heavily scolded by Professor Jin Seokhyun, the supervising instructor.
“Yes. I’ll remember next time.”
Jihun answered calmly.
At that response, one of Jin Seokhyun’s eyebrows twitched.
Among the professors, Kang Jihun was already famous enough that nobody failed to recognize the name.
The dead-last cadet who barely entered the academy and learned so slowly that he still remained only level 4.
There had even been discussions among the professors about whether he should still be allowed to remain at the academy at all.
Some argued it might be better to expel him now and encourage him toward another future before he eventually died doing dangerous hunter work.
But today, Jin Seokhyun had personally witnessed Jihun instantly killing the King Goblin in a single strike.
Even now, he still couldn’t believe it.
Hadn’t the man completely transformed in a single moment?
In truth, although he was currently trying to pressure Jihun with a stern tone, the calm response he received instead filled him with an intense sense of discomfort.
“Wasn’t he the academy’s representative failure who couldn’t even raise his voice against classmates, let alone professors? What exactly was that attack earlier? And what is this atmosphere he’s giving off right now?”
An overwhelming presence unconsciously leaked from him.
For some reason, it felt like the composure of an S-rank hunter who had survived thousands upon thousands of battles.
“Ahem… Well, I suppose something urgent must’ve happened. Where exactly did you go? If there’s a special circumstance, I can overlook the demerits for leaving without permission—”
“I went to eat pizza.”
“…What?”
“I suddenly craved pizza after so long, so I went and bought some.”
“This bastard’s seriously insane.”
“I’ll be giving you ten penalty points. It’ll affect both your monthly and quarterly evaluations, so keep that in mind. You may leave now.”
The moment Jin Seokhyun finished speaking, Jihun gave a light bow and turned around without hesitation.
Then Jin Seokhyun suddenly called out to his back.
“But that attack earlier… what exactly was it? The strike that cut the King Goblin’s neck. Did you obtain a new skill?”
Jihun stopped walking and slowly turned around to face him.
“It was just a horizontal slash. I swung too fast for you to see.”
“Ahem. It’s not that I failed to see it. I simply wanted confirmation.”
“…Understood. Then I’ll take my leave.”
“Arrogant bastard… He’s saying it with complete certainty that I failed to see it. Like some master evaluating an amateur… He’s definitely changed. Completely.”
After leaving the professor building, Jihun entered the library and stared in shock at the enormous amount of books.
Back then, he had been too busy struggling just to keep up with classes and training, so he’d never even considered visiting the library.
“If there are this many books, maybe I can find information about the skill I want.”
Hope slowly filled Jihun’s heart.
It had already been twenty years since awakened people first appeared in this world.
During that time, countless awakened individuals had used their unique skills and abilities to clear gates and defend humanity from magical beasts.
Among all those awakened people, could there really have been nobody with a movement skill?
And among those with movement skills, was he truly the only one who experienced a side effect involving travel to another dimension—a parallel world?
Filled with hope, Jihun desperately searched through books related to movement skills.
“Ugh, seriously? What bad luck.”
A sharp voice suddenly pierced his ears.
“What, since when did he ever come to the library to read books?”
Even while thinking it couldn’t possibly be directed at him, Jihun ignored it and continued scanning the bookshelves.
Then someone deliberately spoke loudly again, clearly wanting him to hear.
It was a female student with short hair.
But Jihun genuinely didn’t recognize her face at all.
Convinced the comments couldn’t possibly be directed toward him, he looked away again—
“Hey, are you pretending not to hear me? I’m telling you to get lost. It’s so obvious you came here chasing after Yujeong.”
“That was directed at me? And who… are you again?”
Jihun asked in genuine surprise.
Even while desperately searching his memories, he truly couldn’t recognize her.
“What kind of bullshit are you saying? You always followed Yujeong and me around, so obviously you know who I am!”
“No, I’m seriously asking because I don’t know… Why does a girl talk so rough anyway? And who’s Yujeong? I don’t know you, and I’ve never even heard that na—”
No.
That wasn’t true.
It wasn’t an unfamiliar name.
Seol Yujeong.
She was the girl Jihun had secretly loved ever since high school.
The girl he could never confess to because he was too busy surviving, only admiring her from afar and occasionally offering shy greetings.
When he first awakened and entered the academy, one of his greatest joys had been the fact that he could attend together with her.
“That’s right. I used to promise myself over and over that I’d train hard and rise to Class 4 like Yujeong.”
Briefly reminiscing about his younger self from ten years ago, Jihun’s eyes drifted toward a seat far away.
There sat Seol Yujeong, her bright blonde hair and radiant beauty standing out immediately.
The moment their eyes met, she looked at him with an expression of utter disgust—
As though she had just seen a cockroach—before immediately turning her head away.