Kang Yu-jung (1)
Jeron and Kang Yu-jung crossed the dimensional gate, stepping onto the Karen Continent.
The environment was completely different.
Compared to Earth, the temperature difference was easily over forty degrees Celsius.
Seosan had been freezing due to the coastal winds, but Hanes County was experiencing a tropical night, causing sweat to bead on Yu-jung's forehead almost immediately.
She realized she had truly crossed through space.
Yet, she still seemed unable to fully believe that she had traveled to another dimension.
"I followed you, Mister, but..."
"But?"
"Is this really another world? And are you really the Mister Han I knew?"
She looked deeply confused.
Swept up in her emotions, she had followed him like someone possessed, but now that she had cleared her head, doubts were cropping up left and right.
It bordered on paranoia, but Jeron understood her completely.
Living on a ruined Earth was enough to drive even the most sane person mad.
You watched your loved ones die one by one until you were left entirely alone. The loneliness was agonizing enough, but you also had to face the constant threat of death every single day.
Even Jeron still carried trauma from his past life, so he figured Yu-jung's scars must be several times deeper than his own.
Jeron pushed open the cedar-framed window.
The smell of river water, fish, and various kinds of sewage wafted inside. It was a stench that could never exist in a barren wasteland devoid of human life.
In the sky, massive moons of different shapes hung suspended.
Despite the hot weather, the aurora shimmering from the atmospheric discharge was as beautiful as scattered pastels.
Her gaze drifted down to the bustling, chaotic crowd below.
Pickpockets slithered between merchants packing up their stalls and customers buying last-minute goods. Drunks brawled in the streets.
Soldiers armed with armor and swords patrolled the area. At a glance, it was a scene straight out of the Middle Ages.
"Unbelievable..."
"I thought so too. I never expected to reincarnate with my memories intact."
"So there really was a world that didn't collapse? I can't believe there are so many people walking around. But why are the streets so filthy?"
"Still better than Earth."
"Well... that's true."
Living in a medieval society came with countless inconveniences, but it couldn't even be compared to Earth, where mutants roamed the land hunting down survivors.
On the Karen Continent, unless a natural disaster of cataclysmic proportions struck, people rarely faced total annihilation. This was normal, but to someone who had lived under constant threat of death, even normalcy looked bizarre.
Yu-jung stared out the window, completely spellbound, for a long time.
Then, she suddenly snapped out of it.
"Mister, can we talk a bit more?"
"As much as you want."
"It still feels like a dream, but I get that I'm in another world now. But my mind is more broken than I thought, and I still can't shake my doubts. Can you prove to me that you're really Mister Han?"
"I understand completely."
This was exactly what Jeron wanted.
He intended to send Yu-jung to his territory no matter what. She was an exceptionally skilled survivor, and if she had inherited her father's craftsmanship, her presence would bring revolutionary changes to his metalworking and mechanical engineering sectors.
And that wasn't all.
Having inherited her engineer father's genes, Yu-jung was also highly proficient in mathematics. She would likely handle accounting far better than Jeron ever could.
If he could put a talent like her to work, he was more than willing to prove his identity as many times as it took.
"Your father, the blacksmith, was a very difficult man to get close to at first. It was only after we became friends that he told me about his past."
Yu-jung gave a small nod.
Her father's personality was cautious at best, and introverted at worst.
He had been a bright student in his youth, possessing a near-genius talent for mathematics. After graduating from POSTECH, he worked as a researcher in advanced materials at a major conglomerate, only to be dishonorably discharged after getting caught up in a superior's rebate scandal.
At the time, the IT bubble was at its peak, so he pooled all his funds to start a computer parts company.
For the first few years, everything went smoothly. Riding the dot-com wave, the company grew rapidly. That was her father's golden age.
But it didn't last.
In the early 2000s, the company took a direct hit when the IT bubble burst. In his struggle to save the business, her father lost everything and ended up buried under a mountain of debt.
Fortunately, he hadn't resorted to loan sharks, which allowed him to apply for individual rehabilitation.
He could have bounced back, but his wife walked out on him. A divorce naturally followed, and Yu-jung was left in her father's custody.
After successfully completing his rehabilitation, he worked primarily as a welder on construction sites. After drifting through various odd jobs, he eventually returned to his hometown of Eumyang-myeon in Seosan and opened a blacksmith shop.
As she listened to the story, Yu-jung's mouth fell open in awe.
Knowing her father's past in such detail was impossible for anyone who wasn't a close friend.
"About Dad... yes, that's all correct. Then how did you end up down in Seosan, Mister?"
It was a painful memory to recall. But if it could clear Yu-jung's doubts, it was worth it.
Jeron let out a sigh and began to speak.
"When the government collapsed, my family fled Seoul and headed for the Seosan port. We hoped to find a boat and escape to an uninhabited island. The problem was, many others had the exact same idea."
The memory played out vividly before Jeron's eyes.
The port had turned into a living hell. In a world without laws, humans slaughtered one another, and when the mutants joined the fray, it became an absolute nightmare.
Lacking the confidence to push through that chaos, Jeron drove his car to Eumyang-myeon in Seosan. The rural town already had plenty of abandoned houses. Jeron settled in one with high walls, spacious enough for his family of four.
The next few years weren't so bad. That was, until his family was torn to pieces right in front of him.
Jeron reached into his pocket and pulled out a worn photograph.
"This is my family photo."
Yu-jung's eyes shook violently.
These were details no imposter could possibly know.
"Mister! I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked you about that."
Suddenly, Yu-jung threw her arms around him. Anyone walking in would have surely misunderstood the scene.
Jeron was equally flustered.
Yu-jung wept uncontrollably. The mental toll of surviving on Earth must have been beyond words. Only now did she look like the girl Jeron remembered.
Originally, Yu-jung had been a highly sensitive and emotional girl. Though she now behaved like a paranoid patient, it was only because the world had forced her to become one.
She cried for a long time. On Earth, even crying had been a luxury she couldn't afford.
Only after she calmed down did she continue her story.
"After you passed away, Dad and I couldn't stay in that neighborhood anymore. We had to keep moving to avoid the mutants."
This was the story of what happened after Jeron's death.
The mutants had grown stronger, even beginning to wield strange, supernatural powers. The remaining human survivors were wiped out by those forces. Though small groups of survivors existed in rural villages, they all eventually became prey. From then on, it was a constant game of hide-and-seek.
Fortunately, Yu-jung and her father managed to hold out for several more years in a shelter located far on the outskirts of Eumyang-myeon.
The turning point was the day of the great migration.
Perhaps because they ran out of food, the mutants began a massive migration toward the cities. The monsters devoured every living thing in their path. The shelter where the father and daughter lived was no exception.
"It was a close call. Dad kept holding the mutants back... and told me to run. He told me to meet him back at the blacksmith shop."
She said that was the decision she regretted most in her life—that she should have stayed to protect her father instead of running away.
After that, Yu-jung wandered for a long time. She tried to return to the blacksmith shop, but the village was already crawling with mutants.
Left with no choice, she drifted around Eumyang-myeon before being pushed deeper into the mountains by the monsters.
Whenever she had the chance, she checked on Eumyang-myeon. Once she deemed it safe enough, she began searching for traces of her father.
"Fortunately, Dad was alive. Just as I was looking for him, he was looking for me."
The last trace she found was her father's handwriting left at the middle school. Having lived with him for over twenty years, she could easily recognize his handwriting.
"We tried to enter the agricultural industrial complex, but it was already occupied by mutants."
"So even the industrial complex isn't safe."
"Yes. We were preparing to clear it out somehow. But just as we were getting ready to leave, we were chased by that giant mutant. If it weren't for you, Mister, I'd probably be in that thing's stomach by now. Thank you so much. I didn't even thank you properly... but that's just how the world is. There are too many bastards who stab you in the back after you help them."
"I understand."
He knew her circumstances well. While traveling from the middle school to the studio apartment area in Eumyang-myeon, Jeron had discovered several clues and traces of survivors. The information they left behind now connected like a puzzle, giving him a clear picture of how the world had changed after his death.
"For now, get some rest and recover your strength. Opening the dimensional gate takes a lot of energy. I can only open it once every three days, so we can't go back immediately anyway."
"Mister! Please, you have to save my dad."
"Of course I will."
"I'll help in any way I can."
If the industrial complex was occupied by mutants, it would be too dangerous for Jeron to go in alone. Yu-jung's help was essential.
"Let's spend the next three days figuring out how to rescue your father. We need to gather as many materials as we can here to build crossbows and traps. Can you do it?"
"Yes! As long as we can produce bowstrings and even primitive parts, I can make it work."
"I have some wire we can use for bowstrings. As for the primitive parts, we should be able to make them at the blacksmith shop here."
Jeron and Yu-jung put their heads together.
Desperate to save her father, Yu-jung worked with intense focus. She simplified the design as much as possible and drew up a blueprint for a mechanical crossbow, which looked highly practical.
True to her bloodline, her drawing skills were excellent, easily rivaling her father's.
Jeron showed her the various blueprints her father had left behind during their last meeting.
"Are there any useful traps among these?"
"Aren't these all the failed designs Dad discarded?"
"I brought them just in case."
Yu-jung nodded. Her father's designs were always too complex. They would have been easy to build back when Earth was intact, but now it was impossible.
"If we simplify the design a bit, we can at least catch the mutant's ankle."
In less than thirty minutes, Yu-jung modified the blueprints. She created designs for a mechanical crossbow and an ankle-cutting trap.
They weren't overly complex, and they seemed entirely feasible to manufacture with the technology of this era.
Unlike the rigid, close-minded people of this world, her thinking was remarkably flexible, and she exuded the aura of a true professional.
This was exactly what Jeron wanted.
Looking at the crossbow blueprint, it was simple yet promised devastating power. And the ankle trap? The moment a mutant stepped on it, its foot would be severed instantly. The instantaneous cutting force was a work of art, and even if it failed to sever the limb, it would still inflict massive damage.
If he could implement these designs and deploy them in warfare...
A design that worked on mutants would easily work on humans. Once refined by an expert, these weapons would render the armor of this era completely useless.