Chapter 9: Tying Up Loose Ends
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 9: Tying Up Loose Ends
“Huh? What? Why, why is that?”
I knew we worked at the same company, but this was an excessive display of courtesy by any standard.
As I spoke with a hint of caution, she offered a faint smile.
It was so dazzling that I found it hard to look at her directly.
“I have something to discuss with you regarding the returnee Orjia from two days ago. I’m sorry to stop you on your way home from work.”
My eyes widened at the name Orjia.
The nun I had seen the day before yesterday was, in fact, Orjia.
How did Ms. Baek Seol-hyang know about that?
I had suspected she was no ordinary person, but this only made me more wary.
“Ah, here’s my business card. I think you’ll understand once you see it.”
I took the card she offered.
Looking it over, I saw the name of the World Returnee Association and the name Baek Seol-hyang printed on it.
This was real.
The official emblem of the Returnee Association indicated that she truly belonged to the organization.
“You’re a returnee?”
“Yes, that’s right. The reason I called for you, Mr. Ha-chan, is because Orjia wishes to speak with you. We’ll pay you for the overtime, if that’s alright?”
“Let’s go.”
For the record, it wasn’t because of the overtime pay.
Personally, the memory of Orjia crying out in anguish had been bothering me.
*
The Korean branch of the World Returnee Association.
When I arrived, I found myself staring at a massive building that made the Rodri building look tiny in comparison, and I was once again struck by the power the Association wielded.
Just ten years ago, returnees were treated as little more than human weapons.
They were strong, but they were individuals, and an individual could never win against a collective.
A returnee to subdue another returnee.
Ironically, at the time, returnees saw each other as enemies.
This made them easy for the nations to handle.
The moment they perceived each other as foes, simply treating them differently was enough to turn them into the perfect weapons.
In fact, there was a time when a nation’s military strength was judged by how many returnees it possessed.
But now, with the establishment of the World Returnee Association, that dynamic had changed significantly.
It started with returnees voicing their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.
Treated as weapons by their countries and as troublesome criminals by civilians for causing dimensional shifts upon their return.
It was only natural for resentment to build among the returnees, who had only wanted to come home.
Worse still, they were forced to point their swords at one another. The situation must have been sickening for them.
Returnees who believed things couldn't continue this way slowly began to band together.
Ironically, because the nations had used them as weapons, the returnees had numerous points of contact, which made it much easier for them to gather and share their opinions.
And so, the World Returnee Association was founded.
At first, the nations that had treated them as weapons condemned them, accusing them of trying to overthrow the world instead of atoning for the chaos they had caused.
But the returnees’ power was far beyond what they had imagined.
From those who had reached the pinnacle of power in their respective dimensions, capable of traversing worlds, to those who had used their vast knowledge to already seize control of parts of the world from the shadows.
The returnees had already infiltrated the fabric of their societies far deeper than the nations could ever have conceived.
So much so that if they had truly set their minds to it, overthrowing the world would have been a trivial matter.
Of course, they had no desire to overthrow the world.
This was the home they had fought so hard to return to. Some had even witnessed the destruction of entire dimensions; they had no intention of watching their own homeland meet the same fate.
Thus, they reached an amicable agreement with the nations.
Not as master and weapon.
But as a symbiotic relationship, where nation and association would mutually assist one another.
Initially, there was strong opposition from a few countries, particularly China.
China had treated its returnees as nothing but weapons, oppressing them and using them as mere puppets in true communist party fashion.
But that came to an end when a returnee, unable to bear the oppression any longer, went on a rampage that blew away more than half of Beijing. After that, their opposition ceased.
They knew that if the World Returnee Association hadn't stepped in when it did, not only Beijing but other major cities would have been completely wiped out.
From that day forward, the World Returnee Association was officially recognized.
If you can't control them, you have to cooperate with them.
After all, besides a handful of hunters, only a returnee could stop another returnee.
It was true that public perception of returnees was still poor among civilians.
But to the nations and their leaders, returnees were figures you could never afford to make an enemy of.
And now.
I was standing inside the Korean branch of that very World Returnee Association.
As if to prove that Ms. Baek Seol-hyang’s business card was genuine, no one blocked her path. Thanks to her, I was able to get a clear look inside a building that was off-limits to anyone but returnees and association staff.
Yeah, I’ll admit it. It was pretty exciting.
Ever since what happened with my sister, I’d been fascinated by returnees and had studied everything I could about them.
So, of course, I’d be interested now that I was actually inside the Association’s building.
I thought I’d let it all go when I dropped out of university.
Turns out I might have had more lingering attachments than I realized.
As I looked around with a somewhat wistful gaze, I felt a stare and lifted my head.
Just then, my eyes met Ms. Baek Seol-hyang’s. She smiled naturally from behind her sunglasses.
“Are you interested in the Association?”
“Ah, yes. It was my major, you see.”
“If you’d like, I could give you a tour of the building after we’re done. We’ve taken up your free time with our business, after all. It’s not much, but think of it as compensation.”
“Really?!”
I took a step closer to her in my surprise. Ms. Baek Seol-hyang flinched and pushed her sunglasses up slightly.
For some reason, her ears were a little red.
“Of course. Would you like me to buy you dinner as well?”
“No, I couldn’t impose that much.”
It wouldn’t be polite to accept too much.
When I politely declined, she smiled with a hint of disappointment and started walking again.
“...Maybe I should have just brought him straight to the Association.”
She muttered something to herself, but I was too busy looking around the interior to hear her.
Eventually, I was led to a conference room.
A woman was sitting at a long, oval table. She was a familiar face.
“Orjia.”
The moment I said her name, Orjia’s gaze turned toward me from behind her blindfold.
The last I remembered of her, she was wailing in sorrow, but she seemed much more at peace now.
As if she had finally accepted a truth she couldn’t before.
“You’ve come.”
It seemed it was true that she wanted to speak with me.
I pulled out the chair in front of her and sat down. Orjia glanced at Ms. Baek Seol-hyang, who had naturally taken the seat beside me.
It seemed Ms. Baek Seol-hyang made her a little uncomfortable.
“Ms. Orjia is currently under suspicion of using dimensional entities. Furthermore, the Outer God Aulaps deals heavily in mental powers, so I cannot leave you two alone. I ask for your understanding.”
As Ms. Baek Seol-hyang spoke politely, Orjia nodded.
She seemed to be aware that she had caused trouble and was willing to admit it.
“So, what is it you wanted to discuss with me?”
“...I don’t have anyone in this world I can trust yet.”
Orjia looked out the window with a somewhat somber expression.
The streets of South Korea in the year 2030 stretched out before her, a sight that seemed utterly alien to her.
“That’s because you’re one of the oldest recorded cases of a dimensional shift.”
I replied as if I already knew the reason.
One of the entries under Classification: Fantasy · 14 stated that Seiya and Orjia were the oldest victims of a dimensional shift in Korea.
According to Seiya, they were caught in the shift in the 1800s, during the Joseon Dynasty.
In other words, they were the oldest recorded victims of a dimensional shift in Korean history.
The time difference between Serlintium and Earth is too great.
That was likely why they had such a difficult time returning.
Dimensional shifts were never easy to begin with, but I’d heard that the greater the time difference between dimensions, the harder it became.
That was why, even though she had followed right after Seiya, she had only managed to arrive long after his death.
And that must have made his death all the more difficult for her to accept.
He might have been waiting for her until the very end.
“There is so much I don’t know about this world. The civilization, the people I remember… nothing is the same.”
“So you couldn’t bring yourself to trust the Returnee Association.”
“Yes. I know they have Seiya’s records, but I wanted to speak with someone I could truly trust.”
And that someone was me?
“Because everything you said to me, a complete stranger, was born from pure kindness.”
It wasn’t anything so grand, but I scratched my cheek.
All I’d done was answer her questions, but she seemed to consider it very important.
“I understand. Then let’s talk through me for now. I’ll answer any questions you have.”
To finally return home only to find that everything you remembered was gone must have been nothing but confusing for her.
Without Seiya, this world must feel like just another alien dimension.
And so, I began to speak with Orjia calmly.
It seemed she had already heard about the modern era from someone at the Association.
But she went through the process of confirming it all with me again.
“So much has truly changed.”
Though her tone was somber, she seemed to be meekly accepting the facts.
Then, Orjia let out a small sigh and placed her hands politely on the table.
“I am sorry. I never imagined the children I brought with me would cause so much trouble in my homeland.”
She apologized directly to me and Ms. Baek Seol-hyang.
To be honest, her apology didn’t mean much to me.
The dimensional entities she had summoned had only appeared before people to check their faces before leaving, or had caused some property damage due to their size.
It had been reported that there were zero casualties from the incident.
In fact, even the hunters reported that during their engagements, the entities had only tried to flee, not fight.
That alone proved that Orjia had only intended to use the dimensional entities to find Seiya, not to harm anyone.
From her perspective, born in the Joseon era, it’s only natural she’d think she couldn’t find Seiya without borrowing the power of dimensional entities.
In the Joseon Dynasty, there were more forests and fields than places where people lived.
Besides, while we lumped them all together and called them dimensional entities, in her world, they might have been no different from animals like dogs.
So, other than startling a few people, there hadn’t been any major problems.
All that was left was the property damage.
“It’s alright. The Returnee Association exists to handle situations just like this.”
The Association had already taken care of all compensation for damages, including psychological distress, so there were no outstanding issues.
On some websites, people were even expressing envy for those who received compensation for mental distress, so Orjia’s name was unlikely to be dragged through the mud.
“Thank you.”
As Orjia bowed her head respectfully, Ms. Baek Seol-hyang simply offered a faint smile, as if to say she had only done what was expected.
“Now then, may I speak a little about my own matter?”
When I nodded, she hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Soon, Serlintium will wage a dimensional war.”
Here we go with another headache.
Ms. Baek Seol-hyang remained calm, as if she had anticipated this to some extent, but it was enough to make my eyes go wide.
A dimensional war.
This was on a completely different scale from dimensional gates opening due to natural phenomena or small groups invading.
It meant that an entire dimension was targeting our world for an attack.
“The land of Serlintium is dying. That was the same reason we tried to escape that world.”
“So they intend to seize our land.”
“...Yes. And since we happened to have connected the worldlines, they plan to cross over through that. I wish to apologize for this as well. I was so focused on finding Seiya that I came over without taking any precautions.”
Orjia lowered her head as if she had committed a grave sin.
They had only been trying to return home, but they had become the catalyst for a dimensional war, and she was wracked with guilt.
But this wasn't a problem I could solve.
Fortunately, right next to me was an expert on the matter.
“Then we just need to sever the connected worldline.”
As proof, Ms. Baek Seol-hyang, who had been calm and composed the entire time, flashed a bright smile.
As she did, she leaned slightly against the table, and two soft mounds of an overwhelming size came to rest on the tabletop.
My gaze was momentarily captivated, but I forced myself to look away.
My masculine instincts had acted on their own in the middle of a serious conversation.
Thankfully, Ms. Baek Seol-hyang didn’t seem to notice and continued her conversation with Orjia.
“Is that possible?”
“Of course. The Returnee Association also exists to prevent such things.”
When Orjia asked her question with innocent curiosity, she nodded lightly.
“Besides, even if Serlintium were to invade for a dimensional war right now.”
Then, a chilling smile spread across her face, one that sent a shiver down my spine just looking at it.
“It wouldn’t be much of a threat.”
It wasn’t arrogance, but conviction.
She didn’t believe for a second that Serlintium’s forces could ever be a match for them.