Uncle Is Home
The moment I set foot in Incheon Airport, I knew Wei Jinsheng had been telling the truth.
The airport building itself was fine. The problem was the flags fluttering over it. Hanging where the Korean national flag should have been was a black banner emblazoned with a crimson blade.
"What the hell is that now?"
At my incredulous muttering, the Chinese official who had tagged along on the private jet answered.
"That's the Iron Blood Guild's flag. Incheon Airport is currently under Iron Blood Guild jurisdiction."
"A guild runs an airport?"
"Yes. All of Korea's key strongholds are effectively managed by the major guilds now. We did inform the Korean government about you, Mr. Lee Jaeseong, but..."
The man let his words trail off. Judging from how things were going, it seemed the government couldn't even spare a single person to receive me properly.
I'd gotten a rough picture of the situation during the two-hour flight to Korea. Ten years ago, through sheer misfortune, a massive gate had opened in the very heart of the capital. Countless awakened individuals had thrown themselves into sealing it, and the hunters who'd distinguished themselves early on had been slaughtered almost to a man. The survivors, rather than following state orders, had each chosen to strike out on their own.
Guild, they called it. To my eyes, they were nothing more than Murim sects. They carved up territory as they pleased and lorded over everything inside it — exactly how things worked back in Murim.
Please, just be safe, Noona.
Honestly, whether the country had collapsed or not was none of my concern. The only thing that mattered in my head was the safety of my sister and her family — and as long as they were alive, everything after that was something I could take responsibility for myself.
"This is where my assistance ends."
I looked at the Chinese official as he said it, then fished out a small gold ingot and tossed it to him.
"What's this?"
"Payment for guiding me this far."
A kindness received had to be repaid — that was the law I lived by, and compared to what I'd brought back from the Blood Cult, a single gold ingot wouldn't so much as register.
The inside of the airport was quieter than I'd expected. Instead of travelers dragging suitcases, hunters in massive plated armor stood watch with lethal glares. Checkpoints had been set up throughout the terminal, and at every one of them, people were being detained.
"Chinese?"
The man blocking my path was built like a bear. I'd spent thirty years grinding through Murim, but being called Chinese on Korean soil left a strangely foul taste in my mouth.
"Korean."
"Then what's with the getup? Which guild are you with?"
The man shrugged, only half-listening to my answer.
"None."
At that single word, his expression turned to ice. He slapped the Iron Blood Guild badge on his chest and thrust it into my face.
"None? Then why the short answers, huh? From a nobody? How old even are you?"
A snort of laughter burst out of me. I'd been eighteen when I fell into Murim, and after thirty years there, I was approaching the age at which a man was said to know the will of heaven. But like my master before me, I'd undergone the reversal of old age into youth — my outward appearance was barely distinguishable from a man in his early twenties.
"A kid, huh? Haah. Guess you don't know how things work. No guild means you pay a toll. Three hundred, in cash."
"Why would I?"
"Because that's the law of this land. And what's with a brat like you keep talking down to me?"
The man growled, baring his teeth. 2036 Korea really did resemble Murim. The way this hulking bastard behaved was a dead ringer for Nokrim — those worthless pieces of trash.
Had my temper ruled me, I'd have torn his mouth apart on the spot. For all that I loved peace, the Nokrim bastards were mosquitoes that contributed nothing to the world. But not today. With my sister and her family's safety hanging in the balance, I had no intention of stirring up trouble.
"M-Mr. Lee Jaeseong? That's you, right?"
That was the moment a man in a suit came running up, breathless.
"Park Jaehyun, administrative officer with the Hunter Management Department. The Chinese side contacted us, and I've come to meet you."
Sensing the strange current running between me and the big man, he swiftly pressed a business card into my hand, then turned to the brute and bowed.
"Ah, my sincere apologies. This is our guest — there's been a miscommunication. Please process him as exempt from the toll."
"Exempt? Nobody told me anything about that."
The brute picked at his ear, swaggering in place at Park Jaehyun's words. Watching him, I found myself thinking it might honestly be more efficient to just smash the whole place and be done with it.
That was when Park Jaehyun slipped an envelope toward the brute.
"It's nothing much, but consider it a meal on us."
The moment the brute checked the envelope, his scowl melted clean away.
"You little punk. You'd better be grateful for your luck."
He pocketed the envelope quickly and sneered at me. The lucky one wasn't me — it was him — but a man was free to his delusions.
Iron Blood Guild. I'll remember that.
Carving the name into my mind, I quietly followed behind Park Jaehyun.
A single black sedan was waiting outside the airport. Once I climbed into the passenger seat, Park Jaehyun spoke up carefully from behind the wheel.
"I hear you're a returnee from Murim? Haha, that's truly remarkable."
Returnee. I'd gotten a rough idea of the term from the Chinese official on the plane — a catch-all for people who'd fallen into another dimension and come back. Apparently those dimensions included Murim, like mine, as well as some continent or other where magic existed.
The problem was that not a single one of them had ever opened a dimensional gate with their own hands and returned the way I had.
Of course not. Considering the hell my master put me through just to try opening one.
It occurred to me that maybe, just as my master had speculated, people simply returned to their original world when they died. Otherwise, the existence of other returnees made no sense at all.
What was interesting was that Park Jaehyun's knowledge of me stopped exactly there. Wei Jinsheng had apparently kept hidden the fact that I'd returned to Earth through a gate. Whether that was consideration or some kind of gambit, I couldn't say — either way, I decided to play ignorant. There was no reason to lay all my cards on the table.
"There'll be a formal investigation later, but for now, I'll take you wherever you wish. Where to?"
"Guro."
At my answer, Park Jaehyun's face visibly stiffened.
"Ah — Guro, you say? Honestly, I'd recommend going anywhere else. The security situation there is... poor. If you'd like, I could arrange safe lodgings somewhere els—"
"My family is there."
At those few words, a heavy silence settled over the car. He'd apparently realized that the word family meant he could no longer stop me.
I watched Park Jaehyun drive in silence for a while, then stole a glance out the window. The Seoul visible beyond the glass was grotesque. Shanty structures clung in tight clusters between half-collapsed high-rises, and the few people I could see skulked about, eyes glittering as they warily scanned their surroundings. Compared to China, this place was the true end of the world.
"The first gate opened in Yeouido, was it?"
"Yes. March of 2026."
The exact moment I had fallen into Murim.
"And they still haven't cleared it?"
"There have been many attempts, but no. We've lost countless precious lives because of it. Lately, all anyone manages is dealing with the monsters coming out of the gate — everyone else is keeping their heads down."
Park Jaehyun answered with a bitter expression.
"And Guro? What's its state?"
"It's a place where government guidelines carry no weight at all. Nowhere has great security these days, but Guro is on another level. It's dominated by a outfit calling itself the Blood Tide Guild — and they're less a guild than a gang of mobsters. They squeeze the residents dry to line their own pockets."
Blood Tide Guild. Even the name grated on me.
"And you just stand by and watch? People live there, don't they?"
"The government is aware of the problem, but we lack the power. Beyond that, they've cunningly cut the area off from the outside, so even verifying the facts is difficult. And most of the residents are already in debt to the Blood Tide Guild, so..."
I listened to his explanation with a look of disbelief. Granted the country had fallen, but it somehow felt even more of a shambles than I'd imagined.
The car stopped not long after. Just as Park Jaehyun had said, a rusty iron fence ran across the middle of the road leading into Guro. No guards were in sight, but vicious warning notices were plastered across the barrier.
"From here on, we can't accompany you. Under normal circumstances I'd have to stop you, but... with your family inside..."
"You've done enough. I'll handle it from here."
Leaving his words behind me, I opened the car door. I'd grasped the situation well enough. Any further company would only be a burden — Park Jaehyun might be government, but an ordinary man like him would do nothing except slow down my movements.
"Ah — if there's ever anything you need, please reach me on this."
Park Jaehyun held out a state-of-the-art smartphone through the window. I stuffed it carelessly into my pocket and gave a short reply.
"I'll remember it."
The moment I stepped past the fence, the air brushing my nose changed. Rancid exhaust fumes and a curiously rotten stench rolled over me. The surroundings had transformed beyond recognition, but between the gutted skeletons of buildings, familiar silhouettes still stood.
Racking my memory, I hurried toward my destination.
Thank god. It's still standing.
An old corridor-style apartment building, its paint half-peeled, sagging as if ready to collapse at any moment. Ten years seemed to have pushed the already-aging structure to the very brink of demolition.
But the exterior meant nothing to me. As long as my sister and her family were safe, I could build them a new tower — a golden one, if they wanted.
I stepped through the apartment entrance. The elevator had clearly been out of service for years, leaving me no choice but the emergency stairs. If anything, that suited me fine. Climbing floor by floor would give me the time I needed to steady a heart that wouldn't stop pounding.
Fourth floor, Unit 401.
The instant I saw the rusted unit number set into the iron door, my breath caught in my throat.
Thirty years. That was how long it had been. Ten years by Earth's reckoning, but for me, it had been three full decades — and the home I'd ached for even in my dreams through all those long years stood right in front of me.
With trembling hands, I slowly pressed the doorbell.
Ding-dong.
The chime rang out, but nothing stirred inside. Just as an ominous premonition began to flicker through my mind, I pressed the bell again.
And that was the moment I caught the sound of movement beyond the iron door.
"...Noona said I have to hide, for sure."
A young boy's voice. In a flash, the face of my youngest nephew — born shortly before I fell into Murim — rose before my eyes. If he'd grown up all this time, he'd be about that age now.
"Could you be... Seojun?"
I asked softly toward the presence I could feel beyond the door.
Freeze. I could feel the boy's movements stop dead.
"Wh-who are you? How do you know my name?"
The boy was muttering in a voice thick with terror. And in that moment, my vision blazed hot. If the warriors of the Blood Cult could have seen me then, some of them might well have fainted.
And my master... would probably tease me about how entertaining it was.
But for that one moment, even I had no choice but to let my emotions surge.
My family was alive.
That single fact alone was enough to repay every wretched hardship of the past thirty years.
"It's your uncle, Seojun."
Late — but your uncle has come home.