The Return

"Mad Dog. Is there still no word from him?"

Zhongyuan. Beijing.

Gwanghyeoljon posed the question while looking Hyeolnoe square in the face.

At that, Hyeolnoe fixed him with a look of pure exhaustion.

"There is not. I told you plainly that I would inform you the moment word arrived. Why must you come here every single day and roast a man alive over it?"

Irritation was thick in Hyeolnoe's voice.

And little wonder — ever since Kang Samsik, the man called the Mad Dog, had crossed over to the other world, Gwanghyeoljon had shown up at his door daily to repeat the same question.

"Come now, Hyeolnoe. Think on it. Samsik is formidable enough, granted, but who can say what dragon's pools and tigers' dens lie waiting in that world? It is entirely possible the man never reached the Cult Leader at all."

"...And so? What is it you are proposing?"

"The clever rabbit keeps three burrows, as they say. Which means I myself ought to cross over with the Blood Demon Guard in tow, no?"

Deep contempt settled into Hyeolnoe's eyes as he regarded the man.

To be fair, there was reason in Gwanghyeoljon's words.

They had confirmed that the hole in question led to the other world, but nothing beyond that — what manner of world lay on the far side remained a mystery.

However rare his equals might be in Murim, it was not beyond imagining that even the Mad Dog might fail to reach the Cult Leader and meet with disaster ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in that world.

The problem was the timing of Gwanghyeoljon's lobbying.

Only seven days and nights had passed since Samsik had gone through the hole. Waiting was plainly the correct course.

The truth was that Gwanghyeoljon kept dragging out a settled matter for one reason alone: his own hunger to go to the other world.

"Speak honestly. You're dying of curiosity about that world yourself."

"...Frankly, yes. What of it?"

Hyeolnoe let out a helpless laugh at the man's shamelessness.

A man his age, behaving exactly like a child — taking him seriously was exhausting in itself.

"Strategist! Kang Samsik has just returned!"

The one who brought the news into Hyeolnoe's chamber was a warrior of the Blood Shadow Hall, the intelligence arm of the Blood Heaven Cult.

Thud.

The first to spring from his seat at the report was Gwanghyeoljon.

Of course, Hyeolnoe was no less glad of it.

At the very least, he would never again have to endure Gwanghyeoljon's tantrums.

"Good. Show him in."

At Hyeolnoe's command the door opened, and Kang Samsik soon appeared — dressed in the strangest attire.

"Mad Dog! You wretch — where is the Cult Leader, that you show your face alone?"

Gwanghyeoljon bellowed the instant he laid eyes on Kang Samsik.

But to Hyeolnoe's ears, it sounded exactly like, 'You went to the other world and had all the fun without us? I'm jealous!'

"It is the Cult Leader's will."

At those words, Hyeolnoe and Gwanghyeoljon dropped to their knees as if they had never been standing at all.

No matter who bore the message, one could hardly receive the Cult Leader's command on his feet.

And Kang Samsik, watching the two of them, clenched his jaw hard.

"The Cult Leader has granted leave for any who wish to cross into the new world. Forcing the matter is another thing entirely — out of the question. Only those who choose it of their own will have the right to go to that world, and only those with such a right may stand on its battlefield."

"...Battlefield?"

Gwanghyeoljon was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the first to react.

The most belligerent soul in all the Blood Cult was none other than Gwanghyeoljon himself, so the word battlefield sparking his interest was only natural.

"Indeed. That world is full of the most fascinating things. Walking pigs on two legs, for a start — and talking rabbits besides. And the people there wield every manner of bizarre sorcery you could imagine."

"I-is that the truth?"

"What reason would I have to lie? In any case, that was the Cult Leader's word. Not once, but many times, he charged me: there must never be a single member of the Blood Cult dragged over against his will. So understand — I have delivered the Cult Leader's intent exactly as given. Those who do not wish it need not come!"

Kang Samsik drove the point home to Gwanghyeoljon and Hyeolnoe both.

Truthfully, his heart had wanted to haul every last member of the Blood Cult over by force — but the Cult Leader's will was not his to defy.

"In any case, I have said all I came to say. I'll remain three more days, and then depart."

With that, Kang Samsik spoke to Hyeolnoe and turned on his heel, walking out.

"...Only those who wish it may come?"

Hyeolnoe murmured the words to himself, eyes on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Samsik's receding back.

The master of the Blood Cult was the Cult Leader, and naturally every member of the cult was bound to follow the Cult Leader's will.

Had anyone but Lee Jaeseong sat on that throne, Hyeolnoe would have doubted the words, then doubted them again.

"Could this be... the Cult Leader testing the depth of our devotion?"

Exactly as Gwanghyeoljon, muttering beside him, suspected.

But Hyeolnoe, who had served the Blood Heaven Emperor Lee Jaeseong at his right hand closer than anyone, could not mistake it for anything but the Cult Leader's sincere heart.

Unlike the old days, Murim — no, all of Zhongyuan — had become for the Blood Cult not a place of terror but a paradise on earth. And the Cult Leader refused to upend the comfortable lives his people had built there on a whim.

"...I shall proclaim the Cult Leader's will exactly as spoken. Those who wish it may remain. So heed me, Gwanghyeoljon — the same goes for your subordinates. If you lay hands on a single one who does not wish to go, I will not stand idle. Not for an instant."

So saying, Hyeolnoe rose from his seat.

Yet even Hyeolnoe failed to foresee what came after.

That not only the Blood Heaven Cult's main base but the entirety of its followers scattered across the vast expanse of Zhongyuan would rise and cross to the other world in a great exodus, all to follow their Cult Leader.

And at the very center of it all — as always — stood Samsik.

"For now, the Wi Cheonghan matter is in Wei Jinsheng's hands. As for the rights to the remaining gates in North Korea..."

"Handle that however you see fit."

Back home, I gave Kang Iseol a vague answer.

I'd already passed word to the North that they were to deal with the Blood Heaven Guild rather than me personally, so the practical matters could safely be left to her.

"More importantly. I'd like you to give us the room, please?"

Saying that to Kang Iseol, I turned to look at my family.

Everything urgent had been dealt with. Now was the moment for the conversation that actually mattered.

Kang Iseol studied my face with an odd expression, then gave a small nod and withdrew.

She must have been burning with questions of her own, but she accepted my request regardless.

"Jinwoo, you too. This is a family matter."

I said the same to Seo Jinwoo, who had been in the middle of some conversation with Seoyeon.

Perhaps because my expression was grave enough, Seo Jinwoo also nodded and followed Kang Iseol out.

He looked fairly wounded as he left, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

And so the living room was left to me, my brother-in-law, Seoyeon, and Seojun.

"Jaeseong. What on earth is going on? First you suddenly head up north, and now this..."

My brother-in-law asked, his face tight with tension.

Instead of answering, I pulled my phone from my pocket and held out the photos I'd taken.

The traces my sister had left were captured there, plain as day.

"Th-this is...?"

The moment he checked the photos, the color drained from my brother-in-law's face.

"...Why? What is it?"

Seoyeon, peering at the photos as she spoke, reacted much the same way.

I simply watched the two of them and waited.

They needed time to accept what they were seeing.

"Where... where was this?"

"Inside a gate that opened in North Korea. It was left behind in the boss room."

In a level voice, I began walking my brother-in-law through everything that had happened.

From Park Jaehyun coming to show us the picture of my sister's pendant, to the boss within the gate being a Gundam-shaped golem emblazoned with the words Minhee's Custom Unit.

"She was definitely there."

I said it to my brother-in-law, who still hadn't surfaced from the shock.

For a long while after that, the living room sank into a strange, heavy silence.

"So? Uncle — Mom? Did you find her?"

At my words, Seoyeon looked at me with desperate, pleading eyes.

And I had no choice but to slowly shake my head.

What I'd found was my sister's trace — not her exact whereabouts.

And yet one thing was beyond denying: the odds that my sister was alive had climbed far higher than before.

"Hkk... Minhee."

The first to break was my brother-in-law.

He sank to the floor, clutching at the image of his wife's trace on the phone screen, and wept outright.

He had told me she might still be alive — but perhaps, deep down, he'd been bracing for the worst all along.

The moment he started crying, tears began welling in the kids' eyes too.

"Dad, don't cry..."

Seoyeon was visibly fighting to hold her tears back, but Seojun — frightened by the sight of his father and sister like this — started sniffling in alarm.

I pressed my lips together hard as I watched the three of them cling to one another and weep.

My own chest ached dully too, but this was, without question, good news.

"What's with all the crying? I just told you the odds of your sister being alive shot way up."

At my blunt question, my brother-in-law forced his tears to a halt and looked up at me.

Then, wiping his eyes with his sleeve like a child, he managed a bright smile.

"I'm crying because I'm happy, that's all. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Happy. All this time we never heard a single thing about Minhee, and now you've brought something back. I keep thinking — maybe our family really could be together again."

His voice trembled as he said it, but his face carried a vitality that hadn't been there before.

He had smiled often enough in the past, but it felt as though the shadow that had always clung to one corner of that smile had finally, entirely lifted.

It was at that very moment that Seoyeon suddenly bolted for her room.

I wondered what she was up to — and a minute later she came back holding an old, worn tablet, which she thrust out in front of me.

"Uncle, look at this. I read something like this before, a long time ago."

On the screen was a scrap of a newspaper article from years back.

It was largely an interview piece, and a fascinating one at that.

Its central claim was that gates were not mere virtual spaces — that they connected to other dimensions, or were perhaps copies of them.

The evidence cited was the Earth-made objects that turned up inside gates from time to time.

"Han Chaeyun?"

I murmured the name of the doctor in the article, slowly.

It was the first I'd ever heard of Earth-made objects being found inside gates — and the whole approach struck me as unfamiliar.

"That's her. The one from the article."

"Where is she now?"

"...No idea. But back then, she got ridiculed for talking complete nonsense, didn't she?"

Seoyeon's words only deepened my puzzlement.

There were a few logical leaps scattered through it, but nothing so outlandish that it deserved to be dismissed as pure fantasy.

It was my brother-in-law who answered the question for me.

He looked at me with a bitter expression and spoke slowly.

"That's because she wasn't attacked over the theory alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Right after her claims went public, all hell broke loose among the families of the missing. If gates were copies of other dimensions, people let themselves hope, then maybe the missing hadn't died — maybe they'd vanished into another world. Because of that, countless people blindly rushed into gates and lost their lives in accidents, over and over."

I bit my lip hard at his words.

Only then did I realize who this old tablet had belonged to.

"My sister, too..."

"Yeah. People named her the culprit behind every one of those tragedies. They said she'd stoked chaos with unverified information, and the academic world fell over itself condemning her."

I stared again at the researcher's name in the article, my expression tangled.

If she had never given that interview, maybe my sister would never have gone missing because of me.

But there was no point weighing that now.

If there was even a lead on my sister, I had to meet whoever held it.

"Brother-in-law. I need to meet this woman."

I said it to him, plain and simple.