Yeah, I'm Korean, I Tell You
The building of the Hunter Association in Mapo-gu, Seoul.
"What's your name?"
"Cheon Ji-hoo."
"Any relatives you remember?"
"Before I got dragged to that other world, I lived in Bucheon. I've got one little sister. Her name's Cheon Ji-yoon."
Cheon Ji-hoo played it cool after waking up from his knockout. Sure, it pissed him off to be interrogated in handcuffs when he hadn't done a damn thing wrong, but kicking up a fuss might get him booted from his long-lost homeland before he could even settle in. Not that anyone could actually stop him if he went all out.
"Do you remember your resident registration number?"
"Let's see... 081212. Yeah, 081212. Can't recall the last digits."
The Korean Hunter Association staffer questioning him in the interrogation room tapped the first part of his resident number and name into the tablet in her hand. Up popped a missing person report.
Missing since 2025—the day of the great rift.
'Born December 12, 2008, Cheon Ji-hoo.'
It was 2035 now, so that made him twenty-seven. Disappeared at seventeen, making a flashy comeback a decade later.
Such a young age. Yet he carried a transcendent poise and gravitas that didn't match his years. His snow-white hair, like an old man's, and those piercing blue eyes made him look anything but Korean.
Finally, the staffer frowned and asked, "Uh... what about the hair and eyes?"
"Beats me. Swam around in a mana vein, and they changed like this."
"What? A mana vein?"
"Yeah. You don't know?"
"No."
"Ah, got it."
What the hell was this guy on about? The interrogator narrowed her eyes at Cheon Ji-hoo.
"By the way, what year is it? This Earth looks way different from the one I knew."
"It's 2035. You were reported missing ten years ago, Mr. Cheon."
"Ten years?"
Cheon Ji-hoo's brow twitched at the words. Just ten years? He'd rolled through centuries in that other world, and Earth had only aged a decade?
Good thing, actually.
If Earth had leaped forward centuries too, that would've been depressing. All his old ties would've crumbled to dust.
"So, when do I get out of here?"
"You have to stay until your identity is verified."
"How long's that gonna take?"
"We don't have any means to confirm it's really you right now..."
He hadn't been an adult back then, so fingerprints were out. And with his looks, he didn't even pass for Korean. They'd need someone who remembered him.
As impatience flickered across Cheon Ji-hoo's face, the staffer quickly added, "Your family member is on the way. Should be here in thirty minutes—just hang tight."
"Family? Ji-yoon?"
"Yes. It's standard procedure, but... there've been plenty of folks like you who vanished and came back. You're just the first to rip open a massive rift in the sky doing it."
Those who lived in other worlds and returned like Cheon Ji-hoo were called Returners.
Plop into another world one day, plop right back to Earth the next. It happened often enough that there were manuals for handling Returners. Cheon Ji-hoo's case was just too damn unique—no one else had torn a hole in the heavens on their way back.
"Ji-yoon..."
Cheon Ji-hoo closed his eyes. He'd been seventeen when he got summoned—dragged, more like. But Ji-yoon had only been seven.
Ten years apart, orphaned siblings without parents. Their folks had died in an accident when he was four, landing them in a home.
Memories bloomed fresh. He'd scraped together cash from part-time gigs, dreaming of renting a tiny place and getting out with his sister once he hit adulthood.
But that dream got shattered. Dragged to another world, forced into goodbye.
What had seven-year-old Ji-yoon felt? His own heart had ripped in two.
That pain had fueled him through centuries in that world—just to see her face again.
"She's alive..."
He murmured softly. Thank god. Really, thank god. He'd worried sick if she'd been summoned too, left all alone.
Cheon Ji-hoo opened his eyes and turned toward the door. It swung open, and a girl walked in with a Hunter Association staffer.
He shot to his feet; she took a step back. The staffer blocked him, and he scowled.
"Move."
"Calm down, Mr. Cheon."
"I said move."
"Please sit. We'll give you time to talk it out."
For a split second, rage surged—he could've swept them all aside. But he exhaled long and sank back into his seat. This was Earth. Brute force might solve it, but it'd drag his sister into trouble.
Only then did the staffer sigh in relief and step aside.
The girl hurried over on tiptoe and peered into Cheon Ji-hoo's face. He gazed right back.
His long white hair, blue eyes, unearthly beauty.
Her brown-tinged locks, black eyes, sharp features fit for a beauty queen.
The long-lost siblings reunited.
"Ji-yoon-ah."
"Oppa?"
"Yeah, it's oppa. Ji-yoon-ah."
Ji-yoon hesitated. Was this really her brother?
She had to doubt. "I... I don't actually remember what oppa looks like."
Their only family, but parted so young. Lost parents at four, her last blood at seven. Ten years was plenty to blur a face.
Cheon Ji-hoo stood, extending his cuffed hands. No one stopped him this time.
"Ji-yoon-ah."
His pale hand gently stroked her hair, tender as handling glass, brimming with love.
"My beloved little sister."
The moment she heard his voice, an inexplicable longing hit her. A stranger's face, but that touch on her head, that voice calling her name—it was familiar. So familiar. Achingly missed.
"I came back too late. Should've tried harder."
If he'd shaved off just two hundred years, it might've been five years instead of ten.
He kept stroking her hair. "You've grown so much. Really. You did amazing on your own. I'm not trying to play guardian now, but I can tell you worked hard."
"...Oppa."
Ji-yoon threw her arms wide and hugged him tight. Just like when she was little—her fingertips barely met around his broad chest.
She buried her face there, then looked up at the staffers. "This is my oppa. Let him go now."
"No need for more checks? Like a shared memory or...?"
"I was too young to remember stuff like that. But his voice is the same. And oppa."
"Yeah?"
"I'm your guardian now. I'll protect you from here on out."
"Haha!"
Cheon Ji-hoo burst out laughing for the first time since returning to Earth. This tiny thing, protecting him from what?
As he roared with laughter, Ji-yoon yelled again. "I'm a Hunter Academy student, okay?! My predicted awakening rank's A-grade, so I can totally handle one oppa!"
"Right, got it. Take good care of me, then."
It made sense she'd say that. The fact that he'd crushed S-rank hunters worldwide was classified. Media reported the S-ranks had safely cleared rifts and returned home.
So the staffers explained he was your standard Returner—weak ones who barely survived other worlds and popped back without awakening skills like hunters.
Cheon Ji-hoo stroked her head again, then casually slipped off the cuffs. The staffers blinked.
They hadn't unlocked them yet. And these weren't ordinary cuffs—they were mana-suppressing ones.
He handed the dangling restraints to the staffer. "So, what's next? Handle the rest of the procedures."
"Uh, y-yeah, first a new ID..."
Clank.
The staffer fumbled the cuffs but rattled off quickly. "We'll explain the details outside."
After a brief rundown, he opened the interrogation room door. Cheon Ji-hoo nodded, satisfied, and followed the staffer out with Ji-yoon.
Watching his back, the staffer let out a long sigh. "Fucking hell, what a life..."
Where'd this Returner even come from? He still remembered the rumors—that he'd one-shot S-rank hunters. He'd dismissed it as exaggeration.
But maybe not. Slipping those cuffs like nothing meant his mana couldn't be contained by them. Even the world's most famous hunter mage had struggled to break a pair.
"If he weren't Korean, we'd be toast—humanity done for. Wonder if he'll hunter up. That'd flip the whole board."
He muttered under his breath and clicked his tongue.
Ah, need a smoke.
* * *
"Oppa, where'd you get that cape? Looks awesome."
"Made from silk of the silkworms living in the World Tree. Want it?"
"N-no, it's fine! So the world you went to was swords-and-magic fantasy?"
"Pretty much."
"No way, epic!"
There'd been angels, dragons, demons. Demon Kings and gods too. No need to mention he'd wiped 'em all out.
After getting a new ID and wrapping up paperwork, the siblings strolled a tidy street.
The area once called Yeouido. After the great rift obliterated it, a new city rose centered on a hunter training academy: Hunter Way.
Also called HW, this shiny new development was hunter central. Once awakenings were figured out, Korea's education obsession birthed the academy with fat government backing. Now one of the world's top five.
Ji-yoon tugged Cheon Ji-hoo to an apartment complex.
"This is my place!"
Damn, she lived fancy? Nope. It was a one-room officetel on a low floor of a tall building.
First impressions: cramped and filthy. Stuff scattered everywhere. They'd have to clean before crashing.
He shot her a look—what the hell is this mess?—and she grinned mischievously.
"Hehe. I was gonna clean today! For real!"
"Yeah, right."
"I mean it!"
She'd grown up fine, sure... but apparently not that fine.