Returnee Lee Sia 1
"So a second Great Rift happened... and now there are dungeons... and hunters. The world really has changed a lot."
"There are actually quite a few people who got pulled into other worlds during the first Great Rift and eventually returned."
After that brief exchange, the returnee Sia and the A-grade hunter Yeonhwa sat undisturbed, grilling the premium cuts of the Black Minotaur on a stone slab until the meat practically melted in their mouths.
Whenever the stone slab became too caked with rendered fat and grease to be usable, they simply found a new, thin, suitable stone, washed it in a nearby stream, built up the campfire again, and kept grilling.
By the time they finished the first batch of the Black Minotaur's meat, Yeonhwa was already completely stuffed.
"Ugh, I'm so full... I can't eat another bite."
"Really? Just rest then."
"...You're going to keep eating??"
"Sorry. I don't feel even slightly full..."
But Sia was different.
She meticulously gathered every scrap of the remaining Black Minotaur carcass, carefully scraping the meat off the bones and ribs to grill on the stone. Every now and then, the grotesque tentacles sprouting from her lower back would tear off pieces of raw meat like they were eating beef tartare, and they even crunched down on the leftover bones.
Crunch, crunch, gulp!
Sia simply thought to herself, Delicious, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction as she ate and ate and ate.
Though she had consumed countless forms of evil nature in the 'other world,' this was her first time tasting such high-grade evil nature combined with actual meat.
Having comfortably overeaten for the first time inside a dungeon, Yeonhwa patted her slightly protruding stomach and let out a sigh, watching Sia, who was still grilling and eating the Black Minotaur meat.
"......Um, it's a bit late, but thank you."
"*Gulp.* Huh? For what?"
"For saving me."
"......"
At those words, Sia stopped tearing at the meat and looked at Yeonhwa.
"...I have a confession to make."
"What is it?"
"...You almost died earlier."
"Huh? Ah, you mean the Black Minotaur? Yes... you're right. The boss of this dungeon was far too strong for my current level..."
"No, that's not what I mean."
As if suddenly losing her appetite, Sia retracted the tentacles that had been chewing on the bones and sat down. A shadow fell over her face, making Yeonhwa wonder if she had somehow ruined Sia's mood without realizing it.
"I mean you almost died by my hand."
"Excuse me?"
"....Binggu... no, Yeonhwa. Do you really think I saved you?"
"O-Of course. I mean... first of all, you're older than me, right? Can I call you Unni?"
Sia gave a slight nod and cast a miracle of purification over her face, which was smeared with grease from the Black Minotaur.
Instantly, the blood splattering Sia's body vanished, washing away the meat crumbs, grease, dust, and all other residues around her mouth. For the first time, Yeonhwa was able to see Sia's true, clean appearance.
Her features hadn't changed drastically.
She was quite tall for a woman, with thighs and arms showing hints of lean muscle, an exceptionally large chest, and... skin as pale and white as a vampire's, framed by silver hair that looked even whiter and immaculately maintained.
"What do you think when you look at me?"
Looking at her, Yeonhwa felt a strange sense of dissonance.
What is this...? Why does it feel so strange? Her appearance is striking, but she's definitely human, right...?
"I'm not human."
"What? Then... are you saying you're from a different race?"
"No."
In that moment, Sia grabbed her own neck with one hand.
"Don't be startled."
"Huh? Uh... Unni!? What are you doing...!"
Snap!
"Kyaaaah?!"
And she snapped her own neck.
Yeonhwa jumped up in horror at Sia's sudden, erratic behavior. Broken by brute force, Sia's neck hung at a grotesque, unnatural angle.
Self-harm? Suicide? No, what on earth...!
"U-Unni... Unn...!"
"I'm fine."
"...Ah...!?"
Even with her head twisted completely backward, Sia spoke perfectly normally.
If a normal human's neck was bent to that degree, they would die instantly. Even hunters were no exception. If a hunter's body was strong, filled with mana, and highly resistant, it would simply be harder to snap their neck in the first place. But if it did turn 180 degrees, their spine and medulla oblongata would rupture, resulting in certain death.
Yet Sia spoke as if she felt no pain at all, despite her twisted neck.
"I showed you something unsightly. My apologies."
Crack!
"Kyaah?!"
Sia grabbed her head with the same hand that had broken it and began to twist it back into place.
The sound of the broken bones snapping back together was far more gruesome than Yeonhwa could have imagined.
"Ahem, ahem... Now, what do you think?"
"..........."
"Yeah, I understand. I get it. It's scary. It's horrifying. You probably think I'm some kind of monster."
Sia, having casually reset her head, let out a self-deprecating smile.
"Let me introduce myself again. I am the Deceased Saintess, Sia. Not a saintess of the deceased, but a Deceased Saintess."
"....Are you saying you're not human?"
"Yeah. It seems like other returnees have been to worlds much harsher than mine... but I'm a bit different."
Pop!
Sia cracked her neck again as she continued to speak.
"....The thing that... made my life hell... wasn't magic, the Demon King, or monsters. It wasn't a difficult political structure, arrogant nobles, or the privileged class. The thing that truly drove me to the brink was my own godforsaken existence."
Seeing that self-deprecating smile, Yeonhwa realized that the shadow cast over Sia wasn't just a physical one.
"So, in our terms, how should I describe the deceased...? A zombie, an undead, a being that moves despite being dead... Ah, by the way, are there dungeons with undead in them?"
"...Yes. There are Liches that command skeleton soldiers. They say Liches possess reason and can be conversed with, even if they harbor hostility toward humans and the living."
"Then you can think of me as an undead that is slightly more evolved than a Lich."
Saying so, Sia brought her tentacles back out and began to tear into the carcass of the Black Minotaur once more.
"Binggu, I'm... hungry. I'm always hungry. No matter how much I eat, I end up starving again."
"...Yes."
"This body of a Deceased Saintess is actually pretty strong, you know? As you saw earlier, death doesn't really apply to me. And despite being undead, I can use healing magic like a saintess. I can even perform various miracles using holy power. But... I am eternally hungry. That is my curse."
"Does that hunger mean... you want to eat humans?"
"Yes. To be precise, I have to consume evil nature."
"Evil nature?"
Sia opened her mouth wide again and began to tear off raw chunks of the Black Minotaur's meat.
Grilling it was delicious, but she had to hurry since the dungeon boss was dead, meaning the dungeon could collapse at any moment.
"Sorry, I can't really give you a precise definition of evil nature. Theresa was always the one who explained things well..."
"Who is Theresa...?"
"Ah, someone from the other world... It doesn't matter now. Anyway, demons, monsters, and things like this Black Minotaur possess a dark energy containing malice, hatred, or murderous intent. Humans have a tiny bit of it too. That's what I feed on. The meat is important, but in the end, only that evil nature can temporarily satisfy my hunger."
"........"
The more Yeonhwa listened, the more she realized that the experiences Sia had gone through were far deeper and darker than she could ever imagine.
Sia smiled self-deprecatingly, as if it were only natural that she was no longer treated as human despite once being one.
"The reason I said I almost killed you earlier... is because of that. I didn't save you. I simply attacked and devoured the Black Minotaur because it was the closest source of food..."
"I see."
"...Yes, that's how it is. I can't control my hunger. No matter how much I endure and resist... eventually, the hunger erodes my reason and morals, turning my soul into a ravenous ghoul. In the end, I'll tear apart and devour anything I can eat, just like a beast."
Sia no longer met Yeonhwa's eyes.
She kept her head down, stuffing the meat into her mouth.
It was hard to tell if she was eating because she was truly hungry at that moment, or if she was just forcing it down to avoid losing her mind and devouring a human. She didn't even check if the meat was cooked properly before shoving it in.
While she had seemed to enjoy the taste at first, now she looked like she was desperately eating just to survive, terrified of losing her sanity.
To Yeonhwa, Sia looked like someone who wanted to forget everything, someone who was terrified of how others would look at her.
"But I'm glad. I'm glad I didn't... kill a human again."
It sounded as if she had already killed humans before.
"...What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. I don't even know if my home is still there. Or if my parents are still alive..."
"I'm sorry to say this, but the first Great Rift where you went missing was in 2024. The current year is 2088. It's been over sixty years, so there's a high probability..."
"Right. No home, no parents... Then I guess I'll have to find some quiet mountain to live in. Fortunately, these monsters have evil nature. I'll manage somehow if I just hunt and eat them."
Despite her overwhelming, out-of-spec power, Sia looked so fragile to Yeonhwa, as if she might crumble at any moment.
But then again, who was Yeonhwa to call anyone fragile?
Ever since her older sister Yeon A died, Yeonhwa had carried a severe trauma that made her refuse to rely on anyone else.
"Um, Unni. Do you remember when I thanked you for saving my life earlier?"
"I told you, you don't have to thank me. If the Black Minotaur hadn't been there, I might have eaten you instead... To me, hunger is something very... terrifying."
"Hypotheticals don't matter. 'What if this happened' or 'what if that happened'... What's done is done and cannot be changed. There's no point in applying assumptions to established facts. Right now, with your mind perfectly intact, do you want to eat me?"
"W-What?! Are you crazy?!"
Seeing Sia recoil in genuine shock, Yeonhwa felt a wave of relief wash over her.
It was proof that the humanity and morals deep within Sia's heart were still perfectly intact.
"Unni, regardless of the process or the reason... if you hadn't been here, I would have been eaten by the Black Minotaur. Whatever your reasons were, you saved me, didn't you?"
".....I suppose... so."
"Does your hunger strike every hour? Do you feel like you're about to eat me right now, even after devouring the Black Minotaur?"
".......I don't know. But... back in the other world, when I ate a similar amount of evil nature... I could endure for about a month."
"Then you don't have to worry about eating me. And the current world has far more 'evil nature' than you think. You don't have to worry about starving and losing your mind."
"....."
Sia stopped eating again.
With a still-somber expression, she stole glances at Yeonhwa.
Is it really okay for someone like me to return to human society?
I'm not human. I'm a terrifying Deceased Saintess.
The things I thought were fine turned out not to be.
The beliefs and bonds I thought would last forever eventually came to an end.
That is the kind of existence I am.
The only things eternal to me are hunger, fits of madness, and craving.
And someone like me is allowed to return to the warmth of humanity?
"Besides, Unni... once this dungeon disappears, do you even have a place to go? You don't."
"...That's true."
"You have no home, no money, and no identification. Do you know the procedures for returnees who disappeared during the Great Rift? Without any living relatives, proving your identity is going to be incredibly difficult."
"....."
Having the harsh reality pointed out so bluntly made Sia's heart sink.
Indeed, South Korea was a country with an incredibly tight administrative system even before the Great Rift. If anything, the identification process and various regulations would have only become stricter after the cataclysm, not laxer.
"It's going to be hard. Trying to stand on your own again... before you can even get on your feet, you'll grow to hate everything, become lethargic, and struggle. So, Unni. Come with me."
"....What do you mean by that?"
"The Yeon family never forgets a debt of gratitude."
Her grandmother had always said so.
Return a grudge twofold.
But always repay a kindness.
Yeonhwa had never forgotten the words of her grandmother, Yeon Seo.
Although their relationship had grown distant recently, Yeon Seo was still her idol, and having been raised on her teachings, Yeonhwa could not bring herself to abandon the fragile Deceased Saintess standing before her.
Sia had already saved her life.
Even if it was a coincidence born of hunger, Yeonhwa saw a glimpse of her late sister, Yeon A, in Sia.
Yeonhwa, a dungeon addict who had pushed herself to the limit because she hated relying on others, had by some miracle been saved by Sia. Now, it was her turn to help Sia as much as she could.
"Unni, let's go together. This world isn't as scary as you think."
"..Still."
"There are plenty of returnees who aren't human anymore. One person even returned as a Skeleton Knight, you know?"
"....Oh, really?"
A Skeleton Knight. That sounded incredibly conspicuous.
Visualizing a skeleton warrior made entirely of bones walking around and drawing everyone's stares, Sia felt a sudden wave of relief regarding her own condition.
Yes, compared to a skeleton... this body of hers was incredibly pretty and looked perfectly normal, didn't it?
"Come on, let's go."
Right on cue, the dungeon began to collapse.
Once a dungeon boss is defeated, the dungeon remains stable for an hour at minimum, or up to twenty-four hours at most, before completely dissolving from reality.
Amidst the fading dungeon, Yeonhwa reached her hand out to Sia.
And Sia, ironically, wanted to grasp that hand more than anything, despite having wanted to distance herself from humans.
Because she still possessed a human soul.
Because she wanted to live among humans.
Because her human morals and reason remained, and she hated the thought of being lonely.
"....Okay."
Sia took another hand.
Menelapie, Theresa, and now this girl named Yeonhwa.
Yes, holding hands wasn't difficult.
And none of the people who had held her hand had ever betrayed her.
Yeonhwa probably wouldn't know.
That on this day, Sia had been saved once again—just as she had been in the other world, and now, upon her return to this one.