Adaptation 3
At the Returnee Management Bureau, there was a tracking device that could monitor a returnee's location, provided they gave their consent.
It wasn't some sort of electronic ankle monitor forced upon criminals. Rather, it was a simple agreement to share location data through the smartwatch worn on the returnee's wrist.
Its primary purpose was to prevent potential accidents and protect the returnees themselves, but conversely, it was also used to protect ordinary citizens from potentially dangerous returnees.
Of course, once the third ethical audit was completed, the surveillance on a returnee's location would usually end entirely.
"She hasn't left her house in a month."
And just like any other returnee, the Returnee Management Bureau was receiving the location data of Lee Sia, the deceased saintess.
Naturally, this data wasn't accessible to just anyone.
Only a select few with a rank of Ethical Auditor or higher had the authority to view it.
Section Chief Choi Bo-mi, who served as Sia's ethical auditor and psychological counselor, let out a deep sigh as she stared at the location data. Sia showed absolutely no sign of leaving her apartment today, either.
"Is that returnee dead or something?"
"What a horrible thing to say. She's moving around a little bit, so she's probably just staying inside."
Though she scolded her subordinate, Section Chief Choi Bo-mi felt a sudden, chilling sensation at the thought.
By monitoring the location data, they could piece together a rough outline of a returnee's daily routine.
That data would eventually serve as crucial information for the upcoming ethical audits.
It helped them determine whether a returnee was living a normal life, or if they were failing to adapt to the outside world, rotting away in a cramped room without meeting a single soul—eventually facing a lonely death like an isolated elderly person. If any such signs appeared, it was Choi Bo-mi's job to step in and provide maximum psychological care.
"But not stepping foot outside for an entire month is a bit extreme, isn't it? Even throwing out the trash is a normal human activity."
"...That's true. But it's not like we can install surveillance cameras inside her home to see what she's doing."
"Did something happen because of that in the past?"
"It did. Some perverts hacked the CCTV feeds and sold them on the deep web. I believe Lady Yeon Seo personally crushed them to pieces. Anyway, unless someone is classified as an extremely dangerous element, touching their private life is strictly forbidden. It seems regulations are always written in blood after an incident occurs."
The Bureau intentionally assigned returnees who had passed their ethical audits to the same shelter buildings. If they had no family, the hope was that they could build friendships and restore their social skills by interacting with others in similar situations. Restoring human relationships was, after all, the key to a healthy mind.
Yet Sia—the returnee who called herself a deceased saintess—refused to step outside at all, making it impossible to know what she was actually doing.
"Sigh. If she's just being lazy and doesn't want to move, that's fine... But if she's suffering from depression or some other mental issue, we're in trouble. If anything happens to Lee Sia, Lady Yeon Seo might throw a fit..."
Yeon Seo had already left a blunt, one-sided warning for both the department head and Choi Bo-mi: Don't play any cheap tricks on that child.
No one knew how a newly returned returnee had formed such a close bond with Yeon Seo in such a short time, but when a living legend like Yeon Seo gave an order, you followed it.
"Come to think of it, isn't it about time we offered her some job placement options? It's been a month."
"It is."
Returnees were fundamentally eligible for various employment support and self-reliance programs managed by the Bureau.
A returnee possessing immense power like Lee Sia would typically receive an offer to become a hunter.
If they didn't want to become a full-time hunter, they could work as short-term mercenaries taking external requests, or earn money by completing specific missions offered by the Hunter Association.
However, most powerful returnees preferred to become hunters.
The income was substantial, and their lives could become incredibly luxurious just by completing a set number of association missions.
Of course, even those without combat power could receive job offers based on the knowledge and skills they acquired in other worlds. Many had successfully found employment at the Energy Corporation or the Technology Cooperation Bureau.
"Lee Sia will probably get a hunter offer, right?"
"Most likely. I heard she can actually hold her own in a fight against Lady Yeon Seo... I expect she'll receive a pretty shocking rank."
"Whoa, against Lady Yeon Seo?!"
"Hey, don't go repeating that. If a returnee's personal information leaks onto the internet, we're dead."
"Don't worry, Section Chief. I didn't start this job yesterday... Wait, Chief? Look at the screen. She's moving."
"Where? Where?"
Staring at the hologram display, Choi Bo-mi's eyes widened as she saw Sia's location marker cross the threshold of her apartment for the first time.
Fortunately, it seemed she hadn't committed suicide or suffered some terrible fate.
She was finally stepping outside after a whole month.
"Keep a close eye on her and report any unusual behavior immediately."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Whoa... Holy crap..."
"Oppa, what are you looking at... Whoa..."
"Is she a celebrity?"
"I've never seen her before..."
Sia's massive holy power breasts and her divine, saintly appearance naturally drew the eyes of everyone passing by. However, the girl herself was too busy wallowing in her own solitude to notice.
Or rather, Sia was simply too lonely to care about the stares.
"Now that I'm out... there's really nothing to do."
The world of 2088 was far too different from the one she remembered.
She had realized this the very first day she fell into the dungeon, but everything she once knew had been completely upended.
It was to the point where she couldn't tell if she had actually returned to her original world or if she had dropped into some near-future parallel universe. Sia still felt like an outsider who didn't belong here.
Even though it was still early, the brilliant neon signs flashed brightly, hurting her eyes. Despite the dawn of the hunter era, ordinary salarymen and students still rushed past, busy living their own lives.
Sia felt so melancholic and restless that she didn't even register the glances directed her way.
Seoul in 2088 is still as crowded as ever. I heard a lot of people died during the Great Rift, but...
For the past month, Sia had spent ninety percent of her time catching up on movies and webtoons, ordering delivery, or lying in bed watching streams of hunters clearing dungeons.
Calling herself the 'unemployed saintess,' she had sometimes fallen asleep imagining herself as a wild mushroom spore growing inside the walls. The only times she had moved with any purpose this past month were to shower or to pick up her food deliveries.
Still, it wasn't as if she had done absolutely nothing. She had spent time researching the general history and major events that had occurred during her absence.
While she didn't have the motivation to study seriously, reading the timeline and the events felt like reading a novel, which made it quite entertaining.
And in the process, she realized just how incredible of a figure Yeon Seo, the S-grade hunter she had befriended, truly was.
Lady Yeon Seo has officially saved humanity more than ten times... No wonder she's a living legend.
In any case, modern society had been rebuilt from the brink of collapse caused by the Great Rift, largely thanks to the efforts of first-generation hunters like Yeon Seo.
If Sia had returned in the 2030s, she might have mistaken it for a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But now, decades had passed since humanity, standing on the edge of ruin, had reorganized and rebuilt its entire social structure.
Gates were stabilized. Dungeons had become a source of income for hunters and nations alike. Even when a dangerous dungeon appeared, systematic responses minimized the damage to citizens.
With the dungeons under control, cities were rebuilt. Once the infrastructure was established, the population naturally recovered.
In conclusion, the year 2088 was similar to, yet vastly different from, the year 2024 when she had disappeared.
Surprisingly, inflation hadn't caused prices to skyrocket as much as she expected, and the population had only slightly increased compared to 2024.
"Sigh... Should I go watch a movie? No, I can do that at home..."
She had come outside, but she had no idea what to do.
It wasn't in Sia's nature to randomly strike up conversations with strangers on the street just to make friends.
Despite being surrounded by so many people, Sia felt a profound silence.
Silence amid the crowd. Solitude amid the crowd. Loneliness amid the crowd.
Even as countless people brushed past her, she felt as if she were the only one left in the world.
And it wasn't just a feeling.
She truly was alone.
Sia had dropped into the year 2088 without a single acquaintance, blood relative, or friend to her name.
No matter how many people surrounded her, the loneliness persisted.
Despite having lived for eighty-five years, mentally, she was still just a twenty-one-year-old kid from 2024.
Somehow she had aged, somehow she had become the deceased saintess Sia, and somehow she had become a returnee.
Ah, I'm getting depressed again.
As she walked down the street, Sia felt her mood sinking and let out a sigh.
She had spent over sixty years living in 'that other world.'
The people who knew her, the relationships she had built, and the achievements she had accumulated—all of it belonged to that other world.
Here, a returnee was just another face in the crowd. In this world, she was merely someone who had returned after sixty-four years.
"Sniff, sniff..."
Her melancholy vanished in an instant, chased away by a savory, mouth-watering aroma drifting from somewhere nearby.
"Ah... That smells amazing."
Grumble.
Even though she had eaten thirteen whole chickens earlier, Sia was an Evil Nature Predator.
She was a deceased saintess who didn't just consume food; she could eat to a physically impossible degree.
If I let myself starve, I might lose my mind. If I lose my mind, I might attack someone. If I attack someone, I'll become a criminal. Then I'll end up as enemies with Yeonhwa and Yeon Seo. And if I accidentally hurt or kill Yeonhwa, Yeon Seo and I will have a fight to the death. Then I'll become a public enemy, and I'll never be able to settle down in this society...
Therefore, eating whatever she wanted right now was a matter of survival!
Justifying her pig-like urge to stuff her face again, Sia followed the delicious scent.
Though she possessed the undying body of a deceased saintess, her senses of smell and taste were ironically far sharper than those of a normal human.
As if guided by a GPS, Sia walked aimlessly, following the scent that stimulated her appetite.
As she swayed down the street, her massive holy power breasts bounced with every step, drawing plenty of eyes along the way.
"Is it... here?"
Before long, Sia arrived in front of a restaurant with a sign that read: [Our Neighborhood Ox Blood Soup].
Since it was just before dinner rush, the place wasn't very crowded, but the giant cauldron boiling outside was releasing the thick, savory, and mouth-watering aroma she had caught earlier.
"Gulp..."
Ah, her mouth was watering.
Sia unconsciously wiped the drool from the corner of her lips.
I'm literally dead, so why do I salivate so much?
She had wondered about this many times, but even Theresa, the black witch, hadn't been able to properly analyze her undead body. How was she supposed to know? She just had to accept it.
As if possessed, Sia slowly walked into the restaurant.
Inside, the smell was even more intense.
Sia swallowed hard, trying to hold back the flood of saliva, and took a seat.
"Thank you for the meal!"
"Come again~!"
Sia watched a departing customer and eyed the size of the stone bowl.
For a normal adult, a single bowl would be more than enough to leave them full and satisfied.
But Sia was different.
Sia was the deceased saintess, the Evil Nature Predator, a fragile lamb who was incredibly weak to hunger, and a saintess who could physically consume far more than her body size allowed.
After estimating the portion size, Sia realized she was the only customer left in the restaurant and raised her hand to call the server.
"Excuse me."
"Yes! Oh my, you're a very pretty young lady. I haven't seen you around here before. Did you just move in?"
"Yes..."
"My, it's rare to see a young lady eating ox blood soup these days. You certainly know what's good... Oh, listen to me ramble. Sorry about that. What can I get you? We have the standard ox blood soup, but we also have one mixed with tripe."
"...Gulp..."
Tripe... ox blood... the scent of blood... soybean paste... radish... bean sprouts... Ah...
Sia sav