The Return
"Do you really, really have to go?"
"Yes."
Regret clouded the woman's face at the man's unyielding reply. She knew his decision was set in stone, yet she couldn't help voicing her lingering reluctance one last time.
"This world has finally reclaimed its peace thanks to you, but there are still so many places that need your strength. And I... I haven't even begun to repay you properly. So please, just think it over one more time..."
"Tia."
The moment he uttered her name, the words died on her lips. Tia—the endearing nickname he'd given her long ago, a symbol of the trust he placed in her to honor their promise. She couldn't betray that faith. In the end, Tia had no choice but to yield.
"...You're so unfair. Calling me that right now... How am I supposed to hold you back?"
With a sigh, she summoned a dimensional gate using her power—the very same one she'd used to bring him here.
"Like I said before, even crossing this gate won't guarantee you'll return to your world exactly as it was. It should be mostly the same, but the laws of reality might have shifted from crossing dimensions. I'm sorry for springing this on you after dragging you here like that."
"Can you send me back in my original body?"
"Yes. That's within my power. But are you sure? All the strength you've built here will vanish. If you went in this body instead..."
"No. That won't happen. Ever."
"Understood. Any last words you want to leave behind?"
"None."
"Hehe... Right to the bitter end, that's just like you."
Tia flashed a bittersweet smile at his unwavering resolve. Steeling herself, she faced the man standing before the gate and tried to deliver a composed farewell.
"Great Earth Warrior Targon, savior of this world from another realm. The scars etched on your body mark the lives we owe you, and the footprints you left upon the earth shall guide all who walk it. Your devotion to us and..."
"Enough."
"Pardon...?"
"You're still too damn chatty."
"But... it's our last moment..."
"I'm going."
"Eh?! W-wait! I haven't even finished...!"
Before the goodbye could conclude, he hurled himself through the gate. Tia's panicked cry echoed faintly behind him, but he paid it no mind. He surrendered to the light enveloping him and shut his eyes.
When he opened them again, an unfamiliar ceiling loomed above.
Not unfamiliar from novelty, but from sheer disuse—too long since he'd last seen it.
He rolled his eyes around the room, testing his body with slight movements. The bed sagged deep in the middle. Clothes lay strewn about haphazardly, trash piled uncleaned.
"Ha...!"
The sight was enough to scrunch his nose in disgust. Yet the aching familiarity of it all drew a disbelieving breath from him.
He lay motionless for a moment longer, then stared back at the ceiling and muttered a single phrase.
"...I'm back...!"
He'd finally returned. The realization unleashed a storm of indescribable emotions in his mind. Absurdity first brought laughter, then exhaustion drained him dry. Just as relief washed over him, ready to claim his body...
No, not yet!
He hadn't checked the most important thing!
Snapping alert, he bolted to the bathroom and faced the mirror. What stared back was a man in nothing but a tank top and underwear, wearing an anxious expression. Bushy beard, gaunt cheeks, unkempt mop of hair.
It was alien. The face before him. The sudden shift in his field of vision.
And that's precisely why relief flooded him. Because this was his true self.
Not Targon, the Earth Warrior who'd reincarnated in that other world and saved it—but Kang Sihoo, the orphan hikikomori from Korea who'd lived in utter isolation, friendless to the end.
That was his real identity.
What, you think it's actually worse?
"Who gives a shit! I'm back—that's what matters, fuck yeah!"