Chapter 144
Translator: uly
Chapter: 144
Chapter Title: Ranger Kang Taesik (2)
Kang Taesik was a successful ranger.
In his search for his father, he had wandered alone through the mountains and discovered and hunted down countless stray monsters.
The bounty money he had earned ranked second in the all-time cumulative list for rangers.
“You live in a huge house.”
Kang Yeonseok gaped as he walked through the vast garden decorated like a small botanical garden.
Kang Taesik’s house stood out as the largest and most magnificent even among the upscale rural villa complexes where only the wealthy resided.
“Did you win the lottery or something?”
“No, I just made a killing back when business was booming.”
“With what?”
“What else? I rescued missing people and took down monsters, just like Dad.”
Kang Yeonseok was one of the first awakeners.
Thanks to his father’s bloodline, Kang Taesik had become a 4th-grade awakener capable of solo rescues.
With his exceptional combat sense and instincts, he had even cleared dungeons that 3rd-grade awakeners had given up on.
“Back in my prime, I soloed B-rank dungeons…”
As Kang Taesik spoke proudly and opened the door to the mansion,
“You!”
The moment the door swung open, Kang Taesik’s wife, Han Hyeonjin, bared her teeth and shouted.
“I told you not to go up into the mountains alone! I clearly told you to come home yesterday, so what the hell have you been doing…!”
She had charged in like a fury to give him a piece of her mind, but froze with her mouth agape upon seeing Kang Yeonseok, who looked exactly like her husband.
“A doppelganger skill?”
“Ah, honey.”
Kang Taesik grabbed his wife’s hands with a look of感動.
“I finally found him! I did it!”
“Huh? Found what?”
“Dad. This is our dad!”
“…”
A desolate wind blew through the mansion interior.
“Hmph.”
As a chill settled in the air, Han Hyeonjin narrowed her eyes and snorted.
“Up to your tricks again?”
Kang Taesik, ever the prankster, loved teasing his wife.
He would dress as a ghost using a giant slime he sneaked back from a dungeon, or bring in juniors with bizarre skills to scare her.
“What is it this time? You brought a junior who can use transformation skills or something?”
Just then, a very tall girl came scampering down from the second floor. It was Kang Taesik’s daughter, Kang Tae-seon.
“Dad, how old are you to still be pulling these pranks?”
Kang Tae-seon, with her flat stare, kneaded Kang Yeonseok’s face.
“Wow, it’s so realistic. Mom, I guess there are skills these days that can even change faces? It’s identical.”
“Tae-seon, what are you doing! This is your grandfather!”
As Kang Taesik jumped up and down, Kang Yeonseok sighed with a resigned expression.
“Taesik. I can’t believe this either.”
“What do you mean?”
“This whole situation.”
Kang Yeonseok, having his cheeks pinched by his granddaughter Kang Tae-seon, spoke with an embarrassed face.
“I never imagined I’d get to see a daughter-in-law and granddaughter at this age.”
Han Hyeonjin, having heard the full story, stood with her mouth open.
It was shocking enough that her long-missing father-in-law had returned alive, but to come back looking even younger than her husband?
“Lies. Lies. Lies.”
Han Hyeonjin simply couldn’t believe it.
She might have accepted it if he were a long-lost younger brother instead of a father.
The two men looked that much like twins.
“It’s true. He’s our dad.”
As the grown Kang Taesik hugged Kang Yeonseok tightly once more, Han Hyeonjin had no choice but to believe.
“H-Hello, Father. Nice to meet you.”
Han Hyeonjin bowed politely, and Kang Yeonseok shot to his feet and bowed in return.
“Yes, nice to meet you. I’m Kang Yeonseok.”
When he had gone missing, Kang Yeonseok had been in his forties.
Yet now he had a daughter-in-law not much younger and a granddaughter starting middle school this year.
“Dad, you don’t say ‘nice to meet you’ to your daughter-in-law.”
“Oh, right.”
“Tae-seon, aren’t you going to greet your grandfather?”
“Hello.”
She gave a curt nod.
She still eyed the situation suspiciously.
“You, greet him properly!”
As Kang Taesik raised his voice sternly, Kang Yeonseok waved his hand.
“That’s enough. Why yell at the kid?”
“Dad, that’s not…”
“Enough. Let’s wash up first. Where’s the bathroom?”
“Yeah, Dad. Follow me.”
Kang Taesik led Kang Yeonseok by the hand, beaming happily.
His forty-five-year-old father seemed to have regressed to the impulsive antics of a fifteen-year-old.
Han Hyeonjin and Kang Tae-seon could only exchange alarmed glances as they watched.
The next day.
Han Hyeonjin cautiously knocked on the door of the second-floor study room.
“Father, it’s time for breakfast.”
“Ah, yes.”
Kang Yeonseok rose from his seat with a sigh.
“This is just…”
It had only been a day, but he already found it unbearably awkward.
He was in his son’s house, yet he felt like an outsider.
Just looking at daughter-in-law Han Hyeonjin’s expression told him it was hard for her to treat someone who looked younger than her son as her father-in-law.
“Dad! Eat lots!”
On top of that, his son acted like a child, fawning over him every time he saw him.
Having vanished during the prime of his life, the absence of his father must have felt even greater.
But Han Hyeonjin and Kang Tae-seon frowned every time they saw the changed Kang Taesik.
“This is like sitting on a bed of nails.”
After dinner, as Kang Yeonseok sipped tea with his son,
After a moment’s hesitation, he set down his teacup and spoke.
“Say, Taesik.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can you help me find my old friend?”
Kang Taesik’s eyes lit up at once.
“Your friend?”
“Yeah, I want to see how my friends are doing.”
Kang Yeonseok pulled a paper with names and a photo from his pocket.
“Do you think you can find them with this? Some are awakeners, some aren’t.”
Kang Yeonseok looked worried, but Kang Taesik grinned broadly.
“Of course! If I ask around my friends, we’ll find them in no time.”
“R-Really? Thanks.”
Back in his room, Kang Yeonseok lay on the bed with a relaxed expression for the first time.
‘They’ll probably flip out when they see my face, those guys? They’ll laugh till their stomachs hurt.’
Imagining his friends’ incredulous faces, Kang Yeonseok smiled and drifted off to sleep.
The next day.
Kang Taesik made calls first thing in the morning to track down his father’s friends.
After talking on the phone all morning, he trudged up to the second-floor study with a glum look.
Knock knock.
He knocked and entered to see Kang Yeonseok’s expectant face.
“You found them already?”
“Yeah, I checked everyone…”
Kang Taesik fidgeted with his phone, hesitating before speaking.
“Lee Sang-park passed away from lung cancer three years ago. Go Woon-hak died twenty years ago during stabilization work in the variable dungeon ‘Crystal Palace.’”
“…I see.”
Kang Yeonseok’s chest, puffed with anticipation, deflated like a punctured balloon.
“But Kim Seok-jin is still alive.”
“Really? Seok-jin?”
Kang Yeonseok beamed again. Thankfully, his closest friend Seok-jin was still around!
“Where? Where is he?”
“Well… Silver Town Hospital.”
“A hospital?”
“Yeah. Seems his health isn’t great.”
Kang Yeonseok jumped to his feet.
“Let’s go there right now!”
Silver Town Hospital, Room 808.
An elderly man with white hair gazed out the window.
“Seok-jin.”
As Kang Yeonseok slowly entered the room, the old man on the bed, Kim Seok-jin, trembled like ripples in water.
“Huh? Yeonseok?”
Incredibly, Kim Seok-jin recognized his friend at a glance, despite Kang Yeonseok still looking middle-aged.
“No way, is that you, Yeonseok?”
“Yeah, you idiot. What happened to you?”
“How? How did this happen to you?”
“…It just did.”
Kang Yeonseok clasped his friend’s hands and spent a long time recounting what had happened to him.
Afterward, the two longtime best friends and missing persons rescue partners exchanged stories and updates.
“I see. Haha.”
As Kim Seok-jin burst into laughter, Kang Yeonseok crossed his arms.
“Jealous? I’m in my forties now.”
“Yeah. You look just like back then. No, even younger.”
Kim Seok-jin’s eyes darkened as he gazed at his dear friend’s face.
“But what about you now, Yeonseok…?”
“What?”
“You’ll be lonely.”
Kim Seok-jin knew.
Almost everyone Kang Yeonseok had known was dead.
If even he were to die, Kang Yeonseok would feel utterly alone in this world.
“What are you talking about? I’ve got a fine grown son. Worry about yourself, you fool.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got another fifty years in me.”
*Cough cough.*
Suddenly, Kim Seok-jin broke into a coughing fit.
They waited ages for it to stop, but after five minutes, it hadn’t.
“We’ll have to end the visit here.”
Kang Yeonseok nodded at the nurse who had rushed in at the sound.
“Take care, you hear? I’ll come back.”
“Yeah. Next time, let’s go out together. Watch a movie.”
“Got it. See you.”
Kang Yeonseok turned with a wry smile.
Kim Seok-jin’s eyes reddened as he watched. Tears streamed from Kang Yeonseok’s eyes as he walked away.
A few days later, Silver Town Funeral Home.
Kang Yeonseok’s eyes remained wet throughout Kim Seok-jin’s funeral.
“So this is your idea of going out? Like this?”
Tears blurred his vision of the entire world.
But his friend’s beaming portrait photo was crystal clear.
“Seok-jin.”
For three days and nights, Kang Yeonseok stayed by his departed friend’s side, even following to the grave.
He collapsed in grief, sobbing endlessly. If Kang Taesik hadn’t been there, he might have fainted.
“We’ll watch that movie in the next world, Seok-jin.”
Kang Yeonseok stared blankly at his friend’s fresh grave, then slowly turned away.
A few days later, at Kang Taesik’s mansion.
Kang Taesik jumped as he looked at Kang Yeonseok, now dressed cleanly.
“What do you mean? You’re leaving? Where to?”
“To the village where I stayed.”
“Dad.”
“It seems… that’s the only place I have left to go back to.”
“That doesn’t make sense!”
Kang Yeonseok gently stroked his beloved son’s head.
“Try to understand, son.”
“Understand? How could I?”
“I’m sorry, Taesik.”
“Absolutely… no!”
Kang Taesik shouted.
“I spent nearly thirty years scouring the country for you! I became a ranger hoping I might find you, or at least see you one last time!”
“Taesik.”
“Don’t say another word!”
Kang Taesik gripped his father’s hand tightly.
“Just stay by my side. Please. Okay?”
Kang Yeonseok spread his arms and embraced his grown son.
“I’m sorry for leaving you with painful memories.”
Tears falling, Kang Yeonseok hugged his son even tighter.
“And thank you. For growing up so wonderfully.”
“Dad.”
“But I’ve come too far to just go back to where I was.”
Stroking his son’s head, Kang Yeonseok gave a faint smile.
“You’re too grown up to live looking back at a dad who showed up so late.”
Gently cupping his son’s cheeks—cheeks so like his own—Kang Yeonseok smiled.
Though he smiled brightly, thick tears streamed endlessly from his eyes.
“Now live looking at your wife and daughter, not Dad. Got it?”
“Dad.”
“I love you, Taesik.”
Kang Yeonseok kissed his son’s cheeks, just as he had in his childhood.
“Take care.”
“Dad!”
Realizing he couldn’t change his father’s mind, Kang Taesik tearfully asked,
“You’re not leaving forever, right? We’ll see each other again?”
“Of course. You’ll have to come visit your old man.”
They looked the same age, but a father was a father.
Kang Taesik wept freely in his loving father’s arms.
Mount Jiri.
Kang Taesik arrived at the mountainside where he had first found his father’s cave.
Woooong.
As Kang Yeonseok arrived, a white light appeared in the dense forest, forming a small space.
As if it had been waiting for him all this time.
“Taesik. Dad’s going now.”
Embracing his son one last time, Kang Yeonseok waved with a smile.
“Stay healthy. Always take care.”
“You too, Dad.”
“Yeah.”
As Kang Yeonseok stepped toward the light, he turned back to wave at his son once more.
“Go on.”
“Dad, when you’re settled there, you have to come visit again. Promise?”
“Yeah. Hurry in.”
Turning back repeatedly, Kang Yeonseok finally entered the space enveloped in light.
The whole world turned white. Kang Taesik gazed endlessly at his father’s figure vanishing into the light.
“Nobban. What’s that supposed to be?”
“Hey. Just give me one more move.”
Hearing the noisy voices, Kang Taesik turned.
Far off, in the cave, the bear and goblin from before were bickering again.
Looking closer, they were sitting on a log, playing baduk.
“What the hell is this world coming to?”
Wiping his tears, Kang Taesik chuckled.
It seemed this world had not just monsters, but talking animals too.