Chapter 3. I Returned, but It's a Bit Different From What I Expected
Chapter 3. I Returned, but It's a Bit Different From What I Expected
It didn't quite match the common sense I remembered, but I decided to ask Laila about the strange parts later.
The person in charge swiftly got the situation under control and ordered everyone to keep quiet about the incident of a person emerging from the gate.
And I followed his guidance.
"You may ride in here."
He must have been doing well for himself. He had a luxury sedan.
"Ah, this is an object called an automobile..."
"I know. It's a Benz."
The man's eyes wavered.
I clearly said I was Korean—did he still not believe me?
No, even if I weren't Korean, this was a famous car model anyone would recognize.
"If it's not too rude, may I ask who you are?"
"My name is Song Hoon. My age is..."
I quickly scanned the inside of the vehicle.
The date displayed on the car's screen caught my eye.
"25 years old... the university I attended, and my parents' names are..."
I rattled it all off in earnest.
I even dragged out the gaming nickname I'd long forgotten from deep within my brain and recited it.
The look of disbelief on the man's face subsided, if only a little.
"We've arrived."
The place we arrived at was a large building in the middle of Seoul.
Following the man's guidance, we headed toward some kind of white room.
'That's a pretty unusual room.'
"I realize this is uncomfortable, but it's part of the procedure..."
I shrugged and acted like it was nothing.
This much I could handle anytime.
And his fidgeting, anxious demeanor just looked pitiful.
---
When I mentioned I was hungry, the man in charge thoughtfully brought me a hot cup of instant ramyeon, and I was being interviewed(?) while eating it.
The investigator questioning me waited for me to finish eating and proceeded slowly.
"So you went missing five years ago, and as it turns out, that place was another world, not Earth?"
"Slurrrrp... Yes, thirty years to be precise, not five..."
"..."
Drained by the repetitive conversation, he let out a sigh and pressed his fingers to his forehead.
Even so, he maintained the most courteous attitude he could muster.
Before the interrogation, the investigator had only been briefed on the general situation.
That I was someone similar to an S-rank Hunter who used special powers.
He trusted the guild masters and the Association President beyond the glass window and continued the interrogation.
He figured that even if I went on a rampage, the people inside would be more than capable of subduing me.
And ideally, he hoped they would subdue me before he got killed.
"To be honest, this is not an easy story to believe..."
"..."
I fully understood his words.
Who in the world would believe someone who said they'd been to another world?
"Ah... fuck..."
But it was just as frustrating for me, having to repeat the same thing over and over.
Out of sheer irritation, a curse in the other world's language slipped out of me instead of Korean.
"Hero, you shouldn't use bad words."
He glanced at us as we used a strange language and swallowed dryly.
"Ha... fine, let's call that post-traumatic stress disorder from the disappearance. Then who is this person?"
The man looked at the woman who had followed me from the very beginning and asked.
"I am someone who stayed together with the Hero the whole time in the other world..."
He looked at me with an expression that said he had no idea what she was saying.
"Is she a foreigner?"
"Uh... yes?"
"What is she saying?"
"She's just saying she came from the other world too..."
The investigator shut his eyes tight.
Even so, he kept typing and filling out the report.
"Ha... why do you keep..."
"I've been telling you the truth since earlier..."
"It seems you don't grasp the gravity of this situation—this is not an ordinary matter..."
It wasn't an ordinary matter, no.
I finally returned to my hometown, and the people who were supposed to protect citizens had their staff drag a law-abiding citizen to this place...
"We are currently verifying your identity... if it turns out to be different from what you've been saying..."
Seriously, were these people even civil servants?
Or had the military's power grown strong without me realizing it...
That kind of thing I'd only ever seen in history books...
He was probably acting this way because he trusted this special space and the people watching from outside...
I seriously considered flipping this entire place upside down for a moment.
'No. On this wide land, I still have to find my parents—I'd better play along for now.'
"Actually, I was kidnapped..."
─ Clunk
The man in charge who had brought me here earlier opened the door and came in.
"Let those two go."
"Excuse me? Mr. President... these individuals are...!"
"This man's identity has been confirmed. I'll take responsibility, so release them."
'If he's the Association President, isn't that someone incredibly high up?'
The Association President leaned in close to the still-hesitant staff member's ear and very quietly whispered about my identity.
And in that whisper, my parents' names came up.
'Song Yong-il, Geum Hye-jeong...?'
─ Crunch!
Ah, a mistake.
Upon hearing my parents' dearly missed names for the first time in forever, strength unconsciously surged into my hand, and the desk slightly collapsed.
"My mother and father, where are they right now?"
"I apologize... Mr. Song Hoon, your father said he is coming here in person."
After I waited there briefly, word came that my father had arrived.
"Mr. Song Hoon, if you go to the first floor..."
Before the Association President could finish speaking, I was gone.
And Laila, who had been following me around since forever, naturally came along too.
The Association President stared quietly at the seat across from the staff member.
"Mr. President, honestly, I can't believe it..."
"What can we do... it's a world where monsters come out of gates... we just have to believe it..."
---
As I rushed to the building's first floor, my father was waiting.
Thinking of my father, who must have fought desperately and agonized for five years searching for his missing son, tears were about to flow.
'He must have grown so gaunt from struggling to find this worthless son...'
"Son!"
"...?"
My father, whom I was seeing after a long time, was just as big and robust as in the past.
Perhaps because he had been doing well in the meantime, his skin was glowing and muscles occupied his entire body.
"For five years... do you know how frantically we searched for you!?"
Well, he was my only son, so I supposed he must have searched desperately.
"We really couldn't sleep at night and couldn't swallow a bite of food, worrying that our son might be suffering somewhere."
It doesn't seem that way...
"Sigh, kiddo... you must be so overwhelmed you can't even speak, huh. Let's hurry and go see your mother."
Fortunately, it seemed this Association(?) had extended some courtesies, and we rode in the car they had prepared.
The location must not have been far, as we arrived after about ten minutes of driving.
"Father?"
"This building i..."
Before my father could finish speaking, I swiftly entered the building.
There, my mother's figure was visible in the building lobby.
"Mom...!"
My mother's eyes widened as she spotted me.
And her attire came into view.
Unlike my father, she was wearing rough, dirtied clothes.
As if she had been cleaning something filthy...
'I see...'
Now everything made sense.
My father had specially paid attention to his appearance for the son he was meeting after so long.
'Geum Yeosa, I'll make you happy from now on...!'
"Son?"
My mother wore an expression as if she were slightly startled.
She probably didn't want to show her shabby appearance to her son.
"Mom, why are you so shabby...? You're making your son's heart uncomfortable for no reason... Let's go home. You don't have to do this kind of work anymore."
My father came running up breathlessly from behind.
"Goodness, what's the rush... you should listen to the end. Your mother is on the very top floor... huh? Dear."
"Huh? Why did Hoon come all the way here? I was going to wash up if he waited..."
"...?"
I got into the elevator heading to the top floor following my mother and father.
In the meantime, my mother desperately avoided looking my way.
As if she were trying to hide her expression.
"..."
In the end, my mother, who had been holding back tears, silently shed tears for a while on the top floor.
My father also poured out the tears he had been holding back.
We needed a long time to share our reunion.
---
We were currently having a leisurely cup of coffee on the building's top floor.
I was so dumbfounded by the reality that had changed far too much that my inner thoughts burst out.
"No, is this really okay?"
"Son, is there a problem?"
So, it was true that my mother's shabby appearance was from cleaning something filthy.
Since monsters were filthy, sure...
This building was under my mother's name, and she was the CEO of a company ranked within the top five in Korea.
My father was the vice president.
"No, no... I need time to sort out my thoughts."
When the unprecedented incident of gates occurred, the world fell into chaos.
Yet since there was no law saying everyone had to just lie down and die, people who gained the power to respond to them emerged, apparently.
And acquiring that power was called awakening.
'People who catch monsters like that were called hunters, and that's the case for my parents too.'
So when I first went missing, my parents said they wondered if I had gotten caught up in a gate.
Afterward, as they gained power, they said they taught children to prevent cases like mine from happening, did a lot of charity work, and donated a lot.
"But who would have thought our son would walk right out of a gate... what on earth happened?"
"Uh, um... well, the thing is..."
I explained only the major points in broad strokes.
But my parents believed my words without any particular doubt.
"What's there not to believe. The world has already turned into a circus, after all."
"..."
"So this child is someone who came from the world our son went to?"
When my mother looked at Laila, Laila blinked her eyes and exchanged glances with her.
I was curious about that point too.
"Laila, just how did you follow me here?"
"I told the Goddess my wish. She said that if I helped defeat the Demon God, she would grant one wish each in return."
That wicked wench...!
She only told me she'd send me home—she never mentioned anything like that?
"Hmm... Laila, was it?"
As soon as Laila heard her own name from my mother's lips, she stared intently at her.
"You probably have nowhere to go anyway—would you like to live with this auntie?"
"Huh?"
"I like pretty and kind daughters too, you know."
A daughter-in-law would be even better...
'...What did she just say?'
"Mom, saying something like that in front of your son hurts..."
"A mother whose son vanished overnight had her heart completely crumble."
"..."
"It's a joke."
My eyes narrowed as I looked at my mother.
It didn't feel like a joke...
"Anyway, Laila? To adapt here, you'll need to learn a lot—the culture, the language, and so on. We'll arrange a teacher to help with that, so don't you worry too much."
I interpreted my mother's words for Laila.
Understanding the meaning, Laila smiled brightly and bowed her head repeatedly.
"So son, what do you plan to do now from here on?"
"Well... first, I should re-enroll..."
"Son, you were expelled from school."
"Expelled?"
For my parents' solid support and a fulfilling school life, I had studied my guts out, bleeding effort.
It wasn't the best university in the Republic of Korea, but it was still a school ranked within the top three.
"It wasn't even a leave of absence—you didn't show up without permission for five years. Would your academic status be fine?"
"..."
"From what I hear, you even smashed the restraints to pieces, and listening to the stories of the world you went to, you seem incredibly strong... do you want to follow your mom and dad and become a hunter together?"
"Hmm... up until just before I came back, I was fighting intensely. Right now, I want to rest."
"I see. You must still be out of sorts, so get plenty of rest. And you haven't eaten, right?"
The four of us—me, my mother, my father, and Laila—went to an expensive-looking beef restaurant.
With a body that ate an enormous amount to begin with, and having beef for the first time in ages, I ate to the point of bursting.
[ Wolje Galbi : 2,642,000 won ]
"Doesn't seem like much, does it? Kids, you sure that was enough?"
'Our Geum Yeosa... just how much money did she have...'