The World After the Return
“Even if you look at it worldwide, cracks haven’t appeared that many times yet. The research is still in its infancy.”
“Still, those cracks… it seems the mages from other countries know something about them. They say they don’t just appear randomly, so they’re working on it together with scientists. Like Second Brother said, it’s still at the baby-steps stage though.”
The mages could roughly calculate or sense when and where a crack might appear.
If they could use that knowledge and experience to determine more precise locations and times, they would be able to prepare in advance and handle things more smoothly. With that judgment in mind, every country was pouring effort into their own research.
“Then don’t we even need the barrier?”
Kang Tae-sung said this while thinking of the massive barrier under heavy construction in the distance.
If they could prepare for cracks in advance, there was no point in going through all that construction, was there?
“I think so too, but everyone says it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
But Kang Han-sung answered like that while slurping down his black bean noodles.
The youngest nodded with a similar expression.
“The awakened… they saw the future, you know.”
But most of that future had already become useless.
The things that had taken five years in that vision had been accomplished in just three years thanks to far more manpower and resources. The meager advantages they could have gained from knowing that insignificant future had vanished just as quickly.
“Did you tell him about the lottery?”
“Ah, that. Not yet.”
“Lottery?”
“Right after we came back… I think it was the first week. Do you know how many first-prize winners there were?”
“No way.”
“Exactly. Over a hundred. What am I saying, a hundred? Wasn’t it around three hundred?”
“Wasn’t it the late two hundreds?”
“Was it? Anyway, almost three hundred people won first prize. What the hell is that? The first thing they do after coming back is buy lottery tickets.”
“It’s pretty amazing that they even remembered the lottery numbers from five years ago.”
“Right? I couldn’t remember a single one.”
Kang Han-sung shook his head vigorously and explained that the social shock at the time had been so great that lottery sales had been temporarily suspended.
“They still honored that week’s draw, but who knows what might happen over five years, right? A few regular winners even filed lawsuits back then. They thought their lives were going to change, but even though they won first prize, they couldn’t get even a hundred million won.”
In the end, they lost the case.
There was nothing they could do under the current law.
The legal interpretation had been split, but that was how it turned out.
“These days, the way to turn your life around isn’t the lottery anymore. It’s awakening. Awakening.”
“Is Yuri not going to awaken?”
At that moment, Kang Tae-sung turned to Kang Yu-ri, who had been quietly stuffing herself with black bean noodles and dumplings the whole time. She frowned slightly and shook her head.
“First you and the youngest, now even Big Brother? I don’t want to. No thanks.”
-It’s gross. And dangerous.
Kang Yu-ri gave the most fundamental reason.
“Hmm.”
“I’ve talked to her a few times… but she really doesn’t want to. Mom and Dad feel the same. They just want to live normal lives.”
“……”
“It’s not the kind of thing you can force on someone.”
“That’s true.”
There were parts he regretted about not being able to help them awaken, but he couldn’t force it on his family now. As he listened more, it turned out that thanks to her older brothers and the youngest, Yu-ri had picked up the art she had given up as a child. She was in the middle of learning again and looked so excited that he found himself nodding along.
“The youngest wanted to do music, didn’t he?”
When Kang Tae-sung asked that, Kang Yeon-sung, who had just shoved a steaming clump of black bean noodles into his mouth, suddenly started coughing like he had choked.
“Smooth.”
While Kang Yu-ri patted his back from the side, the youngest turned to Kang Tae-sung with a slightly subdued face. Then, looking rather embarrassed, he said,
“When I had to give it up because of our circumstances, I didn’t have money so it was hard… I think I ended up overestimating my own talent quite a bit.”
“It was a total mess.”
“Second Brother!”
“It’s true! I thought my ears were going to rot!”
When he turned his gaze away from the dejected youngest, Kang Han-sung shrugged.
“The kid’s right. Once we had some financial stability, he tried learning music again since it was something he wanted to do… and that’s when he realized his real level. That it could never be more than a hobby.”
“Hunting seems to suit me better.”
Still looking a little down but with a faint smile, the youngest put another mouthful of noodles in his mouth. Kang Tae-sung gave a small chuckle and looked at the TV.
“Portal usage fee increase?”
A news segment with exactly that headline was playing. The Korea Portal Corporation—a public enterprise—managed the domestic portals. With the number of users increasing too rapidly to handle, expansion was inevitable, and they were raising fees to cover the costs.
“Where the hell are they spending all the taxes they collect?”
Kang Han-sung, who had seen the same news, clicked his tongue.
“They’re building the barrier, aren’t they?”
The youngest said with a laugh.
“Still, for hunters the fee isn’t really a burden. It varies by distance… but the Berinton route I used a lot only cost about a thousand points one way.”
“A thousand, huh.”
It was still cheaper than a first-class airplane ticket.
Since portals ran on core energy, it was inevitable that the price would be high.
And that high price also served as a barrier, preventing reckless entry by ordinary people.
“……”
Suddenly he remembered the post office account that had held several tens of millions of won, which had disappeared along with the other world. For a moment he felt a pang of regret, but it wasn’t a situation where he could afford to dwell on such money, so he quickly shook the thought from his head.
After watching TV with his siblings and genuinely finishing every last bit of the delivered food, Kang Tae-sung neatly stacked the bowls and carried them outside the front gate. He then watched as the youngest called the Chinese restaurant for him.
“Big Brother.”
“Ah. Thanks.”
Kang Yu-ri had brought him cold water to cleanse his palate. He took a few sips, then turned to face the youngest, who had finished the call and was rubbing his noticeably bloated stomach.
“First we should go to the bank, Big Brother.”
“The bank?”
“Gotta open an account, brother.”
Kang Han-sung, who had walked over while picking his teeth, added that. If he was going to work as a hunter—or even just to carry out normal economic activities—an account was essential.
“There’s also a hunter-exclusive card. It can even be used as ID.”
“You can deposit and withdraw points directly with the card itself.”
They said the small card contained a complex mix of a data chip, a magic circle, and a transmission device. If the user was an awakened, they could directly transfer points into or out of their account through the card.
Of course, it could also be used as a regular check card.
Kang Tae-sung pulled out a bankbook from one of the two leather pouches tied inside his pants. It was the one he had received when he opened the post office account. Since the magic pouch had remained intact, everything inside it had survived as well.
“Whoa. This is that one.”
“Wow. It’s perfectly fine.”
While Kang Han-sung and Kang Tae-sung examined it with fascination, what Kang Tae-sung pulled out next was the smartphone he had been using over there, which he had also stored away.
“……”
It still had battery left. When he turned on the screen, it showed a notification that a new message had been registered. When he tapped it, he saw that in the group chat they had been in at the time, Kang Yu-ri had been calling for the other two.
“This was still here.”
Kang Han-sung said with a face full of complicated emotions.
“Can I look at it for a second?”
“Go ahead.”
When he handed it over, Kang Han-sung and the youngest looked at it together.
There were the conversations between the siblings they had shared in that short period of time.
“This is me? Wow. I look slim.”
And in the phone’s photo gallery were pictures of the family together, as well as photos he had taken of his younger siblings.
Kang Yu-ri, who had been secretly peeking along with them, saw a version of herself she didn’t know. It was the version of her from that world that she had only heard about from her second brother and the youngest—something she had half-believed at best.
And because it was her, because it was no one else but herself, she could easily read the expression and the emotions of that time in the face that was smiling faintly in the photo.
A photo of her looking at her younger brother, who was wearing an eyepatch over one eye just like now.
A photo of her pointing and yelling at her second brother, who was giggling and chattering away about something.
And one that she guessed she herself had taken… a photo of the three brothers, all shirtless, gathered together and laughing.
“……”
Although it had been taken from a bit of a distance, the phone camera’s quality was so good that it was crystal clear.
“Next one, hurry.”
When she realized that her second brother, who was urging the youngest to move on while looking at the photos, was actually paying attention to her, Kang Yu-ri turned toward her oldest brother, who was standing a little ways away, lost in thought with a blank expression.
“Why does your body look like that?”
“Hm?”
“Where did you get hurt?”
“Well. If it was just one place, I could point to it and tell you exactly where, but it’s not like that.”
Her oldest brother spoke as if it were nothing. There was even a slight smile on his face, but Kang Yu-ri wasn’t foolish enough to think he was smiling because he was happy. She knew it was a smile meant to keep others from feeling pain.
“You’re not going to cry, right? You won’t cry. You’re not crying.”
Had tears already welled up?
When her oldest brother quietly came closer and spoke to her in that same gruff voice he had used to comfort her when she would cry over nothing as a child, the memories of those old days came back and she ended up laughing.
“There are a lot of people. Must be because it’s the period for paying public utilities.”
The youngest, who had glanced inside after entering the bank, said that. Just as he said, the inside of the bank was packed with so many people that there weren’t even enough seats.
“It’d be convenient if they did automatic payments.”
“It probably feels like the money is being taken by force.”
“That makes sense too.”
When you came in person to pay, it felt like you were the one paying, but some people felt upset about automatic payments because it felt like the other side was taking their money. Even in this era, computer errors weren’t unheard of, so there were still many people who insisted on paying public bills in person.
Unfortunately, the payment kiosk on one side had a “broken” sign on it—bad timing. People were pulling numbers and either standing or sitting in appropriate spots while waiting for their turn.
“Should we come back next time?”
“No. We don’t have to wait.”
“……?”
At the youngest’s confident words, Kang Tae-sung followed him toward a counter that was completely empty despite the huge crowd. The sign above it read “Special Services.” When the youngest approached, the female teller smiled and greeted him.
“It’s been a while, sir.”
“Yes, hello. Today I’m not here for myself. I’d like to open an account for my oldest brother.”
“Ah, I see. Then please fill out these parts here, here, here… and here. Once you’re done, hand it back to me and I’ll process it right away.”
“Yes, I will.”
After receiving the documents for opening an account, the youngest looked at Kang Tae-sung, who was asking if they knew each other, and shook his head slightly.
“It’s less that she recognizes me and more that she recognizes the eyepatch, I think.”
“She’s processing it right away because you’re acquaintances?”
You’ve got good connections.
With that look in his eyes, he glanced back at the counter, and the youngest laughed.
“It’s not like that. Special services include other things, but they also handle awakened customers.”
“Hm?”
“Most awakened are premium customers, so the bank pays special attention to them. Normally they’ll leave one counter open like this, and if it’s a customer with a lot of money on deposit, they’ll even escort them to the VIP room.”
“It’s convenient. Nice.”
It did feel a little like they were getting special treatment, but he wasn’t the type to be sensitive enough to care about that. Kang Tae-sung filled out the documents the youngest had handed him and brought them to the counter.
“You must be family.”
“Yes.”
“Two hunters in one family. That’s impressive.”
“……”
‘Actually it’s three.’
From the short conversation, Kang Tae-sung could tell, just as the youngest had said, that she hadn’t recognized him. As expected, that smile was just professional customer service. He could feel the hardships of her job.
Thank you.
See you next time…