𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐: 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧
A dense forest.
A man collapsed in the middle of a dense forest where trees were spread out like waves.
The man, who seemed to be dead for a long time, moved his body slightly and let out a low groan.
“Ugh. . . . . .”
Siwoo barely opened his eyes.
His lips were dry and his throat was parched.
His body ached as if he had just woken up from a long illness.
It was one of the common side effects of long-distance teleportation using magic.
“Oh, my. . . . . .”
He got up from his seat.
He looked around.
Familiar yet unfamiliar.
It felt like he was on Earth but not at the same time.
Of course, he didn’t have to land in Seoul.
The dense undergrowth made him think that this was not Korea.
If he had to be specific, he would say that it was like a tropical rainforest in a foreign country.
As long as he had arrived on Earth, it didn’t matter.
He decided to look around first.
If he saw a living creature, he would know whether it was an Earth creature or not.
There were many creatures similar to those on Earth where he was.
However, they were not the same.
There were also species that could communicate.
They were very similar to humans, like elves or dwarves.
However, they had three eyes, blue skin, were 3m tall, or had four arms.
Sometimes, monsters were more familiar.
Why is this guy so quiet?
“Hey, Freeloader.”
Siwoo called out to the guy inside him.
He had been through thick and thin with him for 100 years, so he felt like he was more than just a friend now.
I don’t know where I am, but you know where I am, so I’m worried because you’re being so quiet.
Don’t tell me I’m the only one here. . .?
【𝕎𝕙𝕪 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕖, 𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕?】
A childish, innocent voice.
He’s fine.
“I thought you might have been crushed on the way because you’re so weak.”
【𝕀’𝕞 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕. 𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕗𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕀 𝕕𝕚𝕕𝕟’𝕥. 𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕨𝕒𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕗 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕕.】
Oh, yes. You are.
I ignored his bragging and sensed mana while looking around.
Hmm.
The amount and flow of mana distributed around here is definitely different from when I was in the other world.
Was Earth like this? I can’t remember because it was 100 years ago.
Siwoo trudged forward.
He felt like he had been beaten all over his body, and he wanted to lie down and rest if possible.
However, it was impossible to rest comfortably in an unfamiliar place.
I’ll find out if this is another world or Earth and then lie down.
The forest was much larger than he thought.
No matter how much he looked around, all he could see were trees.
It seemed difficult to estimate the size without going up high.
“Was the forest always like this?”
But it was strange.
There should have been some living creatures, but he couldn’t see any.
Usually, in a forest of this size, there should be at least small animals.
It’s too quiet.
There wasn’t even the sound of birds chirping.
This is like. . . the feeling of entering a gate.
【𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕, 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕒 𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖. 𝕀 𝕕𝕠𝕟’𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕒𝕥.】
That’s when the Freeloader made a strange sound.
“What are you talking about?”
【𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠𝕟’𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕒. 𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕚𝕤 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤. 𝕀’𝕝𝕝 𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦.】
Siwoo thought for a moment after hearing that.
Then he stood up and checked his magical power.
Mana, a huge energy that exists in a place commonly called the dantian.
And magical power is what happens when that mana flows through the entire body and is converted into a specific force.
When I first woke up, I thought it was just a side effect of dimensional travel.
That’s why my body is not feeling well, and that’s why the flow of mana is not smooth.
Don’t tell me this is happening ‘again’. . .
Siwoo frowned.
“Ah, it’s about 15. . . no, 20%.”
【𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥?】
“My condition. Including physical ability, magical power, mana, etc.”
He clicked his tongue as if he was annoyed.
In fact, this was not the first time this had happened to Siwoo.
When he flew from Earth to another world, he experienced the same phenomenon.
【𝕀𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦’𝕣𝕖 𝟚𝟘%, 𝕪𝕠𝕦’𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕠𝕠 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜. 𝕀 𝕨𝕠𝕟’𝕥 𝕒𝕣𝕘𝕦𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕖.】
“Shut up, you crazy bastard.”
Siwoo replied in a subdued tone and roughly brushed his hair back. He hadn’t expected something like this to happen again.
Last time, it took decades to get back to 100%.
“This is annoying.”
【𝔻𝕠𝕟’𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕪, 𝕤𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕖. 𝕀’𝕝𝕝 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦. 𝕀 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕝 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕒 𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕞𝕪 𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪. 𝕀’𝕝𝕝 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦.】
“You need mana to use that, you idiot.”
【𝔸𝕙.】
Still, I know roughly how to get my condition back since I’ve experienced it once.
Siwoo was just being capricious.
Siwoo spread his mana as wide as possible to sense his surroundings.
A kind of mana radar technique.
“I can sense something alive.”
For ordinary hunters, it was an ability that they could not use easily or could only use within a narrow radius because it consumed a lot of mana.
However, Siwoo was different.
From the beginning, he was a hunter who could control his magical power with minimal output, allowing for precise control.
He was very sensitive to the movement of mana, and his control over magical power and the deployment of detailed spells were enough to make all hunters stick out their tongues.
【𝕀’𝕝𝕝 𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕗 𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪! 𝕀’𝕞 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕪!】
Siwoo ran towards the living creature he sensed.
How long did he run?
There was a monster that looked like a large dog-sized mole.
‘𝙒𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙂𝙖𝙩𝙚?’
Siwoo tried to recall his vague memory.
No matter how good one’s memory is, there are few people who remember a monster from 100 years ago, let alone an insignificant one.
━Koogeegeegee!
As soon as the monster discovered Siwoo, it thought of him as prey and ran towards him at a frightening speed.
【𝔾𝕠, 𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕! ℂ𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕙 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕤𝕠!】
“Do you want to be kicked out of your rented room?”
Siwoo clenched his fist.
And he swung his fist down on the running monster like a hammer.
Thud!
━Kiiik!
The monster’s head burst open and it was driven deep into the dirt floor.
Siwoo sighed as he looked alternately at his fist, which was dripping with blood, and his clothes.
“Oh, damn it. I got blood on it.”
【𝕀 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦’𝕣𝕖 𝕒 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘. 「𝕊𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕝 ℝ𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕖𝕧𝕠𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝕤𝕒𝕦𝕔𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝕓𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝕤𝕒𝕦𝕔𝕖. .」】
“This crazy bastard.”
Siwoo couldn’t hit his own body, so he could only glare at his chest with a flushed face.
This bastard.
Just get out of my body later. I’ll start by breaking your jaw.
Thanks to him, he wasn’t bored in the other world, but he also became more patient.
I should exorcise this guy soon.
Siwoo wiped the blood on his hand with a leaf.
That’s when he heard a sound.
Movement approaching from a distance through the bushes.
It was very fast and urgent.
“Hey, Freeloader. Did you hear that sound?”
【𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕? 𝕀 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕚𝕥. 𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘’𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘.】
Siwoo tensed his legs.
He concentrated all his senses on the direction from which something was approaching.
It was a very fast response for his condition.
Just looking at the monsters, it was hard to tell if they were Earthlings or not.
Is there a creature that can distinguish them more clearly?
As he was thinking that,
Rustle, rustle.
The source of the sound jumped out.
Siwoo looked blankly at the creature that passed in front of him.
Even though he had been concentrating, he couldn’t react at all.
【ℍ𝕦𝕙?】
Because,
H. . . . . .Human?
It was a normal human being that he had seen for the first time in 100 years.
His skin was normal, he had no wings or horns, and he had two arms. He had two eyes.
And there was no strange mouth-like thing on the back of his head.
It’s a human!
He didn’t react immediately to the fact that the person who had run past was beautiful and had a good figure.
Siwoo first distinguished whether it was a different species or not.
A sense of relief washed over him and his mind felt clear.
I’ve arrived properly.
He was genuinely happy. It had been 100 years.
A sense of happiness that could not be expressed in words enveloped his whole body.
But another creature soon jumped out.
It had many arms and its appearance was strange.
This is familiar. Is it a different species?
He inferred the causal relationship between the person who had run ahead and the being that was following behind.
A different species. . . is it courting a human?
But judging from the expression on the woman who had passed by, it didn’t seem like a good situation.
“Stop.”
Siwoo flicked his palm as if he was catching a fly.
Pow!
The head of the monster that had been following behind burst like a ripe tomato.
He looked at his palm and his clothes and made a similar remark to the one from earlier.
“Damn it, I got blood on it.”
He roughly brushed the blood off his clothes and looked around.
He saw a woman who had fallen to the ground looking very surprised at him.
It’s a human.
“Ha. Earth is definitely good.”
【𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕! 𝕀𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕤 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦. 𝕀𝕥’𝕤 𝕒 𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕀’𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕤.】
No matter how beautiful the beauties of the other world were, they were far from soothing his troubled mind.
Imagine a Kim X-hee with blue skin and three eyes.
On the other hand, the woman in front of him now had a normal(?) body structure and was even pretty.
Siwoo approached the woman with a tired expression.
He asked the first question he needed to ask.
“Is this Earth?”
“Yes. . . . . .yes???”
The woman, who had answered the question in surprise, asked again in surprise.
Is he crazy? Or is he really crazy?
If you give her a hundred concessions and say that he’s asking about the “place,” he wouldn’t ask, “Where is Gangnam Station?” or “How do I get to XX Department Store?” but rather, “Is this Earth?”
Shin Ji-soo, who had been looking at the crazy man for a moment, wondered what kind of expression she should make.
He was tall and handsome, so he didn’t look like a strange guy.
He’s the man who saved my life.
However, she couldn’t easily approach him because she was more embarrassed than grateful.
“Is this Korea right now?”
“Yes? Yes? Ah, yes. Ha, ha, it’s Korea.”
Shin Ji-soo answered haltingly.
“What year is it?”
“Uh. . .it’s 2037. . .”
“What’s your favorite food?”
“Yes? Chicken. . .samgyeopsal. . .gopchang?”
【𝔽𝕠𝕠𝕕? 𝔸𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕠𝕕 𝕟𝕠𝕨? 𝕀’𝕞 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕪. 𝕀 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕠𝕠.】
“This is Korea.”
Siwoo nodded.
It had been exactly 10 years since he had been sucked into another dimension in 2027.
In fact, he didn’t know that so much time had passed, but it hadn’t been 100 years.
“Who is the president now?”
Siwoo asked another curious question.
“The president now is Choi Dae-soo. . .”
Shin Ji-soo was having an internal conflict because the man in front of her was a handsome madman.
Should she be wary of him or pity him?
But the man’s expression, when he heard the name Choi Dae-soo, frowned for the first time.
“Choi Dae-soo? Is he the muscle-bound guy with only one eye?”
“Yes? Yes, that’s right.”
Siwoo snickered at Shin Ji-soo’s answer.
He never thought that Choi Dae-soo would become president.
It’s so funny.
They say that even mountains change after 10 years, and it seems like he will be satisfied only after seeing the changed appearance for himself.
Siwoo was about to move when he stopped.
Because he didn’t know the way.
“By the way, is this outside or inside?”
He had been spreading his magical power since earlier to figure out where he was. But it felt strange.
Because an unusual mana wall, neither inside nor outside, blocked his energy from spreading any further.
It was like the subspace where he had been trapped because of the dragon.
“This is the Tower of Tutorials. . . a building that suddenly appeared a few years ago.”
Shin Ji-soo continued to explain.
Siwoo listened quietly with his arms crossed.
“So, if you want to get out, you have to clear the tower?”
“Yes. Then you can be awakened and gain skills. Depending on your awakening rank, you can enter a good guild.”
“Well, climbing suits my taste better than going down.”
Siwoo turned to where the strongest energy flowed in this space. It must be the boss mob or the space leading to the next floor.
“How long does it usually take to get out of here?”
“If you’re good, it takes at least 6 weeks, but usually you should expect it to take about 8 weeks.”
“What’s the fastest record?”
“Uh. . . it was an exception, but 3 weeks?”
Yoo Ji-hwan, a genius hunter, set a new record.
He broke his record three times faster than the average.
He cleared the climb, which usually takes about 6~8 weeks, in just 3 weeks.
“I see. 3 weeks.”
Siwoo cracked his neck. Crack, it sounded good.
He took a leisurely step and clenched his fist gently.
His mana flow and body movements were slow due to the side effects of dimensional travel.
Since my condition hasn’t fully recovered,
I should give myself a little more time.
“Then I’ll do it in 5 days.”
【𝕀’𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕪𝕠𝕦.】