Chapter 206

Ding.

System

Logout completed.

I hadn’t opened my eyes, but I knew.

The moment the System notification sounded, everything around me changed.

Instead of a fur-covered bed and a hard wooden pillow, I felt the soft cushions of a sofa beneath me. Water bubbled nearby, and a familiar smell hit my nose.

Th-This is…

Ramen. And not just any ramen—ramen cooked to perfection!

The instant I realized what it was, my stomach began churning violently. After more than a month in the Murim, it was desperate for seasoning.

“I’m hungry!”

The cry came straight from my soul. My eyes snapped open, and a familiar face popped out from the brightly lit kitchen.

Sparse stubble. Greasy, matted hair. Jinho wiped his steam-fogged glasses and beamed at me.

“Oh, my beloved little brother Taekyung. Did you sleep well?”

His revoltingly sweet tone was nothing like his usual voice, but the smell of ramen had already driven me out of my mind.

“Ramen!”

“Jesus, what’s gotten into you?”

“Kimchi¹!”

“You were really out cold. I was going to shake you awake, but…”

“Cold rice! At least five bowls!”

“……Uh, all right. I was about to bring it over anyway.”

A short while later, I stared at the pot filled to the brim with noodles and broth and murmured in bliss.

“This is insane…”

“Lift the top layer of noodles a little. There’s a soft-boiled egg underneath.”

“Gasp.”

Just as he’d said, when I carefully lifted the noodles, a perfectly intact soft-boiled egg appeared beneath them.

As I sucked in a breath, Jinho held out two small side dishes.

“Here. Kimchi¹ and pickled radish. The rice is plain white rice I took out an hour ago. Once you finish the noodles and drink a few mouthfuls of broth, drop in the cold rice and…”

“Are you…”

“Hm?”

“Are you God?”

Jinho placed an exam-prep book beneath the pot and answered solemnly.

“Genesis, chapter one, verse one. Thus spoke Seong Jinho: ‘If you do not eat now, the broth shall grow cold, and the noodles shall become hopelessly soggy.’”

“Ah… Ahhh…”

“Little lamb, why dost thou flap thy gums with ramen before thee? Lick the pot clean and leave not a single drop of broth behind.”

I’d been nonreligious my entire life.

Not anymore.

I gazed reverently up at Jinho and raised my chopsticks.

“Amen.”

“Ramen.”

Today, I wouldn’t have minded dying with my nose buried in ramen broth.

I buried my head over the huge pot and moved my chopsticks without pause. Because the distance between my mouth and the chopsticks was so short, the noodles kept disappearing into me.

Slurp! Slurp! Slurrrrrp!

Springy noodles. Spicy broth. When I broke open the soft-boiled egg, the bliss and regret were so overwhelming that a single tear rolled down my cheek.

It’s delicious. So delicious.

I love seasoning. It’s the best.

Drunk on that artificial flavor found only in the modern world, I kept inhaling food.

By the time I came to my senses, there was nothing in front of me but an empty pot and bowls. Even the bowl that had held a heaping mound of cold rice was spotless.

“Buuurp.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Jinho stared at me in horror as I rubbed my stomach and let out a tremendous belch.

“You ate seven packets of ramen and five bowls of rice by yourself in ten minutes? Are you even human?”

“Carbonation! Cola!”

“……C-Calm down. I’ll get some.”

Only after draining three 1.5-liter² bottles of cola in a row did I finally return to something resembling sanity.

“Whew. That hit the spot. I’m full.”

“That’s strange. Why am I hungry?”

“Bear with it. You would’ve done the same if you were me.”

I answered absently and collapsed back against the sofa behind me.

What kind of monster hide had they said this was made from? Whatever it was, it felt incredible.

“Man, this is comfortable.”

If this had been my goshiwon³ room, there wouldn’t even have been space for a sofa.

Jinho would have had to cook the ramen in the communal lounge instead of a kitchen, or bring in a portable burner.

“Moving here really was the right choice.”

Jinho scraped the bottom of the pot with a spoon as he answered.

“Yeah. It’s a nice place.”

“Right? Mom and Hayeon are going to love it when they see… it.”

A realization flashed through my mind like lightning.

I stared blankly around the room, my mouth hanging open. The space and furniture were nothing like what I’d had in the goshiwon³.

And one particular person had blended seamlessly into both the space and the situation.

“I’m still hungry. Should I make some Jjapagetti⁴?”

“……”

“I’m not giving you any this time. If you want some, say so now.”

I barely managed to squeeze out my voice.

“……You.”

“Hm?”

“Why the hell are you here, you bastard!”

My roar shattered the dark dawn and shook the residential neighborhood of Ilsan.

After hearing the whole story, I could only ask in disbelief.

“You were inside the capsule?”

Jinho knelt politely with both arms raised above his head and looked away.

“Yeah. I held my breath and stayed perfectly still.”

No wonder the mover had struggled so much.

Even I hadn’t noticed anything unusual. My Strength had grown several times over since I’d first found and moved the capsule, and my Qi Sense hadn’t been nearly as sharp back then as it was now.

And there was one more thing.

No, for fuck’s sake. Who would’ve imagined that?

No matter how expensive or sophisticated an alarm system was, it couldn’t detect an intruder when the power was off.

It had never even occurred to me that someone might be hiding inside the capsule.

“Whew. What happened to the place you were going to get? Didn’t you say you were moving in with a friend?”

“Y-You know Kim Jong-su, right? My college classmate. You had drinks with us once a couple of years ago.”

His face was hazy in my memory, but I did remember that.

Hadn’t he been a fairly successful used-car dealer at the time? If he hadn’t bought us beef that day, I probably would’ve forgotten him completely.

“That’s the friend you were going to live with?”

“Yeah. Though he’s not my friend anymore.”

“Hyung⁵, did he…?”

“Five million won⁶ for the deposit. That bastard took it and ran.”

Why did bad premonitions always come true?

I rubbed my throbbing forehead.

“How did that happen?”

“Well, my exam is coming up soon, so he said he’d handle all the details…”

I raised a hand to stop him before he could continue.

I didn’t need to hear the rest. It was a clichéd trick, but it kept working for a reason.

“You just handed him the money without checking anything?”

“I’d known him for over ten years. How was I supposed to know he’d do that over a few million won⁷?”

“But those few million won⁷ were your entire fortune, weren’t they?”

“……”

If he’d gone so far as to sneak in here inside the capsule, he clearly didn’t even have enough left to pay this month’s goshiwon³ rent.

Was he from Jeju Island or something?

A special A-grade black cow.⁸

There wasn’t a bigger black cow—a bigger sucker—anywhere.

At the look in my eyes, Jinho hung his head.

“I was only going to impose on you for a couple of months, until I could scrape some money together.”

“You should’ve just told me.”

“I agonized over it, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I’m your hyung.⁵ I can’t burden my little brother.”

“……”

What the hell did this man consider a burden?

“I’m sorry. I really am.”

His voice turned mournful as he lowered his arms. His eyes were already glistening.

“Taekyung…”

“Jinho hyung⁵…”

I continued in a sympathetic voice.

“Who told you to lower your arms?”

“Hm?”

“Put them back up before I beat you.”

“……Yes, sir.”

Jinho hurriedly raised his arms again, and a sigh escaped me.

The whole ridiculous situation had come out of nowhere, but at the same time, it left me feeling heavyhearted.

You should’ve told me sooner.

Maybe I couldn’t have done much for him in the past, but now I had more than enough means to help. No, even back then, I would’ve supported him in every way I could.

After all the time we’ve spent together.

We weren’t related by blood, but he was as good as a real brother to me. That was who Jinho was.

I’d even considered asking him to live with me for a while because I felt uneasy about leaving him on his own.

I was planning to tell Mom and Hayeon after the college entrance exam anyway, so there’s still some time, but…

I looked around the house, deep in thought. It looked different from the home in my childhood memories, but it was still the house my family had finally reclaimed.

A house that still held traces of my father, whose voice had faded in my memory.

At last, I made up my mind and opened my mouth.

“This house won’t work, hyung⁵. I know you’ll be disappointed, but try to understand.”

Jinho forced a bright expression and shook his head.

“Why would I be disappointed? This is all my fault.”

“What about your stuff? Have you unpacked?”

“Not yet. It’s only a few books and some clothes, so there isn’t much. I’ll just leave with you when you go to work.”

Come to think of it, it had been bright outside for a while. It was already eight o’clock. Between the traffic and the distance from Ilsan to Bucheon, I was cutting it pretty close.

“I think we’ll have to leave separately. Get your things ready.”

“Okay.”

“And clean the new place from top to bottom before I get off work.”

“……Huh?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not talking about this house. Give me a second.”

I pulled out my phone and searched through my messages.

At last, I found the address I wanted in my chat with Team Leader Choi, whom I’d saved as “Designer-Brand Junkie.”

“Ah, here it is. I just sent the address to your phone. Find your own way there.”

“Wait. What address?”

“An officetel.⁹”

“Huh?”

“The Guild offered to provide me with a place. I turned it down last time because accepting it felt like too much, but I might as well take them up on it now.”

A quiet laugh escaped me when I saw Jinho’s eyes widen.

“Why are you so surprised? I’m doing pretty well these days.”

“……!”

“This house needs remodeling anyway, so let’s live there together. It’ll make my commute easier too.”

“Ta-Taekyung.”

I turned away, pretending not to hear the tremor in Jinho’s voice.

I had no desire to deal with an embarrassing scene first thing in the morning. Nor did I particularly want to be thanked by the man who had comforted me through the hardest period of my life.

It’s fine.

Yeah. This was enough.

It was mid-September. The worst of the heat had passed, but the morning commute hadn’t changed.

The taxi driver honked at the occasional inconsiderate driver cutting into traffic on the congested road, then turned up the radio.

An F-rank Gate has appeared in Uldae-ri, Jangheung-myeon, Yangju City, and an immediate evacuation order has been issued. With nearby Hunters and military units cooperating to suppress it quickly, the confirmed number of casualties currently stands at six…

“Goddamn it. As if the traffic wasn’t bad enough, now those monster bastards are raising hell too.”

After delivering the colorful curse, he glanced at me in the passenger seat.

“You’re a Hunter too, right?”

“For now.”

At this point, I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was a Hunter or a Murim warrior.

Officially, at least in the modern world, I was a C-rank Hunter with Peace Guild.

The taxi driver grinned at my answer.

“I knew it. You can tell a Hunter at a glance.”

“I suppose so.”

It was like the difference between a herbivore and a carnivore.

There were exceptions, but everyone gave off a certain air. Someone my size carrying a large case had to be one of two things:

A musician who liked working out, or a Hunter.

You can tell at a glance.

It wasn’t anything particularly remarkable, especially for a taxi driver who met countless passengers every day.

But this middle-aged man’s mouth never stopped moving.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“It feels like Gates have been opening more often lately. Can’t anything be done about that?”

“……What?”

“I mean, how are ordinary people like me supposed to live without worrying? A Gate could open in my apartment parking lot the moment I wake up in the morning. What’s the point of working my butt off taking fares when safe-zone land costs a fortune?”

I stared at him incredulously.

“That’s true, but why are you asking me?”

“I know. I’m just frustrated, that’s all. Frustrated.”

“……So am I.”

I was a Hunter, not a prophet.

How was I supposed to predict something even Nostradamus couldn’t?

No one could predict when a Gate would form. The only reason they could suppress them quickly was because they had spent astronomical sums installing magical-power measuring devices all over the place.

Just like the breaking news now coming over the radio.

Breaking news. The F-rank Gate reported earlier in Yangju City has been stabilized. Hunters and military forces have exterminated a total of fifty-eight goblins and are conducting a search for any remaining monsters…

“Every time you turn around, it’s Gates and monsters. I’m sick to death of it.”

Beep.

The taxi driver switched off the radio with an irritated jab.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the car, but I was more than happy to spend the rest of the trip in peace.

I wonder what Mom and Hayeon are doing right now.

I was gazing out the window, lost in thought, when it happened.

Honk! Hoooonk!

A faint blare pierced my ears, followed by a jumble of overlapping noises. I hurriedly rolled down the window.

What is that? Was there an accident?

The taxi driver stared at me in confusion.

“Why are you opening the window when I’ve got the air conditioner on—”

“Wait. Just give me a second.”

My serious tone silenced him. I drew up my internal energy.

My hearing and vision, already far beyond the limits of an ordinary human, swept across the congested road.

“Huh?”

Far in the distance, a black dot shot into the air.

It began to fall in an arc, and I realized what it was.

“……A car?”

It had been crushed into a ball, but I could still see it clearly.

The crumpled hood. The twisted scrap metal.

The shower of glass spilling from it as it hurtled toward us.

And exactly where it was going to land.

Whoooooosh!

Oh, shit.

Why here of all places?