CH 2

“Kyaaaaaaah-!”

I unconsciously joined in to the piercing scream that cut through the night sky.

“Kyaaaaah-!”

In the midst of the screams, one word caught my attention.

“Pervert! Kyaaaaah-!”

It was clear that there was a reason why the woman in front of me was shouting with such a spirit.

“Come to think of it…”

I suddenly realized that I was completely naked, just as the day I was born.

“Ugh…”

My body was not affected much by the weather, whether it was cold or hot, so I hadn’t realized the chilly air properly and had realized my state later than expected.

“It’s not the first time I’ve acted naked.”

When I was active in the other world, I often fought on the battlefield naked unless I had armor that was strong enough to withstand the demon army’s full force. As a result, it was common to be almost naked at the end of every battle.

Later, he obtained a divine instrument that matched his reputation, but didn’t he have to return it all to the goddess?

“Kyaaaaaaah-!”

I felt people’s footsteps approaching from all directions as the woman’s screams continued.

“What’s going on?”

“A pervert! There is a pervert here!”

I could hear the angry shouts of those who discovered me.

“Darn it!”

I had no choice but to quickly flee the scene.

ΔΔΔ

Should I say it’s a fortunate?

What if it wasn’t at night?

Ugh…

Good thing he didn’t need to know where the man’s elephant head was.

While he was chuckling to himself, he heard a faint groaning sound from behind.

“Ughhh…”

When he turned around, he saw a middle-aged naked man staring at him with resentful eyes.

“Ugh… you bastard… you have no sense of honor! That’s not how awakened should behave.”

He had to contort his face in response to the middle-aged man’s voice.

“Don’t mistake me for your colleague.”

Baron told the him while tying belt, which he had taken from the middle-aged man a little while ago.

“Don’t make a fuss over something useless… tsk! Just hold on tight and reflect.”

He briefly considered taking the opportunity to teach the man a lesson in morals, but then he noticed a commotion in the distance, likely related to the woman’s screams from earlier.

Was he lucky?

Thanks to the middle-aged man in front of him, he not only acquired appropriate clothing, but he might also be able to blame the incident on him.

With his limbs paralyzed from a single, light slap, he probably couldn’t avoid the worst of what was to come.

“Well then, good luck.”

He left with a short farewell.

“Kyaaahhh-! This guy’s a pervert.”

He didn’t forget to leave a small gift before leaving.

“It’s just voice changer.”

Suddenly, the middle-aged man who was groaning and sitting on the ground turned pale.

It was because he heard the sound of approaching footsteps from far away.

“It’s him!”

“Is it him?”

“Something’s not right…”

“Something’s fishy about this…”

He only caught snippets of their conversation before shrugging his shoulder and leaving.

ΔΔΔ

The shorter length of the man’s coat meant that, he still had to move through the darkness of the night, but that wasn’t a major issue.

There were times when he lived by hiding in the shadows of the Demon King’s army, so this was nothing.

The more important issue was the one he had been contemplating until the moment he faced the woman, and it would be difficult to proceed with the situation until he solved it.

“I don’t know. I don’t know. Ugh…”

He was racking his brain and thinking hard, but no answer came to him.

Even though he had returned to his hometown with difficulty, he couldn’t remember the address.

“Darn it! Was I such an idiot? Ugh…”

By the time 100 years passed in the other world, he had already recognized himself as a resident of that place.

As time went by, he had come to the conclusion that even if he returned to Earth, there would be no one to welcome him.

From then on, he forgot about Earth and literally lived as a member of the otherworld.

“I can’t believe it’s only been 20 years.”

As a reminder to not forget his roots, he used his original name and thank goodness for that.

[Baron!]

It was a name that didn’t seem out of place in that otherworld.

In fact, it’s a name that’s gotten him a lot of teasing in his hometown.

[Is he a foreigner?]

[I thought you were Korean?]

[Try speaking English].

Well, it was teasing that started with a misunderstanding that was bound to happen.

“Those cheeky children teased me without even knowing it was our language.”

Although it may seem foreign at first glance, his name was derived from the old Korean word for ‘righteous,’ meaning to live correctly.

Due to the persistent attention and teasing of children, it was difficult for him to live a righteous life, and he had once experienced a stormy period of anger, but that past was now just a memory.

In fact, not only he, but also the majority of his relatives, including his father, had names in the pure Korean language, which was a tradition in their family.

“It was also a family tradition to be made fun of…”

His father also had some minor troubles in his childhood because of his name, so it could be considered a somewhat amusing tradition of his family.

Should he call it shared memory?

As he recalled various instances of teasing he had experienced due to his name, he gradually began to remember even the incidents and accidents that had occurred as a result of them, and the old memories that had sunk deep began to surface.

“Bareun Chicken!”

Suddenly, he felt as if his eyes had opened.

He remembered the name of the chicken shop his mother used to run. at the same time, he started to picture the neighborhood.

“Ilsan!”

A shout burst out like lightning, clearly indicating the destination he had to go.

20 years have passed.

Many things may have changed, but had things really progressed as much as he thought?

The atmosphere and scenery of the street didn’t seem to have much difference.

“As that thief said, nothing much has changed.”

I nodded my head slightly while recalling the conversation I had with Baek Dong-hoon.

I secretly hoped to see a flying car or something like that, but the scenery, which was no different from before, wasn’t that bad.

Of course, the faint tension visible in people’s expressions reminded me of the term “dimensional rift,” but overall, the image of the street itself didn’t deviate too far from my old memories.

To my credit?

It wasn’t difficult to find the destination.

“The road signs are clearly marked.”

As long as I ran with determination against the foggy night sky, no one could see through me in the darkness.

In fact, it was difficult to say that his physical state was normal at the moment.

[Aura, mana, spirit power!]

He had lost all three types of energy, jokingly referred to as the “Three Divine Qi” in that world, in the aftermath of the dimensional storm.

Was it because he was a mercenary?

Until he gained a clear reputation, his treatment was not as good as it should have been, and it was difficult for him to receive the armor that would make him a god, so he built up his aura and mana power to become a god himself, and called it Samshinki.

Only after he was crowned king was he able to receive the real thing.

“At least I’ve returned them all now.”

Of course, he didn’t miss them too much.

It was said that it was difficult to contain even one type of energy, but to possess three different kinds of energy’s was enough to make him a “divine being”.

For this reason, the “Samshinki” was a name that even his colleagues acknowledged.

Whether it was the three types of energy that represented the mercenary king or not, he couldn’t feel any of them now.

“The three energy’s will also need to recover.”

Perhaps it was because he had to spend half a year recovering underground, and trying to recover with only his physical abilities took longer than he thought.

The nature of the energy flowing through the atmosphere was strangely foreign to him, until he analyzed it, it seemed difficult to fill his empty vessel.

“Well, I defeated the Demon King’s 12th Army Assault Division with my bare body, so I’m not too worried about the absence of the Three Body Techniques.”

[Three Body Techniques!]

He was already in a position where the strength of his body alone was enough to make him a superhuman.

However, the feeling of emptiness was awkward and uncomfortable.

“It’s definitely different with and without it. It feels a bit strange.”

It wasn’t like he couldn’t breathe, but it was definitely an uncomfortable feeling.

After running relentlessly along the signboards with his empty stomach, he was able to reach his destination, Ilsan, before long.

And then he froze up.

“This is…Ilsan?”

The road was barricaded with armored vehicles and other unexpected military installations, were erected along with the end-of-the-century landscape that looked like it had turned into ruins.

Frantically checking the sign he had just passed, nothing had changed.

“This is… Ilsan?”

He felt his heart, which had been heated with word hope, turn cold.

In fact, he had been prepared for the worst-case scenario.

As Baek Dong-hoon had said, at the time of the first rift, countless blood was spilled, and countless wails and cries filled the world.

But even so, assuming there was still the possibility of “What ifs,” he had temporarily ignored the pumping of his heart.

“Sigh…”

The strength in his shoulders dropped.

“…It’s meaningless.”

Was it because of the effort to recall old names and memories? The overwhelming feeling of exhaustion only increased.

“Should I have just lived in otherworld?”

He tried to calm his heart with a weak laugh and joke, but his heart that had cooled in an instant could not easily accept warmth.

It was when he was lost in thought for a moment.

WOooooo…

He felt an unfamiliar vibration or echo coming from the ruins beyond.

Baron chewed his lips and crossed the barricade.

Although the soldiers were in strict control of the surroundings, no one manages to discovered his presence, and so Baron infiltrated the ruins of Ilsan.

ΔΔΔ

Oooooh…

Choi Il-kwon, the leader of the third assault team in the North Wind Guild, poured out curses while rolling his eyes.

“Ah… really! Why is this always the case when we need to sleep? I thought we had a few more hours of leeway. This is ridiculous!”

It seemed like the sky above the ruins in front of them split open.

“What’s the reading on the rift measurement device?”

“Seriously, it’s only been a day or two since we started this job. It’s level 3 again this time.”

Choi Il-kwon let out a deep sigh at the response from the deputy team leader, Jang Geon.

“Ugh… I’m so tired. If we just need to handle level 2 situations, I’d be grateful.”

“I know what you mean. When will this nonsense end?”

“Well, it’s been two years since we started dealing with remaining rifts. This deployment may be our last, but I can’t be sure. It’s the first time a level 6 dimensional rift has opened in Korea. They’re investigating everything, so who knows. We may have to deal with this again.”

“If someone hears about this, they might think it’s a level 7 disaster.”

“Well, from our perspective in Korea, even level 6 is practically a disaster. Look at this view of Ilsan. This beautiful city has been turned into rubble.”

“At least there were no civilian casualties.”

“That’s thanks to the rift measurement device. We were able to issue evacuation orders early on. Well… the damage to the hunters was huge, though. Tsk!”

By the time it reached level 6, the signal was caught about a week in advance, so they were able to prepare and evacuate in advance.

“Oh! Come to think of it, I heard about a rift that couldn’t be measured about six months ago. What happened to that?”

“I don’t know. It seems to have passed more quietly than I thought.”

“That’s unexpected. I heard that a rift appeared suddenly that even the level measurement couldn’t be properly done, and KEA had to issue an emergency alert.”

“It was so sudden that it was difficult to gather the ability users properly.”

Now they talked about it lightly, but at that time, emergency alerts were issued to various guilds and organizations, and vivid memories of chaos remained.

“Fortunately, it happened in the mountains, so they poured bombs as soon as the rift opened and resolved it… I haven’t heard much about it since KEA and the association took proper control.”

“Since they subdued it with bombs, it probably didn’t exceed level 5.”

“Well, there wasn’t much news afterward, so it must be true.”

The eerie glimmer appeared in the corners of their eyes as the two shrugged their shoulders.

That was because the monsters, finally began to emerge from the rift.

“Ugh… damn it! I hate bugs.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Like those who sighed and turned pale, other team members and agents from other guilds also looked at the monsters coming out of the rift with fearful faces.

The monster had the shape of a spider and its size seemed even bigger than most adults.

Talented people from each guild who had been waiting rushed towards the pouring swarm of giant spiders.

ΔΔΔ

Baron let out a small sigh as he looked upon the site of the dimensional rift. “So that’s a dimensional rift,” he thought. Though he had walked there hoping to feel the distant waves of energy and see if his suspicions were correct, the reality of the situation hit him hard. Of course, there were unexpected aspects to it all.

“Why is it so weak?” he mused to himself.

He had suspected that the monster and the rift were responsible for the mess he had found in his hometown after being away for so long. He had wanted to see for himself the beings who had trampled his hopes and frozen his heart and emotions. That was why he had followed the waves and found the rift, wasn’t it?

But the reality was disappointing.

“Really, it’s just bug-level weak,” he said in disgust.

His mind, like his frozen heart, went cold.

It didn’t even feel worth it to be angry at such a pathetic level of power.

That’s when he saw the abilities of the others.

“Well, that’s interesting,” he muttered under his breath.