She thought it was a customer.
“…Mom!”
But the following words were completely unexpected.
Suddenly, her eyes widened, her head tilted, and she had to widen her pupils once again.
The protagonist in the photo that is still attached to her wallet!
It was because she had discovered a face from long ago that had been etched in her heart, with a trace of a teardrop.
“My son… is it you?”
So she asked, and the customer, the person in the photo, her son, replied.
“I’m sorry for coming so late.”
“Oh my God!”
Whether it was a ghost or a monster, it didn’t matter.
‘Even if you are a monster, it doesn’t matter!’
She wavered as she approached, gently stroking her son’s face.
She could feel warmth.
He was breathing.
Her heart was pounding.
“Ah…”
He was alive.
“Baron!”
She tightly embraced her son.
“Mom!”
Her son hugged her tightly with all his might.
ΔΔΔ
It goes without saying, Baron’s father also immediately rushed over.
He was still searching for the album in Ilsan. Fortunately, it wasn’t his North Wind Guild’s Team 5 that went in, but he had separately requested to enter, so there was enough manpower available, and it wasn’t difficult to get an overnight pass.
Since he had settled in a place not far from the old residence, it didn’t take too long for him to arrive after receiving the news.
When he saw his son’s face, his father came over without saying a word and hugged him tightly, as if he wanted to crush him.
And then he said.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
Strangely enough, those simple words touched Baron’s heart, and once again, he could feel the emotions making his eyes go red.
Fortunately, this time he didn’t shed any tears.
After a moment, the “entire” family had gathered.
“Um…so…these are my siblings?”
Baron looked at the kids standing beside his parents with a slightly puzzled look on his face.
“…They’re my younger siblings?”
They barely looked like middle or high school students.
There were two of them, a boy and a girl.
‘I never even thought about this.’
Even Choi ll-kwon hadn’t mentioned this.
‘Come to think of it…’
Suddenly, he remembered the look he had seen in the eyes of Choi ll-kwon before they parted.
‘…Was that what it meant?’
When he recalled the mischievous gaze and expression, he had to admit that it was indeed somewhat effective in achieving his intent.
“So, your names are…”
As he tried to calm his heart and looked at his younger siblings, both of them awkwardly opened their mouths.
“I’m Ahn Ara. Big brother.”
“I’m Ahn Maru. Big brother.”
True to our family’s tradition, they had names in pure Korean, Ara meaning ‘ocean’ and Maru meaning ‘sky.’
‘Well, that’s a relief.’
I thought it was a more normal name, compared to what I expected.
‘But then again… Can’t really compare to Dad.’
Grandfather had an incredible talent for naming, and my father’s name was a result of that.
Andre!
Although it also had a meaning in pure Korean, suggesting becoming a well-mannered person, I couldn’t help but think it would be difficult to actually grow up embodying that meaning if I were called by that name.
Especially since there was a famous designer with a similar name during my father’s youth, I believed it would be easy to become a target of teasing in various ways.
If I think about it, it could be a trap in itself that he got a hint from that famous person’s name when he was named.
[You know, in the age of globalization, where big-nosed guys rule the world, I’ll give you a name that fits in with that.]
That was my grandfather’s argument.
Thanks to that, my father had to go through a stormy period, maybe even worse than my own.
In that regard, I think my younger siblings’ names were quite normal.
‘At least they won’t be teased because of their names.’
But it left a sense of regret that another aspect of my family’s tradition was diluted.
‘But anyway… it’s unexpected.’
Surprisingly, the two siblings who appeared to have an age difference were actually twins.
Ara looked to be around 14 or 15 at most, while Maru seemed to be around 17 or 18, but both of them were 16-year-old twins in their third year of middle school.
The twist didn’t end there.
‘I thought Ara was the younger one.’
Surprisingly, Ara was the older sister, and Maru was the younger brother.
If I were to guess the reason for such a difference between the two who were in the same age group, there were two possible explanations.
First, it was because Ara had quite a growth spurt, and second, it was because Maru’s physical abilities had been significantly enhanced due to his awakening in the body system.
Knowing from Choi ll-kwon that my father was an early awakened, I recalled a piece of information related to it.
‘So, he’s what they commonly call a second-generation awakened individual.’
It’s often said that children of ability users tend to awaken their own abilities, and Maru could be considered as part of that category.
“Still, it’s fortunate that Ara hasn’t awakened.”
Lady Lim Jeong-hye, our mother, said with relief as she looked worriedly at Maru.
Thinking about the youngest one who might have to go out into this harsh world in a battlefield, it was only natural for her to have such concerns.
He would soon be entering a high school designated for ability users, and considering the path that leads to becoming a hunter, it was even more worrisome.
Baron, who nodded his head, stole a quick glance at his parents after considering the age of his siblings.
“The fact that they’re at that age… Wow… Ah…’
He was surprised, but also relieved, to see that the twins had been born around the same time he went missing.
It was possible that, thanks to his younger siblings, they could push aside some of the pain caused by that event.
‘I hope that’s the case…’
In reality, just like his wish, the couple couldn’t forget the pain of losing their child, but for the sake of raising and protecting their other children, they had no choice but to pretend to “forget” and gather their strength.
Most of the stories that followed were about the lives of his father and mother over the past 21 years.
There, Baron felt a strange consideration.
What were you doing all this time?
What have you been up to?
These kinds of questions didn’t come flying at him.
It was as if they didn’t want to ask anything until he opened up himself, and they spent their time talking only about themselves.
The reason for this was also evident in Baron’s reluctance to bring up the subject.
‘I did consider revealing some of it to some extent…’
Baron glanced at Ara and Maru.
The unexpected appearance of his siblings made it difficult for him to freely share the stories he had prepared.
He had planned to reveal some of the truth, but now it was even harder to let it slip.
“Son, is there anything you want to eat?”
“Mom’s roasted chicken!”
But when he said that, Lim Jeong-hye frowned.
“You just had that earlier.”
In fact, on their first meeting, his mother had gone to the market to buy various ingredients to cook for him.
But then Baron shouted out.
[Mom’s roasted chicken is what I miss the most!]
He devoured five of them in a flash, leaving no room for anyone else.
At that moment, his father, who had rushed over, arrived. Before long, his younger siblings were called over, and that’s when the story began.
“Well…I really wanted to eat a lot,” he admitted.
Whenever the battles with the demon king were over, the menu that came to mind was the roasted chicken his mother used to make.
He had tried his best to show off his skills in the other world, but since he had never made it himself, only delivering orders, despite his arduous efforts, the taste always fell short by about 2%.
‘Well…it was still groundbreaking over there.’
Could he say that he had changed the food culture?
‘Even succubi were tempted by the chicken. Hehe…’
It was one of the most impressive events.
It was possible because those women’s appetites were as strong as their sexual desires.
Although it was a war with the demon king, many of them in the demon army had defected to the allied forces, and among them were some succubi. It was possible because of that.
Once again, Baron brought up the chicken.
“Beer goes well with chicken,” he said.
With that comment, his father brought out some refreshing cold beer, and they completed the traditional Korean meal combo, “chimaek.”
“It’s been a while since I had a drink with my son.”
His father said, his voice trembling slightly, and he wiped his nose as he seemed to have a sudden welling up of emotions.
His younger siblings also wanted to join in on the drinking and looked at the beer longingly. However, they could only quietly chew on chicken neck under their strict mother’s watchful eye.
Today, the entire chicken leg and wing were Baron’s share.
ΔΔΔ
It was late at night.
His parents and younger siblings had gone to bed, and as the cool morning air seeped in, Baron got up from his spot and walked outside.
[Barun Chicken!]
Unlike the unfamiliar streets, one familiar store caught his eye.
He looked up at the building that housed the store.
“You said you were an early Awakener…”
Surprisingly, his parents were the owners of that supposedly great building.
“They say a building owner on top of a creator. How amusing!”
Recalling the humor from his memories, he let out a light chuckle.
The family was using the third floor as their home.
[Sleep in the floor room for tonight.]
They had arranged for him to use his younger brother’s room, as they would clear out the storage room for him by tomorrow. Sensing the awkwardness among his newly met siblings, Maru was moved to Ara’s room.
“Is it because I’m used to sleeping on the ground?”
Perhaps it was the unfamiliarity of being back in a bed after a long time or the excitement of returning to the embrace of family, but he couldn’t easily fall asleep, so he had come outside like this.
He looked up at the building for a moment and then turned his gaze back to the shop.
Although it was bought and reopened after the Ilsan incident, he was grateful that the old appearance had been preserved.
[Because it holds memories with my brother and is a special store for our parents, they decorated it just as it was.]
That’s what his younger sister, Ara, said, and thanks to her, Baron could also take a nostalgic trip through memory lane.
“It’s indeed special. It’s a shop passed down from our grandmother.”
Furthermore, since the whole family had lived in a room above the shop at one time, the view of the shop was a special memory for the family in itself.
As he looked at the store, memories from his childhood started to resurface, from the time they earned money and moved to a small apartment, to later moving to a larger apartment with the strength of his father’s business.
His father’s stories of the happenings of the past years followed.
“The business failed due to opening of the rifts…”
He had been in debt because of it, but he repaid it all because of his initial determination to work hard in the frontline as a early awakened and continued to save money, which led him to even buy the building.
Lost in the faint smell of oil wafting from the store, he reminisced about his past as he looked at the shop, and for a while, he remembered the old memories he had forgotten. Suddenly, Baron frowned and called out.
“Come out.”
After a moment, a child peeked out from behind a street lamp from across the alley.
They must have been around three or four years old only.
The child was oddly wearing a loose short-sleeved T-shirt on this chilly autumn night.
It even seemed like an adult size T-shirt, flowing so loosely that it dragged on the ground.
Baron’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The child, who felt his gaze, trembled and lowered their head.
“D…deh…”
The child’s attitude was full of fear, and Baron scratched the back of his head before approaching the child.
The closer he got, the more he noticed another strange thing that had been hidden in the darkness.
The back of the T-shirt was slightly lifted, and within that gap, a bundle of fur swayed.
Baron frowned again, recognizing the identity of the child.
‘A nine-tailed fox…’
He sighed deeply and looked at the ‘Familiar’ he found on Earth.
“Ugh… m-mo… mo-aah…”
As the child shivered and uttered those words, Baron couldn’t help but feel a strange sensation in the back of his neck.
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