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It was a large hospital ward. Lee Jin-woo hesitatingly talked to a nurse.

“Are you patient Seol A-rin’s guardian?”

“Yes, I came on Hunter Jeong Si-woo’s behalf.”

“Oh, yes. Come this way……!”

The hospital was very chaotic. Severely injured patients were being rushed in on stretchers, and people were busily moving about.

After the Rift, the number of emergency patients surged, but not as much as this. It was probably because of the Returnee Situation that Jeong Si-woo mentioned.

‘Those aren’t wounds from a Monster attack.’

He worked as a mercenary after graduation and saw many injured people and dead bodies. In Lee Jin-woo’s experience, most of the hospital patients were not attacked by ‘Monsters’ but by ‘people.’

‘There aren’t any wounds that were ripped open by claws or teeth. Those wounds are the result of violence committed by Characteristics or skills.’

Following the nurse to Seol A-rin’s hospital room, Lee Jin-woo kept observing his surroundings. It was something he learned from watching Jeong Si-woo. The habit of paying attention to everything and figuring out the core from minute details was worth learning.

“Hey, Hyun-woo. I think something happened around here. Take a look around.”

“…Yes, I’m looking.”

Sung Hyun-woo nodded and replied. Once Lee Jin-woo observed the area, he decided that something had gone wrong nearby.

He didn’t hear that a Rift occurred. But there were more than ten emergency patients in the hospital, and it looked like they were all injured recently. It was not a normal situation.

‘Is it a villain? Or else, what could happen…..’

Lee Jin-woo speculated with his hand on his chin. In were interconnected, and numerous hypotheses were being made.

“Here we are. So patient Seol A-rin here…….”

But all of his worries turned to dust when he arrived at Seol A-rin’s hospital room. The answer was right there.

“…What is that?”

The hospital room was a mess. Bedsheets and objects were strewn on the floor, and broken window fragments were scattered on top. The small TV had a distorted voice coming out of it and seemed broken. And Seol A-rin was sitting on the broken glass, blankly staring outside the window.

But the reason why Lee Jin-woo and Sung Hyun-woo were so surprised was not because of the mess.

“Hyun-woo, is it okay to go in?”

Seol A-rin was looking up at the sky. She was wearing a disheveled patient gown. And lying next to her was a headless body.

The nurse waiting outside closed her eyes tightly at the smell of blood and the terrible sight. Sung Hyun-woo swallowed deeply and looked inside, then slowly opened his mouth.

“…First of all, her memories haven’t come back. Something instinctively provoked her trauma, and a very small part of her latent abilities came out.”

“Are you saying it’s dangerous or not? That body over there…….”

“That’s all right. It was self-defense.”

‘Self-defense? What are you talking about? How is killing someone self-defense?’ was the look on Lee Jin-woo’s face. He stared at Sung Hyun-woo.

“That dead man is a Returnee. He tried to kill a child and a mother, and Seol A-rin, who experienced the trauma of losing her family, saved them.”

Seol A-rin picks up pieces of glass scattered on the floor and laughs like a child. She touches her finger to the tip of the sharp glass, but she doesn’t get hurt at all. It meant that ‘Barrier’, one of Seol A-rin’s fundamental abilities, was reactivated.

“Let’s bring her with us. If we leave her here, things might get more dangerous.”

Said Sung Hyun-woo, sighing. Lee Jin-woo scratched his head and added,

“Yeah, I guess just the two of us dying will be better than all the patients, nurses, and doctors in this hospital dying.”

* * *

“What is this?”

Said the man holding the documents I gave him. He looked disinterested.

I expected as much. I wasn’t looking for a good response in the first place.

“You know what it says there.”

“But why did you bring this to me? You’ve applied for the establishment of a guild. Why don’t you work it out with your outstanding guild members? The Association won’t be acting right away in regards to this Returnee case. We’re going to act slowly and according to the situation. Not impulsively, like you.”

It was a sharp response, and for a good reason. The man I visited was none other than the current head of the Association.

The Vice-President of the Association, who was in charge of all sorts of unpleasant tasks under Kim Min-jae. After Kim Min-jae’s death, he became no.1 of the huge organization. Since he was strongly attached to the Association, it was natural that he hated me.

“I haven’t asked you to help me yet. I just handed you the data. You’re going to have to act on the Returnee Situation one way or another, so make use of it.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t need it. I admit you’re an excellent Analyst, but you’re not comparable to our Analysis team. You can take it and use it all you want. Besides, it’s been less than three days since the Returnee Situation occurred, so how accurate could your data be? And how can I, or how can we, trust you?”

He tossed the document I gave him onto the table. The words “Analysis Results of the Returnee Situation” were written on the front page.

I had prepared the material a long time ago. It was data that I had planned on releasing as soon as the Fourth Disaster happened, to reduce damage. No matter how much time passes, there wouldn’t be data better than this.

But what use was good content if those involved didn’t look at it?

Despite being a large organization, the Association had many emotional members and was quite exclusive. It was very hard for outsiders to penetrate.

“You should trust me.”

But that was when ‘Kim Min-jae’ existed. Without the man who was immersed in arbitrary conviction and stubborn as iron, it was not difficult for me to coax the others.

It was especially easy to entice a ‘no.1’ who used to be the ‘no.2’ who did all the hard work but was overshadowed by the Association President.

“How long are you going to remain the tactless man saving Kim Min-jae’s seat until he returns?”

“Wait, what are you saying….”

“Aren’t you also an exceptional man? You know the complicated web-like structure of the massive organization inside out, and can coordinate it without making a single mistake. It’s a shame that you’re hidden in Kim Min-jae’s shadow, don’t you think?”

“Stop it. Don’t—”

“Don’t people still call you the Vice-President at meetings? And all they ask you is the whereabouts of President Kim Min-jae or their concerns about the Association. Because they think you’re less than Kim Min-jae and that you’re not good enough. To them, you were just a shadow.”

The man in front of me began to tap the table. Something I said had swayed his mind. I had said some persuasive words, but the fundamental reason I could shake him was something else.

It was because I was the one talking.

The very person who ruined the great President of the Association and who destroyed the Association’s plot firsthand. I had also completely defeated the Association’s powerful Hunter Seong Yoo-hyun.

The man who never failed. The man who always leads to success. The words that described me swayed the mind and heart of the Vice-President.

“I’ve never failed. And I don’t plan to fail either.”

I reached out and picked up the plaque on the table.

And I turned it around for him to see.

“Trust me. With this data, everyone will sing praise for you and the Association.”

“…….”

The plaque bore the name ‘Choi Woo-suk, Interim Association President’.

“Shouldn’t you take off the word interim?”

“Oh….”

Choi Woo-suk’s mouth trembled. And that was the end of it. I barely held back from laughing out loud. With this, I had gained the power to prevent the Returnee Situation that had happened earlier than I expected.

“I’ll look at the material first and then give you my answer.”

And the massive force that I could never receive help from in my past life,

the head of the Association, had come into my hands.

‘Everything is going smoothly, according to plan.’

I stroked the armrest of the chair. There were no obstacles.

[Don’t make that face. You look like the final boss.]

“…….”

It would be better if the Traveler didn’t keep spoiling the mood.

* * *

“Ah….”

A man stood up from the cold concrete floor at the entrance of an empty alley. As soon as he opened his eyes, he touched his chest, sides, and neck.

“I’m alive. My head is still intact. And the scars are gone.”

The man looked down at his hand and muttered incessantly. He stood up and limped out of the alley.

“I’m not used to this body. It’s hard to keep my balance.”

A grown man using a piece of lumber as a cane was quite a funny sight. He passed by an abandoned building and a construction site and headed towards the main road.

“Oh….”

Big buildings, cars driving by, red traffic lights, people walking with cell phones, the smell of food full of spices. These were the things that he missed so much. The man unknowingly started to cry.

“I’m… I’m back. I really came back.”

How many years did he wait until this moment? The man whimpered, suppressing his overwhelming emotions. In order to keep track of the years, he cut his forearm with a sword every year. By the time a hundred years passed, there wasn’t enough space, and he cut his other arm. When another hundred years passed, he ran out of space again and marked his chest, sides, and calves.

And by the time his whole body was covered in scars, he couldn’t stand it anymore, and he cut his neck. He thought he’d rather die than live so desperately, waiting to return home. But God had not forsaken him. As soon as he cut his throat, he woke up, back in his hometown.

“There are buildings and cars, so it looks like not much time has passed. That’s a relief.”

‘Is there a rule that time flows differently on this side, like in fantasy novels? I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it right now.’

He missed his family. He wanted to eat the food here. He wanted to know everything that happened since he was gone. Big or small, everything.

“Hey, hey!”

The man grabbed the hand of a random person passing by.

“How long does it take from here to Sokcho? Will it take a while? Which bus should I take?”

“…What, Sokcho?”

The person scowled upon hearing the man’s words.

“It’s been a while since Sokcho disappeared. Aren’t you confusing the name of the place?”

“…What?”

The man’s face turned ice cold.

“What…do you…mean?”