-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Homecoming
-----------------------------------------------------------------
All the hunters of Unwoo Guild were at a loss for words.
Everyone except the guild master.
"Th-that's your brother...? Ah, no, that gentleman?"
The hunters couldn't contain their shock, which went beyond mere awe.
How was this even possible?
Splatters of monster blood rained down from the sky like a waterfall.
And the corpses of every monster, frozen in place.
The battle that had dragged on for hours was rendered utterly pointless in an instant. Even though they'd witnessed it with their own eyes, they could hardly trust what they saw.
"No way..."
There had been a full forty monsters.
How had he wiped them out in one go?
"One's left. Wait here. I'll finish it off."
Yong-un vanished from sight.
But the hunters, already stunned beyond belief, couldn't tear their eyes from the spot where he'd disappeared.
And moments later...
Rumble.
A crack began to split the darkened sky above the gate.
The ground shook, and the earth they'd been standing on split wide open.
The Unwoo Guild members knew this phenomenon all too well.
The gate clear they'd longed to see every time they entered one...
The gate clear phenomenon.
"That one you said was left... no way..."
The ultimate goal for all hunters: defeating the boss.
And it had all happened just thirty seconds after Yong-un reappeared.
Their shock was short-lived as Yong-un materialized in front of Myung-un.
He grabbed Myung-un's shoulders and gave him a complex look.
"Missed you."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Once outside the gate, the Unwoo Guild members couldn't believe the situation even after the gate had completely vanished.
It was easier to dismiss it as a dream.
But Myung-un felt it even more deeply.
"You're really my brother?"
Think about it.
His brother, missing for twelve years.
The brother fading from memory had suddenly returned, displaying godlike power that defied all reason.
Myung-un had longed for him so much that even now, twelve years later, he occasionally met his childhood brother in dreams.
He'd anticipated reuniting with Yong-un countless times, but never like this.
In his imaginings, it was Myung-un the hunter protecting his brother.
But this...
"Heh, at least you still look just like you did as a kid."
Myung-un's shock faded briefly as a heat welled up from deep in his chest.
Yong-un's rough hand caressed his face.
How long had he waited for this?
And how overjoyed had he been when he first heard Yong-un was found?
"Still quick to tears, just like back then."
"Brother..."
Tears streamed down Myung-un's cheeks.
Yong-un's calloused hand wiped away the tears from the face of the grown man.
Then he pulled him into a tight embrace.
"You've been through a lot."
"Brother!"
"I'll protect you now. You and the family."
"Brother!!"
A reunion after twelve years that felt like forty.
Just as Yong-un had wandered nightmares for so long, like a patient awakening from a coma, tears he'd thought dried up traced down his cheeks.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Do you have any idea how worried we were?"
Back at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station, Yong-un was immediately scolded by Officer Nam.
But since he'd returned within the promised hour, Officer Nam let out a sigh of relief and patted his chest.
"I told you. I was going to repay that guild's favor."
"What? So if I hadn't helped, you weren't planning to come back here?"
Yong-un nodded and gazed out the window.
Officer Nam glanced at the dozens of reporters' camera flashes and cleared his throat awkwardly, averting his eyes.
'Yeah, I wouldn't come back either.'
The thought of being surrounded and bombarded with questions like an interrogation made sweat bead on Officer Nam's palms.
He'd only known Yong-un briefly, but he had some sense of his personality. He could guess how much resolve it took for him to return.
"I didn't expect it, but thank you for coming back."
"No, I'm the grateful one. Thanks to you, I got to see my brother."
A smile spread across Yong-un's lips as his interview with the press loomed.
His gaze settled on Myung-un standing beside him.
Myung-un, mouth agape in a daze.
"No wonder you're shocked. I'd be too."
Officer Nam nodded sympathetically at Myung-un's stunned expression.
"Your brother returns after twelve years as an A-Rank Awakener. And he joins a small guild like Unwoo instead of a major one... You're lucky, Myung-un. You'll be off the dispatch list now."
"..."
He'd heard it before, but hearing it from a cop made Myung-un's head spin even more.
As confusion blurred dream from reality, Yong-un rose from the sofa.
He ruffled Myung-un's hair with a smile.
"I'll be back."
Yong-un headed straight for the police station entrance swarming with reporters.
Myung-un snapped out of it, jumping up and shouting.
"Brother! Don't be nervous—fighting!"
"Heh, got it."
Yong-un smiled at the belated cheer.
As he followed Officer Nam to the door, he murmured softly.
"Fighting... Haven't heard that in ages."
Click! Click!
The door opened, and camera flashes turned the entrance white as paper. The interview began.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The lengthy interview, lasting just over an hour, finally ended.
It was just standing and talking, but it left him feeling drained, like he'd finished a grueling training session.
Returning to the station, another group of officers poured in through the entrance, led by someone claiming to be the station chief, Kim Kap-mun.
He bombarded Yong-un with questions, snapped a few photos, and left.
"Whew..."
"The missing person report cancellation paperwork is done too. You can head home now."
It was finally over.
These were the people who'd helped him reunite with his family—a small price to pay. Still, stepping out of the station felt good.
Outside, Yong-un sighed deeply amid the relentless flashes from the lingering reporters.
"Persistence and grit—the makings of a true master. If they'd gripped a sword instead of those weird contraptions, they'd have reached great heights. Tsk tsk."
Myung-un tilted his head at Yong-un's cryptic words, then smiled.
"Brother, let's go. The family's waiting at home."
Yong-un shook his head with a sigh, then froze.
"Family..."
For Yong-un, family had been a dreamlike word during his forty years among the demons of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Hearing it from his real brother made it hit differently.
Surprise turned to joy, joy to longing.
"Yeah, let's go."
Myung-un led the way, Yong-un following with a small, awkward smile.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"I'm home."
Twelve years—a gap like forty.
A house in this alien reality, far from the architecture of the Central Plains he'd called home.
Yet the warmth of family transcended it all, making the unfamiliar space feel welcoming.
"Ahh... Yong-un!"
Thank goodness.
Not forty years gone.
Since returning to reality, Yong-un couldn't shake a lingering sadness.
After forty years, his parents might not even be alive.
"Mother."
His once towering, formidable mother had shrunk.
Her face, pressed against him in a fierce hug, was etched with wrinkles that hadn't been there.
Her once-black hair was streaked with gray, and her arms around him lacked strength.
"You're here. You're really here... sob sob."
Tears poured from her eyes.
Meeting Myung-un had already filled his own tear ducts; now they overflowed against his will.
"Welcome home."
His older sister forced a smile, but tears slipped through anyway.
The family had changed over the long years, just as he had.
Yet blood ties let them recognize and welcome him instantly.
But as Yong-un gently held his mother, a faint strangeness tugged at his heart.
The family was all here... yet something vast felt missing.
"Where's Father?"
The sturdy pillar who'd protected their family.
Yes, Father was absent.
But was it taboo to ask?
A crack formed in the warmth of blood-bound family.
Pain pierced through thick smiles, reaching Yong-un.
"He's at the hospital. He wanted to come when he heard you were back, but we stopped him."
"Hospital?"
His sister's awkward smile made Yong-un's brow twitch.
Too ill to move?
Too frail to see his son after twelve years...
Yong-un's expression turned icy.
"Where?"
"We were about to tell you. Myung-un will take you."
"Sigh..."
A heavy sigh escaped his strong-willed mother.
It didn't seem minor.
"Lead the way."
His heart heavier, Yong-un turned without even entering fully, his voice firm.
"Got it..."
Myung-un trailed off at Yong-un's resolute back, lips pressing tight.
He exchanged glances with the family, then sighed deeply.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The kid who'd once seemed so young now drove them to the hospital himself—a full adult.
Myung-un, who visited often, exchanged light greetings with the nurses before halting abruptly at what he assumed was his father's room.
He looked at Yong-un with heavy reluctance.
"Father's worse than you think..."
"I know."
Myung-un's brow furrowed.
"How?"
"I can read the mood too. If it were minor, they wouldn't have shown that face even to me, returned and all."
Father would have rushed out barefoot to see him.
In Yong-un's memories, his father was the devoted type who'd sacrifice anything for his sons.
Myung-un stared at Yong-un's unchanging expression despite the news.
He couldn't look away.
'That's just how Brother is.'
From earliest childhood, Yong-un had been that way to Myung-un.
In his young memories, Yong-un seemed stronger than even their six-years-older sister.
The second brother who stepped up first at school troubles.
The one who'd dirty his small hands without hesitation for family, just like Father.
Twelve years later, that hadn't changed. Myung-un smiled faintly and nodded.
"You haven't changed, Brother. I worried for nothing."
"Don't worry. Didn't I say? From now on, I'll protect the family."
Yong-un patted Myung-un's shoulder and strode past.
Turning, he spotted the familiar nameplate by the door.
[Lee Jung-hwan]
Incredible.
Just letters on a plate.
Yet seeing them made his chest tighten.
After biting his lip briefly, Yong-un schooled his expression and turned the knob.
'I'm not the old me. I can protect them.'