"Hey, can I use your phone?"
"Oya, take it."
"Thanks."
I turned to the counter in the shop, afraid to finish my sentence. I grabbed the worn receiver and dialed the number that only I knew, the direct line to the Director of the Awakening Bureau. My hand shook as I dialed the number, but...
-The number you have dialed does not exist and after the beep please dial .....
Just in case, I dialed it again, but the result was still the same. I slowly put down the phone I was holding. My heart was beating faster and faster as if it had been doused with ice water, and before I knew it, I was breaking into a cold sweat.
Had I really fallen eight years into the future? No, more than that... Was I really dead?
But I couldn't be sure. It could just be that the director had changed his number, and I didn't want to look at the situation in a negative light. As I turned to leave the shop in a hurry, I remembered an important fact.
I didn't have any money with me. No wonder, I'd only packed supplies like potions before entering the rift. Even the potions had been used up, and I had nothing left. I was completely destitute. I didn't even have enough money to pay for food. ....
I looked over at the grandmother and spoke carefully.
"Hey, Grandma."
"Un."
"I...that."
As I stammered and rubbed my sleeve, the grandmother glanced at me, then slowly walked over to me. A gnarled hand gripped my unhealed one.
"It's okay, Ma."
"Yes?"
"He came back to eat last week."
Two crumpled 10,000 won bills were placed in my hands. After a long pause, I closed my mouth tightly and bowed my head, unable to speak. The old woman opened a door next to the kitchen and entered, soon returning with a worn ultramarine jacket and a black hat.
"Put it on."
"No, it's okay, I'm really fine."
"You'll catch a cold in those light clothes. Put it on."
The grandmother wasn't wrong. As she peeled off my tattered ashtray, she noticed the cold silver watch on my left wrist. It had been there from the moment of my awakening. This was it! I quickly unwrapped the watch and held it out to the old woman.
"Grandmother, this is for you."
"What?"
"It's a watch, it's all I have."
"No need, I don't need it."
"No, please take it. Or I'll leave it with you and come back for it later."
I forced the watch into the grandmother's hand, pulled my hat down low on my head, and ran out of the store. The grandmother called after me in a hurry, but I ignored her and started running.
After running for a while, I looked up and saw that the day was dawning. There were long lines at bus stops, cars filling the streets, people walking on wet pavement blocks with tired faces, and many people going their separate ways.
It was a peaceful scene, but it was unfamiliar to me. The Korea of today, supposedly eight years later, was so different from my memories. I watched the peaceful moment of everyday life with empty eyes.
It was then.
Beep, beep, beep - a loud buzzing sound began to echo around them. Everyone took out their cell phones to check something. Two people in school uniforms were chatting.
"Miss, the rift will open in half an hour."
"Can you see the hunters? If the hunters come, let's make a video and post it on YouTube."
"Okay. I should have brought a drone."
...The rift opened? I looked around nervously, but the people seemed calm at the announcement of the rift opening. There was no sign of surprise, as if the rift announcement was a regular occurrence. Confused, I grabbed a woman walking next to me and spoke to her.
"Excuse me, is the rift about to open?"
"What? Yes. I just got a catastrophic text, didn't you see it?"
"Oh...yeah. I forgot my phone."
"Oh, I see. Here it is....."
The woman held out her cell phone to show a text message.
[Rift Management Agency]
[At 7:42 a.m. on November 14, a crack will appear in the east of Wirye-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Residents should evacuate to designated evacuation centers. Please contact the rift management agency if pre-evacuation is not possible.]
A rift was simply an "unusually open dungeon entrance. Unlike a normal dungeon, which had a specific location where you could enter, a rift would appear in a random area, open its entrance, and unleash a torrent of monsters if you didn't kill them quickly. But could you know in advance where and when a rift would appear?
The woman asked cautiously as I fidgeted, "Um, are you okay...?"
"Oh, yeah... It's nothing, thanks for showing me."
The woman gave me a worried look, then shook her head and walked away. After a few moments of watching her back, I followed.
Over the roar of car exhausts on the road, visions I'd tried so hard to ignore assaulted my ears. Bones breaking, flesh piercing, throats snapping, voices screaming for help... The familiar screams and sounds overwhelmed the peaceful cityscape, and the alien sensation made me stop and think:
Was all this sacrifice worth it?
The world was so peaceful and perfect after eight years without J. In fact, it was exactly what I had longed for.
Shattered asphalt roads, buses crushed by monster feet, collapsed buildings, burned and twisted trees, and people holding their breath and trembling in fear, not knowing when a monster would appear. I could draw it in an instant and it would be as clear as if it was yesterday.
I had sincerely hoped then, 'Please let me live my life without fear, even if I don't feel safe there,' but it was strange to see those moments unfold before me.
What difference would it make if J came back after being presumed dead for eight years? The moment J announced his return, the tranquility of the world would be shattered. Everyone's eyes would glaze over and they would run. They'd want to know what happened in the rift, how he survived alone, and why it took him eight years to get out.
I slowly wiped away the cold sweat. I felt my stomach turn.
The deaths of my comrades who sacrificed themselves for the world should be known, of course I thought so. I knew their names and faces, and I remembered how they died.
But...
"Remember, Ui-jae.
"The world has changed, and because you have power, everyone will turn to you. They'll want you to save them all.
"But Ui-jae, you're still young... ....
"You don't have to save everyone.
"You can run away."
I suddenly remembered my aunt's advice as she grabbed my shoulder.
She was a hunter who had lost her two sons and awakened as a B-class hunter, just as I had awakened after losing my family in the rift. We were also the only two survivors of the hellish rift. We weren't really aunt and nephew, but as the only survivors, we relied on each other like family. She was the one who advised me to hide my identity.
I get it now, Auntie.
I rubbed my eyes needlessly.
Hunter J was dead and no one knew about Cha Ui-jae. Even though eight years had passed, I was still twenty years old. Even now, I could see my aunt congratulating me on my newfound adulthood. But in this world, I was twenty-eight.
People passed me nonchalantly. I stood alone in the crowd for a long time. Silent, lonely.
And finally...
For the first time in my life, I decided to run.
A few months later... back at Haejang-guk House.
After a while of washing dishes in the kitchen, I was forced to appear in the hall due to the constant stream of orders and customers.
"Calculations here!"
"Yes, wait a minute."
In all the years I'd worked at the store, I'd realized something important. Even though I was no longer a hunter, but a part-time worker at Haejang-guk House, this was not a place where I could hide my power 100% of the time.
"More kimchi and kkakdugi, please!"
"And more Cheongyang chili, please!"
"Okay, give me a minute."
This shop, even though there were many customers, there were too many. To be more precise, there were a lot of hunter customers who ate fast and ate a lot, so I used my awakened power to pretend to be a normal person who was slightly stronger and more agile than average.
"Excuse me, we don't have any pepper on the table, can you lend us some..."
"Oh, sure."
"Thank you."
"When you're done, please clear the table, we need to eat quickly and get back to the dungeon!"
"We'll clear the table. Can we use those dishcloths over there?"
"Give me the chili and I'll cut it up."
"This guy is a B-class hunter, and he's pretty good with a sword as his main weapon."
In the short time since I had reentered the kitchen, the guests had begun to assume their familiar roles. Having barely escaped the bustle of the hall that had just opened like a rift, I took a moment to catch my breath as I retrieved a container of kimchi and kkakdugi from the refrigerator. I moved mechanically, my eyes blank.
I need to make a kimchi and Cheongyang chili self-bar as soon as possible.
Quickly grabbing a bag of fried rice and two bags of Cheongyang chili, I left the kitchen and quickly scanned the hunters with my eyes. Apparently, I should leave the chopping to the B-class hunters.
"Here, cut the Cheongyang chili for me, and take the kimchi, kkakdugi, and gonggi bap. I'll help you with the calculations."
At my command, the hunters gathered together as if they were about to raid a dungeon. A B-class hunter was slicing chilies with a dagger that seemed to be at least a C-class weapon, while a C-class hunter was scooping up kimchi and kkakdugi with tongs. The other hunters lined up with their utensils and waited to be served. As I swiped my card through the reader, I watched the scene unfold.
Was this the peace I'd been protecting?
The number one hunter in the former Republic of Korea and the country's first S-class hunter, Hunter Name J. A national hero who had died eight years ago after closing the West Sea First Grade Rift. His real name, which no one knew, was Cha Ui-jae. He said...
"Thank you, goodbye. Welcome, how many of you are there?"
He was currently a part-time worker at Haejang-guk House.