Passing through the portal, he found himself in the middle of a street. It was a normal day and people were walking on the sidewalk without knowing that he had just returned from another world.
Peter looked at the busy street, his eyes tearing up at the sight. He wiped them before they fell down.
"Finally back."
Now that he was back, he needed to find a way to gain fame and reputation as a coach trainer. He looked around to look for a police station and started by saying he just returned from a dungeon after 10 years. He hoped they could help him settle with his new life or find someone he knew from 10 years ago.
'First, I need to find someone I know and ask what year it is today, find a job, and settle my life first.'
It was time to get his new life started.
As he walked down the street, he noticed something strange. The men looked down while women walked around with their heads up high. As if the women were looking at themselves as kings.
Some girls walked past him with disgust on their faces as they walked past him.
'What's wrong with those people? I know people in the modern world are rude, but this is too much.' Peter shook his head. It was like those girls were looking at a pebble on the street.
The billboard, advertisement, and news on the TV that he saw along the way were no exception. Those ads were full of beautiful women. Some were dressed in modern armor or suits.
And strangely, they looked way better than the male models. They even acted as if they were the one in charge while the men were smiling like slaves beside them.
'Must be a new trend.' He shook his head again as he continued to walk. He wondered how popular he could be as a trainer if those types of models were in the industry.
Peter's stomach rumbled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since yesterday. However, he had found the police station he had been searching for. There was a policeman sitting inside, looking as tired as he used to remember.
"Excuse me."
He knocked on the door softly, calling out to the police man inside. The police man looked at him with slight annoyance in his eyes as he raised his eyebrows at him.
Right now, he looked no different than a homeless person, so the reaction was natural. Peter wasn't offended and spoke what he needed.
"I just returned from a tutorial dungeon after 10 years. Can you help me?"
"...Haha," The police laughed. "...Who sent you to do this joke?"
"No, I am serious."
"Huh? Seriously?" He didn't believe what he said, "Kid, it's not April's fool yet."
"Do you think my appearance and wound is a joke?" He said seriously to the policeman as he pulled up his tattered skirt, showing the fresh wound that wasn't closed yet from fighting the Calamity-Class monster earlier. "Please... call the medic."
With that, Peter finally spent his last remaining energy and fell into the floor, unconscious. The policeman immediately called for medical help, fearing for Peter's life. He knew that it was a serious situation.
After that, everything was a blur to Peter.
***
In the hospital, a doctor wearing white coat was checking Peter's body for wounds and other things with a beautiful woman with long black hair in a business suit standing beside her. A police badge could be seen on the woman's collar.
"How is he?"
The woman asked the doctor beside her as she stared at Peter's sleeping face. Her face was not looking friendly, as if she was talking to an annoying stranger.
"Well, he does have some injuries. Nothing life-threatening, but..." The doctor said, writing down some notes on his clipboard.
"Based on the closed wounds, I can say the wounds he suffered are mostly from monsters. I noticed some had already been closed by healing magic or a potion. If your question is whether this man was telling the truth about a dungeon survivor or not... Then yes. He's also an Awakener."
"A male Awakener... How rare." The woman raised her eyebrow at the information. "He's lucky to get out of there alive."
The doctor nodded in agreement with her words.
"The patient is indeed very lucky to survive in the dungeon for 10 years alone. If what he said could be believed. But..." He glanced at the police woman beside him, "That is your job, Officer Rasha. I'm just telling you the facts."
Rasha nodded her head at the doctor's words before she focused on Peter's sleeping face. The man's face was slightly dirty from the blood and dust from the forest. Despite that, she could see he was a handsome man with blond short hair.
"I will leave first. His condition is stable, so I think he will wake up soon. But if you want to question him, please just do it briefly. No matter what happened, he's a patient." The doctor turned to the policewoman after he told her about the result.
"Yes, I understand. Thank you, Doctor." She replied to the doctor curtly with a slight smile on her face, showing her gratitude to the older man.
She looked back at the young man and pulled out a smartphone. His information was written on it.
'Peter Huston, currently 25 years old. He's been missing for 5 years, but he said he was inside a dungeon for 10 years. Time dilation? Maybe.'
The police officer wondered as she stared at the picture of Peter on her phone and compared it to the young man on the bed. Both looked alike. Although Peter on the bed looked more haggard and malnourished due to the long years of living inside the dungeon.
"Ugh..."
She noticed that Peter was squirming on the bed, indicating that he was waking up.
"Are you awake?"
"Hm..."
Peter opened his eyes slowly, adjusting his eyes to the light on the ceiling. It was a bit too bright for him after spending years in the dark forest with nothing but dim lights of the fire and a small starry sky at night. He slowly tried to sit up but his body felt like it was weighed down by heavy rocks, so he didn't bother and laid back down.
"Am I..." He looked at the surroundings, recognizing the unfamiliar room that he didn't know how long it had been since he was in one, "in a hospital?"
He tilted his head as he turned to the side and noticed a black-haired beauty with red lips looking at him. Her police uniform couldn't exactly hide her curvy body figure with a buxom chest hidden under her dark blue uniform.
'Wow! She's so hot!'
He thought inwardly, unable to stop himself from staring at the lady in front of him with excitement, only to see that her expression was cold and harsh as she stared down at him. 10 years without seeing anyone was making him slightly lose control over his thoughts.
The woman noticed him staring at her as she raised an eyebrow at him.
"You must be confused right now, so let's start with an introduction. I am Captain Rasha Rocksheer, a police officer in charge of the investigation of Dungeon Survivors and Awakeners."
"My name is Peter Huston. But... Uhm... What's the date today?" He asked her without caring about what she said.
"It's September 3, 2030." She said as she gave him a frown because he seemed to not care about what she just said, "You are currently in Greenlife Hospital. So can you please tell me what happened to you?"
"2030?"
Peter was surprised because it has been 10 years since he entered the dungeon. That's impossible.
'It's been 20 years?' He thought that time in the dungeon had made him miss 10 years in reality.
To think he would miss 20 whole years...
'Time dilation? That's not possible...'
"From when you were declared missing, it's been 5 years. I believe you reported-"
"Wait, 5 years?"