"Uhm... What do you mean...?"
Han Seol-ah looked at KangWoo, disconcerted.
By her expression, it looked as if she didn't know whether to get angry or say thanks.
"Oh, sorry."
KangWoo shook his head and tried to come back to his senses and let go of her hand.
'I need to get ahold of myself.'
He had been lucky to find another person.
He didn't want her to think of him as someone that was crazy.
"My name is Oh KangWoo. Did you say that your name was Han Seol-ah? Are you hurt?"
"Yes. It isn't a big injury... Ugh!"
She let out a short scream because of the pain she felt in her legs and fell down.
A square object fell from her pockets as she fell to the ground.
'Smartphone…'
After seeing what it was, KangWoo's eyes shone.
The object that fell from Han Seol-ah's pocket was definitely an object he had a faint memory of, a smartphone.
'Is this... Earth?'
The name that appeared on her phone was Han Seol-ah, a Korean name.
But more than that…
'I can maintain a conversation with her.'
He wasn't talking with her in the language of the demons, instead, he had been using the language he’d used before falling to Hell.
The fact that they could communicate meant that the place was Earth, and she was Korean.
'I'm glad I kept practicing it so I wouldn't forget it.'
While in the Hells, he had forbidden his underlings to use the demonic language and made them use Korean.
"Are you okay?"
Rip-!
KangWoo ripped apart the clothes he was wearing and wrapped them around her leg.
It was a piece of clothing made from fabrics that were hard to get in the Hells since most didn't understand the concept of putting clothes on.
"Ah... Yes, thank you."
Han Seol-ah's cheeks blushed a bit after looking at how he didn't doubt a moment before tearing a bit of his clothes apart.
At first she was wary of him since he said weird things like “let's get married”, and, “three kids would be okay,” but those feelings melted down.
"Thank you for helping me."
If it weren't for him, she would’ve been being attacked by the goblins right then.
In the worst possible scenario, maybe something worse could've happened.
'I've heard that, among monsters, there are some that lust over humans.'
From that point of view, KangWoo was more than her savior.
She felt guilty for having doubted him even for a little while.
'I'm very grateful to him.'
A smile was drawn on Han Seol-ah's mouth, and she nodded.
It hadn't been long since she’d awakened as a player, but she had heard many things about the world.
Most people wouldn't doubt betraying a party member if it was for some profit.
Although not everyone was so selfish, it was weird for a player to come running to help someone in danger after listening to their scream.
"Don't overexert yourself."
"Okay."
KangWoo smiled after looking at the smile that had appeared on her lips.
'Good.'
The fact that he had successfully managed to get on her good side was very meaningful.
Han Seol-ah was someone very important to him.
She wasn't only the first human he'd met after returning from the Hells, but she also had a lot of information he didn't.
'Why have monsters like this appeared on Earth?'
The current Earth was too different from the one he remembered.
She was currently the only person who could explain such things to him.
'First…'
KangWoo grabbed the phone that had fallen out of her pocket. He naturally touched the home button.
As he pressed it, he saw the information he wanted to know the most.
[May 22, 2023 3:34 PM]
'2023?'
The year he'd fallen to Hell was 2018, which meant that he was five years in the future from that day.
'I didn’t fail in controlling the time of return.'
KangWoo was prepared for a difference of 10 or even 20 years.
The fact that the difference was just five years meant that he had done a better job than expected.
But considering only five years had passed, too many things had changed on Earth.
'In just five years, such monsters appeared on Earth?'
He couldn't understand what had happened in those past five years that monsters like those roamed freely around a forest.
'I need more information.'
He lacked information to know about the current situation. KangWoo turned his head around towards Han SeolAh.
"Here’s your smartphone."
"Oh, thanks."
"But more than that, why is Mrs. SeolAh in a place like this?"
"Ugh..."
After hearing that, she replied in a low tone.
* * *
"Because of a personal situation, I tried hunting solo in a gate. Haha. I just awakened as a player, and yet I tried hunting in an E-Rank gate... I was stupid."
She spoke in a low tone, recriminating herself.
KangWoo's eyes shone after hearing those words.
'Gate, player…'
Gate probably referred to the place where they currently were.
'And awakening as a player probably means...'
KangWoo remembered the status window he'd just seen.
There, in the part of the name, it clearly said 'player.'
"What's your current level?" KangWoo asked her in a natural tone.
"Because I've just awakened, I'm at level 6. But what is a high-level player like Mr. KangWoo doing in an E-Rank gate?"
She thought KangWoo was a high-level player, despite his level only being level 3.
'I guess it's obvious she thought that.'
He'd annihilated a group of goblins she was struggling to deal with while she was at level 6.
If the level she was talking about was the stat that indicated how strong someone was, it was natural that she would mistake him for a high-level player.
"I came here for a personal matter."
"Oh... I see."
Han Seol-ah nodded after hearing her answer.
It wasn't normal for high-level players to come to a gate with a low rank, but if he didn't want to tell her the reason, she had no right to ask any further.
"Ugh..."
"Can you stand up?"
"Yes. Thanks to Mr. KangWoo, I think I can walk a bit."
"I'll help you."
"N-no. It's okay. I don't want to bother you anymore..."
"Refusing isn't the only virtue."
KangWoo grabbed one of her arms.
Han Seol-ah felt her face blushing. She lowered her head, embarrassed.
"Which way should we go?"
"Th-this way."
She was so embarrassed that she didn't find weird that a high-level player like KangWoo didn't even know the direction of the gate and pointed the direction with her finger.
"Let's go."
While helping her walk, they slowly began moving toward the gate.
'Thankfully, it seems like she isn’t suspicious of anything.'
There was no way she would know of his real identity, but he wanted to avoid being looked at as someone that was suspicious.
'She'll probably think I'm crazy.'
He didn't want the first woman he saw in ten thousand years, who was pretty on top of that, to think of him as someone crazy.
The first step of his return to Earth was being able to melt away as naturally into society as possible.
While thinking that, he naturally matched her walking pace.
"This..."
"We've reached the entrance."
Whir-
There was a gate of white color where she was pointing.
It was around 30 meters in size.
It was much bigger than the pitch-black gate from which KangWoo had come through.
'Then that means that this place isn't Earth.'
If people entered that place through a gate, that meant that the place where the monsters were roaming around wasn't Earth.
'Is it a place like the Hells...?'
The fact that it was a dimension entered through a gate made it similar to the Hells.
'How is this gate being maintained?'
Amazed, KangWoo looked at the white gate.
He couldn't see strong weapons like the weapons of the archdukes creating a dimensional rift.
"Mr. KangWoo?"
"Oh, yeah. Let's get out."
KangWoo came back to his senses after Seo-ah called his name. He walked out of the gate while supporting her.
While feeling the weird sensation of walking through different dimensions, they crossed the white gate.
Murmur-
"We're looking for party members to hunt goblins in the E-Rank gate!"
"Tanker! Isn't there any tanker here?!"
"I'm a Rogue... Could I participate in the party?"
"Oh, sorry. We don't accept Rogues."
They could hear people shouting everywhere as they walked out of the gate—it was as if they'd come to a marketplace.
"Ah..."
KangWoo, once again, felt a thrill after looking at all the people gathered around the gate.
Humans…
There were humans all around him.
'I really came back...'
Although it was an unfamiliar Earth, the scenery was familiar.
At that moment, he realized that he had really returned to Earth. All the doubts and fears disappeared, and energy spread throughout his body.
KangWoo was so moved that his body trembled a bit.
"Uhmm... Mr. KangWoo."
Han Seol-ah carefully called his name. KangWoo turned his head around.
"If it's okay with you, do you want to come to my house? I want to at least invite you to dinner."
She spoke in an apologetic voice while looking at KangWoo's clothes, who had ripped them apart to tie her wounded leg.
In reality, giving money as compensation would've been the correct thing, but right then, she didn't have room to do that.
But she didn't just want to say thanks to the person who had saved her life and then walk away.
"...!"
KangWoo's body trembled a bit after hearing her words.
A girl, not only that… but to think that the girl he had just helped would invite him to her house.
It was something too stimulating for him, who, throughout those past ten thousand years, had met girls only through his imagination.
He felt as if she'd said, 'Oppa, don't you want to go up and eat some ramyeon?'
'This...'
KangWoo clenched his fists. An excitement boiled inside his body.
'The wind is blowing.'
All sorts of different thoughts crossed his mind.
Inside his imagination, he was living a happy life in a house with Han Seol-ah and three kids.
'The wind is blowing!!!'
A warm spring breeze was blowing in his heart that had rotted after spending ten thousand years in the Hells.
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