I Returned? (1)

I woke up to a loud noise whose origin I couldn’t identify. Before even checking the patterns on the ceiling, I quickly sat up.

“Hyo-ju!!”

The light seeping through the not fully drawn curtains made me squint automatically. Hyo-ju’s face, crying just moments ago above me, appeared hazily in my mind.

What is this?

Beep!! Beep-beep-beep! Thud! Beep-beep-beep! Thud!

What on earth is happening…?

Beep! Beep-beep-beep! Thud, thud!

“Damn it! Why is it so noisy?!”

Is that tiny, wheeled thing rolling and bouncing around the room the source of this noise?

I threw a punch filled with force, irritated. The tiny machine should have vanished without a sound from my impulsive punch…

Beep!! Beep-beep-beep! Thud! Beep-beep-beep! Thud!

“What?”

Seeing the still-moving thing(?), I quickly got up and stood alert by the bed, watching my surroundings.

Despite unconsciously using excessive force, the object that wasn’t affected at all—is it a new monster?

The object, which I thought was dead, was now rummaging around the floor and bumping into things, feeling both familiar and strange.

“What is this? It’s like a clock from Earth…?”

Finally, I had the presence of mind to look around.

A soft blanket and bed, something resembling a monitor on a modern-designed desk, and what I saw through the slightly open curtains was definitely a window.

Not just any window, but a full-length glass window.

The rows of buildings visible beyond it.

“This isn’t the Battlefield of the Gods…?”

As the noise of the alarm clock became familiar, I regained my senses and hit the alarm down to the floor.

With a crash, the noise that had been grating on my nerves finally disappeared.

This was definitely the last memory of the place that was once the ‘Battlefield of the Gods.’ But doesn’t it seem different now?

Shaking my jumbled head, I awkwardly, yet not so awkwardly, headed to the bathroom, as if my body remembered the way in this unfamiliar yet familiar house.

Swoosh!

I stared blankly at the showerhead pouring out cold water. The reason for my complicated thoughts lay precisely with this showerhead.

No, it wasn’t the showerhead but this place, Earth.

If I had somehow finished the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ without realizing it, I should have returned to the Earth I lived on.

However, on the Earth I knew, there was definitely no such outdated system where you had to manually lift the faucet to get water! Absolutely not!

Gazing vacantly at the endlessly pouring stream of water, I jumped into it, fully clothed, just as I habitually did to organize my thoughts.

At that very moment,

“Ugh!”

It’s cold!!

It was unbearably cold, and I stumbled out of the bathtub. It’s really fucking cold!

Having surpassed a stamina stat of ‘150’ and received the title of ‘Eccentric,’ am I… startled by mere cold water?

A sudden thought struck me, and I moved my soaked, dripping body to stand in front of the mirror on the wall.

In the mirror, a startled face looked back at me, so thin that there was no sign of muscles, not even flesh on my skin.

“My strength… is gone?”

According to the contract, if I survived without surrendering until the end, I could negotiate with the overseeing god to retain most of my powers.

“Why is this…?”

After barely finishing the war-like shower, I collapsed onto the sofa in the living room.

Pressing down on my throbbing head, I tried to make sense of the current situation, but I couldn’t quite grasp anything.

It was as if I was drunk, feeling dazed and struggling to distinguish between thoughts that rose and fell all at once. I was too dizzy to even muster the strength to get up.

Lying on the sofa for a while, I started to feel something pressing against my back. As I shifted around, the black screen opposite the sofa suddenly turned on, and the news began to play.

-Traffic conditions on the way to work. Two of the four lanes in each direction are partially closed due to the construction of the pavement on the Noh-ryang Bridge from the airport to the Hanam region. As a result, the traffic is very congested and people will have to stop and go constantly. Those passing by this path should leave with plenty of time to spare.

Lying down with my eyes closed, I absentmindedly listened to the news and managed to pick up a few clues about the current situation.

First, this is definitely not the damned ‘Battlefield of the Gods.’ This is Earth, and more specifically, Korea. It’s undoubtedly Korea.

Second, I am not the substitute and one of the seven shining stars, the Twin Constellation Kim Han. I am an ordinary person, Kim Han, with a fragile(?) body that would break with a mere touch.

Third, I am…?

As I organized my thoughts and stared blankly at the news on the screen, something felt off.

It was like a spot-the-difference puzzle, something familiar yet awkward about the screen.

Watching the rapidly changing screen, I finally noticed something strange.

“Cars…!! They’re all driving on the ground? Why?”

It’s strange. Everything is Earth’s Korea, but it’s not the ‘Earth’ I lived on. Cars rolling on wheels, not air cars!

The mode of transportation used during my grandfather’s grandfather’s time…! So, have I come to the era when my grandfather lived?

Beep, beep, beep.

In a frustrating state that tickled my brain as if it was on the verge of understanding, a peculiar notification sound was heard. Turning my gaze toward the direction of the sound, a square, hard object was emitting a bright light.

Touching the screen revealed clear characters that were unmistakably ‘Hangul.’

One hour before visiting Mina.

“Mina? Mina, Mi– Ah! Mina!”

Mina, Kim Mina.

Before entering the ‘Battlefield of the Gods,’ the only family I had left was my younger sister, and she was the reason and the condition for me to take the ‘contract’ to enter the ‘Battlefield of the Gods.’

Since middle school, she had been bedridden in the hospital due to an unknown illness.

My younger sister, Mina, was definitely in a Korean hospital. Before entering the Battlefield, I remembered she was at the Korean Hospital’s Rare Disease Center.

“The fact that Mina is here means I haven’t come to the world where my ancestors lived, right? A visit? A visit means… is she still in the hospital?! Why?”

In a hurry to go out, I opened the wardrobe. And once again, I was shocked.

“What is this…?”

The clothes… were incredibly outdated. I’d rather wear the leather armor from the ‘Battlefield of the Gods.’

Above all, these clothes…

“They have no function at all…? Why? Is it okay to walk around without basic physical impact protection? What if I die?”

Even if I didn’t know about other things, safety was a concern, but the clothes in the wardrobe were all just made of fabric. Even looking inside the clothes, there was no explanation about any protectors.

And yet, so boldly, as if it were the most natural thing! These unprotected clothes were something only the impoverished would wear, right? If I step out wearing this, who knows what might happen?

‘So, am I a pauper now, and is this place a slum?’

Yet, even a cursory glance around the house showed it was large and spacious. Unless there was a bizarre trend of the poor living in expansive homes, it was clear I wasn’t wearing these clothes due to poverty.

Finding an answer wasn’t easy, so I carefully picked out a somewhat decent outfit and cautiously stepped outside.

As soon as I exited the apartment and stepped onto the road, my throat felt scratchy and my eyes stung.

Why is this place less developed than the Earth I knew—there aren’t even air cars—but the environment is worse off?

Having never driven a car, I took a taxi to head to the Korean Hospital.

Even inside the taxi, everything felt both intimidating and fascinating.

Here, taxis were driven by people.

Don’t be surprised. It’s not automatic; a human, a person, drives it ‘by hand,’ ‘directly.’

Does that mean these taxi drivers are skilled enough to easily handle something like a lightsaber or an energy gun, then?

People seen through the car window walked around wearing unsafe clothes, living nonchalantly.

Could it be that the residents here, like those in the ‘Battleground of the Gods,’ all had some kind of special skill?

The Korean Hospital where my sister was admitted back on my Earth existed in this incomprehensible world too. I suppose that’s why the taxi driver moved without hesitation when I asked to go to the Korean Hospital.

Pretending to be calm, I first referred to the hospital’s directory and found the intensive care unit more easily than I expected. Then, I discovered my younger sister’s name on the patient list outside the intensive care unit.

In front of the treatment room, in the guardian waiting area, the families of the patients who arrived earlier were conspicuously waiting for visiting hours, sterilized in a very primitive way with gowns, masks, and shoe covers.

“Hello, Mr. Han! You’re here early again today. Here’s your gown and mask.”

Standing blankly at the unfamiliar scene of the intensive care unit I remembered, a nurse approached me, greeting me warmly, and handing over a light blue gown and mask. I barely suppressed my complicated and fearful feelings, nodding my head slightly.

Then, glancing sideways at others, I put on the gown, wore something like a blue shower cap on my head, and equipped myself piece by piece as if gearing up.

Once fully armed and catching my breath, I heard the nurse’s voice from the front.

“Visiting time is 30 minutes.”

I entered the intensive care unit last.

The innermost part of the intensive care unit. The sight of a frail and weak little girl connected to an oxygen mask and various electronic devices came into view.

“Uh…?”

Mina’s appearance, as if forcibly continuing life, imprinted itself on my retina.

Tears came out involuntarily. Surprised by the flowing tears, I wiped them away and checked the patient’s name card.

Name: Kim Mina
Diagnosis: Unknown

Only after confirming Mina’s painful appearance did I fully acknowledge the strange points I hadn’t noticed before, or rather, the current situation I hadn’t accepted.

‘This Earth is not the Earth I lived on.’

Mina’s illness was cured. It was cured.

This was made possible through a contract with a god. Furthermore, they promised to remove the ‘cause’ of the illness.

That meant, even if I had come to the past of the Earth I lived on, Mina should not be sick.

Nevertheless, the fact that Mina was still sick with the same symptoms was evidence that this was a different Earth.

‘Why…?’

Unknown cause, unknown disease name. An illness shrouded in mystery.

Mina of this dimension was also dying day by day for an unknown reason. It was frustrating and infuriating.

“Visiting hours end in 10 minutes.”

At the nurse’s words, I composed my emotions and looked closely at Mina, finding something oddly familiar.

A body that was gradually wasting away. No particular signs of illness, no fever, no other disease symptoms. Just wasting away?

‘Is this…?’

As I left the intensive care unit, I continued to think about Mina, and my thoughts led to memories of the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ and concluded with the woman I loved, Hyo-ju.

Start―Middle―End―Hyoj-u.

‘Come to think of it, Hyo-ju was also from Earth…’

Hyo-ju was from Earth as well. A different dimension’s Earth from mine. The Earth Hyo-ju lived on was less scientifically advanced and a much more ethical society than the Earth I lived on.

They said that killing someone without reason was condemned by her society. Just like in here…?

As if possessed by a ghost, I took out the phone, called a smartphone, from my pants pocket and tapped the screen.

12:33 PM.

The clock appeared first. And above it, the date was displayed in small print.

April 12th. Monday.

I slid to unlock and instinctively found the calendar app, pressing it with trembling hands.

April 2018.

The moment I looked at the calendar, my grip loosened unconsciously, and my smartphone slipped and crashed to the floor.

Crash!!

Startled by the sharp sound of the smartphone hitting the hard hospital floor, I hurriedly glanced around inside the hospital. The view of the street was visible through the hospital’s glass window.

It was certainly strange because this wasn’t where I used to live. Yet, it was familiar.

Even on the Earth where I lived, Mina was sick. So she was literally just kept alive in the intensive care unit of the Korean Hospital.

I thought I had skillfully found and moved to the right direction using the guide signs, but now I could see that the hospital structure was similar.

This place felt like a dissonance stemming from the difference between imagination and experience.

“Have I… returned to the Earth where Hyo-ju lived? And with 6 days left on the contract?”

The moment I spoke the truth aloud and acknowledged it, a flood of information rushed into my mind.

“Honey, it’s our son.”

“Our eldest! You have to take good care of your sibling, okay?”

“Brother! Will you play with me? Huh? I’ll be the mom.”

“Sob… Honey!! What do we do about our poor Mina?”

“Tsk tsk. The kid just entered college, and the parents got into a car accident…”

“Hello, I’m your aunt. You know your mom’s insurance money? My kid needs to study abroad this time…”

“I’m your uncle. Let’s live together at my house. I’ll manage the insurance money and the house.”

“What are you doing? You’ve been strangers to each other all this time, and now you say that to a child who lost their parents?! Get out now! Han! Listen to your uncle. You’re an adult now. No one can take your home or money away from you. There’s no guarantee that your sister Mina will continue to receive free treatment at the hospital forever, is there? You need to be strong. You’re too kind. So don’t trust anyone too easily. Not even me. Especially women, even more so…”

The flood of information felt like it was squeezing my brain in pain.

Was it because I was drenched in cold sweat? Or was it due to the sticky breath?

In that moment of feeling dirty without a traceable source, trembling slightly, and gasping for air, I heard a voice filled with concern.

“Excuse me… are you okay?”

“…!!”

In the chaos caused by an unresolved headache and unorganized information, I instinctively looked up at the familiar voice and the scent I missed.

“Are you okay?”

“…Hyo-ju?”