A Week In Korea (2)

High school Rurin walked for a while and then entered an apartment building. She went up to the second floor and unlocked the door. And then she just went in.

No, I thought she went in, but she held the door and looked at me. It seemed like she was inviting me in, so I went inside. Then Rurin closed the door with a bang and went into the bathroom.

I could hear the sound of running water.

I entered the room. I could smell Rurin’s scent. Ah, I really felt like some kind of pervert, so I shook my head and headed to the kitchen.

The refrigerator had some cooking ingredients. It seemed like she was living well enough. That was expected since she lived alone.

Cooking was very easy then. I made a few dishes with the ingredients in the refrigerator. Since there was kimchi, I made kimchi stew, and since there were eggs, I made rolled omelet.

Home-cooked meals were an easy challenge for me.

Then, high school Rurin came out after washing up.

“Huh?”

This part felt very foreign. Rurin washing up, drying herself properly, and even coming out dressed.

If only the original Rurin had done this, how much easier it would have been for me.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You look lewd.”

“You let me into your house even though I look lewd?”

“I don’t know. Something’s weird about me today.”

High school Rurin turned her head sharply, went to the sofa, and sat down. Then she looked at me.

Ah, as expected, Rurin is Rurin. Water was dripping from her hair. Of course.

“I’ve always told you to dry your hair properly. Otherwise it’s bad for your hair.”

I took a towel to high school Rurin’s hair and began to dry it very carefully.

“Ah…”

No, I came to my senses and stepped back. It seemed my usual habits had come out unconsciously. Even high school Rurin seemed very surprised, with her mouth agape.

“Mister…”

“Huh?”

“Why is it so natural for you? It was so natural that I almost let myself go. Are you some kind of pro or something?”

“No, of course not…”

I stepped back and placed the dishes I made in front of her. High school Rurin tilted her head at them.

“Did you make this? It doesn’t look like something you’d order.”

“Yes. I made it.”

“With the ingredients at home?”

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible!”

Rurin tilted her head again.

I deliberately picked up the food and ate it, trying to ease her wariness. Hmm, I made it, but it’s delicious.

My cooking talent never disappears, no matter where I go.

“Eat. Aren’t you hungry? What do you usually eat?”

“Actually, I am hungry.”

High school Rurin made a face like she couldn’t resist anymore and eventually picked up the food. After tasting it with a few slurps, she began to devour it voraciously.

“Mister, what is this? Why is it so delicious? It’s nothing like what I make!”

Raising her voice at the end of a sentence is a characteristic way of speaking for Rurin.

I shook my head.

I need to pull myself together.

I needed to understand the situation with this high school Rurin in front of me and the situation I was in. I couldn’t stay in this abnormal situation forever.

“By the way, do you live alone? Where are your parents?”

“…I don’t have any. I’m alone.”

“What?”

“They died when I was young, leaving behind only some property.”

“Oh, I see…”

This girl was alone here as well.

There wasn’t even a single common photo in the room.

Why is Rurin alone without me, both here and there?

“Mister, are you pitying me right now?”

“No. More importantly, do you really not remember anything about me?”

“Are you treating me like someone with amnesia? I don’t have any missing memories. Mister, you’re really weird. You seem crazy.”

High school Rurin shook her head. Then she continued to eat the food.

I was getting impatient. How could I end this situation?

This was too much of a nightmare.

The reality that Rurin couldn’t recognize me.

“Rurin, you don’t remember this either?”

“Huh?”

I had secretly picked up an earring that Rurin forgot to wear, planning to tease her with it later.

So I had been keeping Rurin’s earring. I took the earring out and showed it to her.

The earring glinted under the fluorescent light, not magical light.

High school Rurin shook her head and picked up the earring.

“I don’t have my ears pierced.”

“What?”

I was surprised and looked at her ear. There was no hole in her earlobe. Her ear was intact.

Rurin had pierced her earlobe to wear the earring. She had said that intentional holes in the body last forever. But the Rurin in front of me didn’t have a hole.

What’s this?

At that moment, the world reversed.

A loud horn blared!

At the sound, I suddenly opened my eyes. The loud honking of cars blared from all directions.

Huh? My eyes?

Realizing that my eyes were open, I looked around again.

But it wasn’t the restaurant. It was the same world as before.

It was modern times.

Not the restaurant, but the modern world.

The Earth, and in that Earth, in the country called Korea. The exact place where I used to live.

The high school Rurin who looked just like Rurin from a moment ago wasn’t there. It wasn’t her house.

Just like when I first recognized the land of Korea, I was sitting by the main road.

I still couldn’t understand what was going on.

I looked around once more.

Where does reality end and illusion begin? Was it possibly a dream?

But what was in front of me now was also modern times. Not the world where I had lived as a wizard for 15 years, but the Earth where I was born.

The modern civilization in front of me.

Noisy cars. And traffic lights. Tall buildings.

A slightly cloudy sky.

No matter how I looked at it, it was Korea. It was similar to the dream. I couldn’t tell where reality ended and the dream began.

No.

I clearly remembered the events at the restaurant. So definitely…

That morning was ordinary. After returning from Sereina, I opened up the restaurant as usual. And then, around noon, I realized we were out of soju and used the summoning magic as usual. Yes, that summoning magic was the problem.

When I used the summoning magic next to Rurin, who was drinking beer, a black hole the size of a human torso appeared, unlike usual.

A box of soju was summoned through the black hole, but then it didn’t close. This was the first time such a black hole appeared.

“What is this?”

“Not ‘what is this?’ but ‘what is it?’ Why do you sometimes say ‘what is this?’?”

“I don’t know. When I’m surprised, my words just get twisted. Hmph… But what is this really!”

“I don’t know either.”

Is it the influence of mana?

That day, it was the first summoning magic after absorbing the dragon orb. The soju was summoned, so there was no other peculiarity. So when would this disappear?

Has the summoning magic itself also become stronger?

Many questions arose. The number of times I could use summoning magic, the size of it, if it had been strengthened, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

As I was observing the black hole that wouldn’t disappear, Rurin suddenly clapped her hands and made a fuss.

“Oh! Come to think of it, this looks similar to the darkness when teleporting. Hehe.”

Rurin said that and reached her hand towards the black hole. And at that moment.

“Dear! I’m being sucked in! What is this really!”

“Rurin!”

Rurin was instantly sucked into the black hole. I was startled and quickly reached for Rurin’s foot. It was good that I caught it. But I was also sucked into that darkness.

.

.

.

Yes, I definitely lost consciousness after falling into the black hole created by using the summoning magic. And during that unconsciousness, I had an absurd dream.

A loud honking sound blared!

The horn kept blaring loudly. I turned my gaze to the end of the road where the sound was coming from.

And at the end of my gaze, I saw a very familiar woman. Not high school Rurin, but the Rurin I knew so well. She was dressed in familiar clothes.

Rurin was standing right in the middle of the road. The loud honking was because of her.

And then,

BANG!

A speeding car collided with Rurin, who stood there with a confused expression.

A traffic accident occurred with a loud noise. Smoke rose from the car’s hood, and the bumper was smashed.

The car was totaled after colliding with a person, but Rurin stood there perfectly fine.

As a result, the cars that were honking nearby all stopped at once, and the cars behind them started honking again, creating a chaotic situation.

I was so surprised that I ran to Rurin. Then she looked at me with a nonchalant expression.

“Rurin!”

“Dear! What is this place? And what is this monster? It looks strange.”

A glance showed that the hood was dented, but the driver seemed uninjured. There might be minor injuries, but there didn’t seem to be any life-threatening ones.

After confirming that, I led Rurin away.

The important thing was that the Rurin in front of me called me ‘dear.’ It meant she was the real Rurin. Not the Rurin in the modern dream, but the Rurin who was also a dragon, the one I knew so well.

Still, just to be sure, I checked Rurin’s ear. The earlobe hole she had pierced to wear the earring I gave her was clearly there. That earlier thing was indeed a nightmare.

A helpless laugh escaped me.

“Dear? Why are you touching my ear?”

“Oh, no. Let’s talk after we get out of here.”

For now, I was happy. The Rurin who responded with a confused face was very welcome.

But the location wasn’t good. People were looking at Rurin, who remained standing after being hit by a car, as if she were a monster.

In the midst of the commotion, I pointed to a building rooftop I could see. Disappearing from here was the best option.

“Rurin, let’s leave here for now. Teleport us to that place. Got it?”

“Over there?”

Rurin frowned, looking uncomfortable, but followed my words and used teleportation. Soon, darkness cloaked my vision. We disappeared from the noisy accident scene and quickly moved to the rooftop of the building I had seen in the distance.

The dream I had earlier was half true. In other words, it’s true that we were transferred to Korea. It wasn’t a dream within a dream. We had returned to Korea. That seemed to be an undeniable fact.

Unlike Greek City, the scenery was bustling. It was packed with cars, and many people walked the streets.

In a way, it was a situation where my wish had come true. The very reason I researched summoning magic was because I wanted to return to modern times.

Of course, it’s true that my desire to return had lessened at some point because I was satisfied with life over there.

But anyway, I had returned.

After checking, I found out that the current time period in this land was 2017. That means 15 years had passed since I was summoned in 2002.

Fifteen years had passed in this world too. And the time I spent over there was also 15 years. The time flowed the same way.

Usually, when you go to another universe, either very little time passes in this world, or 100, 200 years have passed. Such things can happen.

But it was the same.

As I disappeared from here and spent 15 years in another world, 15 years had also passed in this land.