Chapter 2 – Finally Seoul! (2)

It took a moment for the bullies to figure out how to breathe again. As soon as they managed to get back up, they bolted to safety. Woojin momentarily entertained the idea of chasing them down again, but decided against it.

“Th-thank you very much.” Do Jaemin bowed as he nervously walked towards Woojin. The strange person was wearing weird clothes, but he had helped Jaemin.

Woojin casually dismissed his thanks, “Ah, it’s nothing. However, let me ask you a question.”

Jaemin started rehearsing a story. Since Woojin had rescued him from bullies, he expected something like ‘Why were they hitting you?’

Of course, this was assuming Woojin was a normal adult.

“What’s today’s date?

Jaemin blinked, “Sorry?”

“I’m asking for today’s date.”

“Ah, it’s November 10th.”

“What year is it?”

“It’s 2015.”

“What?” Kang Woojin was briefly dumbstruck. He had been in his third year of high school when he had first been summoned to the other world, in 2010.

“Ha... What’s going on?” He mumbled to himself.

He had spent twenty years over there, but only five years had passed on Earth. Woojin pinched his temple again, trying to fit everything together in his head.

Woojin quietly mused, “Maybe this is better for me?”

He’d always assumed that twenty years had passed on Earth too. Naturally, he had also discarded any idea of finding his family again. But if it had only been five years, they might still be in the same house.

It certainly wasn’t a bad situation to be in. Woojin glanced around, looking for a mirror.

When his scan proved futile, he once again turned to Jaemin. “Hey, how old do I look?”

Jaemin was once again caught off guard, “What?”

Had he really jumped out of the frying pan only to land in the fire? Jaemin might have escaped the bullies, but now he seemed to be in the clutches of a crazy person.

Jaemin tried to figure out how to respond but gave up. He might as well go with the truth. “Around twenty-two.”

Woojin grinned, “Is that so?”

Did my body get younger? Did losing my magic reverse aging? Or is this the effect of my body being reconstructed?

It would have to be a puzzle for later, Woojin had some urgent business to resolve first.

He had returned after twenty years, but only five years had passed.

His first priority had to be locating his family. He didn’t remember his home phone number, nor the numbers of any of his family members. Fortunately, since he’d been dumped at his old high school, he still remembered how to find his way home.

If they hadn’t moved away, he would reunite with his family today. The problem was, how would he get home?

It wasn’t exactly a distance that he could walk. It was a distance that spanned at least seven subway stations. Woojin’s eyes turned uncertain.

He turned to Jaemin, “Let me borrow some money.”

Jaemin stared at him, “What?”

Woojin clarified, “Let me borrow some money for travel.”

Jaemin started to regret not copying the bullies and booking it when he had the chance. He didn’t dare refuse this weirdo. He had dropped the bullies with a single blow, and if Jaemin refused, he might end up the same.

Jaemin turned out his pocket, then held out all his money. He had 7,300 won.

Woojin smiled, “Thank you. I promise I’ll pay you back.”

Jaemin replied automatically, “N-no. You don’t have to.”

Woojin’s smile faded a little, “Uh huh. Do you see me as someone who would extort a kid? I’ll pay you back.”

Woojin rooted through his pocket before a look of realization crossed his face, “Oh yeah. I don’t have a phone. Write your phone number down for me.”

Jaemin took out a notebook from his backpack and ripped off a corner of a page. As his hands mechanically went through the motions, he started wondering whether he should write down a fake number.

Screw it. He won’t be able to tell.

Jaemin scrawled down a fake phone number. His number one priority was to avoid being extorted again. A close second was trying to get as far away from this weirdo as humanly possible.

Woojin took the scrap of paper from him, “Alright. Big brother will contact you and pay you back.”

Jaemin hastily bowed, “Yes. Have a nice day.”

Even if the man never paid him back, Jaemin wanted nothing more than to leave. He certainly didn’t want to see this strange man again. As Jaemin made his escape, Woojin was once again left alone.

He ambled out of the incineration plant, making his way to the high school. “Ha. Memories keep coming back.”

Only five years had passed here, but it had been twenty years since he’d last visited his school.

“I’m twenty-four years old? Mother and father should be over fifty years old now.”

When he thought about his family, his heart swelled in emotion. He had endured that hell wishing for the day he’d finally return to his family’s embrace.

“I wonder if Sooah’s grown a lot?”

His youngest sibling, Sooah, had only been two years old when he’d disappeared, so she should already be around seven years old now. Woojin’s steps quickened as he reminisced about his family.

After he left the school premises, he could hear people whispering as he walked down the sidewalk. It was only natural, since Woojin’s clothes could barely be called rags.

The dimensional travel seemed to have cost him his equipment but had left him with a weird combination of clothes. Even the shoes he wore were leather scraps, so it made sense that he looked strange in the eyes of a passerby.

“Jeez.”

He was unnecessarily embarrassed, but he didn’t let it dampen his spirit. Clothes alone weren’t enough to force him to lower his head in shame.

It’d only be embarrassing until he reached home.

Woojin vainly attempted to ignore the whispers from around him, and eventually found himself at the subway station.

He frowned, “Huh? Why is the military here? Did something happen?”

Soldiers had clustered around the subway station’s entrance. It certainly didn’t seem like a training exercise, as they had steel barriers erected and guards posted along it.

“Jeez. What is this?”

Woojin attempted to flag down a passing lady. “Excuse me. I would like to ask you a question.”

“Ah, I don’t believe in it.” The older woman’s voice was tinged with annoyance as she deftly avoided him and disappeared down the street.

What’s going on?

He didn’t remember anything like this.

“Excuse me.” He stopped two nearby girls who seemed to be high school students.

The girl’s reply was near instantaneous, “Ah, let go of me. I don’t know anything about religion.”

Woojin’s temper started to flare from the irritating responses, but he kept his cool, “I’m not asking you to join a religion. I just have a question. What are those soldiers doing over there? Are they training?”

“They’re guarding the dungeon entrance, duh? Ah, let me go. I have to get to tutoring.” The female student slipped out of Woojin’s grasp. She started to speed walk down the street, rubbing her arm where he’d touched her.

Woojin grumbled, “Ha, how rude.”

It seems people now referred to subway stations as dungeons. He’d thought five years was a short period of time, but it seemed even five years was enough for things to change.

“I guess it’s now the kids’ cool slang.”

Well, he’d done the same thing when he was in school.

Shorthand and slang had evolved at lightspeed with the development of the internet. It wouldn’t be surprising if someone like Woojin from five years ago had no idea what these new words meant.

“Huh? There are no soldiers over there.”

The subway entrance across the street was completely unguarded, so Woojin crossed the street to check it out. When he descended the staircase, he saw iron bars and a prison-style door blocking off the hallway.

“What the heck? Why did they block this place off?”

No wonder no one was here. They had shut this place down. Woojin looked through the iron bars and saw light further down the hallway.

The steel door was secured by a sturdy lock. Woojin glanced around and found a small security booth tucked into a corner. When he entered the booth, he found a bundle of keys. He made his way back to the door and started trying the keys on the lock.

Click.

“What’s going on? Did the subway workers go on strike?”

He tossed the keys back into the booth and headed down the hallway. Fluorescent lights blinked erratically above him and the silence imbuing the atmosphere was downright creepy.

“They might have shut down the station instead of going on strike.”

If the station was shut down, then there was no chance they would operate the subway train.

Woojin was about to find another way home when it happened.

<You have entered the dungeon at Gwachun Station’s 1st Exit.>

“Huh? What is this?”