Chapter 8 – To Home (2)

“Woojin? You’re alive?”

His former home room teacher looked like he’d seen a ghost. Woojin chuckled bitterly. It seems that he had been counted as one of the many casualties of the Dungeon Shock.

Since it had been twenty years since they’d last seen each other, Woojin didn’t really have much of an emotional reaction. His teacher quickly heard why he’d come to school and looked Woojin up in the school records.

“Ah. Here’s your number.”

Rrring.

The teacher immediately called the number, just to verify it was the right one.

Would Woojin be able to hear his mother’s voice? Or had the number changed?

Woojin sat on the opposite sofa, his heart pounding.

[Hello?]

The tired voice of a middle aged woman came through the phone. The home room teacher automatically switched to his teacher's voice as he spoke.

“Yes, hello. My name is Lee Sangwoo. I’m a teacher at Mido High School.”

[What? Mido High School?]

The tired voice seemed similar to the voice of his mother that he dimly remembered. Woojin’s heart sped up, and it felt like he was out of breath.

“Yes. Are you by any chance Mrs. Lee Soogyung?”

[Yes, this is she. What is it you need? If it’s Mido High School, then it’s where our eldest used to go…]

Woojin felt like his heart was about to stop. Even when he was hit squarely by Balrog’s Whip, it hadn’t hurt as much as this.

Woojin snatched the phone from his teacher, and shakily whispered.

“Mom.”

[…….]

The phone was silent, but there was no masking the surprise emanating from the phone. Nor the sudden flare of a hope long buried.

“Mom. This is Woojin. Kang Woojin.”

Woojin found it harder to say ‘Mom’ than to cast a 9th Circle spell. His throat had closed up, and tears were threatening to fall down his face. He could only hear soft weeping on the line.

[W-Woojin? Is it really our Woojin? Are you really our Woojin?]

When Woojin heard her frantic questions, he couldn’t imagine the sorrow she’d endured. Tears began to drip down his face as he realized how to turn that sadness to joy.

“I’ve returned.”

[Uhuh, uh-oong. My Woojin.]

He had survived twenty years for this moment.

“Where did you move to? I can get there.” Woojin urgently asked.

[No! I’ll come over there. I’ll be there soon, so don’t move an inch!]

His mother didn’t even bother to end the call as she scrambled for the door. Still shaken, Woojin returned the phone to his teacher.

“Whooooah.” He let out a long breath as he fought to swallow his tears.

Back on the line, his teacher tried to calm his mother down. It took him a while to get all the details and reassure her that Woojin was safe. Woojin made a mental note to buy a phone soon.

After his teacher finished the call, he turned to Woojin, “She’ll be here in an hour or two.”

Woojin bowed, “Thank you, teacher.”

His teacher raised a hand, “Uh-whew. I didn’t really do anything. I’m more thankful that you are alive.”

“Do you mind if I look around the school?” Woojin asked.

His teacher replied, “No problem, do whatever you want.”

Woojin thought it would be boring to be confined to a room for two hours, so he left the staff room to roam the school.

“Ah, let’s go see Jaemin.”

When his mother arrived, he’d be able to repay Jaemin. It was a little embarrassing to receive money from his mother when he was already twenty-four years old, but he’d already decided to repay her by dedicating the rest of his life to being a filial son.

Just then, the bell rang and kids started to crowd the hallways. More than a few students gave him a curious once over, since he was boldly walking around in a t-shirt and shorts that one usually wore to bed. Impervious to their stares, Woojin squeezed past them as he continued looking for Jaemin.

“Wa, he’s really handsome.”

“He’s really tall. I heard he’s an alumnus.”

If it wasn’t for the other students around them, these high school girls would’ve immediately proclaimed him their ideal type. Still, they whispered about him in their groups, clapping in delight.

“Wa. His fashion is so unsophisticated.”

“Shit. He’s frighteningly thick. What did that bum used to do?”

On the other hand, the boys secretly made fun of Woojin.

Woojin serenely ignored them all. When he found Jaemin’s class, he was surrounded by kids on all sides. It was so crowded that Jaemin couldn’t even leave the classroom to visit the restroom.

“Hey, Jaemin.”

Woojin’s open friendliness towards Jaemin caught many of the students off guard. Joonhyuk and his cronies, in particular the ones who’d suffered the last time they’d met Woojin, tried to avoid meeting his eyes. The rest of the bullies glared at Woojin and started making comments.

“Who does this bitch think he is?”

“Wow. Were you that afraid of becoming the outcast that you called in your big brother?”

At a glance, there seemed to be seven boys who’d smirked at Woojin and made comments. A worried expression crossed Jaemin’s face; he silently met Woojin’s eyes and tried to shake his head.

Woojin frowned and pointed straight at the seven, “All of you playing as bullies follow me up to the roof.”

Face set in an obstinate expression, Woojin led the way to the roof, followed by a downcast Jaemin. The bullies followed them, a little dumbfounded by the turn of events.

“Wa. Let’s give them a fucking beating. Hey, go call the kids in the other classes.”

Joonhyuk secretly followed the group as they headed to the roof. There were over twenty bullies in the group, so he tried to push yesterday’s events out of his memory.

I was just careless. That’s the only reason. I just got hit in a bad spot by mistake. That’s right. This bastard probably won’t be able to deal with this many.

Including Joonhyuk, over twenty bullies set foot on the roof.

***

“One.”

Woojin declared, the very picture of arrogance.

“We are!”

The bullies had formed a line in front of him, each assuming the plank position.

“Two.”

“Jaemin’s minions.”

Twenty-five students were doing push-ups in eerie sync. Even Do Jaemin, who’d watched the whole thing from the beginning, couldn’t hide his surprise.

What exactly did he learn when he was on Jiri Mountain? He must have learned martial arts. If not, how could he drop twenty-five bullies in a flash by himself?

It had taken less than a minute. The bullies had already completed fifty push-ups, but the break was far from over.

When the teens’ arms started to tremble, Woojin spoke. “Oi, everyone come here. Front and center.”

Woojin grinned at the sight of the bullies’ faces, flushed from the exertion. He had held back since this was Earth. If this had been Alphen, then they wouldn’t have been able to stand up.

On Alphen, he probably would have enslaved them after turning their bodies into undead. Then he just needed a little magic to damn their souls.

He held up his newest toy, “What do you think this is?”

“It’s a s-steel pipe.”

“That’s right. Whoever brought this is quite hopeless.”

Some bastard had brought a steel pipe to use on Woojin. In front of the entire group, Woojin slowly and easily bent it in half. Then, as if his point wasn’t clear enough, he shifted his grip either end of the pipe and pulled.

Zzzzzt.

The steel pipe stretched like taffy. At a certain point, the pipe just couldn’t handle the tension, and ripped in half with a screech. The bullies stared at Woojin as if it had been their soul that had been torn in half. The stupefied silence lasted even as Woojin tossed the pieces of the steel pipe aside.

Clang! Clang!

Woojin slung an arm around Jaemin’s shoulder.

“You won’t bother Jaemin anymore?”

The bullies chorused as one, “We won’t bother him.”

“We’ll definitely not bother him.”

Woojin nodded as if the students’ passion had convinced him. “Don’t try to make him an outcast; you guys should get along with him. Alright?”

The bullies nodded frantically, “Yes. Yes!”

“Then back to class with you.”

At Woojin’s order, sweet relief flooded through the bullies. They ran for the door, bickering to be the first to escape the roof. Jaemin looked at Woojin with a devastated expression.

“How am I supposed to go to school now…”

Rumors of such a large incident would spread across the school like wildfire. Woojin smiled brightly as he looked at Jaemin’s sour expression.

“I thought you were only attending to study? Now no one will torment you.”

Amazingly, Woojin’s argument was strangely persuasive to Jaemin. He was only attending so that he could study, so why should he care if he didn’t have friends?

Woojin patted Jaemin’s shoulder comfortingly as the latter worked his way through his thoughts.

“Right. I was able to contact my mother. Soon I’ll be able to repay the money you lent me.”

Jaemin was shocked out of his thoughts, “N-no. It’s ok, big brother.”

“It wouldn’t be right.”

Woojin was excited at the prospect of reuniting with his mother. At the same time, Jaemin was impatiently waiting for the bell to ring, allowing him to end his conversation with Woojin as quickly as possible.

“It’s only right to repay your kindness. It couldn’t have been easy to let a stranger sleep over for a night.”

“Haha. No. Big brother helped me first. You even did so today.”

The near future looked particularly embarrassing for Jaemin, but it didn’t seem unbearable. At the very least, the bullies wouldn’t bother him overtly anymore. At least now, they’d stick to petty and cheap methods.

“I’m glad you thought of it that way. When I get a cell phone, I’ll contact you again. If those bastards bother you again, then you can call me.”

Woojin took out the folded piece of paper from his pocket and shook it in front of Jaemin.

Haaaa, he didn’t lose it.

Jaemin laughed awkwardly as a pang of guilt flashed through him. It was the fake number that he had made up.

“Yes, big brother. Congratulations on reuniting with your mother.”

Woojin smiled widely, “Haha, thanks. You should continue to study hard and get a job in a great company.”

When the bell rang, Jaemin knew this was his chance. He bowed to say goodbye, and speed walked towards his classroom. Woojin grinned as he decided to remain on the roof.

“The weather’s great today.”

Perhaps the lack of cars on the road helped, but the sky above Seoul looked very clear today.

Woojin enjoyed the great weather until he saw a taxi skid to a stop in front of the school gates. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a woman hurry into the school.

“Mom…”

Woojin took a breath to calm down and made his way to the staff room.