Chapter 2

Chapter 2

His mother's embrace was warm. It was the warmth he had never forgotten—not beneath the perennial snow of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, not in the moments he had teetered between life and death surrounded by tens of thousands of enemies. Somyeong gently wrapped his trembling hands around his mother's back. The same hands that had swung countless times across blood-reeking battlefields were, in this single moment, infinitely careful.

"Mother, it's really me. Somyeong is here."

"Yes, my son. You were alive. Where did you go? Where on earth......"

His mother could not finish her words and broke down sobbing. A year was not a long time, all things considered—but for a parent who had lost her child, it must have been a hell worse than a hundred years. Somyeong wiped his mother's tears and made a silent vow. That he would never let go of this hand again.

That was when it happened. The old front door rattled open roughly.

"Mom! I'm home! The supplies ran a bit late today, so......"

A woman stepped inside alongside that familiar voice. She was clad in worn leather armor caked with dirt, a large sword strapped to her back. The middle school kid from Somyeong's memories was nowhere to be found. She was now an adult woman with an admirably sturdy frame, but Somyeong recognized her at once.

"Jina."

His younger sister, Kang Jina.

Jina's footsteps stopped dead. Her gaze locked onto Somyeong, standing in the middle of the living room. The gloves and small water bottle she had been holding dropped to the floor with a thud.

"......Oppa?"

Jina's eyes trembled. She rubbed them over and over, as if checking whether she was seeing things. Then she rushed at Somyeong and burst into tears, thumping his chest with her fists.

"Kang Somyeong! You jerk! Where did you go?! We thought you were dead! Do you have any idea how much Mom and I...... how much we searched for you?!"

Somyeong silently accepted his sister's rough embrace. Perhaps from working as a hunter—her body carried faint traces of magical energy along with the smell of sweat. A heavy emotion he had never felt, not even when standing at the summit of the martial world with the entire world at his feet, filled his chest to the brim.

'What I need to protect was right here all along.'

It felt as though the hundred blood-reeking years had existed for this single moment alone. Somyeong stroked his sister's head and whispered softly.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for being late."

***

On the dining table sat steaming soybean paste stew and neatly arranged side dishes. Somyeong scooped up a large spoonful of his mother's home cooking—the first in a hundred years—and put it in his mouth.

'This is the taste.'

In his days as the Heavenly Demon who had commanded the world, no lavish feast had ever come close to the taste of this one humble bowl of stew. Somyeong held back the emotion welling up inside him and silently emptied his rice bowl.

"Eat slowly, Somyeong. Want me to give you more?"

"Yes, Mother. It's really delicious."

During the meal, Somyeong learned what had happened at home over the past year. After his disappearance, the family's financial situation had deteriorated rapidly. The debts their father had left behind, combined with the costs of searching for Somyeong, had piled up like a mountain.

"So the second I awakened, I went and registered as a hunter. Luckily I got rated C-rank, so I've almost paid off all the debt."

Jina said proudly, puffing out her chest. But Somyeong could read the exhaustion hidden behind her smile. With the inner eye he had gained upon reaching the Heavenly Demon's realm, Somyeong examined Jina's physical condition.

'Her energy is terribly murky.'

She looked spirited on the surface, but traces of reckless hunting remained all over her body. The muscles in her shoulders and knees bore micro-tears, and the circulation of magical energy through her body was irregular. She had clearly been grinding through dungeons at the low grade of C-rank, whittling her own body down to earn money.

"Now that Oppa's back, don't worry. I'll be the one supporting us."

Jina plopped a piece of ham onto her brother's spoon and added cheekily—

"Don't you even dream about doing hunter work, Oppa. You have no idea how dangerous Gates are these days. Just stay home and rest easy with Mom. Got it?"

Somyeong smiled without a word. The little sister he'd had to protect a hundred years ago was now boasting that she would be the one to protect him.

'Fine, I'll go along with you for now. But......'

Somyeong looked down at his sister's roughened hands. Seeing those callused hands, he made his decision. From now on, he would be the one to shoulder the burden of this family's peace.

***

The next morning, Somyeong visited the Hunter Association's Gangbuk branch.

When someone who had been listed as missing returned alive, it was mandatory to undergo procedures for hunter qualification reassessment or identity renewal. Gate survivors who returned were especially likely to have awakened during their ordeal, making it a matter the Association took seriously.

"Mr. Kang Somyeong, correct? Please place your hand on the measurement stone here."

A clerk with a businesslike tone pointed to a large machine shaped like a crystal orb. The area was crowded with prospective hunters who appeared to have just awakened and others waiting for remeasurement.

'I'd better hide my energy.'

Somyeong steadied his breathing. If he revealed his true martial power as it was, it was obvious that not just this building but every magical energy measurement system across Seoul would be paralyzed. Deep within his dantian, he pressed down and sealed the demonic energy that churned like a vast ocean, leaving behind only a trace so faint that not even an ant would detect it.

BEEP—

The measurement stone emitted a faint glow and the results appeared on the screen.

[Measurement Results]
[Magical Energy Level: 0]
[Grade: F-rank]
[Traits: None]

The clerk looked at the screen and shook her head with a dry expression.

"Hmm, I had some hope since you're a Gate survivor, but there's absolutely no magical energy response. You are not an awakened individual. I'll register you as non-combat F-rank, general porter class, same as before."

"Understood."

Somyeong answered calmly. From nearby, he could hear hunter aspirants waiting for their turn snickering and whispering.

"Hey, did you see that? His magical energy's zero. Just a regular guy."

"Looks like he got lucky and survived a Gate, but no chance he's hitting it big as a hunter."

Somyeong brushed off their mocking stares and turned on his heel. Other people's gazes were of no importance anyway. If anything, the low grade actually worked in his favor for concealing his identity and protecting his family.

But the moment Somyeong walked away, a small red error message was blinking in the corner of the clerk's monitor.

[Warning: Unknown wave detected completely outside measurement range]

[Analyzing system logs......]

Of course, the clerk—worn out from work—failed to notice the subtle anomaly and simply called the next person's name.

***

Back home, Somyeong set a stiff identification card down on the dining table.

[Hunter License - Kang Somyeong (F-rank / Porter)]

Jina's eyes went wide when she saw it.

"What is this? Oppa, don't tell me you went to the Association?"

"Yeah. Got the missing person report cleared and picked up a new license."

"No! I told you not to even dream about doing hunter work! F-rank means you'd be a porter—the most dangerous job inside a Gate! Why would you want to go there?!"

Jina leaped to her feet and yelled. She looked ready to snatch the license away and burn it on the spot. Somyeong put on a pre-rehearsed expression and answered breezily.

"I need to earn money too. I can't keep mooching off you forever."

"I told you I'll be the one earning! Just stay home and rest, Oppa!"

"Don't worry. That's exactly why I'm planning to join your party."

Jina's mouth fell open.

"What? Our party?"

"If I join someone else's party, I'll just get pushed around anyway. If I join yours as a porter, you can keep an eye on me. I'll just carry bags in the back and do as I'm told."

Somyeong deliberately put on a slightly pitiful look in his eyes. It was so natural that no one would believe it was an act by the Heavenly Demon who had pacified the martial world. Jina bit her lip, looking flustered.

"That's...... true, I guess, but......"

"I just want to help pay off the debt, even a little. Okay? Jina."

The younger sister had always been especially weak against her brother's requests. After fuming and deliberating for a long while, Jina finally let out a deep sigh and nodded.

"Hah...... Fine. But I have conditions."

"Let's hear them."

"No matter what happens, don't take a single step out from behind me. If a monster shows up, I'll handle all of it, so you just cram yourself into a corner and stay hidden. Got it?"

Somyeong smiled inwardly at Jina's resolute attitude. Hiding behind the sister he was supposed to protect—what a sight that would be. But for now, this was the surest way to stay by his family's side and keep them safe.

"Deal. I'll 'hide' behind you no matter what."

A cryptic light flickered through Somyeong's eyes. It was the gaze of a man fully prepared to silently erase every threat to his sister from behind her back.

Whether or not Jina sensed her brother's true feelings, she grumbled while inspecting her sword propped in the corner of the living room.

"I'm booking a dungeon run for tomorrow. You'd better get your head on straight, Oppa!"

"I said I got it."

Somyeong tucked the license into his pocket and gazed out the window. A return after a hundred years. His life now was no longer one of battlefields where blood and flesh flew—but one where a warm meal waited for him at home.

Of course, if anything dared to disturb that peace, whatever it might be, he intended to grind it to dust.

"I'm hungry. What should we eat for dinner?"