#380
Happy Ending
Ten years ago.
On the day when the portal opened in the universe and the Earth of another world appeared in the sky, proving the theory of parallel universes to be real.
Human civilization was invaded by another world.
The disaster, labeled as a cataclysm in history textbooks that occurred ten years ago, began with the closing of the massive portal in the universe.
Cracks opened all over the Earth, and monsters appearing with a barrier that absolutely diminished the power of modern physical weapons invaded the Earth simultaneously.
Just when humanity was facing extinction due to the monster invasion, they appeared.
Superhumans who awakened their Status Windows and Mana.
Entities that could nullify the monsters’ barriers through mana attacks, hunting them down, gaining experience as if it were a game, and leveling up.
The Players had arrived.
Thanks to the efforts of the Players, the cataclysm ended in humanity’s victory.
Human civilization entered a second golden age with the emergence of rare metal new materials and magic stone alternative energy pouring forth from dungeons and monsters.
And so, after ten years, a new era where Players, dungeons, and monsters became normalized had dawned.
The era of Players had begun.
In Seoul, South Korea.
At Gwanghwamun Plaza, a massive crack had opened.
A gigantic black crack, over 100 meters in size, swayed like the sea, larger than skyscrapers.
Perhaps due to the Korean Player Association’s crack alert, the wide Gwanghwamun Plaza had been completely evacuated, not a single ant in sight.
Dudududududu.
A broadcasting helicopter was flying above Gwanghwamun Plaza.
[As the crack at Gwanghwamun Plaza is estimated to be the largest gate in Korean history, the Korean Player Association has released its measurement results.]
[According to the measurement results, this crack is of the Returnee type… What? A Returnee?]
[If the Returnee emerging from the crack, with the highest mana fluctuation ever detected, surpasses the legendary Cheonma (天魔), there’s a possibility… Oh, the crack has opened now.]
As the reporter spoke, the crack rapidly shrank to 2 meters in size, compressing and emitting an overwhelming mana wave.
Gooooooo.
Kwakakakakakaka!
The mana waves scattering from the crack were enough to shatter all the glass windows of nearby buildings.
A Returnee stronger than Cheonma.
At that moment, all Players in Korea, and many people around the world watching the broadcast, turned their attention to the crack.
Someone stepped out from the crack.
A black-haired, black-eyed man with a long black sword at his waist.
Assumed to be of East Asian descent, the first words this man uttered were.
“What the hell is this? Status Window? Damn it, after all this time returning, I’m stuck in a Hunter world?”
A curse.
Three years after the last war against the world enemy, Messiah.
One year after graduating from Shuo Hero Academy.
At last, it was the moment Kim Deok-Sung returned to his original world through the completed bi-directional gate.
*
Seoul National Hospital.
VIP Hospital Room.
On that day ten years ago.
When the cataclysm occurred, Kim Jeong-Hoon received the notice from the government that his son, Kim Deok-Sung, had gone missing.
Completely vanished, with not even a corpse to be found.
Such complete disappearances were common during the chaos of the cataclysm.
It was sheer luck that his cancer-stricken wife survived amidst the turmoil of the cataclysm.
Kim Jeong-Hoon buried his son Kim Deok-Sung deep within his heart.
The chaos of the cataclysm soon came to an end, and the era of Players began.
However, Kim Jeong-Hoon’s life did not change.
The fortunate aspect was that his wife’s life expectancy increased due to the new drugs made from the new materials manufactured from dungeons and monsters.
However, as effective as they were, the new drugs were incredibly expensive.
Thus, Kim Jeong-Hoon spent hellish days juggling his job, night-time driving services after work, and weekend part-time jobs to cover the medical expenses.
Of course, I was living hellish days juggling night-time driving after work and weekend side jobs.
[The Player Association just reported two returnees who emerged from the crack…]
The TV in the hospital room was running the news.
Returnees.
A phenomenon where people missing since the cataclysm ten years ago return through cracks.
Returnees often come back with overpowered skills learned from fantasy magic or martial arts in another world.
As a result, most returnees were treated as royalty, surpassing nobility in the player industry.
Because of this, whenever a returnee appeared, the news was flooded with stories about them.
“Returnee… Maybe it’s Deok-Sung… I don’t know…”
Beep, beep.
With the sound of medical equipment, Kim Jeong-Hoon’s wife spoke faintly to him.
Kim Jeong-Hoon forced a smile.
The idea that their missing son, Deok-Sung, might return as a returnee.
He had considered that possibility, too.
But the chances of a missing person coming back as a returnee were slimmer than winning the lottery consecutively.
Basically impossible.
In reality, the probability was much higher that their son perished in the chaos of the cataclysm.
Thinking this, Kim Jeong-Hoon held his wife’s hand and said, “Yeah. That could be.”
Beep.
He turned off the news.
Every time he heard about returnees, he felt like he was being tortured with hope.
Kim Deok-Sung.
The torment of hoping that his missing son might one day return as a returnee.
“I… I miss our son…”
His wife smiled faintly.
Kim Jeong-Hoon’s cheeks twitched.
Our son.
Kim Deok-Sung.
His son was just ordinary.
Neither an extraordinary filial child nor a terribly unfilial one—just an average kid.
Growing up normally, going through a typical rebellious phase that drove his parents crazy, and then entering university like any other child.
If there was a flaw, it was his oversized collection of light novels and his otaku habits, but once they learned about his wife’s terminal illness, he diligently took up part-time work and job hunting, so it wasn’t a huge flaw.
It felt like only yesterday when he was celebrating getting through the job application process.
Kim Jeong-Hoon lowered his head.
His voice trembled.
“Yeah, I miss him. Our son. Me too.”
While holding his wife’s hand, he bit his lip.
“….”
His wife closed her eyes.
Softly breathing.
As Kim Jeong-Hoon confirmed that his wife had fallen asleep, he let out a sigh.
Their son, the fruit of their love, Kim Deok-Sung, was no longer in this world.
If he had known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have scolded him so much for his otaku ways.
If he had known, he would have stopped nagging him.
If he had known…
As Kim Jeong-Hoon was lost in thought,
Suddenly, the hospital room door burst open.
Kim Jeong-Hoon’s gaze turned toward the open door.
There stood…
“…Uh…”
A young man with black hair and black eyes awkwardly smiling.
Kim Jeong-Hoon’s eyes widened.
His heart raced.
Though his features had sharpened slightly, he looked younger, and he seemed healthier, it was unmistakable.
The young man in front of him was…
“…Deok-Sung?”
His son.
Kim Jeong-Hoon was certain.
*
The procedures for returnees were completed quickly.
To be precise, there were usually many annoying administrative processes, but showing off combat mode made everyone so intimidated that most of the procedures were skipped.
Since I had been reported missing, I could easily restore my identity and have my ID reissued after a short process.
Wilhelmina, who came with me, received a temporary returnee visa.
Ten years.
My hometown, which had changed so much that an entire generation had passed, was now vastly different.
I had joked before about returning to a hunter world narrative, but I never imagined that would actually be true.
This wasn’t some overpowered returnee hunter story prologue; it was ridiculous.
What was even more astonishing was…
“The weakest hero is a world savior? RIN? There are no such people or works here, returnee.”
The weakest hero as a world savior.
The light novel I had read was completely non-existent, as if it had never left a trace and vanished from this world.
Like a mirage.
However, that didn’t mean this world was a parallel universe separate from the one I originally lived in.
This was a bi-directional gate project completed using all the capabilities of the world.
There was no possibility of miscalculating dimensional coordinates.
‘That means…’
It confirmed the hypothesis that Ishihara Saori had established during the bi-directional gate research.
The research revealed that Ishihara Saori’s hypothesis was indeed proven true.
Her hypothesis was as follows.
The weakest hero is the world’s savior.
The identity of the light novel I had delved into before possessing this body was, according to the Messiah, a sort of diary chronicling the past, present, and future of the light novel world.
This peculiar event happened ironically because of the Messiah.
While he was on his quest for an ideal world using Golden Magic, a channel between the light novel world and the reality I lived in briefly connected.
At that moment, the channel created by the Messiah did not fully close but instead remained weakly connected.
Through that channel, information about the past, present, and future of the light novel world bled into the real world, and a person named RIN, who unconsciously received this information, mistook it for her own ideas and published it in the form of a novel.
However, the moment the World Gate opened, the information from both worlds became entangled.
In that process, Saori had hypothesized that perhaps the content of the original novel would change or the existence of the original novel might be erased, and as she said, the original indeed ceased to exist.
“Well, that explains things.”
It wasn’t a bad development for me.
After all, I had just returned to my beloved friends, and I didn’t want them to be treated as characters from a light novel.
Anyway, while resolving my curiosity, I learned that my parents were still alive.
My mother, who had cancer, and my father too.
They were still alive.
The moment I realized that, I immediately headed with Wilhelmina to the Seoul National University Hospital where my parents were.
Thump.
My heart was racing.
Thump, thump.
My heart was pounding like crazy.
It had been 4 years here, but 10 years in my hometown.
I didn’t want to make them wait any longer.
I even brought the Undertaker along to treat my mother.
I wanted to meet them as soon as possible.
And so.
I arrived, and I met them.
“… uh…”
In the familiar hospital room of Seoul National University.
There were my father and mother.
The same seating arrangement as when I saw them before I possessed this body.
But both had aged as if struck directly by ten years of time.
I had so much to say.
I wanted to tell them I missed them, that I was their son.
But when faced with them, no words came out.
Not even tears.
“… Is that you, Deok-Sung?”
My father looked at me and said.
That’s when the tears finally streamed down my face.
I nodded.
“Is it really… our son, Deok-Sung?”
“Yes, Dad.”
I spoke while wiping my tears at my father’s words.
“What have you been up to…?”
“Don’t worry about my mother’s illness.”
At my words, my father’s eyes trembled.
My mother’s illness.
It was the curse that had consumed our once ordinary family.
Even ten years later, that curse was still present, and shadows loomed heavily over my father’s wrinkled face.
Shadows much darker than ten years ago.
“Wilhelmina, come in.”
At my words, the beautiful girl with ivory bobbed hair, Wilhelmina, peeked in with a flushed face and entered cautiously.
“Nice… to meet you for the first time… Ah, father! I’m… Wilhelmina…”
Wilhelmina blushed deeply.
“This girl is…?”
My father looked at Wilhelmina in surprise.
Girl?
Well, Wilhelmina did have the appearance of a 15-year-old girl.
Though her actual age might be older than my dad’s.
“She’s the healer to treat mom. Wilhelmina, go ahead and heal her.”
“Uh, okay…”
Hearing my words, Wilhelmina gently took my sleeping mother’s hand.
“Immortal Heart…”
With Wilhelmina’s words, ivory magic surged from around her heart.
Once a day, the miraculous artifact, Immortal Heart, completely heals any wounds and diseases.
The healing magic enveloped my mother’s body.
The age spots on my mother’s face disappeared, and life returned to her features.
My mother’s breathing became calm.
I instinctively realized.
The illness that had tormented our family for so long was finally gone.
“W-what’s this? Honey.”
“…”
My father, with trembling hands, grasped my mother’s hand.
My mother opened her eyes.
Her vibrant gaze met mine for the first time in a long while.
“… Is that you, Deok-Sung?”
My mother’s healthy voice resonated.
My hands were shaking.
I was trembling.
My vision blurred with tears.
As I wiped away the flowing tears, I sat in the chair next to the hospital bed and held my mother’s hand.
“Yes.”
“······You’re back?”
At my mother’s question, I nodded my head again.
Hearing my response, Mom smiled.
It was the bright, genuine smile I saw when I was healthy before falling sick, the smile from when I got accepted into college.
Her smile made my face break into a grin as well.
“Where have you been all this time? Our son······.”
“Right. I thought you were dead.”
Both my mother and father asked me the question simultaneously.
I smiled at their inquiries.
Where had I been all this time?
Of course, I wasn’t planning on keeping that a secret.
“Ah, well that’s a long story······ But I’ll tell you from now on. I······”
The moment I opened my mouth with an awkward expression,
Knock knock.
A sound came from behind me.
What was that?
As I turned to look over my shoulder,
Boom! Crash!
With a loud bang, the sturdy hospital door collapsed.
And there she was.
“Hey! You left me, your personal maid, behind! That’s cheating, pure cheating!”
A buxom beauty with platinum hair billowing around her.
Olivia.
Wait, why is Olivia here?
“Right! Master! How could you leave Eri behind······ Hmph! Eri is sulking!”
“Deok-Sung. As your devoted wife, I was going to meet your parents, but why did you leave me behind?”
“Giiiii······.”
“Junior······.”
“Mr. Kim! The teacher too! The teacher is here too······.”
“Kim Deok-Sung······ You weren’t planning to abandon me, were you?”
“Little husband······ I’m sad. You abandoned me······ Is it that you prefer someone else over me?”
“Wowwowowow, girl, I also want to meet Kim Deok-Sung’s parents!”
“Hmph······ I was finally going to greet my partner’s parents······.”
“Deok-Sung-chan! I followed you too!”
“Heeheehee. Deok-Sung oppa. Here comes your super cute and super charming younger sister-in-law, Haru!”
Starting with Olivia, all the heroines who should have been in that other world crashed into the hospital room through the broken door.
Olivia, Rin, Eri, Aris, Senior Kasumi, Makoto, Haru, Seira, Mayuzumi-sensei, Wilhelmina, Han Seo-Jin, Yoo Se-Ra, Bella, Evangelin, Beatrice, Ishihara Saori.
With the stunning array of colorful-haired beauties filling the hospital room, my parents’ eyes went wide.
“Deok-Sung, who on earth are those girls······?”
“Who are you?”
My mom and dad, looking utterly bewildered, asked me with their jaws dropped and I scratched my cheek in embarrassment.
“Ah, well, they are… future daughters-in-law······”
“Future daughters-in-law?!”
My father’s surprise at my words made me look at him directly.
“I’ll explain in detail later, slowly.”
And just like that, a group of heroines barged in.
I’m losing my mind here, seriously.
I tentatively smiled at my parents while trailing off my sentence.
Hearing my words, my parents nodded in understanding.
So there I was, surrounded by heroines, facing my parents head-on.
Somehow, it felt a bit embarrassing.
But I had to say what needed to be said.
I slightly lowered my head and mumbled,
“······Anyway······”
From the moment I possessed this body up until now.
Finally, I spoke the words that had been on my mind since I wanted to return to reality.
“······I’m home. Mom, Dad.”
The greeting of being home.
Finally hearing their son’s greeting, my mother and father smiled brightly.
Their words echoed in my ears.
“Welcome back. Our son.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
Four years since being possessed, which felt like ten years in this world, today.
I had created a two-way gate between that miserable light novel world and reality, reunited with my parents, and restored my mother’s health.
With none other than the ones I truly love alongside me.
This was truly the ending I had crafted.
A happy epilogue where everyone is happy.
At last, the task I had shouldered was all done.
Having wrapped everything up, I laughed alongside my beloveds and my parents.
It was a smile that felt just right for this happy ending──
A truly relieved and carefree grin.
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