The Hero Returns

Chapter 535 – Chapter 535

“Where did you say this was?”

“Earth. And inside the city called Seoul, located in South Korea of that planet.”

“There are so many people here. I reckon there must be at least one thousand people in this place.”

Currently, in the middle of Seoul’s busy Myeong-dong district, Su-hyeun, wearing a surgical mask and a beanie, was quietly walking within the gaggle of a bustling crowd.

A bright ball of light was floating next to him. Although no one else could see it, this ball was Brahma.

“It kind of feels like I’ve become a criminal somehow,” Su-hyeun thought.

Su-hyeun never had to walk around while covering his face to this extent.

Not only did he not have much free time to roam around busy streets like this, but he was never a big fan of bustling areas to begin with.

Besides, he could directly travel to his destinations whenever needed, making it almost impossible for the others to track him down.

“To think that I now have to work as a guide, even though I’ve never done it before…”

Since he had lived countless many lives, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that he worked as a guide in one of them.

But he never expected to act as one during this lifetime. If a guide were needed, it would be him needing one instead.

However, he needed to show Brahma the sights of this world, leaving him with no choice but to leisurely walk around the city.

“It’s so crowded and noisy—bustling, too.”

“It sure is.”

“Are other places like this?”

“No, not all of them. Some are a complete opposite, as in quiet and secluded. I prefer those types of places. Even so, this is where you’ll find lots of people.”

What Su-hyeun needed to show Brahma was “people.”

The first and the most important pretext that determined whether this universe should be destroyed or spared was the creatures inhabiting the said universe.

“No, not these people.”

“Mm?”

“I can see things like this whenever I want, you know? Instead of this sight, I was hoping you could show me the world you saw and lived through. Show me the people you’ve experienced life with so far.”

Brahma spoke with such curiosity.

That made sense, though.

From the get-go, Brahma should’ve had the ability to check out the world he had created. Su-hyeun could check out the status of his homeworld, after all.

Yet, Brahma insisted on seeing the world through Su-hyeun’s eyes. There could be only one reason for that.

It was to see and judge the world not through an omnipotent point of view but as just another person among many.

“Well, that’s not a difficult request, but…”

Su-hyeun began scratching his head.

When he heard that demand, a thought suddenly popped up into his mind, “Wow, my circle of acquaintances is quite small.”

Su-hyeun had lived a hectic life. Needless to say, even back then, as Kim Sung-in, he didn’t know that many people personally. He began counting them in his head one by one.

Lee Ju-ho, Choi Hak-joon, Thomas, the other members of the Paragon Guild…

His mother, Shin Su-yeong…

Also…

“I guess the owner of the cafe that I frequent?”

He began wondering whether or not he should include people like that as his group of acquaintances.

Who else did he know?

While Su-hyeun continued to dig through his memories, Brahma suddenly addressed him, “No need to think too deeply about it. Just think about the people who influenced you the most. It doesn’t matter whether in a good or bad way.”

“Someone who influenced me, hmm?”

“Yeah. Just those people who had made an impact in your life so far.”

That sounded pretty reasonable. Instead of the people he thought until now, Su-hyeun began recalling everyone who had influenced him one way or the other.

The Bull Demon King, Sun Wukong, Lee Ju-ho…

And then there was…

“Mother,” Su-hyeun thought.

Not Shin Su-yeong but Kim Sung-in’s mother…

He recalled Yun Hui-yeon.

* * *

Su-hyeun met various people afterward—first, Lee Ju-ho, then Thomas, and even Gordon Rohan.

Hak-joon was still stuck in the Tower, so it was impossible to meet up with him and say hello. He was currently second only to Su-hyeun in terms of floor count.

“As for my brothers…”

The Bull Demon King and Sun Wukong should still be back in the Path to Reincarnation. Then, he remembered that the Roc Demon King must be in the middle of the rice-planting season right about now.

“It should be fine to talk to them later.”

With this, he was done with meeting his acquaintances. Since he didn’t have many people to meet, it didn’t take him long to go through the list.

And so, only one person remained.

“Mother.”

When he recalled his mother, he did not think about Shin Su-yeong but another woman who gave birth to him. That was the thought that abruptly popped up in his head.

“Now that I think about it, I didn’t have a father during this life, too.”

During his life as Kim Sung-in, he couldn’t even remember his father’s face. He passed on just as Kim Sung-in was old enough to remember things.

That was why he couldn’t recall a face or any recollection of their shared past. The same thing applied to this life.

“He passed on when I reached 18, right?”

He learned about that fact during his frequent chat with Shin Su-yeong. She used to talk about her husband reasonably often.

Being 18 years old meant that he was not too young to remember. Never mind just their fathers’ faces, but ordinary people around that age should have quite a lot of shared memories to recall.

But such a thing didn’t apply to Su-hyeun.

“It would’ve been nice if I got to meet him…”

That thought abruptly popped up in his mind, and he had to shake his head to get rid of it.

It was a useless thought, anyway.

Su-hyeun climbed into a bus. Hoofing it would’ve been so much faster. Still, he decided to use public transportation after thinking about doing things like how he used to in the past.

His destination was Dong-ha University. He used to attend this place back when he was still Kim Sung-in.

He hadn’t been here in such a long time, but the place seemed like it used to be in the past. The campus remained quite crowded even now. Su-hyeun checked the time and realized that classes must have been over for the lunch break.

He suddenly remembered that he hadn’t had lunch, either. Although he wasn’t hungry, Dong-ha University’s cafeteria food was quite tasty if he remembered correctly.

“Should I eat something first before leaving?”

“Not sure what food you’re thinking of, but you should eat here if that’s what you did in the past,” Brahma urged him.

Su-hyeun wasn’t a stranger to the idea of eating alone, but to do that in a crowded university?

He hesitated slightly but chose to head to the university’s cafeteria in the end. Since it wasn’t possible to eat with a mask on, he had to take it off. He pulled the beanie down and kept his head lowered as much as possible during his meal.

He thought it was a waste of time to come here, but thankfully, the food tasted as good as he remembered. Several students glanced in his direction a couple of times during the meal. Maybe they recognized him or were suspicious of his identity.

And after he quickly finished his meal…

“Hah,” Su-hyeun sighed deeply while walking away.

Brahma asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m nervous since it’s been a while.”

“But why?”

“I guess you won’t understand since it doesn’t apply to you.”

The whole concept of having parents didn’t apply to Brahma.

He was a Primordial God—a god in charge of creation, no less. Every object in existence came from him, making Brahma the mother and father of all living things.

And the relationship between Kim Sung-in’s mother, Yun Hui-yeon, and the current Su-hyeun was too complicated to explain properly. Explaining such a situation at length to Brahma, who only held the faintest idea on the concept of having parents, would be a total waste of time.

“What should I say to her when I see her, though?” Su-hyeun contemplated.

It’s been a while?

However, they were not in any relationship where he could casually greet her like that. Su-hyeun might know who she was, but Yun Hui-yeon had no idea who he was.

No, wait—she probably knew about him. Not too many people on Earth hadn’t heard of Su-hyeun’s name by now, after all.

Even so, what should he say after suddenly showing up in front of her face?

“Ah, right.”

Su-hyeun came up with a plausible pretext and then quickly walked toward his destination: Dong-ha University’s Dungeon Research Department.

It was a newly established department that researched the cause of dungeon generation, awakener manifestation, and finally, the future of the dungeon exploration itself. The graduates sought out jobs in the fields related to locating dungeons, dealing with Ether stones, and managing the supply chain, plus other matters concerning awakeners.

Yun Hui-yeon was the professor of this department.

“It’s still the same.”

Su-hyeun didn’t major in this field in his previous life. However, the department was located in the same building as the course he attended, so the place felt familiar and nostalgic in some parts.

He walked up the flight of stairs to reach the fifth floor. When he stepped inside the department office, the teaching assistant welcomed Su-hyeun first.

“How can I help you?”

The way the assistant stared at him was a bit weird.

Only then did Su-hyeun remember that he was still wearing a black beanie and a white surgical mask.

He pondered briefly about what to say here and then took the mask and the beanie off altogether.

And when he did…

“Hueeeouhk?!”

“Is Professor Yun Hui-yeon in?”

“T—the p—professor… Y—y—yes! Her number is…”

While the flustered assistant was stuttering and rambling, Su-hyeun crossed his arms and silently waited.

The assistant called the professor on the phone and explained while stuttering that Kim Su-hyeun was in the office before entering full-on geek-out mode. The call didn’t continue for too long, though.

“She should arrive soon, so I might as well wait here,” he thought.

He was a little scared.

“Mother.”

He couldn’t be sure when he started calling her like that. Only after he reached middle school did he realize that the obvious-sounding title was a little different from what everyone else called their mothers.

“Everyone else said ‘mom’ and even spoke without honorifics.”

That was normal, after all.

Most children would call their mothers “mom” and speak to them familiarly. Some of his old friends did use polite speech when addressing their mothers, but he couldn’t recall any of them saying “mother.”

Su-hyeun’s home—no, Sung-in’s home was a bit unique in that regard. That was how strict and inflexible it was.

Creak—

After a little bit of waiting, the department office’s door opened, and someone entered.

It was Yun Hui-yeon.

“How do you do?”

As they greeted, Su-hyeun quickly scanned her and discovered something was off about Yun Hui-yeon.

“She looks more fatigued than usual,” he quietly observed.

Thick dark circles were visible below her eyes. She seemed exhausted, and her hair was slightly unkempt, too.

Something about her seemed to have changed.

“How do you do, Mister Su-hyeun? I heard you were looking for me.”

“A—ah, yes. Nice to meet you.”

Su-hyeun extended his hand toward her while saying hello. She guided him into her lab.

“You wish to help us out with our research?”

“Yes. I’ve checked out your thesis, you see. Although I don’t know much, I still would like to help however I can.”

No one out there should know more than Su-hyeun when it came to the topics of awakeners, the system found inside the Tower, or even the matters of the dungeon.

Yun Hui-yeon might be doing her best in the field of dungeon research, but Su-hyeun was probably the absolute expert in that field.

“Although, I can’t tell her everything.”

He figured that it would be wiser to exclude the stuff about Shiva and Brahma and that he was responsible for restoring the system. If he revealed such things, it would only fuel the confusion and chaos even more instead.

“This person is your mother?” Brahma asked again.

Su-hyeun replied yes in his head. The ball of light floating around next to him circled Yun Hui-yeon for a little while.

“You know, she’s different from the other mother you met earlier.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Yun Hui-yeon’s personality was the complete opposite of Shin Su-yeong’s.

She was pretty conservative and rather inflexible, a perfectionist, and an authoritarian, too.

She raised Sung-in to become a “perfect” human being. One could say that Yun Hui-yeon exerted the most significant influence in his life.

“In the past, I was scared of her, yet now…”

Su-hyeun studied Yun Hui-yeon’s back that seemed somewhat smaller than his memories.

“Was she always this delicate, I wonder?”

“I’m sorry?” Yun Hui-yeon, bringing out tea for both of them, asked in a surprised voice when she heard Su-hyeun’s quiet muttering.

He quickly shook his head, “Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

“We have already met before, haven’t we?”

Su-hyeun’s heart tumbled in his chest at Yun Hui-yeon’s follow-up question.

However, his line of thinking that such an event couldn’t have been possible didn’t last for long.

“You showed up at my place before, remember?”

“Ah…”

That was right. She talked about when he went to her house right after he regressed to the past.

“A—ah, yes. That did happen.”

“Because you suddenly appeared and asked for someone named Kim Sung-in, I wondered who you could be. But one day, I started seeing you appearing on TV.”

“I apologize for showing up unannounced like that. I mixed up your address with a friend’s place, you see.”

“A friend’s place, you say…”

She began mulling over Su-hyeun’s reply as a complicated expression floated upon her face.

What was she thinking about?

This uncomfortable bout of silence extended for a while. Since Yun Hui-yeon wasn’t willing to speak up first, all Su-hyeun could do was awkwardly fidget with the teacup and remain silent.

Eventually, though, she broke the silence, “I’ve been having a dream since that day.”

“A dream?”

“That day” must’ve been when Su-hyeun showed up at her doorstep.

Yun Hui-yeon quietly muttered, “Yes,” before continuing, “It’s a dream about my son named Kim Sung-in..”