I am back – Chapter 5

“Hmm…….”

Jajangmyeon was delicious. So was the sweet and sour pork.

Thinking back, I wasn’t sure if there were places that sold jajangmyeon in the morning, but maybe it was just that I had never had it for breakfast, so I didn’t know.

Anyway, eating jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork for the first time in five years was great. The jajangmyeon was a large serving, and even though the sweet and sour pork wasn’t small either, I finished it all without leaving a bite behind.

But strangely, my body still didn’t feel full.

I looked down at my body. Maybe my stomach looked a little round because it was full, but I didn’t feel full at all.

Could it be that I can still use my body specs from when I was a hero?

Wielding the Goddess’s Power around my sword worked wonders against the demon race, but it also consumed a lot of energy. I had to eat more after fighting. Otherwise, I would just collapse. That’s why the kingdom’s troops followed closely to our area to manage supplies.

It might be a bit strange to say, but in that war, I was a sort of strategic weapon, and the other party members were the forces that protected me.

“…Well, it’s not like I’m hungrier.”

Right before the delivery arrived, I was really starving, so much that my head wasn’t working right. In a way, the last meal I had before fighting the Demon King was my last, and I hadn’t eaten anything since then. Considering the time, I had been without food for almost twelve hours.

I clasped my hands and closed my eyes.

“Thank you, benevolent Goddess, for providing us with our daily bread once again.”

Before heading to that other world, I didn’t really have a religion. It wasn’t so much that I doubted the existence of God as I was just uninterested. I disliked going to church on Sundays, and I didn’t really feel the need to go to a temple either. I occasionally donated to the Salvation Army pot, but that was more because I wanted to than any belief in God.

However, during those five years in another world, the Goddess really did exist. Prayers actually had effects, and the more devout one was, the stronger their divine powers remained.

Deep down in my chest, I felt a little divine power. It was definitely weak compared to the prayers in Irrelaysia. It was just enough to ascertain that the Goddess was indeed there.

I wondered just how long it took to prepare this world with such a connection.

It was something to be grateful for.

*

I chose to wear the neatest clothes I could find… Not that it really mattered too much. Most of the clothes in my closet were neat anyway. The Goddess probably picked them out herself. I wasn’t particularly fond of flashy clothing, so I didn’t mind.

However, there was a reason I deliberately chose to wear neat clothes.

I had finally returned home.

I should at least check the place where I lived.

And the reason I asked for this ‘different’ body was that I wanted to meet Mom and my older sister.

It would hurt less to meet someone who looked completely different from me rather than someone who looked just like me but wasn’t me… also, I thought the chances of causing trouble would be lower.

Of course, even if I met them with this appearance, I didn’t know how close we could get. In modern society, starting a conversation out of the blue to show friendliness could be considered rude. And calling them using the phone numbers I remembered would likely get me treated like a stalker.

So, I needed to start building a relationship from the beginning.

To do that, I had to make a good first impression.

Even if I knew the place, I still had no idea how to start a relationship…

I slapped my cheeks with both hands.

Get a grip.

This was just like when I first went to that other world. Sure, the people there knew I was a hero, but I still had to build relationships from the ground up.

It’s the same for me now.

As long as I didn’t lose my courage, there was a way forward.

I imprinted the legendary hero’s words in my heart as I packed my bag.

*

They say ten years can change mountains and rivers.

So what can happen in five years? Is one of them a river or a mountain that changed?

At least five years was enough time for a neighborhood to change completely.

“Redevelopment is impossible, huh…”

I muttered in dismay.

The neighborhood I lived in was an old area next to the mountain. When I was a child, there was news that an apartment built in that area was so old it was at risk of collapsing. It was a cluttered place with old houses. The reason it hadn’t been redeveloped was unclear, but there were rumors about height restrictions because of the mountains and the nearby military base preventing tall buildings from being authorized. All of it was pretty unverified.

I lived with Mom in a half-basement of a red-brick house in this neighborhood. It had just a living room, a small room, a kitchen, and a restroom with an absurdly high toilet; that was all.

We were poor. Living off of just Mom’s income made it hard to even put food on the table.

I lived in the living room with Mom, and when I needed to change clothes, I would go into that small room packed with stuff. It was the same for Mom.

Actually, I barely had time to see Mom’s face either. She always left for work before I went to school.

In summer, we rolled up the flooring before heading to school. I’d pray that the concrete floor would be dry when I returned after all that rain.

I never wished for a birthday cake; I remember stacking boxes of Choco Pie Mom bought and singing happy birthday as simply as we could.

While going to school, I was surprised to find out that other kids didn’t live like I did. They had their own rooms and didn’t have to worry about water coming in when it rained outside.

If I said I felt no loss that my way of living was different from the other kids, I’d be lying.

But strangely, I never felt my life was miserable.

Mom always tried to treat me well. Even if she had little time for me, she always made sure to be present when we were together. Sometimes, on free weekends, we held hands and rode the subway to parks near the Han River, and on payday, we went to the nearby fast food restaurant to get a kids’ meal. I loved the toys that came with those meals.

She always attended parent-teacher conferences, even if she was late, and she knew the names of all my friends. She would ask me how school was, listen to my worries, and try to solve them. I liked Mom. That’s why I never thought I was unhappy.

…Sometimes, there were occasions when something ran too late, and I had to wait for Mom alone.

In those cases, my older sister from the upstairs would take care of me. She would pull me away from her fighting parents, holding my hand, and we’d wander around the neighborhood together.

We’d buy cheap snacks from a stationery store that seemed unhealthy, splitting one serving of tteokbokki with her rarely seen allowance, or buying an ice cream to share.

After wandering around for a while, when the sky turned black, I’d come home and find Mom waiting for me.

…The only reason my memories of difficulty could be cherished like this was thanks to those two who took care of me with all their strength.

That’s why I held a certain attachment to my neighborhood. In summer, the smell from the drainage would rise, occasionally litter scattered illegally on the ground, and stray dogs would leave their droppings on the streets, which would sometimes take days to clean up, but still, it was the place where I walked with precious people during my childhood.

It was the place where all my life’s memories resided.

What lay before me now was just a construction site with signs indicating it was under construction.

*

“……”

Walking, feeling lost, I stumbled along.

I had no idea how to find those two. If there had been at least a house left, I could have inquired about them even if they had moved somewhere else, but the entire neighborhood had turned into an apartment complex, and all the buildings had been cleared away. The inside, barely visible from the construction site’s entrance, had already begun its foundation work with rebar and concrete.

I knew their phone numbers. Even after five years, I hadn’t forgotten.

But… it wasn’t like I could just call them out of the blue. After all, right now, I was a ‘stranger’ to those two. Let’s leave that as a last resort for now.

…Should I try to find friends, at least?

Maybe friends who lived in a different neighborhood would know something. My sister had friends too.

The problem was that my memory of those people wasn’t very clear.

“……Phew.”

Right. Let’s calm down for now.

This was infinitely safer than chasing after a high-ranking demon, and it wasn’t urgent either. Most importantly, it had only been a day since I returned to this side.

There was no need to despair just because things weren’t going as planned right from the start.

Perhaps I had been too complacent.

Even if I had a different appearance, I might have thought that everything else would sort itself out just because I had crossed over to this side.

Even with power, I couldn’t use it without finding a way.

I reminded myself of the previous hero’s saying once more.

“……Ah.”

While walking, I caught a whiff of bread.

Rumble, my stomach, which had already gobbled up a large serving of jajangmyeon and a medium sweet and sour pork, rumbled again. I checked the time; it was almost lunchtime. It took about thirty minutes to get here by subway, and I spent nearly an hour looking around trying to find traces of my neighborhood, so it was about the right time.

“……Alright.”

When a person is hungry, there’s nothing you can do. It’s hard to think straight, and negative feelings just amplify.

Being able to eat is a blessing. How many villages did I see enduring after the Demon King’s army attack cut off their supplies? I remember how miserable the people were, having lost all their food.

So, I’ll eat when I can. That was one lesson I learned over the past five years.

Rumble.

My stomach growled again. The delicious smell of freshly baked bread teased my nose.

Then let’s eat some of that bread first.

I decided to have a small bite and think about what meal to have next, and I turned my steps toward the source of the smell.