Episode 2: Ten Years Later (2)
After work, there was a company dinner today.
Because the consecutive holidays made things harder than usual, the owner had specially covered the dinner expenses.
Thanks to that, the chicken restaurant employees and part-timers gathered at a pork belly specialty restaurant to grill and eat meat.
Sizzle.
Even as the meat sizzled and browned, Akan’s expression remained grim.
It had been a while since he had indulged in greasy food, but the two men chattering in front of him made him feel nauseated.
“Wow. Sinhwa University students really are something else.”
“Not at all. There are plenty of people who study better than me.”
“Still, Sinhwa University is no joke. Honestly, in South Korea, everyone knows Sinhwa University.”
“That is true. Haha.”
Go Changhyeok and the part-timer Jang Minho were talking.
Sinhwa University, which Jang Minho attended, was regarded as being just below Hanguk University, which was called the very best in South Korea.
Jang Minho, a student at a prestigious university, came in to work part-time after school whenever he had a chance.
If you only looked at this, he seemed like a truly diligent, model student, but if you knew the purpose of his part-time job and his usual conduct, your evaluation would change.
The purpose of his part-time job was to cover date expenses with his girlfriend, and Jang Minho’s pride in being a student at a prestigious university was immense.
The reason the conversation had flowed to this topic was also because Jang Minho had subtly steered it there.
“If you went into business too, hyung, you’d definitely hit it big.”
“Yeah. I may not know much else, but I’ve got a decent head for business. When I make it big later, let’s open a place serving fine liquor instead of somewhere like this.”
“Kuh! I trust only you, hyungnim.”
Jang Minho had judged that Go Changhyeok was the real boss of the chicken restaurant.
So while he didn’t bother holding back his bragging with others, he restrained himself with Go Changhyeok.
He flattered him and made him feel favorable toward himself.
Whatever the two talked about had nothing to do with Akan, but the problem was that whenever those two got together, the conversation always ended up turning to Akan.
“But... Akan hyungnim, what do you plan on doing from now on? Changhyeok hyung is saving up to start a business, but you’re already forty years old. It’s already too late to start a business at your age.”
Without anyone asking, Jang Minho had thrown out the topic.
It was always like this.
They brought Akan up as a topic of conversation, belittling him while enjoying their own superiority.
“That’s right. I heard this is already your ninth year as a part-timer? So can you even get married in South Korea? Keep living like that and you’ll end up a solitary old man.”
Go Changhyeok’s words were laced with venom.
He seemed displeased because I Minyeong had taken Akan’s side today.
Even at the sight of them pointing out Akan’s reality and spewing toxic words, Akan smiled faintly.
They weren’t worth answering.
The Republic of Korea was truly a funny country.
Profile.
A world where if your visible appearance did not meet the standards set by society, you were ignored.
A person named Akan was truly a nobody by South Korean standards.
At age forty and working part-time at a chicken restaurant, from their perspective he couldn’t help but look pathetic.
Knowing that fact well, Akan endured it inwardly.
He let the remarks that belittled him slide.
‘Bark all you want. I’m just going to eat my meat.’
The reason Akan could endure was not because he had a great capacity for tolerance.
He had simply acknowledged his reality.
He had no power in his current state.
If this was fair treatment, then wasn’t it simply inevitable?
That was why he left them alone, just as they were doing.
He stored each slight inside, merely enduring.
‘Just let me succeed. Then you’ll be flapping your jaws in front of me and catch a fist.’
He forcibly shoved meat into his mouth.
Rather than wasting energy on those words, taking care of anything that would benefit him even slightly was wiser in many ways.
To Akan, “success” did not hold great meaning.
He merely wished to comfortably do what he wanted in South Korea.
Of course, that was the most difficult thing of all, but he did not crave grandiose success like becoming the world’s best.
Hadn’t he already been the best?
For Akan, escaping the impoverished life of struggling with money was enough.
If, in addition, he gained the power to thoroughly repay kindness and vengeance, that would be even better.
‘What I want most is magic, but in this world, that’s probably impossible.’
Magic.
Magic was everything to Akan.
Having dedicated all thirty years of his life to it, Akan’s heart toward magic was sincere.
The fact that he could not learn it again would remain as a regret in his heart no matter how much his life in South Korea improved.
‘Forget it, forget it. My life as a mage is already over. Even if I long for magic in a world without mana, nothing will change.’
He inwardly tried to console himself.
As Akan closed his ears and focused only on eating, Go Changhyeok and Jang Minho seemed to lose interest as well.
At the sight of them starting to talk about other topics, Akan was able to focus on his meal in peace.
About an hour later, Go Changhyeok left the table and suggested a second round.
Everyone readily agreed, but Akan had no intention of going.
In any case, Go Changhyeok’s displeased gaze showed no desire to have Akan at the second round.
At age forty, it was too much to keep hanging out with people who were at best in their mid-twenties.
“I’m going to head home now.”
“Get home safely.”
Everyone bid him farewell at Akan’s words.
Only I Minyeong tried to stop him, but she couldn’t step forward because of Jang Minho’s restraint.
At that sight, Akan formed a bitter smile.
He had tried tirelessly to adapt to the world called South Korea, but he still felt like a stranger.
Just as Akan was turning to leave.
Grrrrrk!
“Huk!”
“What is this?!”
Noisy voices were heard.
When Akan turned around to check, he saw space distorting.
Akan’s pupils widened at the sight of the surrounding space twisting.
‘...This phenomenon is just like...’
It was a phenomenon in Akan’s memory.
It wasn’t exactly the same, but it was similar.
‘It’s a phenomenon similar to when I underwent dimensional transfer!’
He was certain.
According to Akan’s memory, this was a spatial distortion.
Soon.
Guoooooooh.
A black space opened its maw wide and swallowed the people whole.
* * *
The surrounding scenery changed.
The chicken restaurant employees were screaming and panicking at the bizarre phenomenon that defied common sense.
But Akan was different.
To Akan, this entire situation felt far too familiar.
‘This air. It has a flow similar to the world I lived in. And... there’s a bloody, fishy scent mixed in the air.’
He was certain.
He didn’t know exactly what had happened, but this world was not the twenty-first century ruled by science.
It was then.
Something fluttering down drew everyone’s attention.
A small creature about the size of a human fist was surprisingly in human form.
The creature commonly known to people as a “fairy” flapped its small wings and approached them.
The fairy’s bright smile forced the people to accept that the world had changed.
“Welcome to the Other Side.”
Akan’s face twisted—he who had been approaching his tenth year since coming to South Korea through dimensional transfer.
- To be continued in Episode 3 -