Chapter 2: 2

In a room in a Dong-ha University hospital, Su-hyeun was changing his clothes as he was listening to his doctor .

“Please make sure to avoid any intensive exercise and come back if you feel sick again . ”

“Thank you so much, doctor . ”

Su-hyeun kept on buttoning his clothes . Beside Su-hyeun, Shin Su-yeong, his mother, thanked the doctor .

While they were talking, Su-hyeun looked out the window at the sight of the city beneath the hospital building and the blue sky above . With a flock of cumulus clouds slowly flying over the sky, the whole world seemed placid and peaceful .

“It’s rather awkward everytime I see it . ”

It had been a month since he was hospitalized . For four weeks of recovery, he had looked out the window like this every day as he enjoyed the peaceful sight .

“This sight — it will be all gone by 2030 . All that will remain is pictures and paintings . ”

2018 .

Everytime he checked his smartphone, he was surprised by the year and date .

Back in the past, in a different person’s body .

His death from the battle with Fafnir would occur more than 20 years later .

Now, there was only news of a monster and dungeon . The outbreak and the initial invasion of monsters had yet to happen .

“I’ve come back to the past . ” However, not in Sung-in’s body, but Su-hyeun’s .

2

He took out a hand mirror from the drawer . He was slightly smiling .

“Why is he smiling?”

Since it wasn’t his face, Su-hyeun’s smile felt quite awkward . But, after about a month, he’d begun to acknowledge it as his own .

“Mom, please . Shall we go now?” he asked, stopping to look at Su-hyeun’s smile while his mother was still talking to the doctor .

“Wait a second . You should properly thank the doctor before you leave . ”

“I’m so hungry for anything other than tasteless hospital food . ”

“You want to eat out? I actually have to go back to work soon . ”

For the past month, he had learned about his mother’s personality as he talked with her .

“In that case…”

“No, Mom . I want your delicious cooking,” he said, implying that her food was the most delicious in the whole world . And being so sweet paid off .

“Okay . If that’s the case, let’s hurry and go home . Goodbye, doctor . ”

The doctor moved on to the next patient . As they were leaving the hospital, Sung-in snuck a peek at Shin Su-yeong .

“So this is Su-Hyeun’s mother . ”

No, now she was his mother .

Though it was confusing at first, it wasn’t hard to accept as time passed . He was now quite attached to Shin Su-yeong .

She was quite different from his real mother in every way . She was so cheerful that it made him think maybe all mothers were supposed to be like her .

“I want nothing but for you to stay healthy . ”

Comparing Shin Su-yeong, who wanted nothing but her son’s wellness —

“I believe you will do better than this . ”

— to his previous mother, who wanted her son to be the best in every possible way, they were so different . He felt a huge discrepancy and awkwardness .

His previous mother was too cold, too strict . It wasn’t just because she wanted him to be a hero . From just this one month, he felt he had learned much more about his new mother than his old one .

Shin Su-yeong had come to see her son every day to check on him after work . She never forgot to do so even though she got tired from work .

Su-hyeun looked at his mother again, and their eyes meet .

“Why do you keep looking at me, Su-hyeun?”

“Nothing, Mom . ” He nonchalantly turned to attention to his smartphone .

“Su-hyeun, I feel that you’ve changed . ”

“How?”

“You speak differently these days . More politely, I suppose . ”

Right, that must be why she seemed a little taken aback when I first spoke to her in the hospital .

“You’re like a totally different person . ”

“Well . ” He wondered what he should say . “I’ve just decided to change . ”

“Change?”

“Yeah . ” He said whatever popped into his mind, but it was partly true because he was still Sung-in, not Su-hyeun . It was not possible to be like Su-hyeun completely, as he didn’t know what Su-hyeun was like to begin with .

Shin Su-yeong hugged him all of a sudden .

“Mom?” he asked, quite surprised . “What are you doing?”

“Su-hyeun?” She continued, “No matter how you change, you know I always love you . ”

“Okay…”

“Good . That’s all we need to know as long as you don’t do anything bad and we stay near each other . ”

“I understand . ”

“Good . You’re the only one I care about . ” She released him after she heard his answers .

“Actually, Mom . I need to go somewhere,” Su-hyeun said as he checked his phone .

“Where? You’re not 100% well . ”

“I’ll be right back before dinner . You can go back to your work . ” As he said this, he walked away .

“Then don’t be late . ” Shin Su-yeong waved at him .

With Shin Su-yeong’s voice far behind him, he shook his head sideways .

“That always gives me goosebumps . ”

He was still not used to his new mother’s affectionate expressions that sometimes came so suddenly . He wasn’t sure how to react to it .

Of course, he didn’t dislike it . Rather, it made him feel good .

“Right! I don’t have much time before dinner . ” He planned to go back home before Shin Su-yeong came back from work; he didn’t want to make her worry .

Using his smartphone app, he navigated toward his destination, although it took him a long time . The place he arrived at turned out to be an alley inside a small residential area .

“Ah, finally you came . ”

“That was so fast . ”

Some guys in a shaded spot beckoned him to come near . All four of them were around Su-hyeun’s age .

“Are you guys the people I’ve been looking for?” Su-hyeun asked as he checked with his phone .

“What are you saying?”

“I guess I’m right . ”

He checked a text message he got from a guy named Gwan Jang-hyeok .

—I heard you’ve been in a hospital .

—When are you coming back? I want to see you .

—I’m a little strapped for cash these days . Can you help?

—Are you f*cking ignoring me? Pick up your damn phone .

—You said you’re coming back today . I’m where we last met . Come right away, otherwise I’ll get you rehospitalized .

The text messages were all so mean . They didn’t seem to care if he called the police .

It wasn’t the first time, anyway . He could see how they bullied Su-hyeun .

He had learned from his mom that Su-hyeun dropped out of high school . Perhaps those guys were the main reason for that .

“Did you bring my money?”

So Su-hyeun was supposed to bring some money to them .

“Sure . I should also get rid of all the scumbags like you . ”

“What the f*ck?”

“I can’t believe this . ”

“Have you gone crazy?”

One of the guys nearest to Su-hyeun swung his fist .

Then, all of sudden, “AHH!”

Su-hyeun snatched his fist and twisted it . The man screamed, looking at his broken wrist .

“What the —?”

While the rest of them were caught off guard, Su-hyeun had already become aware of his surroundings . There were no passersby who could witness anything and no surveillance cameras . That was probably why they had called him here in the first place .

“Don’t worry . I’ll make it quick . ” He walked toward the now frightened men .

***

Ahh…

Ahhhhh…

It felt nice to beat up all the bullies who were now squirming in pain like worms .

That was easy .

It was nothing to him . He had been through much harder fights countless times before, as it was important for heroes to practice fighting in order to defeat monsters . Comparing this to those occasions, those four bullies did not have any special fighting skills; they were absolutely nothing .

Of course, Su-hyeun must have been the same as them, helpless and weak, but basic experience and insight made the huge difference .

He could tell how ruthlessly they must have tormented Su-hyeun, judging by all those evil text messages from them .

Just from those guys .

All he needed was a little bit of courage . Su-hyeun also could get help from law enforcement, but what appeared to work best for the bullies was a little bit of a lesson from Su-hyeun himself .

Su-hyeun threw the clubs and metal pipes right beside Gwan Jang-hyeok . Those weapons are all theirs .

“Hey . ”

“Yes… . Yes… . Sir . ” Jang-hyeok was obviously terrified .

What a dumbass! You’d been bullied by those cowards for years during school?

“Tell me . Why did you bring all these pipes and weapons?”

“Well, that was just… . ” Su-hyeun could tell he was trying to give him an answer that would save himself .

“You were trying to kill me, right?”

Jang-hyeok went pale at his question .

“Then I suppose I can kill you too . Self-defense, you know . ”

As he said this, he picked up one of the metal pipes that was thrown beside him . He swung it toward Jang-hyeok’s head . As it almost landed on him . “Ahh, please save me!”

Tap—

It just lightly tapped his head . At that moment, Jang-hyeok wet himself .

He was such a coward .

Su-hyeun leaned toward him . “If you do this again…”

Bump—!

Su-hyeun said this as he beat him on his forehead . He gave all of the others the same warning . He didn’t know how it would turn out, but surely, they had learned their lesson .

So, I got one out of the list .

As he walked out of the alley, he checked his phone . October 2018 .

He thought about what he was doing in his former life around this time of year .

My school .

At that time, before he became a hero, he was just an ordinary college student .

Dong-ha University .

He realized where to go next . Before he went back home, he needed to check his past life .