# Chepter 002

Since he was young, Gyungho always liked eating rice wrapped in perilla leaves, especially the ones topped with spicy stir-fried pork. But the Spirit Realm didn’t have any perilla leaves, nor was there any red pepper paste to make the stir fried pork.

That was one of the saddest parts about life in the Spirit Realm.

***

“Ugh, ma’am. We can’t do this any longer. You will be evicted in a few months! You should find a place to move and pack up soon,” said the man. His name was Jihoon Kim, and he was from the Third Team of The Awakened Control Center’s Civilian Support Department.

“I am not moving even a single step from here!”

Jihoon had given up on counting on how many times he had had this very argument.

Seoul’s B-4 Sector.

It was one of the sectors that had most cases of giant ruptures during the Cataclysm of three years prior. The entire area from between Jongmyo Shrine and Tapgol Park had been destroyed.

Even now, the region had regular instances of ruptures and dungeons.

The area had taken damage beyond repair, and it had remained abandoned until recently, when the government purchased the entire area and designated the sector as a Frequent Rupture Area in order to control it.

As such, any remaining merchants were compensated as they moved out to another place.

‘Lucky Diner!’

Except this old restaurant.

‘Ugh, I’m getting sick and tired of this.’ Jihoon was having a less than pleasant time with the owner of the Lucky Diner on his way home from work.

“Ma’am, you won’t get much no matter how long you drag this out,” said Jihoon.

“Drag it out? I’m doing business here! I don’t want any money!” shouted the lady.

“Ma’am, this isn’t something you solve by being stubborn! Ugh, I feel like I’m a thug contractor,” said Jihoon with a sigh.

“You’re acting enough of a thug, threatening people like this!”

There were only a few months left until the eviction. Jihoon knew that returning empty handed would only result in angry shouts from his boss, so he tried his best to persuade her.

“I will try my best to increase the compensation, ma’am. Please,” begged Jihoon.

“I don’t want money. I don’t need anything, just let me stay here and do business.”

The lady also began begging, and Jihoon could see the desperation in her eyes.

“Ma’am, why are you trying so badly to stay here? The area’s in ruin after the Cataclysm and there’s almost no one coming to your place anymore. You can move to a much better spot to do business with the compensation you will receive,” asked Jihoon.

Jihoon had been curious as to why the old lady was insisting so badly on staying where she was even after multiple attempts at persuasion.

“My son’s gone missing. I have to wait here. This is my home and my workplace. If I leave, there’s no way my son will make his way back.”

“...”

Jihoon couldn’t find any words to reply to the fact he just learned. To think that she was waiting for her lost son for all this time.

Certainly, the son wouldn’t return. The lady was quite old, so it was sure that the son was not young either.

‘He’s either dead or went away.’

It was already a harsh world. But Jihoon was not dumb enough to speak what he just thought, nor he was coldhearted. Jihoon sighed at the lady’s sympathetic story and tried to ease her.

“Ma’am, the police will find your son,” said Jihoon. Of course, he knew very well that what he said had no truth behind it. The streets had been dangerous ever since the Cataclysm, and there was more chance of a camel passing through the eye of a needle than the police finding a missing person.

“So ma’am, you really should stop- M-Ma’am!!”

Jihoon startled as tears sprung to the woman’s eyes and she started to sway. Quickly he ran over to help her stand.

“T-that’s…!” The lady mumbled as Jihoon helped her to stand, lifting her finger to point behind Jihoon.

Jihoon then turned around to see a young man with uncombed hair and distinctively thick eyebrows walking into the restaurant. The lady then spoke in a shaking voice.

“My son… Gyungho…! Is that you?”

Gyungho was not smiling or laughing as he nodded and walked toward her.

***

A ‘CLOSED’ sign hung at the front of the Lucky Diner.

Jisook Seo, the mother who waited for ten years.

Gyungho Choi, the son who saved the spiritual realm and returned after ten years.

For ten years they had been living in different worlds with the same goal, and they were finally reunited. Ten years was not short, and there was a lot that had piled up during it.

“...”

But Jisook couldn’t find any words to speak. It had been quite a while since they entered the restaurant, but Jisook only wept as she watched Gyungho. She cried as she held Gyungho’s hand, and cried as touched his cheek, as if she was checking to see if it wasn’t a dream.

“My Gyungho… you’re really back. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

It was the first time she said those words in ten years. Thank you.

Jisook was so thankful that the son she believed dead during those past ten years had truly returned alive.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Jisook asked.

Gyungho felt both sad and warmed by her words.

‘She too must have been waiting hard for me during those past ten years.’ But Jisook had no anger or resentment toward her son. Instead, her eyes were filled with worry as she asked if Gyungho was okay.

“I’m okay. Really,” said Gyungho.

“S-so… what happened?” She asked.

Ten years of being missing before returning so suddenly. Jisook was barely able to ask what happened.

“Mom, I’m not really sure what it was even now. I think I got mixed up with that ‘rupture.’”

Telling her that he had been summoned by the Guardian of the spirit realm, fought against the demonic realm’s invasive army for ten years, before ultimately claiming victory and finally returning was bit too much for her understand or believe.

“A rupture? I thought those began after the Cataclysm,” said Jisook.

“I’m not sure. Maybe there were some ten years ago. When I came to my senses, I was near Jonggak Station and the world wasn’t what I knew anymore.”

It was a blatant lie, but there was no evidence or witnesses to prove that he was lying anyway. All he needed was to insist.

“So, that's why I’m still the same. Just like from ten years ago.”

Actually, it was thanks to his enormous reserves of mana that stopped him from aging, but he didn’t need to go into the details.

“I’m sorry, mom. I’m really sorry,” Gyungho apologized.

“No, it’s alright. You’re back alive. That’s enough…”

Jisook then began to sob as she spoke. She never mentioned it, as she tried to believe that her good son in his mid-twenties did not abandon her, but sometimes she had doubts that made her hate herself.

“I’m sorry, Gyungho. I didn’t know what happened and I doubted you. I thought you left. I’m so sorry.”

Gyungho then moved over to the sobbing Jisook and hugged her.

“You don’t need to be sorry. You waited for me for all this times. Thank you, mom.”

Seeing his mom up close made him realize that Jisook had become very thin and weak. Gyungho pulled up his mana to observe Jisook’s health.

‘W-what?’ Gyungho thought as he frowned at Jisook’s state.

‘She’s very sick. Her life is in danger.’ Gyungho almost became tearful at Jisook’s illness. He had never forgotten about his mom during those ten years. It was thanks to her presence in his thoughts that he was able to survive all that time.

‘I need to do whatever it takes to save her,’ thought Gyungho. But what choices did he have?

His abilities were focused solely on battle. He had enough power to deal with the demon army himself, but he had no power to save Jisook from her illness.

‘If Earth has changed this much, maybe I can find spirits or divine beast-like beings.’ Maybe Earth already had such beings before, and Gyungho did not know only because he had no way to find out.

‘But first, I have to replenish mom’s energy. Then I have to find a way.’

Gyungho began thinking up a plan when Jisook stood from her seat.

“You must be hungry. I will get you something to eat,” said Jisook. Gyungho then pulled Jisook’s hand down to sit.

“Mom, you need to go to a hospital. You don’t look so well,” said Gyungho.

“No, there’s no need for a hospital. I know myself.”

Jisook actually knew that she had late-stage lung cancer and had maybe a half year to live but she didn’t want to visit a hospital and reveal the truth to her son. She had been staying alive, fighting against the illness, only to see her son before she died.

‘I will not waste this precious time with my son at the hospital,’ thought Jisook as she smiled at Gyungho.

“I am so happy to have you home that my energy is coming back.”

Gyungho couldn’t know what she was thinking in her mind, but he knew that his mother could be stubborn when she wanted to.

‘Alright. I should be doing what she wants, instead of doing what I want for her, seeing as she waited for me all this time…’

Gyungho understood how she must be feeling, but he was also sad. Still, he had to nod at his mother’s smiles.

“Alright. Let’s have dinner then,” said Gyungho.

“Wait here. I’ll get you something to eat,” His mom replied happily.

“Okay. I’m looking forward to having Lady Jisook’s gourmet food for the first time in ten years.”

“I will be right back, my son.”

Gyungho felt like he was dreaming as he watched Jisook leave the room.

It had been ten long years. It was enough time for even the landscape to change.

The end of the war in the spirit realm was a happy time, but the actual ten years themselves had been very harsh for Gyungho. He was helped by countless divine beasts, spirits and the Guardian Mir, but it was very hard for a 25-year-old Korean man to grow to be the hero of the Spirit Realm all of a sudden.

‘I almost died more times when I was training than when I was fighting demons.’ Gyungho remembered. For example, Gyungho was the only one in the entire Spirit Realm that needed food in order to survive, so eating was already a problem. Every part of life there was a fight for survival.

Gyungho then heard his mom’s voice, the one had tried to keep in his mind during those ten years, this time in real life.

“Son, come out and eat.”

“Yeah, I’ll be right out,” said Gyungho.

Gyungho walked out of the room and went to the table full of food.

‘This place is old now,’ he thought as he looked around the restaurant. It was never a big or fancy place from the start, but ten years had taken its toll. Thinking of his mom staying in a small, ragged room in sickness, hoping for her son’s return, made his heart ache.

‘I will change one thing at a time. To make today a better day than yesterday.’ Gyungho thought to himself as he walked out of the room. He was astonished at the amount of food Jisook prepared.

“Whoa, you prepared all this so fast!” said Gyungho. There was soybean stew boiling in a pot, and spicy stir-fried pork served on a plate. There were also pickled turnips and a scallion salad on smaller plates. Lettuce and perilla leaves were also cleaned and readied, with small bowls of dipping sauce, sliced pepper, and garlic. It was a perfect dinner table of stir-fried pork.

“I already had this prepared since I know you love stir-fried meat wraps,” said Jisook with a smile. Gyungho felt even more apologetic.

“Liar, you didn’t even know when I’d be coming home,” said Gyungho.

“That’s why I had it prepared every day. Just waiting for you.”

“...”

Gyungho felt like crying at his mother’s words and silently picked up both a lettuce leaf and a perilla leaf and placed a piece of pork meat on top of them. He then added some toppings and wrapped it to place it inside his mouth.

It was the taste that he had dreamed of during those ten years.

“Is it good?” asked Jisook.

“Yeah. It’s so good.”

Gyungho tried to stop himself from crying, but a teardrop escaped from his eye.

“Don’t cry, my son. You’re making me cry too,” said Jisook.

“Hahaha. I never knew something can taste so good that it makes you cry. This is so good, mom,” said Gyungho.

Gyungho made another large wrap and ate it. A wrap of stir-fried pork. This was the very food that he wanted to eat for the past ten years.

“Dig in,” said Jisook.

“You should eat too.”

“I ate some while cooking, so I’m full already.”

Gyungho then made a wrap for his mother and pushed it to her mouth.

“Here. It’s been ten years since I wrapped it for you. Come on,” said Gyungho.

“But I’m full,” Jisook insisted.

“Come on, my arm hurts.”

Jisook then smiled brightly and ate the wrap.

Just like that, Gyungho and Jisook had a happy dinner table for the first time in ten years.