I gulped down the water in the cup. The YouTuber in the video was still making a complete mess of things.
「Ttwir! Ssi-ru! Ttor! Ah, shit. It's really not working.
Actually, Rune Language is spoken by only a tiny minority even in the Otherworld, you know? There must be a reason for that···. Isn't the whole thing about language having power just a load of bullshit?
Do I need some kind of staff? Or maybe you really do need something like mana···.」
That's not it.
I don't know about mana, but the language definitely isn't a lie.
Just as I was beginning to ponder the matter, the researcher returned.
“Your test results are normal, so you're free to go home. We only took a few samples of the unusual materials among your belongings. You can take everything with you. There's a special law requiring the government to cover the expenses, so you don't need to worry about that, either.”
“You said I was registered as a missing person, right? What should I do about that?”
“We've handled the administrative procedures on your behalf. There are established procedures for cases like this.”
The researcher brushed the matter aside as though it were something she dealt with regularly.
After signing a few documents, I was finally able to leave the facility.
“······.”
Come to think of it, I didn't even know today's date.
The cool breeze and the light clothing people were wearing made me think autumn had just begun.
“We sent all the reporters away. Your personal information shouldn't appear in the media without your permission, Mr. Seon-hu.”
The researcher approached while I was standing there motionless.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“It must feel quite extraordinary.”
She was exactly right.
That was precisely why I couldn't bring myself to step out onto the street.
Cars driving along the roads. The countless different expressions on the faces of people filling the sidewalks.
“I never thought I'd get to see things like this again.”
“I wonder what that must feel like. I'm truly glad you made it back safely.”
Just then, a one-ton truck passed right in front of us.
<Caution: Transporting High-Risk Otherworld Materials>
“···I never imagined the world would have changed like this, either.”
“What are you planning to do now?”
“Uh, I'm not sure. I spent years being grateful just to have survived another day. Now, even being able to stand here and do absolutely nothing feels wonderful.”
“Would you be interested in working with us?”
A job, huh.
In the past, I would've jumped at the offer with an enthusiastic 'Oh, thank you so much!' But now I felt strangely detached.
My prolonged struggle for survival had made me this way.
My mind had completely distanced itself from things like careers, retirement, and social status.
“I think I'll rest for a while. Just being here is enough for me. I want to enjoy my current situation as much as possible.”
“···Actually, the Head of Investigations came here to meet you, Mr. Seon-hu. But I stopped him.”
“You stopped him?”
“He's rather impatient and has a tendency to treat people under contract carelessly. I think he wanted you to work under him, but it seemed far too hasty, so I suggested giving you some time to clear your head.”
Why is she telling me this?
I looked at the researcher.
She was smiling.
“Think about it. The head of a department at a company that researches the Otherworld dropped everything he was doing just to meet you, Mr. Seon-hu. All because he thought you were someone he absolutely couldn't afford to lose. What do you think that means?”
“That I'm worth quite a bit?”
“You're half right.”
Then the researcher smiled brightly and held out her hand.
“May I give you my number?”
“What? All of a sudden? You know, I'm the type who gets the wrong idea easily.”
“I don't mind if you get the wrong idea. If I had to give you a reason··· I think I might be able to help you someday.”
I couldn't see any harm in it, so I handed her my phone.
“Please contact me whenever you need anything.”
With those words, she went back inside.
I turned my gaze toward the street again.
A vague sense of fear began to rise within me.
A human city I'd long since abandoned even the hope of setting foot in again.
Forget everything else.
I really wanted a glass of cola.
***
“Good grief···.”
A middle-aged man ran a hand through his graying hair as he paced anxiously around a conference room.
The researcher who had been dealing with Kang Seon-hu entered the room.
“Why are you so anxious?”
“Oh, Seo-yeon!”
Jin Seo-yeon, a manager on the research team at OWIC, a private company specializing in Otherworld research, looked at Jang Do-jin, the Head of Investigations, with a sullen expression.
'No, I mean, that Kang··· what's-his-name, what was it again?'
“Kang Seon-hu.”
“Right, that's it. Kang Seon-hu. What did you think of him?”
“He's certainly a little strange. Surviving in the Otherworld is one thing, but coming back in such good condition is hardly normal. It wouldn't have been surprising if he'd returned with nervous exhaustion and three or four psychiatric disorders···.”
“Are you sure he really spent two years in the Otherworld?”
“···Actually, I'm not sure.”
“What do you mean, you're not sure? Are you saying he's bluffing?”
“I mean there's something strange about how long he stayed there.”
Jin Seo-yeon placed a piece of leather on the table.
“This is a sample of Scaven Wolf hide. It came from the clothes Kang Seon-hu was wearing when he returned···.”
Not a trace of her earlier gentleness remained in her sharp gaze.
“It's from a pack-leader-level specimen. Even by a conservative estimate, that puts it on the level of a Russian brown bear. Common sense tells us a human couldn't defeat something like that, doesn't it?”
“Could he have received it from someone in the Otherworld? Or stolen it?”
Jin Seo-yeon shook her head.
“Scaven Wolves symbolize curses in the Otherworld. The locals won't even eat their meat because of superstition. Of course, there may be regional differences··· But Kang Seon-hu said he was driven out before he could even communicate properly with the locals. Besides, why would he lie about that?”
“I see what you're getting at. So you're saying this Kang Seon-hu fellow Killed a Scaven Wolf pack leader?”
“That's not all. We also analyzed the samples taken from his stone axe. That thing was crafted at least seven years ago.”
“···Then you're saying he spent seven years there?”
“At least seven years. It could have been even longer. We don't know why, but··· we should also consider the possibility that he stayed somewhere with a distorted timeline.”
“That man survived at least seven years in the wilderness of the Otherworld with nothing but his bare hands? Without any modern equipment?”
The Head of Investigations fell into thought for a moment.
Then his expression turned anxious again.
“We need to recruit him immediately! Why did you stop me?! You're trying to keep the Investigations Department in check because you belong to the R&D Division, aren't you? Huh? I should've been more on the ball. No, wait. He can't have gone very far yet···.”
“Oh, come on! Would you please calm down?! Have some basic decency! The man's only just made it home after spending years rolling around in a field of shit! And all you could think about was how to exploit him again, wasn't it?”
Although Jin Seo-yeon was clearly his subordinate, Jang Do-jin couldn't say anything in response.
After all, he had a history of causing trouble on several occasions.
“Hey, listen. You're not wrong, so I can't really argue, but··· how are you supposed to get through life if you exhaust yourself worrying about every little detail? I've learned plenty from living the way you do, and that's why I'm saying this···.”
“Is that what you learned when that civilian explorer sued you? Do you have any idea how many vacation days I had to give up cleaning up that mess?”
Jang Do-jin let out a groan.
“I'll try contacting him once he's had some time to settle down. It would be a shame to let someone like him slip away.”
“Right. Thanks.”
Jin Seo-yeon returned to her laboratory.
The moment she closed the door, she gripped her phone tightly with both hands.
Her eyes, directed into empty space, held a light that was truly impossible to describe.
No. It would have been more accurate to say that there was no light in them at all.
The corners of her lips rose faintly.
“···He's mine.”
A YouTube channel was displayed on her phone.
It was the wilderness exploration channel Kang Seon-hu had operated in the past.
***
“Uwaaah···!”
A single sip of cola felt as though it might tear my throat apart.
I couldn't tell whether the tears threatening to spill from my eyes were caused by the pain or by the overwhelmingly sweet taste.
I'd passed countless people on my way here.
It was the middle of a weekday, so they were probably busy working.
Back when I'd been overflowing with passion for exploration, I'd thought that kind of everyday life was unbearably dull.
Now I wanted to give my past self a good knock on the head.
But if I asked myself whether my passion for exploration had disappeared···.
··After everything I've been through, I can't believe I'm still thinking about that.
I looked around, taking in the peaceful street.
The residential neighborhood was quiet in the middle of the day. Apart from the occasional passing car, there was hardly anything to see.
An ordinary life where nothing particularly good or bad ever happened.
The kind of repetitive, hamster-wheel existence I'd once despised.
Now, that ordinary life looked more beautiful than any scenery I'd ever witnessed.
“Aaaaaah—.”
I leaned all the way back in my plastic chair and relaxed.
Then—
SCREEEEEECH!
A piercing sound that I felt should never have reached my ears stabbed into them.
Before I knew it, I'd sprung to my feet and turned toward the source of the noise.
The chair flew backward violently, tumbling several times.
CRUNCH—
The can I'd been holding was already crushed flat.
Blood seeped from my palm where the sharp, torn metal had cut into it.
There was no pain. I could only faintly feel the blood flowing from the wound.
My field of vision narrowed.
A metallic ringing filled my ears, and the range of my senses expanded dozens of times.
It was at that moment that the skidding truck crashed into the building across the street.
THUD!
Fortunately, the collision wasn't particularly severe.
If the driver had been wearing a seat belt, they probably wouldn't have suffered any serious injuries.
But I couldn't let my guard down.
Why would a vehicle suddenly swerve like that on a straight, two-lane road without any traffic lights?
I examined the path the truck had taken as it skidded.
Long black streaks stretched across the asphalt where the tires had scraped against it.
Near those tire marks, a deep, rough gouge extended along the road.
It looked as though something in the cargo compartment had punched through the floor of the truck and dragged itself against the ground.
I looked back at the truck.
<Caution: Transporting High-Risk Otherworld Materials>
The deep gouge running through the middle of the asphalt.
The dark blue organic matter left along it.
A fishy smell.
A rattling sound, like dozens of pairs of scissors snipping together.
This is definitely···.
“Everyone, get back!”
I shouted at several people who had emerged from a building and were looking around in confusion.
Of course, there was no reason for them to immediately obey my orders.
I'd already expected that.
The reason I'd shouted so loudly was to draw 'that thing's' attention toward me.
Because that creature was most sensitive to the sound of living beings' voices.
RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE.
The sound of 'scissors' grew even more intense.
It's excited.
It's about to attack.
By then, I'd already moved directly in front of the truck and brought both hands together before my chest.
An unpleasant noise, like a drill boring into metal, rang out.
The container wall vibrated, and a hole large enough to fit two human heads was punched through it.
An enormous earthworm burst out and lunged at me.
—Tterma.
Sparks crackled between my hands with a sharp snapping sound.
I gritted my teeth and thrust my hands forward.
My entire body vibrated.
The current wasn't lethal, but it was more than enough to cause an electric shock.
The earthworm let out a scream as its entire body convulsed.
Dozens of pincers attached to its head clicked together frantically.
This creature had no eyes, so it depended on its other senses.
That made it vulnerable to electricity.
I didn't miss the moment it was incapacitated.
The instant the monster lost consciousness and went limp—
CRACK—!
Only after breaking the vulnerable part of its body could I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“···I really hate this.”
A word that generated electricity.
The first time I'd uttered it without knowing what it did, I'd been unconscious for half a day.
I'd gotten the hang of it since then, but the sensation was still unpleasant.
Just then, the driver's door opened.
A man jumped out, his face pale with terror, and rushed toward the trailer.
A woman emerged from the passenger seat, holding her phone and speaking in an urgent voice.
“E-Emergency situation! The Farming Worm has come out of its deathlike state! It looks like it broke through the trailer and escaped! Requesting backup! I repeat, requesting backup···.”
Only then did her eyes meet mine.
“···Huh?”
The man who had gotten out of the driver's seat.
The woman who had emerged from the passenger seat.
And···.
“···So this thing's called a Farming Worm?”
Me, holding the enormous, limp earthworm in one hand.
The three of us stared at one another, each wearing a different expression.
[Request received. Location confirmed. A QRT has been assembled for deployment to your position. Please do your utmost to contain the situation until they arrive.]
A voice came through the phone's speaker.
The employee raised the phone toward her mouth and muttered, her stunned gaze still fixed on me.
“···The situation has been resolved. I don't··· think you need to send the QRT anymore.”
[Situation resolved? Was there an agent on-site?]
“No, it's··· a civilian. No, I mean, a civilian···.”
[Have there been civilian casualties?]
She looked incredibly troubled.
But more importantly, I recognized that face.
“Cha So-hee?”
Looking at her blue fieldwork uniform, I realized that I was going to need a little more time to adjust to this changed world.