The current time was 8:40.
There was still some time before class began.
That was why the place Bariel—no, the man who had returned as Kang Dae-hyun—headed to was neither his original classroom nor his home.
‘No, I do not have a home in the first place.’
When Gates appeared in the world, he had lost both his family and his home, so he had no home. Instead, he had somewhere similar.
STEP― STEP―.
After walking for a few minutes, he arrived in front of an old building and smiled coldly.
“So it has been a long time since I came here, too.”
The dormitory.
A lodging facility provided to the students of the Superhuman Training School.
When he had lived his first life as Kang Dae-hyun, he had owed this place quite a bit.
STEP― STEP―.
Dae-hyun climbed the building that felt strangely familiar and went to the room number he remembered.
“...If this is the dormitory, he should be here too.”
After climbing several floors like that.
The moment he grasped the doorknob, someone’s face, buried in his memories, slowly began to surface.
‘Well, perhaps I will know once I see him.’
He could no longer even remember the face, and it had been a long time since he had buried those weak memories in his obsession with survival, but now things were different.
Even if he could not restore emotions that had already withered away, he could still understand what those emotions were.
That was why Dae-hyun gave a faint laugh and lightly turned the doorknob.
CLICK―.
The handle made a loud sound, and the door opened naturally.
“...”
“...Huh?”
And as expected, a male student around his age appeared before him.
“What? Dae-hyun, I thought you went out?”
“Hmm.”
A young man with light brown hair and faintly golden eyes.
A young man who showed no weapon, no hostility of any kind.
Was it because his senses were absent? Dae-hyun felt no killing intent.
No, on the contrary, he felt a warmth from him.
‘Of course. He is not an enemy.’
Looking at the male student before him, Dae-hyun nodded inwardly.
‘Kang Shin-hyuk.’
The one who had always taken good care of Dae-hyun, who had neither talent nor ability as a superhuman.
The one who had approached Dae-hyun without prejudice and treated him kindly, even when Dae-hyun had been bullied by everyone around him.
“What is with that expression? Is this your first time seeing me?”
His one and only friend, someone there would never be another of.
“You are acting weird today. What is wrong with you?”
“...Nothing, really.”
When Dae-hyun wore a blank expression, Kang Shin-hyuk tilted his head and asked.
‘How long has it been since I last saw him?’
Even so, whatever his words or feelings might be, he knew very well that acting normally was important.
For countless years had passed for him, but not for this fellow.
“I wondered if something had happened since you were called out so early this morning. How was it? Nothing happened, right?”
“I am fine.”
“Why are you talking like that?”
“...I am fine.”
...Of course, if someone were to ask whether that meant he could adjust to this situation right away, the answer would be no.
“Hmm... Really? Well, if you say you are fine, then I guess you are fine...”
While their eyes met like that.
As if something had suddenly occurred to him, Kang Shin-hyuk clapped his hands.
“Ah, we have sparring today. I should go ahead first today. Dae-hyun, I will see you later.”
Saying that, he tapped Dae-hyun on the shoulder, then opened the door again and headed outside.
“...”
Kang Shin-hyuk had already gone far away.
Left alone inside the dormitory, Dae-hyun quietly repeated the words Kang Shin-hyuk had just said.
“...Sparring?”
For some reason, those two syllables seemed to bother him more than they should.
***
Some time later, Dae-hyun lay silently on the bed.
It was partly because he was tired, but also because he wanted to organize his thoughts once more.
‘First, from the beginning.’
Putting aside whether this place was reality or not, the current point in time was certainly when he had been attending the Superhuman Training School, and this was undoubtedly the place he remembered.
‘What bothers me is that I, at this point in time, have not fallen into the Demon Realm.’
Because of that, there were two hypotheses he could consider in the current situation.
First, this was all a dream, his body was actually still in the Demon Realm, and he would wake up someday.
‘Well, I will put that aside for now.’
A dream would simply end when he woke from it, so there was no need to think too deeply about it.
That was why Dae-hyun was certain of the second hypothesis.
‘The moment I sat on the Demon Realm’s throne, something happened, and I returned to my original world.’
Although that did not explain why all his memories of the Demon Realm remained, this was the only hypothesis Dae-hyun could believe relatively well.
That was the best conclusion he could draw.
“Hmm.”
Dae-hyun turned his head and looked at the full-length mirror beside him.
‘...’
A slightly thin body with little flesh on it.
Overall, his height was passable enough, but when viewed in detail, it was miserable.
‘So this was what I was like back then.’
There were no traces of battle on his body, nor any powerful muscles forged through hardship.
His skin was pale, and his body was frail.
He wondered whether he could even fight properly with this.
“How pathetic.”
It was his own body, but it was pathetic.
Miserable.
It was far removed from strength.
Even so, instead of agonizing over it, Dae-hyun opened his Status Window.
[Kang Dae-hyun]
[Stats: Strength (8), Agility (10), Intelligence (30), Unique Stat = Divine Power (10)]
[Type: Healing Type (C)]
[Traits: Speed Reading (E), Quick Thinking (C), Observation (C+)]
[Skill: Lesser Healing (LV.1)]
‘Well, since I have this, I should be able to manage somehow.’
Because he had the System. Because he had the Status Window.
Because he was still alive. Because he had the experience of enduring countless hardships.
He could become stronger as much as he wished.
He could climb back to the summit at any time.
He had that much confidence in himself.
However...
‘Testing my current limits would not be a bad idea.’
Thinking that, Dae-hyun rose from the bed.
At the very least, now was the time to blend into everyday life.
***
Blending into the situation.
That was not difficult.
No one had spoken to him in the first place, and Dae-hyun deliberately avoided anything that seemed likely to become troublesome.
There was no real opportunity for him to be exposed.
‘So indifference is useful at times like this.’
Leaving the surrounding atmosphere behind, Dae-hyun walked toward the only empty seat in the corner of the very back row.
He sat down and looked out the window.
Beyond it was not the dark red sky of the Demon Realm, but a bright blue sky.
‘Hmm.’
He had returned. As he looked at the sky amid such peaceful everyday life, that fact felt real once more.
‘Of course, when I think about the Demon Realm, that feeling disappears too...’
In any case, he decided to let that pass lightly.
It was something he would grow accustomed to in time, was it not?
As Dae-hyun looked outside with a serious expression, a voice came from somewhere.
“Hey.”
A deep, severe voice and an openly mocking tone.
At the sound of that ridicule from somewhere, Dae-hyun turned his head.
“Do you not have anything to say to me?”
Park Se-chan pointed at his own swollen red jaw.
He was glaring at Dae-hyun, who sat in his chair, with eyes full of hostility.
‘Look at that bandage.’
The sight of him having forced a bandage around his badly swollen jaw looked somewhat amusing.
There was a high probability that it was the mark of the blow Dae-hyun had landed on him that morning.
That was why Dae-hyun could say it.
“If you are telling me to say something about that wound... I have nothing.”
“...You.”
GRIND―.
Park Se-chan clenched his teeth in fury.
He bit down so hard that the sound could be heard from where Dae-hyun sat.
“You bastard.”
“Hmm.”
Dae-hyun turned his head and looked around.
Even though Park Se-chan was picking a fight with him so openly and in such a loud voice, no one around them stepped forward for his sake.
‘This is convenient.’
He did not need unnecessary attention.
What Dae-hyun wanted was not this sort of verbal quarrel or childish fight.
‘Of course, fighting here would not be a good idea either.’
The gazes of countless people.
If Park Se-chan touched Dae-hyun here, Park Se-chan himself would lose any excuse to get out of it.
‘He wants to pick on the weak, but he does not want to look like a one-sided piece of trash.’
Striking someone from the front and hitting someone from behind.
From Dae-hyun’s perspective, he could not understand what difference there was between the two, but he had no intention of understanding it in the first place.
‘Because you were always that kind of person.’
That was why Dae-hyun merely provoked him moderately and did nothing else.
Like a fisherman casting bait and waiting. Like waiting for the bite to come on its own.
“You... just wait until sparring.”
“Listen to the way you talk.”
As if Dae-hyun had been waiting for it.
Park Se-chan disappeared after radiating killing intent toward him.
At that moment—
‘Well, that should be enough.’
He had taken the bait.
That thought began to settle in Dae-hyun’s mind.
***
From what he heard the other students say, the first class was sparring.
Dae-hyun headed to the training ground where the sparring would take place.
As expected, he did not know the location, so he followed the other male students.
The glances they kept shooting at him here and there were irritating, but Dae-hyun paid them no mind.
“This class will be sparring.”
The way the class began was the same as before.
The teacher stood in front and spoke alone.
The only somewhat special thing was that the teacher’s explanation was not long.
“...That concludes the precautions before sparring. Any questions?”
What the teacher explained was simple.
Do not think of holding back. Do not think of losing on purpose.
Fight each other with everything you have, as though this were actual combat.
‘How convenient.’
If he had no strength—no, because he had no strength—he had to know his limits clearly.
‘An existence that dies easily from trivial things and is trampled beneath the strong. That is the weak.’
To rise to the position of the strong, acknowledging one’s limits came first, and that was important.
“Park Se-chan. Prepare yourself.”
“Yes, sir.”
Se-chan nodded and stepped into the arena set up behind the teacher.
After confirming that he had entered, the teacher spoke again.
“Choose the opponent you want to spar with.”
At the instruction to choose an opponent, he ground his teeth and said,
“I would like to fight Kang Dae-hyun.”
“Kang Dae-hyun, are you all right with that?”
At the teacher’s question, Dae-hyun smiled.
He did not grow angry or tense. He merely smiled.
He could feel hostility filled with fury in Se-chan’s gaze, but Dae-hyun lightly nodded and said,
“I am all right with it.”
“Are you truly all right with it? You do not seem to have a chance of winning in direct combat.”
“It does not matter.”
At Dae-hyun’s firm answer, the teacher nodded and naturally looked toward the corner of the training ground.
“Choose your weapon.”
As though reacting to his words, Dae-hyun and Se-chan silently walked toward the corner.
Among the many weapons displayed along the wall, Se-chan picked up a wooden sword without hesitation.
“Then I will use this.”
He swung the wooden sword through the air a few times.
It was light and had no killing power, but it felt good in the hand.
It was the perfect weapon for sparring.
After confirming that Se-chan had chosen his weapon, the teacher turned his head and looked at Dae-hyun.
“What are you doing? Choose your weapon already.”
Meanwhile, although Se-chan had chosen a weapon that suited his hand, Dae-hyun was still empty-handed.
As if there was nothing among them that he liked.
For now, he was merely looking over all the weapons.
‘Hmm. As expected...’
Dae-hyun shook his head.
He had looked in case there was something he liked, but in the end, it was exactly as he had expected.
‘At first, I used a spear.’
At the time he had awakened as a superhuman.
Before going to the Demon Realm, when he had entered the training school and chosen a weapon, he had chosen a spear.
There had been no reason.
It had simply... looked a little safe.
Keeping distance from the opponent had seemed like a good idea.
‘Well, either way, it is equally unsuited to a Healing Type.’
Doing things as he usually did would be best.
Having thought that, Dae-hyun gave a faint smile, as if he had decided on an answer, and spoke.
“I do not need one.”