Ch.110Past VS Future

After finishing up the aftermath of the Gojillia incident, we naturally returned to Korea.

Osaka City couldn’t just enjoy tourism since it had to deal with the cleanup after a super-massive monster.

Originally, I thought we’d return with the same members who came.

But then.

“I’m going to stay in Japan for a while.”

“In Japan?”

“Yes. I just became the family head, and Osaka City hasn’t completely normalized yet, so once I finish this work, I’ll come back to Korea to see you, Shinwoo.”

Family Head Kurumi said she would remain in Japan to take on her first duties as head.

Well, the reason she came to Korea in the first place was because the family had forcibly driven her out.

Now she wasn’t some illegitimate princess, but the proper current head of the Kitsune Family.

In other words, she now had the duty to protect Osaka City, and I nodded in understanding.

And as for the Villain’s Troupe.

“We can just illegally immigrate back on our own~.”

“Thanks to the super-massive monster, a national emergency has been declared. The forged passports we used to get here probably won’t work anymore.”

“Heh, hehe! We grabbed tons of PlayStations and Xboxes anyway, so we have plenty of time~!”

Well, they seemed like they’d manage to get back fine on their own too.

“Take care, Shinwoo. And let’s meet again next time.”

“Sh-Shinwoo! I’ll write! No, I’ll send you messages!”

After exchanging farewells with the Kitsune Family members and setting foot on Korean soil, about two days had passed.

“Sigh…”

Ever since returning from Japan, my daily life had become a grueling march.

That was because of Sophia’s inner feelings that I’d unintentionally overheard, along with.

“Shinwoo.”

“?! Rokyu?”

“Take this…”

“Huh?! Th-this is…”

Just before leaving Osaka Airport.

Taking advantage of a moment when no one was around, Rokyu had just given me this ring-shaped Beast Hunter exclusive equipment.

“You take it.”

“Me? But I’m not even a Beast Hunter.”

“…You know better than anyone why I’m giving this to you.”

“……!”

Rokyu, who had already given up on Sophia.

The reason such a Rokyu handed me this ring was simple.

This was equipment that only Beast Hunters like Sophia could use anyway.

If I can’t use it when you give it to her, then you give it to her so she can use it – that’s what he meant.

But why did it have to be ring-shaped…

‘This makes it look exactly like I’m proposing…’

Sophia.

Sophia, huh…

Come to think of it, how had I been thinking of her?

Before leaving America, Sophia had been like a timid little sister I absolutely had to protect, and even now that the original story had begun, that feeling hadn’t changed.

No matter how strong Sophia had become when she returned, given the story’s power balance, there would hardly be any situations where a B-rank Hunter could step forward anymore.

Sophia was my precious family that I had to protect.

That’s how I’d been looking at Sophia until now, and it seemed like that fact wouldn’t change no matter how much time passed.

But apparently to Sophia, I was more than just family she lived with.

“Actually, there’s a man I’d like to receive a ring from for the first time.”

Honestly, it wasn’t that I hadn’t noticed Sophia’s feelings for me.

I was just avoiding them.

We were… at least to me, Sophia was my first real family.

“Bring more alcohol!”

Until I possessed this world, I had lived without knowing anything about ‘family affection.’

So maybe that’s why I kept avoiding Sophia’s feelings.

I was afraid that the proper family relationship I’d finally obtained might get twisted in a strange direction.

Because I was scared of that, I’d been pretending not to know all this time.

But it seemed virtually confirmed that in the future, we would get married and even have children.

“Sigh…”

A mountain I’d have to cross eventually anyway.

More than anything, for the sake of my relationship with Sophia that had become strangely awkward since returning from Japan, as a man, I had to step forward first.

But I’d been unable to find the right timing for two days now.

“Sigh… This is driving me crazy…”

“Oppa, if you keep sighing like that, your luck will run away.”

“I know that, but…”

“Cheer up. I heard that in the future I become a really bad person following oppa around, but if we both work hard from now on, we can both become good people!”

“Come to think of it, there was that issue too…”

And there were so damn many problems to solve.

It felt like there were sub-quests more important than the main quest piled up all over the place.

Ever since Jaewon disappeared in front of us that day, I’d heard the entire future story that future Lia had told Sophia.

A future where 99% of humanity had perished.

All humans became mayflies hiding underground because they feared the surface, and the world became dominated by monsters.

And apparently, the one who established the only nation in such a world and ruled it was me.

‘Isn’t there too much to do…?’

On top of that, there was future Lia’s declaration of war that she’d come back to kidnap past Sophia since future Sophia had died.

It was a situation where even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough – having to clear the main quest while making up with Sophia while dealing with my future self.

Thanks to that, my head was all complicated, so I was walking around the neighborhood with Lia to get some fresh air.

“Oh, Shinwoo.”

“Cheran? Hello.”

“Yes, hello. What a coincidence to see you again like this.”

A person I happened to make eye contact with while looking around for a cafe to drop by.

Well, our house was near the Hunter Association after all.

I happened to run into Cheran, who was patrolling this area, while walking down the street.

And that wasn’t all.

“Oh, if it isn’t that human and that sister person from before!”

“Oh, you’re…”

“Sister… person?”

For some unknown combination of reasons, Lia’s younger sister Eve, dressed up prettily like a doll, was with Cheran.

“Eve? How are you here…”

“Hehe. I was so stuffy just staying at home and wanted to go out, so mom entrusted me to this human!”

“I’m currently accompanying Eve as her guardian.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Eve had a bright smile on her face, apparently finding the human city tour quite fun.

“Hey, Eve. What kind of speech habit is calling your sister ‘sister person’?”

“Hmph! What’s it to you if I call her whatever I want?”

“…Do you want to get your butt spanked again like before?”

“Eek?! Ch-Cheran human! Hide me.”

“Hahaha…”

Had they become close enough to call each other by name?

Eve quickly scurried behind Cheran’s back, scared of the stern Lia.

My head had been complicated, but seeing these two kids made me laugh and lifted my mood a little.

Meanwhile.

“Shinwoo.”

“Ah, yes. Cheran.”

“Do you happen to have some kind of worry?”

“Huh? Ah, well…”

As expected of Cheran.

She seemed to have seen right through my inner thoughts within seconds of meeting.

As I gave an awkward bitter smile at this.

“Shall we talk at a cafe together?”

“No way, I don’t want to!”

“I like it.”

“Eek?!”

She wanted to sit with me to listen to my worries, and it wasn’t a problem I could solve by worrying about it alone anyway.

“…Yes, shall we do that?”

Since Cheran was older than me, maybe she could help solve this kind of romantic worry too.

With that expectation, I followed her into a nearby cafe.

***

It was like the age of myths.

A magnificent palace of brilliant white light, as if humans had personally stacked stones to worship the gods.

The territory surrounded by castle walls was similar in size to one autonomous district from when humans used to live on the surface.

This place was a perfect utopia where day after day, there was no hunger, no war, not even the slightest lack of anything.

The ideal supreme nation where everyone was happy that the communists of the Cold War era had dreamed of becoming, but couldn’t achieve due to the limitations of the human species.

But as nothing in the world is perfect, even in such a territory’s palace, on the top floor of the most sacred castle.

The man who owned that throne room continued his tedious life, living each day simply because he couldn’t die.

“Your Majesty. The First Princess’s son is alive.”

“……What.”

He was soon hearing an unbelievable story from the concubine he currently trusted most, and for the first time in a very long time, his eyes were regaining their vitality.

“And I briefly succeeded in going to the past, thanks to the effect of the Ring of the Future that we’re currently researching.”

“You went… to the past?”

“Yes, and there I was able to meet my sister after such a long time.”

“…!!”

In the dark room, Lia knelt on one knee, explaining what she had experienced.

In front of her sat the current ruler of the world.

The tyrant who had turned all lands except the Korean Peninsula into uninhabitable infernos, the ‘apex’ of this world, her beloved older brother.

“Lia, does that mean we can go soon? To that time when everyone was still happy?”

“Yes. The fact that I went to the past already means the experiment has essentially completed its final stage.”

Hearing Lia’s words, the king on the throne closed his eyes for a moment as if recalling the past.

A world before all the misfortune had even begun.

The bright and beautiful world of humans.

And it was none other than himself who had been betrayed by such a world and destroyed it.

And doing something a second time wasn’t particularly difficult once you’d done it once.

“Have you already decided which children will go to bring Sophia back?”

“Yes. I’ve decided to send the first and sixteenth children with the Han surname, the twenty-fourth child who just completed the coming-of-age ceremony, and the thirty-first child who still needs experience.”

“Good. I’ll leave it to you, Lia.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The older brother who had essentially declared war on the past.

After briefly confronting the current Shinwoo, Lia soon came out of the audience chamber and met the older brother’s children who had been waiting in front of the door.

“Hehe. Are you coming out now? Your Majesty.”

The 31st child born between a National Authority-Level Hunter from the 9th Queen and Han Shinwoo.

Shina.

“Shina, you shouldn’t speak so familiarly to the Second Queen.”

The 24th child born between the 6th Queen, who had been a saint from the Vatican, and Han Shinwoo.

Yurian.

“If we go to the past and meet father from that era, would it be okay to fight him?”

And one of the five children who inherited the ‘Han’ surname as proof of being recognized by Han Shinwoo.

The 16th child born between the 5th Queen, who had been a researcher, and Han Shinwoo.

Han Yujin.

Finally.

“Then I’ll be going. Mother.”

“Yes… Leon is the eldest among these children, so you have to take good care of the other children too. You understand?”

“Yes. Please leave it to me.”

The only son between Lia and Han Shinwoo that Lia had given birth to herself.

The first prince born between the Second Queen and Han Shinwoo.

Han Leon.

And so the children moved forward to bring their father what he desired.

“Alright! Then let’s go!”

“An era when humans were still swarming around. There must be tons of strong guys, right?”

“I was also interested in the military forces organized by humans!”

“This isn’t a pleasure trip. Show some restraint.”

“””Yesss~~.”””