Ch.2525. Triumphant Return

I’ve lived as a complete bum for 26 years, never leaving home for extended periods.

Even military service, which every healthy Korean man in his twenties must complete, I got exempted for various reasons.

That’s why my sister calls me a “cripple who got exempted,” but I don’t mind since it allowed me to enjoy Farming World for two extra years compared to others.

She tries to get under my skin, but when I see how many people envy me when I post about being “an exempted cripple” on community forums, I know it’s actually a good thing.

For these reasons, I’ve lived my entire life as a home protector, never leaving home for more than a few days. But now, as the master of the Rift Dimension, I’ve been away for seven days already.

At first, I wondered if I could handle it.

Could I really live somewhere else for seven days?

Though I’ve practically lived in Farming World for ten years, I was only “practically” living there, not actually living there.

When playing Farming World intensively, I’d set my character to sleep mode and log out to sleep in my real bed at home.

That’s normal, even if you decorate your mansion and place a nice bed in the game.

There’s an enormous difference between sleeping in a virtual reality capsule and actually lying down on a real bed.

Even though putting your brain into a semi-sleep state while awake is almost like sleeping, it’s still shallow sleep, so doctors always advise maintaining a certain amount of real-world sleep.

Because of this, Farming World users joke about having to manage both Farming World sleep time and real-world sleep time, and some actually create routines to accommodate both.

It’s not difficult. You just play the game as usual, then log out for 6-8 hours to sleep.

If you set the time ratio to 1:1 when you log out, your game character and real-world self will wake up at the same time.

So I’ve always slept in the real world. Even when pulling all-nighters in the capsule, my body was always in the capsule.

That’s why, even though I’ve been busy for seven days without noticing the time passing, now that it’s time to return, I feel strangely unsettled, like I’ve been away from home.

“I’ve packed everything I need.”

On [Day 7], I went to the orchard to water everything thoroughly and continued clearing the path toward the village.

I could have just used [Leap Slash] to get there and activate the quest, but since I’m working on the [Explorer Achievement] quest anyway, I slowly cleared the path all the way to the village entrance without actually entering.

I planned to continue after logging out and returning, so that day I had nothing special to do. I reorganized the messy garden in the front yard, and at night I prepared ramen and snacks that Lulu likes, grilled some meat, and spent time relaxing.

“Have a safe trip, Master.”

I had asked Lulu if she could come with me.

“When Master’s dimensional gate becomes stronger, I can go. My role is to help Master protect this place, so when your home is stabilized and safe… please take me with you then.”

Though she whines about spicy food, Lulu, who now drinks every drop of cup ramen broth until her mouth turns red, seemed eager to follow me to Earth, but it’s not possible right now.

If it were possible, I wouldn’t mind taking Lulu with me.

I don’t know how many days I’ll be gone, but having Lulu around would be somewhat helpful.

She’d be safe if she stayed in the cabin, but she wouldn’t be a hindrance if I took her along.

Maybe later I could take her out and introduce her as my pet, which might attract quite a bit of attention.

I emptied my belt inventory of tools like axes and pickaxes. In slot 1, I placed the Sewer Sword, and in the rest, I packed things to take with me:

A carry-on suitcase, a fruit basket, glass stones and gloves, and the Fang Dagger.

Looking at all this, I felt pretty well-prepared.

“I’ve been living quite productively.”

It’s only been seven days, but on the first day, I was worried about how much I could take with me. Now I think I’ve achieved more than I expected.

“Logout”

After seven days, I returned to Earth.

——————

“Hssss…”

I didn’t notice this when playing Farming World, but after spending seven days in the Rift Dimension, I could clearly feel it.

“The air is terrible.”

The moment I returned to Earth, I understood why older people always talk about places with “good air.”

Just taking a breath, there was something unpleasant entering through my nose, like something getting caught in my nose hairs, unlike the air I breathed in the Rift Dimension.

I thought it was just nonsense old people said, but the difference in air quality is real.

Strangely, my room felt unfamiliar after just seven days away.

The Rift Dimension isn’t some amazingly well-decorated house, and the bed my mom bought for me here is actually better, but still.

Is this how a son feels after moving out?

Who would have thought that my home and room of 26 years would feel so strange after being away for just seven days?

“Hmm… next time I go, I should take my blanket. And my mattress too if possible.”

Rather than feeling happy to be home, I found myself noticing things I could take to furnish my other home.

While selling what I brought back, I need to carefully consider what to take next time, I thought as I opened the door and went out.

“Mom! I’m home!”

“Suhyeon?”

After eating nothing but Big Rats meat for seven days, I missed my mom’s stew.

I did cook instant rice, but nothing beats home-cooked meals.

But my mom’s reaction was unexpected.

“Suhyeon!”

She ran to me from the dark bedroom, her eyes swollen from crying, and hugged me while checking my entire body for injuries.

“What’s going on? Why are you like this?”

“Where have you been, you rascal?”

“I told you I was going to a dungeon, didn’t I?”

“What? You really went? To a dungeon?”

“Yeah.”

Something seemed off about her reaction, so I asked suspiciously:

“Did you think I was dead?”

“You disappeared without a word for six days—of course I thought something happened!”

“…”

Is that so?

Well, I guess that makes sense.

Seven days ago, I couldn’t tell her I was dimension-traveling to the Rift Dimension, so I just said I was going to a dungeon and packed my bags. That must be her last memory.

“But why six days? It’s been seven.”

“Didn’t you leave at dawn the next day? Sujeong said she didn’t see you leave.”

“Ah. Right.”

Whatever, as long as I came back alive.

There weren’t any real dangers, so I wanted to tell her to calm down and that she was overreacting, but seeing her worried expression, I didn’t want to be an ungrateful son, so I comforted her.

“Mom, your son has become fucking strong. I might kill monsters out there, but I won’t die, so don’t worry.”

“You little brat. When did I ever tell you to go somewhere so dangerous? I won’t tell you to get a job, so just stay home and play games, okay?”

“What games, Mom? A 26-year-old bum who plays games all day is just waste. From now on, I’m the head of this household.”

“Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.”

I know that’s the sound of my mom’s heart breaking.

Even without me, she’s always worried about my sister going into dungeons—that’s a parent’s heart.

How worried must she be when both her only children say they’re entering dungeons?

But what can we do?

“Ah, what am I thinking?”

Mom quickly made a phone call.

“Suhyeon’s dad. We found him. Suhyeon came home. Cancel the report… Yes. Tell Sujeong too.”

“…You even filed a report?”

“Your dad and Sujeong went to the Hunter Association to report you missing.”

Well, I feel bad for making them worry so much.

But there’s nothing I can do about it.

There’s no point in explaining my situation to my parents—they wouldn’t understand even if I tried.

It’s faster to just appease them by being a good son.

“Mom, I’m hungry. Can I have some food?”

“Oh my. Have you not been eating? Wait, I’ll make you something.”

And above all, the sofa was so comfortable.

“I definitely need to take this sofa with me.”

As I buried myself in the soft sofa, watching TV and lounging around, my dad and Kim Sujeong returned about 30 minutes later.

“Well, well. You’re in one piece?”

Dad looked at me, gave a hollow laugh, clicked his tongue, and went to his room, while my sister kicked me.

“You crazy bastard! You just awakened and immediately went into a dungeon? Are you out of your mind?”

“You didn’t take me with you.”

“Ugh, seriously.”

I didn’t really want to enter a dungeon with Kim Sujeong, but since she was being annoying, I just shifted the blame to her.

I ignored her nagging and enjoyed the meal my mom prepared.

“Ah, this is it! Here!”

I took out the Big Rats Mom meat from my inventory.

“Mom, a gift.”

“What’s this? Meat?”

“I caught it myself.”

“So you really did go to a dungeon.”

“That’s what I said.”

Big Rats meat is delicious, but I wonder how chewy Big Rats Mom meat would be.

As I calmly ate my meal, the atmosphere at home quickly returned to normal.

After finishing my delicious meal, I was about to go to my room when Kim Sujeong followed me in.

“What?”

“I’ve arranged a spot for you in a dungeon run the day after tomorrow, so come with me.”

“What spot?”

“A dungeon spot! You asked me to take you to a dungeon! I asked the guild master to make room for you, so come.”

She said with a deeply furrowed brow, which surprised me.

I just said it casually.

“What are you anyway? A C-rank mage is trash, isn’t it?”

“Shut up! What do you know when you just awakened? I worked hard to get you this spot, so stop making Mom and Dad worry and just follow me for a while.”

I don’t know exactly because I’m not interested, but as far as I know, Kim Sujeong is a C-rank elemental mage of some sort.

With C-rank abilities, she doesn’t receive the same treatment as B-rank or A-rank, but I guess she gets decent treatment in a small to medium-sized guild?

Enough to bring along one useless hunter whose abilities are unknown?

“Fine. Let me know when you’re going.”

“Ugh, you really act like you’re aging backward.”

I gave her the middle finger as she left, clicking her tongue.

I was interested in experiencing a real dungeon in reality, so there was no reason to turn down the opportunity.

And Kim Sujeong isn’t taking me because she wants to.

After seeing Mom and Dad’s reactions today, especially Mom’s, it seemed like a good idea to follow Kim Sujeong to give them some peace of mind.

After all, I’m not looking for a dungeon that matches my level—I just want to experience one.

A triumphant return.

My homecoming was a success.