Chapter 140: The time when I was a hero?

The story of Yuri, a hero who had quite a variety of adventures, was coming to an end before I knew it.

After returning to Earth, it wasn’t really a topic worth wondering about anymore—since she had met me and come all the way here.

“How’s life here? Is it uncomfortable?”

“No, it’s fine. I figured I could handle living anywhere since I only need to endure a year… but I didn’t expect it to be this nice. Honestly, it’s so charming that anyone would want to stay here even after the year is up.”

“That makes me feel kind of proud.”

Well, this place is pretty amazing.

We get ample financial support, so as long as you can put up with not being able to go outside, you can live without any real inconveniences.

The world is so convenient these days that you can get everything delivered.

That made me curious.

I had my streaming career, and Ajin worked as an editor.

‘But what about the girl in front of me? How was she spending her time?’

When I asked, her answer was surprisingly simple.

“I’m catching up on my studies… and practicing cooking from time to time.”

“Is becoming a chef your dream?”

“Mm, I don’t think so. My family runs a restaurant, so I know firsthand how busy and exhausting it is. I just cook for my own satisfaction—I don’t think I could make food for customers like my parents do.”

She laughed awkwardly as she explained that she didn’t dream of being a chef.

I thought it was a shame, considering her skills, but career paths are something each person decides carefully.

As long as it wasn’t something completely unreasonable, the best thing to do was support her.

More than that, something else in Yuri’s answer caught my attention.

“Your family runs a restaurant?”

“Yes, it’s a café and restaurant. Besides coffee and drinks, they make all sorts of things, like baked goods and pasta. My parents are both really skilled, so I guess my hobby of cooking comes from their influence.”

She hesitated for a moment, then, when our eyes met, she gave a slightly shy smile.

“You should come by sometime.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.”

I gave a vague response to Yuri’s invitation, but my thoughts were elsewhere.

‘Should I ask?’

I hesitated.

Yuri had been summoned to this world as a hero.

That meant she had been forcibly separated from her family.

Even though she was back on Earth, she couldn’t return home immediately.

No one could say for sure what had happened in the meantime.

Even something that would normally be an easy question to ask made me hesitate.

“Um… are your parents doing well? You haven’t seen them in a long time.”

I started carefully, lowering my gaze slightly.

Yuri gave a bright smile and answered immediately.

“Fortunately, both my parents are doing well. I haven’t been able to contact them directly, but from what I found online, it looks like they’re still running the restaurant.”

Ah, that’s a relief.

I let out a quiet sigh as the tension that had been weighing on me eased.

But it wouldn’t be right to just let things be for an entire year.

“What if you tried reaching out to them later?”

“Huh?”

Yuri blinked in surprise.

She looked like she hadn’t expected the suggestion.

“You know the address here. You could invite your family over. Even if you can’t leave, they can still visit.”

“Ah, well… It’s not that I haven’t thought about it, but wouldn’t that be difficult? They’d probably want to take me home right away.”

“Of course they would. But I think the sooner you see them, the better. Even if they don’t show it, I’m sure they’re struggling deep down. If they’re not too far away, it would be best to invite them here. And if convincing them is really hard, you could always tell them the truth—that you were a hero. I can help with that too.”

There was no need to broadcast to the world that she was a hero, but it was something she could at least tell her family.

Dayoung and Ajin had both reunited with their families, since their curses weren’t so severe that they couldn’t meet them at all.

But Yuri still had to endure an entire year.

I couldn’t just leave things as they were.

Worst case scenario, if persuasion failed and her parents tried to take her by force… well, once she stepped outside and turned into a man, they’d have no choice but to accept the reality of the situation.

I didn’t think things would escalate to that point, though.

“Of course, if you’re not ready, there’s no rush. A year will pass in no time. I just mean that if it’s tough on you, you don’t have to force yourself to endure it alone.”

“…I’ll think about it and let you know. Thank you, Sehee. For always helping me…”

“Hey, anytime. Just let me know if things ever get too hard.”

Even a hero couldn’t just erase the pain of being separated from their family.

I wouldn’t let her fall into loneliness, left behind like I was.

Just as I was starting to feel more at ease, having tied up the loose ends of my curiosity—

***

“What about you, Sehee?”

Yuri, who had just been thanking me, suddenly looked at me with curiosity and asked a question.

“Huh?”

She continued.

“I’m curious about your adventures, Sehee. What was it like?”

As Yuri asked her question at the end of her own story, my thoughts came to a halt.

“The time when I was a hero?”

At her words, memories I had pushed to the back of my mind resurfaced on their own.

I thought I had forgotten, buried under gaming and streaming.

But the memories returned with vivid clarity, as if it had all happened just yesterday.

Even for someone like me, it had been nothing but a series of dangerous days.

“I didn’t have any companions. I took the Demon King’s head by myself. So there’s not much of a story to tell.”

“What? You did it alone, without any companions?”

At Yuri’s words, I nodded.

“Yeah. It was more like a war than an adventure. Demons poured out through the rift, and I had to hold them back from the inside while sealing the gate. I pushed forward and eventually took down the Demon King… Sometimes reinforcements would enter the rift, but after fighting for a week straight without sleep or rest, they all got wiped out. In the end, I never really had a proper conversation with anyone.”

Rather than a hero, I was more like a weapon created to save the world.

Or maybe that’s just what a hero is, in the worst sense of the word.

Fragments of memories surfaced—glimpses of faces I once saw.

But I didn’t even know their names.

Looking back now, I found myself wondering—’what kind of people were they?’

Though we never spoke, we exchanged glances in the midst of brutal battles.

The look in their eyes back then… It shone brilliantly with determination and resolve, their unwavering will to protect the world.

And yet, those same people fell in the end, their bodies collapsing lifelessly.

It was a memory I really didn’t want to recall.

***

“Was it so hopeless that even you struggled, Sehee?”

“Yeah. There were an overwhelming number of them. I was blocking the main path, holding back the bulk of their forces, but even the demons that had already crossed over and were causing havoc must have numbered in the billions. On top of that…”

Ugh. Great. Now I’m remembering all the horrific stuff again.

There’s this thing people talk about online called the ‘X-Cast’—a so-called tactical nuke.

But I can say with absolute certainty that the demons I faced weren’t just weapons of war.

Their very existence was a strategic nuke in itself.

It wasn’t just that they were monstrous—they did things so vile and revolting it made me want to tear my hair out.

For example…

I forced the memories back—grotesque creatures, corruption, fear, despair, and filth all swirling together.

There was no need for Yuri, or Ajin, or Dayoung to know about those things.

It was better if they didn’t.

“I just kept fighting, and in the end, I won. Lucky, huh? That I didn’t die.”

I brushed it off vaguely.

“That’s the whole story. Nothing grand. I just fought nonstop until I won. Pretty dull, huh?”

“…I see.”

Fortunately, Yuri seemed to accept my answer.

She had probably simplified it in her head—something like, ‘Sehee went through an even harder battle than Ajin or Dayoung did.’

Good.

That was for the best.

There was no need to dig any deeper.

Some things just weren’t meant to be shared.

***

[Warden Rank #1 taken away—look at that devastated expression, LOL!]

[That guy next to Lotus Tenryon is messing with him so hard, lmao]

[Friede! Achieves the goal with a last-minute win! Her timing is unreal!]

[Pre-season patch notes are out~]

“She actually managed to pull that off last minute.”

A small sound of admiration escaped Dayoung as she scrolled through the internet.

The timing was almost too perfect.

The reclaiming of Rank #1 wasn’t exactly shocking.

With her skills, I figured it was only a matter of time.

But for her to win the final match in such a dramatic way and take first place—it was the kind of thing you wouldn’t even expect in a scripted storyline.

Even if two people used the same subject matter, the way they presented it could make a world of difference in how the audience reacted.

Friede had essentially turned this season of Soul Warfare into one long, epic drama.

Dayoung had never heard of a streamer—or even a gamer—like her before.

‘No wonder her popularity keeps skyrocketing.’

Even as someone who wasn’t managing the channel, Dayoung could tell the subscriber count was rising at a ridiculous pace.

She had already surpassed a million subscribers.

At this rate, as long as she kept up her activity, the first digit would change again soon enough.

As long as nothing major went wrong, it was only a matter of time.

***

“Dayoung, my dear gamer, I can’t hold it in anymore. I’m so frustrated I might just crap myself. Would that be okay?”

“Oh, shut up!”

Dayoung smacked Pepe with her bag as she groaned in frustration.

Picking up her pace, she neared Sehee’s house.

Then—

“Hmm?”

A figure stood hesitantly in front of the house.

“Who…?”

“Who the hell are you?”