Reunion – 1

The first sense to return was smell.

A pungent odor stung my nose.

Next was hearing.

The sound of clanging metal echoed from afar.

Then sight.

Opening my closed eyes, something familiar floated before me.

[Dimensional Shift Count: 7]

Right. I laid down in bed for a quick nap and died just like that.

Thankfully, no one killed me.

Emma… I hope it takes you a long, long time to decipher it.

And even if you do understand the contents of that text, I hope you continue to live.

I had thought that dying of natural causes might be the condition to end this damned Dimensional Shift.

Because that damned pigeon would want me to ‘suffer and die at the hands of someone.’

So I thought that if I died of natural causes, there might be a loophole in the curse she placed on me, and it would end.

But the result was failure.

Whether I die at the hands of someone or of natural causes, the Dimensional Shift continues.

All that’s left is to take my own life.

But I don’t yet have the courage to try that.

-Cough, cough

My throat is scratchy, and I let out a dry cough.

Right, let’s stop thinking about the previous dimension.

I can’t interfere anymore.

What happens from now on is what’s important.

“What is this place?”

I turn my head to look around.

First, a house comes into view. Not a modern house made of concrete, nor a mansion built of bricks, but a small house made of mud walls.

A room so cramped that my feet would touch the wall if I lay down.

I get up.

I wondered why the sunlight was so strong in a house, but it turned out that a large hole was in one wall.

Broken wooden planks and household items were scattered haphazardly on the floor.

“War? Disaster?”

It looks like it was destroyed by war or hit by a typhoon.

Judging by the burning smell coming from outside, the former is more likely.

Was the last dimension a bit easy, then?

Isn’t war too high a difficulty level right after a shift?

I get up and examine my body.

The clothes are rags. There are worn marks here and there, but they don’t seem to be burned.

“Just looks like someone who can’t afford much.”

Judging by the house and clothes, it doesn’t seem like I’m living a prosperous life.

The clothes suggest it’s an Eastern setting, and looking at the farming tools discarded outside, it seems the previous me was a farmer.

Looking at the hole in the wall, I open the door and go outside.

“Wow….”

The situation outside is even more dire.

Some houses have their roofs blown off, and others have collapsed walls.

And the corpses of people scattered around.

-Ugh

A wave of nausea rises.

The events of the Black Heaven Cult come to mind.

The high mountain built of the dead.

Memories I thought I had forgotten resurface and appear before my eyes.

Ah, this is not the time for this.

First, I need to figure out where I am and get some help.

My legs are weak, as if I’ve been lying down for a long time. I stumble along the road, looking around.

It takes a lot of courage and a strong stomach to pass the corpses left unattended.

I pinch my nose and walk as far away from the corpses as possible.

As I walk along a path that gradually widens, I see a yard-like area where people are gathering in the distance.

I think I might be able to meet someone alive if I go there.

But, as I came, the condition of the corpses is strange.

If there was a war, the bodies would be pierced or cut by something, and they wouldn’t be intact, but everyone is fine without any external injuries.

Instead, they are all in a severely mummified state, whether it’s because they’ve been exposed to the sun for a long time or because of severe decomposition.

The skin is shriveled without elasticity, and the cheeks are sunken.

The pupils are cloudy, as if covered with a white film, and not a trace of vitality remains.

“Is this… really a corpse?”

A visual that looks like something out of a zombie movie.

Thinking that, I enter the plaza.

I look around, but there are still only corpses, and no one alive exists except for me.

I don’t know what to do.

I decided to take a gamble.

“Hello! Is anyone here!!!!”

I tried to shout as loud as I could, but I didn’t have anything to eat, so the sound didn’t come out as loud as I thought it would.

I put my hand to my mouth and made it like a trumpet and shouted again.

“Hello! Is anyone here!!!!”

I shout again.

I hope someone hears this and comes.

I shout with the hope that it will be someone who will help me.

But, even with my voice, the surroundings are still silent.

Is there no one here?

Let’s call out one more time.

“Is any…!!”

At that moment, with a dull impact, my body fell forward.

I fell to the ground as I was, and something stepped on my back and pressed down.

“Ack! It hurts!”

“You… reveal your identity.”

Even in a state of being restrained, I was relieved that someone had come.

At least it’s someone I can communicate with.

“I, I don’t know. When I opened my eyes, the village was like this.”

“Don’t lie! I clearly confirmed that there were no survivors. Who sent you as a spy? Or are you also in league with that monster?”

A youthful voice continues to interrogate me, uttering incomprehensible words.

“I don’t know anything!”

I struggled and protested, but the more I did, the stronger the force pressing down on me became.

Unable to move, I continued to shout and proclaim my innocence.

“Remove your foot.”

A mature woman’s voice, different from the voice that was interrogating me, was heard.

And the shoes worn by the owner of the voice were visible in front of my eyes.

“But Master. It’s a suspicious person.”

“Judging by the fact that I don’t feel any evil energy, it seems like someone who was hiding somewhere. You must have seen a lot of terrible things, so let that person go.”

At the woman’s voice, the pressure pressing down on my back disappeared.

“Get up.”

At the woman’s voice, I got up.

The person who told me to release me was a middle-aged woman, who was well-built and looked sturdy.

“Please understand that this happened because my disciple is so meticulous. The neighborhood is also chaotic.”

“Yes… well… but did a war break out? The people are all….”

“It seems you didn’t realize what happened because it happened so suddenly. Anyway, this place is chaotic, so follow me. I’ll tell you the story in a suitable place.”

Speaking politely to me, the woman led me.

I had no reason to refuse, so I nodded and followed her.

“Ah, say hello to my disciple before you go. This is also a kind of relationship.”

The woman cast her gaze behind me, and I finally turned around to face the person who had been restraining me until now.

Hair tied up in the back, sharp eyes, slender face.

I rubbed my eyes and looked at her again.

“Hmph, I subdued you because you were acting so suspiciously, so don’t think it’s unfair.”

With a sulky face, she mumbled as if she didn’t like me, puffing out her cheeks.

“…..”

Looking at that face, I couldn’t say anything.

The woman clasped her hands and introduced herself.

“Namgung Soyu, the 37th disciple of Yomryun Skill. That’s my name.”

The girl with Master’s face, whom I had sent to the depths of my memory and forgotten for a while, was staring at me indifferently.