episode_0056

A ramen restaurant that Sojung found after searching for a long time.

Since there were no commercial areas left near the gate, we arrived at the store only after taking a taxi for over 30 minutes.

“Wow!!”

In the steaming bowl, a large piece of chashu and a cut egg with a slightly undercooked yolk were deliciously covering the ramen.

Hehehe

Hehehe

slurp slurp

slurp

slurp slurp

Jihoon puts hot ramen in his mouth while trying to cool it down

“Wow, this place is really delicious. The meat is so big, why don’t you eat it? Ramen won’t taste really good if you don’t blow it. You came to Japan to eat ramen?”

“Huh? Yes, I have to eat it”

Watching Jihoon inhale the ramen with a bright face, Sojung remembered what happened earlier and had trouble using chopsticks.

Jihoon hugged himself and cried like a child.

The name ‘Yeonhwa’ that kept coming out of his mouth.

Sojung was trying hard to suppress the urge to ask him what the story was.

She vaguely knew that Jihoon had a story.

Just as she does not tell everything about herself, I have thought that it is okay for Jihoon to have secrets of various kinds.

But, why?

At some point, Sojung started to be very curious about Jihoon.

It was a different kind of curiosity than the curiosity I felt when I first saw his extraordinary inaction and unstoppable actions.

Although it only lasted a few months, she became very close to Jihoon internally.

Sojung was now curious about everything about Jihoon.

I keep thinking that I wish he would tell me everything, whether it’s good or bad, difficult memories, or worries.

I try my best to deny it, but I can’t control it easily.

That’s why I couldn’t ask anything more.

Unless you were a fool, you had no choice but to know. He already had a woman.

Now I don’t know why they can’t be together, but everything Jihoon didn’t say was related to the unidentified girl ‘Yeonhwa’.

slurp

slurp slurp

“Boss! Here’s a bowl… ah… one more goudasai… are you going to understand this?”

Hehehe

When Jihoon saw Jihoon finishing one bowl in no time and ordering more in a mixture of Japanese and English, which he couldn’t understand, Sojeong smiled without even realizing it.

Yes… I really like the somewhat sloppy look like that.

Sojung was so used to everything, even the little details of her daily life with Jihoon.

“You can ask”

“…Huh?”

It took a moment for Jihoon to put down his chopsticks and wait for the next ramen.

He suddenly throws a topic at Sojung.

“You must be curious. Why was I crying so hard and what were the strange nonsense I was saying”

“…”

Sojung couldn’t say anything.

I wanted to immediately ask Ji-hoon, who suddenly attacked me, what your story was and what goal you were pursuing until you died.

But on the other hand, I also hoped he wouldn’t say anything.

Just like now, without saying anything.

If only we ate together, went to the academy together, and just stayed together like we did all this time…

“I have been to a parallel world.”

terrestrial

Sojeong’s heart falls to the ground in an instant.

Unbelievable nonsense came out of Jihoon’s mouth.

But the Sojung in front of me wasn’t surprised because she couldn’t believe his ridiculous nonsense.

Because I believe, because I know that he does not lie…

So I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Huh? Aren’t you surprised? Or do you not believe in something?”

“…believe”

“But why don’t you ask more? Aren’t you excited?”

“It’s amazing…let’s eat ramen quickly”

Sojung picks up her chopsticks and begins to scoop up ramen.

For some reason, I felt like I knew what kind of words his next words would be.

And, I didn’t want to hear that.

It was because I felt like I would become very sad when I heard those words.

But did Jihoon not notice this kind of feeling at all?

Jihoon had to spit out one more word to her as she tried to eat the ramen while talking.

“I left Yeonhwa behind in that world. I will go back again.”

fighting

When Ji-hoon finally listens to the words she didn’t want to hear, tears start to fall from So-jeong’s eyes.

I thought I knew why.

I had a vague idea of what Jihoon’s goal was.

Even though we were always together, it felt like we would suddenly leave.

Sojung puts down her chopsticks and begins to shed tears.

Ji-hoon, who had been talking calmly, is completely embarrassed by her sudden tears and doesn’t know what to do.

“Huh?? What, why are you crying? What’s wrong all of a sudden..?”

“Black…Black”

“Did I make a mistake? No, even if that were the case, suddenly…”

“Black…Who…Who asked?…Black…”

“What? Are you crying because I told you something I didn’t ask? Is that something to cry about like this?”

“Oh, I don’t know!! Black…Black…Black…”

Have you ever been this close to anyone other than your family?

Since her brother’s death, Sojung has focused solely on growing Beautiful Guild.

She and her father were changing their lives to make Beautiful Guild a large guild.

The reason I joined the academy was to increase my hunter network and help run the guild.

So Sojeong’s personal relationships up until now have been quite calculated.

Although she made a few friends at the academy, it was impossible and unwilling to form completely genuine relationships.

Of course, the reason I first became close to Jihoon was for a similar reason.

Recognizing that his abilities were extraordinary, she was confident that establishing connections with him would be of great help to the Beautiful Guild.

but

The longer she spent with Jihoon and the more things she experienced with him, the more she felt herself treating him more and more sincerely.

Whenever Jihoon said nonsense or did something stupid, I was able to throw away all my worries and laugh comfortably.

Whenever Jihoon jumped into a dangerous task alone, I was so worried about why he had nothing to do with me that I kept following him.

So, before she knew it, Sojung had come to like Jihoon.

So even more so, I was so heartbroken by the words Jihoon was saying right now that I couldn’t hold back my tears.

Our daily lives include eating together, going to cafes together, and taking classes together.

Every day spent with Jihoon was a very enjoyable time for her, who had lived a lonely life…

That kind of happiness could be gone in an instant.

“Black…Black…”

Jihoon also gradually feels that Sojeong’s sadness is not light.

If it had been anyone else, Jihoon wouldn’t have even brought up this topic.

Because Sojung was Jihoon’s first friend in his life, Jihoon made up his mind to talk honestly.

Additional ramen ordered comes out in front of Jihoon.

Jihoon pulls out a tissue and hands it to Sojung, who is still crying but seems to have calmed down a bit.

“I thought it was a side effect of my movement skill. Dimensional shift…”

Jihoon continues speaking calmly.

“Something that cannot be done by manpower, like a coincidence or a miracle… But it wasn’t that. I found out at the gate I entered a little while ago. That you can move between dimensions more freely. There’s no way I can’t do something that even that strange skeleton can do.”

Jihoon comes out of his thoughts for a moment with his fists clenched.

“In a parallel world…there is a woman I love. How many times have you heard the name? Yeonhwa…she was the first person who approached me. After my parents passed away, I thought I would never be loved again… but there was someone in a parallel world who would love me like that… I never knew it. So, I have to go back. I really have to go back. To Yeonhwa…”

Sojeong was listening and reflecting on Jihoon’s words with concentration, sentence by sentence, even word by word.

In a situation that suddenly seemed like despair, she ended up finding a breakthrough.

“Freely? You mean I can freely go back and forth between the parallel world and this world?”

Have you not heard about Yeonhwa?

Among Jihoon’s words, Sojung was particularly focused on ‘freely’ and was asking with a hopeful face.

Ji-hoon doesn’t know why she suddenly found strength.

“Huh?…Hmm, I think so. If you put together what that skeleton guy and the elf captain said…”

“So it’s not like you’re going away, it means you can come and go, right?”

“That…could be, right?”

A ray of light shines on Sojeong’s sad expression.

For some reason, it was clearly noticeable that her mood was improving.

“Stop talking and eat quickly before it gets cold! I’ll eat now too”

She starts using chopsticks diligently.

Unlike Jihoon’s new ramen, this ramen was completely cold, but Sojung suddenly started eating it ravenously because it was so delicious.

Jihoon looked at her strangely for a moment, then picked up his chopsticks and started eating his ramen again.

It was then.

Jihoon’s old smartphone starts ringing.

“Hello”

-Hunter Jihoon Kang?

“Yes, by the way, who are you…?”

-Big Number Number One, Brown has now arrived. Please return to the gate quickly.

To the urgent voice on the other end of the phone, Jihoon answered half-heartedly.

“Didn’t it arrive too quickly? I’m going to finish eating the ramen, so please tell me to wait nearby.”