The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 2

The place he’s in now is the new Sejong.

A city once destroyed and rebuilt as a planned city, it’s now a strategic point and is called ‘Sehyun’.

What destroyed Sejong in the past was the black hole that appeared around the world 10 years ago.

Holes called by many names such as black holes, Abyss, and Gates… Countless monsters popped out of them.

The armies of each country fought the monsters that came out of the holes, and in the process, those who defeated the monsters are said to have awakened strange powers.

A power worthy of being called a superpower.

“Awakened.”

Those who are called Awakened.

They faced a new change from the moment they began exploring the black hole, named ‘Abyss’.

There was a different ecosystem in the Abyss than on Earth. It was a desolate world, and it was also a world rich in all kinds of materials.

The era of a new industrial revolution was ushered in with never-before-seen plants and minerals.

The world’s population was greatly reduced due to the monsters that came out of the Abyss, but the will of mankind was not broken and continued to survive.

Those who explored the Abyss gained honor and wealth, and companies that quickly caught up with the trends of the times sponsored those who explored the Abyss.

“And the Awakened are now Abyss Divers, Abyss Pioneers…”

Why is this story so long?

In summary, it was roughly like this:

1. The Abyss appears.

2. The Awakened appear.

3. The era progresses in line with it.

The so-called Great Abyss Era.

These were things that didn’t matter to him. The development felt like something out of a third-rate fantasy novel, so Yoo Seong-woo frowned slightly and looked for more necessary information.

The first thing was how to find his sister.

With such a thing happening, he thought that there might be people like him who had fallen into another world 10 years ago and returned, so he searched for information about ‘Returnees’.

“Oh, there is.”

And he found information about returnees.

It was written in detail how to report a returnee to the city hall, as returning from another world happened frequently.

It was said that if you report as a returnee, your extinct resident registration will be revived and a certain amount of support money will be provided.

They also find family and provide education to adapt to the changed society.

Long live democracy.

“The place to go has been decided.”

First, go to Sehyun City Hall and report as a returnee.

Since he didn’t have any clothes to wear, he wore the sauna clothes as they were, put on a robe, and moved quickly.

He left all the money he had left for PC room fees and clothes at the counter and quickly left the sauna.

The location of the city hall was already in his head. He jumped over the buildings, suppressing his presence, and headed to Sehyun City Hall.

“The building is huge.”

Sehyun City Hall was huge.

It was the largest city hall he had ever seen.

Sehyun was built as a planned city and is growing into a key location in Korea, so this scale is natural.

As Yoo Seong-woo was about to enter the city hall, where many people come and go, releasing the presence he had been suppressing, a conscripted policeman standing at the entrance stopped him and asked.

“How can I help you?”

“I came to report as a returnee.”

“Report as a returnee? By any chance, how long has it been since you returned?”

“Um, about two hours?”

“I will guide you myself.”

The conscripted policeman looked at Yoo Seong-woo carefully and guided him directly to the second-floor center where returnees report.

There was only one window at the Returnee Report Center.

In the past, there were more, but the number of returnees has been decreasing, so there are almost none these days.

Because of this, the number of windows gradually decreased and became one.

The conscripted policeman said to the woman sitting at the window.

“This person has come to report as a returnee.”

“Ah, welcome! It’s been a long time since we’ve had a returnee. Please sit down.”

Yoo Seong-woo sat in the chair in front of the window.

Then the woman handed over a piece of paper and a pen.

“Please fill in your name, resident registration number [Korean equivalent of a social security number], and anything else you can fill in here.”

“Um.”

He held a pen for the first time in a while. It was a hand that used to hold only a sword every day.

He spun the pen in his hand once and slowly wrote down what he could, crookedly, in Korean, which he had forgotten a lot.

He wrote his name and only remembered the first part of his resident registration number.

He didn’t remember his old home address, but he remembered that the city he lived in was Daejeon.

He finished writing with his family relationship and the high school he graduated from.

Looking at it this way, Yoo Seong-woo realized anew that he had forgotten a lot.

“I only remember this much.”

When he handed over the document, the woman who read it said.

“You said you stayed in another world for decades? According to the records, the 신고자 [reporter]’s death report was made 10 years ago…”

“Yes.”

“Did you ever get any diseases from that world, or anything like that?”

“About three times with a fever. I was fatally injured a few times, so I suffered from a high fever at that time.”

She was a very curious employee.

“Um, then there doesn’t seem to be a problem. We will connect you to your family based on the personal information listed on the document. Is that okay?”

“Yes.”

Yoo Seong-woo nodded slowly.

Family. A nostalgic name.

His parents passed away when he was young, so his only family was his younger sister.

He had lived in that world for his sister.

Even when he wanted to die, he overcame the life-and-death situations with the single thought of seeing his sister again.

‘She was seventeen when we parted, so she must be twenty-seven now.’

10 years of time that he did not spend with her.

He couldn’t even imagine how his sister would have changed.

She was such a strong-willed child, so if she hadn’t gotten caught up in anything strange, she would have become a great person.

As he sat and waited for a while, the employee at the window said.

“We are connected to your family. I’ll switch you over.”

The employee handed over the receiver.

As Yoo Seong-woo accepted it with a slightly trembling hand, a voice came from the other side of the receiver.

-Oppa? Is that really you, Oppa?

It’s a familiar voice.

The voice that hadn’t changed even after 10 years became an electrical signal and pounded on his eardrums.

Yoo Seong-woo couldn’t open his mouth for a moment. What should he say to his sister, whom he was talking to for the first time in 10 years?

It had been 10 years for his sister, but there was a gap of dozens of years for him.

The difference in time they experienced was enormous, so he couldn’t open his mouth even more.

-Oppa? Say something.

His sister, Yoo Ji-woo, asked again.

Now he has no choice but to speak.

Yoo Seong-woo barely opened his unmoving mouth and spat out unsightly words.

“Have you been well? Oppa is here.”

* * *

After hearing Yoo Seong-woo’s voice, Yoo Ji-woo left a message saying she would come right away and hung up the phone.

Yoo Seong-woo continued to sit in front of the window and waited for her.

“I have revived the resident registration that was reported as dead. Now, please tell me what happened in the other world.”

“Nothing much. Just fighting, fighting, fighting…”

“Did you only fight?”

“Yes. If I didn’t like someone, I would stab them in the stomach with a knife and smash their head on the floor. It wouldn’t be wrong to call it a savage world.”

The employee at the window examined Yoo Seong-woo, who was saying that.

Shaggy hair and beard. Solid muscles.

Inside the tight sauna clothes were full of scars.

She couldn’t even imagine what his past life, when he lived in comfortable Earth, would have been like.

“Your sister has arrived.”

The conscripted policeman who had guided him earlier came and called Yoo Seong-woo.

As Yoo Seong-woo got up from his seat, the employee at the window followed him. Wasn’t it a touching family reunion?

She followed to see the beautiful scene.

And as they headed to the back of the city hall, towards the parking lot, a bright red sports car came into view.

At first glance, it was a luxurious sports car, so she wondered if a rich person had come to the city hall for some business.

A woman with a flashy style of sunglasses standing in front of the sports car walked towards Yoo Seong-woo.

“……?”

As Yoo Seong-woo frowned and looked at the woman, the woman raised her sunglasses and looked up at him.

And the two said almost simultaneously.

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

The woman standing in front of Yoo Seong-woo was his younger sister, Yoo Ji-woo, and the man standing in front of Yoo Ji-woo was her older brother, Yoo Seong-woo.

But the two did not recognize each other.

The conscripted policeman and the window employee who followed them expected a touching family reunion even if they didn’t recognize each other after time had passed, but only reactions contrary to their expectations came out.

“Is that really you, my brother?”

“Then are you really my sister?”

The two were siblings.

However, too much time had passed, and their appearances had changed so much that it could be said to be a reverse transformation.

Yoo Ji-woo remembered Yoo Seong-woo as a slender man with a gentle atmosphere, but what she saw now was a thick-lined face that seemed to show off his toned muscles and sharp atmosphere.

And Yoo Seong-woo remembered Yoo Ji-woo as a child who was mature even at a young age and had a style that combined purity and neatness.

But what was in front of him now was a woman with a tough-looking impression, whose purity and neatness had disappeared.

The bright red sports car and the clothes she was wearing also didn’t feel cheap at first glance.

“I can’t believe it. How can this be my brother?”

“I can’t believe it either. My sister wasn’t like this.”

“If you are my brother, there must be something that only my brother and I know. Tell me.”

Yoo Seong-woo pondered for a moment at Yoo Ji-woo’s words.

A memory of just the two of them. What is there?

“The time you cried all day because I put cucumbers in the kimbap [Korean seaweed rice roll] when we went on a picnic?”

“……Again.”

“The time you messed around and broke the TV.”

“Okay. Stop now. I knew you were my brother, but why do you only remember those things? Can’t you remember good memories?”

“That’s because those are the only memories left in my head.”

He said this, but all those memories were precious memories to Yoo Seong-woo.

It was a memory that gave him the will to live in another world where he knew no one.

Yoo Ji-woo frowned slightly, perhaps a little embarrassed by his words, and then opened her arms and hugged him.

“……Welcome back. Oppa [term for older brother used by females in Korean]. You’ve worked hard all this time.”

“That means don’t reveal any more embarrassing history.”

“I’m really going to kill you.”

“This is the same as before too……”

Yoo Seong-woo said that and hugged Yoo Ji-woo.

It was the reunion of a sister who had become twenty-seven and an older brother who had become over seventy.

* * *

“Why didn’t you buy a bigger car?”

“It’s because you’ve gotten ridiculously big, Oppa.”

Yoo Ji-woo’s two-seater sports car had a low body, so Yoo Seong-woo needed a bigger car to ride in.

But she couldn’t bring it right away, so Yoo Seong-woo squeezed into the passenger seat.

As Yoo Seong-woo barely got in and closed the door, Yoo Ji-woo in the driver’s seat started the engine and stepped on the accelerator.

It roared with a majestic engine sound and left the city hall. Yoo Seong-woo, who barely fastened his seat belt in the sports car that started running on the road, asked.

“What happened? You’re driving around in a car like this after 10 years.”

Yoo Seong-woo asked what he had been wondering all along.

There was some inheritance. But the inheritance he remembered was not enough for Yoo Ji-woo to drive around in a car like this.

Something must have happened during the 10 years for Yoo Ji-woo to be living this reverse-transformed life.

At his question, Yoo Ji-woo closed her mouth for a moment. And after a while, she opened her mouth.

“A lot happened after you disappeared, Oppa.”

“What happened?”

“The money you saved to send me to college, excluding our parents’ inheritance, right?”

“There was……?”

No way?