The Hero Returns Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Act 2

Dong-ha University was one of the top three renowned universities in Korea. Su-hyeun was still attending this school until the day before, when he was Sung-in in his past life. But....

“It’s not here?”

“How many tis must I tell you?” The man who looked like the faculty’s teaching assistant replied nervously. Su-hyeun knew him. It was the sa teaching assistant back when he had studied here. It was this school, but....

“Student number 201413109, Kim Sung-in. This student isn’t from our school. You may have co to the wrong place; it’ll be faster for you to double-check.” It was evident that the teaching assistant was suppressing his anger while answering. Perhaps he should have been, since he was wasting his ti on sothing so ti-consuming. Su-hyeun could only trudge out of the faculty departnt.

As classes ended, students ca pouring out of the classrooms. Seeing this brought a probable thought to Su-hyeun’s mind. However, no one knew of the student nad Kim Sung-in, even if he rembered their faces and nas.

It couldn’t be....

A sudden thought got Su-hyeun to flip out his smartphone. Su-hyeun opened his bank’s website and entered his na and resident number, which then brought him to the authentication page.

The result: The na and resident number do not match.

The result was the sa, regardless of how many tis he tried. Could he have misrembered? No, it couldn’t be. Su-hyeun wouldn’t be able to get into Dong-ha University if he couldn’t even rember his resident number. Did I... disappear?

It was hard to believe. As Su-hyeun’s mind turned blank and cooled, his steps steered toward one direction. He imdiately headed to his old house.

Su-hyeun rang the doorbell to his old house in Pyeongchon, Anyang. Ding-dong. The bell rang. Su-hyeun’s heart started racing, and his blank mind was imdiately filled with complicated thoughts as soon as the door opened. “Who is this?”

It was his mother. Not Su-hyeun’s, but Kim Sung-in’s mother. Why was she ho? She wouldn’t be in most of the ti, except for a day or two a month. Should he consider himself lucky? But Su-hyeun couldn’t bring himself to speak in front of his mother. “Who are you?”

“I’m....” Su-hyeun then forced a smiling face and asked, “Is there... soone nad Kim Sung-in here?”

“Kim Sung-in? No, I live alone here. Did you perhaps get the wrong place?” As expected, the answer was no different. It was his mother, not anyone else. Su-hyeun half-expected that she might not have rembered him. He was now certain that his life as Kim Sung-in did not exist in this world.

“Ha....” It eventually ca to this. It didn’t take him long to get this straight in his mind. It was one of the possibilities he had in mind.

That’s true — I’m here. There shouldn’t be another since I’m here. It was easier to think of it that way.

If so, mother too... would not have rembered Su-hyeun. It was an awkward feeling. The woman standing in front of him now was no longer his mother. But why? She didn’t look disturbed. It was just him who felt confused. If so....

As expected, I can’t get any closer.

Su-hyeun lowered his head and bowed. “I seem to have found the wrong place. I’m sorry.” Su-hyeun left the premises and headed towards town with a knotted heart. He gradually cald down as he walked along the busy streets.

I’m Kim Su-hyeun. There was a question that he had been asking himself nurous tis for the past month: Am I Su-hyeun or Sung-in? And the answer to his question finally ca. I’m now... Su-hyeun.

He repeated this countless tis in his head so as to not be wavered by it, and to avoid confusion. Out of nowhere, he heard Shin Su-yeong’s voice. “I’ll not ask why you’re trying to change. Just don’t go astray, and don’t go too far away from ho.”

Why would she say that? Now he seed to have understood. Shin Su-yeong felt anxious. Su-hyeun realized that she too had the sa worries that he was having now — that he might leave for sowhere further away, that he might go sowhere far away and not return at all.

He slapped both his cheeks hard with his hands. That woke him up. He was no longer attached to his past life. There was no one to rember him and nothing else for him to leave or regret.

No, just one. Su-hyeun’s eyes sank as he started to walk. Fafnir.

Not from the past, but the future. No, more accurately, sothing that he would encounter in the future. If it was 2018 now, Fafnir would appear soday, and this world would fall. If this was a world where Kim Sung-in did not exist, then this world would only beco worse, not better. That is, if he did nothing.

On his way ho, Su-hyeun observed his surroundings while walking on the busy streets. The sky was blue. Being in the bustling and lively landscape seed to make one feel strangely excited. Until now, he would not have thought that he would miss this mont. In this landscape, in this setting. He wanted to protect the future that he would be living in.

To do that, first.... Su-hyeun turned his head and muttered while looking far into the horizon. “I’m going to have to suffer for a while.”

* * *

Su-hyeun took the bus and arrived ho. It wasn’t hard finding his way back. While preparing to be discharged, he noted down his house address in advance. A two-room semi-basent apartnt. Su-hyeun entered the house feeling awkward. Click—

As soon as Su-hyeun entered after opening the door with his keys, he could see the small living room and two rooms at once. It wasn’t that small for two to live, but it was apparent that they were not so well-to-do since it was a semi-basent.

Seems that she isn’t back yet. It was early evening. Though it was ti for the office workers to get off from work, Shin Su-yeong had yet to return. She usually ended late.

I think we may have a late dinner.... There’s still so ti. Su-hyeun went into what seed to be his room of the two. In a small room of 10 square ters, Su-hyeun sat on the bed that took up half that space.

Although it was his first ti, it did not feel unfamiliar. A weird feeling ca to him. It was a different sense of relief and comfort as compared to when he stayed in the hospital. It seed that his body rembered this place.

Pull yourself together. He was quite affected by Shin Su-yeong. It wasn’t in the wrong way. Instead, he liked the comfort, relief, and warmth, which was different from before. But from now on, these emotions would beco poison to him.

Smack—

Su-hyeun slapped both of his cheeks hard. Pull yourself together, he repeatedly muttered in his mind.

From now on... I’ll be back as Sung-in. He had lived as Su-hyeun for the past month, and it would stay that way in the future. But besides that, as a Magical Awakener, no one else would be able to catch up to Kim Sung-in.

I’m now.... As if chanting a spell, Su-hyeun continued muttering in his mind. Sung-in. As the spell was finally controlling Su-hyeun. Whoosh—

Su-hyeun’s hand stretched forward and grasped his wide-open hand tightly. Rip! Su-hyeun made a tear in the air, and a space ford. A “doorway” was made such that only Su-hyeun could see it.

Step, step—

Su-hyeun walked towards the door. And after taking the first step, the landscape changed in front of Su-hyeun’s eyes.

* * *

Su-hyeun opened his eyes. The white space ca back to him. A familiar place, one that he had seen before. The warm feeling from earlier subsided quickly. Su-hyeun’s eyes changed to those from his past life.

[Welco to the Tower of Trials.]

[Kim Su-hyeun, will you start the trials now?]

It started.

The Tower of Trials. A place commonly referred to as an abyss by outsiders. Those who passed the first floor would be able to gain their abilities and beco “Magical Awakeners.” Of course, it was just the first step, but that performance was also equivalent to the Magical Awakener’s level of awakening. If so, how could one enter the Tower of Trials?

No precise requirents were stated yet. And that was the sa for Su-hyeun when he was still Sung-in who lived in the future. It was such that one would know when the mont arrived. For Su-hyeun, the mont he opened his eyes in this life, he realized the thod of entering the Tower of Trials. No, more accurately, it seed as though he rembered the way to enter it. His past life had a positive influence. However, Su-hyeun delayed the beginning of the trials until now.

And the only reason. In the best condition.

For the past month, Su-hyeun had been hospitalized. He had been waiting for his fractured bone to heal and for his health to recover fully. His body now had been fully recovered. While he was hospitalized, he had also done rehabilitation training on his own. He was convinced that this was sufficient.

“Let’s start.”

[Kim Su-hyeun, the trials start now.]

[Choose the level of difficulty.]

[Levels 1~10]

[As the level goes up, the level of difficulty increases, and the reward for clearing each level gets better.]

The explanation for the trials appeared in front of Su-hyeun’s eyes. The trials were divided into a total of 10 levels. The most manageable level started at Level 1, and the difficulty would have reached its highest point at level 10.

It was a tough question. There was no right answer, and since there was no wrong answer, it was even tougher — to choose level 1 and clear the level with perfection, or to choose a higher level and scrape through the level.

The choice was up to him. And....

“Level 10.” Su-hyeun’s choice was already made.

[You have chosen Level 10.]

Su-hyeun had chosen Level 8 in his past life. It was quite difficult, and as tough as it was, the bounty was quite rewarding.

The trials did not start easy. But.... It’s not enough with just this.

There was no end to the Tower of Trials. No one knew how many floors existed within this colossal tower. That was how it was known as being endless. But going up the higher floors did not an that one was deed to be stronger. There were cases where so Magical Awakeners who only cleared a few levels were stronger than those who completed dozens of levels. That was the difference when clearing levels and the levels of difficulty for the Tower of Trials.

High risks, high returns. Su-hyeun thought as the world began its fall. What would happen if he had chosen a level of greater difficulty? What if he had taken a tougher route? Su-hyeun soon ca to regret his choice for the first ti.

This ti.... That was how he made up his mind then.

[Level 10 of the Tower of Trials’ First Floor will start.]