Chapter 5
Lee Hwan fought against the effects of alcohol the entire way home on the subway.
Kang Dongha, whom he’d thought would be easy to persuade, had left a stronger impression than expected. Kang Taesung would still consider him a dangerous or strange guy, and the sunglasses man next to him had been staring at his face with unusual intensity, which bothered him. The post-return plan he’d briefly envisioned kept going down the drain.
‘Ah, shit…’
His stomach kept lurching as if warning of future hardships. His head was beyond confused—it hurt. His untrained body was already experiencing a hangover.
Lee Hwan frowned deeply and kept sighing.
Perhaps life before the return had been a bed of roses. Kang Taesung had always been kind, and Kang Dongha was just someone to punish with peace of mind. There were no problems with food and shelter, and also…
‘Why doesn’t he have his memories anyway…’
Lee Hwan irritably opened and closed his skill window repeatedly. Remembering Kang Taesung’s final appearance when he’d said he would come find him, Lee Hwan’s joy at returning to the past kept mixing with dissatisfaction.
Even if Lee Hwan worked as a supporter for the Naru Group, he’d rarely have the chance to meet Taesung directly and talk. Having worked at Naru for several years, he knew this even in his alcohol-influenced state.
Support Team 3 entered gates that had already been cleared multiple times, following the advance team to pave the way and record geography and risk factors. They rarely overlapped with Attack Team 1.
Moreover, Kang Taesung belonged to the advance attack group of Attack Team 1, which didn’t even use supporters.
That’s why Lee Hwan’s first meeting with Taesung had been after his awakening, when his abilities were recognized and he was transferred to the attack team.
Since their first meeting after the return had been terrible, it would make sense to avoid him…
Lee Hwan suddenly felt emotional. They both needed to live, which meant preventing the monster wave first. But his feelings didn’t agree with this logic.
‘Positive thoughts… positive thoughts…’
As curses were about to spill out, Lee Hwan tried to comfort himself and focus only on the bright side.
Come to think of it, his thoughts had been flowing too negatively. Maybe it was because he’d seen that bastard Kang Dongha. Or because he’d drunk the alcohol that guy bought him.
Anyway, Lee Hwan had gained a new life. Instead of being torn apart by monsters and ending up as a 21st-century human fossil discovered embracing a friend in some distant future, he’d returned to the past with a chance to fix everything. He couldn’t just keep complaining.
And honestly, being around Kang Dongha would definitely create opportunities to meet Kang Taesung. While dangerous, this could also be another opportunity. If Taesung wielded flames against him, Lee Hwan planned to somehow stop it, buy time, and explain the return, whether Taesung believed him or not.
If he told him they were friends and provided suitable evidence… then, even without his memories, Kang Taesung might help him.
Above all, Lee Hwan didn’t want to be treated as a dangerous element by Kang Taesung.
After squeezing out hope and downing it like a shot before sleeping, Lee Hwan called the number on the business card as soon as he woke up.
—You called earlier than expected.
“How did you know it was me?”
—I don’t give my direct number to just anyone.
His way of speaking as if he were some chairman was still annoying. After all, he wasn’t even thirty yet and didn’t have any impressive position. But since this guy was his only option right now, Lee Hwan answered as brightly and kindly as possible.
“Wow.”
—Your reaction is a bit off.
Whether Kang Dongha’s mood was affected or not, Lee Hwan first set up an appointment. He wanted to take his time warming the guy up, but that shitty first day of work was approaching day by day. In a week, he’d be bound to the workplace every day, so it was better to meet right away and get down to business.
Lee Hwan really hadn’t expected to return from death only to start working as a supporter again.
***
Evening. Lee Hwan cut into meat after a long time. He wondered if it was a side effect of returning that Kang Taesung came to mind every time he saw steak.
“So, you must have waited for and caught me because you want something.”
“Why do you think it has to be you?”
He answered Kang Dongha’s question casually, but…
‘Fuck, he’s really perceptive.’
Lee Hwan almost choked on his meat. He was quite sharp at scheming. To think this guy was considered inferior to his siblings… He wondered what the others were like for such rumors to spread.
“Why would an unregistered awakened person wait for someone at that bar of all places? It must be me.”
But hearing it laid out like that, it was so accurate that he felt embarrassed.
In truth, it was sloppy. However, that place was the only location Lee Hwan knew where he could meet Kang Dongha. He couldn’t just rush to Naru, push past security, and barge in, could he?
“What’s your business? You didn’t wait for me because you wanted to sleep with me, right?”
Kang Dongha smiled as he looked Lee Hwan up and down again. Lee Hwan fought to keep his face from contorting and smiled gently.
The other person was buying him meat. Thinking about the meat helped subdue his anger a bit.
“Gates.”
“Why talk to me about gates? Those are matters decided by higher-ups and passed down according to schedule.”
“You’ve been skimming one or two gates from Attack Team 3’s rotation and letting private hunters handle them, haven’t you?”
For the first time, Kang Dongha lost his words and his expression hardened. As he stared for a long time, Lee Hwan felt the taste of his rare meat dropping.
“How did you know?”
“Let’s just say I have my ways and move on.”
“Are you an industrial spy?”
Lee Hwan was so flabbergasted that he put down his fork and laughed.
“If I were an industrial spy, wouldn’t I have gone to your brother instead of you?”
Kang Dongha, stung by the words, glared with angry eyes. Lee Hwan decided not to provoke him further, ignored those eyes, and went back to cutting and swallowing his meat.
Hmm. The butter flavor is lacking. And it needs more spices too.
Lee Hwan couldn’t say his memory was extraordinary, but he prided himself on being quite intelligent. Given the nature of his job, he knew domestic gates quite thoroughly.
He knew which gates had accidents, which ones yielded mana stones or skill stones, and most of the major finds.
Many of these came from gates managed by the Naru Group. It wasn’t just good luck; in fact, it was largely because they’d swept up all the promising gates.
Later, legal sanctions were imposed, but… even those were often overlooked with a wink and a nod. Whether monsters appeared or not, the world was always on the side of the strong.
Anyway, that’s why Lee Hwan thought it would be good for him to snag a few of those stones.
Over the dozens of years before the destruction, only ten skill stones emerged in Korea. Eight of them went to the Naru Group, and some of those were sold off appropriately for lobbying purposes.
Even Kang Taesung only consumed two. Partly because skills gained from skill stones were hard to control, so he didn’t just swallow them recklessly, but also because those were the only skills suitable to complement his abilities.
Skills from skill stones ultimately only serve as supplements to the main skill. Only awakened individuals can consume them, and most skills are of low grade.
Typically B-class or below. Occasionally there’s an A-class, but they’re often useless, like emitting apple scent from the body. They’re not worth their rarity.
Even consuming a good one could backfire if the compatibility wasn’t right. After all, every skill had a penalty, whether weak or strong.
Nevertheless, people were obsessed with skill stones. Fundamentally, all awakened individuals have only one skill, and occasionally there were exceptional stones mixed in.
Kang Taesung had consumed a C-class Explosion and B-class Whirlwind. The synergy with his S-class Flame was so good that after obtaining them, he roamed gates alone without even forming a team.
That’s how Lee Hwan could spend more time with him. After Lee Hwan joined, Taesung noticed their skills complemented each other well and operated as a duo.
Lee Hwan’s skill was B-class Spatial Control. His target was C-class Gravity.
Without complementary skills, it would be limited to adjusting gravity by about 0.2 tons, but combined with Lee Hwan’s spatial control ability, the synergy could be considerable.
Of course, spatial control could apply pressure, but he couldn’t afford to have nosebleeds every time.
Gravity skill stone. It definitely came from a gate managed by the Naru Group, and somehow leaked through an unknown route only to be discovered later when a British awakened individual consumed it. There was a big fuss about national resource leakage for a while.
‘Another purpose is, naturally, mana stones.’
In the early days after gates appeared, mana stones were only used to create various hunter equipment. But after years of research, the situation changed slightly. They could now generate energy from mana stones.
Energy that far surpassed the efficiency of natural energy while being extremely safer than nuclear power. Mana stones had become currency themselves in some industrial complexes.
Without Kang Taesung by his side, Lee Hwan now needed to collect mana stones—that is, money—to live comfortably. It was questionable whether he could prevent doom, but after sacrificing everything to save the Earth, was he supposed to live the rest of his life as a beggar?
Lee Hwan was the type of person who always checked escape routes before battle. This time too, it seemed he needed to dig a back door to feel at ease.
Besides picking up various things, there was another reason to stick with Kang Dongha and circle the gates. Kang Dongha was probably planning to mess with the gates.
That would become a kind of fuse, pulling the trigger for the monster wave. And the return skill had sent him back 7 years.
If he didn’t want to die, Lee Hwan needed to monitor everything. All the gates that Dongha was skimming, thoroughly.
“Did a ghost possess you?”
Lee Hwan ignored him and cut into his fourth plate of steak. At home, he only had cup ramen. He decided to eat two days’ worth here.
