How a legendary returner lives

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry. But as I’ve lived, I came to realize something. You didn’t cry, but you expressed your sadness in other ways.”

“…”

“A book written with tears, what else would there be to say about it?”

Jin Sihoo casually threw the words out.

“I didn’t cry while writing it.”

“But you must have cried inside. Don’t I know you?”

“You don’t seem to know. When I first met you, you were saying all sorts of weird stuff.”

“You’re still holding a grudge.”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, then laughed.

Jin Song asked,

“So, what are you planning to do now? Are you really going to catch all those apostles?”

“I have to catch them. But seeing the way things are going, it looks like they’ll come after me first.”

That’s exactly what Jin Song had been meaning to talk about.

“If you’ve read my diary, you’d know. When we first dropped into Titan, there was a man who sold us to the Holy Empire. It was because of that bastard that we started as slaves. His name was John Marcel.”

“…That ‘garbage’?”

Jin Sihoo nodded.

There were some people mentioned by name in the diary, and others not. John Marcel was one of those whose name wasn’t directly mentioned. He was referred to as trash. It was understandable. John Marcel had been torn apart and killed by beastmen shortly after that.

In terms of timing, it had only been a week since they fell to Titan.

Within that time, John Marcel was dead. He didn’t leave any lasting impact, so there was no need to leave his name in the diary. After all, that’s what a diary is for.

Jin Song paused in thought for a moment.

The world was vast. Perhaps she had been like a frog in a well.

She didn’t think of herself as weak, but she had been defeated so easily.

And that’s when she made her decision.

Jin Song decided she would go up to Seoul. Seoul was big. Unique awakeners could continue to grow. Not only A-rank gates, but S-rank gates appeared far more frequently there than in other regions. Even SS-rank gates, which appeared occasionally, were mostly concentrated in Seoul.

She had been too lazy up until now.

She should have taken more initiative. What about the promises from the past? What did they matter? Political pressure? Political interests? She should have just ignored them.

She wanted to remain a good person. After all, after taking on the mantle of a hero, she had grown too familiar with the word sacrifice.

It was enough being manipulated like this.

Jin Sihoo’s presence further fueled Jin Song’s desire.

Jin Song asked,

“Want to go up to Seoul?”

“Seoul?”

“The 200th apostle left a lot behind while impersonating you. It’d be a waste to just throw it all away.”

“Did that bastard make all that?”

“No, not all of it.”

“Then it’s fine. You worked hard for it, so I wouldn’t take it. I still have a sense of conscience.”

Jin Song paused for a moment. She understood. Sihoo had always been like that.

The 200th apostle was a very passive man.

To be more precise, he was a passive man who wanted to appear active.

He took everything that Jin Song gave him.

He kept insisting on being a writer, but practically, he lived off of everything Jin Song provided.

There was a huge sense of discomfort between that apostle and Jin Sihoo. But now, that sense was gone.

This was different.

Right, my brother was like this.

Jin Song smiled softly.

“Would you mind if I made a suggestion?”

“A suggestion?”

“Would you like to become a writer?”

It was quite an unexpected proposal. At least, that’s how Jin Sihoo thought of it.

“I’m not a writer.”

“You said when you were younger that you wanted to write. You wanted to be a genre fiction writer.”

Sihoo scratched his chin.

That was true. There were many novels he enjoyed when he was younger. Hits like the youngest son of the Moonlight family and other major genre novels, which he read while growing up, had inspired his dream.

But the moment he decided to actually become a writer was when he read novels like *Returnee’s Life Manual*, *The Marquis’s Legendary Youngest Son*, and *The Martial Return Chronicle*.

As he read those, he thought, “I could write better than this.” But eventually, that idea faded.

“That’s from the past.”

“It wasn’t that long ago.”

“For me, it feels like ancient history. Ten years? Ten years sounds like a lot, but the time I actually experienced wasn’t ten years. You saw it in the diary.”

“…*The Haime Tribe*, that one?”

There were all sorts of races living on Titan.

Among them was a tribe called the Haime, who were extremely small, almost like human-sized miniatures.

A full-grown Haime male only stood around 40 cm tall, so it was easy to see how small they were.

The Haime were sorcerers, and among their forbidden magic was the ‘Room of Time.’

In this magic, the body stayed in place, but the soul moved to an empty space where nothing existed, allowing the soul to be honed.

It was simple, but why was it forbidden?

The answer was simple. The problem wasn’t in activating the magic, but in the consequences of the process.

Statistically, 99 out of 100 people failed. They said there was a 1% chance, but it wasn’t even that high.

The most powerful races, such as dragons and half-dragons, were among the 99 who failed.

It was that dangerous.

“I know, six people, including me, were the only ones to ever escape the Room of Time in all of Titan’s history. The time I felt there… I don’t know. I still can’t remember it clearly. It felt like centuries passed, but I can’t remember anything beyond that.”

Jin Sihoo paused for a moment, tapping his head with his finger before continuing.

“Maybe my mind’s closed off. I feel like I reached the end, but I can’t recall. So much time passed, but a genre fiction writer?”

But Jin Song wasn’t foolish.

It might have seemed like an unexpected suggestion, but she had thought about it before proposing it. She continued,

“What if you adapted that diary into a genre fiction?”

Sihoo thought he misheard.

“…What?”

“You know the apostle who replaced you was a genre fiction writer, right?”

“Vaguely.”

“Try writing it. Tell the world your story, one that I don’t know.”

Jin Sihoo looked at her with a strange expression.

What is this?

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, your sister is always serious.”

“But I don’t have the talent for that kind of thing.”

“Talent? You’ll improve as you write, won’t you? If you want, I’ll even get you a ghostwriter.”

“…”

“And that apostle, he couldn’t write worth a damn. His writing was stuck at a high school level. You’re different. I’m sure you’ll do better.”

Jin Sihoo was seriously considering it. Then Jin Song revealed something rather interesting.

“Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you—*Jin Sihoo* is currently hospitalized at Samjeong Hospital in Seoul.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“Can they do that?”

“Why wouldn’t they? You suffered a major mental shock from the incident in Gimcheon, so you’re in the hospital now. Officially, you’re a patient in the hospital.”

“Did the lawyers suggest that?”

“Yeah. It’s easier to handle things that way.”

“But I had a drink with the secretary before coming here.”

“That’s fine. Just tell me when you want to discharge. Personally, I think tomorrow or the day after would be good.”

Jin Song slowly stood up from her seat.

“We can talk about the rest in Korea. Want me to book you a boat ticket?”

“But I’m hospitalized, right?”

“You don’t think there’s more than one smuggling boat, do you?”

Sihoo laughed, amazed.

“My sister’s gotten bolder while I wasn’t looking.”

As he looked at his sister, who was smiling nonchalantly, Jin Si-hoo was overcome with a strange feeling.

It was definitely true that they were back on Earth.

It was fun. So far, at least.

“No need to get a boat. We can just leave the same way we came,” he said.

“The control centers are going to get busy again,” she replied.

Without making it seem like a big deal, Jin Si-hoo got up from his seat and snapped his fingers toward Jin Song-i.

*Snap snap snap snap.*

Jin Song-i took a surprised step back.

Right now…

“…What did you just do?”

“I pierced a few pressure points.”

“Pressure points?”

“Take a nap. You’ll feel better when you wake up. Your mana flow will be smoother too.”

Jin Song-i sat down heavily on the sofa.

Jin Si-hoo placed his hand on her head.

“I’ll set up a barrier, so don’t worry.”

“…Hey… Is this really necessary?”

“Yeah. Watching you get beat up left and right really hurts my heart. So, I thought I should do something. Call me when you get to Korea. I’m leaving first.”

And with that, Jin Song-i lost consciousness, and Jin Si-hoo crossed the sea once more.

It was an added bonus that the control centers in the U.S., Japan, and Korea went into chaos.

—

Chapter 6

It had been a long time since he had eaten bibimmyeon.

He had made five servings, adding beef on top. He had grilled perfect cuts of beef, adjusting the temperature on the frying pan. The cut was ribs.

Jeong Bin thought that beef and bibimmyeon went really well together.

Then, he suddenly noticed the wine in the corner of the kitchen.

It was a gift, but when should he drink it?

Jeong Bin, who didn’t particularly like wine, soon picked up his chopsticks again.

He took a bite.

It was fantastic.

After taking two bites, he heard a knock on the balcony window.

Precisely two knocks. *Knock knock.*

He frowned and turned his head.

It was Jin Si-hoo. He was waving his hand, urging him to open the door quickly.

This is crazy.

At this rate, the meat was going to get cold.

Sighing deeply, Jeong Bin opened the window. Jin Si-hoo climbed through.

“No, why come through here when there’s a perfectly good door?”

“It’s just how I feel.”

“…This is insane. By the way, what happened with that police station thing? No, wait. Are you going to clear the S-level gate at Sangdang Mountain?”

“Ask one thing at a time. You’ve got too many questions for a single mouth.”

“…”

“Anyway, the police station thing, you remember that guy we saw? The 200th Apostle.”

“I didn’t see him.”

“You must’ve seen the end of it.”

“…Yoon Yeong-su, that guy warned me to watch my mouth really seriously, but let’s just pretend I didn’t see anything.”

Jin Si-hoo smiled slightly before continuing.

“Let’s assume that’s true. Kim Min-jae, that guy, is the same guy who impersonated me. The 189th doppelgänger.”

“…Wait, so you openly committed murder in the city center? I saw the news, it said you’re in the hospital?”

“The secretary will handle it well. He’s good at his job.”

“He’s good, yeah. Well, I suppose they’ll say you were taken straight from the police station to the hospital, right? So, what about Sangdang Mountain?”

“I’m not going to clear that one. It’s too much like highway robbery.”

“Good choice. Considering how much effort and money our guild put into trying to clear that… Ugh… Betraying people is just not right. People need to live decently. By the way, do you want some wine? It’s a fresh bottle, still unopened.”

“No thanks. More importantly…”

Jin Si-hoo made a strange smile.

“I was thinking about this on the way back from the U.S.”

“…The U.S.? When did you go there?”

“Just now.”

“…”

“Anyway, I thought about it, and you’re the only one who can do it.”

“…I’m the only one? Do what?”

“Listen. How much have I done for you?”

“Suddenly?”

“I taught you skills, I opened your mana points… Wow, thinking about it, I’ve done a lot for you. I’ve set you up to grow from a B-class awakened to an S-class awakened. I did that.”

Jeong Bin set down his chopsticks.

He felt uneasy.

“Do you want to be a writer?”

He couldn’t even imagine it.

A writer? Out of nowhere?

“Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“…”

“Become a ghostwriter. I’ll make sure you make a lot of money.”