Chapter 21. A Small Omen
In a clinic with white wallpaper and soft lighting, the afternoon sunlight gently caressed Ha Yumi’s face through the window.
She leaned deeply into her chair, gazing at her tablet.
On the screen, a man was eating pork.
［Oh. This pork tastes pretty good too.］
The man’s name was Kang Geon.
He had suddenly appeared in Ha Yumi’s life two years ago, introduced by a mutual acquaintance.
When she first met him, Ha Yumi thought of him as a patient with psychological issues.
The type that firmly believed in their delusions, claiming they had returned from another world.
For Ha Yumi, a psychiatrist, this wasn’t an unfamiliar case. She had counseled several patients who claimed they had come back from another world.
Most of those patients returned to their normal lives after treatment.
But Kang Geon never improved.
He even disappeared, cutting off all contact.
Ha Yumi had asked Kang Geon’s acquaintance to help her get in touch with him, but all she got was:
─He’s always been the type to go off the grid. Sometimes for years.
─Once he disappears, there’s no way to reach him.
And so, two years passed without any contact from Kang Geon.
Then, one day, a message appeared on Ha Yumi’s phone.
When she saw the sender, her eyes widened.
It was from Kang Geon, who hadn’t contacted her for two years.
She hurriedly sent a reply.
But Kang Geon didn’t respond.
An hour later, she sent another message.
Still no response.
Two hours later, three hours later, four hours later.
She even sent another message the next morning, but no reply came.
Frustrated, Ha Yumi checked the message Kang Geon had sent again.
It seemed like a game invite.
Could she send him a whisper if she entered the game?
After some hesitation, Ha Yumi clicked the link in the message and belatedly tuned into Kang Geon’s broadcast.
And it didn’t take long for her to be shocked.
Everything Kang Geon had once spoken of as “delusions” was unfolding vividly as reality on her screen.
The veil of doubt slowly lifted.
This was the moment Ha Yumi began to accept the truth.
***
【Pururu】─Wow, look at him eat. Geon eats anything.
【Yumi】─I eat pork too.
【Pururu】─But that’s not just any ordinary pig.
【Mysticism】─😋
Ha Yumi typed a message in the chat and then placed the tablet on her desk, falling into thought.
‘Now that I think about it, Geon said he lost all his family on the day he was discharged from the military…’
She recalled a part of his family history that came up during one of their counseling sessions.
With that memory, Ha Yumi understood why no missing person report was filed while Kang Geon was in the other world.
During his disappearance, there was no family left to notice and report him missing.
He had few close friends as well.
Even among his few friends, he wasn’t one to stay in regular contact, so they likely just assumed his disappearance was the same as his usual absences.
‘Even Ki-ho said he thought Geon had cut him off because all his messages were ignored.’
Ki-ho was the friend who had introduced Kang Geon to her.
‘…But why didn’t I bring this up back then?’
As she reflected on the past, Ha Yumi sighed and rubbed her forehead.
Suddenly, her previous self seemed pathetic.
She felt guilty, thinking her professional diligence hadn’t been up to par.
It wasn’t because she hadn’t believed Kang Geon.
Anyone would have dismissed his story as delusional.
But the real reason she was blaming herself now was simple.
She had failed to conduct a proper counseling session.
In a normal situation, she should have made him face reality with questions like, ‘Geon, why do you think no one filed a missing person report while you were in the other world?’
But influenced by alcohol, she hadn’t done her job properly.
And now, she felt ashamed about it.
‘Well… it wouldn’t have mattered, since Geon wasn’t actually suffering from delusions anyway.’
Still, she resolved to reflect on the fact that she hadn’t treated her patient with the seriousness he deserved.
With those thoughts, Ha Yumi picked up her tablet again.
Just as she was about to tune back into Kang Geon’s broadcast, one of the video titles on the monitor caught her eye.
『Do Fantasy Monsters Really Exist? I Found a Slime in the Woods! Not Fake!!!』
‘Huh? A slime?’
Driven by curiosity, Ha Yumi clicked on the video.
The screen showed a first-person view of someone filming in the forest.
When Ha Yumi saw the creature in the video, her eyes widened.
The creature looked strangely familiar.
‘That looks a lot like the one Geon’s raising! Could it really be a slime?’
Of course, it wasn’t identical.
The slime in the video had a translucent green hue, with something round inside.
Ha Yumi had a good idea of what that round thing was.
‘Is that the “core” Geon mentioned? But more importantly, why is a slime on Earth?’
Startled, Ha Yumi quickly checked the comment section.
Since the video had few views, the number of comments wasn’t high either.
▶Haha, this CGI is so bad.
▶Do you enjoy baiting people?
▶A slime? Really? LOL.
▶Is this real?
▶What the? It doesn’t look like CGI though.
▶Look at him celebrating after killing the slime. LOL.
┗His excited voice sounds awkward. Feels fake.
┗Man, this acting is so bad. I wanna rip him apart and toss him into the Han River. Hey, where do you live, you piece of trash?
┗Why’s this guy flipping out?
┗Probably has anger issues.
▶No way a monster dies that easily. It just drops dead when the core breaks? At least try to make it believable.
┗Slimes die when you break their core. That’s how it was in the manga I read.
┗Do you think manga is real life?
▶Desperate small-time channel. LOL.
┗E x o
┗[Link] A famous idol’s scandal is out! Check out her secret surgery and fan club meltdown!
┗What is this now?
┗Even small-time channels are getting ads now.
┗That link leads to a phishing site. Don’t click it.
┗Thanks! I’m gonna click it anyway.
▶Sigh. It’s crazy people believe this stuff.
▶It’s obviously AI-generated.
▶Is anyone dumb enough to actually think this is real?
▶Quit YouTube. You’ve got no talent.
▶I always enjoy your videos… Keep it up… And check out my channel too. I’ve got lots of fun stuff ^^
As Ha Yumi read the comments, she thought to herself.
Ah, must be a fake video made with AI technology.
After all, there’s no way monsters exist on Earth.
But soon, that thought began to waver.
‘…Could they exist?’
Just like people could cross from Earth to another world, perhaps creatures from another world could come to Earth.
In other words, monsters could potentially exist on Earth as well.
‘I should tell Geon about this.’
Just in case, she decided to consult the expert.
***
We had eaten the entire pig.
There wasn’t any leftover food waste.
The monsters had devoured even the bones and organs.
“It feels great to finally eat a full meal.”
I wiped my mouth as I mumbled.
The smell of the grilled pork still lingered in my nose.
I wonder if there are more of the same creatures in Passage No. 8?
If there were more Pig Kings, I’d definitely hunt them down regularly.
【Pururu】─Haha, you eat so well. It’s a sight to behold.
【Mysticism】─😋😋
I suddenly jumped up from my seat.
As I stretched to help digest the meal, a message appeared before my eyes.
『Drifters have appeared!』
『Five mortals have crossed dimensions and set foot in the Ancient Labyrinth.』
『Number of Drifters: 5』
It was the same Drifter appearance message as before.
‘They come pretty often.’
It seemed like it wasn’t that rare for Drifters to arrive in this labyrinth.
I wasn’t particularly interested.
I still planned to give them Transferable Return Tickets in exchange for a price if I happened to run into them during my exploration.
But I had no intention of actively seeking out Drifters I didn’t even know the location of.
『Number of Drifters: 3』
Ten minutes into my stretching, the number of Drifters had already dropped to three.
It seemed like I wasn’t going to meet this batch of Drifters either.
【Yumi】─Geon.
As I finished stretching, Ha Yumi sent a message in the chat.
【Yumi】─Do you think there could be monsters on Earth?
It was an unexpected question.
Why was she suddenly asking this?
There shouldn’t be any monsters on Earth.
According to the dimensional wizard, the world I live in is protected by something called the “Dimensional Veil,” which prevents beings from other dimensions from crossing over.
Naturally, a native like me is an exception.
And the portals created by the dimensional wizard are also exceptions, of course.
In any case, I had confirmed that it was a world where beings from other dimensions couldn’t set foot, which is why I gave up my powers and chose to return.
I didn’t have any desire to wield great power to
achieve something.
I just wanted a peaceful life.
However, just in case, I had set up a “contingency.”
If the Dimensional Veil of Earth were ever torn.
If I ever encountered beings from another world on Earth.
In that case, I had arranged for my seal to be broken.
There were other ways to break the seal, or so I had been told, but I didn’t know what they were.
As far as I knew, the only way to break my seal was to find a monster capable of doing it.
I replied to Ha Yumi’s question.
“As far as I know, there aren’t any. Why?”
【Yumi】─There’s a video on YouTube of someone filming a slime.
“What?”
【Mysticism】─🤔
I was caught off guard.
A slime on Earth?
That couldn’t be right.
There’s no way the dimensional wizard, who was a pacifist, would have opened a portal and sent monsters through it.
There was no benefit to doing something like that.
If there really were monsters on Earth, there could only be one reason.
The Dimensional Veil had been torn.
【Yumi】─You know YouTube, right? A few hours ago, someone uploaded a video of a slime. I just saw it. I’m not sure if it’s fake or not, though.
【Pururu】─It’s probably fake.
“It’s probably a fake. There’s no way a slime could exist on Earth.”
【Yumi】─But the video looked so real.
【Pururu】─With how advanced AI is these days, it’s hard to tell real from fake. Haha.
【Yumi】─Oh. I want to show you the video, but there’s no way to send it to you…
【Pururu】─I can upload it for you. Just give me the link.
【Yumi】─Huh? Can’t we only upload pictures, not videos?
【Pururu】─I can do it. Once I reached Gold rank, I unlocked the ability to upload both pictures and videos.
I didn’t know that.
I had wondered what changed when the rank went up, and it turned out to be a feature like that.
【Yumi】─[Link]
【Yumi】─This is the one.
Ha Yumi posted the link.
Of course, I couldn’t access it.
To me, the link was just a bunch of characters.
After a bit of time passed…
【Pururu】─Is this real?
【Pururu】─The video looks so natural.
Pururu sent a message.
It seemed he had watched the video.
“Hurry up and upload it so I can see it too.”
【Pururu】─Sure, but uploading a video costs 3 coins. Uploading a picture costs 1 coin.
“They charge for that? Just use the coins I’ve got from my balance.”
【Pururu】─Ok, got it, boss.
【Pururu】─[Video]
It really worked.
A square video window floated in the air before me.
When I tapped it lightly with my finger, the video began playing.
I watched it carefully.
Paying close attention to the slime on the screen.
“Hmm······.”
【Yumi】─How is it? Doesn’t it look real?
【Pururu】─It may look real to us, but Geon’s probably going to call it fake right away.
【Mysticism】─🧐
“This… doesn’t seem fake.”
No matter how closely I looked, it was a real slime.