Chapter 3

Why is something like that here?

The answer was simple.

This area has been caught up in a Dimensional Gate occurrence.

Now I understand why Ayu pulled me away from the window.

If I had kept my head stuck out, I would have been an immediate target.

“Dimensional Gates rarely appear in urban areas. Why now?”

As Ayu frowned and muttered, I realized the Dimensional Beings had moved away from us and stood up.

“It happens. Sometimes, sudden dimensional overlaps occur without warning.”

I looked down at my phone, but no alert had come.

This meant one thing.

“A Returner has come through.”

A dimensional overlap caused by a Returner.

Returners are those who were caught in a dimensional shift and lived in another world before returning to Earth.

The problem is, while they return, most Returners cause dimensional overlaps, bringing Dimensional Beings from their world to Earth.

Normally, intruders trigger a Dimensional Gate after a process of measuring Earth.

During this process, Earth’s dimensional radar network detects them, and after evacuation, Hunters are deployed.

But Returners don’t need such a process.

They were born on Earth, so they know it and can return without measurement.

Thus, when a Returner suddenly causes a dimensional overlap, response is inevitably delayed.

Dimensional Researchers are studying this, but they haven’t found a way to predict these overlaps yet.

That’s why Returners are ostracized on Earth.

The casualties from their dimensional overlaps range from dozens to hundreds of millions.

All they can do is protect Earth from Dimensional Beings as Returner Hunters, minimizing the damage they cause.

“Probably a Returner who lived nearby. They opened a Dimensional Gate at a known coordinate, so there was no way to avoid it.”

I sighed lightly and stood up.

Looking out the window, cars were crushed, and people were screaming in chaos.

Small Dimensional Beings were causing trouble everywhere, though none as large as before.

“Luckily, it’s not an Erosion-type.”

Dimensional Gates can be Erosion-types, where the world itself invades, or Intrusion-types, where only Dimensional Beings come.

Erosion-types are far more dangerous, as they can devastate ecosystems or render areas uninhabitable.

Thankfully, this was an Intrusion-type.

If we can handle the Dimensional Beings, it’s solvable.

“…Bro, you know a lot.”

Maybe because I didn’t panic at all, except for being buried in Ayu’s chest earlier.

Ayu looked at me curiously.

Well, of course.

After losing my parents to a Dimensional Gate, I entered a Hunter university to prevent such tragedies.

Though I’m neither a Returner nor an awakened Hunter, there are roles for civilians in supporting Hunters.

I studied hard, earning a full scholarship, and was a promising student, so this is basic for me.

“Ayu, are you a Hunter?”

That abnormal power earlier.

It was clearly not something an ordinary girl could possess.

Ayu slowly lowered her gaze and fidgeted with her lips.

“I-I’m not a Hunter.”

Her stuttering voice made my eyes narrow.

I understood what she meant.

“Are you a Returner?”

Ayu didn’t answer.

But her downcast eyes told me everything.

A Returner.

The day I lost my parents was due to a dimensional overlap caused by a Returner.

My parents, torn apart by Dimensional Beings from the gate, still haunt my memories.

And I had subtly mentioned this to Ayu.

Having spent five years together, we’ve shared many stories.

Perhaps that’s why.

I finally understood the slightly off things Ayu had said.

The unique disconnect Returners feel when they come to Earth.

Time in their dimension and Earth’s time don’t align.

Time in their dimension could be faster, or Earth’s time could be faster.

They might have experienced years in their dimension while only a year passed on Earth.

Or a day there could mean a century on Earth.

Ayu likely fits the former.

Her becoming an adult this year meant that.

‘Even if she’s a Returner, she hasn’t acted as a Hunter because she’s not legally an adult yet.’

Returners often have exceptions, but Hunters are generally required to be adults.

I don’t know how long Ayu lived in that dimension, but if she didn’t want to, they wouldn’t make her a Hunter while she’s still a minor.

“Ayu, I told you before.”

And I had shared my past with Ayu.

“I don’t resent Returners.”

Just as my parents were killed by Dimensional Beings, it was a Returner who saved me.

That Returner was my sister, who disappeared years ago in a dimensional shift.

The deeply sorrowful face she showed me.

I still remember it clearly.

And since that day, I haven’t seen my sister’s face again.

I thought.

Returners just wanted to return to their families on Earth.

They are victims caught in the disaster of dimensional shifts.

That’s why I went to university.

I didn’t want to create more victims like me.

I didn’t want to create more Returner victims.

That’s why I double-majored in Hunter Guidance and Dimensional Shift Studies.

“They are victims. And it seems another victim has appeared.”

I looked out the window.

A Returner, unintentionally caught in a dimensional shift, suffered and returned, only to destroy their home.

Most of them suffer and struggle with the memories of that day.

Faintly, I despaired and left reality, but the memories clenched my fists.

“That’s all.”

They shouldn’t be blamed.

The damn dimensional shifts or the worlds are to blame, not them.

“…Yeah, that’s just like you.”

Ayu smiled faintly, her face more serene than ever.

She gripped my collar and said.

“I’m set to register as a Hunter this year. I’ve been a bit hesitant, so it’s slightly delayed. But after returning, the state guarantees support for rescue activities.”

Though it’s just a system to use troublesome Returners, at this moment, it was crucial.

“I want to save them.”

Returners and those caught in the shifts.

The thought of saving everyone.

Even if it was a thought I couldn’t achieve due to reality’s walls, it remains unchanged.

Ayu took my hand.

Her soft, pale hand felt warm.

“I can save them if you’re by my side.”

I can’t do much for her.

At best, I can ramble about dimensional shifts.

But the deep trust in Ayu’s eyes made me nod unconsciously.

“Okay, I’ll be by your side forever.”

Hearing this, Ayu smiled as she did at first.

Simultaneously, a crimson haze rose in her purple eyes.

“That’s a promise you must keep.”

With those words, Ayu’s hood fluttered.

Through the torn hood, a black martial arts uniform reminiscent of wuxia appeared.

And her maple-red hair fluttered, adorned with a camellia hairpin.

[Category: Wuxia · No. 9]

Returner Shin Sora

Greatest in the World

Cheonma (Heavenly Demon)

Cheon Hong-ryun

A crimson sword extended from her grip, drawing a blood-red line.

“Let’s go.”

The Heavenly Demon had descended.

Cheon Hong-ryun, a name from the martial world dimension where she had possessed a young girl.

As the child of a concubine, she was far from inheriting the title of Cheonma.

The martial world was a mess for her.

Recalling the horrors she endured in the Demon Sect due to her Cheonma lineage.

Her mouth only tasted bitterness.

But through all that suffering, she ascended to the title of Cheonma.

She unified the martial world and spread the Demon Sect’s influence.

It was the only way.

To survive as the child of the Cheonma.

But what did it mean?

This wasn’t her world, and the countless forces she had crushed with the Cheonma’s power still sharpened their blades for revenge.

She was tired.

It was exhausting.

Her life, barely that of a middle schooler, had been ruined by the Cheonma’s influence.

Her insides were slowly rotting.

One day, she remembered.

The face of the sister she had strangled to death.

The first kill she had to commit to survive as an ordinary Korean middle school girl.

Though her sister had tried to assassinate her first, the memory still haunted her after countless kills.

But the Cheonma couldn’t rest.

Unsurprisingly, the Murim Alliance was formed to drive out the Demon Sect, and they came at her with blades.

It was laughable.

What was the Murim Alliance?

Just as rotten as the Demon Sect, shouting about justice.

Their corrupt politics had birthed the Demon Sect.

In the end, the Cheonma rose again.

She ended the Murim Alliance with her own hands and sat alone atop a river of blood.

The war between the Demon Sect and the Murim Alliance had ruined the world.

The once-great Central Plains were no longer habitable.

The Cheonma quietly recalled.

The cheerful middle school girl living under her parents in Korea.

Was it too late?

But what meaning was there in staying here?

The Cheonma stood up.

And she opened a dimension.

To return to her long-lost home.

And when the Cheonma returned.

The dimensional overlap she caused became the worst means: Martial World Erosion.

Cheon Hong-ryun’s eyes trembled as she recalled the past.

It was chaos.

The remnants of the Murim Alliance, believing the dimensional shift to be the Demon Sect’s trick, slaughtered countless civilians.

The war between the Demon Sect and the Murim Alliance had turned the land into a wasteland.

The land where she was born and raised became uninhabitable in an instant.

In that chaos, Cheon Hong-ryun searched for her faintly remembered parents.

Miraculously, her parents were still alive amidst the chaos.

But she didn’t know.

How the magical energy she unconsciously emitted would affect ordinary Earthlings.

Her parents recognized her, hugged her, patted her, and cried.

They were glad she had returned.

They repeated how glad they were she was alive.

Her parents, who had quit everything to search for their missing daughter for a year, were emaciated.

The Cheonma, who had lost her expression for so long, broke down crying.

And in that moment, her parents vomited blood and collapsed.

Overjoyed at finding their daughter, they didn’t notice the magical energy infiltrating their bodies.

They were just grateful and happy their daughter was alive.

Cheon Hong-ryun could do nothing.

To save her dying parents, she needed a doctor.

But having just returned from a dimensional shift, she couldn’t control her magical energy.

The Cheonma wailed.

Returning to Earth after decades, she was shunned as a Returner.

Her parents, who died because of her, were an unending regret.

September 11, 2026.

That was the day she returned from Cheon Hong-ryun to Shin Sora.

And a few months later.

The only salvation for her, broken and ruined, came from a game she stumbled upon.

The affection she harbored from then on is a story for later.