Chapter 122

As my prediction came true, my expression wasn’t exactly pleasant.

Dimensional Invaders are mostly Returners who came back to Earth through some means.

They refer to those who slipped through the Dimensional Gates that weren’t properly closed.

Of course, most of them didn’t have good intentions.

So, the incidents caused by them greatly influenced the negative perception of Returners.

“But wasn’t Ayu’s Dimensional Gate already closed?”

Ayu is an S-class Returner.

Known as Cheonma, Ayu herself dealt with the Dimensional Invaders and even the Dimensional Erosion when the dimensional intersection occurred, then closed the gate herself.

But now, Dimensional Invaders are suddenly appearing from her dimension.

That doesn’t make sense.

“Right, that’s why I’m having a headache over this issue now.”

“Can you explain in detail?”

“Remember the Large-scale Rapid Dimensional Gate from before?”

“How could I forget?”

When Baeksan mentioned the incident caused by Giraseong, I naturally reacted.

Then, Baeksan swept his bangs up with his hand.

“It seems that due to that, the Dimensional Gates closed by Returners have twisted and opened.”

Hearing that, my body stiffened.

Because what Baeksan said was extremely dangerous.

“Wait, that means…”

“There will be quite a few Dimensional Invaders crawling through those twisted gates.”

Baeksan also gritted his teeth, seemingly frustrated.

It meant that Giraseong’s actions had now brought a crisis to the entire Earth.

“At least, unlike my time, it’s limited to Seoul.”

Since Giraseong opened the Large-scale Rapid Dimensional Gate in Jung-gu, it seems only Seoul’s dimension has twisted.

“My time? The Dimensional Invaders came because Earth’s coordinates were revealed after Giraseong’s successful Dimensional Invasion, and there were also incidents where Returners’ Dimensional Gates twisted, like this time?”

When I asked in panic, Baeksan nodded with a frustrated expression.

“Yes, there were two incidents in my world that became problematic due to Dimensional Invaders.”

Baeksan explained it to me like that.

One was when Earth’s coordinates were revealed due to Giraseong’s Dimensional Invasion, and Dimensional Invaders targeted Earth.

The other was due to Si-ho’s rampage.

“…Because of Si-ho?”

“Yes, but Giraseong was of a lower level than that kid, so it was limited to Seoul. But the situation is similar. That kid broke through all the Dimensional Gates connected to Returners.”

My heart turned cold.

Because I realized that the world almost ended due to Si-ho’s rampage.

“Kang Ha-chan, the current situation isn’t as bad as before where the whole world would shake, but it’s starting to get quite dangerous, limited to Seoul.”

“…Just hearing it, I can tell.”

“No, hearing it isn’t enough. Dimensional Invaders are more likely to come through those related to Returners. That means those who provided the reason for Returners to return will come through.”

As soon as I heard that, I started running.

The reason Returners had to return.

As soon as I thought of that, Ayu and that man came to mind.

I burst into the hospital room.

There stood Ayu.

No, there stood Cheon Hong-ryun.

Her red hair and Cheonma’s attire.

And in her hand, a red Camellia Flower bloomed.

“Ayu!”

As I called her, Cheon Hong-ryun silently gazed at the man on the bed.

His eyes slowly opened.

He stared at Cheon Hong-ryun for a while, then smiled faintly.

“Sister, why do you look at your younger brother with such harsh eyes?”

“…Dohwa.”

The plum blossom petals from his hand slowly scattered.

Those plum blossoms mixed with Cheon Hong-ryun’s Camellia petals.

But soon, Dohwa’s plum blossoms disappeared before Cheon Hong-ryun’s Camellia.

Dohwa looked at it regretfully, then smiled faintly.

“Indeed, sister, you’re the first to mix the plum blossoms of Hwasan with magical energy to bloom Camellias. Even I, who trained so much that my hair turned plum-colored, am nothing compared to you.”

“I’m not from Hwasan.”

“But our bloodline is. Even if our father is different, we were born from the same Hwasan mother.”

Hearing that, I realized he was Cheon Hong-ryun’s half-brother.

“…Sister, do you still resent mother?”

Cheon Hong-ryun’s eyebrows twitched.

“Mother didn’t hate you. Even if it turned out that way, you don’t need to feel guilty.”

“…I never felt guilty in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

At the following words, she bit her lip slightly.

“After that incident, you ran away to another world as soon as you saw me.”

Listening quietly, I realized their stories didn’t align.

Wait, this…

‘Does Ayu’s half-brother not know she’s a Returner?’

The fact that he referred to it as “another world” was evidence.

‘I see.’

During the Dimensional Movement, Ayu and Shin Sora’s bodies were torn apart by the dimensional storm, and only Shin Sora’s soul possessed Cheon Hong-ryun’s body.

Moreover, since she possessed her as a child, the people from that world wouldn’t have found it strange.

After all, children change constantly in adults’ eyes.

So, Cheon Hong-ryun, who grew from a child to an adult, was seen as someone who grew up in this world from the beginning to the end.

‘Ayu is hard to deal with for Dohwa.’

Although her body was Cheon Hong-ryun, her mind was Shin Sora.

Her father, the Taesanggyoju, and Dohwa’s mother, a Hwasan woman who was also Cheon Hong-ryun’s mother, wouldn’t have felt like parents to her.

According to Ayu, she possessed Cheon Hong-ryun during middle school.

But by blood, Dohwa was indeed her brother.

So, she must have hesitated on how to treat him.

“Ayu.”

As I called her again, Cheon Hong-ryun looked at me.

“Can we talk?”

Hearing my question, she nodded.

“…Who are you?”

Then, Dohwa looked at me with a question.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t introduced myself to him.

“Ah, I’m Kang Ha-chan. Ayu, I mean, Cheon Hong-ryun and I have a relationship…”

I tried to explain our relationship but suddenly got stuck.

Glancing at Cheon Hong-ryun, she was looking at me with quite an interesting expression.

As if waiting to see how I would describe myself to Dohwa.

Seeing that, I hesitated.

If I just said we were friends, she would definitely be disappointed.

Given what happened earlier, it was natural.

But if you asked if our relationship had progressed further, it was hard to put into words.

Ayu likes me, and I certainly have feelings for her too.

But this was something we needed to discuss between ourselves.

“Brother, he’s my most precious brother.”

That was all I could squeeze out at the moment.

Because I thought it wasn’t proper to reveal my feelings through a conversation with others.

This was something we needed to talk about when we were alone first.

“Hmm, most precious brother.”

She seemed to let it go for now and didn’t mention it further.

Seeing us, Dohwa seemed to have caught on to something and widened his eyes.

“Sister, has spring come for you too?”

“Dohwa, if you want to keep talking nonsense, go ahead.”

“Sorry.”

As Camellia petals started to scatter, Dohwa quickly apologized.

“Um, Dohwa, can I talk with Hong-ryun for a bit?”

“Yes, I came to see my sister, so I don’t plan to go anywhere.”

As he cooperatively responded, I felt relieved and turned to Cheon Hong-ryun.

She had already left the room, and I followed her.

We quickly found a place to sit and rest.

Since there were no people around, I sat next to her.

As we sat, she returned from Cheon Hong-ryun’s appearance to Ayu.

Probably because Dohwa was bothering her, she deliberately took on Cheon Hong-ryun’s appearance.

“Phew, sorry, Domi Oppa. I dragged you into this for no reason.”

“Dragged into what? Your brother came to see you.”

“Brother, yes, he’s my brother. From that dimension.”

Saying that, she let out a small sigh.

“Ayu, I made some guesses about your relationship with Dohwa…”

I asked Ayu directly about my speculations.

Hearing my story, Ayu nodded as if everything I said was correct.

“Right. Dohwa doesn’t know I’m a Returner.”

“I thought so.”

“Her, I mean, Cheon Hong-ryun’s mother was a woman from Hwasan called Geomhu. My father, the Taesanggyoju, took a liking to her and kidnapped her, forcing her to become his wife. That’s how Cheon Hong-ryun was born.”

She frowned, clearly not a good memory.

“Thinking back, the Taesanggyoju was insane. That lunatic ruined Magyo.”

She vented her frustrations to me.

“Anyway, that mother gave birth to Cheon Hong-ryun and escaped when the surveillance weakened.”

A mother who abandoned her child.

It was understandable why Dohwa thought Cheon Hong-ryun resented her mother.

“The Taesanggyoju wasn’t the type to care about his children, and the power struggles were all among his wives. When I possessed Cheon Hong-ryun, she was the weakest, with only one nanny.”

Suddenly possessing someone.

The child of Cheonma, with no mother to protect her.

I could indirectly feel how much Ayu had suffered.

“You became Cheonma in that situation?”

“I had to survive. Even without any power, I was a thorn in the wives’ eyes. Assassination attempts kept coming, so I had to get stronger. I think the real Cheon Hong-ryun might have died from poisoning before I possessed her. I was sick for about a month after possessing her.”

As she said that, she clenched and unclenched her hand.

“So, I killed a lot. I practically killed all of Cheonma’s direct descendants. If it weren’t for me, they would have killed me, so I don’t feel guilty.”

I reached out and held her clenched hand.

I couldn’t just listen, so my hand reached out unconsciously.

I had only heard fragments of Ayu’s story.

She never wanted to talk about herself, so I never asked.

But perhaps because Dohwa appeared, Ayu was telling me about her life for the first time.

Whether forced or willing, I knew how hard that was.

Seeing my hand holding hers, Ayu smiled faintly and intertwined our fingers.

I held her hand tighter.

If it could comfort her even a little, I would do anything.

“So, that’s how I lived. Inherited Cheonma, cleaned up the decaying Magyo. Then, the Murim Alliance formed and targeted Magyo.”

“The Murim Alliance is like the UN of the martial world, right?”

“Pfft, that’s a funny analogy. Yes. It’s an alliance of orthodox factions. They were in the middle of a civil war back then. The Murim families and the Nine Sects were fighting among themselves, but when we pacified the Tianshan mountain range and my name spread nationwide, they saw us as a threat and formed an alliance, creating the Murim Alliance.”

Ayu sneered at the Murim Alliance.

“Back then, we hadn’t invaded their territories since the Taesanggyoju. But they changed their direction to attack us to end their civil war. They created a common enemy.”

“At least while fighting Magyo, the Murim Alliance forces would unite, so that makes sense.”

“Right. Since the Murim Alliance attacked first, we couldn’t just sit back. So, a full-scale war broke out between Magyo and the Murim Alliance. I was amazing, right? I swept them all away. Thanks to that, the blood of Murim and Magyo covered the world, and the world died.”

Ayu spoke as if it were no big deal.

But no matter how strong she was, war is never easy.

Her body might be perfect, but her mind must have had limits.

“When the Murim Alliance was on the verge of destruction, they sent him as an envoy.”

“Dohwa, right?”

“Yes. Somehow, they found him training with his mother in the mountains and sent him as an envoy to me. Come to think of it, he had black hair back then.”

Hearing that, something crossed my mind.

“…Could it be that the Murim Alliance sent Dohwa so you would know his mother was alive, and thus, you wouldn’t act recklessly because of her?”

“Our Domi Oppa, you’re smart, huh?”

“Those bastards.”