Chapter 8 – To Home (2)

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“Huh. You were alive, Woojin.”

His home room teacher from his 3rd year in high school looked as if he had seen a ghost. Woojin laughed bitterly. Numerous people had died during the Dungeon Shock, and it seemed Woojin was counted as one of the casualties.

In reality, it had been 20 years since they met again, so he didn’t feel much emotions. The teacher looked for Woojin inside the student record.

“Ah. Here is your phone number.”

Rrring.

The teacher immediately called the number. The number may or may not have changed.

Would he be able to hear his mother’s voice? Had the number changed?

Woojin was sitting on the opposite sofa, and his heart was pounding.

[Hello?]

The home room teacher heard a tired middle-aged woman’s voice. He used a special tone of voice reserved for speaking to a student’s parents.

“Yes, hello. My name is Lee-sangwoo. I’m a teacher at Mido High school.”

[What? Mido High school?]

The shaking voice seemed similar to the dimly remembered voice of his mother. Woojin’s heart sped up, and it felt like he was out of breath.

“Yes. Are you by any chance Mrs. Lee-soogyung?”

[Yes. You are correct. What is it you need? If its Mido High school, then it was the school our eldest went to….”

Woojin felt like his heart was about to stop when he heard the voice across the phone. Even when he was hit squarely by Balrok’s Whip, it didn’t hurt as much as this.

Woojin snatched the hand phone as if he was stealing it, then he spoke in a shaking voice.

“Mom.”

[…….]

There were no words spoken across the phone. However, one could tell how surprised she was. She must have been shaking so much, since her entire feelings was conveyed to him.

“Mom. This is Woojin. Kang-woojin.”

It was harder to speak the word ‘Mom’, then using a 9th Circle magic spell. His throat was tied up in knots, and he was barely able to hold back his tears. Instead of hearing words from across the phone, he could only hear the sound of weeping.

[W…Woojing? Is it really our Woojin? Are you really our Woojin?]

At the sound of her wails, Woojin couldn’t even guess how much sorrow she had endured. The sadness turned into joy as his tears fell.

“I’ve returned.”

[Uhuh, uh-oong.(TLN:crying sfx) My Woojin.]

He had survived 20 years for this moment.

“Where did you move to? I’ll go there.”

[No. I’ll come over there. I’ll be there soon, so don’t move an inch from there.]

He heard the sounds of hurried feet. Woojin gave the teacher his phone.

“Whew.”

He let out a long breath he had held as he tried to swallow his tears.

After the teacher received the phone from him, he tried to calm the mother. He ended the call only after a lengthy conversation. At this sight, Woojin was reminded he needed to buy a phone soon.

“She’ll be here in about one or two hours.”

“Whew. Thank you, teacher.”

“Uh-whew. I didn’t really do anything. I’m more thankful that you are alive.”

“Do you miind if I look around the school?”

“Well, do what ever you want.”

Woojin thought it would be boring to sit in one place for two hours, so he exited the staff room.”

“Whew. Let’s go see Jaemin.”

When his mother arrives, he’ll have to repay the money he borrowed from Jaemin in haste. He felt embarrassed to receive money from his parent when he was already 24 years old. However, he had decided to repay her back by dedicating his entire life to being a good son.

Just at that moment, kids crowded into the hallway since it was break time. He squeezed by people as he walked. He was boldly walking around wearing a white t-shirt and shorts one would only wear when going to sleep, so many students gave him a once over.

‘Wa, he’s really handsome.’

‘He’s really tall. I heard he is our school’s alumni.’

If it wasn’t for the other students in uniform, the female high school student would have exclaimed him to be their ideal type. They whispered among themselves, and they clapped their hands in delight.

‘Wa. His fashion is so unsophisticated.’

‘Shit. He’s frighteningly thick. What did that bum used to do?’

The male students secretly made fun of Woojin.

Woojin ignored them, and he found Jaemin’s classroom. Jaemin wasn’t even able to go to the restroom during the break as kids surrounded him.

“Hey, Jaemin.”

Woojin approached Jaemin in a friendly manner, and this surprised the gathering around him. Soo-hyuk and the other kids, who had suffered under Woojin, tried to avoid meeting his eyes. The other kids glared at Woojin, then they mocked him.

“Who is this bitch?”

“Wow. Were you afraid of becoming the outcast, so you called in your big brother?”

At most, there were seven of them. They looked at Woojin, and they grinned. Jaemin, who had a worried expression, met his eyes. Jaemin was slowly shaking his head from side-to-side when Woojin yelled.

“All of you playing as bullies follow me up to the roof.”

With an obstinate expression, Woojin went in the front with the downcast Jaemin, and they headed towards the roof. The bullies followed after them with a dumbfounded expression on their faces.

“Wa. Let’s give them a fucking beating. Hey, go call the kids in the other classes.”

Soohyuk secretly followed after the kids as they headed towards the roof. There were over 20 kids following after them, so he tried to push yesterday’s events out of his memory.

‘That’s right. I was careless, so I was hit in the vitals by mistake. That bastard probably can’t do much against this number.’

Including Soohyuk, over twenty bullies stepped on to the roof.

*

“One.”

A haughty voice came out of Woojin’s mouth.

“We are!”

The bullies were lined up in a line, and they simultaneously lowered their body to the floor doing a push-up.

“Two.”

“Jaemin’s minions.”

Twenty five students were in a line, and they were doing push-ups at the same time. Even Do-jaemin, who was directly involved, couldn’t hide his surprise.

‘What did he learn at the Jiri Mountain?’

He must have learned martial arts. If not, how could he defeat the twenty five large bullies in a flash by himself?

It really took less than 1 minute. He had already made them do 50 push-ups, yet the break hadn’t ended yet. When the teens’ arms started to tremble, Woojin gathered them in one place.

“Hey, everyone come over here.”

The bullies’ faces were considerably flushed, and Woojin grinned at this sight. He had held back since this was Earth. If it was Planet Alphen, then they wouldn’t have been able to stand up.

He probably would have enslaved them after making their bodies Undead. Then he just need a little magic to damn their souls.

“What do you think this is?”

“It’s a s..steel pipe.”

“That’s right. Whoever brought this is quite hopeless.”

Some bastard had brought a steel pipe to beat Woojin with it. He grasped the steel pipe then he easily bent it. As if this wasn’t enough, he grabbed both ends of the bent steel pipe, then he pulled.

Zzzzzt.

The steel pipe stretched like a stick of caramel. In a moment, it couldn’t take the tension, so it was ripped in half. The bullies looked at him as if their soul had been ripped away, and Woojin threw the broken steel pipe to the floor.

Ggahng.

Woojin put an arm around Jaemin’s shoulder, who was standing next to him.

“You won’t bother Jaemin any more?”

“We won’t bother him.”

“We’ll absolutely not bother him.”

Woojin nodded his head as if he was satisfied with the shouts in front of him.

“Don’t try to make him the outcast, and you guys should get along with him. All right?”

“Yes. Yes!”

“Then go back to class.”

At Woojin’s word, the bullies felt relieved that they were still alive. Then they bickered to be the first one to get off the roof. Jaemin looked at Woojin with a devastated expression.

“How am I suppose to go to school now…”

Rumors of such a large incident would be spread across the school. Woojin smile brightly as he looked at his sour expression.

“I thought you were only going to study? Now no one will torment you.”

Huh? What is this? His argument was persuasive.

He was only going to study, so why should he care if he didn’t have some friends?

Woojin patted Jaemin’s shoulder, when he saw his flustered expression.

“Right. I was able to contact my mother. Soon I’ll be able to repay the money you lent me.”

“N..no. It’s ok, big brother.”

“It wouldn’t be right.”

Woojin was excited at the prospect of meeting his mother. Jaemin impatiently waited for the bell to ring, and he wanted to end the conversation with Woojin as quickly as possible.

“Ah, I’ll repay your kindness. It couldn’t have been easy to let a stranger sleep over for a night.”

“Haha. No. Big brother helped me first. You even did so today.”

He’ll be embarrassed in the near future, but it wouldn’t be too bad. It seemed as if the bullies wouldn’t bother him any more.

They’ll probably torment him with petty and cheap methods.

“Yes. I’m glad you think of it like that. If I buy a hand phone, I’ll contact you. If those bastards bother you again, then you can call me.”

Woojin took out the piece of paper from the pocket in his short, and he shook it.

‘Ha, he didn’t lose it.’

It was a fake number he had made up. He felt a bit guilty, so Jaemin laughed awkwardly.

“Yes, big brother. Congratulation on reuniting with your mother.”

“Ha ha. Thanks. You should continue to study hard, and get a job in a great company.”

When the bell rung, Jaemin knew this was his chance. He bowed to say goodbye, then he ran toward his classroom. Woojin remained on the roof as he just grinned.

“The weather is quite nice.”

Maybe it was, because there were less cars. The sky above Seoul looked very clear today.

Woojin stood there for awhile, then he saw a taxi stop in front of the front gate. His heart felt like it was about to stop, when he saw the woman hurriedly head towards the school.

“Mom…”

Woojin calmed his heart, then he head towards the staff room.