Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

354 The wrong place

The scenery in front of him changed rapidly. From a blurry and dark space to a place that turned brighter and brighter, Kairen was moved in space toward his destination.

Kairen closed his eyes not to get nauseous and only opened them when the feeling of his body being moved through space vanished and he felt his feet touch solid ground. Through his closed eyes, Kairen sensed bright sunlight and felt its warmth on his skin. It was a sensation he hadn’t experienced in a long time and had longed for it a lot.

‘I’m finally back...’

Without realizing it, a smile formed on his lips as he cracked his eyes open.

Tall buildings were what he saw when he opened his eyes. Following that were some smaller buildings, which were either collapsed or barely standing. Various signs and boards were placed here and there, and written on them were some words about the place being a dangerous location. Aside from sunlight, there were other sources of light in the sky. Once Kairen raised his head, he could see one huge purple-black gate-like object, something that made one think of a huge portal capable of transferring thousands of people, floating in the sky in some distance. A faint sound was being emanated from it, similar to the voice of a vacuum cleaner but in a more horrifying tone.

‘Huh...’

Kairen stared at the strange floating object that he had seen for the first time in his life in a daze before he suddenly frowned and looked down at the signs placed all around him.

[Danger]

[Keep out]

.....

[Restricted Gate Rage]

“....”

Staring at the signs, Kairen couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. He subconsciously gasped and took a step back.

It was not because of the scary sight of the floating portal or the warnings placed all around him, but because of the words written on the boards.

‘How can this be...’

The words were written in his mother tongue, a language that no one besides him and his brother must know... A language that he hasn’t seen or heard from anybody else in years.

In that instant, a face flashed in his memory and the voice belonging to the face played in his ears like a recorded video.

-I’ll create a portal for you. Jump in it, and you’ll go back to your own world.

“My own world...”

Kairen blinked a few times, looked away from the signs, and circled around himself. He was inside an area enclosed with danger lines and restricting signs, but he was still inside a city. He could see damaged and collapsed buildings, as well as unharmed ones and a few that looked to have been built recently. The place seemed to have gone through a war, but the overall structure was somewhat familiar. Kairen didn’t need a second look to distinguish this place as the place he was born and raised in, the city he used to call his hometown.

“What the fuck????”

At that moment, Kairen was filled with ‘What the fuck’ feelings. All he could think of was ‘what the fuck’ and all the answers he found were also ‘Fuck’.
“That... That...”


Once again, Reynold’s words played in his ears.

-Jump in it, and you’ll go back to your own world.

Your own world...

“He sent me back to my own world????”

Kairen blurted that out loud in almost an irritated and confused scream. His voice echoed in his surroundings and gradually vanished. At some point in time, Kairen had clenched his fists and his face had gotten red from anger. A strong surge of emotions inside him managed to get the right of his mind, and he couldn’t hold himself back from screaming the words that appeared in his mind.

“MOTHERFUCKEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!”

His vice once again echoed in the area and the whole restricted region was filled with ‘motherfucker’ voices.

“Why did he send me here... Why am I here...”

He suppressed the urge to pull out his hair and instead covered his face with both hands.

“I want to return home...”

Just as he mumbled those words, he paused and lowered his hands.

‘Home...’

Staring at his palms, Kairen thought about that word for a few seconds.

Wasn’t he at his home now? Didn’t he try to return back to his world all the time? He learned magid, joined SMF, and entered unit 5 only to find a way back home. He searched whatever he could find with his limited access and did his best to gather information to find any clues about the way home, and now, he was home!

‘But this is not right...’

In the first place, he only wanted to return home because of his brother. There was nothing else in this world that was better than the other one in his mind.

And now, his brother was not in this place.

“Reynold! Reynold! You red bitch! Come out, I know you are around! Come pick me up!”

Kairen shouted as he looked around, hoping that the red-haired bastard would come out of nowhere and take him away from this place, but no matter how many times he called out the man’s name, he received no response.

‘What should I do now? What should I do now? I don’t know anyone here... Where should I go? How should I contact Reynold? Damn it! Damn it!’

Circling around himself in a panicked state, Kairen thought about the various things he had to do, and then about the things he could do, but he couldn’t form a proper plan at all. In the first place, he had been away from this world for many years and it seemed like many things had happened here in that time, meaning that the chances of him finding the few friends he had here were very low, and even if he found them, there was no way he could explain how he was still alive and how he looked so young when he was supposed to be nearing his forties by now.

‘Should I go to the police? Tell them that I got lost? But again... How am I going to confirm my identity... If they find out that I’m the same Kairen Steyton that disappeared years ago, I won’t be in a good position...’

According to Aaron, their own house was long destroyed and Kairen didn’t know where Aaron stayed when he was still on Earth, and this meant that he didn’t even have a place to spend the night. How was he supposed to find a way back home in this state?

‘Man, my condition was much better when I go thrown on that other world...’

At least, he was a little, cute kid who had lost his memories and could live in an orphanage...

‘Wait a minute, why am I thinking about living here? I have to leave this place, not live in it!’

Tap

“Who is there?”

At that moment, the voice of a man entered his ears. Kairen jumped up in surprise. Turning right towards the direction of the sound he saw three men in clothes similar to military uniform walk toward him slowly but firmly, with their weapons pointed at Kairen.

“What are you doing here? This is a restricted area!”

The man in the front moved his sword, which was strangely shining with a bright color, closer to Kairen as he asked once again.

“....”

‘What should I say now...’

‘Hi! I was just going to my own world when I suddenly fell here, which is actually my own world but I don’t like to live here anymore.’?

‘Naah man!’

And it was unquestionable what would happen if he attempted to fight these people or run away. The whole planet was on their side!

Kairen slowly raised his hands up to his head and forced a smile.

“I... I got lost... Haha!”

. . . . .

Inside the endless darkness of the land of nothingness, in the palace that stood tall among all other buildings in the city, a red-haired man stared blankly at a spot in the air, his brown slightly raised and his arms folded.

Two other men were standing beside him, and after noticing the strange expression on the redhead’s face, turned to him and shot confused gazes towards the man.

“Ops!”

After a few seconds of staring at the empty location of the portal that disappeared a little while ago, Reynold mumbled under his lips as he heaved a sigh.

“I must’ve gotten really old... How could I do such a mistake...”

“What mistake?”

Reynold shook his head at Kain’s question.

“I’ll solve it real soon... I hope...”