"Has he said anything yet?"
"No, Mr. Sung. We have tried, but he refused to say anything after saying his name."
"And? Did we find any leads with the FBH?"
The Association agent's face twisted with concern as he handed over the datapad to me.
"We did. The Americans were not happy about us digging through their citizen registry, but we finally got a hit through a DNA test and Name cross-verification."
I looked at the data and started reading it out as we continued our walk into the isolated room in the facility where the anomaly was being kept.
"James Hudson. 25 Years old. Deceased?"
I looked at the agent in surprise as he nodded.
"Turns out, he was one of the victims of one of the very first Gates that ever opened. The Gate opened mid-air, causing the plane that he was on to try and evade the Gate. Unfortunately, the pilots were too late, and the rear half of the plane was swallowed into the Gate while the front half crashed and killed everyone on board. His former home is also gone, thanks to another Gate opening in his neighborhood and wiping out anyone that he might have known."
"Then, where the hell was he for the past five years?"
"That is the concerning part. No civilian has ever been recorded to have survived being swallowed by a Gate."
I felt a twinge of sympathy as things started to fall into place.
A survivor, caught in a Dungeon and surviving for five years, somehow, and only now managing to come out, not knowing how to react to the changed world.
"….Does the United States know that we have one of their citizens with us? And that he arrived out of the Gate at that?"
"No. The Chairman placed a gag order on this incident. For now, the only ones who know anything about this incident are you, me, and the other Hunter trainees that you were supposed to lead into the Gate for experience."
"Then, what is the Association planning now?"
"Given the way he is dressed and his surviving in an S-Rank dungeon for five years, it is fairly clear that he is strong, even for a Hunter. The Chairman is planning on inviting him into the Association as a Hunter with the benefit of creating citizenship for him in Korea. But, there is a problem."
The Agent looked guilty as he spoke.
"Some higher-ups are greatly opposed to the Chairman and are forcing him to put the man through a ranking test to determine his worth. But, as you know, we are currently booked for the next two months for the ranking tests. Without a confirmed ranking, the Chairman cannot provide the man with a place to stay or any money, since those bastards are waiting for a chance to make things difficult for the Chairman. That means that we currently have no way of providing for the man except for letting him stay at this facility and treat him like a temporary prisoner, which would not make him happy and might turn him away from the association."
"…..You know, you did not have to give me such an elaborate speech just to convince me to take him in temporarily. The Chairman must have really emphasized convincing me, right?"
His silence was answer enough.
Besides, it's not like I mind providing shelter to the young man who is down on his luck, and I am sure my wife will not mind either.
After all, I once became a Firefighter to help people, and the same conviction is what allowed me to become one of the first Hunters in the country.
Soon, we reached the room where our mysterious guest, James Hudson, was being held. Opening the door, I was greeted by the same sight as I first saw when he walked out of a newly formed S-Rank gate that promptly closed after he walked out.
His blue eyes, which looked dead, were still staring off into space as he sat leaning into his chair, which was groaning in protest at the heavy weight that it was being forced to uphold thanks to the exotic armor that the young man was wearing. His blond hair looked like it had not seen a proper shower in decades, while his skin looked pale, bordering on unhealthy.
Putting on a smile, I walked forward and sat down in front of James, drawing his attention immediately as he stared at me with the same dead eyes.
"Hello, you probably don't remember, but we met before-"
"You are the man who was preparing to attack me when I walked out of that portal thing."
My smile strained a little as James unexpectedly interrupted me with a fact that I would rather not remember now that I know I was preparing to kill an innocent man.
But I do believe my actions to be somewhat justified. As an S-Rank hunter, my duty is to protect the people from monsters, and at that time, I believed that James was a humanoid monster thanks to his armor and helm.
"Yes. My name is Sung Il-Hwan. Do you know where you are right now?"
"…Based on your name, my guess is in Korea. Given the fact that neither you nor anyone else has yet ordered to have me dissected or experimented on, my guess would be South Korea."
Once again, my smile strained at the kid's words.
"…A small correction, Mr. James. There is only one Korea now. North Korea was destroyed five years ago when a few dozen Gates opened up in the country and destroyed it in its entirety."
I saw the surprise in his expression, but it did not look like he cared much about the destruction of an entire country.
Could his experience have killed off his humanity? Worrying. I'll have to see about getting him some proper therapy, not the stupid hacks that are employed by the association, who are supposed to encourage Hunters to keep doing their jobs even if it is detrimental to their mental health.
"Anyways. I am sure you have many questions. But first, I must ask you this. Do you want to continue discussing now, or do you wish to continue talking in the morning? I think you might want to get some rest."
"..Yeah, a bath and a bed sounds nice for now."
"Good. Then, we will talk in the morning. In the meantime, please go through this. It might help put things into perspective."
I passed him the datapad that had the details about his supposed death and everything else related to him, alongside an introductory video about the changes that happened to the Earth after the Gates appeared, which we usually give to prospective hunters and have recently made their way to schools to help children adapt to the rapidly changing world.
There is no doubt that my wife would call me a coward for not discussing these things directly with the young man and instead giving him reading material that might not explain things in an empathetic way. But, I can't bring myself to stay in the same room when he learns the truth and watch him die inside even more than he already appears.
Besides, I have things to discuss with my Wife and kids about a sudden plus one that would be joining us for the foreseeable future.
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"Let's get the Chicken!"
"No. We had Chicken two days ago. You can't just eat chicken. You need to eat some vegetables and other protein products if you want to have strength for your studies."
"But this is a special occasion! Oppa is bringing back Joohee-Unnie home after a long time."
I gave a tired sigh at the girl's whining.
"Jinah, No."
"Cheapskate!"
I smiled with exasperation at the pouting teenager while the others in the store just stared at us with amusement, long since used to the arguments that I have with her when it comes to food, just like I used to have with her father.
"Come now, it's getting late. We need to start preparing the food before they return from their Hunt. You need to get to bed as well since you need to get to school early tomorrow for that extra class."
"Crap! You are right!"
She immediately started dragging me hurriedly throughout the store and started frantically picking up the ingredients needed for the BBQ that she planned for tonight at home.
Paying for the ingredients, we got into the car and started driving home, gradually driving out of the area and into our neighborhood, which looked decidedly downtrodden compared to the district we were just at.
Once upon a time, this place was just as vibrant as any other part of the city, but as time passed and the wealthy moved out, the place started to become shabbier and shabbier.
If I had my way, I would have had the kids move out of the area years ago. The only reason I did not do it was due to the promise that their mother made me make about not leaving the house that her husband bought, not to mention Jinwoo and Jinah adamantly refused my suggestion to move after their mother fell into Eternal Slumber.
Soon, we arrived at the familiar apartment block and took the ingredients home, only to find the door unlocked with two pairs of shoes at the entrance.
"Looks like they are already home."
"See! This is your fault, you and your old man driving!"
Jinah immediately ran in while leaving the ingredients for me to pick up. From the surprised and joyful shouts that rang out across the house, it was clear to me that Jinah had tackled Joohee just like she always does.
With a shake of the head, I headed directly to the kitchen and placed the ingredients. The moment Joohee saw me from the other side of the room, she immediately stood up and bowed politely, just like the rest of the Koreans are taught to do from birth in the presence of their elders. A practice that I found annoying since I did not like those I cared about bowing to me.
"Hello, Mr. Hudson."
"Hello, Joohee. How are you?"
"I am doing fine, thank you for asking. Here, I brought some chicken."
"Yay! Take that, you cheapskate!"
I felt the corners of my mouth twitch at Jinah's words as she continued to hug Joohee and talk about things that were clearly embarrassing for the young adults if the way their faces were turning beet red was anything to go by.
Watching the orange-haired girl deny whatever Jinah was saying put a smile on my face as I started preparing for dinner. Even if I still felt a little off whenever I saw people with anime-like, strangely colored hair, eyes, or skin.
I had realized long ago that this was not my home world. The DNA evidence and other things that made me 'James Hudson' in this world must have come from some kind of counterpart of myself in this world.
The circumstances of our death were similar, minus the Gate, and so was the life that we lived up to that point.
But I am very sure that this is not my homeworld due to just how beautiful this world is.
The People are beautiful. Even the most ugly people in this world can be called above average according to the standards of my original world. In the same way, the people of this world have a much more emotive response to things than I would have expected from my world.
Aside from these, there are also countless other minor things that I could easily point out, such as the small changes in the leadership of countries from my world and this world from before I died, the small changes in history that I remember, and those that took place here, and the slightly more advanced technological aspect of this world compared to my own even before the Gates opened and led to the creation of a whole new branch of science.
But, at this point, I have long since let go of these small inconsistencies. If fate denies me from going back to my world, then I am willing to take this world as a replacement.
"Old man! We are hungry! Stop getting lost in your thoughts and give us food!"
"You brat! If that is how you treat your seniors, you might as well eat rice and kimchi for tonight while we eat some barbecue."
"Wha? NO!"
Jinwoo and Joohee burst out laughing as we bickered, causing the teenager to pout in anger and sit down grumbling as I started setting the table with the grill and coals, along with the food.
Eating dinner with my loved ones was a dream that I held for countless years when I was trapped in the cursed lands of Lordran. And while it might not be with the ones I was thinking about all those years ago, I still cherish these moments all the same.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1