Ice-Flame Forest (3)
The forest burned ceaselessly.
High heat and smoke covered the entire place.
Black ashes flew along with the hot winds as flames continued to rage among the barren ground.
That was the reality of the Ice-Flame Forest in Hithran’s Magras Dungeon.
Among the Four Prohibited Areas, Hithran was notorious for its uniquely extreme environment.
It was the hardest Dungeon of Hithran. From the ‘Boiling Water World,’ the other world’s energy flowed in endlessly, causing the surroundings’ balance to explode.
Therefore, most of the Hithran Dungeons were either scorching beyond recovery or extremely frozen.
It was also the reason why that area was called the Ice-Flame Forest.
Magras Dungeon, made up of burning forests, had dozens of monsters standing in the heat.
[Race: Flame Giant Lv. 65]
Despite their strength, those red-hot bronze giants were just low-level monsters in the Ice-Flame Forest.
Hithran was designated as one of the Four Prohibited Areas.
Looking at the Flame Giants standing in front of his eyes, Ryu Han-bin put his hand in his pocket.
He took out a sandwich and chewed on it.
“I’m hungry.”
He couldn’t be any more relaxed.
But it wasn’t because there wasn’t a reason.
The Flame Giants just stood there.
They were already groaning with pieces of black rocks or logs stuck in their abdomen.
They had been beaten so hard they couldn’t even lift a finger. It had gone to the point where the monsters remained stuck in their positions as they died.
Of course, it was all Ryu Han-bin’s fault.
The battle was over, and they had already finished clearing the surrounding lands to make it easier to eat. All they needed to do was settle down for a late lunch.
With his sword in one hand, Han-bin continued to eat his sandwich.
It was made with high-quality bread, ground jam of half-cut boiled potato and pickled cabbage, and thick pork slice. It had an excellent taste.
It was delicious even for Koreans in the 21st century who were addicted to all kinds of spices and condiments.
Nevertheless, Ryu Han-bin looked displeased.
“Oh, I want to eat ramen…”
No, it was not just ramen.
He wanted to eat rice.
To be more precise, he wanted to chew kimchi on freshly cooked white rice.
“Oh, shit, I’m drooling just thinking about it.”
It was only natural.
Koreans who had gone abroad craved rice and kimchi all the time.
He used to laugh at people for talking about it when he was watching them on TV. Han-bin had been told that it was the same song all the time.
But now, he could understand their sentiments.
There was no room for creativity to intervene in real longing.
It had been months since he came to that world.
It had already been several decades since he left Korea if he included the time he spent at the Rocky Mountain.
He missed home.
He missed Korea.
He missed the world he was familiar with and regular people.
“Well, I don’t miss it as much as the characters in movies do.”
He had already adapted a lot to that world.
He met good colleagues like Artis and Effir.
There was a time when he thought that if someone told him to continue living there, he would be able to manage.
However, it was also too much.
Every time he used the pseudonym Felard Bean and disguised himself as a Valtara warrior, he kept being reminded that he was fake.
Furthermore, he couldn’t use his fake identity forever.
Aliens did not get old.
They couldn’t dwell in one place.
They had to wander around the world like duckweed every few years.
Of course, there must be some people in the world whose appearances remained unchanged for about a decade.
The problem was that it was widely known that Aliens never aged.
Even Latna people, who were in truth just young, were dragged and caused to suffer.
‘Though the parties could be unjust, Latna’s human rights aren’t developed enough to compensate for the injustice.’
If human rights had developed to that extent, there would have been no crazy system like Hunter’s Registration that could bury past crimes.
Han-bin muttered, chewing and swallowing his sandwich.
“I want to go back.”
Of course, if he went back to Ryu Han-bin at 24, he would’ve had a lot more trouble choosing his path.
‘I’ve got this incredible body and power, and I’m going to lose it all?’
‘It’s better to just stay in this world.’
Fortunately, according to Kibie, Han-bin’s physical strength and ability could be transferred to Earth.
It was just moving from one world to another.
‘If I ask her to send me back to the time when I was 24, she would say it’s impossible, right?’
In other words, the compensation of the Guideline, which stated that they would be returned to Earth with their abilities in Latna only if one of the six Goddesses were eliminated, was nothing more than a sham.
“But what do I do with this ability when I go back to Korea? Should I be a mixed martial artist?”
He didn’t want to walk around in costumes like a part of a superhero movie.
Ryu Han-bin smiled bitterly.
“I don’t know even know if I’ll be able to go back, yet I’m already thinking about what I’d do once I’ve returned.”
‘Is it because I met the Goddess in person and heard the answer from her?’
Once he fell in thought, he couldn’t stop it.
He glanced across the burning forest.
Between the shaking haze, a colossal red Dragon and a silver-maned Wyvern stood in front of a pile of monsters, listening to the nagging of a black-haired beauty.
“Come on! Can you hurry up and eat them all? You need to level up!”
“Oh, Kibie, my stomach’s about to burst…”
“Why would your stomach explode when you absorb energy? If it explodes, the core will explode!”
“No, isn’t that even more of a problem, Kibie?”
“It’s okay, Artis. I made the Dragon race strong. It will not happen. It will not happen.”
Han-bin laughed as he watched the scene.
He thought it would be quite regrettable to part with them later.
“Yeah, right now, I have to be true to my reality.”
He shouted at the Party with all the remaining sandwiches in his mouth.
“Clear it quickly and come here! I’m going to finish this, too!”
The pale Dragon and Wyvern shook their heads.
Ryu Han-bin pretended to ignore them, swinging his sword down.
But he held himself back just before it hit.
There were still many nutritious monsters left in the Magras dungeon.
“Then I’ll drive the others here!”
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