Chapter 1 Part 2: Return

I shook off the persistent brown-haired woman and headed to the convenience store.

As I walked to the convenience store, observing my surroundings, I realized that I had indeed returned to Earth.

Skyscrapers towering like a forest, people dressed in modern clothes, and even the smart devices in their hands.

There was no trace of the ‘ooga booga’ medieval barbarians.

As I diligently walked, the convenience store soon appeared.

I raised my fist to smash the glass wall that seemed like it would break with a single touch, but paused when I saw the word “Pull”.

‘Ah, right. This is the modern world.’

I still have some barbarian-like behaviors.

If I don’t adapt to modern times quickly, I might end up breaking a few glass walls.

I pushed the glass wall and entered.

– Ding, dong.

“Welcome-.”

The convenience store worker’s drawn-out, half-hearted voice.

It’s a female worker.

I could have gone to a supermarket to buy cola, but the reason I came to the convenience store was…

‘To confirm whether this world is really a gender-reversed world.’

A cliché from a novel I read a long time ago.

In TS or gender-reversed novels, they usually noticed their situation by observing the reaction of the convenience store worker.

Whether this world is really a gender-reversed world or not.

‘I’ll be able to tell by the worker’s reaction.’

I was about to move to the beverage section with such thoughts, but my feet wouldn’t move.

The goddess said that this world is a world where one or two common sense things have been reversed.

A sudden fear surged through me.

What if, what if.

What if cola doesn’t exist in this world’s common sense?

What if the cola that is only sickly sweet and has no carbonation has taken over all the cola in this world?

What if the f*cking space dust-flavored cola is the common cola flavor in this world?

Such a world.

It’s hell.

If such a world exists, and if I came to such a world.

It would have been better to die.

I took a step with a heart more nervous than when I cut off the Demon King’s head.

Something shining at the end of my gaze.

As I moved closer, the light came closer.

When I slowly opened my eyes, a design with a sleek white cursive script on a brilliant red background came into view.

A can of cola with the design that everyone in the world would think of when they hear ‘cola’.

Of course, cola must have this design.

I opened the glass door and picked up ‘it’.

As I popped the top of the can, which I hadn’t even paid for, a crisp sound rang out.

Yes! This is it!

If it doesn’t make this sound, it’s not cola!

I brought the drinking part to my ear, and the sound of the carbonation popping rang out.

A fantastic sound, like the soprano of the kingdom’s best diva I heard at the nobles’ opera, resonated from within the can of cola.

I used my sense of smell to the fullest and smelled the cola, and the unique cherry scent rose.

I felt the dopamine explode and paint my brain with pleasure.

Before the lingering feeling subsided, I put my mouth to it and drank it all at once.

– Gulp, gulp.

The carbonation hits my esophagus and threatens, ‘Will you still drink? Will you still?’, but I didn’t give in.

I continued to swallow and embraced the carbonation with my whole body.

Finally, the end of the journey is in sight.

The last drop falls on my tongue.

I feel omnipotent all over my body.

I feel like I can do anything right now.

Feeling something I couldn’t resist, I shouted loudly.

“This is!!! The taaaaaste of Dr. Pepper!!!!!!”

“This is!!! The taaaaaste of Dr. Pepper!!!!!!”

At the thunderous voice, the convenience store worker, Kang Sora, snapped back to her senses.

‘Wh-What the. What happened?’

In an era where gates open anytime, anywhere.

Even in Seoul, where gate appearances are relatively rare and emergency responses are excellent compared to other regions, the unknown threat of monsters always made people tremble with anxiety.

Kang Sora wondered if a gate had opened in the convenience store.

If a gate opened on her first day of work, that would be a story in itself.

But, if a gate really opened, she had to run away immediately.

Contrary to Kang Sora’s expectations, the source of the voice was not difficult to find.

A man was lying in front of the beverage section, holding a crumpled can of cola.

Anyone could see that he was a troublemaker, and Kang Sora wanted to ignore reality, but her gaze turned back to the man.

‘He’s so f*cking handsome.’

A beautiful appearance that captivates women’s hearts just by existing, and a solid body that can be felt even through his clothes.

‘Is he a celebrity?’

She thought so for a moment, but soon gave up.

There’s no way she wouldn’t know a male celebrity this handsome.

“Uhehe… Hehehe… Uhihihik…!”

… And there’s no way a celebrity would do something like that in a convenience store, normally.

Naturally, she concluded that he was just an ordinary troublemaker.

Why would he do something like that with that face?

Even while thinking it was pathetic, Kang Sora took courage and approached him, thinking about the opportunity to talk to a handsome man, and the possibility.

“H-Hey. M-Mister? You can’t do this here…?”

“… Ah. Yes.”

Seeing his beautiful features up close made her eyes automatically follow and her mouth tremble.

How many women wouldn’t be nervous in front of such a man?

While working part-time at the convenience store, she had unintentionally seen many men, but the man in front of her was by far the most overwhelming.

Kang Sora was grateful for the luck of meeting the man in front of her and helped him up.

Actually, it wasn’t to the extent that he needed help, but her actions contained some selfishness.

The selfish desire to be physically close to the man in front of her.

As their bodies touched, she could feel his muscles more clearly than just by looking.

It was difficult for a non-hunter male to build such a solid body without considerable effort.

Even among male hunters, very few had such a body.

Kang Sora shook off her idle thoughts. Now was not the time to think about such things.

‘So this is what a man’s arm feels like… Heueung…’

The man’s arm, which she touched for the first time in her life, was truly amazing.

At that moment, he suddenly started shedding tears.

“Hic, sob…”

“Huh? Wh-Why are you crying?”

Kang Sora realized something for a moment. Was he a snake? ( jojbaem, meaning a man who uses his looks to scam women)

Ah, I’ve been fooled by the games of handsome men again.

I cursed myself for briefly imagining a sweet romance, wedding, two sons, a daughter, and even grandchildren with this man.

She remembered seeing it on the news.

There are men, snakes, who approach women like this, and when they touch their bodies, they threaten to sue for sexual harassment and extort settlement money.

A survey in the news reported that 80% of Korean women have been victimized by snakes.

Kang Sora, who was a virgin and a streamer fan, and had a belief in pursuing natural encounters, secretly thought those women were pathetic.

But now I’ll acknowledge them. The 80% of women.

You who enjoyed pleasure without resisting the temptation of these men are the true winners!

If I’m going to be extorted for settlement money anyway, I’d rather touch his d*ck and be extorted without regrets!!

“Dr. Pepper… is so delicious… Ahhh…”

At the nonsense that Dr. Pepper is delicious, which she heard for the first time in her life, her overheated head cooled down.

Ah… He was just a slightly heartbroken person.

If it were someone else, she would have looked at him like he was crazy, but his beautiful face sublimated the madness into naivete.

Yeah. Why would someone who looks like this live by doing something like being a snake?

With that kind of appearance, he could probably crush any boy group’s visual line.

Frankly, if he just turned on an internet broadcast, the presidents who rushed in would instantly shoot thousands of dollars worth of balloons every month and struggle to have a hot encounter with him.

She helped him up, and he started rampaging, demanding all the Dr. Pepper in the store.

It would be really rude to say this to him, a man, but he really looked like a medieval barbarian drawn in a picture.

Still, he paid properly, so I guess he’s not a looter.

“Goodbye.”

Kang Sora looked at the convenience store where he had disappeared.

It felt like a huge typhoon had passed.

After being freed from the emotion of Dr. Pepper, I remembered all the nuisance behaviors I committed at the convenience store.

I’ve been too influenced by the barbarian b*stards for 10 years.

Honestly, the reunion with Dr. Pepper after 10 years was so exciting that it couldn’t be helped.

But a civilized person, not a barbarian, shouldn’t have caused a scene hugging Dr. Pepper in a convenience store.

But even while thinking that, my insidious barbarian self whispered like a devil.

‘Maybe it’s not really my fault?’

Isn’t it the duty of a convenience store worker to accept and endure people’s troubles?

Maybe I wasn’t causing trouble, but helping the worker do what they should do as a worker?

Yeah. This is all for the worker-

As soon as I thought that, I slammed my head against the wall.

Hoo. Get a grip.

This is the modern world.

I can’t just split the head of someone I don’t like in half like in Grandia and run away saying ‘I don’t know’.

Because in the modern world, you go to jail for splitting someone’s head in half.

Not only that, but I also needed to be careful about other minor things.

Just a while ago, I almost broke the convenience store door.

While moderately reflecting in my mind, I continued on my way, holding the bag full of Dr. Pepper in both hands.

As I walked down the street, the way home gradually came back to me.

And so I arrived home.

I calmed my trembling hands and opened the door.

“Ah…”

In an instant, old memories flashed by.

Back when I hadn’t settled down in Grandia yet.

I hear the news of the death of a guy I drank with the day before while preparing for the next day’s sortie.

On the first day, I vomited, and only three days later, I just felt nauseous.

After countless similar incidents, I couldn’t feel any emotion.

I just thought, ‘Oh, another corpse to dispose of.’

The Demon King’s army, called demons, but looking just like humans, rushed at me to cut off my head.

I also took their lives to survive and protect my loved ones.

The more I wielded countless cold weapons, the colder my heart became, and the cold weapons, soaked in the enemy’s blood, became hotter.

About 9 years ago, in the early days of being transferred to Grandia, I used to deliberately fall asleep whenever I experienced something depressing.

In a world with no proper entertainment, my only escape was in my dreams.

The place I thought of most in my dreams was this house.

A small studio apartment of 4 pyeong.

A bed and a small closet as soon as you open the door.

If you take off your shoes and come inside, you can see a small kitchen and a bathroom, and a desk and a computer. That’s it.

A plain, bleak room.

Nevertheless, I liked this place.

My sanctuary.

I filled the refrigerator with Dr. Pepper and dived onto the bed.

Because I’ve worked hard for 10 years.

At least today, I hope I can rest well.