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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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The A-0128109 Gate incident immediately became public knowledge. In the past, the government and the Awakened Association controlled the media regarding gate-related incidents, but the side effects were greater than expected. In particular, the Great Clash in the Land of Death ten years ago was made worse by the media blackout. If the media hadn’t been controlled, ordinary people wouldn’t have been needlessly sacrificed.
After the change in administration, the government appeased public sentiment by allowing embedded reporters to cover gate incidents. Each media outlet headlined the A-0128109 Gate incident.
[What Happened Inside Gate A-0128109?]
[S-Rank Awakened Shin: “Impossible without a Zero-Rank Awakened.”]
[US and China: “Our Zero-Rank Awakened were not involved.”]
[Does Korea Now Have a Zero-Rank Awakened?]
[Awakened Association: “No press conference scheduled yet.”]
The world was in an uproar, but regardless, thirty-five-year-old chef Yoo Soon-tae diligently tossed his wok, stir-frying jajangmyeon. Located a bit away from downtown Seoul was a two-story building. On the first floor of that building was the Chinese restaurant ‘Yang Chun Gak,’ renowned for its delicious jajangmyeon. It was Yoo Soon-tae’s workplace.
It was nearing 2 PM, the end of lunchtime, but the restaurant was still bustling.
“One order of jajangmyeon here!”
“Yes!”
“More pickled radish here, please!”
“Yes, sir! Coming right up!”
Yoo Soon-tae’s stout wife, Lim So-young, busily served food and pickled radish. As lunchtime gradually ended, people started leaving one by one. Only then did Yoo Soon-tae emerge from the steaming kitchen and gulp down cold water from the water purifier.
“Ah! Refreshing! Cold water is the best!”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
Gazing lovingly at each other, they were a young couple who had been running the Chinese restaurant for five years.
Clink.
The door opened, and a young man entered.
“Welcome!”
“Ah! It’s been a while!”
The customer sat down with a sigh.
“I’ve been busy lately.”
“I heard a gate appeared in the Land of Death.”
At Yoo Soon-tae’s question, the customer shook his head.
“Don’t even get me started! The association’s in chaos because of it, and I’ve pulled two all-nighters. I feel like I’m dying…”
“Oh dear!”
“Only the Red Dragon Guild hit the jackpot. Why do gates even appear?! I want to grab the guy who makes them and shake him down! Damn it!”
His name was Baek Eun-ho. He was a B-rank Awakened and an employee of the Awakened Association.
“Oh, and a large order of jajangmyeon, please!”
“Just a moment!”
Yoo Soon-tae went into the kitchen, took out a wok, placed it on the fire, and started stir-frying jajangmyeon. The world had changed a lot since he was a child. When he was ten years old, twenty-five years ago, he watched monsters pouring down from the sky and thought, ‘Ah, this is the apocalypse I read about in books!’
But it wasn’t the end, but a cataclysm. As gates and monsters appeared, Awakened individuals emerged and began hunting them. The land, once filled with monsters, was reclaimed thanks to the unity of the Awakened Association, hunter guilds, and the citizens. There were still monsters deep in the mountains and the sea, but it was a rapid recovery unmatched anywhere else in the world. The world called it the second Miracle on the Han River. There were still many countries that hadn’t reclaimed their land.
Anyway, the monsters left behind monster stones and corpses when they died, and the monster stones were used as an alternative energy source, leading to several revolutionary advancements. The kitchen appliances Yoo Soon-tae was using were also a product of monster stones, requiring no gas or electricity. However, the cause of the gates’ appearance was still unknown.
Clang-!
“Jajangmyeon is ready!”
“Thank you!”
As Yoo Soon-tae placed the finished jajangmyeon in front of Baek Eun-ho, he beamed.
He quickly mixed the jajangmyeon, twirled a large portion with his chopsticks, and put it in his mouth.
Slurp-!
“Ha!” Baek Eun-ho exclaimed in admiration. “Delicious as always!”
“Thank you for liking our jajangmyeon so much.”
“Sometimes, when I go inside gates for investigations, I crave this jajangmyeon so badly. I guess they don’t deliver inside gates, do they?”
“Hahaha.”
“Just kidding.”
After finishing his large order of jajangmyeon while chatting, Baek Eun-ho left after receiving a call, and the restaurant became quiet again. That’s when it happened.
Clink-!
The door opened roughly, and someone entered. He was a young man holding a motorcycle helmet, Koo Sang-ok, the deliveryman for Yang Chun Gak.
“Good work.”
As soon as Yoo Soon-tae finished speaking, Koo Sang-ok roughly placed the delivery bag down.
Thud-!
He then tossed his motorcycle helmet down and said, “I quit, starting today.”
Yoo Soon-tae and Lim So-young were startled by Koo Sang-ok’s sudden words.
“What? What are you talking about? Quitting so suddenly?”
“Why? What happened?”
“It’s tiring.”
“What? Even so, you can’t just quit like this today! How are we supposed to manage? Stay for a month, no, even a week, please?”
“I don’t want to.”
His rude tone made Yoo Soon-tae and Lim So-young seethe. In truth, they never liked Koo Sang-ok as a deliveryman. They couldn’t stand his blatant slacking. They tried to find another deliveryman, but strangely couldn’t find anyone. If the Chinese restaurant didn’t deliver, their sales would be halved, so they had no choice but to hire Koo Sang-ok.
“Then, how about just three days?”
“Well, since you’re begging me like this, I’ll think about it if you raise my pay.”
Koo Sang-ok’s true intentions were finally revealed. He wanted a raise. Yoo Soon-tae and Lim So-young’s faces changed. Raising Koo Sang-ok’s salary was quite a burden. Their only daughter was growing up, and living expenses were starting to increase.
In fact, Koo Sang-ok’s salary wasn’t low; it was quite high. Even considering the increased difficulty of deliveries due to gates and monsters, it was almost double that of a typical Chinese restaurant deliveryman. Despite this, Koo Sang-ok wasn’t satisfied. Yoo Soon-tae knew his type well. This guy would never be satisfied. He would eventually demand another raise! It was better to nip it in the bud now.
“Alright.”
Koo Sang-ok asked with a greedy expression, “Good thinking! About an extra 300,000 won…”
“What are you talking about? You said you were quitting.”
“Huh?”
“Thank you for your hard work. I’ll calculate your pay until today and transfer it to your account.”
Koo Sang-ok’s face crumpled. “You said you were quitting? So I’m telling you to quit, why that look?” Yoo Soon-tae was a soft and gentle man, so he had always given in to Koo Sang-ok’s unreasonable demands. However, his wife, Lim So-young, knew very well that once he made up his mind, it was hard to change it.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
“B-But, that…”
“We’ll see you as a customer next time.”
At Lim So-young’s firm words, Koo Sang-ok scoffed. “Do you think you can find another deliveryman easily?”
Yoo Soon-tae frowned. “That’s my business. Why do you care?”
“Hmph! We’ll see. You’ll regret it.”
“Whether you ‘see’ or not, I’d appreciate it if you left quickly. We need to prepare for dinner service.”
Slam!
Koo Sang-ok, his face red, kicked the delivery bag next to him out of frustration, opened the door, and stormed out.
“He’s gone…”
“Yes, he’s gone.”
They were relieved to see Koo Sang-ok leave, but they soon had to face practical concerns.
“Sigh, what are we going to do about deliveries starting tomorrow?”
“We have no choice. We’ll have to say we can’t deliver until we find someone.”
Considering the salary Koo Sang-ok had received so far, they could afford to stop deliveries for a month or two. Yoo Soon-tae took out a piece of paper and wrote a job posting.
Help Wanted
Delivery Driver
Room and board available
Salary negotiable
He posted it in front of the restaurant and prayed, ‘Please, let me find a good deliveryman this time!’
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Arriving near the Silver Tower, Gang-so marveled at the cars speeding along the smooth, wide roads. “How can carriages move on their own without being pulled by horses?” He chuckled, looking at the tall buildings and colorful electronic billboards. “Huh! Is this another world? The pictures on the signboards change in the blink of an eye! What kind of sorcery is this?”
Looking at the people passing by, their clothes were similar to what he was used to, but the colors and materials were clearly different. He decided to observe the people to learn more about this place. It was the method he used during his days as an assassin, the best way to understand a location. Although the language spoken here was unfamiliar, understanding people’s words and reading was no problem, thanks to a technique he learned from a strangely dressed, dark-skinned man from the Western Regions a long time ago. The man said he traveled the world spreading the teachings of his god. Language was the biggest obstacle to missionary work, so he had created this technique to eliminate language barriers. He taught it to Gang-so, saying it was the only thing he could offer in return. ‘I forgot about it since I had no use for it in the Middle Kingdom, but I never thought it would be this useful! I should thank that Westerner.’ The advantage of this nameless technique was that it translated all languages into a language he understood. The disadvantage was…
“Did you get hit in the face or something? Look how tight your skin is!”
“Hohoho! Maybe it’s because I applied this new gold anti-aging power lifting… thing.”
Since it converted all languages into a language he knew, sometimes the meaning could be conveyed strangely, and unfamiliar words were heard only in the language of that country. ‘What does ‘gold anti-aging power lifting something’ mean?’ He looked at the picture the two women were looking at. The picture, shining brilliantly in gold, was an advertisement for cosmetics featuring a top actress. Below it, it was written in sparkling letters: [Turn back the clock on your skin. Gold Anti-aging Power Lifting Cream.]
Unlike spoken words, which were automatically translated into a language the user understood, the writing could be read as it was. Since it was written in Korean, not English, he could read it in Korean. ‘Is it like rouge… What a long name.’ Gang-so shook his head. While it was visually appealing, it was distracting and dizzying, almost making him panic.
Honk-! Honk, honk-!
Vroom-!
“Hey! Why did you handle it like that?”
Beep! Beep-!
“Sorry! Just wait a bit! I’ll be right there!”
Amidst the waves of information flooding his senses, which surpassed human limits, Gang-so felt the urge to cover his ears for the first time in his life.
‘This is practically torture. The people here are amazing! How can they look so nonchalant?’
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After two days of observation, Gang-so learned quite a bit about this world. First of all, money was essential for survival in this world, too. Eating, clothing, everything required money. And they seemed to be more concerned about cleanliness than where he came from, and there were all sorts of convenient items he couldn’t have imagined. During his observation, Gang-so was relieved to find that they used Hanja here as well.
‘It doesn’t seem to be a completely different place from where I lived!’
However, he still didn’t know how to return to his Middle Kingdom. ‘She’ll be worried if she knows I’ve disappeared…’ Although many people passed by on the street, Gang-so was a stranger in this unfamiliar land.
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