1 Diner of a Returned Hero -001- [Ver.English]
# Chepter 001
A hideous demon with a horn protruding from its head swung his spear. The glowing blue spearhead had a fierce demonic energy radiating from it, wiping out the spirits that fluttered around it.
"You dare to think that I, Bekirah, 628th in the rank of demons, would fall to a mere medium class spirit-"
CRUSH!
A crushing sound put a stop to the hideous demon's sentence, as an enormous lion with a mane of blazing fire crushed him between his teeth. The demon himself had been over 15-feet tall, but the lion was so large that the demon appeared cute in comparison.
The lion swung its head from side to side, causing the demon to tear at the waist as if it were a piece of rotten wood.
ROOOOAR!!!
Leon, a divine beast that reigns over fire.
Leon roared, his bright blue mane flowing around him, making the demons and beast charging towards him falter at its power.
At that moment, a gigantic blue bird flew down. Locke, a bird so giant it covered the sun, opened its mouth and screeched. Lightning bolts formed around him, striking down upon the demons and beasts
The wave of demons then slowed, but there still were countless left. The vast plain rumbled from the footfalls of the countless demonic beasts running through, the uncomfortable sound of wailing filling the skies.
It was then that more divine beasts and the spirits that followed them appeared over the horizon, bringing with them a new wind.
"Leon, Locke. I told you guys to wait and you two ran off again," said a man.
A voice then rang through the sky. "Gyungho, you know very well that Leon and Locke are born that way. They are what they are, after all."
High in the sky above were two being watching over Leon and Locke as they fought. One was a gigantic serpent dragon, Mir, and the man above him was Gyunho Choi.
Gyungho had uncombed, dirty hair with distinctive dark eyebrows and he stood, unsmiling as he watched the gruesome scene unfolding below him.
"Mir, this is the last dungeon, right?" asked Gyungho.
"Yes. Perhaps that is why they are more desperate. Or they have given up, given that we are not seeing any formidable foes. Nevertheless, yes this is the last one." Mir answered.
"Then my job here really is over."
"You have done well. Then, shall we have a grand finale?"
Nodding, Gyungho opened an interdimensional space and pulled out the Dragon Fang Sword made from the fang of Mir himself.
"Let's go, Mir," said Gyungho.
Mir's giant body twisted in a weird angle, then dove straight down as if it struck, right to where Leon and Locke were fighting.
Powerful mana soared from Gyungho's body, and a pure white aura covered the giant Dragon Fang Sword that he held in his right hand. It was an aura that held a combination of the slashing power of mana, the anti-demonic power of divine energy, and the destructive force of spiritual power.
"Let's hack it down, shall we?"
Gyungho then swung, almost seeming careless, from his position above Mir's head but this one single swing explosively crushed through demons and beasts. In this way, Gyungho created a path to be followed by countless divine beasts.
Wolf, bear, turtle, leopard, eagle, elephant – all manner of divine beasts charged across the plains, stomping through demonic beings. Just like that, the final battle between Spirit Realm and the invading Demon Realm had come to an easier end than expected.
***
Gyungho struck a giant spirit stone into a rock with a magical circuit engraved on it. The stone began to let out a whooshing sound.
"Is this working correctly?" asked Gyungho, to which Mir nodded.
"We now have a barrier over the entire spirit realm. From now on, we will no longer face any dungeons connected to the Demon Realm."
"Shouldn't we just jump into their realm and wipe them out, to be safe?"
"You know very well that that is not how it works."
Unlike humans, divine beasts and spirits were weak against demonic energy so they couldn't infiltrate into the Demon Realm. Gyungho knew this fact as well.
"I'm just saying. I still think those demon pricks will think of a new plan back at their home again."
In fact, high ranking demons stopped invading three years ago, after Gyungho had become powerful.
"At any rate, I want to thank you for what you did, Gyungho. We would not have won if it was not for your help." Mir spoke.
"You've thanked me enough already. No need, friend."
Gyungho then looked at small spirits fluttering about and smiled softly. 'This will be my last time watching them,' he thought. The spirits chirped like baby birds, but there were sounds of sadness among those clear chirps. They were saddened to part ways with Gyungho.
It had been ten years. It was that long since Gyungho had been summoned to the Spirit Realm that had been tainted by the Demon Realm's invasion.
Gyungho, a 25-year-old man who was working at his mother's restaurant, had suddenly become a guardian – a destiny he had never even thought of. But the anger and resentment had faded over those ten long years, and now new relationships had taken their place.
"It was good to have you, Gyungho."
With these words of thanks, Mir handed Gyungho a fist-sized seed.
"A seed from a World Tree?" asked Gyungho.
"I figure your home world ought to have one or two World Trees as well."
"This is a valuable seed." Gyungho pointed out.
"Which is why it is being given to you as a gift."
Mir had a smile on his face as he handed the seed over. Gyungho grinned in response as he received it.
"Yeah. I'll take good care of it when I get back."
Memories of the past ten years flashed through his mind.
'It was hard and lonely, but I had a good time.' thought Gyungho. He laughed at the contradicting feelings he felt, then opened an interdimensional space to stash the seed before turning to Mir and other divine beasts. Gyungho waved his hand.
"I learned so much from you all. It was good to have you guys with me."
Leon, the giant lion as large as Mir, roared sadly at Gyungho's farewell. His large eyes had become teary as he watched Gyungho.
"Leon, don't cry like a baby. You're a grown up."
Leon roared again sadly, and Gyungho patted Leon's front paw.
"Hey, hey. Stop crying. Guys, stop him will ya?" Gyungho asked of other divine beasts, but they also seemed saddened to see Gyungho go. The giant snake, a wolf the size of Leon, an enormous ox with huge horns and all the other divine beasts were saddened to say goodbye to Gyungho.
They were not just animals, but comrades and partners that depended on each other for their lives to fight the demons with Gyungho. Gyungho's eyes also became teary at the sight of them. He then looked up to the sky, where spirits were fluttering, to hide his tears.
"Spirits, thank you too."
Mir then spoke to Gyungho.
"I hate to see you go, but it is best that we keep our goodbyes short. Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I guess I should go now," answered Gyungho.
Gyungho turned around to face everyone, then bowed.
"Thank you all."
It had been ten years already, fighting and surviving against demons and demonic beats. He became concerned if he would be able to get used to the comforts of Earth again, since he had grown accustomed to the rough life of war.
Still, he couldn't give up on returning to Earth, where his mother - his only family - was waiting for him.
'Will I be able to live in peace while I hide my true power?' wondered Gyungho. Although, it also felt appealing to live like the main character of novels that he read when he was young, where the main protagonist was overtly more powerful than everyone else.
'Lucky Restaurant of the Returned Hero with Hidden Powers. Or something to that extent. That should work.' thought Gyungho. As he finished making up his mind, he smiled brightly.
"Goodbye guys!"
The divine beasts roared and screeched in different sounds of sadness at once, filling the great plains with noise.
"Stop crying."
The Dragon Sphere held by Mir began to cast a silvery light over Gyungho, covering him.
"Be well!"
Gyungho waved his hand, smiling. Quickly, with a bright spark of light, he was gone.
"Gyungho, I wish the best for you." Said Mir as he bowed deeply, blessing Gyungho's future.
BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP!
A loud noise filled the entire city, with various media outlets featuring emergency news.
[Rupture Alert! Rupture Alert!]
[Emergency News. Rupture in Sector B-4 of Seoul.]
[Rupture Wave analyzed to be the 2nd Grade Disaster Class Demonic Beast - Dark Flame Demon Dragon.]
The strongest class of rupture, excluding the country-destroying Extinction Class, was the Disaster Class. On top of that, the incoming Dark Flame Demon Dragon was a 2nd Grade beast, one of the higher ranks.
It wasn't Extinction Class, but a Dark Flame Demon Dragon was powerful enough to wipe out a sector from the map if it gets out of the dungeon.
"AHHHHHH!"
People screamed in the streets, running in a panic as they followed the signs for the evacuation center.
A vehicle from Hunter HQ's Rupture Specialist Team arrived first on the scene. Soon, one by one, hunters from the biggest guilds also arrived.
"This is insane! A 2nd Grade Disaster Class out of nowhere? Where is the military?!" Came a shout.
"They will be here in ten minutes."
"We need to hold it off until they get here." said the man.
The man was Siwon Kim, team leader of the Rupture Specialist Team and 7th in rank amongst Korean agents. Siwon became nervous as he observed the enormous rupture. At that moment, the 90-foot long rupture began to swirl with bright light, spreading mana from within. It was about to crack.
"It is cracking! Be ready!" shouted Siwon.
The magnitude of the situation caused those on the ground to not notice the existence of another rupture; a smaller one, on top of the giant 90-foot rupture. This smaller rupture cracked, and then a figure of a human appeared from within it.
"Ugh, interdimensional travel is worse than the 'Realm of Consciousness.'" said the man with uncombed hair and distinct thick eyebrows. It was Gyungho Choi, returning from the Spirit Realm.
"Wait, what? What the hell is this?" said Gyungho.
Bosingak was visible in the distance, so he knew he'd correctly returned to the Jonggak Station area where he disappeared ten years ago.
"It's in ruins."
The scene seen below was completely different from what he remembered from ten years ago. There were still buildings left, but the Jongro he remembered was no more.
"Huh?"
Gyungho then noticed a giant rupture swirling in mana beneath his feet.
"What the hell? Is this a rupture?"
From the depth of the dark rupture came a sound so familiar he was tired of hearing it. It was the sound of a Dark Flame Demon Dragon.
'Dammit. Did it tag along from the Demon Realm when I traveled between dimensions?' thought Gyungho, although this was completely inaccurate. Gyungho then curled his hand into a fist, and powerful mana began to surge around it.
'Hmm? It's weaker than usual.' It seemed the mana concentration was much weaker outside the Spirit Realm. Moreover, he could not feel any divine energy or spiritual power around him at all.
'Well, it's still more than enough to get rid of the rupture of the Dark Flame Demon Dragon.'
Gyungho raised his fist, then thrust it down toward the rupture that was shining brightly. A light exploded out from his fist, striking down the Dark Flame Demon Dragon climbing out of the rupture, along with the rupture itself.
The rupture exploded in a burst of powerful light, a fierce mana wave exploding out from it.
Then, as Gyungho was about to disappear having dealt with the Dark Flame Demon Dragon:
[System Error.]
[The Guardian is summoning you for analysis.]
Gyungho, who had been about to run away, stopped at the message popping up in front of his eyes. Then a pure white magical rune began forming in front of him.
"System? What's up with this now?" said Gyungho as he frowned at the magical rune that was nearing its completion. But he was not going to let himself be summoned on the first day he returned from his long ten years in the Spirit Realm.
"It's a good try, but there's no way you're taking me back again," said Gyungho.
He would have been dragged away powerless if it was before, but he wasn't that person anymore. Gyungho reached out, and to his surprise, he was able to grab the magical rune with his hand. It was a scene that even someone knowledgeable in the magic arts would find shocking.
As Gyungho gave a push, the magical rune was ripped away like a piece of paper.
"I should hurry," said Gyungho, and he disappeared from the sky.
Those on the ground were crouching down to avoid the powerful mana wave that rushed out when the rupture was destroyed, so they did not see Gyungho.
"Ugh, what the-"As the mana wave decreased, Siwon Kim rose back up and took in the area where the rupture had just been.
"The rupture… it's gone." Siwon's mouth hung open in shock at the sight.
"The dragon was definitely coming out of it. What the hell just happened?" Asked one of his team members with a dumbfounded look.
"Boss, has a rupture ever disappeared on its own?"
"No. I've never seen nor heard of anything like this," said Siwon as he turned to face the empty sky where the rupture had once been.
