1_Return to Earth

I felt myself floating through nothingness.

I felt my body distorting.

I didnt feel anything.

But I didnt get lost.

I didnt forget where I needed to go.

What I needed to do.

First, I must return.

To Earth.

Then the rift began to flow.

As I bright light enveloped the man, he lost his consciousness.

* * * * *

I open my eyes.

I am welcomed by a strange yet familiar sight.

I look around.

I am surrounded by creatures. No, by people.

By humans.

They are wearing strange yet familiar clothes. These clothes are not battle oriented. I am wearing such clothes aswell.

They are all sitting in rows of seats on either sides of the room. So am I.

This room has windows, outside the world moving backwards.

There are strange doors too. But they too are familiar. Everything in the room is white. The seats are blue. People are seated, some are standing while holding the handles hanging from the ceiling. There are posters here and there. And there is a map on the wall above the seats opposite to me.

There are so many familiar old words. Gangnam. Station, Seoul station.....

I'm sitting in a train.

I have returned.

I have finally returned from that wretched world.

The Ahjussi (older uncle) next to me is reading a huge paper with pictures and words.

'A newspaper!'

I check the date without disturbing the ahjussi.

2018

"5 years", I accidentally mutter out my thoughts.

Only 5 years have passed here.

Only 5 years...

It cant be five years. Even if there wasn't a concept of time in the horror world, it's still too short to be five years.

The 'horrors' themselves used to claim that we had been fighting for hundreds of years.

One recently even said that they should've just killed me thousands of years ago as soon as I arrived.

Were they wrong?

No, I guess there's a time difference?

Well, considering all that has happened, why not?

While checking the news paper, I found an interesting topic.

'People disappearing en masse all around the world! What could this mean?'

People disappearing en masse, and all over the world.

Are they facing what I faced?

Being transported to another world filled with monsters and such.

It was horrifying experience. I encountered many strange atrocious monsters. White skin and pitch-black empty eye sockets. They made horrifying sounds.

I had barely survived.

They had many forms and shapes which they gained by assimilating other creatures. They were like highly evolved versions of those creatures.

Thankfully, the first one was weak and I was barely able to kill it.

There was nothing like a system. No skills, no level ups, no cheats, nothing of the sort used in the novels that I read on earth.

I had to survive by myself. For that reason I had to become an even bigger monster than those horrors.

And if it weren't for memories, memories from my past lives that slowly came to me, I wouldn't have lived past the 2nd day.

Only through those did I grow stronger every day and survived for so long.

I had found the essence of my soul.

And those secrets weren't so pleasant.

I fought every day.

And as I fought to survive, I came to enjoy those intense battles. I began to enjoy battles in general.

I began to enjoy discovering the unknown.

To enjoy breaking my limits and growing stronger.

I even put myself through pain and torture for it.

It was the only thing keeping me from going mindless.

I was, without a doubt, already insane. I was stuck in a grim situation without any help.

Everything was my enemy.

And then there was my cursemy shackles.

I needed to grow stronger to break free of it.

And then there was her too.

These were the only lights in life surrounded by the dark abyss.

My hopes in my despair.

Both made me stronger.

My first goal was escape to earth.

From my intuition honed from 10 lives of pain and death, I could feel that something was about to happen to Earth.

It just might be similar to what I had faced in s few of my past lives.

But no matter how many horrors I killed I could never go back to earth.

Eventually, I tried learning from them. Began to copy their powers and such.

And in time I perfected those abilities, and I made them mine. I enhanced them and create better ones from them.

And finally, I found a way.

For it, I killed every single one of them on the planet, sacrificed their bodies, their souls and even the planet itself to create a rift.

With the remnants of the immense energy, I boosted myself to survive the erratic rift.

One that would help me return to Earth.

Some horrors did manage to escape before I could kill them– no, it was more like they were forcefully pulled across dimensions. Similar to how I was brought here.

But thankfully, it didnt affect the process and I was successfully able to open the rift and return to earth.

Since I hadn't regained all of my memories, her guidance was a crucial part.

Without it, I may have remained stuck on that world for a few more centuries.

Without her, I may have become completely emotionless.

....

"Byssa"

I muttered out her name.

I will keep my promise.

I ponder about what is to come.

I then shake my head.

I needed to focus on the current situation first.

About the headline I read in the newspaper, there is one thing bugging me.

They said that people are disappearing in groups, but I was transported alone.

Is this different from my case then?

Most likely it is.

My collective experience from the this life and from past life times say it is.

My intuition, honed by centuries of misfortune and ordeals is rarely wrong. It's almost like a 6th sense now.

In countless near death situations, it has always saved me.

And right now I can tell that these disappearances are not like my case. They're completely different.

Something strange is happening.

Something unknown.

I unconsciously smiled.

Something's going to happen.

I get the feeling that my grinding isnt over yet.

It's better to prepare for such a foreshadow.

I close my eyes, and 'look' deep into myself.

"Hmm."

I'm not in top condition.

It seems my powers were reset.

My body has returned to that of an average human too. Well it could be said to be slightly better than the average human as I still have abundant mana.

Although its incomparable to what I had before, it's still alot for an Earthling that hasn't been exposed to it.

I'll have to reawaken my powers. It's not a big deal. I obtained those powers once before and I can regain them aswell. They're still a part of me.

Since my body has been reset aswell, I have a chance to do things I wasnt able to before. I can grow stronger than before.

I just may overcome the wall holding me back.

And maybe even break free of my "shackles".

I had long grasped the essence of my soul. I had synchronised my mind, body and soul completely.

The disparity that others have but never encounter is long gone from my body. Hence I will grow fater than others.

I also have 'that' too. That strange energy. Not mana. Something more ominous. Something I have not completely understood, but is still usable.

I have good body, my techniques, my memories, and the essence of my lost powers within me.

It might take some time, but I dont intend to remain in this weak coil.

I began to circulate the mana in me and to stimulate the powers hidden deep in my soul.

*

I have started feeling fluctuations of mana in the space around the train.

Its especially strange because mana shouldn't yet be present on earth. As a matter of fact this mana wasnt even here a few minutes ago. It must have appeared from somewhere else.

Dimensional magic maybe?

Its alot different than the rift I created.

Its more..."refined".

Who is trying to use this magic? And why?

I get a feeling that we are about to be transported somewhere.

This is most likely one the cases I read in Ahjussi's newspaper.

"This will be fun", I muttered out loud.

The ahjussi to my right looks at me with a confused look.

I ignore him.

He turns back to his paper.

I feel another gaze as well.

I look in the direction that it's coming from. He flinched when he was caught staring.

It was a familiar face. Where have I seen that face?

It looks like an old friend. Albeit slightly different, most likely due to the 5 year gap, its definitely him.

"Hello."

I greeted him.

"Um–Hello. I'm Kim Jungkook. Sorry for staring at you, it's just that you looked like someone I used to know." (Jungkook)

He seemed embarrassed to caught staring. It also seems he thinks I'm dead or something. I guess if you're missing for many years, others will think that you must've died.

I guess it's time to surprise him. I decided to play along for now.

"I wonder who I looked like for you to stare so much?"

He smiled wryly.

"Its just– I had a close friend who disappeared a few years. I haven't seen him since then, neither has his family. But you looked so similar, I thought that it just might be him." (Jk – from Jungkook)

I smiled again.

"Have I changed that much that you cant even completely recognize me Jungkook? I thought you would become my brother-in-law?"

His wry smile faded. And thankfully he had mentioned his name, I had long forgotten it.

"Jin-woo. Jin-woo is that you!?" (Jk)

It seems he finally recognized me. He even spoke my 'old' name. I had forgotten that name too.

"Long time no see, Jungkook."

His expression morphed into a frown. He was completely confused. Ofcourse he was, he just saw his friend who had been missing for 5 years.

Me acting casually must have aggravated his confusion aswell.

"W-what? How? Where have you been all these years?!" (Jk)

He seems angry, I guess he would considering the circumstances.

I smiled. How should I answer him. Its been ages since we have last talked. Lying on the first conversation doesn't feel right.

I should just tell him the truth, and I shoul just keep it simple. Plus, considering what is about to happen, it'll seem more believable.

"Well, to be honest, I got kidnapped to another world and I just now returned."

"What?" (Jk)

"Oh, and now we all are about to get kidnapped aswell."

The ahjussi to my right glanced at me before turning back to his paper once more.

While to my left a college girl giggled.

As for Jungkook, my age old friend, his confusion has only increased.

He was wearing a casual white shirt, a black coat and black jeans. From his haircut, I could tell he is still enrolled in the army.

We had joined the compulsory military service together.

It was at that time that I got thrown to another world.

As a matter of fact, the basic training kept my body in good condition for my survival.

Ofcourse, I also may owe my survival to web novels to some extent, but my survival was thanks to my memories from my past lives.

But putting that aside, Jungkook seems to have remained in the army.

"Is this a joke to you. Jin-woo, you've missing for 5 years now. Where have you been?! What have you been doing all these years?!" (Jk)

Jungkook stood up from his seat.

"Why did you just disappear?! Do you even know what your family went through because of you!? Do you even know how they are?!" (Jk)

Jungkook brought up a topic I wished to avoid. I dont remember them very well, my family.

Since memories from my past lives are being filled in to my mind, memories of this life started getting blurry bit by bit.

My cognitive abilities may have improved and I can now remember things now more clearly. But this happened after many years in the horror world, so those things that were forgotten, or became hazy, remain as such.

"Jungkook."

He remained silent and looked at me.

"I'm not joking. Neither is this a lie."

"Then what–" (Jk)

I looked straight into his eyes.

"Everything I have said is true."

The college girl next to me looks at me with confusion, and a bit of curiosity.

While Jungkook looked me in the eyes. I did not look away, my gaze was firm.

He looked like he wanted to say something, he opened his mouth but closed it before any words came out.

He then began to squeeze the bridge of his nose.

I can understand his confusion and anger. The only reason he stopped is that he had felt my resolve through my gaze.

I wasn't avoiding him. I wasn't lying. I was telling the truth.

He removed his hand from his face and looked at me. He sat back in his seat across me to the side and asked me.

"How am I supposed to believe you? How can I just accept that explanation!?" (Jk)

At his words I silent stared at him. How should I answer him?

I looked up to the ceiling and closed my eyes.

I could feel the mana beginning to stir. It was about to happen.

I looked back at Jungkook.

"You'll believe me soon."

Kim Jungkook looked at me as if I had gone insane. He was confused, but it's not like I could prove it to him without the thing actually happening.

The ahjussi to the right of me folded the newspaper while glancing at me.

And the schoolgirl to the left now looked more confused and curious.

The space around the train slowly began to distort.

"Its beginning.."

The train shook as if it had crashed.

It was lifted off the ground by the distorting space.

The train then vanished in flash of darkness.

Not just a single compartment, but the whole train.

Not just this train.

Nor just the active trains in South Korea.

All the trains in world, each holding passengers, disappeared.