In a room at Dongha University Hospital, Su-hyeon was changing clothes while listening to the doctor’s advice.

“Please refrain from any strenuous activities and visit us immediately if you feel unwell.”

“Thank you very much, Doctor.”

Su-hyeon continued to fasten the buttons of his shirt. Beside him, his mother, Shin Su-yeong, also expressed her gratitude to the doctor.

As they talked, Su-hyeon glanced out the window to see the city below the hospital building and the blue sky above. The sight of clouds leisurely drifting across the sky made the world seem so tranquil and peaceful.

“It still feels a bit surreal every time I look at it.”

It had been a month since he was hospitalized. During the four weeks of recovery, he had enjoyed watching the peaceful scenes outside his window every day.

“All of this will disappear by 2030. Only photos and paintings will remain.”

Every time he checked his smartphone, he was startled to see the year and date.

In the past, he had inhabited a different body.

His death in the battle with Fafnir would occur more than twenty years later.

Now, only news of monsters and dungeons remained. The initial appearance and invasion of monsters had not yet occurred.

“I’ve returned to the past.” But not in Seong-in’s body, in Su-hyeon’s.

He took a hand mirror from a drawer and saw a slight smile on his face.

“Why am I smiling?”

Seeing a face that wasn’t his own made Su-hyeon’s smile feel awkward. However, after about a month, he began to accept it as his own.

“Mom, can we go now?” He asked, watching his mother talk to the doctor.

“Just a moment. We need to properly thank the doctor before we leave.”

“I’m really hungry, apart from the bland hospital food.”

“Do you want to eat out? I actually have to go back to work soon.”

During the last month, he had learned about his mother’s personality through their conversations.

“In that case…”

“No, Mom. Please cook something delicious,” he suggested, hinting that her cooking was the best in the world. And it was a very affectionate gesture.

“Alright, then let’s go home quickly. Goodbye, Doctor.”

The doctor moved on to the next patient. As they left the hospital, Seong-in glanced at Shin Su-yeong.

“So, you’re Su-hyeon’s mom.”

No, now she was his mother.

Initially, it was confusing, but as time passed, it wasn’t hard to accept. He had grown quite fond of Shin Su-yeong.

She was very different from his real mother in every aspect. She was so cheerful that he thought all mothers should be like her.

“I want nothing more than for you to be healthy.”

Compared to Shin Su-yeong, who only wished for her son’s health —

“I believe you can do better than this.”

— his previous mother had always wanted him to be the best in every possible way. He felt a significant mismatch and awkwardness.

His previous mother was too cold and too strict. It wasn’t just because she wanted him to be a hero. During this month, he felt he had learned more about his new mother than his previous one.

Shin Su-yeong visited him every day after work to check on his condition, never forgetting despite being tired from work.

Su-hyeon looked back at his mother and their eyes met.

“Su-hyeon, why do you keep looking at me?”

“It’s nothing, Mom.” He casually turned his gaze to his smartphone.

“Su-hyeon, you seem different.”

“How so?”

“You speak differently nowadays. More politely, it seems.”

Yes, that’s why she seemed a bit taken aback when he first spoke to her in the hospital.

“You seem like a completely different person.”

“Well.” He pondered what to say. “I just decided to make a change.”

“A change?”

“Yeah.” He spoke off the cuff, but it was somewhat true since he was still Seong-in, not fully Su-hyeon. Since he didn’t know what Su-hyeon was like from the start, he couldn’t completely mimic him.

Shin Su-yeong suddenly hugged him.

“Mom?” He asked, surprised. “What’s this for?”

“Su-hyeon?” She added, “No matter how you change, you know I’ll always love you, right?”

“Okay…”

“Good. As long as you don’t do anything bad and we stay close to each other, that’s all we need to know.”

“I understand.”

“Good. You’re the only one I worry about.” She released him after hearing his response.

“Actually, Mom, I need to go somewhere,” Su-hyeon said, checking his phone.

“Where? You’re not fully healthy yet.”

“I’ll be back before dinner.

You can go back to work.” With those words, he left.

“Don’t be late,” Shin Su-yeong called out, waving at him.

As her voice trailed off into the distance, he shook his head slightly.

“That always gives me the chills.”

He was still not accustomed to the sudden tender expressions of his new mother. He wasn’t sure how to react to them.

Of course, he didn’t dislike it. On the contrary, it made him feel good.

“Right! I don’t have much time before dinner.” He planned to return home before Shin Su-yeong got off work, not wanting to cause her any worry.

He used a smartphone app to navigate his destination, but the journey took longer than expected. He arrived at an alleyway in a small residential area.

“Ah, you’ve finally arrived.”

“You’re too quick.”

Several men, lurking in the shadows, gestured for him to come closer. All four were about Su-hyeon’s age.

“Are you the ones I was looking for?” Su-hyeon asked, checking his phone.

“What are you talking about?”

“It seems I’m right.”

He checked a text message he had received from a man named Jang Hyuk.

I heard you were hospitalized. When are you coming back? I miss you. I’m a bit short on cash these days. Can you help? Are you ignoring me? Pick up the damn phone. You said you’d be back today. I’m at our usual spot. Come now, or I’ll make sure you’re hospitalized again. The messages were all too aggressive. Even if he reported them to the police, it seemed they wouldn’t care.

Anyway, it wasn’t the first time. He could tell how they had been bullying Su-hyeon.

He learned from his mother that Su-hyeon had dropped out of high school, likely due to these individuals.

“Did you bring my money?”

So, Su-hyeon decided to bring them some money.

“Sure. I should also get rid of trash like you.”

“What the hell?”

“Can’t believe it.”

“Are you crazy?”

One of the men closest to Su-hyeon swung his fist at him.

Suddenly, “Ah!”

Su-hyeon grabbed and twisted the fist. The man screamed, looking at his broken wrist.

“What’s this?”

While the others were taken aback, Su-hyeon was already aware of his surroundings. There were no bystanders who might witness the scene, and no surveillance cameras were in sight. That was probably why they had called him here in the first place.

“It’s okay. I’ll make it quick.” He walked towards the now frightened men.

Ah…

Ahhh…

It felt good to be able to knock down bullies squirming in pain like bugs.

It was easy.

It meant nothing to him. As a hero who fought monsters, training in combat was crucial, so he had faced countless much tougher battles before. Compared to that, these four bullies had no special fighting skills. They were nothing.

Of course, Su-hyeon would have been just as powerless and weak as them, but basic experience and insight made a huge difference.

The vicious text messages they sent showed how cruelly they had bullied Su-hyeon.

From them.

All he needed was a bit of courage. Su-hyeon could have sought help from law enforcement, but the most effective lesson came from Su-hyeon himself.

Su-hyeon threw a baton and a steel pipe next to Jang Hyuk. Those were their weapons.

“Here you go.”

“Ye… Yes… Sir.” Jang Hyuk was clearly terrified.

How stupid! How many years did you bully cowards like this in school?

“Tell me. Why did you bring all these pipes and weapons?”

“Well, it was just…” Su-hyeon could tell he was trying to provide an excuse to save himself.

“You were trying to kill me, weren’t you?”

Jang Hyuk’s face turned pale at the question.

“Then I guess I could kill you too. Self-defense.”

As he said this, he picked up one of the metal pipes lying beside him and swung it towards Jang Hyuk’s head. It almost touched him. “Ah, please spare me!”

Tap-

He merely tapped Jang Hyuk’s head lightly. At that moment, Jang Hyuk urinated himself.

He was truly a coward.

Su-hyeon leaned in. “If you ever do something like this again…”

Crash-!

Su-hyeon hit his own forehead as he spoke, issuing the same warning to the rest. He didn’t know how it would turn out, but they definitely learned their lesson.

So, he made a mark on his list.

Exiting the alley, he checked his phone. October 2018.

He pondered what he had been doing around this time in his previous life.

Our school.

Back then, he was just an ordinary college student, before he became a hero.

Dongha University.

He realized his next destination before going home was to check on his past life. It was essential to understand where he had come from and what had led him to become the person he was—both as Su-hyeon and as Seong-in, the hero who had battled monsters and faced enormous challenges.