Archmage's Restaurant - Chapter 83: A Week in Korea (2)

High school Rurin walked for a while and then entered an apartment building. She went up to the second floor, unlocked the door with a code, and disappeared inside.

Or so I thought. She stood holding the door, looking at me. It seemed like she was inviting me in, so I stepped inside. The moment I did, she slammed the door with a loud bang and headed straight into the bathroom.

I could hear the sound of water running.

I wandered into the room. Her scent lingered. I shook my head, feeling like some kind of pervert, and made my way to the kitchen.

The refrigerator was stocked with ingredients. She must have been managing to feed herself. Living alone, that’s only natural.

Cooking wouldn’t be difficult. Using the ingredients in her fridge, I whipped up a few simple dishes. There was kimchi, so I made kimchi stew, and with some eggs, I made a rolled omelet.

Cooking homestyle meals like this was an easy challenge for me.

“What are you doing, old man?”

High school Rurin emerged from the bathroom, freshly cleaned.

“Huh?”

This was very unusual. Rurin had actually taken the time to properly wash herself, dry off, and change into clean clothes.

If only the original Rurin had been like this, my life would’ve been much easier.

“Why are you staring at me like that? Creeper.”

“You call me a creeper, yet you invited me inside?”

“I don’t know. Something’s off with me today.”

She turned her head sharply and went to sit on the couch, glancing at me.

Ah, just as I thought, Rurin is still Rurin. Water was dripping from her hair. Of course.

“Didn’t I always tell you to dry your hair properly? It’ll ruin your hair.”

I grabbed a towel and carefully began drying high school Rurin’s hair.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, I snapped back to reality and stepped back. I must have slipped into my old habits without realizing it. Even high school Rurin looked startled, her mouth hanging open.

“Old man…”

“Huh?”

“Why does that feel so natural? You were so smooth that I almost trusted you with my body. Are you some kind of pro?”

“No, of course not…”

I backed away and set the dishes I had made in front of her. High school Rurin tilted her head, puzzled.

“Did you make this? It doesn’t look like something you ordered.”

“Yeah, I made it.”

“With the ingredients in my fridge?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s impossible!”

She shook her head in disbelief.

I casually took a bite of the food to ease her suspicions. Mmm, I may have made it, but it was delicious.

It seemed my cooking skills hadn’t dulled, no matter where I went.

“Eat. Aren’t you hungry? What do you usually eat?”

“To be honest, I am hungry.”

Unable to resist any longer, high school Rurin grabbed the food. After tasting it, she immediately began devouring it.

“Old man, what is this? Why is it so good? It doesn’t even compare to what I usually make!”

Her tone grew higher at the end of her sentence, a habit that was uniquely Rurin’s.

I shook my head.

I needed to get a grip.

I had to figure out the situation I was in with high school Rurin. I couldn’t keep indulging in this bizarre situation forever.

“So, do you live alone? Where are your parents?”

“…I don’t have any. I’m on my own.”

“What?”

“They left behind some money and died when I was young.”

“I see…”

So, she was alone in this world too.

There wasn’t a single photo in the room.

Why was Rurin always alone, whether in this world or the other, unless I was there with her?

“Are you pitying me, old man?”

“No. More importantly, do you really not remember anything? About me?”

“Why are you treating me like I have amnesia? I don’t have any gaps in my memory. You’re the weird one here, acting like a lunatic.”

High school Rurin shook her head and resumed eating.

Anxiety gnawed at me. How would this situation ever resolve itself?

This felt like a nightmare.

A reality where Rurin didn’t recognize me.

“Rurin, do you not remember this?”

“Huh?”

I pulled out the earrings I had secretly taken from her. My plan had been to tease her about it later.

I’d been holding onto them, waiting for the right moment. The earrings shimmered under the fluorescent light.

High school Rurin looked at the earrings, tilted her head, and picked them up.

“I don’t have my ears pierced.”

“What?”

I stared at her ears, astonished. There were no holes in her earlobes. They were intact.

Rurin had pierced her ears for these earrings. She had once told me that any intentional hole left in her body would remain forever. But the high school Rurin before me had no piercings.

What was this?

At that moment, the world flipped.

Baaaaaaang!

The loud honking of a car suddenly woke me up. The sound of traffic blaring from all directions filled my ears.

What? My eyes?

I became aware that I had woken up and looked around.

But I wasn’t in the restaurant. I was in the same world as before.

The modern world.

Not the restaurant, but the present day.

Earth, and specifically, South Korea—the land I had once lived in.

The high school girl who had looked just like Rurin was nowhere to be found. This wasn’t her apartment.

Just like when I first realized I was in Korea, I found myself sitting on the side of a road.

I still had no idea what was going on.

Once again, I looked around.

Where did reality begin, and where did the fantasy end? Had it all been a dream?

But no.

I clearly remembered the restaurant. So, clearly…

***

That morning had been an ordinary one. After visiting Serena, I opened the restaurant as usual. Around noon, I realized we were out of soju and used a summoning spell like I normally did. Yes, the summoning spell was the problem.

While Rurin was sipping on a beer, I cast the summoning spell. This time, instead of just a regular portal, a black hole the size of a person’s torso appeared.

The box of soju had come through the black hole, but it didn’t close afterward. This was the first time something like this had happened.

“What is this?”

“‘What is this,’ not ‘what is that’? Why do you keep saying ‘this’ instead of ‘that’?”

“I don’t know. It’s just the way I talk when I’m surprised. But seriously, what is this?”

“I don’t know either.”

Was it because of the mana?

This was my first summoning spell since absorbing the dragon orb. The soju was summoned, so there didn’t seem to be anything strange about that. So when would this black hole disappear?

Had the summoning spell itself become more powerful?

Many questions swirled in my mind. If the spell’s power, size, or usage limit had been enhanced, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

As I stood observing the black hole that wouldn’t disappear, Rurin suddenly clapped her hands, making a fuss.

“Oh! This looks similar to the darkness we see when we teleport! Hehe.”

With those words, Rurin reached her hand into the black hole. And in that instant—

“You! I’m being pulled in! What is this?!”

“Rurin!”

In the blink of an eye, Rurin was sucked into the black hole. I reached out and managed to grab her foot. But I was pulled into the darkness along with her.

.

.

.

Right. We had fallen into a black hole created by the summoning spell. I had lost consciousness and, during that time, experienced a ridiculous dream.

Baaaaaaang!

The car horns were still blaring loudly. I turned to look in the direction of the sound.

And at the end of my gaze, I saw a woman I knew all too well. Not the high school girl version of Rurin, but the Rurin I knew intimately, in her familiar outfit.

Rurin was standing in the middle of the road. The source of all the honking was her.

Baaaaaang!

And at that very moment—

Baaaam!

A speeding car, with a driver clearly bewildered by the sight of Rurin, crashed into her.

The loud crash echoed, the car’s hood crumpled, and the bumper shattered.

The car collided with her, but the only thing that broke was the car. Rurin stood there, perfectly unharmed.

The nearby cars slammed on their brakes, causing a traffic jam, and the blaring of more horns created chaos.

I rushed over to Rurin, who looked at me with her usual calm expression.

“Rurin!”

“You! Where is this place? And what is this strange creature? It looks bizarre.”

A glance at the car’s crumpled hood showed the driver was unharmed. He had sustained some minor injuries, but nothing life-threatening.

I turned my attention back to Rurin.

The important thing was that this Rurin had called me “you.” This was the real Rurin. Not the dream version of a high school girl, but the dragon Rurin I knew so well.

Still, to ease my doubts, I checked her ear. The hole from the earring I’d given her was there, just as it had always been. So, it really had been a nightmare.

I let out a hollow laugh.

“You! Why are you touching my ear?”

“Ah, nothing. Let’s just talk after we get out of here.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Even with her confusion, it was so good to see the real Rurin again.

But this wasn’t the best place for a reunion. People were staring at her, as if she were some kind of monster, standing there completely unharmed after being hit by a car.

In the middle of the commotion, I pointed to a nearby rooftop. Disappearing would be the best course of action.

“Rurin, let’s get out of here. Teleport us up to that rooftop, okay?”

“There?”

Though she looked slightly annoyed, Rurin complied and used her teleportation magic. Darkness engulfed our vision, and we vanished from the chaotic scene, reappearing on the rooftop in an instant.

Half of what I’d dreamed had come true. In other words, we had really been transported to Korea. It wasn’t a dream within a dream. I had returned to Korea. That much was undeniable.

Unlike the peaceful streets of Grayke, the bustling sights and sounds of this place—cars everywhere, people crowding the streets—felt overwhelming.

In a way, this was what I had wanted all along. My research into summoning magic had always stemmed from a desire to return to the modern world.

Of course, I had grown satisfied with life there, and my longing to return had faded over time.

But now, I was back.

Upon closer inspection, the year was 2017. That meant 15 years had passed since I had been summoned in 2002.

Fifteen years had passed here as well. Time had moved forward equally in both worlds.

Normally, when someone travels to another world, either very little time passes in the original world, or hundreds of years go by.

But everything was the same.

Fifteen years had passed since I disappeared and spent my time in the other world, and fifteen years had passed here as well.