Archmage's Restaurant - Chapter 85: A Week in Korea (4)

“I’ll take two! One for El, too!”

“T-Two cards, you say?”

The clerk was at a loss, unsure what to do with the wad of cash Rurin had handed him. There was no need to load so much money onto the cards. In the end, he decided to load 50,000 won on each card.

After all, the customer had handed him the money.

“Here you go. That’ll be 106,000 won, so the rest of your money is—”

Just as the clerk attempted to return the pile of leftover bills, he realized Rurin was already gone.

“C-Customer!”

The clerk panicked, trying to catch up while clutching the money, but tripped over himself in the process. As people around him stared, Rurin was already far away, grabbing El’s hand as he emerged from the bathroom.

“You! I’ve got something cool to show you! Come on!”

“Huh? What? What’s going on?”

Rurin pulled El along and tossed one of the transit cards to him. She eyed her own card curiously, filled with excitement.

When she tried to walk straight through the turnstile, the barrier came down and the alarm buzzed.

So, she tapped the card.

Beep.

The barrier lifted, and all was quiet.

“Look at this! It blocked me before, but now it opens when I use this card. Hehe, your world is full of amazing things.”

Rurin became fascinated, tapping the card over and over again. Naturally, El started to get nervous.

A station worker was approaching from a distance.

“Fascinating or not, let’s go.”

El quickly grabbed Rurin and pulled her toward the subway platform. As they got there, the train doors opened just in time.

“Ooh! It opens here, too. What is this huge thing?”

While Rurin was brimming with excitement, El sighed deeply as they boarded the subway. Behind them, the clerk’s cry of “C-Customer!” faded into the distance.

***

Their destination was the place El used to live. As they traveled, his parents’ faces, once blurry in his mind, began to come back to him. After suddenly being thrown into another world, he hadn’t even been allowed a single photograph of them.

As the subway crossed over the Han River, Rurin pressed her face against the window, letting out a string of exclamations.

“You! Look at the river! Wow, we’re moving over it! This subway thing is amazing. But still, I’m faster than it.”

Yeah, if you were flying around as a dragon, you could definitely beat the subway, I thought. Rurin’s enthusiasm was almost enough to make me shake my head in disbelief.

Soon, the subway reached its destination. They got off at OO station. Despite 15 years having passed, not much had changed in the neighborhood. The apartment complexes that had been built during the construction boom were still standing.

Luckily, no redevelopment had taken place. The apartment building I used to live in was still there. So was the elementary school I attended.

As I saw the familiar buildings, a flood of nostalgia hit me. There were some new buildings on the streets and signs of change, but overall, the quiet apartment complex had stayed much the same.

The real question was whether my parents were still living there. I had heard that the families of missing persons often don’t move, hoping their loved one might return home someday.

That was my last thread of hope.

That’s what my situation was now. I could only hope that my parents were still waiting for me at home.

“You, where are we going?”

“Well, this is the place I lived before I ended up in your world.”

“Wow, it looks cramped. You lived here?”

It did look cramped, I had to admit. That’s why people sometimes compared these apartments to matchboxes. It was a far cry from the wide open spaces of our restaurant and the fields back in Grayke.

We took the elevator up to my old floor. As we rode up, I felt a sharp gaze on me and turned to see an older woman I didn’t recognize, staring intently at me. We made eye contact, and she quickly looked away.

“Um, excuse me, can I help you?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing.”

The woman waved her hand dismissively and started looking elsewhere. Soon, the elevator stopped on the sixth floor.

I stepped out immediately and walked toward apartment 604. Pausing for a moment, I took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

It had been so long since I felt this nervous. After gaining the power of the Dragon Lord, I rarely felt tense anymore.

But this was different. I was anxious, my throat dry. The less-than-a-minute wait for a response felt like an eternity.

“Who is it?”

But the voice that came through the intercom was unfamiliar. It wasn’t my mother’s voice.

No matter how much time had passed, I would never forget my mother’s voice. The disappointment hit me like a wave.

“Oh, sorry… I think I have the wrong place.”

“Alright.”

The woman’s voice sounded a little annoyed, and the intercom clicked off. I was about to walk away, but a sudden urgency gripped me. If I didn’t act now, I felt like I’d lose any chance of finding a clue.

“Wait, please! Do you know who used to live here? Someone named Lee Jeong-hwa…?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure.”

“I see…”

The woman didn’t provide any further information and hung up. She really didn’t seem to know anything. Feeling disheartened, I stepped back from apartment 604.

Suddenly, I felt someone grab my arm. It wasn’t Rurin. Startled, I turned to see the woman from the elevator standing behind me.

“Excuse me…”

“Yes?”

“Why are you looking for Jeong-hwa?”

“D-Do you know my mother?”

Hearing my mother’s name come out of the woman’s mouth shocked me. I asked in disbelief, and she tilted her head, trying to recall something.

“Wait here for a second!”

She shouted suddenly, clapped her hands together, and ran off toward apartment 605.

After a few moments, the woman returned with a photograph. She held it up, comparing it to me, and then her eyes went wide with recognition.

“I knew it! You’re Jeong-hwa’s son, the one who went missing! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!”

Hearing her call my mother “Jeong-hwa unnie,” a familiar term of endearment, I finally started to recall the woman’s face. It had been so long that my memories were foggy, but seeing the photograph jogged my memory. She was the neighbor who used to live on the same floor. She had been close friends with my mother.

“Oh!”

Without thinking, I let out a gasp. The woman let out a long sigh before her expression turned serious.

Her face contorted with grief, and she suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, patting my back.

“Oh dear… Where have you been all this time? Do you know how long your mother searched for you?”

Her voice cracked as she began to sob, collapsing to the floor. Anyone could tell that these weren’t tears of joy for my return.

My heart sank. These tears had to be related to my mother. I couldn’t bear to ask the question, but deep down, I already knew the answer.

Rurin gripped the hem of my clothes. She remained silent.

Time passed in stillness.

But I couldn’t stay like this forever. Even though I feared the truth, it was something I couldn’t avoid. I had to know. After taking another deep breath, I knelt beside the weeping woman and finally spoke.

“Is my mother…?”

The words wouldn’t come out. My heart felt like it was going to explode. Whether it was my dragon heart or my human one, it didn’t matter. My chest, my guts, everything felt like it was about to burst.

The woman, seeing the look on my face, grabbed the wall for support and stood up.

“I can tell you didn’t know. Since you’ve come here looking for them, you must not have heard anything. I’ll explain, or else you’ll keep searching forever…”

The woman motioned for me to follow her, so I did. Rurin quietly trailed behind me.

We entered the woman’s apartment, and she sat me and Rurin at the dining table. Rurin sat quietly, watching me. I didn’t know if she understood what was going on, but she just silently observed.

The woman brewed tea and sat down at the table with us. Silence filled the room, stretching on for what felt like minutes.

I couldn’t bring myself to break it. Eventually, the woman spoke.

“Your father was in a car accident. He was sick for a long time before he passed away. That was ten years ago. After that, your mother was left all alone. She struggled with grief, and her health deteriorated. Even then, she never stopped searching for you. In the end… she followed your father. That was five years ago. Five years! Where have you been all this time?!”

“……”

The sound of the world crashing down around me. How could this be? Both of them… gone?

From that moment on, I didn’t hear anything. I couldn’t remember how I moved or what happened next. Everything blurred into a haze.

My parents were no longer alive? They’d worn themselves out looking for me? How could this cruel fate have unfolded?

I had been thrown into a strange world, and I fought so hard to survive, clinging to the hope of seeing them again one day.

I hadn’t even known Rurin back then. But in the end, this was the tragic outcome?

This couldn’t be happening.

I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face.

.

.

.

My mother had been kind, always supporting me, encouraging me to pursue whatever I wanted. Even when my father opposed my decisions, my mother stood by me and persuaded him.

It had been a difficult choice to go to culinary school, but she had agreed because I asked her to. And then…

I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

I hadn’t chosen to leave. Something impossible had happened, and I was forgotten by this world.

This was the cruel hand of fate.

The thought of my parents passing without knowing whether I was alive or dead made my eyes sting even more.

“Damn it…”

After what felt like a long time, I finally became aware of my surroundings again. I was sitting on the emergency stairs of the apartment complex.

What surprised me most was that Rurin was still standing quietly beside me. She had been silently watching me cry all this time. When our eyes met, she finally spoke.

“Your mother died, too?”

“Yeah. I think so…”

I managed to answer, and Rurin sat down beside me. Without warning, she wrapped her arms around me and gently patted my back.

I had comforted her many times before, but this was the first time she had comforted me.

“It’s okay. You’ve got me by your side! And I’ll always be here with you. Don’t be sad, because if you’re sad, it makes me sad, too.”

“Really?”

Her warmth seeped into my empty heart. I had hugged Rurin many times, but this was the first time I felt my heart truly warm.

Rurin was comforting me. It felt almost strange, but her presence brought me a sense of peace that I desperately needed.

It felt as though I had been wrapped in my mother’s arms again.

“I was sad when my mother died, too. I cried a lot. Back then, I didn’t know you, so I couldn’t stop crying. But now, I’m here by your side. So don’t cry, because I’m here.”

“Yeah…”

Rurin’s face was expressionless as she spoke, but to me, she looked radiant.

Almost like a goddess.

In that moment, I gave up on everything and leaned into her embrace.

It was the complete opposite of how things usually were.