Chapter 5

LOCATION: DRAGON MEADOWS (OTHERWORLD)

Jinwoo let the breeze flow through his face for a while. Unlike the pollution of Korea the air here was fresh, carrying faint fragrances of flowers from nearby. And seeing a completely empty grassland was a sight to get used to also, since, again, this was a rare sight for most people in his country. Really the whole sight was refreshing, and soothing to the soul. It was hard to imagine this area to be a site where a malicious attack took place. There was a difference, however, compared to the last time he'd been here as it was getting dark, the sky being a darker shade of pink.

Huh, it's gone, Jinwoo thought. The body of the dragon was gone,, although the bus was still there, albeit more decrepit than before.

Makes sense, a month did pass, after all.

Jinwoo breathed in, and slowly exhaled. He suppressed the mana emanating from him and changed his appearance from a young man to a teenager, his clothes changing into a regular hoodie, shirt, and pants to pair with his new appearance.

Finishing his transformation, he looked around, trying to gather information.

With his enhanced senses, he could see the floating islands, and a city some distance ahead. Behind him was a forest. Definitely not where they'd gone. During Tomochika's explanation in his domain (which he disguised as a café), she mentioned overhearing them talking about going to the city. Of course, with that information, his next course of action was simple.

Coming out of the dark haze, he used his invisibility skill and passed over the city wall in a single bound. He landed noiselessly, so quietly that even in the most sound-proofed room, you wouldn't hear a thing. He then went into an alley, revealed himself, stepped out, and started walking.

The street had stores and residences lined up. Though it was late in the afternoon, there were still a lot of people on the street: sellers outside their shops, customers inside and outside buildings, people calling out in a language unfamiliar to him, and much more. The scenery before him was something out of a person's ideal vision of a medieval city, or a scene from a fantasy world. Even at this late a time, he could smell grilled meat and bread on stands and coming from the buildings behind him.

Sadly, he had no money which he could use here.

Also, a language barrier, also a barrier to carrying out investigation more easily.

The biggest problem right now was that this was a world where he couldn't automatically understand the language being spoken, unlike a lot of worlds he'd been to (a lazy decision by that Creator, really). However, the Sage from before spoke Japanese, and also implied that many people were summoned from the previous timeline (as, since the reset, there weren't anyone involved in any incident with the Sage's description). Maybe Japanese people getting transported to this world wasn't too uncommon, and, maybe, neither their language.

Well, problem two: he can't speak Japanese.

"Well, this is going to be annoying," he muttered to himself. "Oh well."

He took out his phone and opened the Photos app, staring intensely at the class photo of the missing Japanese students.

Find them, Jinwoo telepathically ordered his shadows.

And from him, his shadows quickly dispersed into nearby shadows made by houses, lamp posts, and various other objects. No one was actively looking at the ground at this moment, so no one noticed anything strange. And the likelihood that the Sages had eyes on every minor thing 24/7 was unlikely, so he was probably safe.

"Oh, hey! Are you Japanese?"a feminine voice from behind asked.

He slightly turned around. Picking up some of the words she said (words he picked up during previous incidents. On a related note, it always struck him weird that most incidents involved Japanese people, very peculiar), he looked around and didn't see any Asian-looking person around him.

"Yeah, you!"

Coming out of the still numerous pedestrians was the owner of the voice, a cat-girl. She wore jean shorts with strapped leggings under them, a ribboned shirtless collar, wrist cuffs and seductive clothing that looked like a bra with some cloth underneath. She had brown hair and a smooth tail of the same color.

"Are you Japanese?" she repeated.

Jinwoo shook his head. He didn't mind the frustration he felt coming off of her.

He then tapped on his wristband (a device that could translate what it heard and allow the user to speak a desired language, a device created by the Rulers to aid in their missions) and asked in perfect Japanese, "Have you seen these students?" and showed her the class photo on his phone.

There was a strange glint in her eyes. Jinwoo could already sense it: greed.

"Oh, those guys! I did see them!" she exclaimed. "I'll take you to where they left!"

She was lying. Even so, Jinwoo decided to play along with her, hoping to eliminate some scum. Something he was proud of doing, both in his time in the police force and his side job.

"By the way, what's your name? Mine's Mireiyu!"

" Sung Jinwoo."

"Such a cool name!" she giggled.

She took him down street after street, building after building. Then, she went down into an alley when the afternoon ended and the night had just started, around thirty minutes after their meeting.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Jinwoo had to try hard not to laugh. Pretending to be a lost child was harder than he thought it would be.

"Of course it is! There's a path into a bar here, trust me!"

Unexpectedly, even the alleyways were winding paths around buildings, the darkness and narrowness differing it from the regular streets.

Then, the way ended at a wall. Immediately, he sensed multiple presences, more than ten people.

He turned around and saw the people behind him quickly forming a circle around the cat-girl and himself. There were men, a few women, humanoids with wolf-like features, whom he knew as beastmen, who were covered in fur, lizardmen and others. Despite their appearances, there was one commonality between them: a mix of murderous intent and greed targeted at him.

Jinwoo remained emotionless, only uttering a dull, "Huh".

"You know, the world isn't a kind place," the cat-girl sighed. "You really have no sense of danger, do you kid?"

"Is this about money?" Jinwoo coldly asked. "If it is, I'm sorry but I don't have any."

"But you do have a money-maker," spoke an Asian man from the group. His pronunciation was perfect, as if it were his native language.

"What?"

"Two things: the phone, and you."

The last one slightly threw him off. What did he mean by him?

"What do you mean?"

"The phone is basically alien technology to them, so it and the components can make bank. And then there's you. You're quite good-looking, aren't you?"

He walked up to Jinwoo and put his hand on Jinwoo's shoulder as he grinned disgustingly.

"Powerless young boys like you can fetch high prices from the nobility too, as a punching bag or as their pet. They either despise Japanese people or love them a lot. I wonder what they'll do to you?"

Jinwoo smirked and responded, "And you better wonder what I'll do to you before they do anything to me."

The Japanese man and the Mireiyu's eyes widened, along with the rest of the group, and a brief silence took over the group. And then, everyone burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! What can you do?" Mireiyu laughed. "I can discern whether a person has the Sages' gift or not, so I know you're powerless."

"He's just acting strong," a wolfman said, grinning. "He's weak as hell, heheh!"

The people around him then held out their knives. "Well now, be a good boy and follow us, or we'll kill you!" a lizardman sneered.

"And you're going to wish you were dead," said Jinwoo.

"A bluff like that's obvious," Mireiyu said in a cool tone. "You don't have a gift, but some of us do. Weaklings like you can't do anything!"

"And you've done this kind of thing before?"

"Enough times, and this definitely won't be the last! So hurry up!" the Japanese man shouted.

Well, he'd better hurry it up too.

The background suddenly turned completely black, like space but without stars.

"What the—"

"What just happened?!"

Though everything was black, the people within it could see each other perfectly. Including their prey… no, their predator.

"Hey, if don't stop that, I'm gonna–"

The wolfman couldn't finish his sentence because he was quickly swallowed by the void, feet first!

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"AAAAHH!"

"I thought he was powerless!"

One by one, purposefully, they were swallowed into the void, facing an unknown fate worse than death. One without rest for a long time.

The cat-girl collapsed in fear. But she didn't stay still for long. She started crawling towards him, teary-eyed, and screeched, "I'm sorry, please don't kill me! They– they threatened to sell me if I didn't do as I was told! I'll do whatever you want, I'll even sleep with you! Just don't kill me!"

Jinwoo coldly looked at her as the last of the surrounding group was dragged below. He looked through their memories and slightly frowned.

"You and your group committed so many unforgivable sins for years. You disgust me."

He turned his back on her and started walking away.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you."

Mireiyu exhaled in relief— then, a black hand grabbed her ankle.

"I'll make you wish I did."

Returning to the real world, Jinwoo sighed.

That was bothersome, he thought.

It was still the same moment when he took them into his domain. Manipulating time there was a neat thing he was able to do.

My liege, rang a voice in his head.

What is it? he answered.

I found them…

No, I found them first! Shouted another voice in his head.

No I did!

Do not believe that low-level soldier, my liege! I—

Shut up, Jinwoo ordered, firmly.

The two stopped bickering and Jinwoo was able to find where they were located. He teleported to them in an instant and was taken to a multi-floored building. Jinwoo blinked, raised his eyebrows and looked around. The place he was in looked just like a modern city: concrete buildings, window-covered buildings and skyscrapers, as well as similar street layout. Kind of looked like Tokyo, to be honest.

He looked at the building in front of him once again, a huge concrete and glass hotel building.

Without looking back, he entered the building.

"Welcome!" greeted the receptionist. "Do you have a registration?"

Edit: 2024/10/24

Just wanna clarify that Jinwoo says "a month" when referring to the passage of time because, in the last chapter, the group drove through his dimension. As he could control the perception of time in that dimension, only a few minutes would have elapsed in the outside world. As for what he meant by "over a year" last chapter… that's a boo-boo which I will fix.