That day, Yonghoon walked around the neighborhood for about an hour before returning home. His body still wasn’t in good shape, so he couldn’t push himself too hard.
He finished with some calisthenics and sat in front of the computer to search for information. The internet was still chaotic.
Then he ordered a few pieces of exercise equipment online.
He broke into a cold sweat when he couldn’t remember his card’s PIN, but luckily he managed to use the same number he had used ten years ago and breathed a sigh of relief.
And so, the second day since arriving in this world came to an end.
On Monday morning, Yonghoon woke up and moved quickly. He needed to work out and then head to the company.
Fortunately, the pain had subsided significantly. At this rate, he felt like he’d be fully recovered soon.
Yonghoon washed up and stepped outside.
The crisp dawn air greeted him. Yonghoon started running a bit faster than he had the day before.
He pushed his body and used his mind to stay focused, doing his best to avoid stray thoughts.
Knowing he was in a very unstable state, Yonghoon poured all his focus into his rehabilitation and adapting to this world.
A short while later, as he headed toward the playground, Yonghoon saw the big guy standing in a ready stance ahead. It looked like he had cleared away all the stones around him. The ground was clean.
The big guy shouted when he saw Yonghoon.
“If you’re a man, let’s do this properly this time!”
Yonghoon agreed with the big guy’s thinking. With his sturdy build, he was the perfect sparring partner.
Yonghoon slowed his pace and approached him slowly.
Seeing Yonghoon coming toward him, the big guy tensed up even more and tightened his stance.
As Yonghoon approached, the movement of his legs gradually changed. It was a combat step he had honed over ten years.
During battles with monsters, he realized the need for systematic movement, so he studied boxing and various martial arts and developed this step together with other Awakened and soldiers.
But everyone who had trained with him back then was dead now, and Yonghoon was the only one left using this step.
Yonghoon shook off his distracting thoughts and focused on his legs.
Fortunately, his legs started to move just as he intended.
He still had to consciously control them, but at this rate, it wouldn’t be long before the movements became natural and unconscious.
Watching Yonghoon move with a certain rhythm, the big guy grew even more nervous.
His opponent’s movement resembled a boxing step. It looked a bit different, but it was clearly practiced and refined.
Just as he had expected, this guy was a serious fighter.
He didn’t know why he acted like a fool at first, but someone who gave off that kind of aura couldn’t possibly be normal.
The big guy calmly threw a punch at Yonghoon, who had now come right up to him, trying to keep him in check.
If he went for a big attack, he might get knocked out again like last time.
But Yonghoon’s movements were too elusive for the big guy’s fists to land.
Yonghoon began to feel his senses returning.
He read his opponent’s stance and muscle movement, sharpening his reflexes and instinctively sidestepping to the diagonal.
It was a basic form of movement he had refined through countless battles.
As the war dragged on and he gained more experience, he eventually developed reflexes beyond that, but this was the foundation of his combat style.
A punch flew past Yonghoon’s face.
His movement was a bit late, and the punch grazed his face slightly, but his expression didn’t change.
Yonghoon stepped right into the big guy’s range. Startled, the big guy swung his other fist toward Yonghoon’s side.
Yonghoon stepped back again, and the punch passed in front of him.
He could’ve easily landed a punch on the big guy’s body, but instead, he calmly pulled back and resumed his footwork.
The big guy threw several punches at Yonghoon, but Yonghoon’s strange movements deflected them all.
After some time had passed, Yonghoon noticed the big guy panting heavily and immediately closed in. He extended his hand and struck the big guy’s neck with a knifehand.
“Guh!”
The big guy’s breath caught, and he collapsed hard onto the ground.
Without even looking at the fallen big guy, Yonghoon checked his own body. He seemed to be properly warmed up.
Leaving the big guy behind, Yonghoon began running again.
After working out, Yonghoon went straight to work. There were some hiccups on the way to the office, but since he left early, he wasn’t late.
“What kind of company is this, a playground? Take that hat off right now!”
As Yonghoon entered the office, the manager inside reading the morning paper raised his voice at him.
Yonghoon had worn a hat to cover the bandage on his head, but the manager scolded him with a tone that made it clear he felt like he finally had something to reprimand him for.
Hearing the manager’s voice, Manager Jung, who had arrived earlier, frowned at Yonghoon. He seemed to agree with the manager.
Without saying a word, Yonghoon took off his hat.
The bandage wrapped around his head was revealed. The manager, who had been staring blankly at Yonghoon’s head for a moment, suddenly scowled.
“Geez! If you’re hurt, just say so. Why make people feel awkward like that!”
He snapped again, folded his newspaper, and left the office. He must have been embarrassed.
Manager Jung looked at Yonghoon’s injury with concern.
“Where did you get hurt like that?”
“I took a tumble while working out.”
Yonghoon gave the simplest excuse to avoid complications.
Manager Jung tilted his head at the sight of Yonghoon’s bruised face, but he accepted the explanation.
Maybe he pretended to believe it because he didn’t want the hassle either.
“Shouldn’t you be hospitalized or something?”
“I’m fine. It’s just a bruise, so I wrapped it in a bandage. It’s nothing serious.”
A normal person would’ve been hospitalized several times over, but for Yonghoon, it wasn’t a major injury.
And so, the injury was mostly brushed aside, and the workday began.
Manager Park, who came in late, looked energetic-maybe because it was the weekend and he’d gotten some rest without any drinking parties. He was busy calling clients, while Chief Kim, with the deadline approaching, was swamped with closing the accounts.
Yonghoon stared at his computer with a serious expression.
For him, the real challenge had begun.
He had experienced this job through the Dimensional Connector, but observing passively and doing it himself were two very different things.
Yonghoon frowned as he slowly worked through the tasks. Fortunately, the work wasn’t too difficult, so it wasn’t enough to make him quit.
The office was quiet, which made it easier to focus on his tasks.
After cautiously doing his work and finishing lunch with the others, he went to the bathroom and was on his way back to the office.
As he walked outside the office building, Yonghoon heard the voices of the employees coming from beyond the wall.
It seemed the sound was leaking out through a small window in the office.
“I was scared out of my mind today.”
It was Chief Kim’s voice.
“You too, Chief Kim? Same here. Assistant Manager Kang was super intense this morning, right? Even the manager ran outside after sensing the mood.”
“That’s enough. He’s probably in a bad mood because he’s hurt. Let’s just get ready for the afternoon.”
Manager Jung cut off Manager Park and Chief Kim’s conversation.
Yonghoon smiled bitterly as he listened from the other side of the wall.
He had been careful, but it still seemed to show.
The bodies of strike team members who had fought for nine years naturally gave off a kind of killing aura.
That’s probably why people instinctively flinched and avoided them.
He had thought that having a different body might help, but it didn’t seem to matter much.
Realizing once again that his soul truly belonged to another world, Yonghoon couldn’t help but feel bitter.
But he had to cling to this company if he wanted to maintain a livelihood in this world.
Until he figured out what he could do with the skills he’d gained from his original world, this company was his only means of survival.
After checking his bank account balance at the ATM before lunch and confirming that quitting would only give him a few months’ buffer, he knew he had to try even harder.
‘In the end, I’m no different from the original Yonghoon.’
Immersed in bitter thoughts, Yonghoon shook off the gloom and returned to the office.
Then he immediately stepped outside with Manager Jung for a delivery.
Outside the office, they saw the president’s car entering the parking lot.
The president’s car stopped in the parking lot where Yonghoon and Manager Jung could see it, and the president got out along with his eldest daughter, Heesu.
Unlike last time, both of their expressions looked fine. It seemed today was one of those days Heesu came to the company to ask for some allowance.
As soon as she got out of the car, Heesu looked toward the office and made eye contact with Yonghoon, who was standing out front.
Heesu flinched and turned her head, then walked toward the president’s office ahead of her father.
The president looked puzzled and followed her to the president’s office.
“Why did she get startled when she saw Assistant Manager Kang?”
Manager Jung looked puzzled at the sight of Heesu and asked Yonghoon.
Yonghoon shook his head and walked toward the forklift.
There was no need to worry about something so trivial. Fortunately, he’d driven forklifts a bit in the military, so there was no real issue operating it.
A short while later, after Yonghoon and Manager Jung finished loading the goods and Manager Jung went back into the office to get the invoice, Heesu quietly slipped out of the president’s office and approached Yonghoon.
Yonghoon stared plainly at Heesu as she came toward him.
Heesu’s face turned slightly red under Yonghoon’s indifferent gaze, but she held it in and stood in front of him.
“Thank you for Saturday. Thanks to you, Heeyoung came home too.”
She expressed her gratitude to Yonghoon.
Yonghoon tilted his head. She seemed a bit different from the version of her he saw through the Dimensional Connector. Still, he calmly accepted her thanks.
“Okay.”
At Yonghoon’s short reply, Heesu stared at him blankly. It seemed she hadn’t expected that answer at all.
And just then, Manager Jung came back out, and Heesu hurriedly returned to the president’s office.
Manager Jung grew suspicious seeing the president’s daughter with Yonghoon, but it was hard to say anything, so he just got in the truck with Yonghoon and headed out for the delivery.
That evening, Yonghoon told the manager he couldn’t work overtime.
“If you’re sick, it can’t be helped. Go on home.”
What Yonghoon meant was that he wouldn’t be doing overtime anymore, but the manager took it as him heading home early due to an injury.
Yonghoon decided he’d bring it up again once he fully recovered and headed straight home.
He wasn’t in a situation where he could be tied down to the company with overtime. With so much to do, he had to make the most of his time.
Back home, he poured his time into working out and gathering information.
And the next morning during his workout, the big guy was nowhere to be seen at the playground. He probably took the loss pretty hard.
Yonghoon smacked his lips.
Surprisingly, the guy had a soft heart that didn’t match his size. Yonghoon shrugged and started running. His pace picked up a bit.
And so, the days passed. Yonghoon gradually got used to the office and this world. But the people at the office still hadn’t gotten used to Yonghoon’s killer aura.
And the president’s daughter came to the company every single day and secretly watched Yonghoon.
Time passed, and on Friday evening, the bandages were gone from Yonghoon’s head.
Yonghoon checked his face and upper body in the bathroom mirror. Most of the bruises had faded, and he’d lost a lot of weight.
He felt like he could see a bit of his face from the other world. Yonghoon was grateful to his body for keeping up. At this rate, he’d be back to normal soon.
And that night, Yonghoon went to bed early. After using his muscles for several days, getting proper rest was important too.
And on that night when Yonghoon fell asleep, beautiful auroras filled the night sky all across the world.