Han Dae Sung Returned From Hell - Chapter 4
#4
004
The next day.
At nine o’clock in the morning, Daesung woke up.
There is no day or night in hell.
The concept of time is vague, so I sleep when I want to sleep and wake up when I want to wake up.
Of course, I couldn’t sleep well at all because I could be attacked unexpectedly if I slept for too long…
In any case, there was no consistent rhythm of life for Daesung.
If you think about it that way, going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning was truly amazing.
It’s only been a day since returning to Earth, but has your body already adjusted to jet lag?
Daesung woke up and just blankly counted the wrinkles on the ceiling or looked at the scenery beyond the window.
My limbs were stiff, so there was nothing else to do.
Then there was a knocking sound.
Daesung was able to guess who was on the other side even before the door opened.
Anyway, the only people who will come to visit him are Hye-jeong and the nurse.
“Can I come in? “Go in.”
But another voice came from beyond the door.
The door opened and the person who came in
was
“….”
“….”
It was a girl I had never seen before.
He’s in his late teens… I guess he’s about nineteen.
Nine o’clock in the morning. And a teenage girl.
Since it wasn’t the weekend, it seemed natural that she would go to school, but she wasn’t wearing her school uniform.
It was an extremely casual outfit.
The two people who met each other said nothing.
Daesung doesn’t know who she is, so he keeps his mouth shut.
The girl who came was also silent for a while, her lips trembling.
It looked as if he was holding something in.
Then,
“Whoa…”
I sighed.
“You thought I was going to cry, right? “You’re welcome. It’s a bean cake.”
“…?”
“I’ve already shed all the tears I need to shed at home. Even if you cry, you never cry here. “It’s embarrassing.”
The girl said that and came closer to Daesung.
As the distance narrowed, I could see that what I had just said was not a lie.
Her eyes were red and swollen.
“Congratulations on waking up.”
“…uh.”
Daesung answered without hesitation.
Looking at the context, it seems like she is a girl related to him.
I vaguely felt that this was not a stranger who had completely disappeared from my memory.
But it was blurry, like looking at a painting with lots of scratches.
‘Who is it. ‘Who was it?’
I felt like he was one of those people I could never forget.
Daesung tried desperately to remember, but the 80-year barrier was too thick.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? “Are you speechless because you’re so happy, or have you gone somewhere after waking up after 10 years?”
It won’t work.
I can’t remember it at all.
Daesung eventually decided to ask directly.
“A beautiful little sister like me-”
“Who is it?”
The two words overlap.
There was a long silence.
***
Hyejeong went to visit her only son today as usual.
Today, I also bought some cream red bean bread that Daesung likes.
Even if you have memory impairment, you probably haven’t completely forgotten your original taste.
At that time, Hyejeong arrived at the hospital room with a smile at the thought of seeing her son eating bread deliciously.
Suddenly-!
The door opened violently.
Hyejeong, who was trying to grab the doorknob, stopped in surprise.
“Is it Jisoo?”
Han Ji-su, the girl standing on the threshold, was crying.
A daughter is crying after visiting her son who woke up after 10 years.
As a mother, I can’t help but feel heartbroken.
“Why are you doing this? why are you crying?”
“Ask that idiot directly!”
After shouting that in a tearful voice, Jisoo passed by Hyejeong.
“Oh no. What the hell is this… Jisoo! Hey! Jisoo Han!”
Hyejeong alternately looked at Daesung, who was lying on the hospital bed, and Jisoo, who was leaving in the distance.
Hyejeong seemed to think that comforting Jisoo came first, so she turned toward the hallway.
“….”
Daesung, who was left alone in the hospital room, clutched the blanket in silence.
“….”
I never would have guessed that the family member was also a younger sister.
It still rings sweetly in my ears.
You fucking idiot.
Even so, you still don’t recognize your sister?
It was a curse that Jisoo had just thrown out like a carpet bombing, but…
it was also what Daesung wanted to say to him the most at this moment.
***
“…Mom said good things to Jisoo. Sorry. I should have told him in advance. “You have a bit of memory impairment…”
A moment later.
Hyejeong, who returned to the hospital room, said that with a complicated expression.
“son.”
“huh.”
“Our Jisoo is a latecomer. “I’m not just one or two years older than you, but I’m seven years older than you…”
“Uh.”
“She was nine years old when you fell. Now, 10 years have passed and I am 19 years old. “Oh my, even if it were me, I wouldn’t have recognized him at first glance.”
Hyejeong spoke in a joking tone and laughed lightly.
Although it was closer to a smile trying to hide my frustrated feelings.
“But now you can recognize who it is, right? Can you recall the memories you had with Jisoo? huh? “You’re not just anyone else, you’re family.”
“huh.”
Daesung nodded.
It’s a lie.
Unlike Hyejeong, my memories of Jisoo were still faint.
I never dreamed that the past 80 years would be so cruel.
How far has he fallen?
How on earth were we so focused on survival and fighting that we ended up forgetting the faces and names of our own relatives?
Daesung’s heart was so throbbing that he bit his lip without Hyejeong knowing.
“Oh yeah. Just for a change of mood. “Should we go outside and take a walk today?”
Hyejeong suggested while there was an awkward silence.
“Is it a bit strange to say ‘it’s been a long time’ since this is my first time going outside in 10 years? Ho Ho. Anyway son. how is it?”
“…walk.”
Daesung mumbled that word lowly.
When I was in hell, I couldn’t even dream of going for a walk.
That place was full of wild, hungry demon beasts in all directions, regardless of land, sea, and air.
But this is Earth.
There are no demonic beasts that attack for no reason or swamps that suck you deep underground the moment you step in.
Above all, getting some fresh air will help you feel a little bit better.
“let’s go. walk.”
***
Soon, the two arrived at the lobby on the first floor. Sitting in the wheelchair
,
Daesung looked around indifferently.
Sick patients and nurses wearing hospital gowns came into view.
“….”
Crackling-
For a brief moment of less than a second, a noise appeared in front of my eyes.
Every time my vision was distorted and my focus became distorted, something strange happened.
Everywhere you look, ordinary people suddenly turn into monsters.
‘Demon Beast?’
no. no.
These were monsters that even Daesung, who had lived in hell for 80 years and had seen most of the magical beasts, had never seen before.
“….”
I closed my eyes tightly and opened them again.
So, the humans appeared as they were.
Daesung faintly shook his head as if trying to erase the optical illusion that had just struck him.
‘It must be a simple illusion. ‘It’s going to take some time to completely shake it off.’
Daesung calmly and frighteningly assessed his own condition.
‘Let’s remind ourselves every minute from this moment on. I am on earth. I am on earth. ‘I’m on Earth…’
Daesung slowly closes his eyes and repeats this. As soon as the automatic door opened
,
the pouring sunlight illuminated his face.
He had his eyes closed, but as soon as he felt the light, he opened them.
Bright sunlight.
sun.
blue sky.
Clouds flowing leisurely.
A cool breeze blows.
All of that was etched into Daesung’s retina at this moment.
“Ah…”
It was a slight emotional change that even I didn’t notice.
Daesung involuntarily opened his mouth and looked up at the sky.
“son.”
“….”
“What do you think? “It’s my first time smelling the outside air in 10 years.”
Daesung
closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The pure, clean air tickled my nostrils.
does not exist.
The stench of rotting corpses.
The fishy smell of blood rises.
The sulfur fire that causes headaches.
“I really-”
You’re back on Earth.
The last words… could only arouse Hyejeong’s suspicions, so I just swallowed them.
Instead of sparing my words, I decided to savor the air a little more.
But after a while.
I felt a familiar smell.
The stench of rotting corpses, the fishy smell of blood, and the headache-inducing smell of sulfur fire –
“Huh?”
Daesung suddenly opened his eyes.
Crackling crackling –
this time a louder and harsher noise disturbed my vision.
The blue sky changed color to a cloudy red.
The shining sun disappeared and a black moon formed.
The lush green bushes and trees burned down and disappeared, leaving an endless wasteland.
Crackling crackling-
-Keruk! Grumble!
-Aaaah!
“….”
The cries of monsters were heard once again.
Sound did not end with just sound.
Wherever Daesung looked, monsters ran wild.
A clear pandemonium was unfolding before my eyes, with bugs infesting me, devouring the flesh of the corpse and not hesitating to commit fratricide.
“son?”
Hook –
starting from that voice, the world was restored to its original state.
“….”
In a rare occurrence, Daesung looked back in shock.
He saw Hyejeong looking at him with worried eyes.
“Why are you so surprised? Are you okay?”
“…uh.”
Calming his slightly startled heart, Daesung looked at the surrounding scenery.
He was heartbroken when he saw that Earth had returned to its original state.
However, I could not completely shake off my feelings of reluctance.
‘I felt energetic.’
The air of the earth, not the energy of the earth.
An unidentified energy emanating from somewhere in another dimension, like hell.
It was too unfamiliar for a simple hallucination.
‘No, no. Let’s not think any more negatively than this. ‘It’s just my mental state that’s weird.’
I’m sure it will.
I wanted to believe that.
***
Some more time passed and it was the third day.
The nerves in my arm have recovered to the point where I can hold objects.
Daesung began rehabilitation exercises.
“Ugh…!”
The hands holding the silver parallel bars on both sides were shaking.
Both legs felt as if they might collapse at any moment.
In that state, every time he took a step, the tendons on the back of his neck swelled as if they were about to burst.
Just three steps. That was the limit.
Daesung couldn’t move and his face was frowning.
“If you feel like you can’t walk, don’t overexert yourself and just stand still.”
Across from him, the attending physician was helping Daesung with his rehabilitation exercises.
The words not to overdo it actually stimulated Daesung’s anger.
He mustered all his strength to somehow advance even a few steps.
However, my feet would not leave the floor at all, as if there were magnets attached to the soles of the slippers.
Wave and wave.
After 10 seconds, Daesung fell down.
The attending doctor walked over to Daesung and supported him.
“Are you okay?”
“uh.”
“You are doing well. It’s in much better condition than I expected. “Um, would you like to rest for a bit?”
“no.”
Daesung spoke coldly and stood up, putting strength on his arms supporting the parallel bars.
The attending doctor looked at Daesung with concern.
“If you overdo it, it could actually make things worse.”
“You’re not overdoing it yet.”
But contrary to what he said, Daesung’s breathing was already heavy.
It’s so hard that I feel like I’m dying.
This was because every time I tried to forcefully move my stiff muscles, I experienced massive neuralgia.
Daesung swallowed the pain and asked his doctor.
“how long will it take. “For me to fully recover.”
“Uh um. Well… if you repeat it consistently, it will take about half a year to a year…”
“Can’t it be faster?”
“This is just my opinion, but I think the minimum is six months.”
“….”
Hearing the words “half a year,” Daesung fell silent.
There is no need to rush.
There is nothing that needs to be completed in a hurry.
Even if it took two or three years to fully recover, it would not be a problem for him at all.
Of course, it would be nice to be able to move quickly even for a moment.
However, there is no need to fret and overwork your body.
Nevertheless, there is no other reason why Daesung is in such a hurry.
‘…My anxiety symptoms are starting to go away.’
This was because I could not bear the current state of not being able to move my body of my own will.
It was worth it.
For him, not moving his body meant death.
It was impossible to sleep comfortably in hell.
Even at the moment when I closed my eyes and fell into a dream, I had to remain alert at all times.
I spent 80 years like that.
However, I know that there is no need to do that since I have returned to Earth.
Even if his body is frozen, he knows very well that there is no demon that can kill him.
However, it is a ‘habit’ that has been accumulated and engraved over decades.
The feeling of ‘space’ that has been worn away.
They continued to whip him.
in action!
Otherwise you will die!
It felt like I was being yelled at like that, so I kept getting anxious.
And it wasn’t something that could be completely erased through mind control.
‘What should I do?’
Unlike my mind, my body doesn’t follow suit, so I’m literally going crazy.
Daesung’s mind went blank when he heard the words “at least half a year.”
‘How can I finish this damn rehabilitation faster-“
That was then.
The moment Daesung raised his head with eyes longing for Dong-ahul.
[The Advent quest has arrived. Do you want to accept it?]
[If you decline, the quest reward will not be paid.]
“Why is this suddenly appearing now?”
“yes?”
The doctor’s puzzled question did not reach Daesung’s ears right now.
Because I came down.
Donga line.