Chapter 227
Chapter 227. Kallem (2)
Telling the person in the driver’s seat to drive safely is a light-hearted piece of advice. It’s merely a friendly phrase wishing them well on their journey without any major issues.
Kazimir’s words were similar—just simple advice or a warning.
‘But who knew it would become a reality?’
The signs of destruction I witnessed in Yoo Ji-han’s memories of Kazimir and Adem.
The sun of Kallem perfectly resembled that.
‘It doesn’t seem like anything is happening…’
The first signs of destruction in Ajesia appeared with great events like shooting stars falling from the sky one after another.
However, right now, it felt completely quiet around Yoo Ji-han as if nothing was happening.
I didn’t feel like the world was about to end at all.
“Ji-han, that…”
“You’re probably thinking correctly.”
Min Yu-ri, with her eyes slightly squinted up at the sun, hardened her expression.
She too had heard the story from Kazimir.
“Hyung! That’s a sign of destruction…”
Thud!
Yoo Ji-han quickly covered Kim Si-hu’s mouth with his palm.
Seeing his startled expression from the sudden action, Yoo Ji-han raised a finger to his lips.
‘Be quiet.’
Almost no one knew that the black dot above that sun was a sign of destruction from the Kallem Expeditionary Force.
There were not many members of different races who crossed over from the destroyed world to Earth.
Mentioning it here would serve no good purpose.
As Yoo Ji-han turned his head, he spotted Watanabe looking at him with interest.
Watanabe approached quietly and spoke in a low voice.
“Is there a problem?”
“The black dot above the sun is not a good sign.”
“Are you planning not to inform the others?”
“It’s best to avoid causing chaos as soon as we arrive in Kallem.”
“Hmm. I understand your thoughts.”
Watanabe nodded, indicating he understood.
“I had my share of makgeolli when I came to Korea, but I told my wife in Japan that I hadn’t sipped a drop of alcohol.”
“……You’re married?”
“It’s a body that never gets drunk no matter how much I drink, but I’m just a person full of worry.”
Watanabe sympathized in his own way.
Then, he glanced at the heroes waiting nearby and asked.
“Where do you plan to move next?”
“I will head to a place where there are people.”
Yoo Ji-han took out a ultra-compact speaker from his possession.
It was a speaker operating on magic power, containing a magic stone inside instead of electricity.
‘This should do.’
The biggest problem in the plan to move to this world was the language barrier.
Those who traveled from Kallem to Earth somehow acquired the language skills of the country they arrived in, but there was no guarantee for the opposite.
In fact, most among them could speak but were unable to read or write in Kallem’s common language.
Yoo Ji-han had pre-recorded helpful phrases in Fran’s voice before departing for Kallem.
—We are humans from a very distant region.
—We are not your enemies.
—We are looking for a person named Yoon Do-ha.
…….
…….
Phrases meant to be used at moments deemed necessary.
Yoo Ji-han tested the speaker to see if the sound was clear.
‘The pronunciation is too difficult.’
If the pronunciation were easier, I could have learned some simple greetings by now.
Yoo Ji-han found it impossible to mimic Fran’s pronunciation coming from the speaker.
Listening closely, it seemed that the oral structure was quite different from that of humans on Earth.
“Jae-kyung, do you have a picture of Yoon Do-ha?”
“I have it right here.”
Park Jae-kyung had photos of Yoon Do-ha taken from multiple angles.
Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the photos after arriving in this world.
“I will move in three minutes.”
As Yoo Ji-han made the preparations to move, he once again looked up at the sign of destruction.
Looking directly at the sun seemed less glaring than on Earth.
‘……Let’s focus on what’s in front of me.’
I decided to set aside the warnings from Kazimir that kept resurfacing.
*
In Kallem, the sun’s movement is the same as on Earth.
Following the trajectory of the sun that sets from east to west, Yoo Ji-han could distinguish north, south, east, and west by the direction of the shadow.
‘Now I just need to find out where I am…’
After walking for two hours, all he could see was wasteland.
The Kallem Expeditionary Force welcomed them with only the sparse weeds growing here and there.
Feeling bored, someone raised their hand and said.
“Just how long are we going to walk?”
“I’ll keep moving until the sun has completely set.”
Yoo Ji-han intended to find people without resting until dawn.
After all, most of the people he brought along were high-level heroes, so there was little worry about their stamina running low quickly.
However, perhaps unsatisfied with the answer, a woman frowned and looked at Watanabe.
“Um… Watanabe-san!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you in agreement with this too, Watanabe-san?”
“Of course. We need to find something, don’t we?”
“……”
“And the direction of our actions will be decided by Yoo Ji-han here, so you need not ask me twice.”
Watanabe passed the decision-making authority to Yoo Ji-han.
After that, no one else questioned Yoo Ji-han.
‘In the end, it’s becoming night.’
But even after hours of moving, the group discovered nothing.
“Wow….”
“There are really three moons in the sky.”
“Beautiful.”
As night fell and three moons rose in the sky.
People exclaimed in awe at the sight.
The colorful moons made them truly realize they had left Earth.
“I’ll rest here for the night before we move again.”
The group set up tents and similar items they had brought along on the bare ground.
Yoo Ji-han’s party also set up a tent to use with Lee Mi-a.
Once they laid down thick sleeping bags on the ground, a respectable resting space was created.
“You didn’t bring anything?”
“No. I’ll just sleep outside.”
Among the group, some people had brought nothing with them.
They had been told in advance to prepare camping supplies, and even if they couldn’t bring them, the Hero Department would have likely prepared some.
Thud!
A man with dark purple hair lay back on the dirt ground.
“We love nature! We’re accustomed to sleeping outside.”
“I’ll take on the watch duty, so you don’t have to worry.”
Fourteen people claimed they would sleep outside.
Leaving those smiling and relaxed folks behind, the remaining members settled in to rest comfortably.
And as the late dawn broke.
“……?”
Yoo Ji-han, who had been lying on a sleeping bag near Kim Si-hu, slowly opened his eyes.
He had sensed a small stir from outside.
Instinctively, he grabbed Qudy and stepped out of the tent.
‘What’s going on?’
However, the heroes who claimed to love nature and wanted to sleep outside were all quickly fleeing away from the tent.
By the speed they were running, it seemed they were sprinting at full speed.
“Yawn…”
“Watanabe-san.”
Watanabe, who stepped outside the tent like Yoo Ji-han, let out a long yawn.
Soon after, some heroes, including Park Jae-kyung, also appeared.
While everyone murmured about the suddenly vanished people, Watanabe spoke up.
“It looks like they’re running away.”
“From what?”
“Well, there’s no one else around, so it must be from us.”
The implication being that a hero participating in the Kallem Expedition was running away from fellow expedition members.
Yoo Ji-han felt uneasy and retrieved a list of names from the tent.
‘……They’re all unfamiliar heroes.’
The foreign heroes who fled from this location were all names that sounded strange to him.
The selection process had involved remote interviews via voice or video calls.
But why were they fleeing in such a manner?
——It’s best to be cautious around unfamiliar heroes.
Yoo Ji-han recalled Lee Dong-ho’s warning that there were more crazy people overseas than he expected.
Lee Dong-ho had said there might be heroes targeting Yoo Ji-han himself.
‘But it wasn’t me who they were after.’
It seemed their goal was not Yoo Ji-han but rather to leave for this world itself.
Once they arrived in Kallem, they had achieved their objective.
They probably didn’t desire anything further from the expeditionary force, so they were leaving.
Before long, Lee Mi-a, now equipped with her gear, spoke up.
“Should we chase after them?”
“No. Let them go.”
Yoo Ji-han shook his head.
Their goal was purely to find Yoon Do-ha and return to Earth.
There was no time to invest in additional matters.
*
As the sun rose, Yoo Ji-han packed away the tent and resumed walking with the others.
He was considering that this lengthy march would last longer than expected.
However, after about an hour of walking.
“What’s that?”
“A person?”
“Could it be a person?”
Finally, they spotted what appeared to be locals of Kallem from a distance.
Yoo Ji-han’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he stared at them.
He was determined to catch them and ask for directions.
“There’s a cart!”
“Ohhh!”
The cart, which served as the primary means of transportation instead of vehicles.
Two horses tied to the cart stood still, not moving.
Yet, as Yoo Ji-han approached the cart slowly.
He questioned his own ears.
“Please, not this…!”
“Can’t you let go of this?!”
Suddenly, he heard Korean being spoken.
Wondering if he had misheard, he strained to listen.
Indeed, it was definitely Korean that Yoo Ji-han could understand.
“……Why can I understand this?”
“Could the language of this world be translatable?”
“That can’t be.”
Even the heroes equipped with translation devices were filled with doubts.
Meanwhile, the roughly twenty individuals near the cart were visibly agitated as they spotted the newcomers.
“Hmmm.”
As Yoo Ji-han got closer to the cart, he examined the people in front of him.
These were the first people he encountered in Kallem.
Someone with a very pale face was kneeling on the ground wearing only thin underwear, while men with grim expressions were glaring at the heroes, brandishing swords and weapons.
‘They look like bandits.’
The scene resembled a bandit group attacking a cart.
“Ah, ah…”
“……?”
“Can you hear my voice?”
“I can hear you.”
“So you understand what I mean?”
“Suddenly, what’s going on…”
“Good.”
Confirming that he could communicate with the bandits, Yoo Ji-han clenched his fist.
For whatever reason, the language barrier had vanished.
Though the efforts he had put into preparing Fran’s voice seemed useless, it was just fine.
“Who are you?!”
“This is our region of Mesper…!”
“What are those strange clothes?”
“If you don’t want to die, drop your weapons and surrender immediately!”
The bandits introduced themselves as belonging to Mesper, pointing their weapons with fierce expressions.
At that moment, Watanabe pointed to himself, speaking up.
“Were you just talking to me?”
“Yeah!”
“Ahahahaha!”
Hearing such a bold provocation after a long time, Watanabe laughed heartily.
“Are you laughing?”
And just as the adversary, thinking he was being mocked, charged forward with an angry face.
Yoo Ji-han made use of sampling.
‘There he is.’
His hazy afterimage was now delivering a powerful kick to the opponent’s gut.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
The man, shoved back from the blow, looked bewildered as he clutched his abdomen.
Yoo Ji-han looked down at him scornfully and said.
“I just saved your life.”
“……?!”
The man holding his stomach appeared utterly confused.
Ignoring him, Yoo Ji-han turned his body toward Watanabe.
“You must not kill them.”
—Right! Don’t kill them, you idiot!
“Silph, shut your mouth.”
—Eek!
Watanabe, his hand resting lightly on the sword’s hilt, seemed ready to draw it at any moment.
“Ah, that was the ‘rule,’ wasn’t it?”
Recalling the rules established after moving to Kallem, Watanabe slowly relaxed his stance.
Then, a faint smile formed on his lips.
“You recognized it well.”
“Perhaps it’s because you’re so sharp with your deadly intent.”
What the sampling showed Yoo Ji-han was that the man charging at Watanabe would have had his life spared because of the powerful blow to the gut.
Had he not been pushed back, at least an arm would have been severed. Quite perceptive.
“I’ll follow the rules until I get accustomed to this place. Please bear with me for a bit.”
His speech was polite, but he drew a clear line.
At Yoo Ji-han’s attitude, Watanabe displayed a truly entertained expression.
