Chapter 367
Do-Jun picked up after the children for a bit, then turned off the bedroom lights and walked out into the living room. He threw on a cardigan over his white shirt as he glanced back at the bed, where the children were tangled in their sleep, before pulling out the Core Talisman from his pocket. Having already completed exploring the Core up to the fifteenth floor, he was now planning to explore the Deep Realm.
Just as he closed the bedroom door, a messenger app notification sounded from his phone. Do-Jun took the phone out of his other pocket and checked the screen. He’d been added to a group chat for S-rank Hunters.
[Lee Kang-Hyun has added Lee Do-Jun to the chatroom.]
Kang-Hyun: I’ll send the photos we took earlier today, Supervisor Lee.
With that, notifications came in nonstop. Photos from their visit to the sauna earlier in the day flooded the chat. Do-Jun scrolled through them with a small smile and even uploaded a few pictures he had taken on his phone.
Do-Jun: Thank you for the photos.
To let the S-rankers carry on with their usual conversation, whatever it may have been about, he quietly left the chat. Then a brilliant light streamed from the talisman, enveloping him.
***
“I’ve been waiting for you, adventurer.” A voice was heard greeting him.
He had arrived, not in the Deep Realm but in the Buffer Zone. A gentle breeze stirred the flowers in the field, and standing there was a woman. Her voice and appearance matched someone Do-Jun knew well: Cecilia. However, something was different about her. Gone was the mischievous energy, replaced by... calmness.
Do-Jun was familiar with this person. Not in terms of appearance, but the aura she exuded was identical to the memory that had briefly flickered through his mind when he first obtained the Broken Wooden Plaque that read “Return to the Origin.”
It wasn’t a clear memory, but he vaguely recalled a woman in flowing white robes driving a sword into his abdomen and saying, “Go back. You’re not ready yet.”