Chapter 45

Chapter 45

“Why am I even here again?”

Chongqing City, People’s Republic of China.

Shim Young-jin muttered as he exited the entrance of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport.

“I’m sorry.”

Doo Jae, who had followed him out, apologized.

Shim Young-jin scowled and glared at Do Jae.

‘Right now, I should be sleeping peacefully at home.’

Normally, Shim Young-jin would be lying in his Gangnam officetel, not here in Chongqing.

“Ugh, fine. We’re already here anyway.”

Thud.

Shim Young-jin kicked the bare ground.

It was a minor act of venting, or perhaps a small rebellion.

“It’s because you’re the only one here who knows China well, Chief Shim.”

“Huh… I shouldn’t have acted so cocky…”

Shim Young-jin recalled what had happened yesterday.

***

Shim Young-jin, returning from vacation with his squad members, was unpacking his belongings at his Gangnam officetel.

Suddenly, a call came from the unit ordering him to return immediately.

Shocked, Shim Young-jin rushed straight to the base.

Now that his unit was part of the Punitive Expeditionary Force headquarters, he had to go to the headquarters in Seoul, not to Chilgok-daero in Cheorwon.

It was then, arriving hurriedly at the main gate of the base.

A familiar man was standing there.

“Sergeant Shim, I need you to come with me.”

“Huh? I’m returning to base right now…”

“Yes, I called you, Sergeant Shim. You just need to come with me.”

“Wh… What?!”

Shim Young-jin headed straight for the airport with Do Jae.

He was still wearing the flashy shirt and shorts he’d worn on leave, so anyone watching might have thought he was departing on a trip, not returning from one.

When they arrived at the airport, a man dressed in a black suit was waiting for them.

He handed Dojae the tickets and passport, and Dojae passed them on to Shim Young-jin.

‘Fake passport?’

Shim Young-jin opened the passport and gasped in shock.

A name and date of birth he’d never seen before were written there.

As he looked up, still dumbfounded, Dojae extended his hand.

“May I take your ID, phone, and all your belongings?”

He gripped the smartphone Shim Young-jin was holding tightly.

He sensed the situation was taking a strange turn.

‘Damn… I feel like I’m getting dragged into something wrong…’

Click.

Do-jae reached out his hand once more.

“Mr. Dojae, why are you doing this….”

Click.

Do-jae reached out a third time.

Shim Young-jin looked into Dojae’s eyes and felt she could no longer refuse.

“Huh…”

Shim Young-jin emptied everything from his pockets and handed it to Dojae.

Then Dojae took out his own wallet and smartphone and tossed them into his special inventory.

“Thank you for your help. How about using the restroom before we depart?”

Do-jae bowed and said.

Shim Young-jin slumped his shoulders and headed toward the restroom, muttering to himself.

“I never said I was helping…”

***

This is how Dojae and Shim Young-jin arrived in Chongqing.

Exhausted, Shim Young-jin had many questions, but she fell asleep immediately after boarding the connecting flight.

Chongqing, where they arrived, felt strangely nostalgic, bringing back childhood memories one after another, even setting aside the bewildering situation.

“Hey, Dojae, now that we’re here, could you explain why we came to Chongqing?”

Shim Young-jin asked as they exited the airport.

Since all their luggage was already stored in Dojae’s pocket dimension anyway, there was no need to wait.

“There’s something I need to bring back for the development of the Republic of Korea.”

“…The development of the Republic of Korea!”

Do-jae’s words made Shim Young-jin’s heart begin to race.

Even though he’d been dragged here, how could his heart not race at the thought of it being for the national interest?

“But what exactly do we need to bring?”

“It’s too late today, so let’s find a place to stay first. I’ll explain everything gradually.”

“Then let’s go to a hotel. I know a decent one, but… since you have all my luggage, Dojae…”

“Hold on.”

As Shim Young-jin trailed off, Dojae, catching his meaning, opened his pocket dimension.

What he pulled out was a wad of cash inside an envelope.

“Whoa, why are you carrying around such a wad of cash?”

“It’s money I received. Is it insufficient?”

“Never mind if it’s enough… Never mind. It’s awkward to carry around, so give it to me later. And let’s just go somewhere nearby.”

At Shim Young-jin’s words, Do Jae put the money back into the pocket dimension.

The two began moving toward a nearby, clean hotel.

Once his fatigue subsided, Shim Young-jin opened up.

The conversation flowed from stories about attending Chinese schools since childhood, to Chinese culture, and eventually even to good restaurants.

At first, Dojae found Shim Youngjin’s chatter irritating, but as he listened, it grew quite interesting.

Shim Young-jin’s stories, coming from a completely different world, sounded incredibly fresh to Do-jae.

Moreover, Shim Young-jin was surprisingly knowledgeable.

Not only did he possess common sense, but he could also play instruments like the piano and had deep knowledge in the arts.

He was a bit naive in personality, but he was a person of great learning.

“Shall we go here?”

After checking a few hotels, they found one with decent facilities, immediate check-in availability, and cash payment options.

It wasn’t a top-tier five-star hotel, but it was perfectly adequate for a single night’s stay.

Shim Young-jin booked the room in truly fluent Chinese, just as he had said.

Suddenly, Dojae grabbed Shim Young-jin’s shoulder.

He whispered quietly, making sure the front desk couldn’t hear.

“One room.”

Do-jae couldn’t speak Chinese, so Shim Young-jin handled all the conversation, but Do-jae had an earpiece.

The translation device he put on the moment they left the airport lived up to its name, converting every language into Korean.

Therefore, he could understand the content of their conversation.

“Huh? You want us to sleep together? Even so, sharing a room is a bit…”

“Sorry, but we’re not here for fun.”

Shim Young-jin’s expression turned to pure misery.

As if getting caught up in this strange situation and ending up in Chongqing wasn’t enough, the fact that she had to share a room alone with a man made her want to scream. In the end, she booked only one large room.

“This is too much… I was planning to go clubbing later. Ugh.”

“Just get some rest tonight. Tomorrow is going to be tough.”

“What do you mean by that? Hey? Mr. Dojae?”

Dojae took the key and strode over to press the elevator button.

“Get in or I’m going up without you.”

Do-jae stepped inside and reached for the ‘Close’ button.

Shim Young-jin, utterly flabbergasted by Dojae’s behavior, scrambled breathlessly toward the elevator.

“I’m going. I’m leaving.”

***

The next day.

Do-jae woke Shim Young-jin up early in the morning.

“Young-jin.”

Even after entering the room, Yeongjin didn’t stop grumbling.

He kept talking to Dojae, annoying him.

Starting with Dojae’s family background, he asked about hobbies, special skills, favorite things—it was like a full-on interview.

At first, Dojae just half-listened and gave vague answers, but when Youngjin seemed disappointed, he started answering a bit more attentively.

As they chatted nonstop, Dojae found himself swept up by Youngjin’s simple, unfiltered way of talking, and they ended up calling each other brother.

Still, it felt pretty good.

Talking with Young-jin helped him shake off distracting thoughts, and he found himself liking Young-jin’s earnest effort to keep the conversation flowing.

We must have talked for about two hours.

When I noticed Youngjin had gone quiet, I looked over and saw he had fallen asleep.

He slept soundly without a single snore, and thanks to that, Dojae was able to get a peaceful night’s sleep too.

“Wake up already.”

“Huh? Yeah…”

Young-jin, his eyes still puffy and barely open, sat up and stretched.

Then, glancing toward the door, he gasped in shock.

“Gah! A monster…! Ah….”

Young-jin’s expression changed dramatically before he promptly sat back down on the bed.

He had realized the monster standing in front of the door was Dojae’s golem.

“It’s not like you’ve never seen it before, so why are you so shocked?”

“Well… it looks different from the others. You could’ve at least warned me…”

Zzzzzz-.

Dojae tucked the golem into his pocket dimension.

After Young-jin fell asleep, Do-jae took the golem out just before he himself slept, preparing for any unforeseen situation.

Nothing would likely happen in a place like this, but he acted on lessons learned from experience.

A complacency he only realized after his younger brother was in danger.

Last night, Dojae reflected: he would act cautiously and thoroughly, anytime, anywhere, so he wouldn’t lose the cow and then fix the barn.

“Hurry up and wash up. We need to leave early if we’re going to be wandering around the mountains.”

“Huh? In the mountains?”

Shhhhh-.

Thud-.

Instead of answering, Dojae tossed the towel at Youngjin.

Yeongjin picked up the towel that had landed in front of him, his face twisted in a pout.

“Ugh…”

***

“Bro… Are you really here?”

Young-jin asked Do-jae in a whiny voice.

They were currently in Wuling Mountain.

It was part of the Wuling Mountain Range, stretching from Chongqing City to eastern Guizhou Province and western Hunan Province.

It was a mountain known for its sheer cliffs and frequent thick fog.

Do-jae and Young-jin had been traversing such mountains since early morning.

“Let’s keep searching.”

Their vision was limited, and since they weren’t moving along a path, the two awakened ones were struggling quite a bit.

If they were ordinary people, they would have fallen off cliffs or gotten lost hundreds of times over by now.

“Bro, can’t we use the golems to find them? We’d probably find them in no time.”

“No.”

Dojae shook his head.

Golems are too conspicuous.

Only those who know Dojae or find them useful think of golems that way; generally, golems are monsters.

If they caught the eye of Chinese hunters, we could lose those precious golems.

“We’ve been wandering around for five hours already. Can’t we rest just a little?”

Yeongjin wiped away the sweat streaming down his face, looking exhausted.

Dojae looked at Yeongjin with pity and sat down on a flat rock nearby.

“Yeah, let’s rest a bit before moving on.”

Thud.

Young-jin plops down on the bare ground.

Do-jae thought Young-jin must be exhausted.

After all, they’d been moving nonstop on an unpaved road, climbing mountains. Even for a C-rank Awakened One, there was no way he’d have any stamina left.

“Brother…”

Young-jin calls out to Do-jae.

The exhaustion from moments ago was nowhere to be seen; instead, he stared at Dojae with bright, sparkling eyes.

“Let’s eat. It’s past lunchtime and I’m starving!”

Current time: 1:48 PM.

It’s definitely well past lunchtime.

“Got it.”

Young-jin beams at Do-jae’s reply.

Judging by the way he even licked his lips, he must have been quite hungry.

But when Dojae pulled food out of his pocket dimension, his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Huh? What is this?”

Yeong-jin took the triangle rice ball with a look of utter disappointment.

Do-jae had stockpiled convenience foods in his pocket dimension, and the triangle rice ball was one of them.

“Give me mine. I’ll eat mine.”

Young-jin held out his palm toward Do-jae and whined.

Do-jae had no choice but to pull out Young-jin’s food from the pocket dimension.

“This one. If you’re in Chongqing, you gotta eat this.”

What Dojae handed him was shuā lā fěn.

It’s a Chinese noodle dish and a representative food of Chongqing.

Similar to ramen, it’s a noodle dish characterized by its sour and spicy flavor.

Before leaving Wuling Mountain, Yeongjin had wandered the streets and bought some to go, which Dojae had stored in his pocket dimension, so it was still steaming hot.

“Would you like some too, bro? The noodles are really chewy and delicious.”

“No thanks. I prefer this.”

Do-jae unwrapped a triangle rice ball containing tuna mayo and a Jeonju-style bibimbap.

He simply couldn’t stomach eating such greasy, red noodles on an empty stomach.

The sour smell wafting up made it completely unappealing.

Slurp.

“Mmm. Bro, after work, before you head back home, there’s a decent restaurant I know. It’s a place that suits Korean tastes well, so it should be good.”

“We’ll see.”

“Ugh. You have to try all these kinds of dishes too. Travel is about the food! Enjoying diverse and delicious cuisine is the true charm of travel.”

“I’ve told you countless times, I’m not here on vacation.”

“Sigh. Since you’re here anyway, why not enjoy it while you’re at it?”

Young-jin said that and focused on eating again.

Dojae took a bite of his triangle rice ball and gazed at the mountain.

Like Young-jin said, since he was already here, it would be nice to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Wuling Mountain and the distinctive cuisine of Chongqing, but it wasn’t that easy.

Swoosh.

A bird flew through the mist.

In such thick fog, even birds didn’t fly well, so it was the first bird he’d seen since climbing the mountain.

But then.

Thud-.

The bird, which had been flying well, suddenly hit something while trying to enter a cave and fell.

It looked like just an ordinary small cave entrance.

Dojae jumped up after seeing that.

“Finished eating? Let’s go.”

“Huh? I haven’t finished yet…”

Before Young-jin could finish speaking, Do-jae started down the slope.

Young-jin stared blankly at Do-jae before hurrying to chase after him.

“Brother! Come with me!”