Chapter 3: Returning Home Part 3

Hmm, well…

I was the one who requested, ‘Make it so no one can recognize me.’ And I didn’t attach any conditions to that request.

When I said that just receiving one more life was already enough of a reward, I truly meant it.

After all, a person’s life is meant to be just one, no matter how short or unfair it may seem.

And here I was, given two additional chances.

On top of that, I even got a bit of compensation.

So I thought there was no reason for me to feel dissatisfied.

But it seems I was a bit too careless.

My request to ensure that no one could recognize me was taken very seriously.

How seriously? Even my gender had been reversed.

Once again, I looked down at my body in disbelief.

The sense of dissonance was overwhelming.

My perspective was much lower than what I was used to, and my body felt noticeably lighter.

Not to mention the unfamiliar weight on my chest.

Glancing at my reflection faintly visible in the window of a nearby street shop, I saw the image of a young woman in her late teens or early twenties.

The appearance wasn’t bad.

Actually, it was quite attractive.

Even the fact that my hair wasn’t as short as when I was a man seemed like a gesture of kindness from the goddess.

…Well, I suppose if ‘unrecognizable’ was part of the deal, having different hair length also made sense.

The face reflected in the glass had a pleasant look.

In fact, if I tried to see the positive, the features seemed quite charming.

Big, slightly gentle eyes, a prominent nose, and lips that weren’t overly exaggerated…

It was almost a stereotypical description of beauty, but beyond that, there wasn’t much else to say.

Black hair swayed in the wind, brushing to the side.

This is a bit inconvenient.

I should tie it back or cut it short later.

“…Hmm.”

I let out a sound, just to test my voice.

Unsurprisingly, it was a soft, feminine tone.

Since I hadn’t spoken much yet, I couldn’t quite grasp the image it conveyed.

“Ah.”

While staring intently at the glass, I accidentally locked eyes with an employee beyond the window.

Feeling awkward, I quickly turned away and walked off as if fleeing the scene.

As you’d expect, I was clothed.

A simple white blouse, jeans, and sneakers—a common outfit.

Dropping someone into the middle of Seoul completely naked would’ve been a humiliating act in itself, so at least I was spared that.

It was only after walking for a while that I realized I had a bag slung over my back.

I’d been so caught up in my thoughts, overwhelmed by the situation, that I hadn’t even noticed my circumstances properly.

Inside the bag were a smartphone and a keycard.

The smartphone wasn’t locked, and the map app was open, pointing to a destination.

…Should I call this considerate preparation?

I did wonder why I couldn’t just be transported directly to my destination, but I suppose the goddess had her reasons.

“…Alright, let’s head home first.”

Honestly, right before I got here, I’d been thinking of visiting my old neighborhood.

But given how drastically different this new body was from my expectations, I decided it was better to figure out my situation first.

Of course, I was aware that walking around in broad daylight as an adult woman in downtown Seoul didn’t pose much of a threat.

The odds of anything serious happening weren’t very high.

But even so, when the circumstances change, so must the response.

No matter how slim the chances, they aren’t zero.

It’s never a bad idea to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Carrying a little food in my bag at all times seemed like a good idea.

Since this world didn’t have magic, it might be wise to buy a few lighters from a convenience store and stash them in various pockets.

And perhaps… Yes, a small knife or an awl—

My steps came to a halt.

Scratching my head with a fingertip, I let out a small sigh.

Yeah, I know.

It’s unnecessary.

Even though it’s been five years, this is still the place where I lived for a long time.

There’s no chance of a demon army or something similar suddenly appearing.

I won’t run into an armed robber or get stranded somewhere, surviving on emergency rations until rescue arrives.

I know that. Logically.

Logically.

But even now, my instincts were treating this place as ‘unfamiliar.’

Five years.

In the heart of Seoul, five years is not a short time.

Even if the overall vibe hadn’t changed, the finer details in my memory certainly had.

Buildings were rebuilt, new stores appeared, subway stations were added, and the layout of roads shifted slightly.

In the other world, ‘Irellexia,’ where I used to live, cities almost never changed.

Shops were handed down through generations, tightly controlled by merchant guilds.

Armed kingdom knights patrolled regularly, and cities were protected by magical barriers.

The barriers heavily constrained the locations themselves.

Changing a building’s structure would naturally require reconstructing the barrier as well, which was a significant expense for the kingdom to pay the Mage Tower.

Yet abandoning the barrier that kept out demon armies wasn’t an option either.

“That makes sense.”

Thinking that far, I let out a bitter laugh.

The stagnation of the kingdom’s development was ultimately due to the Demon King’s army.

With the Demon King and all his generals dead, the unity of the army had shattered, and it would gradually crumble.

Except for the neutral demons or those who sided with humans, most would face the judgment of the law.

And prosperity would come to the kingdom.

The size of the cities, the appearance of the streets—they would change beyond the five years I had known.

Even if I had stayed there, I probably wouldn’t have adapted easily.

That was how I lived for the past five years.

To survive, I honed my swordsmanship and meditated to better utilize the goddess’s power.

We took turns standing watch at night to avoid surprise attacks, learned basic cooking skills, and gathered anything edible as soon as we found it.

The memories I had with my companions were good ones.

They were moments I would never forget for the rest of my life.

But at the same time, I had witnessed far too many horrifying and sorrowful scenes with them.

We had to work hard not to get caught up in those situations ourselves.

“I wonder how everyone’s doing…”

Well, they’re surely doing fine.

Unlike me, who was just an ordinary person, they were all strong individuals.

No matter how indifferent modern society might be or how little people care about others, if a young woman suddenly stops in the middle of the street to gaze blankly at the sky, she’s bound to attract attention.

For someone who claimed to live on alert and survive battlefields, I seemed to be standing quite carelessly.

Some people glanced at me as they passed by, while others stared intently at the part of the sky I was looking at, wondering what I saw there.

I guess being here has loosened me up a little.

With a bitter smile, I quickly started walking again.

“Oh…?”

The place I arrived at was an apartment so large and luxurious that the word “opulent” came to mind at first glance.

It wasn’t the rectangular, boxy kind of apartment but something that could easily be mistaken for a different type of building—like a hotel, for instance—unless you approached its entrance.

Using the keycard in my bag, I entered the apartment. Surprisingly, even the elevator buttons required the keycard to be pressed.

With the keycard I had, I could only access the floor where I was supposed to live.

It seemed the goddess had a very clear understanding of how valuable a modern South Korean home could be.

As expected of the goddess.

The inside of the apartment was… remarkable.

It was a place I probably wouldn’t be able to afford even if I worked my entire life in this world.

It resembled the homes occasionally shown on TV by celebrities.

Maybe there were even celebrities living nearby.

There was a large bedroom with an attached bathroom and two walk-in closets.

Near the living room, there was an additional bathroom and two spacious bedrooms.

One room lacked a bed—it seemed like it was meant to be a study or something similar.

…The house was there, but all I had were a bankbook and a check card.

“…Wow.”

And the amount in the bank account was so substantial that, as the goddess said, I could use it for the rest of my life and still pass down the remainder to my grandchildren.

For a goddess who found it exceedingly difficult to interfere in this world, the level of preparation she had done was astounding.

She must have been meticulously preparing this for the hero for at least five years, if not longer.

Even though I’d said before that I was grateful just for being given life again, that human life was priceless and couldn’t be measured in money…

Still… If working for five years could get me this much, maybe it wasn’t such a bad deal after all.

Of course, even if I hadn’t done it, there would have been plenty of others eager to take up the task.