## Chapter 1534 – Sword God Outlaw – The Demonic God of Another World
That guy was my fan. No, wait. Did he realize it was me just from Dad saying one thing? Unlike Geun-soo and Mom, who still look completely bewildered.
But.
Red ginseng.
Suddenly, hearing the story made it feel like I could taste red ginseng in my mouth. That unique, slightly bitter taste… I didn’t particularly like it, and even thought it was kind of gross, but since I bought it with my own money, I ended up eating it often.
Dad would look at me with a face like he was doing me a favor, taking another one out of the fridge and putting it in my hand, telling me to eat more. Even though I bought it with my own money in the first place. I don’t really know why he acted like he was doing me a favor with something I bought with my own money, but because of that, I ended up eating two at a time.
Dad, having given me an extra one for no reason, would be happy as if he had done something very fatherly… Well, that wasn’t so bad. It was better than him having a fit.
Anyway, it’s been a long time since I’ve had it.
“Red ginseng, huh.”
Then, eating it after so long wouldn’t be so bad.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve had it too.”
—Fwoosh!
I immediately opened a gate and went outside. Finding a red ginseng store is easy. Koreans are still crazy about red ginseng. As soon as I expanded my senses, a red ginseng store was spotted. I headed there.
“O-oh, uh…!”
The red ginseng store owner was surprised.
“I heard they sell something called red ginseng here. Get it out.”
“Y-y-y-you’re…! No! Here! Everything here is for sale, so please take your time looking around…!”
I wanted to say something more to the surprised owner, but that’s not what’s important right now.
—Swish.
After buying about a million won’s worth of red ginseng.
—Fwoosh.
I opened a gate again and returned home.
“Oh, oh, oh…!”
“My goodness…”
Mom and Geun-soo still had blank looks on their faces. Geun-mi was also sitting down, as if her legs had given out. Only Dad was looking at me.
“…”
An unreadable face.
He used to seem a bit more unpredictable, but today Dad seemed quite calm and composed.
“Here. Eat red ginseng.”
—Thud.
I put the bright red red ginseng paper bag in front of Dad and said.
“…”
Silence.
With Geun-soo, Geun-mi, and Mom all silent, Dad also kept his mouth shut and looked at the red ginseng bag.
And.
—Swish.
Dad reaches out his hand.
Like.
Like… he’s picking up a newborn baby, with delicate and gentle hands.
Did this guy even know how to use his hands like that?
The Dad in my memory was someone who, far from gently touching anything with his hands, would immediately slap you if he broke or dropped something while grabbing it. He even punched a fish he caught while filleting it because he cut the flesh wrong. Once, he had a fit while cutting tomatoes because he couldn’t remove the stem, and he crushed the tomato in his hand.
Even so.
With the feeling of handling a very small glass ornament, Dad grabbed the red ginseng bag and took out the red ginseng box inside and opened it.
Inside the box was a red ginseng pack packaged in liquid form.
“…”
Does he want to eat it that badly?
I just heard that he hadn’t eaten any red ginseng at all since I disappeared. To cut off the red ginseng he liked so much. Could it be because I went missing?
If so… that’s unexpected.
I thought he would just shake it off even if I disappeared and live well on his own.
—…
Dad stared at the red ginseng pack with eyes that seemed to be looking at something very precious.
As if it were a valuable treasure… like Medusa, who succeeded in a last-minute comeback, looking at Perseus, who had become a statue.
“Hmm.”
Still, is it because his missing son has returned?
He seemed very moved.
It’s also surprising that he recognized me as soon as he saw me.
So.
I can at least buy him some red ginseng.
“I bought it, so eat it. What are you just looking at it for?”
“…Tae.”
“What?”
“This… isn’t it.”
What?
—Swish.
Dad put down the red ginseng pack and shook his head.
“It’s not the brand I always eat.”
“What.”
“I want to eat… what I always ate.”
I cocked my hand back for a flick.
“Just eat it, you son of a bitch.”
—Thwack!
The moment I shot it at Dad’s forehead.
“Uwooooooooook!”
Dad fell backward, letting out a scream that was very like him.
“What, are you at a bar? Ordering what you always drink? I went and bought it myself, so don’t complain and just eat it.”
“You, you bastard…!”
Dad, who had fallen over, got up while rubbing his forehead.
“Hehehe, what an overreaction. I didn’t even hit you hard.”
That appearance was quite amusing.
Of course, I didn’t hit him very hard. So there wasn’t even a red mark left, but he’s making that face.
“No. But Dad? How did you recognize me? No. Did you really recognize me? You’re not just saying ‘Geun-tae’ to everyone who comes because you have dementia, are you?”
“…”
Dad was silent for a moment at my words.
And then, grabbing the red ginseng pack.
“…A father.”
He opened his mouth.
“Isn’t it natural for a father to recognize his child?”
Ah.
“It’s a father’s duty.”
A heavy.
A weighty.
Such a voice.
“No matter how much your appearance has changed, I can’t help but recognize you.”
“…I see.”
For some reason, I could understand.
So this guy was really worried about me.
Even though he raised me while constantly chewing me out.
“So, from the very beginning?”
“…I became sure while watching the news.”
—Slurp.
Dad said that while slurping down the red ginseng pack.
—Gulp.
—Gulp.
Slowly.
He swallowed all the red ginseng liquid he had in his mouth.
—Rustle.
Carefully puts down the empty pack.
And turns his body to sit down.
—Rustle.
Grabs the newspaper again.
“…It’s delicious.”
“…”
“It’s really delicious.”
He turns his body… I can’t see his face.
“It’s really… delicious.”
For some reason, his throat was choked up.
I immediately tore open a red ginseng pack and slurped it down.
“Delicious my ass… it’s just fucking bitter.”
If this is delicious… then the cod stew from the army is royal cuisine. There’s no way it can be delicious.
—Rustle.
Dad, with his back to me, turns the newspaper.
The newspaper was upside down.
“…Chicken leg.”
A vivid memory.
Dad was the type of person who, when ordering two chickens, would keep all four legs on his plate and focus on eating the thighs and wings that were piled up together in the chicken box.
“Is it more delicious than eating four by yourself?”
“Ah…”
—Drip.
—Drip. Drip.
“Of course.”
Water droplets that fell from somewhere.
“Isn’t it the red ginseng that my eldest son bought?”
Soaked the upside-down newspaper.
“It’s more delicious than anything else.”
Damn it.
“Seriously, what the fuck, are you crying again…”
“I don’t have… I didn’t put in eye drops… go and buy some eye drops…”
“Fuck you, I’m not buying them… what the fuck, you’re talking about eye drops while crying…”
Tears.
It felt like they were about to flow down.
“Seriously, fuck…”
Dad, with his back to me, reached out his hand behind him, shedding tears, and groped to find the red ginseng box. I put the red ginseng packs on his hand one by one.
—Gulp.
—Gulp.
I didn’t cry.
Just like Dad.
As if we were having a drink together.
I kept slurping down the red ginseng packs.
“Red ginseng sticks… don’t you have red ginseng sticks… I want to eat red ginseng jelly and red ginseng candy.”
“I told you, I don’t have that shit…”
“This guy dares… to curse… at his father…”
“Dad also hit me a lot. And made me play Lineage so much.”
“Auto-hunting… the auto-hunting system… has come out…”
“So, was it good?”
“I’m turning on auto, auto-hunting… sob…!”
Suppressed sobs.
“I was thinking of you, Geun-tae…!”
He was thinking of me while auto-hunting.
An absurd father.
“It was you… sob!”
That Dad who was talking about auto-hunting.
Now he was completely bent over, his shoulders shaking. He wasn’t bursting into laughter. He was crying while holding back his breath. Because Dad couldn’t cry ugly in front of his child.
I realized that you can get drunk from eating red ginseng.
It’s not.
There were only those shitty memories.
But Dad was Dad.
“Sob… sob…!”
Dad ate red ginseng while crying.
“It’s delicious… it’s so delicious…! Sob, sob…! It’s really… delicious…!”
“…”
I also rubbed my eyes with my hand, and a little water came out.
As I was doing that.
“I-is that really Geun-tae hyung…?”
Geun-soo, who was behind me, carefully approached and asked. Looking at him up close, he really did look older. He’s past his 30s. But because of the Gate incident and everything else, he looks like he’s only in his mid-40s.
“The Geun-tae hyung who always said Imhotep, Imhotep…?”
“Hey, you son of a bitch. That’s you. Aish. Just because this guy doesn’t have a brother, he’s just blaming everything on me.”
“H-hyung…!”
Tears flowed from Geun-soo’s eyes. Seeing that made me feel a bit awkward. This guy… he’s crying because of his brother.
“No, but what the fuck, why did Geun-mi change so much?”
Geun-mi, who was sitting down over there, reacted to my words.
“R-really Oppa? Is it really Geun-tae Oppa?”
“Then it’s really Oppa, you goddamn cursed mask bastard.”
“C-cursed mask! It’s really him!”
“You son of a bitch, you bought that back then and I got hit so much.”
“Why are you cursing at me for that… Aaaaaaack!”
Suddenly, Geun-mi, who was tearing at her hair, stood up and ran into the room.
—Riiiiip!
She started tearing the Chunma Kim Kat poster that was decorated on the wall to shreds. What, is that crazy bitch doing? Was the relationship between me and Geun-mi not good? Looking back on my memories, I think I played a lot of strange pranks.
“Is that bitch tearing my poster?”
“Then of course I’ll tear it! I collected Oppa’s posters…!”
“Geun-tae hyuuuuung!”
As I was doing that, Geun-soo, thinking of hugging me, ran crying with his arms open.
“Get lost, you Imhotep bastard. What the fuck, you’re already an old man, what are you crying for?”
“Huuuuh!”
I knelt down and patted Geun-soo’s back, who was hugging my waist and crying.
