My Arrival in the Human World, Man!

“Rachel, be honest with me. Why did you move our guild to Korea?” asked a woman in a black business suit with a brown tie, matching her long brown hair. She was Baek Cho-hee, the vice guildmaster of the RIOD or Riodinidae Guild.

A woman in her 20s with blue eyes and blond hair sat on an armchair, looking at Seoul buildings through her luxury apartment window. She held her cheek with her left fist, as if the world had bored her. She was Rachel Garcia or Yeo Joo-eun, the guildmaster of the RIOD Guild.

“Vice guildmaster-nim,” Joo-eun said as she gazed at the building lights that shone on the night sky, “[Precognition] skill told me that the strongest hunter would be here, in Seoul.”

“But that skill also told you about the strongest hunter in France, not necessarily the strongest ever,” Cho-hee argued. “And why did you use honorifics all of a sudden? Aren’t you a typical American who is arrogant and swears a lot?”

Joo-eun wore a light blue one-piece suspender skirt, which symbolized her purity but exposed her shoulder skin, and a light yellow sweater jacket that emphasized her sexiness or more precisely, a little malnutrition.

But despite her charm from her clothing, she replied to Cho-hee coldly, “Chohee-nim. Those are just stereotypes of Americans. You can read it on Wikypedia. Did you ever hear me swearing?”

“Then why? Our guildmates were annoyed by your decision. You need to convince them, Rachel,” Cho-hee said. She looked concerned.

Joo-eun lifted a glass of wine with her right hand. She swirled it a bit. Then she just put it back on a round table beside her armchair. “There is a good reason,” she summarized.

Her hair was tied below her ears, so she had very short and cubic low twin tails. That way, she looked young and again, pure. Nevertheless, she gave another short but meaningful reply to show her elegance and maturity, “RIOD Guild doesn’t keep guild hoppers. If anyone wants to leave, let them.”

“That’s a bit rude, Rachel,” Cho-hee chuckled, “like an American?”

Joo-eun didn’t respond.

But her smartphone brightened. A distinct notification sound disturbed the quiet room.

Cho-hee realized what was that sound about, “Is there a new chapter of your favorite manhwa?”

Then she said, “Rachel… don’t tell me, you chose the highest floor as our guild office, sat on an armchair and faced the buildings like that, had a glass of wine although you didn’t drink alcohol, and moved our guild to Korea, all because you wanted to eat kimchi and imitate a manhwa scene?”

Joo-eun still didn’t respond.

Cho-hee slapped her forehead, closed her eyes, and said, “Oh, Rachel… I never knew you had the eight-grader syndrome! Embarrassing!”

Joo-eun just smiled at Cho-hee and replied to her like a stereotypical person, “Fuck you.”

***

“Sonmon, don’t you want to be a human?” a big and round monster with white fur asked.

In the middle of lava, on top of a hot ground, Sonmon sat and chewed a lump of coal. Nyam, nyam. “Why, Bam Bam?” he asked that round demon monster, Bam Bam.

Bam Bam gazed at the crimson sky of that hell-looking place. “A warmth,” she answered. “We demons don’t give a damn about another demon. We are selfish monsters, and we just serve certain purposes diligently. But humans can build a loving family with strangers. Love, warmth, tales of them, those are strange concepts for us, round demons.”

“No, Bam Bam,” Sonmon rebutted. “Didn’t you see that wealthy mother-in-law bribe her daughter-in-law to leave her son?”

Bam Bam giggled. “That only happens in manhwas, Sonmon.”

“To hell with humans, man! This place is already full of entertainment!”

Bam Bam walked raggedly to the edge of the ground, showing her back to Sonmon. “Sonmon, I think I will go to the human world and become a human. Will you go with me?”

“Nah, I’m too lazy, man!”

“Then goodbye. I hope I can see you again, Sonmon. I think I would say that if I were a human,” Bam Bam said as she looked back at Sonmon and smiled.

***

It was dark.

When Sonmon gathered his energy and opened his eyes, his blurry memory about Bam Bam faded. He saw two humans who stared at him. One was Gwok Jung-won in the past. Another was a blue-haired woman, Cho Minji, who was Jung-won’s last female friend.

I have regressed, I see. I return to the past only with my memories of the future intact.

And I remember, this was the first time I met you, Jung-won.

“Ku?” Sonmon tilted his body and said that cutely. He was still small at that time.

Minji clasped her hands and said, “Oh, my! Isn’t he cute, Jung-won?”

Jung-won chuckled. “Yeah.”

“But!” Minji smiled. She gazed at Jung-won and said, “Aren’t monsters hostile toward humans? So let’s be careful, Oppa.”

Oppa, my ass! You were the one who turned Jung-won into a no-life, Minji, while you badmouthed him.

“He doesn’t seem hostile. Maybe we can raise him,” Jung-won said.

Minji bit her lips and held tightly her katana sheath on her waist. “No, Oppa! What if he hurts you?” she said as she held Jung-won’s hand.

She just doesn’t want you to be stronger than her, Jung-won. Wake up, man!

“Hmm…” Jung-won touched his chin and pondered. He seemed to ponder what would happen to Minji if he took Sonmon and did he make Minji really worried. But as a no-life would do, his gaze became lowered, and he studied Minji’s body unintentionally.

Minji wore black boots, a blue formal shirt, and a short, beautiful gray skirt─it had a flower made of fabric. Like her silver eyes, her katana sheath was also gray. Minji looked cute, but she still had an air of a mature woman about her. Although she was a bit short.

Jung-won sighed. “If he was dangerous, he would have attacked us, Minji-ssi. So let’s bring him along, okay?”

Yeah!! I know you secretly love cute things, Jung-won!

Don’t let this inferiority complex bitch manipulate you, Jung-won!

As if she gave up, Minji released Jung-won’s hand and said bitterly, “Okay, Oppa. I trust you.”

“Ku?” to make himself look docile, Sonmon tilted his body again and made a cute noise.

“Do you have a name?” Jung-won bent his body and black long coat. He looked at Sonmon who was somehow in a big hole on a dungeon wall.

“Son… Sonmon?” Sonmon acted.

“Okay, Sonmon. My name is Gwok Jung-won, 23 years old. This is Cho Minji-ssi, 22 years old. We are hunters, and we just stumbled upon you after exploring this Green Slime Dungeon. We are not your enemies.”

Sonmon nodded slowly. He also tried to look harmless and scared of them. Thus, Sonmon shook his own hands and hugged himself.

Jung-won smirked. “Do you want to be with us?”

Sonmon nodded again, but it was faster.

“Then, let me hold you,” Jung-won said as he offered his arms and put Sonmon on his shoulder.

Jung-won… although you were a no-life, you also had no prejudice about me and embraced me like this in the past.

Is this warmth?

When I think about it, I decided to go to the human world because no one played with me anymore.

Bam Bam… have you been in this world? Where are you?

The sound of ripple reached their ears. Minji took a step ahead.

She looked back, smiled, and said, “Then, shall we go?”