The strawberry-patterned shopping bag swung heavily in Cha Eui-jae's hand.
Twelve years had passed since the first day of the rift. The White Hole and the System were now gone. The great Hunter Era that had replaced the Fifth Industrial Age came to an unceremonious end.
There had been a time when, if you asked children about their dreams, over eighty percent would answer "Hunter." Dungeon Slime ASMR videos trended online, and idle hunters unboxed delivery packages with A-rank swords on their livestreams.
But that era had passed, and hunters, once revered as idols, had become little more than a nuisance.
"Hunter? What hunters? Those people are lucky if they're not starving to death."
"There are too many hunter thugs. They scare me."
"I can't even walk into half the alleys these days. They're always waiting to mug someone in the dark."
Yes, even a hero of an age becomes a layabout in peaceful times. Former hunters who'd lost their means of income, now unemployed, scrambled to find new paths, but many, unable to adapt to the changed world, slipped into crime.
The posters and hotlines once used by the Awakened Management Bureau to recruit new awakeners had been repurposed into crime-reporting numbers. The old emergency hotline, 555, was abolished. Even bookstore bestseller lists had changed:
#1 – "The Fall of Hunters: Are Ordinary People to Blame?"
#2 – "Wealth Management in One Book"
#3 – "The Age of Hunters: The Collapse of an Era"
[Report Awakener Crimes at 777!]
[The Awakener Management Bureau Keeps You Safe.]
On one of those posters, Jung Bin stood with his arms folded, staring straight ahead with a reliable, composed expression.
A young man paused before the poster, then resumed walking. His phone began to ring. With ash-gray hair and a calm face, Eui-jae lifted it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"—Where are you right now?"
The curt voice on the other end made him chuckle quietly. Clad in a white sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers, he replied,
"I'm picking up cooking oil. I'm near the bookstore, almost there. Why?"
"—Get here fast. I swear, I'm going to kill these idiots."
Behind the grumpy voice came a jumble of noise and shouting.
"—No, not like that! Don't knead it like that, you morons! Don't let it show you've never made rice cakes before!"
Suppressing his laughter, Eui-jae covered his mouth.
"Told you, you should've come with me."
"—I don't care. Just hurry up."
"Alright, alright."
He stifled a grin as he continued walking, his steps light.
Since returning from the source of the apocalypse, Cha Eui-jae had chosen not to reveal that he was J. After all, what meaning was there in titles now that awakeners and powers were fading away? It would only cause confusion.
Instead, he returned to his old hangover soup restaurant, the place where he'd always felt most at ease. After eight years of absence, he reclaimed it as his first home once again. For those who had known him both as J and as "the part-timer," he didn't bother to hide his identity anymore.
A month after the System's collapse, Eui-jae reopened the restaurant.
His first customers were Bae Won-woo, Kang Ji-soo and Lee Sa-young, unsurprising, since Eui-jae had reached out to Sa-young himself. Won-woo had shaken his hand with tearful enthusiasm.
"Man, part-timer! The world's been chaos, thank God you're alive!"
"Haha, I'm just glad you made it too, Won-woo-ssi."
"Sure thing! I'm tougher than I look!"
He'd laughed heartily, thumping his chest, while Sa-young observed the reunion with amused eyes. Then the sliding door had burst open. Of course it was Honeybee, who'd come running after Eui-jae's call.
Seeing Won-woo and Eui-jae shaking hands, she raised an eyebrow.
"What, that clueless guy knows too?"
"Knows what?"
"That you're J."
"…"
"…"
The look on Bae Won-woo's face that moment, Eui-jae would never forget it.
***
Swinging his shopping bag, Eui-jae called another number. After a few rings, someone answered.
"…Eui-jae? What's the occasion?"
It was Ham Seok-jeong. Eui-jae brightened his tone.
"I just wanted to check in and wish you a happy Chuseok."
She didn't respond.
After imprisoning Song Jo-heon and Matthew, Ham Seok-jeong had resigned from her post, taking full responsibility for the apocalypse. Now she lived alone in the house once owned by Eui-jae's aunt, Park Hye-kyung, quietly, as if waiting for the end.
He understood her heart. But he didn't want to leave her alone.
"We're making rice cakes and frying pancakes at the restaurant today. I'll bring you some."
"…Don't trouble yourself. Enjoy it with the others."
"How could I not?"
He took a quiet breath and looked up. The sky was cloudless, an endless, clear blue reflected in his eyes.
"Let's share the holiday food and talk about Aunt together."
"…"
"I just… want to."
A small sigh came through the phone.
"…Alright. Call before you come."
"Got it."
Eui-jae hung up, drew a breath, and began to run lightly. His ash-gray hair fluttered wildly in the autumn wind.
***
Clatter. Eui-jae slid open the restaurant's door.
"I'm back."
"Oh! Part-timer's here!"
"Part-timer~ He's not doing his job properly again!"
"Part-timer!"
Voices greeted him from all directions. Then, a dark figure standing near the door snatched the strawberry-patterned bag from his arm.
It was Lee Sa-young, his expression flat. Eui-jae chuckled.
"What, you inspecting my groceries?"
"Just curious. Wash your hands and put on an apron. These people are useless without you."
Without further comment, he began unpacking what he'd bought, large bottles of oil, rice flour, sesame seeds, honey…
As Eui-jae stepped into the kitchen, he looked around. The place bustled with warmth; the sharp scent of hangover soup had been replaced by the savory aroma of frying oil.
Once a hidden den for hunters, the restaurant now felt more like a shared living room. A gathering place for hunters.
When Eui-jae had suggested spending the holiday together, the regulars had come running. Even Gyu-gyu, who'd been abroad, was flying back just to join.
"Hey! You're not coating that flour properly!"
Yang Hye-jin, formerly of the Rift Management Office, now with the Awakened Management Bureau, sat with her floral apron, glaring at the youngest, Mackerel.
"Why are you doing it so half-heartedly? You came from the fish market, didn't you?"
"Hey, I came here to make rice cakes! Why am I sitting in front of a frying pan?"
Grumbling, Mackerel carefully coated pollock fillets in flour and egg batter, dressed neatly in a shirt and slacks. A swordfish swimming nearby watched its fellow species being breaded and vanished in shock.
After the dungeons disappeared, the Mackerel brothers had returned to the Noryangjin Fish Market, while the information dealer retired completely. Maintaining his domain required magic stones, now impossible to obtain. In the end, they inherited their mother's shop Rose Fisheries.
Seo Min-gi, slicing zucchini with sharp precision, pushed his sunglasses up with his palm.
"The owner believes the holiday should smell of oil. That's the official reason."
He had transferred from the Pado Guild to the Bureau as well. With most of the guild disbanded except for the research team, rumors said Jung Bin worked him to the bone.
"He's such an old man, seriously."
Nearby, Choi Go-yo rolled small beef and vegetable patties.
"Hey, little Mackerel, where's your brother?"
"There were too many people, so he's lying down in the side room."
Though still listed under the Pado Guild, Choi Go-yo no longer worked as a hunter. Instead, with Yoon Ga-eul's help, he had started studying again, preparing for university exams. Once, he'd planned to live off his awakening forever, but now he was looking for his own future.
Eui-jae tied the strings of his apron tightly behind his back and stepped out of the kitchen, with Sa-young following closely.
"Aren't you going to help?"
Instead of answering, Sa-young lifted his hands, his black fingers curling playfully. The gesture said, 'Want me to poison the food?'
Once, he might've flicked his forehead, but now, even that seemed endearing.
"This is bad."
Eui-jae sighed, glancing around the lively restaurant.
Mackerel and Yang Hye-jin were frying pancakes, Seo Min-gi was slicing vegetables flairly, Choi Go-yo shaped patties, and Bae Won-woo and Kang Ji-soo were threading skewers for the sanjeok.
Bae Won-woo, skewering one piece at a time with his massive hand, looked almost saintly. He still belonged to the Pado Guild but now worked as an instructor at his brother's taekwondo studio. 'He said he was not his younger brother but they really look alike', Eui-jae thought, still half-offended.
"Vice Leader, stop breaking the skewers!"
"It's not on purpose, kid!"
Ji-soo had returned to university, her major in horticulture made the transition smooth.
Then came a knock at the door.
"We're here, J! Oh, wait, I mean, Eui-jae-nim? Uh, right…"
"Call me whatever you like, Ga-eul."
"Ah, okay!"
Scratching her head with a shy smile, Yoon Ga-eul stepped inside. She had survived the end by sheer luck, when the monsters vanished just before killing her. She was now a freshman at the university of her dreams, a local hero.
"Oh, and Hong Ye-seong came with me! We met outside!"
"Helloo~"
Ye-seong poked his head in, waving. A white eyepatch covered his left eye, but his grin was bright. Dirt still clung to his fleece jacket and green tracksuit as he ambled in.
"Wow, smells amazing."
Without hesitation, he snagged a piece of fried pollock from the counter. Mackerel froze mid-motion, forcing a polite smile.
"You're… just having that one, right?"
"It's good! Can I have more?"
"You can't!"
Laughter and chaos filled the room. Eui-jae could only shake his head, smiling softly.