Chapter 54 – Apostle (1)

“Have you seen my father? Did you see him at the Water Quality Research Institute?”

Looking at the woman who rose from her seat and stared at me intensely, I hesitated briefly before taking out a phone from my pocket.

“That’s Dad’s phone! Where did you find it?”

“I got it from the water treatment plant.”

I told her about what happened at the water treatment plant.

When I mentioned encountering the mermaid corpse while passing through the plant and the name on its nameplate, the woman burst into tears.

As she cried, I continued speaking.

“…The undead, no, he was clutching this phone tightly in his hand. I was able to unlock it with his fingerprint, which is how I knew you were his daughter.”

The woman unlocked the phone while crying.

When the screen lit up, she checked the messages she had left.

After checking the last message, she quietly put down the phone.

She covered her mouth, trying to swallow her sobs.

“*sob* *sob* As I thought, that message was the last one. My message saying I survived never reached Dad.”

Though she tried to hold back her tears, they kept seeping through her words.

“It was my fault. I shouldn’t have sent that message. No, I should have run straight to Dad after I survived.”

This was why I had hesitated earlier.

I knew once she saw the message content, she would feel responsible for her father’s death.

However, there was no reason to hide it. I wasn’t in a position to care for her mental state, and I didn’t need any misunderstandings later.

Most of what I’d learned as a free knight was that truth helps me more than unnecessary consideration.

Of course, there are times when lies are useful and when secrecy is needed, but regarding her father’s story, the truth needed to be told.

“But, but I was just scared and fled here with others. I was just terrified that I might turn into a zombie.”

As she continued to deprecate herself, the junior male offered words of comfort.

“You did the right thing. If you had tried to save him, you would have just died.”

If she had been an ordinary person, that wouldn’t have been wrong.

But she wasn’t ordinary.

I tilted my head while looking at the woman who hung her head.

‘Could she be unaware that she’s awakened?’

A normal physical awakener would know, so she must be a different type.

Not everyone who could feel and use mana became physically stronger.

If that were the case, that other world would have only had knights.

Among those who awakened to mana, some became priests, and others became mages.

I wasn’t sure what type she was, but since she seemed unaware herself, it would be better not to mention her awakening here in front of others.

Perhaps because she was awakened, the woman collected herself faster than expected.

“I’m sorry. I knew this would happen, but hearing it directly was hard to bear.”

“It’s alright. We can wait.”

“No, like the team leader said, I can cry plenty when I’m alone later.”

After swallowing her tears, she returned to the main topic.

“Everything from those ears to where you said you’re from, it’s all new to me. Could you explain in detail where you came from and how you got here?”

At her request, I told her everything, excluding only a few details like I had done at the Namyangju survivors’ meeting.

When I finished telling them about coming from another world, fighting the Demon Lord there, and that more people would be coming through soon.

Since we planned to stay here until the gate opened, I needed to mention that as well.

At my words, not only the woman but also the two male college students’ expressions changed several times.

Finding it hard to believe, they kept glancing at my armor and Zahina’s ears while listening.

“It’s hard for me to believe. Besides, this… This isn’t something I can handle alone. I should report this to those above immediately. Since the team leader is with the Apostle, we can tell them together.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the woman stood up.

Standing, she picked up the phone she had set down and her eyes reddened again.

However, she quickly composed herself once more, and after regaining her composure, she bowed to me and my party members.

“Thank you again for bringing news of my father.”

As expected, she was the kind and proper woman she appeared to be at first impression.

Telling her the truth had been the right choice.

Before leaving, she made a request to the senior and junior men.

“Please guide them to the second floor lounge.”

After making this request, she bowed to us once more.

“I’m sorry. I should be arranging a place for you to rest, but reporting takes priority right now. Please wait in the lounge for now. I’ll be right back.”

After she disappeared like the wind, we looked at the men.

“Ah, we should guide you. The lounge is on the second floor of this museum. It used to be a museum, but now we use it as a lounge.”

Fortunately, there was a separate path to the second floor in the back.

We followed the two men toward the second floor.

While guiding us, the two men whispered quietly.

“Ye-rim is putting on an act, right?”

“Must be. How could she be fine after hearing about her father’s death? She’s probably forcing herself to focus on other things.”

“Then, like she said earlier, she’ll cry alone tonight.”

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of going to her?”

“Wouldn’t having someone to share her grief make her feel better?”

“As if you could handle it. The team leader will comfort her well enough, so don’t worry about it.”

Unfortunately, it seemed the junior was more of a smooth talker compared to the action-oriented team leader.

As we had heard earlier, the place we arrived at was more like an exhibition hall than a lounge.

In the center of the room, surrounded by various displayed pottery, were temporarily placed tables and sofas.

“Someone, either Ye-rim or another person, will come guide you while you rest here. We still haven’t finished our patrol, so we’ll be going now.”

“Don’t we not need to patrol anymore today? After catching such a big fish, what other events could there be?”

“Stop talking nonsense and come on.”

The senior dragged away the junior who kept spouting nonsense until the end.

After they left, Hoffman and I rested on the sofas while Jahina walked around looking at the pottery.

“Pottery… Must be ancient dishes.”

As we were spending time like this, Park Ye-rim and another woman entered the lounge.

The new woman wasn’t someone I had seen at the Personnel Management Department.

She was someone I was seeing for the first time since coming to this world. She wasn’t someone I had seen in the other world either.

However, she felt very familiar to me.

That’s because she was someone I had seen in my previous life.

As I had hoped, coming to Daejeon allowed me to meet someone from my previous life again.

“Ah, this is our team leader.”

Park Ye-rim introduced the woman who had entered with her.

“While it’s a hard story to believe, since I need to meet anyone coming from outside personally, I came along.”

The woman looked us over and spoke with a serious expression.

“It seems the report wasn’t wrong.”

I fell into thought as I looked at the woman’s stern face.

She hadn’t changed from my previous life.

Even then, she had always been meticulous about checking everything personally.

Whether meeting clients, buying gifts, checking food expiration dates, or cleaning the house.

That’s why we often fought.

Until the last day I left.

Though much time had passed, she was still elegant and beautiful.

I unconsciously raised my hand, then lowered it again.

The woman called team leader, who had been my lover in my previous life, hadn’t changed from back then.

But my hands, no, I had completely changed from that time.

It couldn’t be helped.

While only two years had passed in this world, over 20 years had passed in the world I had lived in.

My past body had disappeared, and my mind had been overlaid with new memories and life.

Though memories and reminiscences of her still remained in my mind, my heart didn’t race again upon seeing her.

I realized once more that I had become a different person from my previous life.

“I’m Jo Seo-eun, in charge of personnel management here.”

At her introduction, I introduced myself as well.

“I am Jansen Egger, a free knight from the Kingdom of Sorbia.”

As expected, she didn’t recognize me.

Of course she wouldn’t.

No one would think that the blonde, sturdy Western knight before them could be their lover who died two years ago.

I had no intention of telling her either.

Actually, while most of my reason for forcibly coming to Daejeon was to meet Seo-eun, I had no plans to reveal myself to her.

I wanted to come here to know if she was alive, and to see how I would feel when I saw her.

Since recovering my past life memories, I had always told myself I was different from who I was then, but I couldn’t be certain.

I had constantly complained about the filthy, hard life in that other world, and longed for my previous life.

That remained true even after coming to this world.

That’s why I needed to verify it.

By meeting my lover from my previous life.

And now, I could reach a conclusion.

As I stared at her, Seo-eun tilted her head.

“Have we met before?”

At her words, I shook my head.

“No. This is our first meeting.”

“I see. You kept looking at me… I must have been mistaken.”

“Well then, shall we go? The Apostle is waiting.”

I stood up at her words.

Though I had met someone from my previous life, moreover my lover, I had nothing particular to say.

My party members and I followed her out of the building.

The mission building where the Apostle was said to be was opposite the central museum.

After walking a few steps from the museum, a building filled with holy power greeted us.

Just by looking, this building was clearly the center of this safe zone.

We followed Seo-eun inside the building.

Passing through the open door inside the lobby, a person stood in the center of what appeared to be a chapel.

A man who looked in his 30s with a gentle impression. He was probably the Apostle they had mentioned.