The apartment door creaked open.
The hallway light spilled into a space filled with silence… and memory.
Shoes still neatly lined near the mat.
A faded calendar still pinned on the wall from ten years ago.
The scent of warm food floated in from the kitchen.
Kang Woo stepped in quietly. Ji Hoon and Min Seo followed behind, unsure, eyes darting like they weren't sure this was real.
From the kitchen, soft footsteps.
And then—
She appeared.
His wife.
Her face older, eyes more tired… but still the same warmth.
She stared at him, holding a wooden spoon, rice still clinging to the edge.
No screaming.
No sobbing.
Just quiet.
Then, in the calm voice that once scolded him when he forgot to take out trash:
> "Why did it take so long?"
Kang Woo breathed out gently.
> "Got a little… lost on the way."
She looked at him for a moment longer.
Then whispered,
> "Welcome home."
---
Dinner Table
It wasn't fancy. Just hot rice, soup, some pickled side dishes, and grilled mackerel.
But it was the best thing Kang Woo had tasted in a thousand years.
His wife sat beside him, refilling his tea like nothing ever changed.
Ji Hoon and Min Seo sat across, barely touching their food, still unsure if they were dreaming.
---
The Questions Begin
Ji Hoon finally spoke, voice low and hesitant:
> "Dad… weren't you in a coma?"
> "How… how are you walking around?"
Min Seo leaned in, eyes narrowed.
> "And how were you flying?! What was that sword thing?! You crushed a demon like it was nothing!"
Kang Woo paused mid-chew.
Swallowed.
> "It's... complicated."
He looked up at the ceiling like it would help him make sense of it.
> "Let's just say I wasn't here."
> "I got struck by lightning. The next time I opened my eyes, I was in a world called Murim."
Min Seo furrowed her brows.
> "Like… the martial arts fantasy stuff?"
Kang Woo nodded.
> "Sects. Qi. Cultivation. Taming spirit beasts. The whole mess."
> "I lived there. Fought. Bled. Survived. For 1000 years."
Ji Hoon nearly dropped his chopsticks.
> "You lived... a thousand years?"
Kang Woo shrugged.
> "Time moves differently there."
> "And when I came back, I was still lying in a hospital bed here."
---
Ji Hoon blinked.
> "Wait, are you talking about Planet Murim?"
Kang Woo raised an eyebrow.
> "Planet?"
Min Seo replied:
> "Yeah. Murim is classified as a dangerous outer world—there's a gate connecting to it."
> "It's not open to civilians, though. We only heard about it in the Academy."
Kang Woo stared at them blankly.
Then sighed, rubbing his temples.
> "You're telling me the place I nearly died in for a thousand years is now a footnote in a textbook?"
Ji Hoon smirked.
> "Pretty much."
Kang Woo let his head fall onto the table with a dull thud.
> "I hate this timeline."
His wife chuckled softly, brushing his hair aside like she used to.
> "You're home now. That's all that matters."