Going Home Part 03

My father had a dream.

A dream of living leisurely in a country house with a spacious yard.
It wasn’t something new, either.

Whenever he remembered it, he would dig through architectural vlogs on YouTube, visit architects’ websites, and make notes meticulously organized with various materials.
He wanted to see his four children running around on a green lawn.

However, when my brother booked a wedding venue and my sisters started planning their independence, my father realized that his dream had been postponed for too long.

But still, a home is home.
The family home.

Though it’s a place we left, it’s also a place we could always return to.
For that imagined space, my father bought land, laid the foundation, and raised the beams.
On weekends, during vacations, holidays… or whenever he felt like it.

He designed an axis for the home that could endure anything, even nuclear fission, imagining the children who would return, drawn by the force of family.
That’s how the cozy countryside house was completed.

From the hazy blueprints to the cool touch of the front door handle.
There wasn’t a single thing untouched by father’s influence.
That’s why.
It was no surprise that I could feel his presence in every corner of this sturdy fortress.
“How did this happen?”
I couldn’t help but ask.
Even though I had already witnessed the fortress-like country house in action, seeing my family alive and well felt like a huge miracle in itself.
My parents, my grandfather, my brother and his wife.
Even my brother’s in-laws were all gathered, and not a single person had a scratch.
“…You’ve been through a lot.”
My father silently patted our shoulders.
As we shared our reunion, he began to explain.
“I awakened. It called me a . I’ve spent half my life tapping away on a keyboard, and now they say I’m an architect…”
“Look at this man acting all modest again. He was so excited when he was hammering away earlier…”
My mother and father were still getting along well.
My father continued talking.
“I had to survive somehow, so I turned the house into a fortress and even upgraded it. But it’s still far from perfect.

The only thing I managed to install was an arrow turret.”
In the meantime, my father had gathered Mana Stones and reached level 2. Depending on the level, he could reinforce armor or install higher-grade defense facilities like artillery turrets.
Of course, the necessary materials were required, but fortunately, there were leftover supplies from when he built the house, so he was able to finish the construction without wasting anything.
My father had awakened an ability optimized for the Apocalypse, just like me.
Still, he felt it wasn’t enough and sighed in frustration.
“It’s a shame! If I had just a few more Mana Stones… I could’ve built a grand fortress…”
“Dad, Kim Jeong-gyeom is loaded with mo— mph!”
Before Kim Sol could say something unnecessary, I quickly covered her mouth.
“Everyone, let’s head inside for now.”
“…Where to?”
I decided to take everyone into the Subspace.
It would be faster to explain things there.


The vast view of the fulfillment center.
My family’s mouths dropped open in surprise, but by now, it wasn’t anything new to me.
“If you search with the keyboard here…”
First, I showed them how to order items from the picking station so they could take out the supplies they needed.
Next, it was a matter of organizing.
There were already Lee Yong-su’s family and the knights of Camelot inside the Subspace.
I introduced Lee Yong-su to my family first.
“This is Yong-su… He’s the one who helped us get here. If it weren’t for him, it would’ve taken much longer.”
It had been a long journey.
Whether it was driving or flying the helicopter, he handled everything.
If it weren’t for his awakened ability and courage, the journey wouldn’t have been so smooth.
Ironically, I introduced him in a similar tone to how Lee Yong-su had introduced me to his wife.
It was proof that we had helped each other a lot.
Lee Yong-su greeted my family.
“No, not at all. If anything, I’ve received a lot of help from your son. The situation outside is terrible… You must have gone through a lot. Seeing that you’re all safe, I feel a great sense of relief.”
“Oh dear… It must’ve been such a tough journey for you… Oh my goodness!”
My mother lit up as she saw Lee Yong-su’s daughter, Yoo-jung.
When she trembled her lips and played peek-a-boo, Yoo-jung’s expression immediately brightened.
It was a warm and cheerful greeting in many ways.
“Next up is…”
The knights of Camelot—skeleton figures.
Their eerie appearance was a bit concerning.
As I was contemplating how to introduce them…
Thunk, thunk!
My grandfather patted Lancelot on the back.
“What’s yer name?”
The rich, local dialect of a grandfather from Chungcheong Province instantly disarmed the medieval skeleton knight.
“…I am called Lancelot.”
“I see, Lan. Ya live over there?”
Through the window, you could see the Camelot Castle, or rather, the motel, standing next to the guard post.
“Yes, yes, that’s right.”
“Must not be boring with such interesting attire. Do ya know how to play (Korean chess)?”
“I can play chess, but…”
“Heheh, for such a mountain of a fellow, ya live mighty complicated. Ain’t chess and janggi basically the same thing?”
My grandfather laughed heartily, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
Despite Lancelot shaking his head at the thought that he could probably take down a bull with his size, it seemed my grandfather had taken quite a liking to him.
Even though the Subspace was vast, we decided to quickly assign everyone their living quarters.
Lee Yong-su and his family decided to continue using the women’s rest area, and except for me, the Kim family took over the commander’s quarters of the logistics corps.
It wasn’t exactly a country house with a yard, but it wasn’t lacking either.
Of course, the skeleton knights’ quarters were fixed to Camelot Castle.
Next were my brother and his wife.
Coincidentally, I had some news for them.
“Hyung, your newlywed house got destroyed.”
“…What?”
“A helicopter came by the balcony and started shooting like crazy… even launched a missile…”
“…??”
From what I knew, my brother had used a full loan to get that house.
I didn’t bother to mention that I was the one who caused all the trouble, or that I personally ripped off the front door.
“Jeong-gyeom, seriously.”
Since he seemed to take it as a joke, I let it go.
The world had become a chaotic mess anyway.
There was no guarantee he’d get it back, even if he wanted to.
“There’s an officer’s apartment at the nearby military base. You can take one of those houses and use it. You can also let your in-laws pick one, and whatever furniture or appliances you need, you can just order from here.”
“…I really didn’t expect to owe you this much. Thank you.”
“But there’s one more thing…”
There was something I needed to ask.
Since I was meeting with my family for the first time in a while, it also meant strengthening our power.
“Besides Dad, has anyone else awakened?”
Unfortunately, we didn’t have a family drama where everyone awakened.
The only ones who had awakened were my father and my sister-in-law.
“Si-eun awakened the ability. Thanks to that, it’s been easier to manage things like drinking water. She purified the water our mother had collected to water the plants.”
My father’s ability and my sister-in-law’s ability.
I needed to understand their abilities better, but they both had promising potential.
‘…Is it finally done?’
I had achieved my goal.
The Subspace, which I had carried all the way from Gunpo City, had finally been filled with my family.
The once empty and hollow space was now alive with their presence.
The Subspace, which had felt barren, was now bustling with activity.
“Is the kitchen really that good?”
“I’m telling you, it is!”
My mother left for the employee cafeteria with Oh Ji-soo to prepare a meal.
My two sisters jumped in, chattering away about whether they should set up a hospital or a gym inside the Subspace.
My brother used PAX FC to order various household appliances for their living space, and Lancelot was being regaled by my grandfather, who was telling him, in the slow drawl typical of the Chungcheong dialect, just how harsh life in the military was during the 1960s.
It was nothing short of a chaotic marketplace.
Standing there for a moment, I muttered to myself without realizing it.
“…This is home.”
Noisy, chaotic, with so many voices pulling your attention in different directions, and yet, in a space so densely packed, not a single thought of loneliness could cross your mind.
That, to me, was the definition of home.
However,
“It’s not home yet.”
My father suddenly appeared behind me, throwing in a sly remark.
“It’s not home yet…?”
“Is it really home if there aren’t any neighbors, you fool?”
While I thought that family made a house a true home, my father added another layer of philosophy.
“Even if people these days don’t care about each other much, how can you call it home when you’re comfortable while your neighbors are dying? We might not be able to gossip about whose dog gave birth, you can only sleep with peace of mind if nothing serious happens to anyone nearby. Our family isn’t the only family, is it?”
That familiar phrase, our family isn’t the only family, resonated with me.
It was something Oh Ji-soo had said when she pushed Lee Yong-su out the door to help me.
Thanks to that determination, I was able to find my own family.
My father continued speaking.
“The Choi family next door got taken. So did Yoon from the auto shop. These monsters in military uniforms came and took everyone in the neighborhood.”
He was talking about the 1st Corps.
Those bastards had long since taken control of Uijeongbu and were now rounding up people from the districts below, like Dobong-gu.
Just as I had seen through the phantoms, they were setting up goblin settlements and altars all over Uijeongbu, gathering people to use as sacrifices.
Unlike the peaceful paradise of the Subspace, the outside world was still shrouded in destruction.
And that destruction was being carried out by human hands.
This wasn’t just a matter of ethics.
‘…I can’t let the 1st Corps grow any stronger.’
They had become a force large enough to directly oppose the government forces.
Not only had they abandoned their humanity, but they were also now using other humans as sacrifices.
Through the phantoms, I had confirmed the sheer number of captives held in Uijeongbu.
Even at a glance, the number was staggering.
If they were all to become sacrifices, the power of the 1st Corps would grow beyond imagination.
But that wasn’t the only issue.
‘…We can’t just stay here forever, either.’
We were in the middle of enemy territory.
Mana Stones weren’t infinite, and at some point, we would have to leave the Subspace.
If I had to choose a time to act, now, before the 1st Corps could grow any stronger, was the best opportunity.
The 1st Corps had done nothing but hinder us so far.
At a time when entities from other worlds were invading, these traitors were betraying their own kind.
Perhaps it was time to eradicate them completely.
“…!”
A distant sound echoed.
It was Oh Ji-soo and my mother, calling us to come eat as they finished setting the table.
“……”
I stopped in my tracks.
For some reason, I didn’t feel hungry.
No, more accurately… I craved something else.
What exactly was the 1st Corps?
Among the units guarding the capital, the 1st Corps was the largest.
In terms of military branches, they had everything, armored brigades, air units, engineering corps, logistics support units.
And then I realized something.
What kind of person I truly was.
The neighbors who had been captured.
The citizens of Uijeongbu.
Beyond that, the people of the Korean Peninsula, and even the whole world.
I was the kind of person whose desires knew no bounds, wishing for the happiness of every single one of them.
This Subspace might be mine.
But there was no limit to its boundaries, no limit to how much I wanted to draw in everything from outside.
Licking my lips, I muttered quietly.
“I want to devour… the 1st Corps…”
A desire to hold everything that existed in the world.
I was the greedy master of this logistics center.”

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