Chapter 1: Return? Half-ef

A girl was in the mirror.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say she was on the borderline between a girl and a woman.

Her blonde hair, flowing smoothly down to her waist, was a delicately woven golden thread, and her purple eyes, filled with a mysterious depth, were sparkling amethysts.

Her skin, bathed in moonlight, was pure white and soft. Her long neckline gracefully extended to her ears, revealing the rounded, not-too-long ears that signified her mixed heritage of human and elf.

Her body was as delicate and elegant as a sculpture. Slender yet firm shoulders. A narrow waist. Long, smooth, and straight legs.

Her large breasts and hips, far beyond the average, seemed to slightly disrupt the overall balance, but even that could be seen as an attractive feature that emphasized her femininity.

It was the now-familiar appearance of ‘me,’ a half-elf.

And I was looking at that appearance, not in a flowing stream or a crystal hand mirror, but in the bathroom mirror of

a 17-pyeong apartment.

‘I’m really back… after 21 years.’

I, a 28-year-old orphan, army veteran, and convenience store manager (in training), had lost consciousness at some

point. I never thought it was death.

Only after being reincarnated did I realize. Ah, I died back then.

The place I was reborn in was a fantasy world where magic and different races existed. I was a half-elf, a mix of human and elf.

After experiencing wars and adventures, and defeating the Demon King with my companions, a goddess appeared before me.

I made a wish to the goddess to return to the world I originally lived in.

At first, I asked to be returned to my original body, but she said that was the only thing she couldn’t do. Instead, I asked her something I was always curious about. How did I die in my original world?

【I’m sorry. When I brought your soul here, I had no choice but to leave your original body at the crosswalk. So…】

After receiving what was essentially a confession of murder, I might have said some harsh words.

Fortunately, I was able to use that confession to get a lot of concessions from the goddess. Originally, she was only going to send me to the most similar place according to ‘causality,’ but I got her to promise to preserve most of myabilities and to provide all the conditions, including money, so that I could live comfortably.

This apartment must be one of those results.

Now that I had confirmed my appearance and environment, it was time to check my abilities.

First, I looked for my exclusive weapon, the Spirit Bow, but it was nowhere in the house. I couldn’t feel the energy of the spirits either. Most of my power was sealed.

However, if this was the modern society I used to live in, maintaining my physical abilities alone would be enough to protect myself in most situations.

First, a simple two-fingered handstand. From that position, I removed one arm, stretched it out to the side, and held myself up with the remaining finger. I counted to thirty in my head, then switched arms and did another thirty seconds.

I bounced back up and took a stance. I felt a rush of heat, and my cheeks were probably flushed red.

But it wasn’t a reaction from exhaustion. It was, shall we say, embarrassment.

I hadn’t changed clothes since I got here, so I was still in the elf archer’s dress, and I had been doing a handstand for a long time in that state.

Not only my belly button but also my underwear underneath was exposed.

I had prioritized figuring out my physical condition, and there was no one watching anyway, so I had gone ahead, but now that it had happened, I felt ridiculous. Even if no one had seen me.

I pulled down my clothes, adjusting them all the way to my knees. Anyway, I had accurately assessed my physical condition. It wasn’t for nothing that I had done a handstand while flipping my dress. I did it because I could assess my strength, flexibility, and balance all at once.

It wasn’t perfect, but my pure physical abilities didn’t feel that different. With this, I could probably win a medal in any Olympic event.

‘Not that I have any intention of competing.’

Still, the word ‘Olympic,’ which I hadn’t thought of in a while, really brought home the reality that I was back.

Naturally, my thoughts moved on to more practical matters.

‘This seems to be Korea, but I wonder if my identity is properly set up. I hope I’m not stateless or anything.’

It was an issue to consider, as I looked more like a foreigner.

When I was searching the house earlier, I had found a wallet on the living room table along with a smartphone. I quickly reached for it, and fortunately, there was an ID card inside, with a photo I didn’t remember taking.

[Shin Cho Ah]

In my past life, and in the elf name I was given, there was no ‘Shin,’ ‘Cho,’ or ‘Ah.’ Was it the goddess’s taste or something?

[081201-4xxxxxx]

Even so, the birthday seemed to be that of the half-elf. The reason I couldn’t be sure was that the calendar cycle was different in that world, but I did know that I was born around the beginning of winter.

‘Wait. 08? Is 08 old enough to have an ID?’

I picked up my phone and connected to the internet. It had been a long time since I last used one, but I got the hang of it after a few tries.

‘More time has passed than where I was. If it’s 08, that’s 21 years old…’

The more I searched, the more out of place I felt, and it took me a long time to put my phone down again.

Overall, it was similar to Korea when I was a man. But there were subtle differences that kept popping up. The names of companies, the names of famous people, events that had happened…

‘Well… it’s a parallel world, or something like that.’

Come to think of it, the goddess had insisted on the proposal to send me to the ‘most similar place’ according to ‘causality.’

I was about to feel a little down that I had landed in a place that wasn’t my hometown, with no trace of my past life –  I shook my head and pulled myself together. My long hair clung to my cheeks and then fell away.

‘But it’s great to be in a place where I can be comfortable and enjoy myself. Besides, I don’t have to worry about making a living for the rest of my life.’

She had said that money would be guaranteed so that I could live comfortably. She had even said that she would properly handle the reward for defeating the Demon King.

I wondered how I could find the account number with just the debit card in my wallet, but there was a banking app installed on my phone.

[My Account]

10,000,000 won

Did I see that wrong? I refreshed it.

Did I count it roughly? I checked it carefully, pointing with my finger.

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten… million?

Of course, it wasn’t a small amount of money.

But it wasn’t enough to live comfortably forever.

Was she saying she would make it comfortable for ‘a while’?

Or maybe it was also because of that ‘causality.’ If it was a large sum of money, it would be noticeable if it was taken from somewhere else.

No, no. This was a psychopath who had just pulled out the soul of someone crossing the street and reincarnated them, she might have done it just to mess with me.

I knew what to do in times like this. Meditation. To calm my anger and fill my inner self with a calm energy like the forest…

As soon as I sat down, a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I immediately stood up.

This was 2029 Korea, where there were endless ways to change my mood. I no longer needed to rely solely on meditation to manage my anger…

Two weeks had passed since my realization on the first day. During that time, I had done everything I wanted to do when I returned.

First, delivery food. Chicken, pizza, jjajangmyeon, hamburgers, mala soup, tteokbokki. I ordered a lot of stimulating modern foods that I had forgotten the taste of for 21 years.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t a very moving experience. All I felt was, it’s edible… it’s kind of tasty… something like that.

Either my eating habits over the past 21 years had completely changed my palate, or elves have quite peculiar tastes. Maybe one of the two.

Since the food was a bit disappointing, my expectations for other bucket list items rose. I spent some time holed up in my room, immersed in all kinds of games, regardless of genre.

The bonsai game I used to enjoy didn’t exist in this world, and I downloaded a similar mobile game but couldn’t get into it. I had an even harder time concentrating on RPG games. I would click around expressionlessly in any company’s game, then delete it around the time I first arrived in a big city.

A game as famous as LOL was operated under the same name here. I started a game, but I couldn’t stand the boredom of the second game and kept leaving. Eventually, I got banned.

I even tried FPS games, which I had no interest in, and Steam games, but – I only gained the knowledge that the penalty for leaving in FPS games wasn’t as severe as in LOL, and a list of Steam games that I couldn’t refund.

Ugh.

How could games be so boring?

At this point, I started to feel a sense of crisis. Was there something wrong with me?

I changed my thinking. Instead of trying to do something, I should actively not do anything. Lying around in bed was also on my bucket list.

Since I didn’t sleep much, I ended up lying there with my eyes open for a long time, and naturally, I picked up my phone. MyuTube, Shorts, various OTT sites… I didn’t feel anything from any of the videos.

I had access to all the modern things I had longed for, so why was my life so dull?

In that other world, I hated having to worry about who I would have to fight every day and how to survive. I

desperately wanted to return to the peaceful and convenient place where I originally lived.

So why?

It was the last day of my second week after returning. Without any expectations, I habitually went on MyuTube and saw a video related to a game.

Origin Rift

The battlefield awaits you

A VR full-tracking game?

This time it’s different. Something, I had a feeling.