I came for Healing, but a Gate Appeared

What's Urgent is Purification

Ian, upon stepping into the yard, looked for Hao first.

When he went to the field to find Hao, the plot was in perfect order.

The vegetable garden that Ahn Bin had planted had already been fully restored.

It was the result of Ian pulling out the bramble vine, Hao driving away pests and clearing weeds, and even breathing vitality into the soil.

Various other vegetables such as lettuce, chili peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants were growing vigorously as well.

And at the front of the field, Praeri's herbs that Ian had planted were growing very thickly.

To think that such thorough work had been done in such a short time. As expected of Hao.

"Well done, Hao."

Ian stroked Hao's abundant fur.

Wor wor.

Hao responded with a small sound. It meant he was proud and in a good mood.

He wagged his large, fuzzy tail, fully expressing his joy.

Ian patted Hao's rump and headed to the back of the house.

In the shady spot by the retaining wall, he scattered some butterfly mushrooms rather hastily.

It was only a little left after giving some to the Bodhisattva, but even so, it would soon flourish.

Butterfly mushrooms would grow on their own, even without much attention.

That done, Ian felt as if the day's work was over.

He lay down with Hao on the wooden porch and enjoyed the warm afternoon sunlight.

'If I just stay like this, I can cook dinner soon.'

As he was sprawling out and savoring the peace, Ian suddenly sprang to his feet.

"Oh! My cellphone!"

It hit him that he had to go buy a cellphone.

He had to get a cellphone quickly to check the news in real time.

If he just stayed at home with Hao like this, it felt like time could flow in peace forever, but if that was all he wanted, there was no reason for him to bother coming to Earth in the first place.

Besides, ever since the day he crossed the dimensional portal, the world had fallen into chaos; it didn't sit well with Ian's temperament to simply live a comfortable life on his own.

"Now, the affairs of Earth are my concern, my affairs. Especially if it's something about Mount Jiri."

To keep his senses sharp like this, he would need information.

And on Earth, a cellphone was essential for acquiring information.

"I should hurry and get going before sunset."

Ian put on his shoes and went down the hill to catch the bus.

* * *

Compared to Macheongri village, the town was much more bustling.

The roads were well paved, and lines of cars drove on them.

While not especially tall, presentable buildings lined the streets.

"Not bad."

But in Ahn Bin's memories, this town was still so modest compared to a city like Seoul.

The image of Seoul came to mind.

Endless forests of buildings. Roads packed with cars. Crowds of people everywhere you went.

And the underground was even more complicated, with subways on multiple levels.

The scenes came to him, but Ian couldn't quite feel their reality.

'Isn't it all much too crowded?'

It seemed as if Earth's humans were living detached from the harmony of nature.

Even living together so densely, could nature really be maintained?

Wouldn't the energies of earth and atmosphere be consumed and run dry?

He couldn't help but worry about these things.

'Well, I suppose Earth's humans can manage themselves.......'

Still, the town Ian was now walking through was fine. It was about as busy as Praeri's capital.

Anyplace where humans gathered, at least this much hustle and bustle was natural.

It wasn't excessively flashy and had a modest, comfortable feel, which wasn't bad.

And just a bit outside the center, forests and fields would soon appear, so the energy to sustain a city would be satisfied.

But he could not imagine what Seoul was really like.

The images from Ahn Bin's memories didn't match the sense of "naturalness" that Ian felt.

'I'll have to see it for myself.'

He resolved to visit Seoul within a few days.

As Ian strolled, taking in the town, he saw a cellphone store and quickly went in.

"Hello. I'd like to buy a cellphone."

"Yes, welcome......?"

At that moment, the store clerk, upon seeing Ian, suddenly let out a dolphin-like squeal.

"Uh! Wah! Is it you? It's really you, isn't it?"

"Huh? What is?"

"You're that guy! The hunter who took down the monster! The Mount Jiri hero!"

The clerk hurriedly grabbed his own phone, worked it quickly, and brought up a video for Ian to see.

"It's you, right? Isn't it?"

With just a glance at the video, Ian instantly recognized what it was.

It was the video Haeyeon had filmed—of Ian hunting the slime.

But how did this person have that video?

"How did you......?"

"Huh? Did you not know? It already has over five hundred thousand views!"

Ian peered at the clerk's phone.

Someone, likely Haeyeon, had posted it online, and in just a few hours, countless people had already watched it.

'Wow, rumors really do spread fast. Have I already become this famous?'

A smile naturally tugged at the corners of his mouth.

He had promised young Ahn Bin that he would let him live a life acknowledged and welcomed by others, but this much already?

The internet was truly amazing.

Strangers knew what Ian had done, recognized his face, and left a stream of praise-filled comments.

This was exactly why he needed a cellphone. Ian alone had been missing out on the news.

"You're really amazing! Incredible!"

The clerk gave him two enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Thank you. I was just doing what had to be done."

"Wow! And so humble! Ah, so you'd like to buy a cellphone? You want the latest model, right?"

"Yes. Give me the best one."

"Check out this model. Since you're the hero of Mount Jiri, I'll give you a special price."

The flattery felt nice, but being called a hero of Mount Jiri was a little bewildering.

'Is it really hero status just for taking down a single slime......?'

Most of the people catching slimes in Seoul would be soldiers, so was it because an individual acted on his own?

Perhaps the excitement was greater because the hunting scene was spread around in a video.

It might also be that since this happened outside of Seoul, local people felt more involved.

Either way, it wasn't a bad thing.

After purchasing and registering the cellphone, and even taking a photo with the clerk, Ian was finally able to leave.

As he made his way toward the bus stop to return to the village, it happened.

Passing by the middle school, it must have been time for dismissal because a crowd of students suddenly poured out.

Before Ian could avoid them, he found himself swept along with the students.

At first, the students only glanced at Ian indifferently, but soon they began calling out, one by one.

"Hey? Isn't that the monster hunter?"

"Eek! It's the Mount Jiri hero!"

"What the — is it really him? Ah! It really is!"

"Why is the monster hunter here?"

"No idea. Move! Make way for the hero!"

All of the students were holding cellphones. They must have seen the video too.

"Wow! Can I shake your hand?"

"Hero! Please give me an autograph!"

"Monster hunter! It's an honor!"

"Over here, over here! Please sign this!"

In the blink of an eye, Ian was surrounded by students.

Ian, with a familiar and pleased smile, greeted the kids amicably.

"Nice to meet you, students. Yes, that's right. I'm the monster hunter. If a monster appears, contact me."

"Wow! It's really him!"

"Please take a photo with us!"

Camera shutters went off from every direction.

One kid pulled him here, another pulled his hand there. Completely surrounded, he couldn't move at all.

Fame was nice, but also exasperating, as Ian knew well.

He'd experienced all of this centuries ago in Praeri.

'I wish I could get out of here now.......'

But it wasn't that easy.

"Here, an autograph please!"

"Take a picture with me!"

"Me too! Please take a picture with me!"

"He's like a celebrity. And so handsome!"

Earth's middle schoolers were something else.

Both boys and girls seemed full of energy and almost out of their minds with excitement.

So, for quite a while, Ian had to keep taking photos and signing autographs, swept along by the students.

"That's enough! Let's meet again next time!"

Ian, feeling his soul nearly leaving his body, shouted as he tried to push through the kids.

That was when a familiar face appeared.

"Oh? Ahn Bin?"

It was Jeongnam.

"Ah! Jeongnam, please rescue me!"

Ian found himself saying it before he realized.

Jeongnam made a strange face, half frowning and half smiling, then raised his hand high and shouted.

"Students! Please let the monster hunter go! He's busy!"

In his raised hand was a civil service ID, as if it were some imperial seal.

Would something like that really work? Surprisingly, it did.

"Oh! He must be on his way to catch monsters. Fighting!"

"Let's get out of the way so the hunter can pass."

The kids listened to Jeongnam and began making a path.

At last, like the parting of the sea, Ian walked through and reached Jeongnam.

"What brings you to town?"

"I came to buy a cellphone. I lost mine the other day."

"Ah, is that so? This way, please."

Jeongnam guided Ian.

Not sure where he was being led, Ian followed Jeongnam to escape the kids.

After going into an alley and turning a few corners, they reached a quieter street.

"Let's have a chat in that cafe over there. It's lucky we met."

Jeongnam was glad to have run into Ian in town. He was happy to have Ian all to himself, away from the village folk.

"Sounds good. I'm thirsty anyway."

Ian readily agreed. Fame was nice, but it had been quite exhausting.

Dealing with monsters was easier—you couldn't even hunt middle school students on Earth......

The two of them settled into a seat at the cafe.

"I was actually going to contact you about your reward, but since I didn't have your number, I was planning to come find you at home."

Jeongnam spoke first.

"Oh, really? I'll give you my number."

"Yes, and please write down your account number as well. The reward for hunting the monster will be deposited by tomorrow. I'll handle the paperwork myself."

"Thank you."

"Oh no, we should be thanking you! You saved the village. But because Haeyeon posted that video, you've become quite famous, haven't you?"

"Yes, I didn't realize people would recognize me in the street."

Ian said with a shy smile. Now that he was relaxed, being swarmed by the kids just before suddenly struck him as funny.

"It's not just people on the street. The government is keeping a very close eye on you after seeing that video."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. As expected, the central government really wants to bring you to Seoul. The situation there isn't simple."

Jeongnam spoke carefully.

He had already heard that Ian wanted to focus his activities in the village rather than go to the center, so he couldn't press too hard.

"Yeah, it looks like Seoul's situation has gotten even more complicated."

Ian had already browsed the news after buying his cellphone.

He'd checked the news right away after buying it. Apparently, quite a few slimes had come out through the portal in Seoul.

Of course, slimes weren't very powerful creatures, so the suppression operation seemed to be taking shape.

But the problem was that the pollution had become even more severe in the process. Just as Ian had expected.

"Did you make sure to tell them not to cut open or stab the monster's belly?"

Ian double-checked what he'd asked Jeongnam to do earlier.

"Yes, I did. But since everyone already saw the video, there wasn't much to explain."

From the bit Ian had watched, Haeyeon had even kindly added commentary to the video, explaining how to catch slimes.

That was fortunate. It would have been an educational video in its own way.

But even if everyone set out carrying synthetic fiber blankets, slimes wouldn't be so easily captured, so the effect would be limited.

Still, with the information, people would probably come up with better methods.

"But before the information spread, the military had already split open many monsters, so..."

Many of the soldiers involved in the operation got sick, pollution spread, and various other problems arose.

"I see."

Contrary to what Ian first thought, Seoul wasn't a farming region.

So the problem wasn't with crops.

With people densely packed in a city, even just evacuating those from polluted areas was a huge challenge.

'The urgent thing is purification.'

Before the city started to rot, the polluted zones had to be purified fast.

But this wasn't simply about healing a few people, but about purifying fairly large stretches of land and air, which would require quite a bit of energy.

Ian wasn't sure if he could pull it off in his current state.

'There's a limit to how much I can use Praeri's energy, and I haven't yet figured out how to use Earth's energy in tandem.......'

At that moment, Hao suddenly came to mind.

'Right. With Hao, it might be possible immediately.'

Ian's mind worked quickly. He did a rough calculation.

Hao, being a creature born from Praeri, didn’t seem to lack energy—in fact, it appeared to exert an even stronger effect here on Earth.

If Hao barked loudly a few times, the pollution over the entire area would be purified by the wave that spread.

Hao had an energy that purified tainted air.

'Good. Let's bring Hao to Seoul!'

There was a real treasure in the yard at home.