I came for Healing, but a Gate Appeared

Why Even Follow Me Here

'Sniff, sniff... Wait, what's this?'

As Ian entered the hall, the first thing he noticed was the smell of food.

He didn't know what dishes they were, but the spicy, savory, and greasy aromas fiercely assaulted Ian's nose all at once.

'I heard something serious happened. They said we needed to gather and talk, but what's with the feast?'

Ian looked around the hall with a puzzled expression.

Large tables had been set up in the rooms and the living area, each one meticulously laid with an array of dishes.

"Oh my, what's this about? The bachelor actually made it?"

"Haven't seen you in a while! Come on, sit over there."

The ladies, bustling back and forth from the kitchen with food, looked at Ian in surprise and pointed out a seat for him.

Ian went and sat where the lady had indicated. It was a table where relatively young people were gathered.

Although it was a remote mountain village, it lay just beneath a national park, so there were more young people living there than in other rural towns.

Most of them ran pensions or restaurants.

Still, "young" here meant people in their forties or fifties, not their twenties or thirties.

"Hello."

"Oh, you're here? Why is it so hard to spot you around when we live in the same village?"

"Try to come down to the village more often."

"Don't tease him too much. He's just shy after moving down here from Seoul."

The men gathered around nodded slightly in greeting and chimed in one by one.

"Yes. I'll try to be around more from now on."

As Ian responded politely, everyone's eyes widened.

It seemed Ahn Bin's personality really had been different.

Aside from personality, Korea's culture was very particular about age, so for Ahn Bin, who had just turned thirty, country life must have been a challenge in various ways.

But from Ian's perspective, he saw everyone as nothing but newborns.

There was nothing for him to find difficult.

As Ian looked over the dishes laid out on the table, he asked casually,

"Didn't you say something big had happened? So what's with all the party food?"

"It's not a party exactly. When the whole village gets together, we just take the opportunity to have a meal together."

"Even if there's trouble, you still have to eat. They say even a ghost that died after a good meal looks healthier."

"Ah, I see. Haha."

So even when a crisis prompts a village meeting, everyone gathers to enjoy a delicious meal together.

It was a good custom. Ian was grateful for it—after all, he got to enjoy a meal someone else had cooked.

"But what's the actual crisis?"

When Ian asked again, the expressions of the men around him changed to match the one the village chief had shown earlier.

"You didn't hear the news? How can a young person be slower on the news than us?"

"Really. The young these days are always glued to their cell phones."

"So what have you been up to till now? Did you come right from a nap...?"

As they each chided Ian, suddenly the village chief appeared, waving his arms and speaking up.

"Now, now, be nice to our precious young return-to-farmer."

He even gave Ian's shoulder a friendly pat.

The men around stared at the village chief, dumbfounded.

He was acting so differently from his usual self.

'After all the gossip you guys do together...'

That's what everyone was thinking, but at least they stopped giving Ian a hard time.

"I lost my cell phone yesterday."

When Ian said this, everyone clearly nodded in understanding.

"Ah, I see. So you haven't seen the news?"

"Then of course you wouldn't know anything."

At that moment, the village chief stood at the front and everyone turned their attention to him.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's begin the Macheongri village meeting. As you all probably know, there's trouble in Seoul. Let's talk about what's going on and how we should prepare here in Macheongri. Please discuss as you eat; it'd be a shame if the soup cooled down."

As soon as the chief finished speaking, the elders began picking up their spoons.

Perhaps everyone was determined to become well-fed ghosts—they all dug into the meal.

Ian also picked up his utensils.

'Hmph, guess it's nothing that serious after all.'

Besides, he couldn't resist the smell of the food any longer.

Ian eagerly started eating. The spicy red stir-fried pork called to him, and when he took a bite, the perfectly spicy and greasy flavor pleased him immensely.

'Oh, I should focus on red food on Earth. That must be the symbol of spiciness here.'

The mild beef radish soup and japchae were also delicious, as were the mountain vegetables.

'These wild greens really are similar to Praeri cuisine. We also prepare various herbs in all kinds of dishes.'

While Ian was deeply absorbed in tasting everything, the villagers around him began to discuss the chaos in Seoul.

"I heard a monster suddenly showed up. It's the end times, the end times, I tell you."

"So what kind of monster was it anyway? Even hearing about it, I can't make sense of it."

"They said it was like a squishy jelly, didn't they?"

"Heard it was all sticky... Anyway, something no one's ever seen before, apparently."

"But are they really that vicious?"

"Oh, don't get me started. Didn't you hear it swallowed someone up whole?"

"Really? I hadn't heard that far. Goodness, that's terrifying. Where did these monsters come from anyway?"

"They say last night a hole suddenly opened in the sky and they poured out of it. Something like a Tower was visible in there too."

"The world must seriously be ending."

The conversation gradually wormed its way into Ian's ears.

Once his exploration of the food was over, he could finally listen with full attention.

'A squishy jelly-like monster?'

A creature popped into Ian's mind.

'Are they talking about slimes? But why are slimes considered monsters? Didn't Earth have slimes before?'

In Praeri, slimes were common creatures—used to clean up pond debris or weed the fields.

Praerians would set them to work as lowly beasts. They certainly weren't monsters.

'But why would slimes suddenly show up on Earth and cause such chaos?'

If slimes, which didn't originally exist on Earth, appeared suddenly, a dimensional portal must have opened.

But why would a dimensional portal...?

Suddenly, realization struck him.

'... Was it because of me?'

At that moment, a noodle got caught in Ian's throat, and he began to cough uproariously.

"Cough, cough!"

"Oh dear, are you alright? Here, drink some water."

"What's the rush? Take it slow when you eat."

"Give him a pat on the back, quickly."

The men around him bustled to help Ian.

"I'm... alright."

Ian barely managed to reply in a hoarse voice.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm fine now."

"Just eat slowly. Sip your soup."

With that, everyone returned to their meal and conversation.

Ian sipped his soup, quietly sorting through his thoughts.

They said a hole appeared in the sky last night, and slimes poured out.

That was right around the time Ian arrived on Earth.

It seemed likely that the dimensional travel portal he'd opened had caused this.

'Parito, seriously, how did you build that dimensional travel portal? Why are there side effects like this?'

Ian may have been the one who traveled through, but the portal itself was made using Parito's engineering magic.

This whole mess was clearly Parito's fault.

He'd said he wanted Ian to experience travel, but instead he'd caused a spirit merge—and now let slimes spill out for no reason...

'Just what kind of malfunction happened to make everything such a mess?'

Ian shook his head in disbelief.

The villagers resumed their uproar over the Seoul incident.

"So, the monsters have basically settled in our country?"

"They said the army attacked them and they ran away. Apparently, they all went back into the Tower?"

"Yeah. They came pouring out in hordes, then withdrew immediately."

"What even is that Tower?"

"No idea. They say it's so tall it pierces the sky, and the top is hidden in clouds or fog."

"So that Tower is still in Seoul, right?"

"Exactly. That's why it's an emergency."

"What on earth is happening. The world's gone crazy."

They seemed startled by the situation, but in another sense, the villagers didn't seem too worried.

Even as they talked about how terrifying it was, they continued eating heartily.

Ian tilted his head but was still relieved. Yet, feeling somewhat responsible, he interjected,

"It probably isn't that big a deal."

"Not a big deal? A monster appeared and you call that nothing?"

The man sitting across from him responded sternly.

"It even ate a person!"

"Amazing how you can be so casual. I've never seen anything like this in my eighty years."

Others chimed in, making Ian sweat.

"No, I just... Listening to you all, you don't seem too frightened."

"Well, we're people from Mount Jiri, after all."

Wow!

So mountain folk are that brave.

I guess there's a wildness cityfolk can't understand, Ian mused, but the next statements burst his bubble.

"We're just really far from Seoul."

"Even when the North invades, we don't panic—we know it would take tanks ages to get here."

"There's nothing out here for anyone. Why come all the way to the mountains? Even bombers would skip Mount Jiri to save bombs."

"That's right. There's nothing here for monsters to see, so they won't bother with our village."

Basically, they all agreed: since this village was remote and of no value, there was nothing to worry about.

'Ah... Was that their real point?'

Ian was a little flustered.

'Are country people always like this? But isn't anywhere you live the center of the world to you?'

For a Praerian, who lived with pride in a special connection to nature, it was an incomprehensible outlook.

'How can they not appreciate the value of living in such beautiful mountains?'

Meanwhile, the conversation had moved on.

"Still, shouldn't we have a plan? Chief, what will we do if monsters appear?"

A relatively younger man finally spoke up.

"What plan could there be? It's not like we have a military force here..."

The chief trailed off.

"He's not wrong. What could we do? A hole opens in the sky and monsters pour out—"

"We'll have to wield pickaxes, I guess."

"Just run them over with the tractor."

With that, laughter broke out.

Ian realized he was mistaken to think the meeting was getting anywhere.

'Would they even have gathered if dinner weren't served?'

Finally, Ian understood the nature of the set table.

'Oh, whatever.'

Ian also let his guard down.

'Will anything really happen? Earthlings will soon realize slimes aren't really monsters. They're quite handy if you tame them.'

But it also seemed that Earthlings couldn't channel strength like Praerians.

That meant they couldn't use magical arts either.

So they probably couldn't tame slimes.

Would they just try to kill them all? Most likely.

Then there was the matter of location.

If the dimensional portal opened because of Ian's trip, it was probably located right at his farm, even if he didn't know exactly what had malfunctioned.

'Could they invade all the way over there?'

Surely, earthlings wouldn't just march through the portal. To them, it'd be an unknown world.

Still, Ian wasn't entirely reassured. Something nagged at him.

'What am I forgetting?'

Suddenly, Ian remembered that he was currently in a human body on Earth.

'Oh, wait. In this body, I can't use magic. So how do I fix the portal problem?'

And how could he contact Parito without magic? How could he return to Praeri world?

'... Does this mean there's no way back?'

He had left saying a trip would be fine, vacation or retirement—it didn't matter.

But to realize there might be no way back was honestly a bit depressing.

'My home, Praeri... Without me, both the farm and the domain will grind to a halt.'

At that moment, a heavy thrum enveloped Ian's body—a sensation just like the one he'd felt at the stream.

This time, the vibration was stronger, more intense. It felt as if his whole body was shaking.

"Huh...?"

Ian couldn't help but let out a noise, drawing the attention of those around him.

"What is it? Something stuck in your throat again?"

"Didn't you feel that? Didn't the ground just shake?"

Ian looked around and asked.

"No. Didn't notice anything."

"An earthquake? What do you mean? We've got enough trouble already without an earthquake."

The villagers grumbled at him,

"Maybe you're just feeling dizzy. Are you alright?"

The chief finally asked in concern.

"Yes, I'm alright."

But in truth, he still felt the vibration. And he could also tell exactly where it was coming from—the direction of his house.

Ian abruptly stood up.

"I'm going to head out."

"It's such a rare gathering, you should stay for a drink—why are you trying to leave again?"

"Something urgent came to mind! Sorry!"

Ian hurried out of the hall. There were grumbles behind him about being quick to slip away, but he ignored them.

He ran up the hillside, feeling the heavy vibrations calling to him.

Now, he could tell exactly what it was. It was Praeri strength.

'It's the dimensional portal!'

When he got home, he found blue light shimmering from the backyard.

"Just as I thought. It's been acting strange since earlier."

Ian strode purposefully into the yard.

Where there should have been a stone retaining wall, there was a gaping hole—a wavering dimensional portal.

Ian approached the portal and peered inside.

Beyond the portal stretched rolling green fields, undulating like an ocean. An overwhelmingly familiar aura wafted over him.

"Hm. My farm has come looking for me here? Ah well, why follow your master all the way to this distant place?"

Though he said it as if it were nothing, a huge smile broke out on Ian's face.

He was thrilled. Really, truly thrilled. Even more than he had expected.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
You run away from work, but work still follows you...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】