Chapter 4: Preparing for tomorrow

“Mr. Jang, you have a total of thirteen stitches and you cannot take a shower for at least two days. Here’s a prescription for three days worth of medicine. Please get it from the pharmacy and if you experience anything unusual like itchiness or see a red spot, stop consuming the medicine and come straight here. As for the cost…”

Joonbum relaxed at the voice of the nurse in front of him who explained the details of his treatment and what he needed to do to take care of the wound. He felt like he was drawing attention from the people around him with a big patch on the back of his head.

‘So I am really back. But it wasn’t a dream.’

He stopped by the pharmacy to purchase his prescription and went to a local hot pot place that sold cheap but tasty hot pot soup. He mindlessly gorged through his pot and then realized that it was gone. He didn’t even remember receiving the order. If it was his regular self, he might have overreacted by saying stuff as if he was streaming.

But he was overwhelmed with one thought.

‘Can I go back there? How did I come back? Yeah it’s fortunate that I’m back, but how?’

He was still thinking about the whole thing even after he got back to his home and laid down in his room. He still couldn’t comprehend anything that happened.

“Hell, it’s not something I would be able to explain anyway.”

He spoke to himself, but he still could not shake the thought away. He was also not sure why he was pondering about how to go back to that place.

“I went to the hill in the afternoon on the day before and woke up in the morning in the other world. And after that day passed, I came back on next morning… So maybe I can go back and forth?”

As he was thinking of way to go back, he pictured the place in his head. It was a place filled with enormous trees that were so tall and so wide that a double-digit number of grown men would be required to hug one tree. It was full of strange, adult-sized bugs and the birds were not of this world.

And wolves. The wolves were gigantic. Even the smallest one seemed to be at least fifteen feet long. It seemed like it was as big as a house. Maybe it was even taller than an elephant. Just a simple jump could be twenty feet high.

Joonbum remembered of the wolf scratching his head. The fear returned and he felt his wound pulsing with pain. Everything had happened just yesterday.

“Aw crap.”

He stared at the ceiling with his racing thoughts and started falling asleep.

-Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up before it’s too late!-

“Wha-”

-Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up before it’s too late!-

He woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. When he realized he had been asleep, he cursed at himself.

“I slept again? When will I stop falling asleep the moment I lay down?”

He ranted as if he did not want to sleep too much, but he knew it was helpless. He was both mentally and physically exhausted by the extraordinary experience he had from the other world. Moreover, that weird swirling world shift was very tiresome, although his excitement kept him moving this time. It was similar to the feeling of tiredness one might feel after a hard workday at a postal sorting facility.

-Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up before it’s too late!-

Joonbum checked the caller ID and angrily pressed the ignore button.

“Curse those cold calls. I don’t need those freaking insurance scams! Who falls for this crap anyway? They would stop calling if no one fell for them. People are so dumb.”

Joonbum also checked his text messages. Most of them were just junk, but there was one that wasn’t.

-Hey, this is Lee Young-ah, a fellow streamer. I mainly do eating broadcasts and came across your video. It was really interesting to see you cook and eat out in the wild! Do you mind if we do a joint broadcast? Let me know! Thanks!-

“Lee Young-ah? Hah!”

Joonbum knew who she was. She was a rookie who was trying to earn viewers by posting sexually appealing videos. There was only one reason why she wanted to do a joint broadcast.

‘You think I would fall for your trap?’

It was obvious that she wanted to take Joonbum’s viewers. There were a lot of them in the scene.

‘I know from experience.’

Joonbum had been fooled by multiple times already. There were some pretty girls all right, but he was just being used. It was too late after he found out after the fact.

-Oh no. I don’t do any joint streams with him anymore. It was just awful… he was too boring to talk to.-

-We had different goals. I wanted more high-quality videos you know?-

-Eating in the wild? It was just too dirty. I wouldn’t want to do it anymore.-

Joonbum thought about the comments of those in the past but quickly wiped off his mind. He took out his camera and viewed the recorded video.

“Yes!”

The sight in the recording was phenomenal. It swirled, and as the swirl touched the sight, it changed the world around it.

“Yes! This is crazy! It’s unbelievable!”

The recording showed the other world quickly shifting into the current world. An idea popped up in his mind.

“This video… should be enough to go viral right? Yeah… yeah…! Let’s do it!”

The idea moved him.

“Okay, what do I need first…”

He dove into a thought, moving back and forth in front of the window, continuously mumbling.

—

“Let’s eat.”

“Okay.”

The kimchi-stew prepared front of Joonbum looked so delicious. Joonbum’s mother quickly worked her magic as she prepared dinner after she got back from work.

‘It’s so delicious.’

It was made of half of the kimchi that was boiled in a pot. It was also full of chopped thick pork meat. The meat released an oil that colored the stew, making it look very tempting.

“Yes, this is good!”

He filled his mouth with a spoonful of soup. It was very thick and spicy – it pierced through his throat and went to his stomach.

“Here, take this too.”

“Mom, it’s okay, I can…”

His mother ripped apart a slice of kimchi and handed it over to Joonbum, but he refused it in shame.

“What, didn’t you want me to spoon-feed you so much before? You don’t like your mom anymore?”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I’m just-”

“Yeah I know. Go ahead.”

He stopped talking and took in a spoonful of rice topped with kimchi and pork meat. The sensation of chewing soft-boiled kimchi with squishy meat was unbelievably filling and the juice that filled his mouth was great. He quickened his hand movements, plowing through the meal.

‘So delicious.’

He was a little ashamed, but he put his spoon in front of his mother for more. It was just too delicious.

“Did you get hurt?”

He wasn’t expecting to be questioned as he was enjoying the food too much. With a big patch of gauze on the back of his head, it was obvious for her to ask. It was surprising she did not ask about it on first sight.

“I am sorry.”

“Just don’t overwork yourself. Money is not important.”

The table became quiet as Joonbum was irritated at her words.

‘You should stop overworking yourself, not me.’

He couldn’t say this out loud, so he quickly finished up eating and stood up instead.

“I’m going out.”

“Okay.”

When he left the house, all the heat built up by eating the hot, spicy kimchi stew quickly cooled off. He lit up a cigarette as he arrived at a nearby park and sighed at the smoke.

‘That place is real and I should be prepared for it.’

He thought about it over and over and there was a slight hesitation that kept coming back to him.

“I should go there first,” said Joonbum, while putting out the half-consumed cigarette. He hopped into his truck as soon as he got back to his house and drove off.

“Hah, what a fitting name for a dark territory.”

He mumbled, glancing at roads as he passed by. The empty roads were filled with eerie presences that seemed like they would attract nothing but ghosts. This spooky visual and many incidents led the area to get its nickname – dark territory.

He sped up through the road and soon turned into an alleyway where his destination was located.

“Hey Joonbum! Come on in!”

“Good afternoon!”

When he got out of the car, a man in his early-thirties welcomed him.

‘Jinchul Cha!’

Jinchul was a gun shop owner Joonbum became acquainted with when he was in the army. Jinchul only had two more weeks of service left when Joonbum started serving and he grew closer to him by learning under Jinchul.

Of course, he did not contact him after that. However, when he started his streams, he ran into Jinchul unexpectedly while trying out different content to broadcast.

‘It was hunting content…’

He then met Jinchul occasionally for quick drinks after that.

“What’s up this late?”

“Sorry about that.”

He shrugged as he said, “Nah, it’s alright. I’m single anyway.”

Joonbum looked at him confused.

“Huh? Didn’t you have someone living with you?”

“We broke up. I wasn’t going to marry her anyway and six months was long enough. I thought it might get dirty so we broke up and became friends. I can find another woman.”

“Oh.”

Joonbum nodded as Jinchul was waving his hands as if it was like nothing. Joonbum knew that what he was saying wasn’t an exaggeration. He was tall, good-looking, and had a good sense of humor. In addition, he was very sensible and trustworthy once you got to know him. With daily work-outs, he was also well-built. Joonbum knew that there were a lot of women around Jinchul that eyed him like a cat aiming for its food.

“So what’s with you? No one for you yet?”

‘Aw crap, here it comes again.’

Jinchul stuck his pinky up, childishly smiling at Joonbum.

“No, I’m too ugly for that.”

“Hey! Not that again. I told you it’s not because of how you look.”

‘Yeah right it’s not! You haven’t seen those girls’ faces go cold at sight of my face.’ Joonbum thought, not accepting what Jinchul was saying.

“Joonbum, you sure ain’t a looker with all that acne and toad-like face, but you still are a good man! Well built, tall, strong, young, and most of all, you’ve got a big down there too!”

“N-no it’s not that big!” Joonbum replied, a bit ashamed at such a compliment, but Jinchul shouted as he entered his store.

“Not big? That’s the only part I envy about you, damn it. You’re probably the only Korean man who doesn’t care about the size! How did you get one that big?”

Joonbum definitely didn’t care.

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