* * *
In the real world, that kind of behavior would probably get you arrested.
I half-wondered if Woo Jaehyun would follow me, but thankfully, he didn’t.
Wandering through the quiet streets, I soon arrived at the apartment my dad and I lived in.
“Looks better than I expected.”
I thought the place might’ve been wrecked, but thankfully, it seemed mostly intact.
A bit of damage to the exterior, maybe.
But when I punched in the door code and stepped inside, the interior was pitch black.
Where’s Dad?
I was starting to worry he might have left when I spotted a small figure curled up on the sofa.
They were so still I hadn’t even noticed at first.
“Dad.”
At the sound of my voice, his shoulders jolted, and he shot upright like a spring.
His reaction was so fast it startled me.
“What are you doing sitting here in the dark?”
I flicked on the living room lights.
The first thing I saw were his eyes—swollen from crying.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much he must’ve cried these past couple of days.
Dad stared at me in disbelief before suddenly reaching out.
“Inho! What happened to you?! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Not a single scratch.”
“Oh god… It’s been ten days, not a word, and I…”
Wait—did I hear that right?
As he began plucking flower petals from my hair, his voice was full of anguish, but my mind froze on one word.
“Dad, did you just say ten days?”
“That’s right! Ten!”
He nearly shouted the word, then let out a weary sigh.
Now that I thought about it, I had heard something about EX dungeons having a different time flow.
I didn’t pay it much mind at the time, but I never imagined the difference would be this extreme.
No wonder Dad looked so torn apart.
He wouldn’t have known if I was alive or dead.
I felt a dull ache in my chest—like I’d failed him without meaning to.
“I’m sorry, Dad…”
“No, it’s okay. What matters is that you’re safe.”
Even as he kept scolding me in worry, relief was all over his face.
His eyes were still red and puffy, but he smiled gently as he pulled me into a hug.
His warm hand patting my back melted the stiffness in my shoulders, and a faint smile touched my lips.
Only now did it really sink in—I was home.
My mind was still a mess, but I didn’t want to let go of this moment.
Not even for a second.
“I really am fine…”
A week had passed since I came back from the dungeon, and I’d been keeping busy helping out at my dad’s restaurant.
Just like old times, we ended up bickering again.
“Dad, come on. I’ve already made the reservation—we can’t cancel it now.”
I had splurged and booked a fancy Korean restaurant for his birthday, but he kept insisting it was too much.
I practically had to shove him into the taxi to get him to go.
“They don’t even refund the deposit for popular places like this.”
Of course, there was no deposit—but a little white lie was necessary to get him to budge.
It was a hard place to get into, after all.
“Really?”
As expected, Dad’s eyes widened.
He was never one to resist a good marketing pitch.
“Wow… business must be booming if they’re that strict.”
He shook his head in disbelief, saying that kind of thing would be unthinkable at a snack bar like ours.
But from where I stood, our place was pretty crazy, too.
People lining up hours before opening?
Ridiculous.
At this rate, we might have to start taking reservations ourselves.
Just then, the middle-aged taxi driver glanced at us through the rearview mirror and chuckled.
“Heading somewhere nice with your son, huh?”
Judging by how he called me “your son,” he didn’t seem to recognize me.
Not that I expected him to—no one thinks they’ll have Seo Inho hopping into their cab.
“It’s my birthday, and he insisted on taking me somewhere fancy. I told him not to bother. Ha ha…”
“What a good son! And so handsome too—you could be a celebrity.”
Strangely, Dad—who’d been protesting a minute ago—perked up at the compliment.
He even threw a thumbs-up at the driver.
“Of course! He’s the best son. He helps out at the shop like a champ!”
“Worried about his old man, huh? Not like most kids these days. I wish my boy was half as thoughtful.”
As the driver kept singing my praises, Dad’s cheeks flushed red, and he nodded along enthusiastically—like he’d been waiting his whole life to hear this.
Is this… what it feels like to be the child of an embarrassingly proud dad?
I couldn’t bear the creeping embarrassment and eventually turned my head away, pretending not to hear.
So even my father boasts about his son in front of others, huh.
My face burned, and I instinctively rubbed my cheek with my hand.
Trapped in a prison of compliments and struggling for what felt like ages, we finally arrived at the traditional Korean restaurant.
My father looked reluctant to leave the taxi, but I hurried to help him out.
“This is the building?”
“Yes. Pretty, right?”
True to its name, the exterior of the place was nothing short of extraordinary.
As we stepped inside, a staff member in a pristine uniform greeted us.
The quick flutter of their eyelashes made it feel like they recognized me—but like a true professional, their expression didn’t falter.
“Do you have a reservation?”
Of course, I’d never been to a place like this before.
The luxurious entrance alone made me feel out of place, but I did my best to act calm in front of my father.
“Under Seo Inho.”
Even though I lived in a house more extravagant than this palace-like place, my heart still raced.
Maybe it was because I looked up the prices ahead of time.
I’d even doubted my own eyes, thinking an extra zero had been added by mistake.
“This way, please…”
We followed the staff into a private room and sat down.
Not long after, a menu was placed in my hands.
“Hmm, for the B course, could we switch this dish to pumpkin porridge? And for drinks…”
I pointed to each menu item with as much elegance as I could muster.
Considering this was the priciest course on the menu, I thought I had the right to act at least a little confident.
But oddly enough, my fingertips trembled.
I guess you really can’t hide your nature.
“…Looks incredibly expensive.”
Once the staff left with our order, my father glanced around nervously, clearly overwhelmed by the upscale atmosphere.
“It’s a once-a-year occasion. We should at least do this much.”
Honestly, if not now, I had no other reason to spend money.
I didn’t have any hobbies, and I’d always been frugal by habit.
I didn’t even know how to splurge properly.
I could say with certainty that I wouldn’t be able to spend the 400 billion won in my account even if I tried until the day I died.
Maybe I should just donate some of it to an orphanage or something…
“We’ll begin serving your meal now.”
Soon, elegant dishes began filling the table one by one.
They looked both unfamiliar and oddly familiar—like nine-sectioned platters or chilled persimmon salad.
My father hesitated at the unfamiliar food, but after his first bite, his face noticeably brightened.
“This is good. I can see why it’s so famous.”
Fortunately, it seemed to suit his taste.
Starting with the pumpkin porridge, he began to eat through the courses one after another.
Even the little bird that had snuck out earlier was now nibbling on almonds in the salad.
We shared light conversation as we ate, and once we’d cleared about half the dishes, I set down my chopsticks and reached into my inventory pouch.
The highlight of the evening was still to come.
“Dad, I got you a gift.”
“Hm?”
I handed him a small box with “LOVE” written on it.
It would’ve been better if it came in a nicer case, but since I’d only received it this morning, I had to make do with one I grabbed at Daiso.
I did put some thought into choosing the gift, but now that I looked at it, the box didn’t really match the content…
“Go on, open it.”
My father, gripping the box with a stunned look on his face, hesitantly opened the lid at my urging.
The moment he did, he gasped audibly in shock.
“Th-This is…”
Inside the casual box was a single red, glimmering ring.
Now that I could say it out loud—I’d nearly gone blind trying to find a jeweler skilled enough to craft it.
“It’s made from a magic stone I got from an S-rank dungeon. The condition wasn’t great, so it had to be resized a lot, but… it’s meaningful, in its own way… Dad?”
My father, who had been silently listening to my explanation, suddenly teared up.
In the next moment, he was dabbing at the corners of his eyes with a napkin.
I awkwardly straightened up and patted him on the shoulder, feeling a mix of pride and quiet humility.
“Don’t cry.”
“Thank you…”
I was worried he might find it too much and not accept it, but the way he clung to it made it clear I had nothing to worry about.
It seemed he placed real value on the fact that his son had risked his life to get it.
Well, considering the mess I used to be, giving him a birthday gift must’ve felt pretty surreal.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I should’ve come to my senses way earlier…”
“Don’t say that. It’s all my fault. How could that ever be your mistake?”
* * *
Odio ser pobre, lo odio… 😔