Chapter 1: This body, rejuvenated!

It was a sight as if a myth had been brought to life in a painting.

The dragon’s coiling body, draped in clouds from all corners of the sky as if they were its own clothes, was as wide as a grand boulevard and its length was like the Great Wall.

While the end of its serpentine body was unseen, its beginning was clearly visible; the dragon’s head looked down at me from a place quite close, meeting my gaze.

Its head alone was dozens of times larger than my entire body, and just looking at it made me keenly aware of what a colossal being it was.

He was a being whose status was as immense as his massive body.

His name was the Blue Dragon, a spiritual beast of the highest rank and the guardian deity of the East.

At the summit of Mount Penglai, the highest peak in the human realm, a place said to be the bridge connecting the heavens and the earth, I stood face-to-face with such an immense figure.

Without kneeling or prostrating, standing straight on my two legs.

“Do you truly intend to do so?”

He spoke.
The dragon’s voice resonated not in my ears, but in my soul.
In the first place, the dragon’s maw hadn’t moved an inch, so it was hard to even call it a sound.

Because of that, I couldn’t help but feel as if I wasn’t having a conversation, but receiving a divine revelation from the heavens.

“Yes.”

But there was no need to bow my head or show excessive courtesy.

I am not a sinner.
Nor did I come here to receive a mission.

Recognition of merit.
I was here to receive a reward for achievements I had already accomplished.

I saved this world.
I am a hero.

“I am going back.”

So, I want to go home.

‘It was a long fight.’

Looking back, it was a journey that could bring tears to my eyes.

I, an ordinary earthling, fell into another world 15 years ago when a worn-out manhole cover broke and I fell through.

And after overcoming numerous near-death crises and continuing on a terrible and painful adventure, one way or another, I managed to save the world and rise to a position where I could face the Blue Dragon, an apostle, messenger, and representative of the heavenly god.

To describe the details of that adventure would be too long, so I will omit it for now.

Anyway, the hardship is over, and it’s time to receive my reward.

There is only one thing I want.

‘I want to go home.’

“I thought all humans considered immortality to be of the highest value. But it seems that is not always the case.”

“Because I want to see my family more than I want to become a god.”

Becoming a god.
It sounds nice, but at best, I’d be a low-level god.

In a word, I would just become a lackey of the heavenly god, an errand boy, something akin to a slave.

I’ve already been tossed around enough on the ground; I don’t want to go up to the heavens just to do that sort of thing.

That sort of thing is more suited for divine beasts with a screw loose, workaholics by birth like that Blue Dragon.

Generally, for humans, resting at home is the best thing to do.

‘And I want to see my family.’

Immortality is nice, but what meaning is there in a lonely, eternal life?

It’s been a whopping 15 years since I last saw my family; since I fell here when I was 17, I haven’t seen them for almost half my life.

Therefore, I only wanted to return home as soon as possible and see my family.

I miss my mom, I miss my dad, I miss my younger sibling.

As if my impatient heart had been conveyed, the Blue Dragon also moved on to the main point.

“Take this, this is my Yeouiju. If you use its spiritual power, you could certainly become a Cheonho, but if returning is your choice, I have no right to interfere. Do as you please.”

From the dragon’s open maw, a five-colored, radiant orb, much larger than my head, flew towards me.

It wasn’t like I could read its expression, but the Blue Dragon seemed to regret something a little.

Whether it was regretting losing the Yeouiju, or losing me.

To be certain it was regretting the Yeouiju, the memory of me running all over the world as the Blue Dragon’s errand boy was just too vivid.

I suddenly felt a bit angry.

‘Was I that easy to boss around, you bastard?’

Still, that dog-like training was over now.
I shook my head to clear the painful memories and focused on the Yeouiju I received from the Blue Dragon.

‘This is the Yeouiju? What incredible power…’

The Yeouiju held by the Blue Dragon, the Guardian of the East, this is truly a precious thing.

The densely packed spiritual power is quite tempting.
I’ll try using it myself.

As I brought the Yeouiju to my body, the orb slid into me as if it had no physical form.

‘Power is overflowing!’

Although there was already no one on earth who could match me, the power of this Yeouiju was on another level entirely.

As for why I had to save the world when the Blue Dragon was this powerful, it was because the Heavenly Realm has its ways and the mortal realm has its ways, and gods supposedly aren’t allowed to interfere carelessly in the mortal realm.
It’s a pretty complicated story.

Anyway, having absorbed that spiritual power, I felt a sense of omnipotence from the overflowing energy and an unbearable excitement.

If I become a god, can I always feel this kind of power?

Suddenly, something inside me seemed to whisper.

Are you going to throw this power away?
Are you going to turn your back on this power?
Forget about things like family.
Power is so much better than that.

Weakness, helplessness, you yourself should know better than anyone the sorrow they bring, right?

Isn’t that right?
Weakness is a sin.

Now, take my hand.
And become a god.

Let’s become a Cheonho, a fox god with great power.

So that you won’t be looked down upon by anyone.
Seize this power.

“I’m not doing that.”

I rejected the whisper within me.
I will never become a Cheonho.

Cheonho, to put it simply, means Sky Fox.

It is said that a fox that has lived for a thousand years becomes a Cheonho, a fox immortal or fox god, when its collected spiritual power in its fox bead becomes a Yeouiju.

In other words, it could be called the final boss of the fox lineage, the final evolution.

The reason why I, a normal earthling, could become a Cheonho was because my current race was a Gumiho.

15 years ago, whether I died when I fell into the manhole or was destroyed when I fell into the dimensional rift, I fell into this world with only my soul, my body gone.

My soul entered the body of a small, dying fox cub, and thanks to that fox being of Gumiho lineage, I could shapeshift into a human and use magic, which is how, one way or another, I was able to save the world.

Using the power of the Yeouiju, I could become a Cheonho, or conversely, I could become completely human.

But as expected, I don’t want to stay in this world any longer.

I want to go home and see my family.
That is the wish I truly desire.

According to the Blue Dragon, the spiritual power of the Yeouiju is sufficient to grant the wish of returning to Earth.

The Yeouiju reacted to my wish and emitted a light.
And the dimension split apart.

The world was engulfed in a brilliant, five-colored light, and I held on tight to my consciousness.

Because I refuse to fall into another strange dimension.

Fortunately, since my soul was from Earth, it wasn’t hard to find the direction.

And so, I was finally able to return to Earth.

“I-I’m back!”

A smile automatically formed on my lips.

A street bustling with people like a swarm of ants.

Modern clothing and Korean signs that were so familiar and missed, yet also felt strange after so long.

Seeing that incredible amount of foot traffic, it was clearly inside a university district in Seoul!

‘I’m lucky.’

Not only did I successfully return to Earth, but I also arrived in Seoul in one go.

It was a situation that could only be described as incredibly lucky.

Well, it’s not like I’m the kind of person who’d have a problem if I landed on the opposite side of the planet, but anyway, good luck is good luck, right?

My home surely isn’t far from here.

‘How much time has passed?’

It’s a very common thing for the flow of time to differ between worlds.

Hoping that the common cliché of “I went to another world and came back to find not even a day had passed” would apply, I grabbed a passerby and asked.

“Excuse me, what’s today’s date? The year, month, and day?”

“Ah! Ahh! Waaah!”

The man I had questioned lifted his gaze from his phone, saw my face, and was so startled that he dropped his phone on the ground and couldn’t even think to pick it up, just stammering uncontrollably.

I picked up the phone for him instead, and fortunately, the screen wasn’t cracked or broken.

“Excuse me?”

“I-It’s June 6th, 2021!”

It was summer.

This guy is acting so stiffly, like I’m his boss or something.

‘Is my face that fatal?’

Well, since it’s a Gumiho’s job to bewitch people, I can understand.

But it’s been so long since I’ve actually interacted with humans that I don’t really know.

In that other world, I spent all my time fighting and brawling with monsters, so I never got along with humans at all.

“About 7 years and 6 months have passed? So the time ratio is roughly two to one. Not bad.”

I fell into that other world on December 24, 2013.

15 years in that world is 7 years and 6 months in this one.

Doesn’t this mean I’ve gained 7 years and 6 months?

“Wait, you mean I can subtract 7 years from my age? I’m not in my thirties anymore?”

I was 17 on Earth, then aged 15 years in that other world, which would have made me a thirty-two-year-old man, but…

Returning the 7 years and 6 months from the distorted flow of time, I now become a fresh-faced youth in my twenties.

It’s a miracle!
I’m in my twenties now!
Not in my thirties!

“Huhuhuhuhuhu…”

It was a situation where laughter couldn’t help but burst out.
Truly.

This body, rejuvenated!

Call me a twenty-five-year-old boy.