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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 5
“I guess the first thing I need is proper clothes.”
Dojun couldn’t stand the sight of his own reflection anymore—dressed in a ragged T-shirt and baggy shorts that looked like they hadn’t left the laundry pile in days.
For the past three days, it was all he had worn. The rest of the closet wasn’t much better—just more of the same worn-out basics.
The original Seo Dojun—the one who died in the Gate—had lived a life of constant struggle, clawing for survival every step of the way.
Born the illegitimate son of a powerful man, Seo Dojun spent his early years with his birth mother, unwanted by his father’s household. Then, at age six, he was dragged into the family home on the orders of his paternal grandfather.
In a household desperate for a male heir, and with the legal wife unable to bear children despite her efforts, the grandfather had reluctantly acknowledged Seo Dojun and added him to the family registry.
But not a single person welcomed him. Not truly.
Even after officially bringing him into the household, the old man still looked at him with thinly veiled disdain. The stepmother—Hong Hee-joo—didn’t even try to hide her loathing.
As for his biological father, the only one who might’ve stood up for him? Cold. Distant. Never once treated him with warmth.
And yet, despite growing up in that nest of vipers, Seo Dojun never turned bitter. He stayed kind. Honest. Straight-laced.
But no amount of effort can outpace a cursed fate.
Eventually, the stepmother gave birth to a son—and just like that, Dojun was no longer needed.
Not even a full year after the half-brother was born, Dojun was pushed out of the house like garbage. Forced to leave, he gathered the only people he had left in this world: his maternal grandmother, whom he barely knew, and his half-sister, Eunyeong, who was only two years old.
He was just 18 when he became the head of the household.
Still just a kid, yet already responsible for two lives, Seo Dojun threw himself into society to earn a living.
And then—
“Hong Hee-joo.”
The name slipped from Dojun’s mouth like a sigh. Calm, but heavy.
His stepmother. The legal wife of his biological father. The woman who hated Seo Dojun with a kind of fury most people save for their worst enemies.
Even after he was thrown out, even after he disappeared from her life, that wasn’t enough for her. She couldn’t stand that he still breathed under the same sky.
Instead of being satisfied, she busied herself interfering with every attempt he made to stand on his own.
Seo Dojun had known all of this. Yet not once did he complain. Not once did he ask her to stop. He was the kind of person who was kind to a fault—stupidly so.
“I hope she doesn’t keep it up.”
Dojun muttered.
But things are different now.
That pitiful, naive Seo Dojun was gone.
And the new Dojun—reborn in this world with memories of another, a world lost to ruin—had no patience for people who tried to interfere with his path.
Forgiveness? Understanding? Not a chance.
He had already learned, painfully, just how unworthy humans could be.
He shoved the thick envelope of cash from the loan sharks into his shorts pocket without much care.
“Oppa, where are you going?”
Eunyeong came running over, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
A child untouched by the world’s filth.
She’d lost her mother at two and was raised by her grandmother ever since.
Whenever Dojun looked at her, some unfamiliar emotion tugged at his chest—sympathy, maybe. He didn’t think himself capable of that kind of softness anymore. Not after what he'd seen. Not after what he'd lived through.
‘It’s probably a leftover feeling from Seo Dojun’s memories.’
Dojun didn’t like it.
The emotion. The vulnerability.
But he couldn’t just push Eunyeong away, either. She was too pure. Too young.
So instead, he swallowed it down and masked it with silence.
Then he noticed the bear in her arms.
A shabby old teddy bear—worn, patched, its stuffing peeking out from the seams.
It was all she had. Her one and only friend.
Dojun stared for a while, then finally spoke.
“…Want a new stuffed animal?”
He regretted it the moment it left his mouth.
Too late now. The words were out.
He clicked his tongue in frustration.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Oppa! Oppa!"
Even with Eunyeong calling after him again and again, Dojun didn’t respond. He just kept walking.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the teddy bear—almost as tall as she was. Dojun, without asking a single question, simply picked it up.
“Anything else you want?”
“…Can I really get more?”
At her timid question, Dojun’s brow furrowed slightly.
That damn feeling again. Stirring.
To be blunt, in the ruined world Dojun came from, he had seen kids in far worse shape than Eunyeong. So many. Too many. Even then, his heart had never wavered.
So this wasn’t his emotion. It was the lingering aftereffect of sharing Seo Dojun’s memories.
The original Seo Dojun loved Eunyeong dearly.
It wasn’t just sibling affection—it was something deeper. A sense of kinship.
Both of them were born unwanted. Both were eventually thrown away.
And after their mother passed, it was Seo Dojun who raised her. Not as a brother, but like a father. That’s why, even as he lay dying, he’d begged—pleaded—that someone protect her.
With memories like that in his head, it was no wonder Dojun’s emotions reflexively reacted every time he saw her.
“…If there’s something you want, go ahead. Get as much as you like.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Waaah!”
Her eyes sparkled with joy.
Eunyeong ran around the toy store, darting from one aisle to the next. It took her a while, but eventually, she came back with what she wanted.
And what she chose…
“Oppa, I want this one.”
It was a tiny bunny plush—smaller than the palm of her hand.
Dojun had seen that one earlier too. He’d noticed the shelf it was on—a full display set, complete with a miniature house, furniture, and a dozen other plush characters from the same line.
“Didn’t I say you could get everything you wanted?”
“…Grandma said that money was really hard for you to earn.”
She was only seven.
And yet, she said that.
Dojun’s gaze hardened.
He strode over to the shopkeeper and said, firmly—
“I’ll take everything on that shelf.”
“Y-You mean ‘everything’?”
The owner looked at him in shock, and Dojun replied in a tone that left no room for doubt.
“Not a single one left out. All of it.”
＊ ＊ ＊
"Is it good?"
"Yeah! It's REALLY good! The BEST ever!"
At Eunyeong’s completely genuine answer, a faint smile flickered briefly across Dojun’s lips—there, then gone.
Squeeze.
Eunyeong was tightly holding Dojun’s hand while eating her ice cream.
His other hand was crammed with shopping bags—so many they looked like a burden—but for him, it was nothing.
"Hey, Oppa."
Eunyeong, with ice cream smudged around her mouth, looked up at him.
"Aren’t we getting something for Grandma?"
Dojun felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
He hadn’t thought of something that even a seven-year-old like Eunyeong had.
"Did Grandma say there was something she wanted?"
"…She said she wished she had a cane. She said other grandmas all have one, but she doesn't."
"A cane?"
"Yeah!"
Recalling the image of their grandmother, with her severely hunched back, Dojun gave a small nod.
"Alright. Let’s go get one."
He took Eunyeong’s hand and headed toward a nearby department store to buy a cane.
Originally, Dojun had planned to head straight home after picking out something practical for Grandma—but excited by the outing, Eunyeong had other ideas.
Caught up in her energy, Dojun ended up on an unplanned window-shopping tour.
While wandering through the store, the two of them eventually stepped into a luxury boutique that was almost blinding in its opulence.
Even in the ruined world he came from, places like this hadn’t existed. His curiosity piqued, and seeing how wide-eyed Eunyeong had gotten at the glitzy interior, he figured a little look around wouldn't hurt.
Dojun waved off the store clerk asking if they needed assistance, and, by some stroke of luck, the usually packed boutique was relatively quiet. He and Eunyeong browsed peacefully.
They were quietly taking in the display shelves, ignoring the wary glances of the staff, when—
“Seo Dojun?”
A female voice called out.
She was barely over 150cm tall, with a round, flat face and a stocky frame.
Her heavy makeup screamed effort—an attempt to cover up plain features—and her outfit was just as flashy: head-to-toe luxury brands.
Flanking her were two muscular bodyguards.
"No way—IS that really you, Seo Dojun?"
She approached Dojun, eyes wide in disbelief.
Dojun stared at the woman wrapped head to toe in luxury brands, his expression unreadable as always.
"What IS that look?"
Her face twisted into a sneer.
Dojun was wearing a clean, newly bought cotton tee and jeans—not some cheap bargain-bin stuff, but a decent brand. With his tall, model-like build, the outfit actually looked good on him, enough to turn heads.
But the woman still mocked him.
"So much for 'clothes make the man'… Even dressed up, you’re still nothing worth looking at."
Dojun didn’t respond. He just kept his eyes on her.
"And who’s that? What, did you knock someone up? She’s too old to be your daughter..."
The woman’s eyes lingered on Eunyeong, scanning her features. Something in the girl’s large, clear eyes and porcelain skin—uncannily similar to Dojun’s—made her bite her lip.
"Hey kid, what’s your name?"
Without hesitation, Eunyeong answered.
"Lee Eunyeong."
"Lee Eunyeong? So your last name’s Lee?"
The woman blinked, like that meant something.
Eunyeong looked back at her blankly, as if to say—’Why would that matter?’
To most people, that kind of look would’ve been adorable—but not to her. Clearly annoyed, the woman shifted her attention to Eunyeong’s clothes.
"That outfit, ugh. Just LOOK at you. Cheap and pitiful. Spitting image of your slutty mother."
She burst into laughter, shrill and mean, but Dojun still didn’t say a word.
Maybe that silence grated on her.
"What, cat got your tongue? You mute now? When someone talks to you, the least you could do is respond. God, you’re such a pain in the ass."
When even that failed to get a reaction out of Dojun, her tone turned nasty.
"Hey, runt."
She suddenly addressed Eunyeong.
"Yes?"
Despite Eunyeong’s innocent expression, the woman kept going, unfazed.
"Ever heard the word ‘Harlot’?"
"Ahem!"
"Hmm!"
The two men standing behind her—her bodyguards—cleared their throats awkwardly, and the store staff quickly looked away, visibly uncomfortable.
But the woman, feeding off the discomfort, only doubled down.
"You know what a ‘Harlot’ is? It’s someone like your mother—"
"A thoroughly rotten woman."
Dojun cut in, breaking his silence and her sentence like a blade through ice.
"…What? What did you just say? Did you seriously just call me that? You worthless piece of trash—who do you think you are?”
"You may look the part, but your nature is filthier than an orc’s. Listening to you any longer would be torture."
She just stood there, mouth slightly open, too stunned to speak.
She looked like she couldn't believe what she’d just heard—not just the words themselves, but that they had come from HIM.
This woman was Seo Min-chae—Dojun’s half-sister, two years younger.
They had lived under the same roof for nearly 12 years.
Naturally, it hadn’t been a happy sibling dynamic.
In fact, Min-chae’s feelings toward Dojun had always bordered on obsessive hatred.
"You… You... What did you just call me? O-Orc? You called ME—"
She couldn’t even finish the sentence, her body trembling in rage and humiliation.
"With your ugly personality, trashy attitude, no brains, and no grades... all you’ve got is this raging inferiority complex against anyone prettier, smarter, or even just kinder than you. Meanwhile, this girl—"
Dojun glanced at Eunyeong.
“—She’s leagues ahead of you. The only thing you ever had going for you was being born to rich parents. But hey, I guess that’s the one thing that still counts around here."
Just like Min-chae had mocked him before, now Dojun sneered right back.
Tears welled in her eyes. For the first time, she tasted real humiliation—and with store clerks and customers watching, people who usually bent over backward to please her, the shame cut even deeper.
"What are you morons standing there for?! That bastard… he just humiliated me in public! Are you really just gonna stand there and watch?!"
She screamed at her bodyguards, veins bulging in her neck.
The two men exchanged hesitant glances, knowing all too well what kind of person she was.
But finally, with an air of ‘we can’t not do this,’ they stepped forward.
They didn’t want to, but refusing wasn’t an option.
"Let’s not make this messy. Just take a few hits and be done with it."
One of the bodyguards muttered to Dojun.
At that, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of Dojun’s lips.
He was just about to make his move—ready to snap an arm the moment one of them laid hands on him—when...
"It’s been a while, Dojun."
A calm, familiar voice interrupted everything.
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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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