Description The Returner

      This story is centered around the man named Yi Ji-Hyuk, who has spent 1000 years in a Medieval Western fantasy-like world before returning back to the modern-day Earth. When he returns, he finds that his home is facing monster threats, and that humans with superpowers have appeared to protect the innocent people of Earth.

     The thing is, Yi Ji-Hyuk himself lived like a true, bona fide Demon King in...

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Chapter 201: What’s up with this chill 1

      Chapter 201: What’s up with this chill (1)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     “Euh, euh….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk emerging from the Gate suddenly shuddered and quickly hugged himself.

     “What’s up with this chill, man?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     He couldn’t quite understand the reason. It wasn’t as if he felt sick or something, yet why did he suddenly feel this ominous chill?

     “Did something strange happen to me?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk took a look at his body.

     “There’s nothing wrong with me, though?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     What a strange thing this was, this creeping chill overtaking him. It kind of felt like the last time he sensed such a chill was quite a long time ago.

     Just like back when……

     “….It can’t be that. No way.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shuddered again and shook his head around violently.

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     Such a thing should not happen. Never!

     “No, it can’t be!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Kim Dah-Hyun next to him frowned deeply.

     “What can’t be it?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     “Groan….”

     Kim Dah-Hyun had recovered some of his sanity while going through the Gate and stopped treating Yi Ji-Hyuk as crazily as before. However, his still-sullen tone of voice hadn’t been addressed yet.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk knew what the best method to deal with that attitude was, but doing that to Kim Dah-Hyun right now didn’t really seem all that kosher for some reason.

     ‘Like, it’s tugging at my mind, you see.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     This whole thing was Affeldrichae’s fault, but then again, if one thought about why that d*mn lizard woman was here in the first place, even Yi Ji-Hyuk himself could not completely escape the blame for this one.

     “Groan….”

     If only he was completely not guilty here. He’d have proceeded to beat that mouth up until it resembled a bill of a duck already. But now….

     “Okay, so where are we supposed to go now?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     “She’s back in the office.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Eh?”

     Kim Dah-Hyun asked back in a rather displeased tone of voice.

     “She’s hurt, so why is she at our office?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     “I told you, it’s not that serious. Besides, that injury? That’s not something a doctor can fix, you see.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Eiii, sh*t!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     Kim Dah-Hyun managed to convey his thoughts of ‘I might not be able to retort to that, but doesn’t mean I have to like it’ rather succinctly.

     ‘….Should I just beat him up?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Since when did I ever get p*ssed off while talking about who’s in the right or wrong?!

     Should I just pretend I didn’t see anything and slap him silly now? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Kim Dah-Hyun left behind Yi Ji-Hyuk stewing in serious contemplation and strode gallantly towards the NDF office.

     “Eh-whew….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk failed to reach a decision in time and simply shook his head before following after him.

     *

     “Dah-Som-ah!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     Kim Dah-Hyun saw his little sister Kim Dah-Som lying on a bed and tears erupted out of his eyes. He quickly ran over to her side and held her hand.

     Kim Dah-Som was half asleep by then, but she woke up and opened her eyes to stare in Kim Dah-Hyun’s general direction.

     “….Oppa?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Yes, Dah-Som-ah! It’s your oppa!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     “Ji-Hyuk oppa?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “…………”

     Kim Dah-Som’s eyes drifted towards Yi Ji-Hyuk walking in right behind Kim Dah-Hyun. Suddenly relegated to the role of an invisible man, his dejected, tearful face confronted Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     The latter nodded his head in the direction of the former.

     Yes, I understand how you feel.

     I know all about it, dude. So stop crying. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “…Hey.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk replied somewhat awkwardly.

     Since the girl was hurt, he did think about being a bit more gentler and friendlier than before, but then again, he might get burned alive by the laser beams shooting out from Kim Dah-Hyun’s eyes if he did that. So, in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to sound friendly at all.

     ‘How can a human being carry such an amount of intense hatred for anything?!’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head helplessly.

     He had been subjected to countless people’s grudges. But, he could swear that this would be his first time being subjected to this sort of grudge in his entire life.

     Griiit….

     Yi Ji-Hyuk heard Kim Dah-Hyun grit his teeth and began wondering just what rotting pile of rubbish was stinking up this fool’s head. It was at this point that Affeldrichae walked into the room.

     “Just what the hell happened back there?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk had heard the gist of the situation, but details hadn’t been provided yet. Affeldrichae heard his question, but she answered in a nonchalant manner.

     “It’s just the Mana Deviation.” (Affeldrichae)

     “You taught her magic?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes.” (Affeldrichae)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head.

     “But how? There’s no Mana in this world….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “We still have Mana crystals, yes?” (Affeldrichae)

     “Ohh….”

     Right, we still have some Mana crystals left, don’t we?

     If you extract some Mana out of those and let it enter a person’s body, then well, humans of this world should be able to use magic as well. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “How long have you been teaching her magic?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Not that long.” (Affeldrichae)

     “But then, she experienced the Mana Deviation?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes.” (Affeldrichae)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at Affeldrichae with an expression that clearly said, “I don’t get it.”

     Simply put, ‘Mana Deviation’ was kinda like a job-related illness unique only to wizards.

     When you failed to control Mana properly and it deviated from the correct pathway to go on a rampage, that phenomenon was called the Mana Deviation.

     The weird point here was – such a phenomenon would only occur to a wizard of certain calibre who possessed a fair amount of Mana in the first place. So, the fact that a girl who didn’t learn magic for that long, and the fact that she experienced this phenomenon, simply contradicted each other.

     “How did that happen?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “It’ll be a long story if I were to get into the details.” (Affeldrichae)

     “M-mm….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk glared at Affeldrichae with deeply unconvinced eyes, before asking her another question.

     “Okay, but why did you even teach her magic in the first place?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “She wanted to learn it.” (Affeldrichae)

     “Why?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “She wanted to become stronger.” (Affeldrichae)

     “………..”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk found it hard to understand. Why did a regular person like this girl want to learn magic so that she could become ‘stronger’?

     “H-mm….”

     He realised that the origin of the problem wasn’t Affeldrichae and shifted his gaze over to Kim Dah-Som.

     “Dah-Som-ah, are you in pain? Did you go to a hospital before coming here? Did the doctors say anything? Your complexion look so pale, so like, shouldn’t we go and get you another test? Or, should I kidnap a doctor and bring him over here?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     “Oppa.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Ng?”

     “You’re making me dizzy, so please step outside the room for a while.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “……..”

     “Hurry.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “M-mm.” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     Kim Dah-Hyun now resembled a dejected dog with his tail lowered all the way to the ground. He then slunk off to the outside of the room.

     “Euh-heuph….” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk heard the sounds of a man trying to hold back his tears and looked at the back of departing Kim Dah-Hyun with a bit of pity.

     ‘What a helpless idiot.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Initially, he felt a bit of kinship due to the fact that they shared a similar sort of violent little sisters, but now that he got to know that fool a bit better, there was no doubt in his mind that Kim Dah-Hyun needed more beatings in his life.

     He now even felt sorry for Kim Dah-Som since she had to live with a brother like that everyday.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shifted his gaze back over to the girl and asked.

     “Okay so. Why were you doing something so useless?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     She didn’t reply and sneakily avoided meeting his gaze.

     “What’s wrong? Did you feel left out cuz everyone around you was an ability user while you were a regular person?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “No, not really.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Okay, then why?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “………”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out a helpless sigh.

     “Here’s the thing about being ability users or wizards or whatever. You think people became one of those because they really enjoy being one?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Pardon?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “A person is at their happiest when they are being themselves. You see those ability users on TV doing their thing and you think it looks cool and all that, don’t you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “…………”

     “No, it ain’t. Being normal is for the best. I’m telling you.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk closed shut his mouth at the end of those words.

     Kim Dah-Som saw the bitter, lonesome expression on his face and cautiously reached out to grasp his hand.

     “Mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….I’m sorry.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “About what?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I made you worry.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Haaah?”

     What U on about, me worry?

     Why would I worry about you?!

     It’s already a full-time job worrying about my own life, so where would I find time to worry about someone else? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk snorted right away. However, he didn’t yank his hand loose from her grasp, either.

     Well, she was a patient, after all. She wasn’t feeling okay, so he might as well behave a little bit better.

     “Don’t push yourself, got it?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I won’t.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “You planning to keep learning magic?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I’ll be more careful in the future.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “……It’s your life, so you do what you want.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     In all honesty, this matter didn’t have a lot to do with him. It was an incident involving Affeldrichae and Kim Dah-Som, so he didn’t really have any right to butt in and tell them what to do.

     No, he could only lament to himself. By her wanting to learn magic, that also implied that she wished to live in the frontlines, as well.

     She may lament the fact that she had no powers right now. However, the moment she witnessed blood being spilt and torn flesh flying up in the air, her thoughts would do a 180 quickly enough.

     Just who out there fought because they liked it?

     “Do what you want.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head and left the room as well. Affeldrichae cast sleeping magic on Kim Dah-Som and followed after him.

     “What are you trying to do here?” (Yi ji-hyuk)

     Affeldrichae’s expression didn’t even flicker once as she replied.

     “She wanted to learn, so I only taught her some magic.” (Affeldrichae)

     “But then, she experienced the Mana Deviation?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….She possesses talent.” (Affeldrichae)

     “What was that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     She turned her head towards the now-closed door and spoke.

     “She is very talented. Her skill level rose up so fast that I almost ended up thinking that maybe, all the humans of this world would be like her if they got to learn magic.” (Affeldrichae)

     “Hmm….”

     “If we’re talking purely about talent, then it’s possible that she exceeds even you, Mister Ji-Hyuk. So, she kept pushing herself a bit more and more, until she stumbled over her own limit.” (Affeldrichae)

     “You’re supposed to be a Dragon, so couldn’t you have made a logical deduction? Or did you lose your sanity for real now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Well, technically, what she experienced wasn’t Mana Deviation. Simply put, her physical body couldn’t handle the sudden increase of her Mana reserve.” (Affeldrichae)

     “So? What’s the conclusion, then?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “She’s a born wizard. It is worth teaching her, I think.” (Affeldrichae)

     “Hah??”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk glared straight into Affeldrichae’s eyes and spoke.

     “Now listen here, lizard woman.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “…………”

     “Have you thought about how long the ‘born wizard’ might need before becoming a part of our combat force?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I’m sure it might take a bit of time.” (Affeldrichae)

     “A talent exceeding mine? Even I needed over a thousand years to get to where I am. No matter how much of a genius you are, nearly ten years are needed before you can realistically participate in a serious battle. It looks like the notion of a decade comes across as a blink in the perspective of a Dragon, but let’s be logical here. You can’t even guarantee that this world will last even that long. So, what are you trying to achieve by teaching her magic now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “You do have a point.” (Affeldrichae)

     “Hah….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk bared his fangs and growled menacingly.

     “Stop with your unnecessary rubbish, okay? I’m telling you, stop trying to mess with my surroundings. If you insist on doing that, I might not be so gracious anymore.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Affeldrichae stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk with puzzled look on her face.

     “This is so strange.” (Affeldrichae)

     “What now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I had no idea that you had any awareness of your surroundings.” (Affeldrichae)

     “…………..”

     “Haven’t you always divided the world as you and everyone else? Are you actually feeling some sort of an emotional attachment with that little girl?” (Affeldrichae)

     “Don’t make me laugh.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     Yi Ji-Hyuk snorted derisively again.

     “In that case, isn’t it fine?” (Affeldrichae)

     “Looky here, lizard.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes?” (Affeldrichae)

     “Humans are social creatures, got it? Doesn’t matter if I’m emotionally attached or not, I’ll still end up minding whatever happens around me. You understand what I’m saying to you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “But, if you wish to talk about humanity’s social norms, I should understand it far better than you, Mister Ji-Hyuk. Weren’t you the very person that broke away from all the social norms in the first place?” (Affeldrichae)

     “I didn’t break away from it.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     No, I just chose to stay away from it, you dang dumba*s lizard woman.

     Humans of Berafe and I had nothing to do with each other.

     Besides, they didn’t even see me as a human, anyway. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “I guess there’s always something that you would never understand, regardless of how smart you are.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Affeldrichae tilted her head this way and that as if she was lost in a maze.

     “I’ve been feeling this often in the past, but well, talking to you makes me feel confused and lost.” (Affeldrichae)

     “What a relief, then. I thought it was only me.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Confused and lost.

     Even Yi Ji-Hyuk was feeling the contradiction in his heart as he spoke those words. In all honesty, he was not related to this thing of Kim Dah-Som wanting to learn magic and Affeldrichae teaching her.

     She might have gotten hurt during the process, sure, but the onus was on Kim Dah-Som and no one else.

     But then, why was he getting this annoyed?

     His head kept saying that he shouldn’t get annoyed at this development, but then, he was still getting rather p*ssed off about it.

     ‘Well, I’ve been feeling pretty unhappy the whole day….’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     His thoughts were too muddied right now to figure out whether his annoyance stemmed from his unhappiness, or it was the other way around.

     Still feeling dissatisfied, he decided to close the lid on the situation, It was right then, his smartwatch suddenly issued a ring.

     “Hello?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk, this is Choi Jung-Hoon speaking.”

     “I have functioning eyes that can see the caller ID. Speak, please.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “….The American ability users have arrived.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “….Well, now. That’s excellent news.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Cuz, I was looking for something to do, you see.

     Annoyance disappeared from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face, only to be replaced by a streak of mischievousness.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     Ebook Updates(dot)Net

     .

     Chapter 202: What’s up with this chill 2

      Chapter 202: What’s up with this chill (2)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     “You sure have collected quite a few, haven’t you?” (Argolas)

     Argolas received the marbles from Alpha.

     Seeing all those marbles shining in the hue so ominously black that it seemed to suck out the souls of all those looking at them, even the demon thought it’d lose itself if it was not careful.

     These were basically artefacts containing purified essence of negative energy.

     “So, what are you planning to use them for? Is it yet another Gate?” (Alpha)

     “That’s right.” (Argolas)

     “I thought that it’s now proven a demon king or whatever can’t properly deal with Yi Ji-Hyuk?” (Alpha)

     “You’ve witnessed the event that had unfolded so far, yet you can still say something like that. The tendency of humans to rely on sarcasm to make themselves feel better, I’ll never understand it.” (Argolas)

     “Hmph….” (Alpha)

     Alpha began glaring at Argolas as if he didn’t like this idea.

     “Have I not explained it multiple times that not all demon kings are the same?” (Argolas)

     “That you did.” (Alpha)

     Alpha nodded his head.

     Sure, he had heard that story multiple times. And he also heard that the lizard who showed up here just so happened to be a low-ranked one among all the demon kings.

     Such a ‘low-ranked’ demon king proceeded to annihilate a part of the USA and drove Yi Ji-Hyuk to the brink of death.

     In the end, Yi Ji-Hyuk and his gang managed to eke out a victory, but without the interference of a certain someone, it would have been Yi Ji-Hyuk dying that day, instead.

     “Okay, so. You’re saying that a higher-ranking demon king will show up this time?” (Alpha)

     “That’s correct.” (Argolas)

     “H-mm….”

     Alpha tilted his head, unconvinced.

     “It seems that there are quite a few interested in Earth living in the demon world you mentioned. But then, didn’t you say that these demon kings are lazy as*es and they don’t like making waves? So, why does it sound like every Tom, Dick, and Harry wants to show up here?” (Alpha)

     “I don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve by making me angry with your crappy attitude. Besides, your childish prattling does not work on me, so why don’t you give it a rest?” (Argolas)

     “Aren’t you a boring one.” (Alpha)

     Alpha quietly studied Argolas.

     The so-called demons.

     Alpha thought that he’d get what he wanted by cooperating with these demons, but lately, that line of thinking had been going through some changes. After all, he had not gotten his hands on any of the promised compensation until now, had he?

     “So, when can I reasonably expect to receive this reward you’ve been talking about?” (Alpha)

     “Very soon.” (Argolas)

     “You know, I can’t recall just how many times you’ve given me that answer. According to you, demons would never lie about the contracts they sign. But then again, creatures like demons would never speak the truth from the get-go, so am I being stupid by trusting you?” (Alpha)

     “….You b*stard.” (Argolas)

     Argolas’s expression crumpled rather unsightly.

     Contract signing to demons was sacred.

     Contracts were the very essence of all demons.

     It was one of the greatest insults to a demon to suspect the legitimacy of a contract.

     “It’s not difficult to give you what I promised right now. With what you have managed to gather, it’d be perfectly doable. However, if I use these to open up a Gate instead, then you will receive far more than what you ever wanted.” (Argolas)

     “I don’t know that for sure.” (Alpha)

     “It’s up to you to decide. I shall simply comply with what you want.” (Argolas)

     “H-m-mm…”

     Alpha formed an expression of a man in a slight dilemma, before opening his mouth.

     “Oh, well. Fine. Open this Gate of yours.” (Alpha)

     “Do you trust me, then?” (Argolas)

     “What, you?” (Alpha)

     Alpha began laughing out loudly as if he found the notion ridiculous.

     “A human trusting a demon? What a funny concept that is. My bad. When I think about it, you being in this world is pretty much the same thing as me falling into the pits of hell, but….. I should be thinking that you’re a bit of an insane loon by now.” (Alpha)

     “Sure, I did think that way before.” (Argolas)

     “Mm?”

     “I wondered if all humans liked yapping on and on after seeing how Yi Ji-Hyuk’s mouth didn’t seem to know the meaning of taking a break. However, I thought I shouldn’t generalise since humans have this thing called individual personality quirks. Now that I’ve seen you speak, though, I can safely say that the humans of this world are, indeed, noisy chatterboxes.” (Argolas)

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     “Kekeke.”

     Alpha cackled out as if he was happy about something, before opening his mouth again.

     “Fine. Go ahead. Well, I haven’t done anything major for you until now anyway. I can certainly do something as minor as going around places with lots of people dying while carrying these marbles around. But I did have to go to quite a few places all thanks to this incident, though.” (Alpha)

     “The difficulty of the matter at hand isn’t important. No, the only thing that counts is whether it has been done or not.” (Argolas)

     “Sure. So, open the Gate up and we’ll leave it at that. I don’t mind not getting my reward right now, but in all honesty, I also wanna see what kind of a demon king would show up this time.” (Alpha)

     “I’m not sure whether to say you won’t be disappointed or you’ll regret it.” (Argolas)

     “Regret?” (Alpha)

     “That’s right, regret. The one scheduled to arrive this time isn’t someone as mild-mannered as the last demon king.” (Argolas)

     “Mild-mannered?!” (Alpha)

     That lizard-like monstrosity was mild mannered? Was the demon world only filled with batsh*t-crazy insane fools, then? How could the words ‘mild-mannered’ even be mentioned in the same breath as ‘demon king’?

     “….Well, I’m certainly looking forward to this.” (Alpha)

     Alpha cackled again, before turning around to leave this room. Argolas wordlessly watched him leave, before injecting its Mana into the marble-like artefacts on its palm.

     “Enjoy your leisure, what little remains of it.” (Argolas)

     Argolas didn’t know for what purpose Alpha was helping it out. The human probably didn’t trust the contract itself. Unfortunately, there was one little thing Alpha had overlooked.

     Didn’t matter if everything he wanted came true, because the moment this world fell into the grips of the demon world, all those things would lose their meaning.

     “Is that the limitation of a human?” (Argolas)

     Argolas turned its attention away from Alpha and focused itself in opening the Gate.

     Delkaran. The great one was coming.

     Once the great one had arrived, this world would finally realise what a true demon king was and start worshipping their new rulers.

     *

     “This is really interesting.” (Alpha)

     Alpha cracked his neck left to right while walking out from the gloomy room.

     “How long are you planning to humour those strange creatures?” (?)

     “But, don’t you find them entertaining?” (Alpha)

     Alpha smiled brightly.

     “It’s a sad thing to see humans in conflict with one another. So, would you believe me if I say that my earnest wish is to avoid creating situations of people fighting each other?” (Alpha)

     “No, not really.” (?)

     “That’s lamentable. Really.” (Alpha)

     Even though he was supposed to be lamenting, his lips were busy forming a cheery smile.

     “Is there a reason why you are helping those things out?” (?)

     “Didn’t I already say that it’s entertaining?” (Alpha)

     “I’m simply curious of the real reason.” (?)

     “Hmm….”

     Alpha stopped walking. Before him, a man qualified to be labelled as his right hand stood like a firm wall.

     “Vito.” (Alpha)

     “Yes?” (Vito)

     “Stop being serious, because you aren’t being fun anymore.” (Alpha)

     “My apologies.” (Vito)

     “M-mm. Doesn’t suit you.” (Alpha)

     Alpha shook his head and continued on.

     “We need lots more chaos.” (Alpha)

     “Chaos, sir?” (Vito)

     “That’s right. But, what we need is not the chaos created by humanity’s own hands, but by monsters.” (Alpha)

     Vito formed a puzzled expression.

     “It’s about time people wake up to the notion of ‘contradiction’.” (Alpha)

     “Contradiction?” (Vito)

     “Some people will begin to realise it as the number of sacrifices climb higher. And that would be – this world is being propped up by the support pillar of sacrifices. And when that happens, someone will step up. People with loud voices wishing to be heard and not wanting to put up with any more sacrifices will increase.” (Alpha)

     “…Sounds difficult.” (Vito)

     “But, it’s not that difficult at all.” (Alpha)

     Alpha chuckled and began walking again.

     “Let’s watch from the sidelines until then. Let’s spectate on the fight between these demons and the guardian of the humanity.” (Alpha)

     “Are you talking about Yi Ji-Hyuk?” (Vito)

     “Right, that guy.” (Alpha)

     “Have you completely given up on winning him over?” (Vito)

     “Yup, that I did.” (Alpha)

     Alpha didn’t explain himself in detail. Words couldn’t adequately explain why that man couldn’t be won over, no matter what.

     In the first place, there was no chance to win over someone who’d wilfully go the other way when you tried to coax him in another direction. Such a man would never do what you ask of him no matter how hard you wrecked your brain to think up of a method to control him.

     In that case, it was better to just let him be. Which would result in others poking him and getting a bloody nose, instead. All Alpha had to do was to enjoy the spectacle.

     “It’s still an unknown. Whether he’d become an enemy or a friend…. We should observe for a little while longer.” (Alpha)

     “Understood.” (Vito)

     Alpha lightly patted Vito’s shoulder and continued his walk towards the surface from this underground space.

     He suddenly grew a bit irritated at the sliver of sunlight leaking in from the gap of the old steel gates. Such beams of light permeating into the darkened space like this one would only stimulate his deeply-repressed trauma, after all.

     ‘No need to be hasty.’ (Alpha)

     Some time in the future, everything he wished for would come to fruition. Until then, he’d have to put up with this whole unlikely bedfellows thing with the demons.

     *

     “So, this is South Korea, is it?” (Stephen Bosch)

     Stephen Bosch massaged his slightly aching shoulders as his way to express his dissatisfaction.

     “Obviously.”

     “Whatever. I don’t like it here already.” (Stephen Bosch)

     First of all, he was p*ssed off about this cold weather. He was a California-native and as a result, didn’t enjoy cold places one bit. Perhaps even more egregious was the fact that he didn’t come here on his own volition, but was pretty much forced to come, instead. So, there was no way he’d find this place to his liking at all.

     “That d*mn McLaren.” (Stephen Bosch)

     Bosch simply couldn’t understand what that man wanted to achieve by sending them over to this tiny-a*s country.

     In order to enhance their abilities?

     If ability users could enhance their powers just because they wanted to, wouldn’t they have done so already?!

     Bosch did strongly voice his objections, but when asked if he failed to see the ability users of the NDF, he realised that he had nothing more to say. Well, he had functioning eyes and all, so there.

     Back when they were confronted by that f*cking demon or whatever, or even when zombies were running amok in the streets of America, it wasn’t the proud American ability users that solved both situations but those Korean b*stards, instead.

     That fact alone was stomping on Stephen Bosch’s pride.

     “God f*cking d*mn it.” (Stephen Bosch)

     “Hey, man. Don’t get too worked up over it, okay?”

     “How can I not get worked up?” (Stephen Bosch)

     It was already a deeply dissatisfying matter to be pushed aside by some random b*stards from a tiny country out in East Asia, but now, he even had to grovel and ask them to impart their knowledge on some stuff, too.

     This wasn’t some kind of transfer of technology, either. Just what on earth were they doing here? No, hang on a minute – transfer of tech would be so much more preferable than this c**p. Because, you’d be exchanging stuff when doing that.

     These people had always been under the protection of a powerful ally called the United States of America. So, just when would they have been on the receiving end of others grovelling and asking them for their help?

     “Godd*mn monkeys.” (Stephen Bosch)

     “Hey, Stephen! Watch your mouth.”

     “….Sorry. I was out of line there.” (Stephen Bosch)

     “One more racist bullsh*t out of your mouth, and I’ll personally yank your a*s out of here and send you back home, got it?”

     “Tsk.”

     Stephen Bosch turned his head away, his expression now filled up with disgruntlement.

     The friend next to him was an African American and was quite sensitive towards racism in general. Now typically, black people would generally chuckle along at the mockery aimed at the Oriental folks. But not this guy. When it came to this kind of stuff, he was so hardcore that he even came across as a god d*mn freak sometimes.

     ‘I can’t even get angry properly here.’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Stephen Bosch’s irritation was piling up sky-high now.

     “Just when are they gonna show up?” (Stephen Bosch)

     The first wave of those who were scheduled to receive this training that wasn’t really training, had all arrived in Korea by now. However, the ones supposed to greet them were nowhere to be seen.

     Thanks to that, these Americans were left waiting on this military training field, the location designated as the meeting point of the two sides.

     “I’m sure they are on their way.” (Woody)

     Stephen Bosch’s friend, Woody plopped down on the ground.

     “D*mn it.” (Stephen Bosch)

     It was already d*mn annoying to come here, but now, he even had to wait for some tardy b*stards, too? Once his irritation level began rising up, everything he could see became a source of even more irritation.

     This bitterly-cold weather, the stupid humidity he could feel despite the cold, and even this narrow-as-hell training ground – all of it.

     “Hey, there they are.” (Woody)

     Thankfully, the NDF folks finally showed up before Bosch’s irritation had a chance to balloon up to even greater heights.

     His sharp glare landed on the incoming Koreans. There were three of them – two men and one woman.

     ‘That’s Seo Ah-Young.’

     Everyone knew who that woman was. She was the South Korean ability user thought to be one of the world’s best. The Flame Witch, Seo Ah-Young.

     As for the good-looking man next to her, he must’ve been her adjutant, Choi Jung-Hoon.

     Of course, the Americans had pretty much memorised the information on all the important Koreans on their way over here. That was why they could recognise them immediately.

     And the owner of the annoyance-ridden face walking in the middle of them was none other than Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     His gaze and Stephen’s collided in mid-air.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Chapter 203: What’s up with this chill 3

      Chapter 203: What’s up with this chill (3)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     Stephen Bosch mistook this situation as a staring contest.

     When a person was about to establish a relationship with another person, the beginning of it all was the most important part. Depending on the first impression, you might end up looking like a dumba*s, or the other party would not know how to even talk to you properly.

     The American knew very well that he’d not be able to deal with this guy named Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     Christopher McLaren was a cold hearted b*stard, capable of making decisions to kill lots of people using various methods of torture over a cup of coffee. Yet, even he would break out in cold sweat whenever this Korean man’s name was brought up.

     So, there was no way Stephen Bosch would not know of the gap between him and Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     Not only that, he also witnessed several times Christopher McLaren, the man who came across as the Grim Reaper in his eyes, smiling awkwardly and acting all subservient and the like towards Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     A man completely at home dealing with various types of people was acting like that. And that could only mean that this Korean man was scary beyond Stephen Bosch’s imagination.

     Even then, he wasn’t planning to back down. If he did, then he’d be placed on an even lower rung than Christopher McLaren’s level. He would not be able to lift up his head in front of Yi Ji-Hyuk. That was why, this might be his only chance.

     Thankfully, he did have a mountain to lean on right now. First of all, there were 300 of his comrades that would become his source of strength all around him.

     And also, Yi Ji-Hyuk was accompanied by only two people currently. One of them was even a regular person, too. In a situation like this, he wouldn’t be able to do something rash.

     They were supposed to form a ‘relationship’ under the guise of training, so if their positions were not properly established from the word go, then who knows how much degradation the Americans would be subject to?

     Stephen Bosch quietly suppressed his pounding heart and stared straight into Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes.

     ….Until the Korean man gets p*ssed off. From that man’s perspective, it’d be like some insignificant ant glaring right back at him. So, he’d get angry from it.

     Yup, get p*ssed off.

     When you do, I’ll be the winner.

     You start persecuting me over nothing, then my comrades will start feeling dissatisfied by the unfairness of it all. (Bosch’s inner monologue)

     Stephen Bosch kept his eyes wide open while kicking his brain into next gear. Unfortunately for him, though – his opponent today was none other than Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     *

     ‘What should I have for lunch today?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s dilemma, as usual, was quite serious.

     For the first time in quite a while, he had finally managed to get out of the dreary ability user residential area. So naturally, the first thing he thought up of was to find something delicious to eat.

     “Mister Choi Jung-Hoon?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes, please speak.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “What is this area famous for?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Excuse me?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Famous with what exactly?

     “What do you wish to know? This area’s specialty products?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “No, I meant famous diners.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ah…..”

     Choi Jung-Hoon wasn’t all that surprised.

     Such a question would certainly be fitting for Yi Ji-Hyuk’s character.

     Sure, today’s off-kilter banter started off on a strange direction, but still, it was a common occurrence for him to go off on a tangent utterly unrelated to the matter at hand, anyway.

     “I wonder. I’m not sure what is…..” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “It’s the army stew.” (Seo Ah-Young) (TL note at the end)

     The answer actually came from the other side of Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     “……..” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon stared at Seo Ah-Young, prompting her to avoid meeting his eyes and resolutely fix her gaze to the front.

     “This area is famous for their army stew.” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “Ohh!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s expression brightened.

     Yup, a Korean should eat Korean food.

     Army stew, is it…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “By the way, isn’t army stew something that came out of American military bases?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “That’s what I heard, too.” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “So, like, it kinda feels weird talking about army stew in front of these American folks, doesn’t it…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Well, now that you mention it, it does sound that way.” (Seo Ah-Young)

     *

     ‘What are they talking about?’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Stephen Bosch paid attention to the three Koreans, but he couldn’t understand a word they were talking about. Of course, he didn’t understand a lick of Korean to begin with, but he was far, far too curious as to what the three of them could be busy yapping on about over there.

     ‘Are they discussing a way to deal with me?’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Seeing how serious their expressions were, the odds of that were pretty high.

     ‘I thought as much.’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Obviously, that wouldn’t be easy.

     Even if it was Yi Ji-Hyuk, even if that guy didn’t behave like a normal human being, they were American ability users. It’d prove to be somewhat difficult to lay a hand on them.

     Christopher McLaren also did say that one needed to address Yi Ji-Hyuk in a straightforward manner, didn’t he?

     ‘I need to come out a bit tougher.’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Stephen Bosch sniggered at Yi Ji-Hyuk. All he had to was to show that he was not afraid of the Korean man. That was all.

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     *

     “So, which diner makes the best stew?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Should I g*ogle it?” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “…Hang on, the lunch hour still far away so why are you so eager to find it, ma’am?! Director, please!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “No, well, it’s Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk who’s curious, not me.” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “But, doesn’t it look like you’re the most happy of us three?!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “You’re mistaken.” (Seo Ah-Young)

     Seo Ah-Young immediately played possum.

     “Uh-whew.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Just when will this woman grow up??

     She’s been rolling around in this field for five years already, so what does she want from me by acting like this? (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     “What’s the matter? Is g*ogling something a crime now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “…….”

     Choi Jung-Hoon could only stare at the heavens above after getting struck by Yi Ji-Hyuk’s timely support fire.

     If there was indeed a god up there, the benevolent one shouldn’t have done this. Didn’t someone say it before? That thing about ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. In that regard, giving great power to this man was easily the biggest mistake ever.

     It’s completely, utterly inconceivable, you know!! (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     “You should’ve given it to me, instead.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Choi Jung-Hoon shook his head softly.

     “300 people are waiting for us, so we should do something about them first. You can find a delicious diner or head to the US for lunch afterwards.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Yes, let’s do that.” (Seo Ah-Young)

     Seo Ah-Young unhesitatingly replied, prompting Yi Ji-Hyuk to form a bit of unhappy expression.

     ‘Did that guy named Choi Jung-Hoon persuade Yi Ji-Hyuk not to go crazy just now?’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Didn’t the flow of situation come across that way?

     Stephen Bosch stared with tense eyes and went for the final spurt – and that was when Yi Ji-Hyuk finally discovered the American.

     “Hey, that guy over there. Isn’t he glaring at us?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Who is?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “That guy.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk pointed with his chin and Choi Jung-Hoon followed that to spot Stephen Bosch glaring at them. Those eyes clearly belonged to someone asking for trouble.

     “….You aren’t going to kill him, yes?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “What the heck! Do you take me for a dang mass murderer or something?! You think I’ll kill someone because he’s glaring at me? Do I look like a high school thug to you?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Although those words seemed about right….

     Well, I am a mass murderer, and I didn’t graduate from a high school so technically, you can still call me a, uh…….. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk hurriedly shook his head.

     Gimme a break, a high schooler, at my age?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Besides all that, why is he glaring at me?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk looked back at Stephen Bosch with a puzzled expression on his face.

     “Did I do something wrong back in the U.S.?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….I don’t think so?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Not just from the perspective of Yi Ji-Hyuk, but also from regular people’s point of view, he certainly hadn’t done anything wrong. If it was back in South Korea, the story might change a bit, but…

     No, in all honesty, there should be lots if one were to dig deeper into the truth, but nevertheless, Yi Ji-Hyuk was a hero and saviour who rescued the United States of America.

     So, why was that man displaying so much hostility right now?

     “Maybe, he doesn’t like you, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Ohh, that must be it.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head.

     “Oh, well. Something like that can happen, I guess.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s nonchalant reaction immediately caused Choi Jung-Hoon to throw out a proving question.

     “Aren’t you angry?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Why would I be?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Well, that guy is being so openly hostile and all that, isn’t he?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “But, that can happen, can’t it?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Isn’t this weird?

     This guy isn’t someone like this, though? (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     “You’re planning to drag him to a quiet place later and beat the living daylights out of him, aren’t you? Let’s be all be open about this, shall we? I’d much prefer if you beat him up in front of other people, you know?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Hul…..” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I mean, if you beat someone up in front of other people, at least you will stop just before killing the poor man.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Seriously?! You think I’m some kind of a butcher or something?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk could only chuckle wryly in sheer dumbfoundedness. What dumbfounded him even more was with the fact that Choi Jung-Hoon thought he’d get angry from nothing more than some minor character glaring at him.

     ‘Does he think I’ve never been glared at before in my life?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     I’ve been glared at for over a thousand years, you fool.

     It was even harder to find someone looking at him like a fellow man back in Berafe. At least, the non-human species looked at him with the eyes that said, ‘Oh, that’s a funny looking human’.

     The same humans as Yi Ji-Hyuk all looked at him as if he was a monster.

     Hostility?

     Something like that was a given.

     Humans of Earth would likely never know the feeling of being subjected to glares containing contempt, scorn, and fear. So, the American’s glare simply came across as a little child whining a bit to Yi Ji-Hyuk. He didn’t find it adorable, no – he simply couldn’t give a rat’s a* about something like that.

     “You really are not angry?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “What’s the matter? Should I really get angry for you, then?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “My apologies.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon hurriedly changed the topic.

     “Besides all that. What are your plans for these people?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Why are you asking me that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “…..Eh?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Well, you’re the one who got this training commission, Mister Choi Jung-Hoon. Didn’t you say yes to it because you had something in mind?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “But, didn’t I say that the request was made to you, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “That you did.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “So, why are you saying that now?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk snorted derisively.

     “What the heck? Oh, so when you sign up with a cram school after checking out who the director is, do you expect the director to start personally teaching you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “…No, I don’t.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “So, entrusting me with 300 people means I’m supposed to train every single one of them?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….No, it isn’t.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk got triggered and shouted out.

     “You squeeze out all the benefits for yourself, yet you want me to train them?! Wowsers, will you look at this guy?! This here’s the true master fraudster at work!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I haven’t squeezed any benefits from anyone!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk wordlessly approached Choi Jung-Hoon and whispered to the latter’s ear.

     “When I search you and find even a single cent on your person, Imma strip you buck naked and hang you upside down in the middle of Gwanghwamum Plaza, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….I squeezed only a little bit.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     “Keuh….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head, his expression one of satisfaction.

     How admirable.

     A truly excellent seedling of a politician is being germinated, right here.

     He looks handsome and tidy, he’s got a silky tongue, and possesses a charisma that commands attention, too! And he even knows how to get his palms greased properly! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “A perfect future Presidential candidate, that’s for sure.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ahaha, well, you don’t have to praise me that much.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “But, I was insulting you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “……..”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head and walked up to the American group.

     He knew full well he’d had to get hands-on with these folks. The question was – just how little should he be hands-on with them?

     Yi Ji-Hyuk cast the translation magic on himself and opened his mouth.

     “I’m sure the trip here have been rather boring, everyone.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     ….There was no reply.

     “Can’t you hear me?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Even then, no one replied back to him.

     “Huh? They can’t really hear me?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shrugged his shoulders and stared at Choi Jung-Hoon.

     “Excuse me. Can you call that Christopher McDonald or something on the phone?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Come again?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     This guy, what was he thinking of doing now?

     If it were any other time, Choi Jung-Hoon would have immediately tried to talk Yi Ji-Hyuk out of it, but well, he suddenly got curious what would happen next.

     So, he quickly dialled Christopher McLaren’s number and handed the phone over.

     – “Why are you calling me again, Mister Choi?!” (Christopher McLaren)

     “But, it’s me, though?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “M-Mister Yi, Yi Ji-Hyuk?!” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Well, we’ve got ourselves a problem here.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “What seems to be the problem?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “These kids you sent me, I don’t think they can hear me.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Didn’t I send in an interpreter? I seemed to have made a mistake by not sending an interpreter along. I shall dispatch one right away.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “No, no, no. I don’t think it’s the language barrier posing the problem here, you see? I mean, we’re conversing right now, aren’t we?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “….Oh.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk carried on with a tone that said, ‘Not a problem’.

     “Well, you know. You can only train someone when you can communicate properly, don’t you agree?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Those sons of b*tches! I shall immediately discipline them!” (Christopher McLaren)

     “No, you don’t have to bother with that. I’ll just return the defective goods.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Did you just say you’ll return the goods….?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Yup. If there’s an issue with the product, you’re supposed to return it, right? I’ll just return them back to you, so send over the replacements soon, okay? Oh, and I’m not interested in refurbished goods, so don’t send them back after ‘fixing’ the faulty bits, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “B-but, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk! Can’t you think this over just one more time? I will definitely fix this problem within a day! No, hang on! I’m coming there right now!” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Hey, uncle?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Y-yes, please speak.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Shouldn’t you be grateful that I’m willing to quietly return the faulty goods without a complaint and accept the replacements? Don’t you think so?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “That is true.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Christopher McLaren’s voice became progressively smaller.

     “Okay, so. Let’s do it that way. Why create more source of annoyance for yourself?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “I, I see. Understood.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk ended the call and shifted his gaze back over to Choi Jung-Hoon.

     “Well, can we go and eat some army stew now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Do what you want, oh great one…. (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     Choi Jung-Hoon received his phone back and let a groan escape from his mouth.

     I don’t know whether I should say this whole thing feels gratifying or that no answers work on this guy….. (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     Choi Jung-Hoon couldn’t figure out his own emotions at the moment.

     As for the Americans who had no clue what was going on, they simply stood around in a daze for a while after the trio of Koreans suddenly turned around and left.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Chapter 204: What’s up with this chill 4

      Chapter 204: What’s up with this chill (4)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     “You stupid b*stard!” (Christopher McLaren)

     Stephen Bosch was unable to rebut the outpouring of insults directed his way.

     “I’ve told you repeatedly that this matter is of the utmost importance. Yet, the guy put in charge of the trip not only failed to resolve the situation, you actually took the lead and forced this whole thing further into a d*mn pit?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “No, that was not….” (Stephen Bosch)

     “You better watch what comes out of that mouth right now. Or else, we’re gonna confirm whether a bullet gets stuck in your neck bone or goes straight through you!” (Christopher McLaren)

     “………”

     Stephen Bosch couldn’t say anything and cast his head down.

     ‘That crazy son of a b*tch.’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s way of thinking simply exceeded way beyond his imaginations. Someone with a head screwed on properly would never have acted like that.

     “However, sir. Common sense wise, I….” (Stephen Bosch)

     “Common sense?! Did you just say common sense??” (Christopher McLaren)

     Christopher McLaren grabbed the ashtray and threw it at Stephen Bosch.

     Really now, how dangerous would an ashtray thrown by a regular person be to an ability user? But then again, that was precisely the reason why he found himself in a dilemma.

     Stephen Bosch watched the ashtray flying in a slow motion towards him and pondered whether he should get hit by it or avoid it altogether.

     Since it wouldn’t hurt at all, he didn’t mind getting hit, but then, he didn’t feel like doing that either after seeing all the cigar ash inside the ashtray itself.

     In the end, he tilted his body slightly out of the way and dodged. He then quickly checked for Christopher McLaren’s response.

     “Groan….”

     Fortunately, his boss didn’t seem to care about whether the ashtray found its mark or not at the moment. Instead, he roughly snapped the end off of a cigar, lit it up and took a long, long puff.

     “Now, what am I supposed to do about this mess?” (Christopher McLaren)

     He originally thought that there would’ve been at least one month of leeway before the second batch had to be dispatched, but this….

     Since every second counted, the second batch was being hastily organised right now, but their quality would obviously be lacking in comparison with the first group that had gone through a far more rigorous selection process.

     “Why?! Why did you do something this stupid?? Why!!” (Christopher McLaren)

     “I was just trying to stare him down, sir. That’s all.” (Stephen Bosch)

     “You think a human can start a staring contest with a lion?!” (Christopher McLaren)

     “However, we had numbers on our side. And also, don’t we have the differences in the national power? I can’t understand why you want us to submit and lower our heads unconditionally, sir.” (Stephen Bosch)

     “You can’t understand it?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “I get it that he’s very powerful. But, he’s not as powerful as the United States. Am I wrong?” (Stephen Bosch)

     Christopher McLaren silently glared at Stephen before opening his mouth.

     “Looks like you’re mistaken about something here….” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Yes, sir?” (Stephen Bosch)

     “Are you the United States of America?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “…….”

     “Sure, it’s rather commendable that you think of yourself as the nation you represent – when you’re volunteering your services to the nation, that is. However, you’re sorely mistaken if you think your country will cover for every single mistake you make.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Christopher McLaren’s voice grew lower and heavier the more he spoke.

     “You’ve crossed the line this time.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “But, sir!” (Stephen Bosch)

     “You as the leader didn’t even bother to hold back and displayed that much hostility, so who among your group would step forward willingly to let Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk train them? In the end, 300 ability users lost their chance to enhance themselves even further because of your independent actions. How will you take responsibility for this mess?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “I was just….” (Stephen Bosch)

     Murderous intent finally crept into Christopher McLaren’s eyes.

     “I shall admit that half of the blame lies with me. I figured that at the bare minimum, you were someone with a functioning brain inside that cranium of yours. But as it turns out, that wasn’t the case. Indeed, it’s somewhat my fault for judging someone incorrectly. If that’s not it, then maybe I’ve been too tired and stressed out recently. Especially when I think about why I failed to explain this matter in detail to you.” (Christopher McLaren)

     He might ostensibly be talking about his part of the blame, but the contents of his words still clearly blamed Stephen Bosch for everything.

     “Sir, this is unfair. I haven’t done anything wrong.” (Stephen Bosch)

     “Sure, sure. I’m sure you feel that way. But, here’s the weird thing. All those having this type of conversation with me in this office say the exact same thing towards the end.” (Christopher McLaren)

     ‘…The end?!’ (Stephen Bosch)

     Cold perspiration soaked Stephen Bosch’s back.

     The meaning of ‘the end’ was simple – that these two men would never meet face to face like this in the future.

     He wouldn’t get dragged away to a summary execution just because he p*ssed off his boss like in the past, but well, it meant that he’d never get to stand in this position as an ability user ever again.

     “G-give me another chance. I’ll redeem myself.” (Stephen Bosch)

     “No, there’s no need. You should worry about how to compensate for your gaffe, rather than thinking of redeeming yourself. Actually, I’d rather court marshal you right now, but that would only complicate matters even further, so for the time being, throw yourself in the brig. Your fate will be decided at a later date.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “B-but, director!!” (Stephen Bosch)

     “That’s enough. Take him away.” (Christopher McLaren)

     As soon as those words left Christopher McLaren’s mouth, the door to the office was flung open and agents decked out in black suits entered to grab both arms of Stephen Bosch.

     “Director! Sir, I was only just….!” (Stephen Bosch)

     “Let’s skip this cliché moment, shall we? I prefer clean exits. Carry on.”

     Christopher McLaren turned his attention away after finishing his words. Stephen Bosch continued to scream as he got dragged away.

     “God d*mn it.” (Christopher McLaren)

     He was really tempted to put a bullet through the head of that idiot, but…. But, this was not the seventies anymore. If he did something like that, even Christopher McLaren wouldn’t be able to survive the aftermath.

     “Just how bad is the fallout from this?” (Christopher McLaren)

     He couldn’t quite grasp it at the moment.

     The biggest loss this time around was that nearly 300 American ability users lost their chance to get an upgrade to their powers.

     If this event occurred when there was only Yi Ji-Hyuk present, then he might have sneaked a few back in the later batches and smooth things over that way, but since Choi Jung-Hoon was also present there, solving this crisis that way would not work anymore.

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     “D*mn it.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Which could only mean that he needed to give up on those 300.

     Not all the elites had been included in that group, but still, some of the better ones out there, quality-wise, was indeed among the batch so Christopher McLaren couldn’t help but feel really bitter right now.

     But, the bigger problem had to do with what Yi Ji-Hyuk thought of this situation.

     Christopher McLaren had to plead and beg and whatnot to finally secure the deal to train the American ability users, but then, this c**p happened on the very first day. It’d not be strange for that man to walk away from the training altogether now.

     He did ask for the next batch to be sent over, so that might mean he was still somewhat willing to go through with the training, but well, a person’s mind never really operated that way, did it?

     “Groan….”

     Christopher McLaren searched for his ashtray only to find it discarded at the corner of the office and angrily stubbed his cigar on his desk, instead.

     He then picked his smartphone up.

     I need to control this situation.

     I’m sure Yi Ji-Hyuk’s temper has cooled down somewhat by now. (Christopher McLaren’s inner monologue)

     “M-mm….”

     Christopher McLaren felt like a kid trudging back home to his parents with an ‘F’ on his school report.

     What is Yi Ji-Hyuk doing right now?

     What time is it in South Korea?

     Will it be fine to give him a call now?

     Wait, shouldn’t I call Choi Jung-Hoon first to make sure? (Christopher McLaren)

     “This sh*t is really killing me.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Even back in the Cold War era, he wasn’t this mindful of the other side. But what the hell was he doing now, all because of a single man?

     “Yup, it was way better back then.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Christopher McLaren got to realise the direness of the situation he was in once more.

     *

     At the same time, Yi Ji-Hyuk spending a very languid day.

     “Is it fine for us to be doing this?” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “….Well, the training hasn’t been officially cancelled so we don’t have anything else to do….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Even still, isn’t this a bit too much?” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “I think the same as you, ma’am.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Seo Ah-Young and Choi Jung-Hoon were trembling ever so slightly from anxiety. Well, it wasn’t as if they hated ‘this’. Actually, they liked it. Very much so, in fact.

     However, the problem was with this being in the middle of office hours, and to claim that they were taking a bit of a break due to a lull in the action, well, anyone could see that they were just lounging around completely unchecked right now.

     Where were they exactly?

     “Ahhh, as I thought, this spot is the best for going on vacations.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk luxuriantly stretched his limbs. He basked in the warmth of the Southern Hemisphere’s sunlight.

     “Keu-euh….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was kitted out in a bathing suit, currently enjoying the sunbath. He turned his head to the side after sensing something cold touch his cheek.

     “Uh?”

     He found Kim Dah-Som standing there while pressing a glass of juice against his cheek.

     “Looks like you’re feeling better now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes, I’m okay.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Well, that’s a relief.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t say anything else and simply took the juice before slurping it down.

     “Kah-hah!”

     Now this is paradise.

     I’m telling you, a person needs to enjoy his life.

     How can you even keep living in that gloomy city every single day? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “As for that crazy lizard woman….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Affeldrichae said she’d remain in the office because she wanted to play the computer game, instead.

     Choi Jung-Hoon pleaded with her to go home and play the dang game there, but she declined in a very dignified way, citing the reasons of the PC’s specs as well as the mouse’s sensitivity.

     “Ah-woo~. This is so nice.” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     Jeong Hae-Min, too, was lying next to Yi Ji-Hyuk while enjoying the sun in her swimsuit.

     “Seriously, summer in the middle of a winter is the best, you know.” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     For some reason, that didn’t sound right.

     Didn’t the original saying go something like, ‘the best vacation one can have during winter is to visit a beach in the Southern Hemisphere, and in the summer, you go up north to ride on skis’?

     “…Did you leave a marker here?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ng, I did. By the way, you know, you’re really sneaky. You could come here whenever you wanted to, yet you made me slave over for you until now?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     “I wasn’t using you. I was just thinking about efficiency, that’s all.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Don’t make me laugh.” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk clicked his tongue.

     “What would you know?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     It really wasn’t because he felt lazy; the thing about efficiency did play a major factor. Trying to open up a Gate consumed quite a large amount of Mana.

     If he were to compare it to Ether, then the amount of Mana required to open a Gate to this tropical paradise would be equivalent to the amount of Ether Jeong Hae-Min would need to teleport around the whole day.

     Having said, that he couldn’t really make an accurate comparison since the two energy types were quite different.

     “Well, you brought me here this time, so I’ll forgive you.” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     Jeong Hae-Min formed a cat-like expression and purred in lazy happiness.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked after seeing her like that, which triggered her immediately and she began shouting angrily.

     “Why are you laughing at me?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     “Lie back down, will ya? You’re being noisy. Why don’t you lie back down and keep writhing around?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Che.”

     Jeong Hae-Min wanted to say something else, but Kim Dah-Som’s movements were a step quicker.

     *SFX for a parasol opening up*

     A large beach parasol suddenly opened up above Yi Ji-Hyuk’s head.

     “Mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     He was trying to sunbathe, so what was up with this parasol?

     “UV rays are harmful to your body. It’s for the best to avoid directly sunlight to your facial area.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Oh. Really?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Well, if you say so.

     By the way, you. Just where did you bring a parasol from?

     I mean, this place is an uninhabited island, you know….

     Wait, when I told you to pack your swimsuits, you were busy packing some stuff, so was that when you….?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “And, also….” (Kim Dah-Som)

     Other things suddenly began piling up near Yi Ji-Hyuk’s head.

     “This is a bottle of sunscreen. You should apply them to avoid getting sunburn. And this is multi-vitamins. If you sweat too much, you will lose too much essential amino acids and minerals so you should take one. Also, you might get thirsty later, so you should take this….” (Kim Dah-Som)

     Uhm, excuse me, miss?

     I’m Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     If I were to suffer from something after getting a bit of sun, how would I have ever survived the trials and tribulations of Berafe? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     He had quite a few things he’d like to say, but couldn’t.

     Affeldrichae told him the gist of what was on Kim Dah-Som’s mind when she wanted to learn magic. And that meant he couldn’t really come out and say the words of disapproval to her.

     “And this is….” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “….Enough.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk couldn’t say anything else and turned his head away.

     Now that he thought about it, no other woman treated him this considerately in his entire life, didn’t it?

     “….No, hang on. There was one, wasn’t there?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Excuse me?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Nah, it’s nothing.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk waved his hand around before covering his face.

     Uwaaaah!!

     I must’ve lost my freaking mind!

     Here I am, thinking about that crazy woman!!

     No! I must completely forget about her! Yes, I must!!

     Dang it. I’m already forgetting some stuff of the past, yet why aren’t these memories disappearing from my head? Why are they clinging on and tormenting me like this? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk hurriedly shook his head but then, his phone resting near his head began vibrating out of the blue.

     “What’s this?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     He picked up the device and looked at the screen, only to see the name of Christopher McLaren.

     “I saved that uncle’s number?? But, when?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head and answered the call.

     “Hello?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     And then, he heard the incomprehensible yammering coming from the other side. He quickly shouted out.

     “Waaait! Wait, wairuh minito!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “…I’m sorry, what?” (Christopher McLaren)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk hurriedly cast the translation magic on himself and, with a much more reassured look on his face, answered the phone again.

     “Hello?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Mister Yi, it’s me, Chris.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Ah, yes. Hello.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk arrogantly leaned his head back and asked.

     “What’s up?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “……….”

     He thought he could hear Christopher McLaren nervously swallow his saliva over the line.

     The American was busy telling himself to throw that d*mn Stephen Bosch into the pits of hell for making him grovel before Yi Ji-Hyuk, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. He then cautiously opened his mouth to speak.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates(dot)Net

     .

     Chapter 205: What’s up with this chill 5

      Chapter 205: What’s up with this chill (5)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     < 205. What’s up with this chill -5 >

     – “I’m truly sorry about the matters last time.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Last time?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Yes. Didn’t our people act quite rudely to you?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Ahh, you meant that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk sucked in the juice with the straw, took a gulp, and replied.

     “It’s all good. Well, I’m having a nice little break right now all thanks to them, actually.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “In that case…. I’m relieved to hear that. But, still. I’ll make sure that no such problem arises in the future, so I beg of you to graciously forgive them and let bygones be bygones.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Nah, it’s fine if something similar happens again.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “What do you mean?” (Christopher McLaren)

     “If it happens again, I can just send them back home. I mean, there’s no reason to force someone into doing something they don’t want to in the first place, right? I’m not a lecturer who gets paid bonuses depending on the test results of my students, anyway.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “….You’re right.” (Christopher McLaren)

     There was a clear sign of fluster in Christopher McLaren’s voice. Yi Ji-Hyuk grinned and continued on.

     “Only those who want to get stronger should get stronger. That’s all. It’s only a matter of time, anyway.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “I don’t understand.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Well, you don’t really have to understand it. Anyway, was that everything you wanted to talk to me about?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Oh, wait. We’re currently selecting our next batch….” (Christopher McLaren)

     “There’s no rush, so take your time. You can discuss the date with Mister Choi Jung-Hoon.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Thank you very much, Mister Yi.” (Christopher McLaren)

     “Not at all.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk ended the call and put the phone down.

     “Isn’t it getting a bit warmer?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     *SFX for a soft breeze blowing in*

     The moment his words came to an end, he felt a gentle breeze blowing in from somewhere near his head. He raised his head to look, and found Kim Dah-Som waving around a fan by his side.

     “Heol?! What are you doing??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I thought you were feeling hot.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     Sure, I’m hot.

     Here’s the thing, though. I’m not King Euija from Baekjae or something, you know? You doing this makes me feel a wee bit uncomfortable. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue) (TL note at the end)

     ‘No, hang on. It was the same story back in Berafe too, wasn’t it?’

     Right, although the method was a bit different back then.

     ‘Ice Widows’ simply froze up the surrounding air and lowered the temperature that way, didn’t they?

     Now that I look back on those days, yeah, that was a whole lot more efficient than this one, but hell, where’s the romance in that, man?!

     What an aircon-like creatures they were.

     Besides all that, though. This kid is getting even more uncomfortable to be around with…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     It was nice to see the girl lose some of her gloomy nature, but the thing was, she came across a bit more terrifying now that she had become a lot more hands-on than before.

     “Groan….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at Kim Dah-Som with an uncomfortable expression on his face before spitting out a low groan.

     She wasn’t someone who’d listen just because he told her to stop, anyway. The best thing to do right now was to switch his attention off of her. Unfortunately, not everyone seemed to agree with his train of thought.

     “Aren’t you feeling hot yourself?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     Jeong Hae-Min’s voice came out a wee bit high-pitched than her usual self.

     “No, I’m okay.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     On the other hand, Kim Dah-Som’s reply was delivered in a lower octave.

     “You’re supposed to be sick so why did you even come here? Might as well rest at home, you know?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     “I’m injured, so shouldn’t I be resting in a warmer climate like this place?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “Oh, my goodness. I think this must be my first time hearing about an injured person travelling to a beach, you know? Wait, maybe you’re faking it a bit?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     “Well, the doctor said I’m injured. But if you think I’m faking it, then maybe I should get into acting, wouldn’t you agree? Ah, that’s right. Unni, you’ve never acted before, have you? Or, was that more like you ‘can’t’?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “What was that?!” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head.

     Since the time immemorial, one should not intervene in a catfight. If you do, your only reward would be your busted back.

     Ignoring the two females and their extended claws, Yi Ji-Hyuk shifted his gaze over to the distant horizon where the ocean seemed to stretch on forever.

     ‘Still, this is so weird.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Why was he feeling this unsettled, worried?

     Now typically, if he did find himself some down time, he’d stay cooped up in the house or the office to play video games. If he was really bored, then he’d probably go out to the city and go on a tour of famous eateries and waste time that way.

     But then, just what’s gotten into him to make him come all this way? Even Yi Ji-Hyuk himself couldn’t quite figure this one out.

     I’m getting more and more anxious.

     But, why? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     He tilted his head.

     Something like this had never happened before. He just felt weirded out right now. It was as if someone was busy chasing him down. A normal person would definitely feel worried and anxious with such a weird feeling.

     No, hang on – it’d be rather normal for a regular person to get worried sometimes for no reason whatsoever. But then, the person feeling worried this time round wasn’t someone normal. It was none other than Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     See, the thing was, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s balls were not just made out of any steel, but they were grade A steel of the finest quality.

     The last time he felt anxious/worried would be well over three hundred years ago.

     No matter what the situation was, it’d only manage to annoy him to a varying degree. That was it. They never, ever made him feel this worried.

     But now, he was feeling truly, utterly worried?

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shuddered even more from this ominous foreboding.

     “Are you feeling cold?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     When he began shivering all of a sudden, Jeong Hae-Min and Kim Dah-Som duking it out with their eyes quickly shifted their gazes at him. At the same time.

     “What do you mean, cold? In this weather?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Are you not feeling well somewhere?” (Kim Dah-Som)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head.

     “No, well, it’s not that….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     How should he explain himself here?

     “Nah, never mind. I’m fine.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     For the time being, he mumbled something and glossed over the whole thing. He saw no solid reason to tell them about this bad feeling of his.

     Shuruk…

     It was right around then – Doh Gah-Yun peeked her head out from the shadow below the deck chair Yi Ji-Hyuk was laying on, and put a blanket on top of him all of a sudden.

     “….Huh?”

     H-hey, it’s hot in here, you know….

     And I haven’t come down with a flu or anything…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Y-you know, I’m fi….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Keep it on.” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     “Yes, you should cover yourself.” (Kim Dah-Som)

     “….Yep.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Jeong Hae-Min and Kim Dah-Som’s joint attack instantly disintegrated Yi Ji-Hyuk’s resistance.

     ‘Yep, just take it as being in a sauna. A sauna…..’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Meanwhile, Choi Jung-Hoon watching silently from the sidelines threw out a probing little question.

     “By the way, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Yeah?”

     “According to what you told us, you have lived for a…. fairly long time on the other side. Didn’t you?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     ‘Long time’ not as in grandpa level of long time, but more like a sage type of long time.

     “Sure, I did.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “So, I was curious….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Yes?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Haven’t you, you know, had chances to ‘meet’ other women on that side?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “……….”

     Suddenly, Yi Ji-Hyuk felt this cold wind blowing against him.

     ‘A good thing that I’ve got a blanket now….’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Without it, he’d definitely come down with flu. Yi Ji-Hyuk shivered and took a look around him.

     ‘….Why are they all looking at me like that?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     They might even start killing people with their razor-sharp glares at this rate.

     …Mm? I’ll be the one dying?

     “Women, is it….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk stared into the distance with contemplative eyes.

     “Didn’t have any.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Liar!” (Seo Ah-Young)

     Seo Ah-Young sharply and brutally interjected.

     “We aren’t talking about one, two years here! So, how does you not having a single girlfriend during all that time make any sort of sense?” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “Nope, never had one. I definitely did not have anyone like that. Never.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….Why do you sound so unconvincing?” (Seo Ah-Young)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk formed a slightly fed-up expression and shuddered grandly once more.

     “You guys have no idea.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Eh?”

     “You don’t know how terrifying that was.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Everyone stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk with puzzled faces after hearing that declaration. Just what on earth was he talking about?

     “What are you even saying?” (Seo Ah-Young)

     “….Well, there is this thing. But, don’t worry about it.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was way too busy trying to wipe the face of a certain person off his mind at the moment.

     ‘I’m not related to you anymore! Shoo! Shoo!!’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Unfortunately, his spine was still tingling from that creeping chill for a while now. How could Yi Ji-Hyuk not feel anxious in this case?

     ‘Maybe I should take some traditional medicine after I get back home.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     ….I must be injured or sick somewhere.

     Yeah, that has to be it. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk did his very best to push away and ignore his sixth sense, which had never failed him once until now.

     Of course, the price for doing that would be huge.

     ***

     “So, is it finally opening up?” (Alpha)

     Alpha stared at the Gate, his eyes gleaming brightly. A pretty similar phenomenon as the last time was happening before his eyes. If there was one thing different this time, then it’d have to be the size of the Gates; this one was far, far bigger than before.

     “Correct. It’s opening up.” (Argolas)

     Argolas agreed with Alpha’s assessment.

     It had taken some time, but the operation to open up a Gate was a success. Not only that, this particular Gate was not imperfect like the previous one, either.

     Built upon the foundation of the negative energy Alpha managed to gather, Argolas was able to create a perfect portal that linked this world to the demon world.

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     “If only the Gate I opened the last time was as perfect as this one. Lord Beltreche wouldn’t have died in such an empty manner even if the thirteenth demon king intervened.” (Argolas)

     However, the story was different this time. Perhaps most importantly, the personage arriving through this Gate was on another level compared to Beltreche.

     It wasn’t as simple as the packing order, either.

     Beltreche was a being that climbed up to the position of a demon king through its clever schemes and the powers of the demonic creatures it controlled. However, the being about to enter this world reached its current position as a demon king simply through nothing but its own incredible magical power.

     Of course, this didn’t mean that Beltreche was weak. In the demon world, it’d be hard to tell who was superior existence between the lizard-like demon king and this incoming being.

     Because, even though the latter boasted superiority in magical power, the former would boast superiority in its ability to command monsters as well as its tactical way of thinking.

     However, things would be different in this world.

     In this world, one couldn’t rely on the method of using one’s countless subordinates. No, one had to rely on one’s own powers to solve their issues in this place.

     Which meant that Delkaran would definitely be in superior position than Beltreche was. And, if the demon king got here with its magical power fully intact….

     Guwoooo!!

     Suddenly, the Gate began distorting out of shape.

     “Is there a problem?” (Alpha)

     “This Gate can’t handle the incoming lord’s magical power.” (Argolas)

     “Does that mean this is another failure?” (Alpha)

     “I can’t say for sure yet.” (Argolas)

     They didn’t need to wait for a long time before finding out whether it was a success or a failure. Because, only a short while later, they could spot a shadow within the Gate’s boundary.

     “Ohhh.”

     Argolas watched on, before hurriedly kneeling down to the ground.

     This was the glorious occasion of a demon king descending to this realm. The demon quickly shot Alpha a glare, but the human simply stood upright and stared at the Gate with intrigued eyes.

     “Keuk.”

     This insolent human not displaying any hint of respect towards a demon king really got on Argolas’s nerves, but unfortunately, that man was nominally the ‘contractor’.

     He was not someone Argolas could use his power to bully.

     “It’s coming out.” (Alpha)

     Along with Alpha’s observation, a somewhat pale figure slowly began materialising outside the Gate.

     “I welcome your arrival, oh great demon king.” (Argolas)

     Shuwuwu….

     The figure emerging from the distorting and twisting Gate, was a mysterious-looking humanoid wrapped up tightly in a black cloak seemingly made out of unidentifiable material.

     ‘It’s a humanoid this time, is it?’ (Alpha)

     Beltreche possessed a pretty terrible imitation of a human-like shape, and anyone could tell it was a monster through and through. However, this new guy looked somewhat human, at least from the outside.

     Two legs and two arms, plus one head – when considering the creature being a demon, it sure was commendably humanoid, indeed.

     Shuwuwu….

     Sounds akin to leaking air escaped from Delkaran’s mouth.

     “Argolas.” (Delkaran)

     “Yes, oh great demon king!” (Argolas)

     “Our lord demands the head of the 99th demon king.” (Delkaran)

     “Our lord… do you mean….?” (Argolas)

     “Your master, as well as my master. The true perfect being of the demon world. Yes, I refer to him.” (Delkaran)

     Argolas trembled greatly.

     Up until now, the order this demon carried out had been to find a way to turn this world into a new demon world. Argolas had figured that clashing against Yi Ji-Hyuk was a necessity since he’d prove to be a hindrance to this process.

     However, the story had changed now.

     If that great being demanded the execution of Yi Ji-Hyuk, then this order now became the supreme task Argolas had to fulfil, even if that meant sacrificing everything to do so.

     “It shall be done according to the great one’s wishes.” (Argolas)

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     Shuwuwu….

     Delkaran nodded its head and emitted that sound of leaking air again.

     “Hurry.” (Delkaran)

     “…..”

     “The 13th demon king has already arrived in this world.” (Delkaran)

     “Euh….”

     Argolas’s expression crumpled the moment it heard about the 13th demon king. It was unimaginable what might happen once that maverick of the demon world joined forces with Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     “I shall endeavour to prevent that from happening. However, this small one’s just a lowly weakling. I do not possess the strength necessary to stop the 13th demon king.” (Argolas)

     “It’ll be quite simple.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran’s eyes glowed ominously in deep crimson hue from within the darkness of the cape.

     “I shall go to the 99th demon king before she finds him.” (Delkaran)

     “As you wish.” (Argolas)

     “I shall repay the debt of blood in the exact same manner as that man had raped and pillaged the demon world. If he desires to protect this world, then I shall completely destroy it as the just compensation.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran’s voice eerily resounded out as if it was coming straight from the deepest pit of hell.

     Another demon king had descended to this world.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     Ebook Updates(dot)Net

     .

     Chapter 206: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! 1

      Chapter 206: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! (1)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     “However, oh great demon king.” (Argolas)

     Argolas lowered and then lowered its head even further.

     “It’s not only him in this world.” (Argolas)

     “H-mm?”

     Delkaran looked down on the demon as if it found something rather amusing.

     “There are others?” (Delkaran)

     “There are existences that use magic powers in this world as well. Humans that can use special abilities by utilising something that’s not Mana are abound in this planet.” (Argolas)

     “And you say that will pose a problem?” (Delkaran)

     “Not only that, the Dragon Lord and some other beings from Berafe have crossed over as well. Even Lord Beltreche fell to the combined resistance of these beings.” (Argolas)

     “No, he fell because of the 13th demon king’s whims.” (Delkaran)

     “That is indeed true.” (Argolas)

     “I understand what you’re trying to tell me.” (Delkaran)

     “This lowly being is grateful for your graciousness.” (Argolas)

     Argolas kowtowed once more.

     “The Dragon Lord, is it… Did she cross over with all of her powers?” (Delkaran)

     “It does not seem that way. At a glance, she seems to possess not even a quarter of my current power. Even when she found herself in danger, she didn’t revert back to her true self. The magical energy I could sense from her was also incredibly miniscule.” (Argolas)

     “H-mm….”

     Delkaran’s eyes glowed brilliantly.

     “It does not hurt to be prudent, however. If the Dragon Lord is hiding her powers, then she will pose a significant enough danger.” (Delkaran)

     “It is indeed so.” (Argolas)

     “However, it’ll not matter in the end. Not just the Dragon Lord, but even the entire population of Dragons from Berafe will not be able to stop me. As long as that man does not regain his former strength, that is.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran’s gaze then shifted over to the side.

     “Is this the human supporting our cause?” (Delkaran)

     “Yes, oh great demon king.” (Argolas)

     The demon king locked its eyes on Alpha.

     “…Keuk.”

     The moment his eyes met the demon king’s, Alpha was overwhelmed by the sensation of all his energy abandoning him in droves.

     He felt something similar from Beltreche, too. It was hard to figure out why this was happening. Was it due to some kind of power all demon kings possessed? Or, was it because of this unbridgeable gap of strength between him and these demons?

     He was certain of one thing, though, and that would be the fact that the demon king in front of his eyes could easily crush him into meat paste in the blink of an eye if it suddenly decided to do so.

     “Oh, human.” (Delkaran)

     “…..”

     “You wish to aid us?” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran sneered as if it found that very notion rather amusing in itself.

     Humans were interesting creatures to the demonic beings.

     Sure, demons wouldn’t be too greatly affected if there were no humans around. However, the negative energy created by human minds was the source of wealth, as it were, to the demonic world. And not to forget, if the denizens of the demon world wished to play their tricks on other worlds, they needed the complicity of humans, too.

     In Berafe, that role was reserved for the Dark Wizards.

     In order to carry this symbiotic relationship forward, demonic beings supplied Mana to the Dark Wizards and lent their powers out, too. Indeed, it was a truly symbiotic relationship where both sides helped each other out for their own interests.

     Even if it was a measly little human, as long as he was helping the demons out, then a suitable compensation would be bestowed. That was the way of the demons.

     “What is it that you wish?” (Delkaran)

     Alpha began chuckling in disbelief when he heard that.

     “What would a human aiding demons want in return?” (Alpha)

     “Authoritative power, financial power, or physical power.” (Delkaran)

     “….Ah, I see. There were two others, too. My bad. You’re smarter than me.” (Alpha)

     Alpha scratched the back of his head as if he genuinely hadn’t considered the possibility.

     Well, all I need is power, but there are quite a few variety of powers out there, isn’t it?

     “It’ll be nice to have the other two, but right now, what I need is physical power.” (Alpha)

     “If so, it shall be given to you.” (Delkaran)

     “The last demon king said the same thing before kicking the bucket, you know? If I can help it, I’d prefer to be paid upfront. Don’t you fellas from the demon world know the concept of paying upfront?” (Alpha)

     For a moment there, Alpha thought he saw the face of Delkaran move, which had been cloaked in the darkness and couldn’t be seen at all. Those pair of glowing red eyes wavered from beneath the cloak’s hood.

     “Aren’t you an amusing human.” (Delkaran)

     “You know, I’ve also heard that one before, too. I guess all demon kings have similar types of personalities.” (Alpha)

     “This is why humans can be so entertaining.” (Delkaran)

     Humans were a bunch of weaklings, but they somehow believed that they could manipulate demon kind to do their bidding.

     This human had the gumption to openly say things like this. But, even the wizards who summoned demons to their worlds would feign fear and reverence all the while scheming inwardly to use the beings from the demonic world somehow to their advantage.

     This was a contrasting thought process from the demons.

     A lifespan of a demon was incomparably longer than that of humans. And their pecking order would be decided the moment they were born. It was pretty much impossible for a demon of low hierarchical standing to rise to a higher position.

     That was why demons all recognised the position they occupied in the hierarchy and submitted to the beings above their them

     However, humans were different.

     The history of mankind was a repetition of war and coup d’etat. If one lacked strength, one would strive to grow stronger. One would struggle hard and fight in order to rise to a higher position.

     That made humans an entertaining race to meddle with. Perhaps this was the reason why demons were so interested in the matters of humans, after all.

     ‘That was, until that d*mn human appeared out of nowhere.’ (Delkaran)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     The 99th demon king.

     The destroyer of the image demons had of humans for aeons of time in one fell swoop.

     He proceeded to destroy the perceived notion of humans being frail and weak; he destroyed the notion of humans being easy to deceive; and he even destroyed the notion that humans could not resist against the demon kind.

     Most importantly, he had reversed the position humans occupied from being prey to genuine predator.

     The ‘irregular’.

     Even though he was different from other humans, even though he was a mutant-like existence…. There were still many, many demons who suffered from bruised egoes after getting royally pillaged by a lone human being.

     Most demons believed that one’s power decided the station of the one in question, so they accepted Yi Ji-Hyuk as a demon king. But on the other hand, there were quite a few who accepted the fact of a measly human becoming a demon king with much displeasure.

     Delkaran was one of the latter demons.

     ‘How dare a frail human….’ (Delkaran)

     Back when Yi Ji-Hyuk was roaming around the demon world as if it was his backyard, Delkaran wouldn’t have dared to stand before him.

     Because, it’d be no different to killing oneself when getting spotted by that devil-like man who simply destroyed, shattered, and disintegrated everything he saw.

     Even the supreme being that Delkaran served tried to avoid direct confrontation with Yi Ji-Hyuk at all cost, too.

     “Oii, oii.” (Alpha)

     Delkaran’s lengthening thoughts were broken off by Alpha’s calling.

     “If you can’t give me the payment upfront, fine. You can give it to me later. You’re making me feel all guilty if you think that hard about it, you know?” (Alpha)

     Delkaran’s red eyes wavered again.

     “I was thinking about something else for a while.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran raised its right hand quite slowly.

     “Oh, human. Hear me, all demon kind fulfil their promises. I shall even uphold the deal that foolish 82nd demon king could not. I shall grant you power. The contract of the demons are a truly sacred event. Do not forget.” (Delkaran)

     Wuuoonng….

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     Jet-black Mana coagulating on Delkaran’s right hand suddenly shot out towards Alpha.

     “Heup?!” (Alpha)

     He sensed something digging deep into his body and began shivering immediately.

     What was this?

     *SFX for a long, long painful groan from Alpha*

     Too bad for him, his thoughts couldn’t continue on for long, as the pain rushing in proved to be incredibly vicious.

     His entire being was visited by the kind of pain that felt like a sharp dagger was making a mincemeat out of his innards as well as outside flesh by stabbing him tens of thousands, nay, millions of times.

     “Uwaaaah-!!”

     He tried to endure it, but such pain couldn’t be endured by anyone. Alpha collapsed to the floor and began spasming violently.

     “Humans always digest Mana in the exact same manner.” (Argolas)

     Delkaran shook its head at Argolas’s observation.

     “I’ve given him over ten times the amount of Mana that I’d normally bestow unto humans. I shall praise him if he doesn’t lose his consciousness or try to end his own life right here.” (Delkaran)

     The demon king actually gave the amount of magical energy that could be seen as a bit too much by some as the price of the human’s cheekiness. But even then, Alpha was enduring against it much to Delkaran’s surprise.

     ‘He exceeds regular humans in terms of his mental fortitude, doesn’t he?’ (Delkaran)

     Not just by a small amount, but by a great deal, too. Although not as extreme as Yi Ji-Hyuk, this human could also be seen as an irregular, as well.

     “Without a doubt, there is value in researching these beings called humans.” (Delkaran)

     They might be a race of weaklings, but every now and then they would produce one or two beings that would make even the demons stand in awe.

     Demons, as a matter of fact, could estimate the ultimate limits of the powers Dragons possessed – beings widely accepted as the most powerful existences in the current times. But on the other hand, demons couldn’t even begin to imagine the true limits of humans once they started growing stronger.

     “Keuhhhh….”

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     Blood oozed out from Alpha’s fingertips as all of his fingernails had been pulled out after he clawed the floor desperately. Bubbles of blood boiled out from his distorted mouth in the meantime.

     “Keuh….”

     The pained moans gradually softened. Delkaran watched Alpha with a greater deal of interest now.

     “Is he already adapting to the Mana?” (Delkaran)

     What a surprising thing this was.

     It’d normally require at least one hour for all the magical energy the demon king gave to fully assimilate with Alpha’s body. He’d need to suffer though indescribably hellish pain during that hour, yet the human’s painful groans and spasms were beginning to lessen already now.

     Was he enduring against the level of pain that even demons wouldn’t be able to tolerate?

     “Indeed. Humans are entertaining creatures.” (Delkaran)

     This was why Delkaran opposed the annihilation of human kind.

     “Fuu…..”

     Alpha slowly raised his head back up, his eyes completely red after the blood vessels in there had all ruptured.

     “Now that really hurt.” (Alpha)

     “But, that pain wasn’t something those simple words could convey, though?” (Argolas)

     “Yes, you’re right.” (Alpha)

     Argolas tilted its head. It just realised that the way Alpha spoke had changed somewhat.

     “Have you grown to fear us once you tasted what true pain was like?” (Argolas)

     Alpha deeply smirked at Argolas’s words.

     “Let me put it this way. Doesn’t the notion of being respectful or speaking politely sound funny to you, when you haven’t done anything for me but kept telling me to do this and that all the time? What’s the point of having power? You were still mooching off of me at the end of the day, anyway.” (Alpha)

     “Hmm….” (Argolas)

     Truly, it was still difficult to understand how humans think.

     Argolas shook its head.

     “Not just Yi Ji-Hyuk, but even you, too. Humans are seriously strange creatures.” (Argolas)

     “You shouldn’t paint the entirety of humanity with the same brush just because of two outliers. Also, I can’t say the same thing about myself but here’s the thing. Even among the human race, that dude Yi Ji-Hyuk is one really strange case, you know? It’ll be easier if you don’t think of him as a human being from the get-go. Even I find him strange, I’ll have you know.” (Alpha)

     “Is that so?” (Argolas)

     That sounded logical – even back in Berafe, almost no one saw Yi Ji-Hyuk as a human being. It was actually the Dragons that treated him as a human, while the rest of humanity treated him as an abominable devil that needed to be eradicated at all cost.

     It seemed that the way people treated him hadn’t changed much even in this world. Even Alpha, who was now seen as an irregular by the demons, also didn’t see Yi Ji-Hyuk as a human.

     “Should I say he reigns supreme, or he’s just lonely freak….” (Delkaran)

     “I beg your pardon, oh great one?” (Argolas)

     “It’s nothing.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran shifted its gaze over to Alpha again. And it saw the Dark Mana yet to assimilate with the human’s body going on a rampage inside.

     Regardless of what was going on inside his body, though, Alpha had regained his relaxed demeanour at least on the outside.

     “How commendable.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran acknowledged Alpha. One would be hard pressed to find a demon capable of withstanding that much pain as easily as this human right here.

     “Truly commendable, indeed.” (Delkaran)

     “I thank you.” (Alpha)

     Alpha politely bowed his head. Of course, Delkaran wouldn’t miss the minute trace of ridicule hidden within that gesture of politeness.

     ‘Even such points are to my liking.’ (Delkaran)

     There was no doubt that this human was one amusing existence. And also, he’d prove to be a big asset moving on.

     His thoughts might be unsavoury in nature, but then again, all humans possessed such sides to them so there was nothing to sweat over in that regard.

     Most importantly, though….

     ‘It doesn’t matter what scheme this human cooks up.’ (Delkaran)

     In front of an absolute, overwhelming power, every carefully-laid plan would become empty and meaningless, anyway.

     “Oh, human. We’ve upheld our side of the bargain.” (Delkaran)

     “It took a long while, but still, yes. You have.” (Alpha)

     “Which means, it’s time you start working for our cause once more.” (Delkaran)

     “Hmm?”

     Alpha stared deeply at Delkaran.

     Did he make a mistake when he thought he saw the demon king’s red eyes arch slightly into some sort of a smile?

     Those eyes were full of dreadful foreboding of things to come.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     Ebook Updates(dot)Net

     .

     Chapter 207: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! 2

      Chapter 207: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! (2)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     “Orabeo-nim~~!!” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk heard Yi Ye-Won’s voice calling out to him and turned his head towards her.

     “Mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Why was this rotten girl wagging her tail all of a sudden? Now typically, in situations like this one, she….

     “….I don’t have it, you dang rotten girl!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “You don’t even know what I want yet, so how can you not have it?!” (Ye-Won)

     “Doesn’t matter! I don’t have it!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     He didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that she wanted him to do something for her, wanted something from him, or just as worse, wanted him to buy her something.

     Indeed, he didn’t have to think too hard to figure out what was in Ye-Won’s brain.

     “Buy me a handbag, please!” (Ye-Won)

     “…A handbag?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ng, a bag.” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked after hearing that.

     “So, that’s what you wanted, eh….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Well, only this much should be considered as adorable. Just a handbag, was it?

     But then again, Ye-Won was also of that age now, where carrying around a fashionable handbag was the norm, not the exception.

     Only an old fogey ahjussi would recite the cliched line of “You don’t need one before graduating from high school”, and even Yi Ji-Hyuk knew that very well.

     One of the things he realised during thousand-plus years of living was that the world constantly changed. And you trying to enforce the old generation’s point of view on the new generation would be nothing more than you being a disagreeable geezer.

     “Alright.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ohhhhh!” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won’s expression brightened in an instant when her brother agreed to it so easily, and rushed in to hug him tightly.

     “Wow! Really?” (Ye-Won)

     “Of course.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Sure, she might have been rude, uncouth, and a nasty brat of a little sister, but still, buying a bag for her shouldn’t pose a big problem. Yi Ji-Hyuk couldn’t be described as an exemplary older brother either, but he could still be an older brother with abilities to her, at least.

     “What kinda bag is it?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Oh, it’s this guy.” (Ye-Won)

     Ye-Won pulled out her phone and showed the screen to Yi Ji-Hyuk. There was an orange-coloured handbag on display, but well, he couldn’t really tell whether that was a nice-looking bag or not….

     ‘Does it matter what it looks like to me, though?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Even if the world’s most beautiful bag was to be brought in front of him, he’d not see anything different from looking at one of those cheap knock-off backpacks sold in the flea markets, anyway.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk might be number one when it came to destruction and violence, but as far as discerning eyes for aesthetics was concerned, he had built up a solid distance away from it.

     “Ng, okay. Here.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk pulled out his wallet from his inner pocket and gave her his card.

     “Thank you!! Orabeonim~~!!” (Ye-Won)

     “That’s why you gotta be nicer to your orabeonim a bit more, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes, yes. I’ll really be nice from now on.” (Ye-Won)

     “Fut.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     A smile automatically broke out on his lips as he watched his little sister jump up and down on the spot in pure joy. Her orabeonim was making a killing every month, yet to think, she’d be over the moon like that just for a single handbag.

     She might try to come across as tough and jaded and all that, but at the end of the day, she was still a high-school kid, wasn’t she?

     ‘Yeah, she’s kinda cute when she’s like this.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Was it because they shared the same blood? Probably. Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at Ye-Won still hopping about in happiness with a pleased face. He could understand just a little bit where Kim Dah-Hyun was coming from as he clung so desperately to Kim Dah-Som.

     Of course, what that guy had was a sickness. Regardless, shouldn’t one be able to admit one’s younger sister acting cute as, well, being cute?

     As an oppa, he could definitely say something like that.

     “Orabeonim!!” (Ye-Won)

     “Mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “You gotta approve the purchase with the phone. Can you tell me the passcode they’ll send you?” (Ye-Won)

     “Oh, that. Well, okay.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head, and his phone began vibrating right away as the security passcode arrived on it. He confirmed the code and called it out to her.

     “It’s 2580.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ng, thank you! Oppa, really, really thank you!” (Ye-Won)

     “Hahaha.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     Suddenly, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s shoulders opened up wider than ever before.

     ‘I see. I’ve been too inattentive towards her.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     All he did was bring home a lot of dough and not much else. Their house might be different now, but he didn’t buy that, did he?

     When thinking about this money being his, then it was rather obvious that his family members wouldn’t have been able to spend it as they pleased. Which meant that he should’ve proactively taken steps to buy his sister new clothes or bags or whatever, but he was just far too busy and couldn’t spare any time for his family.

     “….I’ve forgotten why I came back here, haven’t I?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Upon his initial return to Earth, he had made a mental list of things he needed to do for his family, but then, mom’s uber-powerful presence completely disrupted his thought process.

     ‘Yup, I should start taking care of them better.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     If he couldn’t ensure his own happiness, he might as well make sure his family was happy, at the very least.

     Vrrr…

     His phone vibrated again to signal the arrival of a text message.

     “Oh, it’s been approved.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Kyaaaahk!” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won jumped around in sheer joy while holding her phone.

     ‘It’s just one handbag, though….’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yup, she can be simple and honest sometimes, this kid sister of mine.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk smiled contently and checked the rest of the message out.

     “Let’s see. The approved purchase price is 2.4 million Won….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk) (TL: Around $2,111 US)

     2.4 million?

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes trembled softly.

     Two point four million?!

     What kind of bag was this expensive?!

     What the hell?? With that amount, I could probably buy a used hatchback or something. But, you wanna walk around with something this expensive around your waist?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     ‘Did she lose her dang mind?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Instead of his eyes, his entire body began trembling now.

     I’ve never even bought a backpack costing over thirty grand in my life, yet what do you wanna do with a handbag costing 2.4 million?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue) (TL: 30,000 Won = Just over $26.00)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk recalled the thoughts of only a few moments ago and held back his rising temper as much as he could. Enforcing the way of the older generation would make him come across as a disagreeable geezer.

     And also, if no one sold a bag costing 2.4 million, then no one would be buying it, to begin with. Meaning, it wasn’t Yi Ye-Won who was ‘unique’, it was the world that had changed.

     So much had changed in only five years! What a scary world this was!

     “As expected, progress waits for no man, does it?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk once more felt the renewed weight of all those years he had lived so far.

     “Oppa!! Thank you so much!” (Ye-Won)

     “….Ng.”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk could only reply awkwardly. Seeing her being so happy like that, his stifled chest seemed to be softening up somewhat, too.

     ‘Right, right. It’s just money.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was no longer a high-school thug who only lived off on the allowance money from his parents. In other words, there was a need to readjust his sense of financial thriftiness now. He had well over tens of billions of Won collecting dust in his bank account, so shivering over 2.4 million seemed rather uncool.

     ‘Well, if it’s only this much.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Still, he couldn’t really get rid of this bitter taste out of his mouth, so he made sure to drill this point home.

     “I did buy it for you, but I have to say, it’s a bit too expensive for your age. So, I’m telling you now, you shouldn’t buy stuff like this again.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ng! Don’t worry, Imma use it for the rest of my life!” (Ye-Won)

     “……..”

     Didn’t she come across as rather simple and honest just now, again?

     “That’s right. There’s a good girl.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ng, orabeonim~.” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won rushed up to Yi Ji-Hyuk and hugged him tightly again and went on a full-on aegyo assault.

     “Hmm, hmm….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     What’s this, this strange feeling?

     Doesn’t it kinda feel good? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     His little sister was one of those nasty pieces of work, but now that she had switched on her aegyo mode like this, she came across as rather adorable at this moment in his eyes.

     So, this was the reason why a man would melt at the power of aegyo, then.

     “Keuuuuh-mm!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t want to lose this swelling emotion of pride, so he began preaching again.

     “Even still, 2.4 million is too much for a student!” (Yi ji-Hyuk)

     “Ng?” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won suddenly began looking at Yi Ji-Hyuk with weird eyes.

     D-did I come across like an old fart just now?

     N-no, it can’t be!

     I’ve been paying so much attention to avoid being labelled “he’s so old fashioned even though he’s still so young” until now!

     Sure, I’ve lived for over a thousand years and then some, so I can’t really say anything about being called a grandpa, but at the least, I want to live like a young man, you know? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Two point four million? But, that wasn’t it, though?” (Ye-Won)

     “….It wasn’t?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Was it only two hundred forty thousand and he saw it wrongly somehow? Yi Ji-Hyuk pulled his phone out and checked the message again, before both of his brows shot up real high.

     What the hell is this?

     How many zeroes… are there?

     One, two, three….

     “….T-tw-twenty four million Won?!?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk) (TL: Over $21,110 USD)

     Twenty four?

     Twenty foooour million?!?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shot a wide open-glare at Yi Ye-Won.

     She had been still clinging onto his arm to carry on with her aegyo attack until then, but she began sneakily avoiding meeting his gaze with an awkward expression etched on her face.

     “Oh, well. I thought you knew?” (Ye-Won)

     Tehee, Yi Ye-Won suddenly formed one of those cutesy giggles. Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at her and began smiling contentedly again.

     “Ehehehe, orabeonim~~, thank you so much.” (Ye-Won)

     “Oh, no. No need to say your thanks.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hand burst forth with an almighty momentum and snatched Yi Ye-Won’s hair.

     “Kyyyaahk?!” (Ye-Won)

     He yanked her hair down as she screamed, but he didn’t lose out and yelled at the top of his lungs in pure rage.

     “You’ve finally lost your mind, you crazy rotten girl!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Adorable, my foot!!

     Yi Ye-Won’s screaming and Yi Ji-Hyuk’s yelling reverberated throughout the Yi house.

     …Yet another day in this family had begun.

     *

     “Keep your hands up, or else!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Hing…” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk made sure that Yi Ye-Won remained on her knees with both of her hands raised up high, and gritted his teeth.

     “You really have grown a huge pair of balls, haven’t you?? Should I perform an operation on you? Should I remove them for you??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Whyyy….” (Ye-Won)

     “Why?! Did you just ask me why??? You want me to beat you until you get the reason why?? Should I beat some common sense into your brain? When I was growing up, reading up on logical thinking was a must, but this?? Is the generational gap at fault here or something?! Ng??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk glared at her with scarily-burning eyes, prompting Yi Ye-Won to lower her head.

     “No, but, other girls also carry around their own bags, you know….” (Ye-Won)

     “Oh really? Do they also cost 20 million?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….No.” (Ye-Won)

     “Hah…..” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head in disbelief.

     This girl wanting to walk around with twenty million plus handbag was a crazy buffoon, sure, but the ones making such bags were just as guilty as her, too.

     Just who’d want to walk around with a ‘car’ hanging around their waists?

     “It’s the end of the world, that’s what this is.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     This was even more shocking than learning about monsters popping out of Gates, indeed.

     Oh. My. God.

     Both the ones selling it, and the ones buying. All crazy. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “What’s going on here?” (mom)

     Park Seon-Duk returned home after finishing her errand outside, only to find her daughter kneeling on the corner of the living room with her hands raised up high. She tilted her head and asked her son.

     “Mooooom~!” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won finally found her saviour and quickly jogged over to Park Seon-Duk.

     “Get your a*s back here!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk angrily shouted at her, but she had already hidden herself behind mom and only peeked her head out like a frightened child.

     “Son, you’re going overboard on this one. A child can make a mistake, you know. Besides, she’s not a little girl anymore, so it’s not okay to punish her like this.” (mom)

     “Groan….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk pounded his chest in frustration.

     “Okay, so. What happened?” (mom)

     “I asked him to buy me a handbag, but he’s punishing me because it’s too expensive!” (Ye-Won)

     “Oh, my?” (mom)

     Park Seon-Duk stared at her son with a slightly sharpened gaze and addressed him.

     “Just how long will you treat your little sister like a little kid? High school girls walk around with branded bags nowadays, don’t you know that? If it doesn’t suit her age, fine, you don’t have to buy it for her, but how can you punish her for asking you to buy it? Do you think you’ll get married at this rate?” (mom)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t bother to reply to her scolding and simply pulled out his phone to show her the price of that bag.

     “Mm?” (mom)

     As soon as she confirmed the price, a visible earthquake erupted out within Park Seon-Duk’s eyes.

     “T-twenty four million?!?!” (mom)

     Grab!

     Park Seon-Duk’s hand grabbed a handful of Yi Ye-Won’s hair as she tried to remain in hiding behind the safety of her mom’s back.

     “Kyahk!” (Ye-Won)

     One of Park Seon-Duk’s brows shot up as she glared at her son to scold him again.

     “Why are you letting this girl live??” (mom)

     “I was deliberating my options, mom.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….I see. Yes, indeed, my son is a good boy.” (mom)

     Murderous intent leaked out from Park Seon-Duk’s voice next.

     “You dumb crazy buffoon of a rotten girl!” (mom)

     Slaaaap!!

     “Kyyyahk!” (mom)

     Mom’s trademark palm smashing technique was unleashed on Ye-Won’s back, and she screamed out in pain while trying to escape from this dangerous situation. But too bad, Park Seon-Duk’s grip didn’t want to let go.

     “Just what kind of rubbish has gotten into you?! You wanna walk around with a 20 million Won bag?! Don’t you know what kind of money that is?? Your oppa put his life on the line to earn that money!! You want to walk around with the price of your orabeonim’s life hanging on your waist??” (mom)

     “I’m sorry!! I’m really sorry!” (Ye-Won)

     “That’s right, you better be sorry! So, you should be punished!” (mom)

     Slap! Slappp!!

     The continuous stream of spike serve landing on Ye-Won’s back ensured that she’d curl up like a dried squid on top of a hot grille.

     Shudder….

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     Yi Ji-Hyuk watched this scene play out and began shuddering involuntarily, as well. Every time Ye-Won got beaten, even he began flinching uncomfortably.

     ‘Yup, I better not do anything wrong.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     He was not scared of the country, but he was definitely terrified of his mom. Yi Ji-Hyuk even treated the Lord of the Dragons as a measly lizard, but even then, he’d much prefer to be a good, well-behaved son before his mom’s presence.

     Or else, he’d be killed in no time at all….

     Plop.

     With a soulless face, Yi Ye-Won crashed on top of the couch.

     Having crushed her daughter’s rebellious streak, Park Seon-Duk shot her son a very irritated glare next.

     Flinch.

     Although he hadn’t done anything wrong, he found himself flinching uncomfortably again.

     “Have you cancelled the order yet?” (mom)

     “N-no, not yet, mom. I was about to.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “H-mm….” (mom)

     Park Seon-Duk pondered something for a while, before whispering something to her daughter.

     Ye-Won jumped up from the couch and begun hurriedly searching for something online with her phone, before showing her mom the fruit of her quick labour.

     “M-mm, well, since there’s the cancellation fee to think about, is there really a need to cancel the order?” (mom)

     “M-mm???” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Well, it is a bit expensive for Ye-Won to carry around, but….” (mom)

     ….Mom?

     Mom, please look at your son in his eyes.

     Mom, didn’t you say something about walking around with the price of my life or some such?

     Mom?

     Moooom!! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Park Seon-Duk, right until the end, avoided meeting her son’s pleading eyes.

     “Mom….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Only Yi Ji-Hyuk’s sorrowful voice wandered aimlessly into the Ether.

     “Argh, what now?! Imma, really!” (mom)

     “….It’s nothing.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was left despondent and trudged back into his room.

     “And they say there’s no one to trust in this world, too!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Well, it’s not like I trusted mom that much from the get-go, anyway.

     It was then, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s phone suddenly began ringing loudly.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     Ebook Updates.Net

     .

     Chapter 208: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! 3

      Chapter 208: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! (3)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     – “This is Yi Ji-Hyuk speaking, the man who put his life on the line to buy a new handbag.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Excuse me??” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “That’s how it is. Okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Choi Jung-Hoon easily guessed that something had happened after hearing the sullen tone of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s voice. But then again, one thing or the other kept happening around him anyway, so this wasn’t anything new.

     “Sounds like something happened to you?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “Well, I’m in the middle of learning about the futility of life, that’s what.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     How dare this kid….!

     ….No, hang on. He’s not a kid, is he?? His mental age is almost that of a boulder’s, anyway. (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     “Ah, I see.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon shook his head as he felt this rather awesome sense of disharmony.

     – “Okay, so. What’s going on?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “A Gate has opened up.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “Why are you calling me over that as if it’s something huge? I’m coming to work anyway, so you could have told me then.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “This one’s a bit large.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “Groan….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk let a groan leak out of his mouth before shutting his mouth tight. If the size of the Gate necessitated Choi Jung-Hoon to call him on the phone like this, then that could only mean the darn thing had to be massive and his help was needed to take care of it.

     – “Yes, yes. Time to work, I suppose. Yup, gotta work, so I can make more money. Make money, buy mom new handbags….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Choi Jung-Hoon closed his eyes.

     He finally guessed why Yi Ji-Hyuk was being so sullen like this. Also, he felt kind of relieved about the matters this time around being simple enough, which meant that it’d be just as simple to fix the situation.

     Also… didn’t Yi Ji-Hyuk sound a bit like a narrow-minded miser?

     Just how much did he make recently?

     Sure, his monthly wages might not be all that different from a pay cheque of a large corporation, but then, if one added up all the benefits and extra pay he had earned recently, then well, never mind a regular building, he might even be able to build a dang skyscraper if he wanted to. But seeing him being such a miser over a measly little handbag really ground Choi Jung-Hoon’s gears.

     Of course, that didn’t mean he could come right out and say his piece….

     “Well, how much can a bag cost for you to act like this? Besides, aren’t you buying it for your mother? It doesn’t make any sense to feel unhappy about spending that money, don’t you agree?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     But, he just couldn’t let this one go.

     If he thought about it for a second, one might hold back on saying certain things regarding buying stuff for one’s girlfriend or little sisters. However, regretting buying a measly little bag for one’s mother was simply not cool. Really uncool, as a matter of fact.

     Even though Yi Ji-Hyuk was at least hundred times older than Choi Jung-Hoon, the former didn’t get to spend as much time with his mother in comparison, so he didn’t seem to know the concept of filial piety all that well.

     Since Choi Jung-Hoon was nominally an ‘elder’ in this situation, he needed to be strict and set the other man on the correct path.

     – “But, that handbag cost me twenty million Won?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Was it made out of Dragon hide or something….??” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “You see?? See what I mean?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was very quick to latch onto Choi Jung-Hoon’s inadvertent muttering. What a blunder that was.

     Choi Jung-Hoon quickly coughed to clear his throat and did his best to control his fluctuating emotions. Afterwards, he began his actions of persuading Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     “Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk, with what you make every single day, that amount is just a drop in the ocean, isn’t it?? I mean, for the sake of making your mother feel good about herself, anyone could spend that amount of money, but what the hell is up with that handbag and its ridiculous price?!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Oops!

     He ended up spitting out what was in his mind again.

     – “See? See?? Even you think the same, too!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Well, let’s be bloody honest here, why on earth is that thing so expensive?

     How can a handbag cost as much as a brand new car?!

     Wait, buying a car should actually be so much better, instead!

     A new car will certainly make you look as if you’ve made it in life, but a handbag costing as much as a car….. What the freaking hell?! (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     Choi Jung-Hoon quivered uncontrollably for a moment there, before snapping back to himself again.

     Ah! I shouldn’t be doing this!

     But, but….

     I know that I gotta wake up, but…. (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     “Can’t you, like, buy a car instead for her? With that money, I mean. If you add a little bit on top, I’m sure you can buy a decent mid-sized saloon car….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “Mom doesn’t have a driver’s licence.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Oh….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon became speechless but he didn’t give up and searched for another way out.

     “W-well, then let her get the licence! That’s not a problem, is it?!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “But, the bag’s been already ordered online, you know? So, you want me to buy a car on top of that, too?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Oh….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     I’ve got no answers.

     What do you want from me, you dumba*s! (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     “It seems that this situation isn’t something I can help you with.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “Uhm, you know, I don’t remember asking for your help? What’s up with this meddling aunty routine?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “……………….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Okay, I’m sorry.

     I’ve gone overboard trying to be a concerned aunty for you. (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

     “Let’s get back to the matter at hand.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     – “Sure thing.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     *

     On the other side of the phone line, Yi Ji-Hyuk was shrugging his shoulders.

     Choi Jung-Hoon sounded as if he wanted to help somehow, but in the end, he reverted back to talking about work-related matters. Indeed, even this dude acted like an undercover dumba*s sometimes.

     – “A Gate has been found in the city of Daegu.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Oh? What about in Daejeon, then? Nothing over there?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk) (TL: Another major city in South Korea)

     – “Daejeon? What are you talking about?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “You know. These Gates been opening up in Seoul, Daegu, and Busan, so I was wondering maybe it’s the turn of Daejeon next.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “I’m sure it’ll happen sooner or later.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Groan….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head.

     “Okay, fine. How big is it?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “It’s the biggest in the recorded history. I’d like to tell you its level, but we’ve never measured a Gate of such a scale before, so I’m not sure what to tell you. For the time being, the consensus is to call it a Level 8. However, the official classification will happen later on. The international standards needs to be amended first, after all.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “What the hell??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Figurative flames erupted out from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s mouth.

     “There are other countries with bigger landmasses, so how come such Gates keep opening up in our tiny backyard all the time?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “I can’t answer that, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Is this land really cursed or something??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     To the south, there was an endless ocean; left, right, and up were surrounded by powerful nations who proceeded to bother and annoy him all the time!

     Also, only the stupid, useless dinosaurs roamed on this spot of land so not even a drop of oil could be found here, too!

     On top of that, the Gates opening up all happened to be of the most irritating kind, too! So, how could a guy not get p*ssed of about this situation?!

     – “By the way, do you perhaps know why these types of Gates are opening up in our country more often than not?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “How should I know something like that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk flinched inwardly and got angry in order to cover it up.

     Actually, he suspected that the Gates were opening up where Yi Ji-Hyuk was. In the beginning, anyway. However, such an occurrence ceased after a certain point in time, so he had forgotten about it.

     ‘Wait, could there really be a connection here?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     It was far too vague to say that there was something there, but then again, it was also a bit too unconvincing to deny the possibility….

     It definitely felt like there was this intangible connection of some kind.

     – “You really don’t know?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “I’m telling you, I don’t!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     In times like this, pretending to not know anything was the wisest move!

     – “H-mm….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon didn’t sound all that convinced, but probably figured out that asking anymore would be a waste of time, because he switched the topic.

     – “In any case, I understand. Can you mobilise right now?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Wait, do I really have to go?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Well, it’s not a must, but….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Oh? I’m not going, then.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Well, even if you ask other agents to deal with this event, it’s 100% guaranteed that things will get out of control and you’d have to show up in a hurry anyway. So, why not just go there now and relaxedly tour around the city until the Gate opens up, instead of going there in a hurry?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “You and your slick way with words.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “It’s my only speciality, so….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk replied with a pout.

     “I’ve been thinking that I’m being a fool lately.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “T-that’s simply not possible.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “It’s like, everyone takes me for granted and think I’ll do stuff for them. Come here and do this, go there and solve that, buy a bag for me, etc, etc….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “It’s about the bag in the end….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon was dead-certain of what the source of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s unhappiness was now. He still thought that the latter’s lingering ‘attachment’ towards this matter seemed a bit too excessive at this point in time.

     Sure, that amount of money sounded like a lot from his perspective, but really now – that amount should be nothing more than some negligible pocket change for Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     Choi Jung-Hoon heard from somewhere that most regular folks, once they got their hands on as much moolah as Yi Ji-Hyuk had, would suddenly be inflicted by the Nouveau Rich Syndrome and start spending as if there was no tomorrow. So, why was this guy acting like a small-minded miser even though he had that much cash burning a hole in his bank account right now?

     ‘….Hang on a minute. He doesn’t even own a car yet.’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Well, the first thing any guy around that age do after finding himself with some wealth would be to buy a sleek European exotica, but…. This guy, wasn’t he still living the life of a pedestrian even now??

     His attire was still the exact same blue tracksuit, too. As for his meals, it’s either the grub from the company cafeteria, or a bento from home…..

     From what Choi Jung-Hoon heard, his main meal at home was ramen, because his mom couldn’t be bothered to cook. But, he didn’t mind that and still ate without complaints?

     – “Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Yes?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Be strong and don’t give up, okay?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “What are you talking about, out of the blue?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “No, it’s just that, well, I got a bit emotional….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon couldn’t even begin to imagine how he should go about righting the twisted daily life of this ‘young’ man. The first thing needing to be fixed was the distorted common sense of Yi Ji-Hyuk, but then again, he was the king of ‘Not listening to anyone beside himself’ so there was no suitable answer for him.

     – “Well, it’s not important right now, anyway.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Oh, what’s so important, then? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     – “For the time being, let’s go to Daegu.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “You sound as if we going together has been decided already?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Of course we’ll head there together. I shall come and fetch you right away. Are you at home right now?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Yeah.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “We’ve readied a helicopter on the landing pad next to the HQ. I shall come and fetch you at home, so please, wait for me for a little while.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “What the hell? Since when did I agree to go?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “I heard that Daegu’s specialty called ‘mah-yahk’ cornbread, is to die for….” (Choi Jung-Hoon) (TL note at the end)

     “You think I’m some kind of a glutton or something?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Well, uh, I am kinda curious, though.

     I’m gonna go anyway, so might as well just let it slide…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Okay, fine. Fine! Hurry up.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “Thank you very much.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Why was he saying thanks for?

     Yi Ji-Hyuk ended the call and sat down on the chair of his room as thoughts swirled in his head.

     He hadn’t given this much thought before, but well – didn’t Choi Jung-Hoon live his life to the fullest? Or, should that be, living his life to the busiest, instead? It didn’t look like the rewards for all the hard work he put in was worth it, but just what gave him such a drive to succeed?

     “Did I also have a phase like that, too?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     I’m sure I did.

     Back when I was in Berafe. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Once upon a time, there was a phase when he didn’t stop at nothing to achieve the goal of returning to Earth. His memories of those times had blurred a bit by now, though, and he was also way too terrified of recalling the desperation he felt back then.

     “H-mm….”

     Was Yi Ji-Hyuk being like this a result of not having a clear purpose?

     Just before he could delve deeper into his psyche, the door to his room slid open ever so gently.

     “Mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Uhm, oppa….” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won crept into his room with an awkward smile attached on her face. She began glancing at him hesitantly.

     “What now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk replied with a pout.

     “Oppa, I was being inconsiderate earlier. You worked so hard to earn this money and all….” (Ye-Won)

     “……”

     What is this? Feels like my conscience is being pricked!

     Wait, I still had stuff like conscience left?

     But, how sensitive is this remaining conscience for it to react so violently like this?!

     I’m sorry, Ye-Won-ah.

     All that money your orabeonim brought home? I got almost all of them through fraudulent means.

     Heck, the money I got by putting my life on the line? It’s not even deposited into the bank yet…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “S-sure. So long as you know.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Obviously, I can’t say that out loud, can I?!

     Besides, isn’t this already enough that I’m saying sorry in my mind? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “I get now why you were so angry. I mean, you worked so hard to make this money, right? I was too thoughtless trying to spend them, just like that. I’m really sorry.” (Ye-Won)

     “Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Why is this girl acting like this now?

     She’s definitely not someone capable saying stuff like this, you know?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Other people might think ‘Ah, the little sister has finally grown up’ and start shedding emotional tears, but Yi Ji-Hyuk shared the same bloodline as her and he knew the truth.

     ‘Growing up’ was something reserved for other people. Yi Ye-Won would never grow up in this lifetime.

     So, so many people would choose that ‘tech tree’ because that was the basics of all basics, but hell, Ye-Won’s class couldn’t unlock that tech tree even if she hacked the bloody game.

     At best, she’d end up as one of those high-maintenance women. But, if things went wrong somewhere, then she’d become……..

     “Oppa!” (Ye-Won)

     “Y-yeah??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk woke up from his thoughts all thanks to Ye-Won’s calling and hurriedly shook his head.

     R-right. Well, let me at least hear what she has to say first. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Okay, so what now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     “Mm, so, like, you know….” (Ye-Won)

     “Ng?”

     Yi Ye-Won formed one of those timid little smiles as she spoke.

     “Can I, like, buy one that’s a bit cheaper? All you have to do is to approve the transaction, you know? I’ll take care of everything, and I won’t bother you again.” (Ye-Won)

     “………”

     Yup, he knew it.

     “Right. That’s how my little sister should act like.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk formed a content smile and nodded his head.

     Look, look! Look at all my goosebumps that I got from her acting all sensible and the like! Holy moly, they don’t wanna go down yet!

     Anyways, now this is who Yi Ye-Won should be like! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk felt relieved that his little sister girl still remained as senseless as before and nodded his head.

     “Fine. Okay. Buy it.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Really?” (Ye-Won)

     “Yes, really.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Ye-Won must’ve found her brother’s response to be rather suspicious, because she began sneaking curious glances at him next.

     “Oppa, can I, like, choose a two-hundred-thousand Won bag?” (Ye-Won)

     “It’s fine if you want to buy a two million Won bag.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….In that case, should I choose a one-hundred-thousand Won bag, instead?” (Ye-Won)

     “I said, it’s fine to buy a two million Won handbag.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “…..Come on now. There aren’t any fifty thousand Won bags on sale, you know?” (Ye-Won)

     “………..”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk began trembling yet again.

     “What the hell?! You dumba*s! I told you to buy it! Buy the dang two million Won bag! Didn’t I say it’s okay?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ye-Won snapped back with a yell of her own.

     “Forget it! I won’t buy it! You and your cheap a*s tactics!!” (Ye-Won)

     Slam!

     The door was roughly slammed shut behind her.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk stupidly looked on at this spectacle and muttered to himself.

     “Did she really go insane?”

     I’m telling her to buy, yet she’s still freaking out….?

     I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?

     Yi Ji-Hyuk couldn’t figure out what just happened here.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Chapter 209: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! 4

      Chapter 209: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! (4)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     Yi Ji-Hyuk left his room and shouted at Yi Ye-Won.

     “What the heck?? Didn’t I tell you to buy the dang thing?! So what’s your problem now??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     She shot him a glare and yelled right back at him.

     “Where would you find a fifty thousand Won handbag?!” (Ye-Won)

     “When did I tell you to buy that?! I told you to buy that two million Won bag, didn’t I?! Wait, is it not enough for you?? Should I buy a five million Won bag, instead?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Hah! You expect me to believe that you’ll spend two million just like that? Yeah, right! Gimme a break!” (Ye-Won)

     “Hul….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk flinched from his little sister’s response.

     Why is she reacting like this?

     Actually, I’ve been thinking that I wasn’t contributing much at all to the household other than bringing home lots of money. That’s why I said okay, but….. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Y-yeah, I can certainly buy stuff like that!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Hah?” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won’s head leaned to the side in a crooked angle. That was definitely a familiar response from her, yet why did it feel particularly harsh today, all of a sudden?

     “When I told you I needed a replacement phone, didn’t you say that a high school student doesn’t need the latest model and told me to buy a ‘filial’ phone, instead??” (Ye-Won) (TL note at the end)

     “….I’m not wrong on that one.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     What would a top-end smartphone prove to be to a student other than a hindrance to her studies?! Besides, wasn’t him permitting her to swap her phone already a big deal??

     “I’ve been repeating myself over and over again, saying that I need to change my phone, but didn’t you make me stick with it until it stopped working altogether?!” (Ye-Won)

     “You’re supposed to use something as long as it works!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was forthright in his opinion. His logic was perfect, and he had not an ounce of shame.

     “Then, why did you try to fool me into buying an expensive handbag if you knew I wasn’t gonna let it happen?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I thought that I’d be able to let it slide as long as I survived your tantrums! If, if only it wasn’t for mom….” (Ye-Won)

     “……..”

     This girl, she was definitely not right in the head.

     Seriously.

     “Honestly, oppa? I really didn’t want say this to you, but…” (Ye-Won)

     “Ng?”

     “Sure, you got a rotten personality, but never mind that. Why are you such a stingy, cheap and small-minded human being?” (Ye-Won)

     Small-minded??

     Wait, did she just say ‘small-minded’??

     What is this fool even on about?

     Is she really calling me a small-minded person?

     But, how could she?!

     Don’t I possess a generous heart as large as an ocean?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “How dare you call me small-minded!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ye-Won began looking at him with eyes reserved for looking at an especially disgusting insect.

     Holy cow, I feel so dirty right now!

     Seriously, man! As far as that talent of hers is concerned, might as well admit that she’s a telepathic ability user or something!!

     Yi Ji-Hyuk possessed an immunity-like defence against mind-control magic and hexes and the like. But for her to break his calmness with nothing but just a look, now that was one hell of an ability, indeed.

     “Oppa. All the money you made, are you planning on taking it to the grave? You are supposed to spend it, you know?” (Ye-Won)

     “It’s better to be frugal!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “If it’s someone running a tight budget, sure, it’s fine to be frugal, but when someone rich does that, it’s just pathetic, you know?” (Ye-Won)

     “Euh….”

     He had nothing to retort with.

     He witnessed countless similar cases in the past and wondered to himself why they lived like that, but now, wasn’t he doing the exact same thing as them?

     No, that wasn’t right.

     He wasn’t trying to be frugal here. Yes, he simply hadn’t felt the need to spend money, that’s all!

     “That’s why! I told you that I’ll buy it! I said it’s okay, so why are you behaving like this?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Two hundred thousand?” (Ye-Won)

     “No! Two million!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “So little?” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk began trembling in rage. Weren’t her balls getting too big now?

     “Why would a high schooler need a handbag costing more than two million?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Oppa, can I be brutally honest with you?” (Ye-Won)

     “Yeah.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “In all honesty, a student doesn’t need a bag worth two hundred thousand.” (Ye-Won)

     “…..Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     What was she trying to say now?

     “Actually, it’s not just the students but other people, too. We don’t really need a bag with a price tag of two million Won, you know? It’s not like a bag’s lined with bulletproof material or there’s a touchscreen display on it, and besides, why would anyone need a bag that expensive, right?” (Ye-Won)

     What the hell. Where is she planning to go with all this logical, sound reasoning? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was getting more scared as sensible words started flying out of Ye-Won’s lips. Because, her being utterly senseless was her regular, normal state, wasn’t it?

     “But then, can you guess why people still buy these expensive bags?” (Ye-Won)

     “….No. Why?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Because, they are expensive.” (Ye-Won)

     “……….”

     Doesn’t this sound like the cause and effect have flipped sides? Or am I wrong? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “People buy them because they are expensive! Forget about functionalities, forget about designs, forget about everything else cuz they are not important, okay? We buy expensive stuff so we can show off and tell the world that we are more than capable enough to carry around such things! Do you get it now?” (Ye-Won)

     “I-is that so?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “That’s right! I want to buy that bag because it’s expensive, but if you ask me why I want to buy an expensive bag, what do you think I’ll say back to you?” (Ye-Won)

     ….I’m sure you’ll be speechless.

     Because, I’ve got nothing to say, too. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “So, just shut up and buy me the bag! I also wanna walk around with my head held up high and tell people that I’ve got a well-to-do oppa making a ton of money and can afford to wear a bag like that! Can’t you just think of it as an investment and buy it for me already?!” (Ye-Won)

     “………..”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was rendered speechless for the first time in the last few hundred years. What should he call this now? A change of ideas?

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     “That’s why!” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ye-Won’s eyes began glowing dangerously now.

     “Are you going to buy it for me or not?!” (Ye-Won)

     “I, I shall gladly do so, ma’am….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Kkyahck!”

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     She jumped on Yi Ji-Hyuk and cutely clung onto his arm.

     “Oppa, you’re the best!” (Ye-Won)

     “Huh, huhuhuh…..” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     What’s the meaning of this, this weird feeling of me wanting to cry?

     My little sister’s really happy but why do I feel this massive burden in my heart? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “I knew it, there’s no one better than you, oppa!” (Ye-Won)

     …. You’re gonna need a big a*s bar of soap to clean that mouth of yours after lying like that, you rotten little girl.

     It’s not ‘no one better than oppa’, it’s more like ‘no one better than oppa’s wallet’. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “….Hang on a second. Shouldn’t you be asking your boyfriend to buy stuff like this?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Of course not.” (Ye-Won)

     “Eh? Why not?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Oppa, you’re so dense. You don’t know if you’ll end up marrying your current boyfriend. Which means, his money is mine, right? What point is there to buy a bag with my own cash? Others should buy it for me.” (Ye-Won)

     “….Oh. Is that so….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Should he call this being sensible or being senseless?

     Should he call this being smart, or being a dumba*s?

     Yi Ji-Hyuk simply couldn’t figure it out.

     One could argue that he had spent way too long in Berafe and his personality changed as a result. If that was the case, then just what did this kid go through in the past five years to end up like this?!

     For the first time ever, Yi Ji-Hyuk began wondering if Earth was more hazardous to one’s mental health compared to Berafe.

     “A-anyway, I gotta go and run an errand, so….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Okay. I’ll deal with everything, so text me the security code later.” (Ye-Won)

     “….Which one are you planning to buy now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Uhm, well. How about a five million Won bag?” (Ye-Won)

     “The price’s gone up?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “You being a small-minded miser again? Since you’re going to spend, why not spend like a man? I mean, I was even thinking of getting the same bag as mom’s but I held back, you know?!” (Ye-Won)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head helplessly.

     For the price of not arguing with this girl no more, he figured that the extra three million was a cheap amount to swallow.

     “Do whatever you want.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Now that the things had gone far, it’d be easier on his stress level to let her spend as she pleased.

     He knew this fact.

     He knew it, so why was he still feeling so d*mn unhappy about it?

     “Hah….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     And the wise old ‘they’ said that a man couldn’t live as he pleased in this world, too….

     Ringgg….

     The phone rang without warning, and Yi Ji-Hyuk quickly answered it.

     “Hello?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     – “I’m in front of your place. You can come out now.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Alright. I’m on my way.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Might as well go to work and escape from this place; rather than getting pummelled in his own home, he’d feel far more comfortable fighting against monsters somewhere else.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk ended the call and spoke in a powerless voice.

     “Your orabeonim is going to work now, so do what you want, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ng. Oppa! Go and make lots of money, okay!” (Ye-Won)

     “….D*mn it.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk walked towards the front door with slumped shoulders.

     *

     “Did something happen?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon began worrying when Yi Ji-Hyuk climbed into the car looking somewhat depressed.

     “Mister Choi Jung-Hoon?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “….What is this thing called money?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Huhuhuh.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon broke into a gentle chuckle.

     “You shouldn’t sweat over it so much. If you have it, then you gotta spend it – that’s what money is for. If you earn them but pile them up somewhere, when will you get to enjoy yourself? After all, aren’t you making money in order to enjoy your life?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “I guess you’re right.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Indeed, he wasn’t wrong there.

     If one were to get technical about it, didn’t Yi Ji-Hyuk’s plan of ‘Uplifting the Yi household’s living conditions’ involve him earning a ton of cash and making sure his family had no needs or wants for the rest of their lives?

     The thing was, though – he deliberated seriously on how to go about making money and making sure the family was happy and satisfied, but never did he think about what being happy and satisfied entailed in reality. That’s where the current problem arose from.

     “Why not buy a car, instead?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Choi Jung-Hoon formed a serious expression and spoke to Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     “You should never say that out aloud.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Excuse me? Why not?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “If you’ve got money, then typically, they’ll make you do both, you see.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “….I see that I almost made a huge mistake just now.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Indeed, this man is wise!

     I can trust him to get things done!

     It’d be so much better if we were related by blood, not just through work-related matters, right?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     ‘I wonder, will he be able to withstand Ye-Won’s daily budget threshold?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     No matter, he needed to make sure this man brought home a solid amount of moolah every month, which would ensure the everlasting stability for his little sister’s future family!

     “….What are you thinking about?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “It’s nothing important.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Choi Jung-Hoon was suddenly being overwhelmed by this inexplicable chill crawling down his back after seeing that suspiciously content expression on Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face while the latter was staring back at him.

     What could this be?

     He did his best to ignore it and drive the car, but he just couldn’t switch his attention away from that content expression and those eyes of Yi Ji-Hyuk looking at him.

     Choi Jung-Hoon felt the cold sweat soaking his back and stepped on the accelerator even harder.

     Soon, the duo arrived at the helipad. Yi Ji-Hyuk climbed out of the car and frowned a bit after spotting Jeong Hae-Min standing next to the helicopter.

     “And why are you here?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I’m going there to leave a marker behind. As soon as I’m done, I’m coming back home.” (Jeong Hae-Min)

     “Tsk.”

     Then again, there wouldn’t be a need to use a helicopter if it weren’t for that dang zombie crisis causing Jeong Hae-Min to throw away all her previous markers.

     “But, man. Do I really have to go?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “A lot of our people have been dispatched overseas, you see.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “It’s not like we’re operating a charity organisation, so how come we’re so dead-set on solving other countries’ problems?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “We’re getting quite a bit of coin as compensation.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “You won’t be able to spend that money when war breaks out, you know.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head.

     Did Choi Jung-Hoon and Co. think that all the compensation they were earning right now would prove to be an asset later on? At the rate the world was revolving, there was a good chance that all that ‘compensation’ would turn into a bad cheque not even worth the paper it was printed on.

     He thought that, in a few years’ time, Gates would open up every single day and every single hour, so what possible meaning was there in any of that?

     “The important thing right now is to nurture the next generation of talents. Since we can’t defend everything every day, we need to buy ourselves time to nurture new ability users. If we don’t do anything, all of our neighbouring nations would cease to exist before long and we will have no one to stop the Gates opening around us.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Groan….”

     Those words weren’t wrong, either.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s head understood it all too well, but he was simply getting irritated by the fact that his workload had potentially increased by it, too.

     ‘Really, man. I keep feeling irritated about something.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Where was this dissatisfaction of his coming from?

     Now that a bit of time had passed already, he should be feeling better, but his dissatisfaction level was constantly on the rise. With things being like this, it had already went past the level of him feeling ‘bad’ about something.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk stood there tilting his head, prompting Choi Jung-Hoon to point at the helicopter.

     “Let’s get onboard.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Sure.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head and entered the vehicle.

     For now, I should just focus on what’s in front of me. I won’t get any answers just because I wrack my brain. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Soon, the helicopter carrying Yi Ji-Hyuk and Co. rose up into the sky.

     *

     “….What the hell is this?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Even the one and only Yi Ji-Hyuk was taken by surprise. Now he finally understood why this Gate couldn’t evaluated and ranked by the traditional means.

     That’s how gigantic this Gate in front of his eyes was.

     The thing was, he had seen his fair share of portals this big before. As a matter of fact, Gates he created while in Berafe were far bigger than this one.

     However, there was something called the natural flow of things.

     Until now, people thought that the Gates would progressively get bigger at a certain rate. But then, this Gate broke that mindset by being at least twice the size of the previous record holder. So, how could anyone not feel this ominous foreboding?

     “Will Gates like this one keep popping up in the future?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Hopefully not?

     Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out a lengthy groan.

     Without a doubt, this portal did require his personal touch.

     He needed to confirm just what sort of creatures would pop out from this particular Gate. If the defence was left to other agents and then, they end up fighting against creatures that they couldn’t deal with, the surrounding areas would become the land of death in the blink of an eye.

     “I did read it in the report, but it’s even bigger than I thought, now that I can see it with my own eyes.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “I’m sure it is.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk glared at the Gate with eyes full of dissatisfaction. For some reason, he was getting this bad feeling that this portal could not be called a simple irregularity.

     A strong sense of disharmony, as if someone or something was behind this Gate. That’s what he felt.

     ‘What could this be?’

     As Yi Ji-Hyuk began pondering on the identity of this disharmony, a voice called out to him from behind.

     “Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk.”

     He chased after that voice and looked behind him.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Chapter 210: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! 5

      Chapter 210: And they say there’s no one to trust in this world! (5)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     “Uh? It’s you, ahjussi?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Since Yi Ji-Hyuk began calling Choi Jung-Hoon “Mister Choi Jung-Hoon”, there was only one other person he refer to as ‘ahjussi’.

     “Feels like it’s been forever since the last time, you know?” (Yi Jui-Hyuk)

     “Ahahaha….” (Jeong In-Soo)

     A man kitted out in a certain familiar military uniform scratched the back of his neck as he stood before Yi Ji-Hyuk. He then corrected his posture at once and performed a proper military salute.

     “Indeed, it’s been awhile.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     The man was none other than Colonel Jeong In-Soo.

     “Almost forgot what you looked like, Colonel.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Well, I’m pretty sure some have forgotten about me. It’s been way too long since then….” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Excuse me?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ah, no. It’s nothing.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     Jeong In-Soo sheepishly chuckled.

     “By the way, I don’t think you were supposed to salute just anybody? Don’t you only salute like that to your superiors?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “We are in your debt, so if I can’t even salute you, then that should be fixed right away. You don’t have to worry on that regard.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Heh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Jeong In-Soo must’ve thought that he was still in Yi Ji-Hyuk’s debt. But, the latter only saved the former because he happened to be in the same location, so with him saying stuff like this….

     ‘Yup, humans should be more like this guy.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head.

     People of this world took for granted being in other people’s debt. And the notion of paying back that debt seemed almost non-existent, too.

     If Yi Ji-Hyuk was this proactive back in Berafe, then people willing to sacrifice themselves for his sake would have formed a sizeable group by now.

     ‘Ahh, hang on. That’s not quite true, is it?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Maybe if he was talking about non-human races, sure. But, the humans of that world would never help Yi Ji-Hyuk out. Because they basically treated him as a devil, after all.

     “You seem to be really busy lately?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Well, I’m hardly in South Korea, you see.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Pardon? But, why aren’t the National Defence Force working in South Korea…?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Yes, I wonder about that myself.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The two men sent meaningful glances to Choi Jung-Hoon at the same time. He formed an awkward smile and ably handled their probing gazes.

     “I don’t like it as well, but we don’t have a choice.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Oh, I’m sure it isn’t.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Yup, he’s a smooth talker, alright.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Groan….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon spat out a pained groan.

     In all honesty, Choi Jung-Hoon never thought he’d be sending the NDF agents on overseas assignments. The organisation was created with the goal of defending the nation first and foremost. But what could he realistically do when the situation had developed in this direction?

     “Besides, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk, you’re the reason why things have worked out this way, you know!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Hul?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk protested his innocence with a face of a man being wrongly accused.

     “You pleaded with me to work harder so I ran around like a dog for you, but now you come out and say the situation’s all my fault?! I only did everything you asked me to do!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “No, hang on. That’s not what I was saying.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon waved his hands about in a fluster. Technically speaking, it was correct to blame Yi Ji-Hyuk for the current situation. The NDF was originally set up in order to respond to various types of incidents taking place within the borders of South Korea, after all.

     But then, the situation changed rather rapidly once Yi Ji-Hyuk joined the organisation.

     He proceeded to level up the agents of the NDF, and the man himself also became The One in the world, which naturally led to their area of activity extending far beyond their mother nation.

     ‘Is this what they call forced overseas expansion?’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     They weren’t even in the entertainment industry either!

     However, Choi Jung-Hoon couldn’t dump all the blame on Yi Ji-Hyuk. It was indeed as he said; the latter did work his butt off the way the former sweet talked him into. How could anyone blame someone for working hard?

     “What a poor showing there, fella.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     Jeong In-Soo clicked his tongue as he stared at Choi Jung-Hoon.

     “But, you know it’s not my fault! Of course, it’s not Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk’s fault, either.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Jeong In-Soo shook his head.

     “Even then, fella, how should I say this…. In the past,” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Yes?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “You came across as humble and hard-working in the past, but now, it’s as if you’re the big boss around here.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “……….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon couldn’t refute that.

     If it was someone else telling him that exact same thing, he’d be able to deny it, but since it was Jeong In-Soo, he found it hard to refute the assertion.

     That was thanks to the good Colonel’s personality; even though he had achieved so much in the battlefield, he always attributed them to his subordinates, and made sure that he’d remain at the very forefront of the bitter war against the Gates, defending the most dangerous areas.

     Sure, he hated ability users as if they were a plague, so he kept his distance from Choi Jung-Hoon who used to be a part of the KSF, but even then, the latter couldn’t help but acknowledge and respect the former.

     Such a person was pointing out his fault now, so, Choi Jung-Hoon couldn’t let it enter one ear and go out the other one.

     “Even if our organisations are different, am I not an elder to you? I’m also pretty sure that I’ve spent more time as a soldier than you, too?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “…That is correct.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Oh? So, where did you abandon the courtesy of saluting others, then?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “…….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon was instantly rendered speechless.

     Jeong In-Soo might have saluted Yi Ji-Hyuk first, but in regards to work experience or everything else, Choi Jung-Hoon should have saluted Jeong In-Soo. Or, at the least, greet him first.

     However, he somehow managed to ‘conveniently forget’ about it.

     “Now that I think about it, when we first met, it was me who went to say hello first, wasn’t it…?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Ah….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Hyah, And they say a person feels differently before entering and leaving the bathroom.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Actually, you’re supposed to say that a frog can’t remember the time when it was a tadpole.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “See? Did you see that? Look at him not wanting to concede an inch! Colonel ahjussi! This guy’s been behaving like this lately, you know?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “My friend, you’ve changed a lot.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Groan….” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon spat out yet another pained groan.

     Again, he had nothing to refute that.

     He thought that he had managed to maintain who he was despite all the rough headwinds pummelling him around, but it seemed that he was wrong.

     ‘I need to reflect on myself.’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Many people would think that the reason for a man on the fast track to success stumbling and faltering was the idleness that came as a side effect of the success itself, but in reality, it was because the man in question would change far too much in his personality or from his initial ideals.

     It was impossible for a person’s mindset to remain completely unchanged since the scenery changed the higher you climbed up the career ladder. But one’s attitude changing, too? That was indeed problematic.

     Although these words sounded innocuous enough, the truth behind them was driven home quite painfully. Without a doubt, one might need a superior officer in moments like these.

     For Choi Jung-Hoon, the only superior he could call upon was Seo Ah-Young. But she wasn’t the type to point out his foibles, so it was hard for him to reject the notion that his discipline had gone soft lately.

     ‘For sure….’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon looked at Jeong In-Soo in a renewed light.

     The soldier bred in the fierce battlefield had accurately seen through Choi Jung-Hoon’s change, and he spoke the much-needed tough love at once. If only he had something like this man as his senior officer – his job would have been so much easier.

     Unfortunately, nothing he could do about that now.

     “Now that I think about it, he was affable and so polite in the beginning, but now, he’s all so haughty and stuff.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     And he’d love to not have a ‘subordinate’ like this fool, too.

     Indeed, who’d want a guy who should’ve been a ‘subordinate’, but in reality, was the master of the proceedings??

     He wasn’t even the son of the owner starting at the bottom as a desk clerk or something, too! This guy, he was even worse than that! Uh-whew!

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was far, far more scarier than the owner, even.

     If you asked anyone who knew Yi Ji-Hyuk personally just who would be more awkward to deal with between him and the President of South Korea, then they would unhesitatingly choose Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     So, how could he be compared to the mere son of the owner?

     “Why are you looking at me like that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “It’s nothing.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon shook his head.

     What was the point of saying anything? It was all a waste of time, anyway. Choi Jung-Hoon removed his gaze from Yi Ji-Hyuk and looked at Jeong In-Soo, instead.

     “Looks like I’ve made a mistake.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “If it’s only a mistake, that’s a relief.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “….I was being insolent. I must’ve developed this mindset without realising it. I shall be more careful from now on.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “There’s no meaning if you can’t show your sincerity with your actions. Isn’t social life all about keeping to yourself whatever is in your head?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Yes, you’re right. Thank you for reminding me.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk alternated his gaze between the two men before furrowing his brows.

     “What’s this? Why is it so cosy between you two all of a sudden?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Jeong In-Soo and Choi Jung-Hoon both formed awkward expressions and looked at Yi Ji-Hyuk at the same time.

     “Okay, so. What has happened with this Gate so far?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon quickly changed the topic.

     “As you can see, it’s getting ready to open up soon. We’ve plastered the surroundings with reinforced concrete walls, but I don’t think they will serve any purpose against monsters coming out from a Gate that big. Personally, I think they would be no different from scraps of paper, but well, it’s better than doing nothing, yes?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “I guess so.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     “This Gate is an unknown quantity, so all of our response tactics don’t work on it. Still, it’s a big relief that we have Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk with us.” )Jeong In-Soo)

     “Euh….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk was assaulted by Jeong In-Soo’s sparkling, expectant eyes and flinched as he took a step backwards. To think, he’d be at the mercy of such an uncle’s dreamy gaze! No, he didn’t want it!

     “I was wondering what should we do if you didn’t come. But, you have come to aid us in our time of need.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     He felt pricked.

     Felt really, really pricked in his conscience!

     He felt so pricked in his conscience by the fact that he had been throwing a tantrum not too long ago just because he didn’t want to come here. As a result, it was impossible to look this uncle straight in his eyes.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk reflected on his laziness and hid his embarrassment with a fake cough.

     “You know when it’s opening up?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “According to the measuring device, it’s supposed to open up in around two hours, but…. But, it’s hard to trust the device nowadays so we can’t be sure of the time frame. It might even suddenly decide to open up on us right now, you see.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     Wuuuuong!!

     Yi Ji-Hyuk glanced at the Gate vibrating ominously and spoke.

     “Like that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….Yes. Just like that.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Hah….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Careless muttering was the basis of all evil, a lance of all ill fortune, or so it was said.

     Jeong In-Soo bore witness to the Gate vibrating right after saying something that some people would think of wholly unnecessary, and lowered his head awkwardly.

     “My apologies.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Well, it’s the case of the falling pear when the crow flies.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk) (TL note at the end)

     However, the pear in question is a bit big.

     Make that waaay too big. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk thought that he might get his head caved in from the falling pear at this rate and stared at the Gate as a long, long sigh escaped from his lips.

     That thing was going to open up anyway, so nothing would change even if it opened a bit sooner or later.

     “The problem is with the things that might come out of there….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Theoretically speaking, even a Dragon could come and go with a Gate that big.

     The size of a Gate didn’t signify the maximum limit of what could be transferred. No, it actually meant that more Mana could be moved between the locations. In that regard, a Wyrm-class Dragon could easily utilise a Gate of such a size.

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     ‘Still, a real Dragon won’t pop out of there, right?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Affeldrichae alone was hard to deal with already, so if another Dragon jumped out of there, then he’d definitely lose his sh*t right here.

     In addition, Affeldrichae was an insane Dragon and that’s why she got to maintain a sort of frenemy relationship with Yi Ji-Hyuk. If it was another Dragon, though, it’d start flinging deadly magic the moment it saw him.

     Well, to the race of Dragons, Yi Ji-Hyuk was THE enemy they couldn’t bear to share the same sky with.

     With humans, they would’ve forgotten most of the direct hatred towards him with the passage of time, but heck, Dragons weren’t the type to forget just because of a few hundred years went by.

     He had no doubt that there were countless Dragons blessed with absolute unfailing memories as well as everlasting grudge on the other side still gnashing their teeth.

     “Well, it’s not like this Gate’s connected to Berafe, right….?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     It could be, but the odds of it being not were higher. Which meant that a new type of monster he hadn’t seen before that was also on the similar level of a Dragon could appear today.

     And that would be way more scarier.

     If it was a Dragon, he had his own ways of dealing with it. If that didn’t work, he could drag Affeldrichae over here and have a go at negotiating with the dang thing.

     But, if it was a creature possessing similar level of power to a Dragon that he had never seen before, then it’d become a lot tougher to deal with that.

     “Okay, so what the heck is coming out, then?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The Gate’s been open for a while now, so how come nothing has come out yet??

     Maybe, it’s a misfire? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head this way and that, and just as he was about to approach it, the Gate began vibrating even more than before.

     “Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Didn’t it look like something was trying to come out now?

     Wuuuuong!!

     The Gate then began to twist and distort crazily. Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes narrowed to a slit at this unsettling spectacle. This phenomenon only occurred when the Gate couldn’t deal with the power of the being trying to cross it.

     “Just what is trying to come out of it now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk began glaring at the Gate with rather uncharacteristically tense eyes.

     “…Uh?”

     And then, a massive earthquake erupted in his irises next.

     ‘I-isn’t that…??’

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates(dot)Net

     .

     Chapter 211: Do you remember the Eye of Latrel? 1

      Chapter 211: Do you remember the Eye of Latrel? (1)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s tense eyes glared at the creature emerging from the Gate.

     “Why the heck did that thing pop out from there?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The being in question was actually a very small lifeform.

     Such a small thing emerging from a Gate that big seemed rather strange. If it came out from a ‘regular’ Gate, then the sense of awkwardness wouldn’t have been so great, but….

     But, on the other hand, he could understand it.

     Well, that monster isn’t something that should’ve walked out of a regular Gate, to begin with.

     No, hang on. Can I even call that thing a monster? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Groan….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk roughly scratched his head.

     “What should we do? Should we attack it?” (Jeong In-Soo)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk heard Jeong In-Soo’s urgent shouting and spat out a groan before waving his hand around.

     “Wait. Just wait.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Hah….

     Attacking it feels a bit wrong, but not attacking it feels just as wrong, too. What the heck am I supposed to do now? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk stared hard with eyes filled with irritation, before he slowly walked closer to the Gate. The creature spotted him getting closer and flinched rather grandly.

     “You recognise me, don’t you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Nod.

     The being that had emerged from the Gate was a really small creature. It was as small as a puppy.

     As a matter of fact, it even looked like a small puppy, too. However, its maw was a bit long so rather than a puppy, it came across more as a small dog, instead.

     Its snow-white fur shimmered in a silvery hue, and its four legs were adorably short, as well. As for its tail, it was rolled up into a circle, and its eyes were gleaming brightly in black colour.

     “….It’s a dog.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Yup, a dog.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “It looks like a dog.” (?)

     Jeong In-Soo and Choi Jung-Hoon muttered to themselves.

     “Tsk.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk clicked his tongue. Since this thing looked like a dog on the outside, it wasn’t strange to see such a response from the unaware crowd over there.

     Unfortunately for them, this little guy was no ordinary dog at all.

     “Maybe you haven’t had enough beatings yet? How dare you show your mug in this place?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Whimper….

     The ‘puppy’ began backing up after hearing Yi Ji-Hyuk’s voice.

     “Uh-whew….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s irritation level went up even higher from this spectacle. What a hateful little b*stard.

     It was rather simple to categorise all living beings on Earth; humans, animals that weren’t humans, insects that weren’t animals, and microbes that weren’t insects, and finally, plants.

     However, it was a bit different story in Berafe.

     First of all, there were these things called monsters, which Earth didn’t have. Even they were also categorised differently according to the naturally-occurring monsters or demonic beasts, but still, one could dump them into one generalised category and be done with that.

     And then, there were the ‘Spirits’, there were races similar to humans, plus lots more others, but…. But, if he were to mention the most peculiar of the lot, then it’d no doubt be the thing right in front of his eyes.

     The Divine Beast.

     ….Animals born with divinity in them.

     Even as a ‘monster’, some of them possessed a higher level of intellect than humans, some were blessed with incomparable passive buffs, and hell, they were even worshipped in the past as gods themselves because, well, they came across as divine and all that.

     “Urgh, I’m asking you, why the heck did you come here for?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk gritted his teeth quite aggressively. But, his reaction was to be expected.

     If the Dragon that hindered his path the most was Affeldrichae, then the Divine Beast that hindered him the most would be none other than this d*mn smelly little puppy b*stard.

     This guy was actually called the Behemoth. Out of the many, many Divine Beasts in Berafe, this thing sat on the top tier level. As far as physical power was concerned, it even rivalled a Dragon.

     Just one leap, and it’d cleanly jump over a mountain. Just one Howling, and it’d split an ocean. Not only that, it was a creature of divinity, too.

     In a way, this little guy was an even more troublesome existence than Dragons to Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     Of course….

     In the latter part of his stay in Berafe, it became the norm for him to treat the dang thing as nothing more than a stray mutt and proceeded to pummel it to within an inch of its life. But when he was still a newbie Dark Wizard, this creature had tormented Yi Ji-Hyuk just as badly as Roabell the mad Elf had done.

     “Arrrgh!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Just thinking about it drives me up the walls!

     Should I just slather it in doenjang?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue) (TL note at the end)

     Behemoth must’ve read Yi Ji-Hyuk’s dangerously gleaming eyes, because it shivered and cowered its head.

     “What the heck….?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Seeing how it reacted to him, it didn’t seem to have chased after Yi Ji-Hyuk on its own volition.

     “Hey, you!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Flinch!

     The Behemoth’s body flinched nastily every time Yi Ji-Hyuk said something.

     The thing was….

     It was really fleet of foot, and when it started running at full tilt, it could easily break the sound barrier. That allowed the creature to just barely escape the life-threatening situations, or it might have ended up as the Behemoth barbecue, or as the Behemoth roasted dog already.

     Since Yi Ji-Hyuk had suffered greatly at the hands – or paws – of this thing, there was once upon a time when he deliberately singled the Behemoth out and pounded it into the ground whenever he had the chance.

     Back then, his basic rule whenever he spotted Behemoth – even if it was hidden among the hundred thousand-strong army – was to ‘Attack that guy first!’

     “Come here.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The Behemoth unwillingly stood up from its spot and extended its front paw ever so slightly, before pulling it back.

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     “Wanna die??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Whimper….

     The Behemoth pitifully cried out as if it really didn’t want to get closer and stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face.

     “What do you want now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Whimper….

     Even though it was a measly little dog, Behemoth spat out a resigned sigh and trudged towards Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     Where could it run away to even if it wanted to? This wasn’t Berafe, to begin with; since it didn’t know anything about this world, it was impossible to escape Yi Ji-Hyuk’s all-seeing eye.

     “Hurry up! You really wanna die today?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Taptaptaptap….

     As soon as his words came to an end, Behemoth hurriedly ran on its four short legs and arrived right next to Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     “Sit!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Tuck!

     “Hand!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Tap!

     “Good boy!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     ….Huh? Hang on, this isn’t right. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “….Oh, my bad. You were so natural at this that I made a mistake.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Driiip….

     Did Yi Ji-Hyuk make another mistake when he thought he saw something clear and liquid-like drip out of Behemoth’s eyes?

     “Argh, why are you crying over a minor thing like that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk began patting the creature on the head.

     Now that he thought about it for a second, this current situation felt a bit off to him. If he was still Berafe’s Bringer of Apocalypse, fine, but the current Yi Ji-Hyuk couldn’t really be seen as a superior being when compared to the Behemoth.

     If he were to fight with everything he had, then maybe, he’d defeat the creature at the final stage, sure, but with his current level of power, they were pretty much on an equal footing.

     Even then, Behemoth couldn’t even dare to rebel against Yi Ji-Hyuk and simply whimpered away.

     ‘This is why you gotta discipline unruly kids early on.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     A few hundreds of years of constant beatdowns had deeply instilled the fear of Yi Ji-Hyuk in this creature’s psyche.

     But, then again…

     Even Yi Ji-Hyuk felt this sense of awkwardness after being beaten up so much in the beginning, too. For instance, he still felt this unknown type of rage bubble up from deep within every time he looked Affeldrichae.

     “Okay, fine! So, what are you doing here? Did you come to kill me or something?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Shake, shake!!

     Behemoth vehemently shook its head left and right.

     …Hey, your neck might snap off at this rate.

     So, why don’t you just stop? You know, I’m living like a good person nowadays. If only you knew how well behaved I’ve been lately, you’ll start crying for real…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Okay, then why did you come here?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Whimper….

     Behemoth turned its head to look behind itself.

     “M-mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I shall be the one to explain that to you.” (?)

     “Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     It was in that moment that yet another existence walked out from the Gate. Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes progressively widened after confirming who it was.

     “YOU?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The being that finally revealed itself possessed outer appearance of a slender, beautiful woman. Whitish hair reaching all the way down to her waist and gently wavering around; milky-white skin in a perfect match with her hair; her sleek, perfectly-shaped arms and legs as if she was a supermodel.

     And finally….

     Pointy ears.

     “An Elf?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon cried out in surprise after confirming what had walked out of the Gate. Just from looking at the appearance that closely resembled Roabell, he could easily guess correctly the identity of this being.

     She was indeed an Elf.

     More important than that, though, one of the non-human races of Berafe had willingly entered this world.

     “Mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk began tilting his head after looking at this Elf.

     Haven’t I seen this Elf before from somewhere?

     Who was this girl, again? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     The Elf slowly walked over to where he was. She quietly studied him for a moment or two, before elegantly swirling her arms to perform the Elf-style greeting.

     “It has been a long time, oh the Ruler of Berafe. This person greets the owner of the demonic beast horde hundreds of millions strong and the possessor of a vast territory, a noble demon king of the demon world, and Berafe’s one and only Bringer of Apocalypse.” (?)

     “Groan….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk abruptly spat out a groan after hearing all of those. He finally remembered her.

     “What brings a lazya*s High Elf such as yourself to this world?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The Elf now referred to as ‘High Elf’ smiled brightly and continued to look at Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     “We have come to seek an audience.” (?)

     “I’m guessing you’re the one who forced this puppy to come along.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “The great one has sent along the creature as my guardian.” (?)

     “It’s just a puppy, so who’s guarding who now?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Whimper….

     Yi Ji-Hyuk began glaring angrily, prompting the Behemoth to whimper pitifully and hide behind the High Elf’s legs.

     Guardian, my foot!

     You’re the one who needs guarding! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Fine, fine. What do you want? Why are you looking for me?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Something has happened and we need to speak to you.” (?)

     “Hah…..” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     He was really tense after such a huge Gate opened up, but why did idiots like these two had to come out and take the wind out of his sails?

     “….No, hang on.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk quickly and correctly re-assessed the situation and stared the High Elf straight in her eyes.

     “Hey, you. Are you here as the representative of your entire race?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     When he thought about it, either a High Elf or the Behemoth was an incredible VIP that not even a Zombie Dragon could compare to. Even if this woman had this innocent-looking face, at the end of the day, she was the representative of the entire Elf race.

     In terms of the Dragon hierarchy, she would be on the same level as a Dragon Lord. Or, if he were to give rankings to every single living creature in Berafe, then at the least, she’d enter the top 10 rather easily. Indeed, she was a bigshot among bigshots in that place.

     The thing was, he’d been helplessly watching a certain Lord of the Dragons lounging around lazily in his house and playing video games the whole day, and because of that, his grasp on the severity of the situation had weakened a bit. But the truth remained that this High Elf was an existence even demon kings couldn’t disparage that easily.

     And such an existence had decided to cross the dimension. This couldn’t have been a simple matter.

     “Hmm….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     All hints of playful mischievousness were wiped away from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face in an instant, his expression becoming hard, cold.

     “What happened?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Ah….” (?)

     Witnessing the instant change in his atmosphere, even the High Elf corrected her posture immediately. The man standing before her was none other than Yi Ji-Hyuk.

     He was the only man in history of Berafe to rebel against the teachings of the gods, and also, an unparalleled sorcerer who stepped into the realm of godhood with no help from anyone.

     Even if he no longer emitted the same aura of violent devil of the past, he fully deserved to be respected for everything he had achieved so far. Of course, she couldn’t outwardly express this respect, since the paths they took were quite different, after all.

     “Do you remember the Eye of Latrel?” (?)

     “Mm?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head. How could he not remember that?

     But, if she was still asking him to make sure, then did that mean this matter had something to do with the Eye?

     “Of course I remember. But why?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “After you used the Eye of Latrel and crossed over to this world, a connection point between Berafe and this world has been established.” (?)

     “Oh, really?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     What an unpleasant piece of news that was.

     Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out multiple groans.

     Sure, even though Earth was connected to Berafe, nothing of note had happened until now, but still, the mere fact of two places being connected was displeasing him a great deal.

     Seriously now, he was really tempted to cut out and utterly isolate the world of Berafe somewhere far away if he could.

     “Okay, so what’s the problem?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The High Elf spoke with a grave expression on her face.

     “That means, you don’t need to resort to any special means to open a Gate to Berafe from this world.” (?)

     “But, isn’t that how things ought to be?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Originally, only those who had a connection to Berafe and knew its coordinates could open a Gate to our world. In this world, that would be you, the Bringer of Apocalypse, and the Lord of the Dragons.” (?)

     “Okay…?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “However, now, as long as you can track down the lingering trace of divinity, anyone can open a Gate leading to Berafe.” (?)

     “Fine, so what does that have to do with me?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk continued to tilt his head. The only people who could use Mana in this world was Yi Ji-Hyuk and Affeldrichae, so what did that matter, anyway?

     “It’s because that being has entered your world.” (?)

     “That being?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The High Elf’s hardened face nodded up and down.

     “Yes. The Demon King of Anguish, Delkaran.” (?)

     “….What was that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes began quaking heavily, then.

     ***

     “The humans of this world builds rather interesting structures.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran stared at the skyscrapers that seemed to rise up without an end and cackled as if it found something quite amusing.

     It had witnessed the Holy Empire, purported to be at the zenith of human civilisation, building castles and spires that reached up towards the heavens. But, the structures the humans of this world had built seemed to truly touch the heavens.

     And when seeing the large ships of metal being flown in the sky, the abilities of humans living in this world couldn’t be underestimated, it seemed.

     “However, it does not matter.” (Delkaran)

     They were still humans, in the end.

     Humans were simple existences that would scream out in despair and anguish in front of this demon king. And now, it was time to teach the humans of this world.

     To teach them what a demon king truly was.

     Khaaaaahh!!

     Mana pouring out from Delkaran’s body dizzily spun around the demon king’s body before rushing out towards the skyscrapers pointing to the heavens.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Chapter 212: Do you remember the eye of Latrel? 2

      Chapter 212: Do you remember the eye of Latrel? (2)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     “Delkaran’s here?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s expression crumpled unsightly.

     “You sure about this?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes.” (?)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk heard the High Elf’s resolute, firm answer and spat out a heavy groan. It wasn’t to the extent of Dragons, but still, Elves rarely lied. So much so that, while living in Berafe, he sometimes even wondered if the tendency to lie was a trait unique to humans or not.

     Besides, there was no reason for this woman to cross dimensions to get here just to lie about Delkaran entering this world.

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     “We’re screwed.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk grasped his head.

     They had barely managed to kill one demon king, yet another one came over already?

     Just what the hell is going on with this world??

     The advent of a demon king is a HUGE event that may or may not happen once every one thousand years in Berafe, you know!

     In Planet Earth terms, it’s like the Biblical great flood!

     Every time a demon king shows up, a civilisation would be reset. The defender of diversity in culture is none other than demon kings, cuz they make sure to revert everything back to zero, back to the beginning!

     But then, why the heck are these demon kings popping up here in what feels like every fourth day of the week as if they were going shopping for groceries at the local supermarket?? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Are we coated in honey or something?! These b*stards….. Seriously, man!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk yelled out as figurative flames erupted from his mouth.

     Even if the world is different, aren’t the treatments way too different?!

     It’s like, Berafe is the in-law’s place and the demon kings don’t wanna go there if they can help it! But, is Earth where your family lives? Is that why?!

     You come here and make a mess of things whenever you feel bored, so what the hell do you want from me now?!

     Not only that…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Why did it have to be that b*stard?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out a long sigh.

     Delkaran.

     A pretty rare being among the ranks of demon kings.

     Out of all the demons and monstrous creatures that number dozens and dozens of times bigger than that of humanity, there had only ever been 100 beings that earned the title of ‘demon king’.

     So, one could imagine how supreme an existence that was.

     However, it was also quite true that there being nearly one hundred demon ‘kings’ was a rather awkward thing to address.

     In the common logic of Earth, there should only ever be one demon king in a generation, destined to be defeated by a brave hero at the end of the fairy tale.

     Even Yi Ji-Hyuk was also taken greatly by surprise when he heard that there were almost 100 demon kings, too.

     Getting back to the story – out of all the many demon kings, Delkaran had left behind a strong impression in Yi Ji-Hyuk’s mind.

     First of all, that guy was super-famous even back in Berafe. And when he finally met the guy in person, he was dumbfounded by what he saw, wondering if someone like that could really even exist.

     Delkaran Yi Ji-Hyuk knew was a demon king with a single-track mindset, recklessly rash, and that guy’s actions were beyond comprehension, too.

     Did that mean this particular demon king was a dumba*s?

     No, not at all.

     No demon king should be underestimated. In order to get to that level, being intelligent to some degree was a must, after all.

     If one were to talk purely about IQ numbers, then out of all the demon kings, the dumbest moron of the lot would have to be Yi Ji-Hyuk, no doubt about that.

     He didn’t want to admit to such a painful truth, but unfortunately, reality wasn’t so kind.

     Existences with the title of demon king were smarter than humans in terms of pure intellect. Even then, this guy was singularly focused on one thing, and also reckless, to boot.

     Now typically, smart creatures would start modifying their end goals if they realised that achieving their initial goal would be more difficult than their expectations.

     However, Delkaran was the type to use its smart head to cook up all sorts of schemes and methods to break through that difficulty. If that didn’t work, then it’d cause some other serious incidents in order to introduce variables to the mix.

     What did all this mean?

     It meant that the b*stard would resort to all sorts of c**p and when that didn’t work out, it’d start throwing tantrums!!

     There was no answering that!

     Yi Ji-Hyuk had learnt that being intelligent didn’t necessarily equal to being wise through Delkaran’s example. But now, such a demon king was on Earth?

     Shudder….

     Yi Ji-Hyuk’s body began to tremble greatly.

     “Wowsers. This is a huge problem.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Indeed, it was such a gigantic problem that he felt momentarily dizzy just now!

     What am I supposed to do now?!

     “Are you really sure about this?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes.” (?)

     “How did you even find this out, in the first place?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Of course, it’s not possible even for us to find out about such things.” (?)

     “Okay, so?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     The High Elf stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk, her expression asking, “Why are you asking me something so obvious?”

     “The Order has informed us.” (?)

     “The Order? Of Latrel?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “That’s correct. The Order of Latrel informed us that Delkaran had descended to the world where you were residing now.” (?)

     “Mm??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     It wasn’t so strange to see a High Elf personally making a trip regardless of which world it was, as long as something like Delkaran had descended on it. No, he should be rather thankful that she didn’t drag along a massive Elf army with her, instead.

     To put it bluntly, Delkaran and Elves were sworn enemies, that was why.

     Even before Yi Ji-Hyuk had the chance to cross dimensions, Delkaran entered Berafe first and proceeded to destroy about half of the existing civilisation. Out of all the victims, the ones at the most horrendous receiving end was the Elf race.

     It was unknown whether their disposition was a bad match-up, or maybe the demon king just didn’t like them, or even worse, maybe the Elves happened to be in the creature’s way…. In any case, the race of Elves were pushed to the brink of extinction by Delkaran’s attacks, and they just barely managed to defeat and send back the demon king’s living embodiment in Berafe to the demon world. It took them hundreds of years of rebuilding to recover from those wounds.

     Now that he thought about it, the term ‘Delkaran’ was pretty much the strongest curse word in the Elven vocabulary, wasn’t it?

     So, one could excuse a High Elf for crossing over in order to hunt down Delkaran, but….

     “….How did Latrel know about this?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Now this one was the real problem. This world was completely different from Berafe.

     Sure, she might be a god on that side, but that didn’t mean she could interfere with the matters of Earth. If gods could interfere in the matters of other dimensions, then pretty much all living worlds would have become battlegrounds of various gods by now.

     However, how did Latrel find out something that even Yi Ji-Hyuk living on Earth didn’t know? How did she find it out and even deigned to hand out an oracle, to boot?

     “I have already told you.” (?)

     “Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “This world and Berafe have been connected in some way now. Although faint, a pathway has been established.” (?)

     “How?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “As I’ve said before….” (?)

     The High Elf became extra-patient as she continued with her explanation.

     “It’s because of the ‘Eye of Latrel’.” (?)

     “Eye of Latrel?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “With you activating the Eye of Latrel to come here, a crack has formed between the worlds. Although minute, it definitely exists. This crack connects Berafe to this world. And that allows the power of divinity to work here, and that also allows her divine will to enter this world.” (?)

     “M-mm….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk roughly scratched his head.

     Hang on. I was wondering why the heck those crossing over here could use divinity so easily, but I guess that was the reason, huh.

     I figured that Roabell would keel over from exhaustion after pouring out all of the divinity in her body, but she’d been enduring unexpectedly well so far. So, that was the reason, wasn’t it? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “In that case, why isn’t Mana crossing over?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “It’s because Mana and divinity are two different things. The energy filling this world rejects the influence of Mana.” (?)

     “Hmm….”

     So, like, this world’s foundation is with Ether, so Mana can’t cross over, but since there’s a void with divinity, it’s pretty much a fair game and Berafe’s divinity can come as much as it pleases, is that right?

     So, which means…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Why the hell is it so complicated?! D*mn it!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk suddenly flew into rage, causing the eyes of the High Elf watching on to tremble unsteadily.

     ‘But then again….’ (?)

     She already knew that he was a man like this, to begin with.

     As a matter of fact, he’d have his monster army attack or fill the skies with black magic spells just because the story got too long and his thoughts got too complicated as a result. But now, seeing him only lash out with his mouth…. For sure, he had softened by a great deal.

     “Okay, so. Let me summarise this whole thing…. There’s a hole connecting Berafe and this world, and Latrel used that hole to see Delkaran descending here. Is that right?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes.” (?)

     “And then, she sent an oracle to her Order and they informed you. Is that the gist of it?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “That’s correct.” (?)

     “H-mm….” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head before asking the High Elf.

     “Okay, so what’s your plan?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “I beg your pardon?” (?)

     “What can you possibly contribute by yourself? You people haven’t forgotten who you are dealing with, I hope?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Of course, we haven’t. It is that detestable Delkaran, after all.” (?)

     “Regardless of what, that guy is still a demon king. More importantly, he’s not any ol’ regular demon king, but fresh off the produce aisle, if you get my drift.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yup, that guy’s right at the top of his game.

     Overflowing with energy, overflowing with eagerness, and a demon king that just fits the description perfectly.

     So, what are you planning to do to such a guy by showing up all alone with a little puppy in tow? (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “I’m well aware that I can not be of any help to your cause. However, we decided that we simply couldn’t stay back and do nothing when Delkaran has made a move.” (?)

     “So, what you’re saying is…. I’ll be the one to deal with that guy, while you show up to the party just to say that you did come in order to ‘console’ me that way?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “It is quite embarrassing, but you are correct.” (?)

     Most regular folks would either deny or get angry when called out like this as that would be the norm, but a High Elf was a High Elf at the end of the day.

     She simply admitted to it.

     “Groan….”

     He didn’t like this response one bit.

     If only she tried to deny it or something, Yi Ji-Hyuk would have been able to start his verbal assaults, but now that she came out and readily admitted to it, continuing on would only make him look like he was grasping at straws.

     “Okay, fine! Where is Delkaran?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Even we don’t know that.” (?)

     “Groan….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk began tearing his hair out as he squatted down on the ground.

     “God d*mn it! These demon kings, crossing over whenever they feel bored or something!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Since a bona fide demon king-level b*stard had crossed over, he had no choice but to fight it now. If a demon king decided to rampage around for real, then it’d not even take a month for Earth to be destroyed for good.

     This problem had surpassed the level of being irritating and straight into the realm of a life and death struggle, so Yi Ji-Hyuk could no longer laze around and suck on his thumbs anymore.

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     ‘Is that demon punk the source of the problem?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     There was no way that demon kings could easily cross dimensions like this, so it had to be someone summoning them to this world, whether it be a demon or something else. He had to eliminate the source first, otherwise even if he managed to stop Delkaran this time around, another problem would rear its ugly head in the near future.

     “Well, that’s a problem to consider later…..” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Pardon?” (?)

     “Quite frankly, I’ve got no answers here.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “………”

     Sure, a demon king had been stopped before.

     Beltreche.

     Everyone went through hell, but nevertheless, they did manage to stop that b*stard, didn’t they?

     The thing was, though, Beltreche and Delkaran were two different types of demon kings.

     If it weren’t for Beltreche underestimating Yi Ji-Hyuk, and crucially, the 13th demon king intervening at the last second, he wouldn’t have been able to stop that creature. But, Delkaran was a far more cumbersome adversary compared to Beltreche.

     “Groan….”

     Yi Ji-Hyuk continued to groan.

     “Mister Choi Jung-Hoon?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     Choi Jung-Hoon quickly ran over to Yi Ji-Hyuk’s side.

     “For the time being, summon every available agent.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “….Understood.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Not just the NDF, but everyone that can fight. Summon them all. And call America, or everywhere else you can call, and tell them to be on high alert!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     “Colonel Jeong In-Soo.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Yes!” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “Please, you also need to mobilise the entire defence force. Although I don’t think the threat will appear in our small country, it’ll still be a prudent thing to prepare for the worst potential situation.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Mobilise the whole army?!” (Jeong In-Soo)

     “You just have to get them on standby 24 hours a day so they can react and focus their fighting power regardless of where the enemy appears.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “That is doable.” (Jeong In-Soo)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk nonchalantly issued a command that, if the soldiers throughout the country heard him, they would start vomiting blood from the unfairness of it all. He got up from the ground in one go and glared at the High Elf.

     “And you, Elf woman!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Reah.”

     “Eh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     “Have you forgotten? I’m Reah.”

     What do you mean, forgotten?

     I was never interested, to begin with. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Who cares if you’re Reah or whatever. Anyway, there’s a reason why you showed up with that puppy, right?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk looked down, and the Behemoth whimpered before hiding behind Reah’s legs.

     “Of course. He will help you track down the enemy.” (Reah)

     “Hmm….”

     Did this mean he’d be more proactive this time? That would be a hundred times more preferable than waiting around forever for a situation to break out somewhere first.

     “Looks like I’ll be saying hello first, then.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

     You stinking demon king b*stard!

     I’m gonna…. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

     “Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk!!!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

     It was then, Choi Jung-Hoon hurriedly ran towards him while answering the phone. Yi Ji-Hyuk saw this scene and could only sigh under his breath.

     Yup, I knew it.

     With my luck, what a fat joke it is, wanting to get a preemptive strike.

     Eh-whew!!

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     Ebook Updates . Net

     .

     Chapter 213: Do you remember the Eye of Latrel? 3

      Chapter 213: Do you remember the Eye of Latrel? (3)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     Christopher McLaren was enjoying his rare break from action to the fullest

     All because of that godd*mn zombie crisis, just how many weeks did he spend repeating the hellish regime of staying awake for several days in a row or getting three hours of sleep a day at best?

     Only after the situation normalised to some degree that he finally found himself with a much deserved rest, a first in many months.

     “I’m going to retire soon.” (Christopher McLaren)

     At this rate, it was pretty much a sure thing that he’d kick the bucket before his time.

     He imagined himself dying from a hail of bullets fired by an unseen assassin, or dying in his bed surrounded by his kids and grandkids while holding their hands. However, he definitely would like to avoid the fate of keeling over at his desk from overwork and passing on like that.

     “Nope, that won’t do.” (Christopher McLaren)

     He had dedicated decades upon decades of his life to this cause already. Which meant that he deserved to retire now and spend the rest of his days in peace.

     He spent a better part of fifty years as a workaholic.

     His wife was treating him as a stranger now. His children addressed him as if he was a strange uncle living next door. But, once he retired and his workload decreased, it should be easy to repair the damaged relationships.

     After all, Christopher McLaren was an expert when it came to manipulating human minds.

     “Looks like I should hand in my resignation.” (Christopher McLaren)

     Mister President would be jumping up and down in a barely-concealed fury, but there was no way Christopher McLaren could continue on living this way.

     Also, his sixth sense was rarely off the mark and it was busy warning him that things would only get worse in the coming days. Once he got dragged into those incidents, then forget about keeling over his desk, his end would be on top of the toilet bowl, instead!

     He definitely didn’t want that.

     “Hmm, did I get a bite?” (Christopher McLaren)

     He was currently lounging on top of a yacht floating quietly on the Pacific Ocean, with a fishing rod dipped into the water’s surface. He slowly got up as the line began trembling for the first time in a while.

     That’s right.

     A man is supposed to live like this. (Christopher McLaren)

     Unfortunately, his leisure time couldn’t last for long.

     Rinnnggg….

     Christopher McLaren’s phone suddenly began ringing.

     “Mm?”

     He warned his underlings never to call him unless it was a serious emergency, but these d*mn fools didn’t seem to know the definition of emergency at all.

     They had been calling him up again and again ever since a while ago, which succeeded in raising his irritation level by a notch. Seriously now, how did a potential threat to the President’s life qualify as an emergency?

     Wasn’t POTUS accompanied by at least a dozen top-class snipers wherever he went?

     Perhaps because these punks hadn’t gone through the Cold War era espionage game, they didn’t seem to understand what real danger looked like.

     Christopher McLaren answered the call angrily and began yelling at the top of his lungs.

     “What the hell do you think a holiday is supposed to be?! It’s a holiday, because you’re taking a break! Stop calling me for a matter that doesn’t need my attention! God d*mn it! I should’ve sided with those trying to pass the law about not calling people after the work hours!” (Christopher McLaren)

     Christopher McLaren shouted out and with a deeply dissatisfied face, he listened to what was being said on the other side of the line before asking back.

     “England? What the hell? It’s happening not even our country but in England, but you dare to interrupt my one precious day of rest? Hey, you! Are you freaking stupid?! You let the English deal with the English problem, so why are you calling……” (Christopher McLaren)

     It was then, Christopher McLaren’s body suddenly shuddered.

     Only allowed on Creativenovels.com

     “What did you say?!” (Christopher McLaren)

     – “According to our agent on site, the unknown monster in London is displaying similar traits to the creature called ‘demon king’ that showed up in the desert, sir!”

     “….What bullsh*t is this?!” (Christopher McLaren)

     This couldn’t be happening.

     There was another existence like that?

     Every ounce of firepower possessed by the great United States of America failed to even leave a scratch on that monster. Not only that, even Yi Ji-Hyuk nearly died fighting that thing.

     Only thanks to the intervention of the heavens did they manage to overcome that perilous situation, but if not for that, the country called America would have ceased to exist by now.

     Yet, there was another one like that?

     “Video! Where is the video footage?!” (Christopher McLaren)

     – “It’s impossible to film the creature, sir! That thing is destroying everything around it.”

     “What about London?!” (Christopher McLaren)

     – “We estimate it’ll completely be destroyed in less than two hours, sir!”

     “Sh*t!” (Christopher McLaren)

     Christopher McLaren’s brain began spinning at a higher gear.

     If that demon king b*stard laid waste to England and crossed over to the European mainland, then the scale of destruction would utterly be unprecedented.

     And since the whole world was intrinsically connected, the annihilation of Europe would also signal the end of the world, too.

     That thing had to be stopped.

     Regardless of the cost, that possibility had to be stopped!

     “Summon the elites first and foremost! We gotta support them somehow! Send a teleporter here right now, too! And also!” (Christopher McLaren)

     The most important thing to do was….

     “Call South Korea! Contact Mister Choi and request the NDF to lend their aid to England!” (Christopher McLaren)

     Yi Ji-Hyuk. They definitely needed that guy.

     – “We have contacted the Koreans already, sir! They told us that they have no method to teleport to England, and asked us to supply them with a teleporter.”

     “Send one, then!” (Christopher McLaren)

     – “We have done that already, sir.”

     “Okay, fine. Don’t forget to send a teleporter to my location, too. And carry out the rest of my orders as quickly as possible. Ignore all inter-departmental procedures. I’ll take full responsibility!” (Christopher McLaren)

     – “Yes, sir!”

     Christopher McLaren ended the call and discarded the fishing rod in his hand before running straight into the yacht’s cockpit.

     What with the end of the world coming to visit him seemingly every other day now, Christopher McLaren had no choice but to delay his planned retirement.

     ***

     KWA-BOOM!!

     Thick strands of black-coloured demonic energy rushed along the ground.

     “Aaaaahk!”

     This demonic energy wiggled around like a massive snake; it proceeded to wrap around an entire building before crushing it outright, while flinging vehicles getting in its path far up in the air.

     “Help!!”

     “What the hell is that thing?!”

     There were more than one gigantic snake-like demonic energy.

     Dozens upon dozens of black demonic energy spread out from the plaza located in the centre of London in all directions and blew away buildings and cars and any humans caught in their paths of destruction.

     “Fire! Fire!!!!”

     Tanks and APCs filling up the various streets fired their various shells into the centre of the black snakes.

     Boom!!

     Bang!! Ka-boom!!

     Explosions rang out and loud booms reverberated around the city.

     “Hmm?” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran stared with some interest at the bunch of metallic objects flying at it.

     The humans of Berafe also thought up of flinging metallic things to attack as well. Dwarves enjoyed deploying things called firearms, after all.

     However, the demon king still found it rather interesting that these metallic things automatically exploded before reaching their targets and caused damage that way.

     ‘And it’s not just one or two, is it?’ (Delkaran)

     Pointed metallic objects flying in besides the exploding ones seemed to cause damage by penetrating the target.

     ‘Humans can evolve in this manner, I see.’ (Delkaran)

     The humans of this world didn’t know anything about magic; they certainly didn’t know how to use magic to improve their lives, either. Even then, it was still praiseworthy that they managed to develop such a civilisation even when saddled with rotten a handicap like that.

     No, perhaps because they lacked the convenience of magic, they had no choice but to progress in this direction.

     It ultimately didn’t matter which direction, though. Whether humans could use magic or not, the end result would remain the same.

     No method would work on Delkaran anyway.

     “Hmm?” (Delkaran)

     The demon king deflected away yet another shell and raised its head.

     “Hoh-oh?” (Delkaran)

     Large metallic things, much larger than anything else thrown at its direction so far, were falling from the sky now.

     “Oh, so that wasn’t the end, was it?” (Delkaran)

     Those alone were plenty praiseworthy enough, or so Delkaran thought, but now, there were even more?

     The humans of this world truly deserved to be called magicians, didn’t they? Because, it was a rather amazing feat to throw around such large masses of metal around without any Mana involved in the process.

     “But, that is all.” (Delkaran)

     KWA-BOOOOOM!!

     Concentrated bombing enveloped the centre of London.

     The British government realised that there was no hope left and promptly decided to bomb the living hell out of their own capital city.

     After taking into consideration the power the demon king called Delkaran had displayed in such a short period of time, they figured that the entire country would be destroyed if they hesitated because of the potential sacrifices.

     This decision was a correct one. No one should criticise this line of thinking. Unfortunately, even such a decision had no effect in slowing down Delkaran’s advance by one single step.

     “That stung a bit.” (Delkaran)

     The demon king tilted its head and leisurely walked forward.

     Wouldn’t such a destructive power be on the similar level of an Arch Mage’s wide area attack spell? To think, these humans with no knowledge of Mana managed to hone their technology to reach the level of an Arch Mage.

     “What an amusing world this is.” (Delkaran)

     In a way, this place could be several times more amusing than that of Berafe. The world alone was enough to hold Delkaran’s interest for so long, yet Yi Ji-Hyuk also lived here, too.

     Indeed, what an amusing playground this place was.

     However….

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     “I should still make an example out of their insolence.” (Delkaran)

     Delkaran waved its hand around and that caused the bombers returning to base high up in the sky to all explode one at the time.

     Boom!! Ka-boom!!

     Like fireworks going off, flames and smoke danced in the air.

     ***

     “God d*mn it!!” (Michael Douglas)

     The man in charge of Britain’s ability users, Michael Douglas, stared at the developing situation through his glasses while spitting out several choice words.

     The ground force proved to be ineffective so he even resorted to a bombing raid, but all of them failed to inflict a single scratch on the monster.

     One half of London had vanished already.

     Buildings had all collapsed, gas pipes in various parts had burst open and continued to blow up in a chain reaction of explosions.

     Never mind the overall financial cost of this destruction, it was already impossible to tally the number of the dead right now!

     “What am I supposed to do about this?!” (Michael Douglas)

     It was indeed pretty horrifying that a monster suddenly appeared in the middle of the capital city without a need for a Gate, but then, this monster just so happened to possess an unprecedented level of power, too. Not only that, it was unusually aggressive, to boot.

     Now faced with a situation he had never encountered before, Michael Douglas couldn’t do much beside spewing out a constant stream of swear words.

     “What about America? What happened to the promised American support?” (Michael Douglas)

     “They said they’ll do their best to support us as soon as possible! They are waiting for an assault team to be organised and then, they’ll teleport over here immediately!”

     “When will that be, then?! God d*mn it!!” (Michael Douglas)

     He knew that getting angry wouldn’t solve anything. If the situation could be changed for the better by him throwing a tantrum, then he’d have thrown it dozens, hundreds of times by now, but he knew that now wasn’t the time for this.

     But, what else could he do? He felt way too frustrated right now to stop.

     If it was at all possible, he’d have forgottrn about dignity or whatever and start shedding tears right away.

     Just how many people would have died underneath the crumpled ruins of those buildings? Just how much blood was being shed right now??

     “That monster b*stard!!” (Michael Douglas)

     The world had more or less stabilised after the Black Monday incident. Many lives were lost that day, but the denizens of this planet found a way to respond against these Gates in time, and now, they even found a way to accept these portals as a part of their everyday lives.

     The world had regained its stability somehow, yet this…

     Just what was anyone supposed to do when an irregular monster like that popped out of nowhere without warning??

     “Fire!! Don’t stop firing!! Shoot with everything you got! Second team, you also starting firing, too!!” (Michael Douglas)

     Boom!! Bang!!

     Tanks positioned in the first defensive line and the artillery on the second poured out a barrage of shells. At the same time, bombers filled up the sky to carpet bomb their capital city.

     BOOM!!

     Several areas continued to blow up, and the world-famous capital city they were so proud of was being dismantled by their own hands. How could anyone imagine what they were going through right now?

     “Destroy that b*stard!!!” (Michael Douglas)

     The ability users waiting for Michael Douglas’s order finally began shooting out their attacks; colourful arrays of Ether shots flew in Delkaran’s direction.

     BOOOOM-!!

     What resulted from that was a humongous explosion.

     As if a tactical nuke had gone off, a massive mushroom cloud rose up from the explosion.

     It was a spectacle created by the combined might of firepower and Ether. Although, it was a sad thing to see that such a spectacle just so happened to take place in the middle of London.

     “Did we do it?” (Michael Douglas)

     Even if they failed to kill it, as long as they managed to inflict some sort of wound, however minor, they stood a chance.

     Unfortunately, Delkaran was a demon king. And before that, it was also a demon.

     Demons were existences born to mock and toy with humans.

     Once the huge mushroom cloud settled down, Delkaran’s unhurt figure revealed itself on the epicentre of the explosion, its reddish tongue slowly licking its lips.

     “Very good.” (Delkaran)

     It had never imagined that humans were capable of wielding this level of power.

     Such a level of destructive power had never been witnessed from the likes of mere humans. Only the ultra-high ranking magic spells fired by an Ancient-grade Dragon could manage to leave some impact on the demon king’s body.

     However, that humongous explosion did just that, inflicting Delkaran with a dull ache.

     “Very, very good.” (Delkaran)

     Pain always accompanied the life of demons.

     Experiencing both pain and pleasure at the same time, the two red eyes of Delkaran hidden beneath the darkness began gleaming dangerously now.

     “It’s now time to reward you.” (Delkaran)

     I shall show you, you humans.

     In the world where there are no monsters, no divinity, and no demons….

     I shall deeply brand what the existence of a demon king is!

     “Ahahahahah!!”

     A loud laughter exploded out of Delkaran’s mouth, as impossibly thick branches of Mana wiggled out from the demon king’s body like snakes and spread out to all directions.

     You are reading

     The Returner

      ebook which is a free download at

     wWw.EbookUpdates.Net

     .

     Download more ebooks for free at

     EbookUpdates(dot)Net

     .

     Chapter 214: Do you remember the Eye of Latrel? 4

      Chapter 214: Do you remember the Eye of Latrel? (4)

     Learn More about CrN 3.0: Legacy!

     Big Changes are happening! Benefits Readers and Creators alike!

     Rather than a snake, though, it was more like an ‘Imoogi’.

     The black Mana flew out like wingless Dragons and swallowed up all the tanks surrounding Delkaran.

     “Aaaaaah….”

     The crewmen inside the tanks saw the black Mana fly at them and swallowed back their despair-laden gasps.

     Wuduk!! Wududuk!!

     The armour plating of the tanks were torn off like scraps of paper and Mana poured in like black tides into the vehicles. And as the soldiers watched on with despairing eyes, the black magical energy pounced on them.

     “Aaaahk!!”

     Those who managed to scream were the lucky ones; most of the tank crewmen were disintegrated in an instant without being able to squeak out anything.

     KA-BOOOOM!!

     Tanks and APCs began blowing up, one by one.

     Michael Douglas watched this spectacle and gnashed his teeth. They had committed so much firepower but failed to scratch it once, so just what were they supposed to do in order to kill that monster?!

     “….God d*mn it.” (Michael Douglas)

     There was only one answer remaining. And that would be to retreat as quickly as possible and try to preserve the remaining forces, and then, find a new way to damage the monster and recommence with their attack. That was it.

     However, doing that left a bad taste in his mouth. Because, there were still plenty of citizens yet to evacuate right behind the defensive line.

     Telling a soldier to abandon all those people and retreat?

     “Commander!”

     Michael ignored the call coming from behind him. He already knew what that guy wanted to say. He too knew that, logically speaking, he needed to retreat.

     However, that idea should not even be entertained right now.

     As long as he was a soldier, as long as he chose to walk the path of a soldier, the choice of abandoning regular citizens did not exist in his mind.

     “We fight till the end!!” (Michael Douglas)

     “But, commander!”

     “There are citizens who haven’t evacuated yet! If we retreat now, what do you think will happen to them?” (Michael Douglas)

     “….Even if we don’t retreat in time, they will still die, sir. And lots of other people will die, as well.”

     “You….!” (Michael Douglas)

     Michael gritted his teeth.

     He also knew that his adjutant wasn’t wrong here. But, which soldier worth his salt would give out a command to retreat in a situation like this one?

     As he spiralled ever deeper into a dilemma that wasn’t a dilemma, tanks continuously blew up in front of his eyes.

     BOOM!!

     KA-BOOM!!

     One hit would bring about one explosion. It wasn’t as if Delkaran could only destroy tanks this way. No, it was more like a cat toying with a rat driven into a corner. The demon king nonchalantly extended its snake-like Mana tentacle and destroyed tanks one at a time.

     Many tank crewmen succumbed to their fear and began abandoning their vehicles to escape. Delkaran watched them flee, its eyes gleaming brightly.

     “Ahh, so they aren’t that stupid.” (Delkaran)

     It seemed that their primal survival instincts were still active within these humans.

     Lifeforms living in large groups tended to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the group. For instance, ants would fight against invading enemies to protect their eggs, even though they were clearly outmatched.

     Insects that would avoid danger in any other normal circumstances would forget about their own lives and attack their enemies if they sensed a threat to their group.

     So, what about humans, then?

     ‘They are double-sided, I see.’ (Delkaran)

     The demon king could see that there were some soldiers standing their ground even though they were cognisant of being in the same range of destruction as with their fleeing comrades.

     This thing of displaying different types of responses when facing same situations could be seen as a unique trait to human beings.

     Out of all the similar types of intelligent creatures, humans were the most peculiar.

     Among all the intelligent creatures, Dragons perhaps possessed the strongest individualistic personalities. In the name of their common race, Dragons might get together every once in a while, but they seriously lacked any tangible bond or fellowship among themselves, to such an extent that one could easily assume each individual being its own tribe.

     As for the Elves, they were ostensibly intelligent creatures but lived their whole lives as a part of their colony. They even displayed characteristics akin to ants, too. Elves didn’t think too much about sacrificing themselves if it was for the greater good of their kind.

     And in the middle of these two extremes were mankind.

     Humans were intelligent creatures as well as being a part of one single race, but then, there were many, many different types among them.

     While there were those noble few who’d readily sacrifice themselves for the sake of humanity, there were also those narcissistic ones that wouldn’t bat an eyelid when sacrificing the entire human race just for his or her desires.

     Chaotic.

     Dear Readers. Scrapers have recently been devasting our views. At this rate, the site (creativenovels .com) might...let's just hope it doesn't come to that. If you are reading on a scraper site. Please don't.

     From the perspective of other races, humanity was the chaos personified.

     “That’s why it’s so amusing.” (Delkaran)

     Because humans lived so chaotically and as they pleased, the ‘energy’ that oozed out from them was truly, incomprehensibly powerful.

     The reason for not just the demons but other, strange creatures being so avaricious towards humans was simple – the energy possessed by humans were incomparably larger than any other races. That was why.