The Returner

Chapter 200: Who cares if they die or not (5)

Why did that man suddenly show up here?

What a bizarre thing this was if one thought about it for a second. It hadn’t even been one hour since Kim Dah-Hyun arrived in Beijing, probably, so why did Yi Ji-Hyuk show up here?!

Kim Dah-Hyun was paying way too much attention to Yi Ji-Hyuk down below and was almost hit by an Ether attack. He freaked out and hurriedly tilted his body away.

“Urgh, d*mn it!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Swearing jumped out of his mouth automatically.

Totally not caring at all about that, Yi Ji-Hyuk continued to glare at Kim Dah-Hyun in his squatting position, before yelling at the man running around in the air.

“Argh, I told you, what the hell are you doing up there?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“What do you mean, what?!” (Kim Dah-Hyuk)

Kim Dah-Hyun failed to understand what on earth Yi Ji-Hyuk was talking about. He continued to hurriedly dodge this way and that while replying back with a sulky tone.

“Why haven’t you taken a look at your watch?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Ah?”

Kim Dah-Hyun raised his wrist up and took a look at his smartwatch device.

“Heol.”

He found nearly 100 missed calls sitting pretty on the device, waiting for his attention.

‘....Is he some kind of a stalker or something?!’ (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Back when he one-sidedly broke up with a girl he used to date – even back then, he wasn’t subjected to as heated and desperate attempts at trying to call him as this one. He hadn’t checked his watch since disembarking from the plane, but to think, he’d receive nearly 100 calls during that short period of time....

“Did someone die or something?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Yi Ji-Hyuk began frowning unhappily.

“Will you come down already?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“But, I just know you’re going to torture me if I do!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“Urgh, that d*mn blockhead!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk began gritting his teeth next.

Kim Dah-Hyun saw that reaction and his determination not to descend to the ground became stronger than ever before.

If he went down there, he’d get beaten to death!

Out of the blue, his nose Yi Ji-Hyuk broke on the first day the two of them met began aching for some reason. Only Kim Dah-Hyun among the members of NDF had been beaten up black and blue by Yi Ji-Hyuk. (TL: No, Yun Hyuk-Gyu got a big beating, too.)

‘So, the others have no freaking idea.’ (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Others simply had no clue how vicious and cruel Yi Ji-Hyuk could get when he was beating someone up. Back then, Kim Dah-Hyun thought he’d die for sure.

He shuddered in fear from that recollection and soared even higher into the air after stepping off on the head of an irate Wyvern.

“Fine, fine! Don’t come down, then.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk gnashed his teeth and dusted his hands theatrically.

“Don’t ever come down from there, got it?! I’m warning you! You come down, and I will destroy you!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“What are you trying to do now?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“I definitely warned you.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Soon, Yi Ji-Hyuk began waving his hands in the air.

“N-no!! Euh-ahhck?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Kim Dah-Hyun immediately recognised what those hand gestures meant and cried out in pure panic.

What is that insane b*stard trying to do?!

I’m still up here!! (Kim Dah-Hyun’s inner monologue)

“Stopppp!! Don’t do it!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Kim Dah-Hyun hurriedly yelled out, but Yi Ji-Hyuk simply cackled on and continued to gather Mana into his hands.

“Don’t you dare come down! If you do, Imma kill you for real!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Uwaaah?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Mana bubbling around Yi Ji-Hyuk’s outstretched hands suddenly poured out into the air and quickly drew a magic circle in the sky. Kim Dah-Hyun witnessed that spectacle, and without a shred of hesitation, dashed in the opposite direction.

There were plenty of times he felt reassured for some reason whenever he saw that magic circle, but right in this moment, that assured feeling was nowhere to be found.

“Uwaah!! I’m sorry! I was in the wrong!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

He hurriedly cried out for forgiveness, but Yi Ji-Hyuk simply cackled on as he watched Kim-Dah-Hyun’s desperate escape attempt. Only a short breath later, the magic circle emitted bright light, and it spat out a massive river purely made up of lightning bolts.

Kim Dah-Hyun’s entire body quaked as goosebumps broke out all over his skin after he saw the black lightning bolts going on a rampage in the sky.

What the hell are those?!

No, wait, I knew that this guy was d*mn strong, but this....

Was he really that strong from the beginning to do something like that? (Kim Dah-Hyun’s inner monologue)

Kim Dah-Hyun’s shaking eyes caught sight of the black lightning bolts swirling and dancing in the sky like a singular black dragon coiling tightly around, and he screamed out at the top of his lungs.

“Please, spare me!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Too bad, Yi Ji-Hyuk was a merciless being.

“You’ll die if you come down, anyway!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

KUKUKUKU-!!!

The lightning roiled angrily in the sky before setting upon the flock of Wyverns haplessly flying around nearby. And when that happened....

Crackleeeee-!!!

Two disparate but similar sounds of electricity crackling out violently and something exploding resounded at the same time as a huge bright spark erupted in mid-air.

“Heu-uh....” (Xui Feng)

Xui Feng bore witness to Yi Ji-Hyuk’s completely unexpected appearance and his subsequent action of completely blocking out the heavens with black lightning bolts. The Chinese man simply plopped down on his butt right there.

“Really, man! I can’t keep enduring any more of this sh*t!” (Xui Feng)

He was already in a state of shock from the feats of Kim Dah-Hyun already. Heck, the shock caused from Seo Ah-Young’s fire show from before still hadn’t worn off yet, either. So, what was he to do when something this absurd was suddenly shoved in his face?!

‘D*mn abominable monster freak sons of b*tches!!’ (Xui Feng)

Only a minute ago, he simply felt deeply astonished after seeing Kim Dah-Hyun go on a rampage in the air. But now, after Yi Ji-Hyuk went and began chucking around lightning bolts, Xui Feng was genuinely feeling sorry for the Wyverns getting utterly massacred up there.

‘Would you look at that c**p? Seriously, man!’ (Xui Feng)

Kkkaaaaaahk!!

The chill-inducing death shrieks of Wyverns continued to ring out in the air. All those poor monsters were being turned into jet-black charcoal bits after black lightning bolts cleanly ran through their bodies.

Crackle-!!

That wasn’t even the end, either.

The black lightning bolts didn’t stop at scorching their initial Wyvern victims, but continued into their next targets over and over again.

And when dozens of such lightning bolts were dancing around, it only took a couple of blinding flashes to reduce the number of previously-okay Wyverns to only a handful survivors.

“Run, you idiot!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Kim Dah-Hyun had already found himself a new Wyvern ride by then. He smacked the monster in the head repeatedly and urged it to escape from there right away.

As for the monster itself, it must’ve figured out that there was no time to bicker with the insane human riding on its back, because it began flying away with all its might from the lightning bolts.

“Hoh-oh?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes began gleaming brightly as he watched this scene unfold.

This was none other than enemies temporarily joining hands to fight a common foe. No, hang on. Wasn’t this more like a hostile takeover, instead? (TL note at the end)

Too bad for them, he wasn’t thinking of wasting any more time on this.

A black tentacle suddenly shot out from his right hand and tightly wrapped around the airborne duo of Kim Dah-Hyun and the Wyvern.

“Euh-heok?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

While squealing out a sound that was remarkably similar to that of a deflating balloon, Kim Dah-Hyun hurriedly looked behind him. And when he spotted Yi Ji-Hyuk glaring at him with a pair of gloomy eyes, a bone-chilling shudder travelled up the poor man’s spine.

“H-hyung-nim!! Please, you misunderstood me!! I was just....!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“Tsk.”

Yi Ji-Hyuk wasn’t planning to humour Kim Dah-Hyun’s excuses and simply yanked his tentacle back.

“Uwaaaaaahk!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Kim Dah-Hyun’s body was dragged back much faster than his original escaping speed.

Ka-boom!

The Path Drifter bound by the black tentacle crashed into the ground and a thick dust cloud was kicked up from the impact.

“Groan....”

Thankfully, he wasn’t injured due to the Wyvern absorbing most of the impact of the fall, but still, his entire body was aching from the throbbing pain.

“Come on, man!! That was way too much, you know?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Kim Dah-Hyun’s mouth was still operating at full capacity so he was about to let his dissatisfaction known, but then, he witnessed the still-groggy Wyvern getting sucked up by the tentacle while issuing the crunching noises right next to him. That shut him up real fast.

....Well, uh, he’s been always like that, so.... (Kim Dah-Hyun’s inner monologue)

Kim Dah-Hyun rapidly realised that dissatisfaction should always be kept to himself and formed an awkward smile as he spoke.

“Ha, ahaha.... H-hyung-nim. You see, I, uh, I wasn’t trying not to come down from there, but, uh....” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“....Should I just kill you now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Please, spare me!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Kim Dah-Hyun dashed forward like a streak of lightning and clung onto Yi Ji-Hyuk’s legs.

“Hyung-nim!! It’s me, me! Kim Dah-Hyun!”

“I can see that.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Then, why are you doing this to meeee??” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“Uh-whew....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk shook his head in helplessness.

His temper dictated that he should start beating up this fool right now, but he had a pretty good reason why he shouldn’t do that.

“We’re going back home, so get ready for that.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Eh?”

Kim Dah-Hyun stared dazedly at Yi Ji-Hyuk.

“Home? You mean, back in Korea?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“That’s right.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Did this mean that Yi Ji-Hyuk himself personally came here to fetch Kim Dah-Hyun home?

“Did something happen back home?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“M-mm....”

Yi Ji-Hyuk roughly scratched his head a little and quite unlike him, replied in a somewhat cautious voice.

“Actually, the thing is....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Yes?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“Mm.... Okay, don’t get any wrong ideas, got it? And don’t get too angry, either. First of all, you gotta stay calm, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

What was he trying to say while building up suspense like this? Kim Dah-Hyun kept staring back with a suspicious glare shining in his eyes. Yi Ji-Hyuk sneakily avoided meeting his gaze and spoke up.

“She got injured a little bit.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Injured? Who is?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“Well, uh, mm....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Kim Dah-Hyun watched Yi Ji-Hyuk displaying obvious hints of hesitation, and his expression began crumpling more and more. When he thought about it, there could be only one answer here.

Who among the people related to him getting injured would prompt Yi Ji-Hyuk to personally come and fetch him like this? There was only one person important enough to Kim Dah-Hyun to warrant an action such as this one.

*SFX for standing up straight quite abruptly*

Kim Dah-Hyun shot up from the ground and without even a shred of hesitation, grabbed Yi Ji-Hyuk’s collar.

“Is it Dah-Som?!?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“H-hey, calm down first, will you....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I said, is it Dah-Som? Did Dah-Som get hurt? How?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

The epitome of siscon, Kim Dah-Hyun lost his cool immediately and began shouting right in Yi Ji-Hyuk’s face. Even the one and only Bringer of Apocalypse was totally overwhelmed by this sudden explosion of violent aura and could only avoid meeting the enraged glare of the other man.

“Y-yeah.”

“What?! Why?! How?! Is her injury serious?! No, no, no! How did she get hurt the first place?! What’s her current condition?! Say something!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“Groan....”

Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out a groan as he watched Kim Dah-Hyun grab and shake him by his collar.

Indeed, by his collar.

If the people of Berafe heard that the Bringer of Apocalypse was being shaken around after getting his collar grabbed by a ‘regular’ person, they would probably start punching holes right through their ear canals.

‘My dignity.....’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Tears should be blurring Yi Ji-Hyuk’s vision right about now, but Kim Dah-Hyun’s aggressive aura was way too scary for him to start getting all emotional at the moment. At this rate, the mad Siscon would floor him and start the ‘ground & pound’ on him next if he wasted any more time than this.

“Well, it’s not like she’s been hurt that bad, you know....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Why did she get injured in the first place?! Ah?!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“She, uh, she wanted to learn magic and all that, and ended up experiencing the Mana Deviation. Well, it’s not as serious as you might think.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“....What are you even on about?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Yi Ji-Hyuk let a slight sigh escape from his mouth.

“Going to see it for yourself will be far easier to understand, so get ready.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“T-this, this!!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

Kim Dah-Hyun began shuddering like crazy.

Dah-Som got hurt?!

My Dah-Som got... hurt!!!

The apple of my eyes, Dah-Som got hurt!! What were these d*mn NDF b*stards doing?! (Kim Dah-Hyun’s inner monologue)

“What are you doing? Hurry up!” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“Y-yeah.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk flinched slightly from Kim Dah-Hyun’s overwhelming aura and nodded his head.

‘I’m not the one in the wrong, though....’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

If he were to get technical here, didn’t Yi Ji-Hyuk come all the way out to this place so he could take this fool back home as quickly as possible? Which meant, he should be thanked instead. But, to receive a treatment like this....

“Hah.....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

....Forget about it.

He wanted to slap the back of Kim Dah-Hyun’s head silly until the fool recognised the truth of the matter. But then again, watching the latter’s chin vibrate up and down like an electric shaver as he stewed in rage, worry, and sheer anxiety like that, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s desire to raise his hand was wiped away in an instant.

“Right. You didn’t do anything wrong, anyway.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

The only thing you’re guilty of is being a siscon, that’s all.

Eh-whew. (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t say anything else and waved his hands about to create a small Gate.

“Here it is....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“....All I have to do is step through this one?” (Kim Dah-Hyun)

“That’s right.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Kim Dah-Hyun stared at Yi Ji-Hyuk with a slightly suspicious expression before throwing himself in the open maw of the Gate without saying a word.

Considering the fact that he had suffered hell after entering a Gate similar to this one, it wasn’t all that hard to guess how urgent Kim Dah-Hyun was feeling at the moment.

Yi Ji-Hyuk watched him enter the Gate completely and turned around to address Xui Feng.

“Well, things have ended up this way. So, do take care of the aftermath, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Xui Feng obviously still couldn’t understand a lick of Korean and tilted his head to display his confusion. Yi Ji-Hyuk shrugged his shoulders and stepped through the gate himself.

Wuuuongg....

And soon, the Gate disappeared from the view.

“.....What the f*ck happened just now?” (Xui Feng)

Xui Feng still couldn’t get to grips with this sudden development and continued to dazedly stare at the empty spot where the two Koreans used to stand.

*

Wuuuong....

This Gate was definitely not large.

A Gate barely large enough to let a grown person through opened up in the middle of a lush vegetation somewhere. It shone brilliantly in white light, but then, it was suddenly dyed in black colour, and its mouth cracked open to emit rays of dark light. And then, a blurry shape of a person slowly materialised.

“H-mm....”

A sigh made by a high-octave voice came out from the figure.

“Is this ‘the’ world?”

Her voice contained a certain something capable of shaking up the souls of all who listened to her.

She had a full head of luscious black hair, and wore a tight fitting black outfit. Her almost translucent white skin served as a perfect contrast to all those black on display. Finally, a pair of deeply crimson lips, so red as if they didn’t belong there to begin with.

She was the 13th demon king, the Succubus Queen, Erukana.

She had finally descended on Earth.

“Well, well, well. This place feels a little unpleasant, no?” (Erukana)

Erukana’s finger rose up to brush her lips. A sticky sensation, quite different from Berafe’s, was beginning to stimulate her.

However, so what if it did?

She didn’t care much about where this was. To her, the one and only important thing was....

The fact that ‘he’ was in this world.

“Well, now. Let’s see....” (Erukana)

Erukana closed her eyes for a little while and scanned her vicinity, before opening her eyes again. And her gaze was fixed in a certain direction.

“It’s that way, is it?” (Erukana)

Step.

Her feet began slowly moving towards her destination.

“I’m on my way now. So, wait for me, darling.” (Erukana)

Her hushed, yet high-pitched laughter slowly spread out to the surrounding area.

< 200. Who cares if they die or not -5 > Fin.

(TL: Ok, so. The author actually didn’t write what I TLed, but wrote “This was the First United Front/Kuomintang-Communist Party Collaboration. No, wait. This was more like a takeover collaboration.” I didn’t go with this, partly because most readers of this novel wouldn’t know what that even means and partly because I didn’t feel like explaining Chinese history. If you’re curious, let Google be your friend.)