The Returner

Chapter 143

Affeldrichae slowly walked closer to Yi Ji-Hyuk .

“W-what do you want now??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Sensing something ominous was afoot, Yi Ji-Hyuk began sneakily retreating away .

“Humans possess a variety of methods to express affection . ” (Affeldrichae)

“… . Will you stop talking as if it’s your first time seeing humans since arriving on Earth?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Indeed, it’s not my first time seeing humans, but the feelings given off by the humans of Berafe is mysteriously different from humans of this world . ” (Affeldrichae)

She had a point there . That was one of the reasons why Yi Ji-Hyuk just couldn’t grow close to the folks of Berafe .

“Humans of Berafe are unquestioning, singular-minded . However, humans of this world are much more freer . I find it very intriguing that when humans are unbound and free, they are capable of evolving to this degree . ” (Affeldrichae)

“Well, that’s the result of your corrupted gods blocking progress . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“That might as well be the case . ” (Affeldrichae)

“Ho-oh . If it was the past you, you’d shout ‘Blasphemy!!’ and go on a rampage, you know?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“That’s because she’s not present here, you see . ” (Affeldrichae)

“You mean, that d*mn Latrel?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“How disrespectful . Still, I must acknowledge that some things you’ve said are indeed correct . As you’ve said, the science of men are quite surprising . I always thought that you were just making things up . ” (Affeldrichae)

“What the hell, you dang rotten lizard woman?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Affeldrichae chuckled softly before pressing her face close to Yi Ji-Hyuk .

“May I finish what I wanted to say before?” (Affeldrichae)

“M-mm?!”

What is this? What’s gotten into her?

When Yi Ji-Hyuk ungainly took a couple more steps back, Affeldrichae came closer to him again .

“What?! What now?? Whatcha want from me??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Haven’t I told you already that I’ve developed an interest in the way humans express affection?” (Affeldrichae)

“And why should I express that to you?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“The first reason is because you owe me a suitable compensation . ” (Affeldrichae)

“Groan . Okay, fine . The second one is?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“The second reason is, well, you have feelings for me, deep enough to express your affection to me . That’s why . ” (Affeldrichae)

“Stop spewing bullsh*t, will ya?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

How dare a lizard desire a human?!

“Did I say something wrong?” (Affeldrichae)

Of course you have!!

You said that I have feelings for you!! That’s bullsh*t!! Say something that makes sense, d*mn it!(Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

“You, you are still one of the top three I wanna kill the most, you know? Don’t you get that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You’re a human being, but oddly enough, you don’t seem to know much about human emotions . Hatred and affection aren’t in inverse proportion to one another . You may hate me more than anyone else, but at the same time, you like me more than anyone else, too . ” (Affeldrichae)

“What dogsh*t is this now?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Affeldrichae slowly shook her head .

“I heard that humans don’t understand their own feelings all that well . I guess that is true . ” (Affeldrichae)

“And where would you have heard such things?! All you do is play video games the whole day!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Who am I, Mister Ji-Hyuk?” (Affeldrichae)

“A lizard?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Affeldrichae’s shoulders drooped low in an exaggerated sigh .

“Please, you should’ve answered ‘Lord Affeldrichae’!” (Affeldrichae)

“But, you said it with your own mouth that you’re not a lord anymore, though?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Oh . I did say that, didn’t I?” (Affeldrichae)

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s dumbfounded eyes became a pair of small dots as he stared at Affeldrichae .

Did her head get nuffed or something after staying in a human form for so long?(Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

“In any case, it’s fine . Let’s forget about the second reason . It should be possible with only the first reason, yes?” (Affeldrichae)

“Of course, it’s not possible . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk was very firm with his answer .

“It’s only a simple matter, though? Too simple for you, is it not?” (Affeldrichae)

“It’s not simple at all, you know??” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Affeldrichae chuckled .

“What’s the matter, acting like a first-timer and all? I already know everything there is to know, don’t forget . ” (Affeldrichae)

“The first time isn’t the most important thing!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“But, didn’t you often do it with other species?” (Affeldrichae)

“I never did!!!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Affeldrichae chuckled again and changed the topic slightly .

“So, you don’t wanna?” (Affeldrichae)

“Of course not!! Hell no!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Mm, how should I say this… feels like my pride’s been wounded?” (Affeldrichae)

“How can your forged-steel mentality of a Dragon get shaken up by something this petty?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“That’s how badly hurt I feel, you know?” (Affeldrichae)

“… . Hah, you and your d*mn piehole . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“That’s another word for a mouth, isn’t it? I didn’t know you were capable of saying you like me in such a roundabout way . ” (Affeldrichae)

“Argh!!”

Yi Ji-Hyuk raised his fist, causing Affeldrichae to laugh out and take a step back .

“I’ve been joking with you, so let’s stop here . I only wish to confirm just how far the dark Mana has invaded into your body . ” (Affeldrichae)

“Weren’t you messing around with my body while I was asleep?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You’d wake up if I did that . That’s why I haven’t started the procedure yet . ” (Affeldrichae)

“Hmm… . . ”

Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head .

“Fine . We’ll do it once this task is over . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“But, it’s fine to do it ahead of time, isn’t it?” (Affeldrichae)

“After I’m done here first . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“If you say so . ” (Affeldrichae)

Affeldrichae smiled gently back at him .

Yi Ji-Hyuk snorted loudly and walked away . Affeldrichae quietly followed after him, but her eyes were studying his back .

You’re not afraid, yes?

Are you?

***

“Ahahahahk!!”

Seo Ah-Young screamed out loudly .

“I’m gonna kill him! I swearrrrrr!!” (Seo Ah-Young)

She gnashed her teeth endlessly while staring at a huge slime-like lifeform trying to get closer to her .

Its jelly-like body jiggled about as it violently pounced on her position .

Powerful flames erupted out from both her hands and enveloped the slime . The creature’s body spasmed, then it suddenly began firing jets of greenish liquid towards the flames .

“Uwaaaah!!”

Seo Ah-Young’s beautiful face was crumpled and unsightly as a constant stream of swear words poured out of her mouth, along with flames from her hands .

“Get the f*ck away from me!! F*ck off!!!!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Her flames danced as if they were alive, but whenever the slime’s jet of liquid hit them, their intense heat weakened noticeably .

Seo Ah-Young gritted her teeth and continued to fling her flames at the creature . Eventually, though – her legs began faltering and she was getting dizzier with every passing second .

“Yi, Ji, Hyuuuuuuuk!!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young’s furious roar resounded out in this strange cavern .

“Yeah?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

And Yi Ji-Hyuk’s nonchalant reply came back to her .

Seo Ah-Young’s gaze spun right away towards him . While being on the receiving end of her bloodshot-eyes, Yi Ji-Hyuk grinned refreshingly .

“Oh, so you have enough leeway to look away now, do you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Uwaaaaahh?! YOUUUUU!!!” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Hey, I’m not deaf, you know . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Seo Ah-Young’s murderous glare, ready to chew Yi Ji-Hyuk inside out, landed on him .

“I’m telling you, you should not look away . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yup, as expected .

Her focus deviated from the target and naturally, her flames weakened as a result . The jet of liquid easily broke past the weakened flames and swept Seo Ah-Young away .

“Kkyaaaahk!”

The powerful pressure shoved Seo Ah-Young away and flung her into the air as if she got hit by a truck, before she crash-landed rather ungainly on the ground .

It didn’t stop there, though – she bounced up one more time, before landing back on the ground .

Seeing the slime inching towards her, despair dyed her facial expression .

“Whoa . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

However, just one flick of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hand was enough to scare the slime into a wiggly, jiggly retreat .

“Euh… . . ”

Seo Ah-Young tried to stand back up, but her body refused to obey and she remained sprawled on the floor .

“F*ck… . off… . . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Hmm… . . ”

Yi Ji-Hyuk approached her and placed his hand on her head .

“Now, let’s see . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You………” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young’s body began trembling, hard, as dark Mana flowed into her head . She bit her lower lip to endure the pain and a thin stream of blood trickled down her chin .

“Keu-euhk . ”

A groan filled purely with pain leaked out of her mouth, but Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t stop injecting dark Mana inside her head .

“It’s only this much, huh . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

After confirming her limit of tolerance, Yi Ji-Hyuk extracted all of the dark Mana from her body .

His gaze lowered to the floor in contemplation .

‘Too weak… . ’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

At least, Park Sung-Chan was better in this regard . The amount of dark Mana Seo Ah-Young could accept was pathetically small .

Of course, he could understand why .

Even if she was an ability user, it would never be easy for a ‘normal’ human to accept dark Mana . Even for Yi Ji-Hyuk, it’d have been an unimaginable concept to accept and wield dark Mana if it weren’t for his endlessly-regenerating body .

Most of the dark mages relied on accessing Mana supplied by the ones they had formed contracts with to perform their spells, after all .

“Tsk . ”

Yi Ji-Hyuk finished extracting all the dark Mana from Seo Ah-Young’ body and stood up while sticking a cigarette in between his lips .

‘This is going to take too long, isn’t it?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He knew from the beginning that this task would be quite difficult to complete, but now, he also learned that it’d take a greater deal of time than he had bargained for, too .

Yi Ji-Hyuk frowned in a slight sense of hopelessness, and lit the cigarette up .

What Choi Jung-Hoon said before was not wrong; even if it was Yi Ji-Hyuk, he’d still be unable to stop every single monster coming out from every Gate opening up in the world .

No, hang on . It might be possible to do so, actually .

Sure, he could desperately move around and fight, fight, and then fight some more, which would result him killing them all . However, unless there were ten Yi Ji-Hyuks, no, hundreds, maybe thousands, it’d be impossible to defend everywhere at the same time .

If he failed to arrive at a location in time, well, that place would be destroyed without a single trace left behind . If such events repeated once, twice, thrice – when that happens, regardless of whether Yi Ji-Hyuk was defending this planet or not, the world would start to crumble and in the end, get destroyed .

“Groan… . . ”

Protecting only his vicinity, those close to him?

That was also an impossible notion . Protecting people would mean protecting their way of life, as well . And if he wanted to protect their way of life, then he also had to protect the things being given to them, too .

In other words, if he wanted to protect his family, then he had to protect the world .

For that purpose, Yi Ji-Hyuk alone would never suffice . At a bare minimum, he needed someone who could hold the fort until he arrived there .

“Now that I think about it, that Dioreh the First dude was an incredible guy, wasn’t he?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Comparing the current style of invasion to the monster army he led back in Berafe, it’d be like an ant standing up against an elephant, a drop in the ocean, etc, etc .

However, that guy Dioreh the First still managed to amass a huge troop in the midst of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s massive scale invasion and had put up a decent fight . Now that was something the current Yi Ji-Hyuk couldn’t even dream of doing .

“Well, the humans back in Berafe were pretty amazing, I guess . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

When he thought about it, that was .

It was at this point in time that Seo Ah-Young finally managed to stand back up, albeit tottering about like a drunk .

“Euh… . ”

Her venomous glare was directed at Yi Ji-Hyuk .

It seemed that response of every person was exactly the same, no matter who it was .

Yi Ji-Hyuk clicked his tongue .

“If I continue… . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Ng?”

“Will I become stronger?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“M-mm??”

Oh, maybe not everyone’s the same, then?

Yi Ji-Hyuk looked squarely into her eyes and nodded .

There were people who could make those kind of eyes .

Folks who’d do anything to climb up – only those types would end up standing at the summit of the world .

“Yes, you will . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

When Yi Ji-Hyuk replied to her, Seo Ah-Young gritted her teeth and nodded her head as well .

“But, why do you wish to become stronger?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Someday… . . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young glared straight into his eyes and spoke up .

“I’ll shove a ball of hot flames down your throat one of these days . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Now that is a commendable attitude to have . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk cackled and nodded his head .

Of course, that wouldn’t be her only reason .

But, it didn’t matter what her other reasons were . He was strictly a pragmatist at the end of the day . From his perspective, it was a good thing that some things were driving her to become stronger .

“Do you actually enjoy tormenting other people?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Eh?”

“I’m talking about you . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Yi Ji-Hyuk tilted his head .

He was tormenting her?

“Mm, what a shame but… . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

She was oh-so wrong about that one .

“See, the thing is, I’m the type that prefers to kill people off rather than tormenting them . Right now, I’m already helping you lot out, like, by a lot . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You call this helping?!” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Okay, so how should I explain this… . ?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk silently stared at Seo Ah-Young .

His eyes .

His eyes Seo Ah-Young gazed into were so dark and gloomy that she thought she was unknowingly getting sucked in there . She realised that she couldn’t move a muscle after finally running into Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hidden but true persona .

“Should I tell you the easiest method for me to make you lot stronger?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“………… . . ”

“That would be to kill all of you and turn you into undeads . I can’t say my speciality lies in commanding an army, but well, let’s be honest here . You won’t find a more capable commander than me in human history . After I do that, all of you will become my undying soldiers and grow several folds stronger than how you are right now . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Seo Ah-Young could not understand every word he was saying . But, she still understand all too well the bone-chilling message he was conveying .

‘This is why I hate this man . ’ (Seo Ah-Young)

He’d be utterly, infuriatingly mischievous one second, then suddenly, he’d come across as someone utterly, completely terrifying the next second . It was as if there were two different personalities residing in one body .

It’d be actually easier to deal with him if the boundary for that switch was apparent . Unfortunately, he slithered in and out of that boundary too easily, and that made it doubly difficult to get a bead on him .

“Even then, I’m using such a cumbersome method just for you . So, shouldn’t you feel grateful about that, instead?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Can I say something?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Sure . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You’re insane . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Yup, I know that already . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Been like that for a long time .

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s ominous chuckle dug painfully into Seo Ah-Young’s ears .

She stared, shuddering from the creeping goosebumps, at Yi Ji-Hyuk cackling by himself .

‘He’s definitely insane . ’ (Seo Ah-Young)

For some reason, Seo Ah-Young found him even more creepy and scarier than ever before .

< 143 . Why are you running away? -3 > Fin .