The Returner

Chapter 322: To be called a madman, I should at least do this much (2)

‘What does he mean by convenient?’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Monsters were revealing themselves within the dust cloud, but that wasn’t enough to spot anything strange about them; everyone’s been looking at these monsters for a while now, to the point where they were genuinely feeling fed up from the mere sight of them.

“....Uh?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

However, the strange thing eventually announced itself.

‘They aren’t moving?’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Monsters remained fixed in their positions. They were waiting on standby so quietly that no one would’ve believed these things had been tearing into each other only a few seconds ago.

“Could it be?!” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Earthquake erupted in Choi Jeong-Hoon’s eyes.

“D-did you ‘tame’ them just now?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon) (TL: spoken in English)

“What’s ‘tame’?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Like how you control other monsters, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Ahh, that. Yeah, sure. Ohh, ‘tame’.... I was wondering what you were on about.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Now wasn’t the time to proudly boast one’s inability to speak English, though!

“It’s kinda similar.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“T-that many of them?!” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“You’re mistaken.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Pardon?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked deeply.

“I can’t enslave so many at the same time. But, I did capture the ones that I could. As for the rest, they are still stuck under Erukana’s charm spell.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“In that case, what will happen next?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It’s simple, really.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk maintained the smirk as he snapped his fingers.

Snap!

That was the signal.

Kurwahrahrahrah!!

Kuwaaaaah!!

A portion of monsters suddenly pounced on their peers next to them, and their sharp fangs tore into the unguarded throats.

“Keuk.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

The deeply-stunned Choi Jeong-Hoon stared at that bloody spectacle.

“Just let them devour.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Wu-du-du-duk...

Wu-du-duk, crunch....

The noises of flesh being torn apart and bones being crushed to bits loudly resounded out.

Choi Jeong-Hoon instinctively hugged himself tightly. Even if these things were monsters, no sane person would watch this grotesque scene of them devouring each other and feel refreshed or happy about it.

“Kekekeke.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Argh, please!!” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“What’s the matter now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Choi Jeong-Hoon shook his head. That guy wasn’t normal to begin with, so that was fine. Everyone else near them all had pale complexions. Indeed, the current sight was far too extreme to watch with sane minds.

“Ha-ah....” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon grabbed his own chest; felt like his heart was trying to leap out of there.

“Do you really need to go that far?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“What do you mean?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You can just kill them the normal way, yes? Is it really necessary for them to devour each other like that?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Weeell, sure, it’s not necessary, but....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk scratched his head.

“But, they are also living organisms, so they gotta eat something, right? It’s not like I can feed them rice, so I gotta feed them meat, you know?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“....That is true.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“In that case, should I feed them the other monsters, or cows and pigs? If you saw cows and pigs getting devoured by them, you probably wouldn’t be saying these things to me right now.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Those words prompted a certain image of adorable piglets and baby cows getting torn to shreds by the monsters to pop up in Choi Jeong-Hoon’s mind.

“You made a correct choice.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“See?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I shall acknowledge this kind-hearted slaughter.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Even if those were livestock meant for one’s dinner plate, imagining them getting eaten by the monsters made him realise that monsters devouring each other was much more of a preferable spectacle.

“Euh....” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

However, the spectacle before his eyes remained horrifying enough to make him avert his eyes. Choi Jeong-Hoon lowered his gaze and took several deep, deep breaths. Only then could he stare at this sight once more.

It took a long time for this hellish event to come to an end.

“Are you finished?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Mm, only the nice guys are left.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head.

“Are they fully under your control?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Should I show it to you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Nope. Please do not ever show it to me.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Hmm, it would’ve been fun, though.... That’s unfortunate.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk licked his lips several times.

Choi Jeong-Hoon was biting his lip, though, while looking at the great army of monsters before his eyes.

‘He can now control that many monsters?’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

It wasn’t Yi Ji-Hyuk’s first time commanding monsters, nor could the number he controlled before be called small. Yet, the quality of monsters he now acquired was on another realm compared to his old stock.

The agents of the NDF could’ve fought against the old monsters if they got really serious about it. And that was why those creatures could only serve as meat shields when facing off against demon kings.

However, the new monsters Yi Ji-Hyuk acquired were so strong that even if the NDF as a whole attacked together, they still wouldn’t get hurt in the least. In other words, here was a combat force capable of utterly annihilating a country even without Yi Ji-Hyuk’s presence.

‘This is no ordinary event.’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Sure, Yi Ji-Hyuk getting stronger was not a bad thing as far as Choi Jeong-Hoon was concerned. However, it was human nature to wanting to use the great power you just acquired, and since Yi Ji-Hyuk had maxed out his ‘Too bothersome to care’ meter, he’d strongly lean towards letting loose his monsters to take care of things rather than using his magic from now on.

What would other people think about when seeing Yi Ji-Hyuk use monsters to fight other monsters?

‘Which means, the important thing moving on will be with how to dissuade him.’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

It was at this moment that Choi Jeong-Hoon instinctively realised his workload had increased significantly.

He wasn’t doing this because of a fear of things getting too annoying for himself. Oh, no. No, it was all because he feared things might get too annoying for Yi Ji-Hyuk, instead.

“Okay. Shouldn’t you do something about those monsters now, though?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“I guess so.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk waved his hand a bit, and a giant Gate materialised in the middle of the monster swarm.

“Oh-Sik-ah!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Kurururu....

Oh-Sik in his original size stood in the centre of the monsters and roared out loudly.

Kuwaaaaaah!

That prompted the monsters to obediently file into the Gate. One couldn’t call their movements rapid, but still, they disappeared quickly within the portal one by one.

“....That’s how you use Oh-Sik, is it?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Monsters don’t understand what humans say, you see. I tried to learn monster speak in the past, but well, it might be the fault of the vocal cords...” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Does that mean monsters can communicate with each other?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It’s like, some of them that can speak both translate for the others.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“..........”

Huh. Well, I’ll be. What a weird world this is.

I don’t really get what you’re saying here, but since you claim that’s how it is, I should just say alrighty then and move on, no? (Choi Jeong-Hoon’s inner monologue)

Choi Jeong-Hoon silently watched the monsters disappearing inside the Gate like water flowing down the drainage. They weren’t moving slowly at all, yet there were simply too many of them here, so it seemed that quite some time was required for all of them to enter the portal.

“It looks like the situation has been sorted out, more or less.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

The NDF agents understood what was going on here, so they also understood the behaviours of the monsters, too. However, the same thing couldn’t be said about the North Koreans as they remained utterly mired in deep confusion.

“Where are those monster b*stards going now??” (Kim Ryong-Seong)

The commander of the army, Kim Ryong-Seong watched this scene unfold with completely baffled expression.

“Is it fine to let them go like this?”

“What, then?” (Kim Ryong-Seong)

“...What if they invade us again?”

“We can’t even stop them now, yet you want to keep fighting them because of some unknown future?” (Kim Ryong-Seong)

“Oh....”

“Why don’t you grab a knife and fall on top of it? There are plenty of ways to kill yourself, so why choose to be ripped apart by monsters?” (Kim Ryong-Seong)

“My apologies, sir.”

“Godd*mmit.” (Kim Ryong-Seong)

Kim Ryong-Seong was also feeling uncomfortable right now, But he had no choice but to admit that he could no longer do something about those monsters. Didn’t he clearly witness the once-trusted People’s Ability User Brigade fail to even inflict a wound on those d*mnable creatures earlier?

“Whatever it is, we still managed to live, didn’t we?” (Kim Ryong-Seong)

Kim Ryong-Seong sighed under his breath.

However, the Chief of Staff Park Yong-Hui couldn’t sit around and let this slide so easily.

‘Just what on earth has happened here?’ (Park Yong-Hui)

It seemed that Yi Ji-Hyuk and Choi Jeong-Hoon were saying something to each other, then monsters suddenly started devouring themselves only to waltz right into a Gate and disappear from the view.

As for that Gate itself, it was quite different from what he knew – it was pitch-black in colour.

‘Didn’t someone say that Yi Ji-Hyuk’s unique Gate is black in colour?’ (Park Yong-Hui)

Yi Ji-Hyuk was known around the world as the strongest ability user out there, but he was also famed for being able to use Gates, as well.

From what Park Yong-Hui had heard, that young man’s Gate was black coloured, which was different from the regular ones that spat out monsters.

However, wasn’t that Gate visible among the monsters black? Didn’t this mean Yi Ji-Hyuk was currently transporting these monsters to a place he wanted?

“Does that also mean he can control monsters?” (Park Yong-Hui)

He could understand everything else.

What shocked him so greatly was the fact that those monsters were obediently moving according to Yi Ji-Hyuk’s will. He knew that, logically speaking, the South Korean man was far stronger than any of these monsters.

Unfortunately, humans weren’t logical creatures.

A wielder of absolute power with a finger on the nuclear warhead launch button was someone to be feared, of course. However, it was natural for humans to fear the ten thousand-strong army right before their eyes even more. Even though they knew they should choose the former if asked which of the two possessed higher destructive capability.

With the same logic, one should know that Yi Ji-Hyuk was stronger than all those monsters put together, but the mere idea of him being able to control the monsters caused the warning bells to go off inside one’s head.

‘Too dangerous.’ (Park Yong-Hui)

It wasn’t simply a threat to the People’s Democratic Republic. It was possible that the existence called Yi Ji-Hyuk was becoming a threat to the rest of humanity.

‘Will even missiles work?’ (Park Yong-Hui)

Indeed, would regular missiles even work on him?

What about biological weapons?

Tactical nukes?

If humanity and he started fighting, what should they do to defeat this powerful ability user?

Park Yong-Hui’s expression grew super-serious.

It was then, a quiet voice entered his ears.

“I can hear the gears in your head grinding, mister.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“............”

It was Yi Ji-Hyuk.

Park Yong-Hui became completely frozen on the spot.

“Ahjussi.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk called out to the older man in a quiet voice.

“Y-yes, comrade. Please speak.” (Park Yong-Hui)

“Do you know how I have been living my life until now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Park Yong-Hui couldn’t reply. Not only he didn’t know, but he also realised that this question didn’t require his answer, either.

“You see, I’m really quick on the uptake. So, like, if someone holds some kind of bad thoughts about me, I can find out pretty quickly, you see? Do you know where all those people with bad thoughts about me have ended up in?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“..........”

Cold sweat trickled down Park Yong-Hui’s backside.

‘It won’t work.’ (Park Yong-Hui)

The People’s Democratic Republic might be one of the world’s most dangerous countries, but on the flip side, you could call it also the safest, as well.

Sure, there were mountains of dangers and problems internally, but this place wasn’t influenced all that much by external factors.

Even if the American President carried antagonistic feelings towards an official from the North, nothing much of note could be done to that person, which was quite unlike how it was with other countries.

Same thing for assassination attempts, too.

However, Park Yong-Hui could sense the tall barrier called North Korea that protected him until now crumbling away.

He finally realised how dangerous the person called Yi Ji-Hyuk was, and how fearful this young man could get. If he willed it so, then the name of North Korea nor its armies, not even its systems – nothing could save Park Yong-Hui’s skin.

“I-I haven’t done anything, so why are you doing this??” (Park Yong-Hui)

“I’m just warning you.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“....It’s definitely nothing like that, Comrade Rhee Ji-Hyuk!” (Park Yong-Hui)

“I don’t believe in people’s words.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I-it definitely isn’t! I swear!” (Park Yong-Hui)

“....But, I do believe in people’s eyes.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Park Yong-Hui’s eyes quaked just then. And after meeting Yi Ji-Hyuk’s emotionless gaze, his entire frame began trembling like a lone leaf in the wind.

Yi Ji-Hyuk wordlessly stared at him for a while. And just before Park Yong-Hui lost to the silent pressure and fell on his butt, he smirked brightly.

“That’s right. You shouldn’t look at a person with so much animosity, you see? I mean, I came here to help you and all. Don’t you agree?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Y-you’re indeed correct.” (Park Yong-Hui)

The super-sudden change in Yi Ji-Hyuk’s attitude caused Park Yong-Hui to reply in a dazed voice.

“Well, it’s all done and dusted now, so....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk watched the last monster enter the Gate and continued on.

“Let’s go eat something, shall we? Preferably something expensive.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Park Yong-Hui spat out a long, long sigh, feeling as if a decade had been shaved off his lifespan.

< 322. To be called a madman, I should at least do this much -2 > Fin.

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