The Returner

Chapter 136: Don’t say it like that (1)

Back in Berafe, Yi Ji-Hyuk was a peerless, matchless existence.

He was so powerful that only a single spell from him could utterly turn the world on its head. His mind was so impenetrable, it might as well be an unchanging fortress.

And his body would revert back to its original state, regardless of the attacks he received.

However, his current problem was that, he was no longer that Yi Ji-Hyuk.

“Aaaaaaaahhhh?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk screamed out as he got pulled into the ground by the tentacle.

“Ouch!! It freaking hurts!! Aigoo!!! Mommmmy!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Choi Jung-Hoon clicked his tongue while watching this spectacle unfold.

The thing was, he really, really wanted to worry about Yi Ji-Hyuk here.

Indeed, he really wanted to, but....

How could anyone be in pain so unsightly like him?!

Uh, hello there, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk. You’re pretty much the protector of humanity. So, please, try to maintain your dignity!! Please!

Just which bigshot would scream out so shamelessly like that?!

Seeing Yi Ji-Hyuk struggle while getting dragged into the ground, rather than thoughts of lending aid entering his mind.... it just kind of looked a bit humorous, and maybe a bit pitiful, and..... well....

“Hey, you rotten b*stards!! Can’t you see that I’m being dragged under?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

If only he wouldn’t say such things to begin with.....

Choi Jung-Hoon suppressed his quivering feet from going forward, spat out a groan, and spoke to Seo Ah-Young.

“Shouldn’t we help him?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“Well, true, we should. But....” (Seo Ah-Young)

As if she also didn’t like the sound of that, Seo Ah-Young stood there licking her lips, before issuing an order.

“Hey, pull this guy out, please.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Mm...”

The one to step forward was the ‘Iron’ Park Sung-Chan busy scratching the side of his head. Well, he was physically the strongest of the group, so it couldn’t be helped.

“Really, man. It just doesn’t feel all that threatening, does it?” (Park Sung-Chan)

Park Sung-Chan checked out Yi Ji-Hyuk buried in the ground up to his waist and asked him.

“Does it hurt?” (Park Sung-Chan)

“Of course it does!! How can you even ask me that?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Well, it kind of resembled a situation straight out of a cartoon, so....

But then, it’d hurt like hell, that’s for sure – since, well, it was not that different from Yi Ji-Hyuk trying to widen that small hole with his entire body. Even if he possessed the sturdy constitutions of an ability user, it’d still be painful.

“Uh, well, the thing is.....” (Park Sung-Chan)

“Do something, will ya?! Hurry!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Mm....”

Park Sung-Chan grabbed Yi Ji-Hyuk’s arms, but before yanking at them, he tilted his head as if he was worried about something.

“Well, here’s the thing.” (Park Sung-Chan)

“Eh?”

“This is reality, you know? If I start pulling you out, well, wouldn’t your body snap in half first, before that tentacle does?” (Park Sung-Chan)

“...........”

H, hold up.

Let me think carefully about this...

Hey, stop pulling at me!!

Stop pulling at me while smiling like that after telling me about that horrifying possibility!! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s inner monologue)

“Hey, just dig out the ground, will ya!! The ground!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Ahhh, I should’ve done that instead, no?” (Park Sung-Chan)

Park Sung-Chan scratched the side of his head, and smirked all of a sudden. He then raised his fist real high, well above his head, even.

Seeing blood veins suddenly bulge on that fist the size of a person’s head, Yi Ji-Hyuk felt his entire body go cold.

“How will you dig.....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Before he could finish his question, Park Sung-Chan’s fist flew down to the ground.

Kaboom!!

Along with a deafening explosion, the ground caved in as if a meteor had struck there – and Yi Ji-Hyuk flew up in the air.

“Heeey, you son of a....!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk wanted to cuss out as loudly as he could, but the pain stabbing him from all over his body meant that he couldn’t even open his mouth.

“Argh, d*mn it! It god d*mn hurts!! Seriously, man!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Nope, he was wrong, His mouth opened just fine.

Seriously, his mouth would continue to function perfectly right up until his final moments.

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes were set ablaze.

“That d*mn son of a b*tch!! It could actually attack long distance?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

I didn’t see any sign of such a thing in the video, yet why only do I get the tentacle treatment?!

Even discrimination has its limits!!

“You, you are now de....” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Just as Yi Ji-Hyuk was about to make his landing, Park Sung-Chan hurriedly shouted at him.

“Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk!! Leg!! Your leg!!” (Park Sung-Chan)

Ng?

My leg?

What about my leg?

Yi Ji-Hyuk lowered his gaze and spotted the tentacle still firmly wrapped around his leg.

“Hah..........”

First of all, he needed to cut that tentacle off....

It was then – Yi Ji-Hyuk spotted the bottom of the tentacle emerging from the ground swell greatly.

Mm.....

No, it can’t be.

It can’t be, right?

SWISH!!

Even before he had the opportunity to complain, his entire body was swung in the air like a toy trapped in the hand of a toddler. Almost at the same time, the hard ground rapidly closed in on his face.

Why did this remind him of that time when he got p*ss-drunk and the asphalt seemed to stand up to greet him?

“Shield!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Slam! Boom! Bang!! Slam!! Kaboom!!

Yi Ji-Hyuk was repeatedly slammed into the ground like that hapless toy being thrown around and eventually, his body went limp.

“Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk!!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young cried out and ran towards him.

She couldn’t help but think that no ability user would be able to survive that kind of impact.

“Hah.....”

A low groan leaked out from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s mouth.

“I said, it freaking hurrrrrrts!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s head shot up and he roared at the top of his lungs.

“It hurts!! It god d*mn hurts, you rotten piece of....!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

With his leg still trapped and hanging upside down in the air, Yi Ji-Hyuk shouted out while squirming about like a worm.

“Your dignity.....” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon spat out a sorrowful sigh.

How could that guy create such a scene even under this sort of circumstances?! Wasn’t this supposed to be a really serious situation?!

“Besides all that, his body is really sturdy, isn’t it?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Now normally, receiving that much impact would mean you’d totally turn into a shredded rag, but then, Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t even leak a single drop of blood.

“You think this was because I’m really sturdy?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk still managed to catch on to Choi Jung-Hoon’s mutterings and angrily shouted out.

These country bumpkins who didn’t even know of Shield!

“Groan....”

But, why were even his bones aching now? The impact force must’ve been not absorbed fully, because he could still feel dull, thudding pain coming from all over his body.

And these sorts of injuries were supposed to be the long-lasting hidden internal injuries, too.

Yi Ji-Hyuk gnashed his teeth at the stomach-churning pain.

“Tsk!”

He quickly gathered some Mana to the tip of his finger and shot it out at the tentacle still holding his leg.

Splash!!

The tentacle got cut in half and green-coloured liquid spilled out.

Yi Ji-Hyuk spun his body mid-air and landed back on his two feet.

When that happened, five, six more tentacles began rising up from the ground simultaneously.

However, Yi Ji-Hyuk snorted derisively.

‘I got caught because I didn’t notice it before. But you think the same trick will work again?!’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

From Yi Ji-Hyuk’s body, black tentacles shot out and spread out to his surroundings.

And so, rather than the sight of a man battling a monster, a monster fighting against a monster unfolded before everyone’s eyes.

“Mm. Well, that’s a bit....” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Nod.

When Choi Jung-Hoon softly muttered to himself, Seo Ah-Young nodded her head.

What was this.... tentacles wrapping around tentacles, and more tentacles doing tentacle-y things.....

“How disgusting.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Don’t say it like that.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“It’s revolting.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Well, sure. It is kinda like that, but still.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon clicked his tongue.

Now that he thought about it, that man, he.... He was the type that just didn’t look cool no matter what.

Others spat out flames, shot lightning bolts out, or flew around with the wind, yet all Yi Ji-Hyuk did was ride along on some strange black stuff, wielded those tentacles of his, and commanded a terrifying, nausea-inducing monster army.

He’d be the villain if the current outlook of the world had been reversed.

“He does look like a villain even now, though.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

He might be a villain to monsters, but he was also a villain to people, too!

“Hey, you dang a*sholes!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

What the heck, did he hear me?

What a scary hearing he has!! (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

“I’m busy drawing its attention over here, so why aren’t you attacking its main body?! How can you still draw a salary like this, ah?! You still think you deserve to be called government employees?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Tsk.”

Thanks for sharing that accurate self-criticism, there.

“Let’s lend our support, ma’am.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Didn’t matter whether he liked it or not, he still had duties to fulfil.

Seo Ah-Young’s expression remained ever-so unconvinced as she looked at Choi Jung-Hoon.

“What now? We should still do our jobs, no? We can’t just let that guy handle everything now, can we?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Seriously speaking, what were she and her pals doing nowadays?

....Now that I think about it, he’s right, isn’t he?

Whenever there’s a big event or a crisis, it’s like Yi Ji-Hyuk’s playing the drums, strumming on the guitar, whistling in tune and dancing at the same time, isn’t it? (Seo Ah-Young’s inner monologue)

“It looks like we’ve done nothing but playing around to you recently, yes?” (Seo Ah-young)

“Honestly, yes.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“But, Mister Choi Jung-Hoon?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Yes?”

“What will you do, if I said that you looked like you had nothing to do lately and gave you an order to go and wreck a building with your own bare hands?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I’d probably say that you’ve lost your mind.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“And that’s exactly what I am saying back to you.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“...........”

Seo Ah-Young snorted out loudly.

Just because Yi Ji-Hyuk always managed to kill these monsters without breaking much sweat, did Choi Jung-Hoon suddenly find them weaklings or something?

Honestly, as far as firepower was concerned.... Indeed, Seo Ah-Young couldn’t even leave a single nick on that Zombie Dragon, or even think about doing that to the Seti. And she was deeply proud of her own firepower – in every possible meaning of that word – being as good as some of the best in the world.

Yet, he was asking her what now?

Seo Ah-Young glared at Choi Jung-Hoon with obviously unimpressed eyes, causing the latter to massage his forehead.

“....Is it really impossible?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“Would you like to attempt beating a lion with nothing but your bare hands?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“No, not really.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“No, hang on. I’m sure you can do something to a lion. Okay, so, go beat an elephant, then.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“A human wouldn’t be able to do that.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“If you know that, then why are you asking us to do precisely that?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“....Well, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk is just one man. And you’re also ability users like him, yes?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“Ability users like him?!” (Seo Ah-Young)

“....I’m sorry.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Choi Jung-Hoon apologised wholeheartedly.

“E-even still, we can’t just sit back and do nothing, no?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“Well, sure. I guess at least we should pretend doing something.” (Seo Ah-Young)

No, hang on. You can’t just pretend!

Shouldn’t you, you know, display some desire, some drive, to defeat that monster or something?! (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

As a regular person, Choi Jung-Hoon had no way to accurately assess the differences in the level of combat strengths between Yi Ji-Hyuk and the others.

Indeed, no matter how well versed he was in the notion of ability users and various monsters, with what should he go about measuring the gaps in power levels of the most elite of elite beings out there?

‘It’s so strong that she can’t even touch it?’ (Choi Jung-Hoon)

He couldn’t help but think that if every Korean ability users attacked at the same time, they might see some kind of a result here.

He was well aware of the fact that both the Americans and the French threw everything they had at the monsters and still failed to inflict a wound the size of a fingernail on them.

However, the Korean users were trained by Yi Ji-Hyuk himself, weren’t they?

So, he thought that they might be able to do something, but now...

‘If that’s the case, does that mean the only person capable of dealing with those monsters is Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk and no one else?!’

Only one man, and one out of a few were two totally different stories altogether. For both him, and for Yi Ji-Hyuk, too.

“Still, you have to do....” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

It was here that he heard Yi Ji-Hyuk’s desperate cries.

“Uwaaah!!”

“Ng?”

Yi Ji-Hyuk had been tirelessly slapping away the monster’s tentacles, but now, even he was panicking at the seemingly-endless number of them appearing to attack him at the same time.

“What the heeeeell is this sh*t?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Hundreds of tentacles were wiggling right in front of Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes. Receiving considerable mental damage, Yi Ji-Hyuk turned his head away to avoid looking at his front.

“Noooo!! So disgusssssting!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“............”

Choi Jung-Hoon began to seriously ponder whether he should start laughing or crying while looking at this situation.

From the looks of things, he knew that the guy being on the receiving end would be feeling rather tormented but... What was this, this sense of contentment?

Seriously, this was a grave, dangerous situation right now!!

Choi Jung-Hoon did his best to suppress the tides of laughter threatening to escape from his mouth and spoke up.

“We, uh, we should really help him out now.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young sighed out and stepped forward.

“Sure. It’s better to carry the sheet of paper together instead of alone, after all.” (Seo Ah-Young) (TL: A Korean idiom. Roughly means two heads are better than one.)

“That’s right, ma’am!” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“However, when an adult is carrying the sheet and a child wishes to help and grabs it, all you get is a torn paper, you know?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“..........”

“Well, I guess I should help out whether the sheet gets torn or not....” (Seo Ah-Young)

Ahh.... She wasn’t originally like this, but how....

Just what happened to Seo Ah-Young and her overflowing confidence, when in the past, she repeatedly declared her intentions to punch Yi Ji-Hyuk in the face? (Choi Jung-Hoon’s inner monologue)

Choi Jung-Hoon suddenly missed Seo Ah-Young of the past.

“Okay, let’s go!” (Seo Ah-young)

Just as Seo Ah-Young was about to lead the Spitfire and Rudra and rush forward, Affeldrichae raised her hand and stopped them, having finished observing the unfolding situation.

“Please wait.” (Affeldrichae)

“Pardon me?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Affeldrichae wordlessly pointed in Yi Ji-Hyuk’s direction.

He quickly thrust his right arm out, and a black magic circle suddenly formed in the air.

“A summon?” (Seo Ah-Young)

And sure enough, a small lifeform quickly jumped out from the middle of that black magic circle. A black tentacle shot out from Yi Ji-Hyuk’s right hand and wrapped around the small lifeform.

“Is that Oh-Sik?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Confirming the identity of the creature emerging from the magic circle, Choi Jung-Hoon smiled brightly.

ROOOOAAAARRR!!!

Oh-Sik regained his original size in the blink of an eye and let out an explosive Howling, before rushing forward towards the monster.

“I choose you, Oh-Sik-ah!!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Go, Thunderbol.....

Oh, not that one! Sic it, boy!!

< 136. Don’t say it like that -1 > Fin.

(TL: Yup, that last reference comes straight from the raw.)