The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Chapter 153 : If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (4)

If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (4)From the rooftop of the Hand's central tower, Ji Ryong-seong could see a panoramic view of Hand.

In particular, a building with a massive electronic signboard stood out.

When Ji Ryong-seong caught sight of the screen displayed there, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Jin Rain?"

On screen were Jin Rain, members of the Sura guild, and a middle-aged woman.

The guild members burned the woman's arms and legs, and Jin Rain crippled her magic power—this played out in the footage.

The more he watched, the greater the sense of wrongness grew. Just what was this video supposed to mean?

"What is that!"

Feeling a surge of disgust, Ji Ryong-seong demanded an answer. Vern, smirking, replied.

"That's nothing. The real show starts now."

Suddenly, the image of Jin Rain disappeared, replaced by a new video.

This time, Ai Hoon appeared. Watching it, Ji Ryong-seong felt even stronger disgust than before.

[Beep. This area is dangerous; please evacuate to a safe zone.]

[Get out of the way!]

[Kyaaaah!!]

[Help!!]

Ai Hoon was shown fleeing from phantom spirits.

In the process, she encountered a mother and daughter, then shoved them toward the pursuing phantom spirits.

No matter who watched, it looked like she sacrificed innocent civilians to the monsters to survive.

"For reference, this happened just moments ago."

"No way...!"

Hearing this, a chill ran down Ji Ryong-seong's spine. He instantly understood the source of this creeping horror.

And yet, the footage wasn't over.

[What are you doing all of a sudden?]

[I-I don't know!]

The scene switched from the city center to an underpass.

When a girl wearing underwear on her head appeared, Ji Ryong-seong was shocked.

She was the same girl who had shown such amazing vocal talent on Masked Singer earlier.

Even more startling was that the crack in Ai Hoon's arm was now exposed.

[Why does this have to happen now!]

From her arm, phantom spirits poured out—as if Ai Hoon herself was summoning them.

And that wasn't the end; it was just the beginning.

[You hold them off!]

[Uwaaah!]

Just as she had with the mother and daughter, Ai Hoon threw the underwear girl to the phantom spirits.

A massive phantom spirit grabbed the girl and swallowed her down its throat.

The horrific scene depicted a young student becoming monster food.

On a video-sharing platform, not only would this be censored, but the whole video would likely be taken down.

But the most outrageous part was Ai Hoon's reaction after doing all this.

[Hahaha! This feels so much better.]

She cheerfully laughed after killing someone.

No longer the singer and hunter beloved by many fans, what showed on her face was that of a mere criminal.

And still, it wasn't over.

[Kyaaaaaah!]

[Ai Hoon...! What did you just do!?]

There were, unfortunately, witnesses to the scene: a female singer and Korea's national MC, Kim Younghoon.

[Did you see that?]

Ai Hoon approached them with a chilling expression.

[There shouldn't be any witnesses, you know?]

[She's a murderer! Run away!]

[What now? Guess I have to kill you all.]

She spat out blood-chilling words and aimed her whip at them—she even targeted others hiding in the underpass.

An A-rank hunter using equipment was the same as an ordinary person being threatened by heavy artillery.

[Beep. Defending!]

[Cease your criminal activity immediately!]

Security robots barely managed to block her path, but the unhinged Ai Hoon uttered another chilling remark.

[It's fine. I'm not the one killing them; those monsters are.]

[Beep?]

[Don't get in my way!]

Pushing the robots aside, she summoned more phantom spirits from her arm.

The phantom spirits attacked people, with Ai Hoon watching from above, enjoying the spectacle as if watching a fire from across a river, having long abandoned her humanity.

"Ai Hoon. I almost considered becoming a fan of your music, but... I'll pass."

"..."

Vern made a joke, but Ji Ryong-seong's face had gone pale.

There was no need to explain what this footage meant.

Hadn't someone said that the video was playing on every screen in Hand? No wonder he was shaking to his core.

"Not only did she feed civilians to monsters, she summoned monsters to attack them. The culprit behind this disaster is clearly Ai Hoon, isn't it?"

"That's not true!"

"Not true? When there's this much evidence?"

"No! The young lady isn't responsible for this! This is, it's us...."

"Yeah, it's you, isn't it?"

Ji Ryong-seong clenched his fist so hard it bled, knowing that the people of Hand must have seen the screen.

He could already guess what would follow. While rage filled him, he shifted his gaze.

There he saw Vern grinning—and Ma Seongjin holding a puppy.

"You bastards... How dare you!!"

Pouring out a massive wave of magic power, Ji Ryong-seong approached them, prepared to smash them to a pulp.

But instead, Seongjin just snickered.

"Doggy, go on and try."

― Yip?

"Come on now, just give it a try."

Prompted by Seongjin, the puppy left his arms and stood before Ji Ryong-seong.

What could a mutt like that do?

Normally, he would have scoffed, but now he was in no mood for it.

"Get lost!"

Ji Ryong-seong stomped on the puppy, venting his fury—a brutality only intensified by rage.

He cared nothing for crushing such a small life.

"What the...?"

Right after stepping on the dog, Ji Ryong-seong felt something odd.

He looked down, expecting the feel of squashed flesh, but an unbelievable sight greeted him.

The trampled dog wasn't flattened—it was perfectly fine.

"No way...!"

Even an average hunter would have had bones broken by a kick from Ji Ryong-seong.

The idea that some mutt picked up off the street could withstand it was absurd—unless this puppy was a monster from an S-rank gate.

― Grrrrr!

At that moment, the puppy started growling fiercely, body inflating larger and larger.

Shocked, Ji Ryong-seong, still with his foot on the animal's head, lost his balance and toppled over.

When he looked again, the small puppy was gone.

― GRRRR!

"Ah..."

A massive demon hound with three heads was glaring at him.

Ji Ryong-seong couldn't utter a word.

He knew exactly what that creature was.

While creating the Underworld Formation, he had often seen visions of enormous monsters appearing.

Those were representations of master-class phantom spirits, manifesting through the Underworld Formation.

Thus, Ji Ryong-seong couldn't help but feel terror.

"No way..."

That gigantic three-headed dog from his visions—it was said to be capable of destroying a nation if it wished.

The monster, called Cerberus, was right before his eyes.

And even more unbelievable—the boy Ma Seongjin who had tamed it.

"Ma Seongjin... just what are you...?!"

Ji Ryong-seong, lips trembling, asked, but Seongjin just replied curtly.

"Doggy. Burn."

The moment he said it, Cerberus breathed a tremendous stream of flame.

Ji Ryong-seong barely managed to react, trying to transform his body into gas to escape.

But suddenly, something was wrong with his body.

"What's going on?!"

He couldn't change his body to gas. When he started to question it, Seongjin spoke.

"Cerberus' flames burn up all magic power. Even your misty smoke is magic-based, isn't it?"

"No! Gyaaaaaaaaah!!"

With his magic power incinerated, he could no longer maintain his gas form.

Returned to his original shape, Ji Ryong-seong could only burn in the flames of the Underworld.

"Gyaaaaaaah!!"

"Doggy, that's enough."

At Seongjin's command, Cerberus stopped spewing fire.

When the flames dissipated, Ji Ryong-seong's charred figure appeared—but, in a surprise, he was not yet dead.

Seeing him barely breathing, Seongjin was impressed.

"What are you, a cockroach? Refusing to die!"

"Even like that, he's an SS-rank hunter with whom I share a connection. No issue even if he endures."

In truth, SS-ranks were known to possess power on par with entire countries.

He'd been taken down so easily here, but he was still a force not to be underestimated.

Maybe that's why Seongjin was becoming increasingly interested in Ji Ryong-seong.

"Are you tempted?"

"How do you guess so well?"

"I can tell just by seeing the Demon King's attitude."

Vern, eager to prove his loyalty as a legion commander, stepped closer to Ji Ryong-seong.

"Ugh..."

"Amazing. Still able to stand."

Even after taking a direct hit from Cerberus' hellfire, Ji Ryong-seong struggled to his feet, though he could only stagger, lacking any strength left to fight.

Vern was naturally impressed by his endurance.

"The Demon King has taken quite a liking to you. Consider yourself fortunate."

"De... mon... King...?"

With a dim gaze, Ji Ryong-seong looked at Seongjin. Only now could he understand Vern's words.

"So... you are... devil..."

Displaying his menacing fangs, Vern bit into Ji Ryong-seong's neck.

His skin turned pale, and his pupils lost all color.

The bite of Vern, the emperor of vampires, was far more than just draining blood.

"You didn't kill him, did you?"

"Of course not. He just 'died' as a human."

"That sounds a bit odd, but..."

"Hm?"

After finishing the bite, Vern set Ji Ryong-seong on the ground and put his hand in his pocket.

He took out his phone, checked it, and spoke to Seongjin.

"Looks like Amelda has finished preparations."

"Then proceed."

Cerberus returned to its puppy form and approached Seongjin, who picked him up and said,

"Let's wrap this up now."

****

Meanwhile, Hand's underpass, now serving as a shelter.

Ai Hoon faced an unbelievable reality: her atrocities had just been exposed to everyone via the electronic signboards.

"Ah... aaaaaaah!"

Overwhelming dread seized her entire body. To relieve some of that dread, she turned to Sang-ah.

"Don't tell me... was this your doing?"

"Who knows?"

"Tell me! Was it you?!"

She screamed herself hoarse, sounding manic and hysterical. Sang-ah couldn't help but sigh at the sight.

'It's true she did take part.'

Ai Hoon's suspicions were more than half correct.

The actual plan had been formed by Seongjin and the chairman; they operated the security robots, using them to expose Ai Hoon's true nature.

The security robots were like the chairman's alter ego.

Whatever they saw could instantly appear on every screen in Hand.

But Sang-ah had met Ai Hoon by coincidence. Since this meeting turned out to be an "opportunity", Sang-ah added her own twist to the plan.

Of course, even if Sang-ah hadn't gotten involved, Ai Hoon would have died by Seongjin's hand anyway.

'And as for that mother and daughter shown on the screen...'

That horrific scene of civilians being devoured by a monster played again.

But the mother and daughter weren't real people—they were replicas made by Ah-rin from her own tail fur.

'I heard the replica makes her unable to use her powers fully as long as it's maintained.'

There was some concern, but she was at least glad that no civilians had been harmed.

As it was, the plan could be considered a success, and a triumphant smile spread on Sang-ah's face.

"I don't think now's the time to argue about whether you did it or not."

"What?"

"Don't you wonder what's happening online, after something this big broke out in a metropolis like Hand?"

"Gasp...!"

Ai Hoon quickly pulled out her phone to check social media. Up until now, she had been lauded as a true hero.

People had praised her sense of responsibility after what happened at Korea's airport. But now—

ㄴDid you guys see Hand's signboard? It's total chaos.

ㄴIs that video real? When did Ai Hoon become such a psycho?

ㄴDisappointed. Thought she was a saint, but she's a witch.

ㄴTurns out she was just a villain pretending to be a hero. Something's wrong with her.

As expected, public opinion was going wild. Of course, there were still those defending her, citing lack of concrete proof—but those voices were getting drowned out.

ㄴCan we please get Ai Hoon executed for this shit?

ㄴHow could she kill that student?

ㄴI was moved by that girl's song on Masked Singer. Ai Hoon just killed a future star.

ㄴAnd let a monster eat her? Total psycho.

ㄴBring Underwear Mask back to life, you #%$*!

Of all people, the girl she killed was the one who had moved viewers to tears.

Though her face was hidden beneath underwear, her singing had touched many.

With the world watching, Ai Hoon's reputation was finished, not only in Korea but globally.

ㄴAnd her words—classic. "I'm not the one killing, the monsters are."

ㄴLol, does that mean she's done this before, too?

ㄴRepeat offender, then?

Seeing these responses, Ai Hoon dropped her phone.

"Ah... aaaaaaah!!!"

Realizing the public's attention was leaving her, she wailed in despair.

"She really does sing well."

"Shut up!! That video is fabricated!"

"You're still saying that?"

"Just wait until I get out! I'll tell my dad and cover everything up...."

Still making excuses, just then, another video came up on the signboards.

This time, it showed a young man in a hospital room.

At first, it was nothing special, but seeing his face, Ai Hoon felt a prickle of recognition.

"Huh? I'm sure that guy..."

A strangely familiar face. As Ai Hoon struggled to remember, the man spoke.

[Hello. My name is Yang Pao, and I have only one month left to live.]

His body, except for his face, was covered in bandages.

[The reason I'm like this... is the B-rank gate in Shanghai a little while ago.]

His eyes brimmed with tears as he continued.

[It wasn't a monster that did this to me. The reason I ended up like this is...]

Unable to restrain himself, he began sobbing and shouting with rage.

[It's all because of that woman—Ai Hoon!]