The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Chapter 154 : If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (5)

If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (5)On the screen, a man named Yang Pao sat in a hospital room with a withered expression.

His body was wrapped from head to toe in bandages, looking as if he'd suffered a major accident.

The man wore so many bandages that there was no need for patient clothes at all.

The lack of vitality in his face and eyes made him look less like a person than a mummy.

He was the image of a man who had lost everything—including his body—

All because of a deranged woman.

["I was a 26-year-old unemployed man. Other than doing part-time jobs after graduating from college, there was nothing notable about me."]

["While all my friends found jobs or discovered talents and began to be recognized by society, I had nothing—I was just worthless scum."]

With a depressive face, the man began speaking about his circumstances.

Occasionally, a tear would fall from his eyes, but he couldn't wipe it away.

He couldn't even if he wanted to—his body was immobilized.

["I had nothing, and not even any motivation for the things I supposedly wanted to do. The only thing I did was leech off my parents. It was the kind of life that anyone would criticize, and it was my daily routine."]

["Because of that, I lost all my connections after my school days, and even when I heard about classmates' reunions, I could only keep quietly to myself."]

The other guys would undoubtedly show up in suits, bragging about their money.

Or perhaps bring a partner and hand out wedding invitations.

Even if not that far, friends who'd adapted to society would have the chance to share their life stories.

But as for Yang Pao, he wouldn't be able to say a word.

He would just sit there quietly, lips sealed, reduced to merely congratulating others on their successful lives.

["And when relatives came for holidays... all I could do was live like an invisible man. Even if I did appear in front of my relatives, the only people who'd be embarrassed would be my parents."]

He was embarrassed, too.

It was hard to show his room—plastered with girl idol posters—to anyone but his family.

["So at one point, I blamed society, or even resented my parents."]

["I deluded myself into thinking my inability to find a job was my parents' generation's fault, or that the reason an ordinary person like me couldn't get a job was because of the hunter society's system."]

Blaming others for one's lack of ability was all too common.

Especially after the appearance of awakeners, such people had increased considerably.

Comparisons to their abilities became natural, and since then, society valued talent above all.

["But now... I deeply regret it. My parents were not people who deserved resentment."]

["When a B-rank gate opened in Shanghai... it was my mother who pushed me aside while I was distracted by my phone and was crushed under building debris instead!"]

Yang Pao tried to help his father lift the debris.

But they were only ordinary people, forced to feel their own helplessness.

["Then a hunter appeared and cut down the monsters. Her name was Ai Hoon. I was actually a fan."]

He finally thought salvation had arrived.

His heart pounded—he even had her album in his drawer back in his room.

But—

["She did not save my mother. Worse, she said this to our family."]

― Now, you guys have already been killed by monsters. Got it?

["No matter how much I want to forget, I can't. She had the power to save us, but she chose to ignore us."]

Ai Hoon was an A-rank hunter.

She could have easily lifted the debris pinning down his mother's legs.

But she did not save his mother.

Instead... she allowed Yang Pao and his family to be devoured by monsters.

["My father and I struggled to save my mother, but it didn't matter."]

["In the end, we were nothing but food for the monster horde. This is what became of me after being bitten by those damn things."]

Of course, his immobilized mother was swallowed whole.

Yang Pao and his father, who fiercely resisted, were brutally chewed to death.

["I lost both legs and an arm while being eaten alive by the monsters. Even my insides were torn apart."]

["And yet, even as he was being devoured, my father pushed me away."]

His father, determined to save at least his child, sacrificed his own leg.

He pushed his son out the lower passage and was eaten by the monsters.

["If it weren't for my father, I wouldn't even be here."]

["Of course, I don't have much longer to live, but at least I can make my voice heard like this."]

["I'm truly grateful to the people from The World who found my body and restored me this much."]

Yang Pao began to cry even harder, shouting out,

["Mother... Father... I'm sorry for hating you all this time! And... I'm sorry that I was rescued only to end up like this, unable to live on!"]

["Don't forgive this unfilial son!!"]

["And..."]

A murderous resolve appeared on Yang Pao's grieving face.

["Ai Hoon. Please, judge that crazy bitch!"]

["I'm sure there are others who were wrongfully killed, just like me."]

["People as decent as my parents are slaughtered without mercy, while that kind of evil woman still breathes free? That shouldn't be allowed!"]

["So... please!"]

With those words, the screen faded to black.

Ai Hoon, who had watched the video from start to finish, was breathing heavily.

"Hah... wh-what's with him! Why is he saying this kind of bullshit!!"

She staggered back as if stabbed in the heart.

Yang Pao's grief-stricken face appeared to accuse her directly.

Her heart clenched, as if stabbed over and over.

"Did I kill your parents? It was the monsters that killed them! I didn't lay a finger on them, you bastard!"

She was mortified.

She was innocent.

That was all Ai Hoon could say.

"So don't blame me...."

Wham!

But her excuse didn't last long.

Because Sang-ah, who had listened to it all, landed a fist squarely on Ai Hoon's face.

"Gaaaaah!"

With a fist covered in scales, she smashed Ai Hoon's head into the floor.

Sang-ah, watching Ai Hoon clutch her face, said,

"You look like someone who needs a good beating."

With eyes burning like fire, Sang-ah struck her face over and over.

Then she yanked Ai Hoon up and kicked her in the abdomen.

"Urk!"

Ai Hoon flew into the wall and coughed up blood.

Her facial bones cracked from the punch, and her guts heaved from the kick.

To make matters worse, she had no magic power left to use for defense.

Just as the pain ripped through her insides, Sang-ah walked toward her, slowly.

"For some reason, every time I see you, I remember the damn aunt who tormented my mom."

"Ugh...!"

Thanks to Ai Hoon, a family that could have been saved was destroyed.

Sang-ah knew very well what it felt like to lose family because of family circumstances.

So it was only natural that she would feel fury at Ai Hoon, who spoke such nonsense with no understanding of such pain.

"I don't think you deserve to live."

With eyes blazing, Sang-ah approached Ai Hoon.

"W-what are you doing?!"

Sang-ah, drawing closer and closer, appeared to Ai Hoon like a gigantic dragon.

Not just any fire-breathing dragon—she felt the overwhelming presence of a dragon that should never be challenged.

"Stay away from me!"

"..."

Feeling fear, Ai Hoon screamed.

But Sang-ah simply advanced, showing no emotion at all.

"Don't come any closer, you lizard bitch!"

At that moment, Ai Hoon reflexively pulled out a scroll.

When she opened it wide, a red magic array was revealed inside.

Sang-ah frowned at the sight.

"Ahahaha! Know what this is? It's a failed Underworld Formation."

"Failed?"

She'd heard about this from Seongjin before.

The Underworld Formation took enormous time and effort to create.

Because of the difficulty, a single mistake could result in these failed products, which were extremely dangerous.

On the outside, it looked like just another magic scroll, but its true nature was that of a bomb.

"The Underworld Formation is formed by borrowing the power of a master-class phantom spirit. Because the guild members had to endure that power the whole time, most of them took vacation as soon as the work was done."

"So what?"

"You really don't know anything, do you? Even as a failure, this thing holds the power of the phantom spirit."

With the power of a master-class phantom spirit, erasing a city was as easy as blinking.

In other words, these things were walking apocalypses.

What kind of place must the Underworld be, where such abominations run rampant?

Even Sura guild executives were curious about that.

"If I release the power inside this thing... what do you suppose will happen?"

Ai Hoon poured her remaining magic power into the magic array.

Entering a kind of password, she etched a symbol onto the array.

The formation's red glow intensified, sending a crimson pillar shooting upward.

Kugugugugugu—!

The ground began to shake around the scroll.

Feeling a chill of dread, Sang-ah demanded,

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Hahaha... Me? I'm finished. Because of that video, I'll never be able to work again. No one's going to support me now."

"Like I said, you brought that on yourself!"

"Oh... is that so?"

Ai Hoon tilted her head grotesquely.

Even when told this was her own fault, she only laughed.

All that mattered to her was that she would never again have the attention of others.

Driven by insanity, she had only one thing left to do.

"I don't care anymore. We're all going to die anyway."

"You...!"

"You, me, everyone here... we're all going to die!!"

The red light grew fiercer.

Suddenly, a terrifying energy burst out, hurling Ai Hoon away from the scroll.

Even as she crashed to the ground, Ai Hoon was delighted.

And then...

─────!!!

A shockwave of energy began to expand, the kind that would erase everything in its path.

Its radius: 15 kilometers.

An entire city in Korea was about to be wiped from the map.

Rumbles—!

"Whew. That was almost catastrophic."

At that moment, someone crashed through the underpass ceiling and landed.

A boy with horns and wings—he clutched the scroll with all his might.

Magic power surged from his body, sealing the vast energy pouring from the scroll.

The explosion that would have obliterated the city detonated within his arms.

And then—

Fssssh—

A sound like steam escaping came from the boy's embrace as the heat dissipated.

The energy from the scroll, which had threatened to expand outward, was completely extinguished before it could spread.

"Huh?"

Ai Hoon, who watched to the very end, opened her eyes wide.

Had she just seen that right?

To hug that thing was like hugging a bomb and surviving.

No, not just a bomb—a nuclear bomb.

That boy had embraced the entire thing and withstood it.

Looking at the unscathed face of the boy, Ai Hoon was horrified.

"Ma... Seongjin!"

Shutting off the explosion with pure strength, Seongjin turned to Ai Hoon.

Ai Hoon instinctively backed away at his gaze.

From the drone's footage and now his actions—everything about him defied common sense.

Even the Sura guild would fear such a being.

Ai Hoon was seized by fear.

"Just what...?"

Had she, or rather the Sura guild, messed with something they should never have touched?

Crushing regret swept over Ai Hoon, and she fell to her knees.

It felt familiar—a sense of déjà vu.

Every cell in her body seemed to scream for surrender.

But to whom had her very cells been so completely subdued?

As this thought consumed her, Ma Seongjin approached.

"Ah..."

Moaning, she heard Seongjin mutter curtly.

"Come quietly, you crazy bitch."

The last thing she felt was a dull pain at the back of her head—and then she lost consciousness.