The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Chapter 155 : If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (6)

If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (6)Ai Hoon, who had fainted after being struck on the back of her head, slowly opened her eyes.

It took a moment for her vision to settle.

As she began to open her eyes, half-closing then opening, countless thoughts crossed her mind.

― Where is this?

― What was I doing up until now?

― Is there anyone around?

― My head is throbbing.

At that moment, a sensation like static electricity flickered through her mind.

The pain that was already there pulsed even harder in her head.

That recoil made her recall everything that had happened so far in an instant.

'That's right. I....'

She had been confronting a girl with red hair and horns, and had her true form exposed to the entire nation.

Unable to accept it, she had tried to detonate herself by running amok with the Underworld Formation.

But even that failed, and she lost consciousness.

It was all because of Ma Seongjin.

"Ughhh!"

Ai Hoon winced in pain as her head throbbed violently.

She tried to move her hand to soothe the pain.

"Why won't it move?"

Her hand wouldn't budge, as if it were glued to the floor.

Her legs were the same; even if she wanted to get up, her body wouldn't listen.

'The floor isn't the problem. This is....'

She had no sense in her hands or legs.

It was as if only those parts of her body had become corpses, unable to move an inch.

"How can this be? Where am I!"

It was a pitch-black space.

It wasn't that she couldn't see anything—there were numerous people slumped on the floor just as she was.

All of them had somewhat familiar faces, and among them, someone very familiar opened their eyes.

"Young lady, is that you?"

"That voice... is that Jin Rain?"

Once her vision cleared up completely, Ai Hoon could be greatly reassured upon seeing Jin Rain.

However, that sense of relief didn't last long.

Jin Rain, too, was lying down and unable to move at all.

"Can you move?"

"No, it's no use. My limbs won't budge."

"It seems... we've lost all sense in them."

"What?"

"In short... our arms and legs are no different from dead bodies."

At Jin Rain's words, Ai Hoon was appalled.

Jin Rain's reaction to saying it out loud was no different.

It was as if they'd been sentenced, unable to stand even if they tried.

"No way. We're not even tied up... You're saying we've just been made cripples!"

Realizing her limbs were destroyed, Ai Hoon was overcome with fear.

If only she could get to the Sura guild headquarters—could they fix her?

But there was no one to help her to escape.

Why, just why?

"Why do I have to end up like this!!"

With a face full of resentment, she scanned her surroundings again.

Looking carefully at those lying down besides herself and Jin Rain, she recognized them as Sura guild members.

"For... the Heaven and Earth... Society...."

Even Lu Huikang was among them, his body completely frozen except for his face.

In this pitch-dark, empty space, only the Sura guild members who had attacked Hand were present.

"You woke up earlier than expected? I thought you'd sleep forever, since your body seemed so feeble."

At that moment, a cheerful voice echoed in her ears.

The owner of this annoyingly cocky voice was Ma Seongjin.

"You, you bastard...!"

As soon as Jin Rain saw the boy, he grit his teeth.

He wanted to get up and overpower him right away, but his body still wouldn't move.

"Damn it! If only I could move..."

"If you could move... so what."

Seongjin approached Jin Rain in an instant and spoke.

Seeing Seongjin suddenly standing behind him, Jin Rain tensed.

To Ai Hoon, it looked as if he had teleported, leaving her startled.

"You think things would change if you could move?"

"With my strength, I surely could...."

"Right, fine."

Seongjin poked Jin Rain's arms and legs with his fingers.

Just like magic, Jin Rain could stand up again.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing? You said things would change."

"..."

Falling for the provocation, Jin Rain immediately summoned his tonfa.

Just as he tried to stand up again—

"Keugh!!"

Suddenly, Jin Rain let out a short scream and collapsed.

In truth, though he thought he could move, his body couldn't.

"The wound on my side...!"

He'd been too badly injured in the fight with Kwon Yongjun.

Just moving a little caused blood to pour out of the place he'd been impaled.

"I know what happened to you. You took that hit from the Hwasan guild's hunter, Kwon Yongjun, right?"

"Urgh...!"

"That's why—who told you to do that to someone else's mother?"

"What did you say?"

At Seongjin's sneer, Jin Rain's eyes grew wide.

With a suddenly desperate expression, he objected.

"I didn't do it! I've never fought the Hwasan guild! This is so unfair!"

"Yeah, it must feel unfair."

At that moment, a sly smile crept across Seongjin's lips.

"It was me who made it happen that way."

"What...?"

As those shocking words landed, Jin Rain was staggered.

Seeing Seongjin's wicked smile, realization dawned on him.

"Then... hunter Kwon Yongjun's mother...."

"That's right. I did it."

"H-how...?"

"I'll explain that part for you."

Another person stepped out from the darkness behind Seongjin.

With pink hair and a fox tail—a face one could never forget.

"Kang Ah-rin, you...!"

"You know this girl?"

At Ai Hoon's question, Jin Rain answered tremblingly.

"She is Sura."

"Her?"

Ah-rin greeted Ai Hoon with a bright smile.

"Nice to see you, unni. First time seeing my real face, right?"

"You little—!"

"Anyway, Jin Rain, you said you felt unfair today, didn't you? Do you know why?"

This time, two people emerged from behind Ah-rin.

Amazingly, these two were Jin Rain himself and Kwon Yongjun's mother, Kang Minji.

Seeing them, Jin Rain's eyes filled with hope.

"Could it be...?"

"That's right."

The two who had walked out suddenly popped, poof!

On the spot where they had stood, pink fur fell.

"They're fakes I created using my tail fur."

"No way. A double made from your fur... at best, it should only be able to walk!"

It was a useful ability, but it had flaws.

A doppelganger made by Ah-rin could not speak nor have any feelings.

And there was another loophole to the duplication technique.

"Besides, that double needs a part of the original's body to be made! That's understandable for Kang Minji, but how did you get mine...!"

Kang Minji was still bedridden in the hospital, so grabbing a bunch of hair was easy.

Of course, Seongjin had to use the 'Concealment' skill to infiltrate the hospital.

Getting a piece of Jin Rain's body would have been difficult.

However...

"Don't you remember when you came to see me before? You had a hamburger and cola stuck in your mouth, remember?"

"What does that have to do wi—wait!"

Back then, when he'd come to find Ah-rin training by the waterfall,

after Ah-rin's sudden attack, Jin Rain had left something on the ground.

It was a half-eaten hamburger and cola; saliva would have been on the straw and bite mark of that hamburger.

"Don't tell me, what I left back then...!"

"That's right. Thanks to that, I could make a double in your image. And the double I just showed you is the last one."

"But... even if you fully completed a doppelganger, it shouldn't be able to act or express emotions... Keugh!"

Ah-rin didn't let him finish and stomped on Jin Rain's head.

"Don't kid yourself. I'm not the same person I used to be."

"No way... Did you strengthen your ability? In that short time?"

"Of course, the more emotion I invest, the more magic power it devours, which is a disadvantage. Thanks to that, I almost got caught by those guys over there."

Ah-rin pointed to the frozen Lu Huikang as she spoke.

That was what happened to the guy who declared himself from the Heaven and Earth Society and charged.

"You think you'll get away with this...?"

"And did you think you'd get away after trying to sacrifice Hand's citizens?"

The sacrifice for the Sura guild is inevitable!

...was what he wanted to argue, but he didn't have the confidence.

Suddenly, hearing Seongjin's words, his mind went blank.

But he did have a card left to play in this situation.

"It's not too late. You'd best leave us alone from here on."

"And why would we?"

"Ma Seongjin. Because your family is in danger."

"......"

"With this, Ma Seongjin, you've proven you're no ordinary being. But do you think your family members are like you?"

From the outset of this plan, Jin Rain and the Sura guild had targeted a single family.

Sura guild members should be stationed where that family was.

That family was none other than Seongjin's.

"If you let us go now, your family will..."

"Puhuhuhuhuhu..."

"...?"

"Puhahahahahahahaha!!!"

Seongjin suddenly exploded into laughter.

When he finally stopped, he replied.

"My family is in danger? Puheheheheheheheh!"

Jin Rain looked increasingly confused.

The more he listened to Seongjin's laughter, the more ominous dread pricked at him.

"The ones in danger aren't my family—it's your guild members."

****

"Ah~ I'm so tired."

"I feel like I'm going to turn into a zombie."

"I need some water..."

Ma Yunhee was walking home from school with two classmates.

They had exerted themselves too much during the last P. E. class and were totally exhausted.

"P. E. teacher is so unfair. Four laps around the field just because we lost in dodgeball."

"But we got pizza bread after running, didn't we?"

"Still, do you know what really ticks me off? Our team was so frail, but the other team was full of giants! That's what made me mad!"

They were complaining about their day at school when suddenly, Yunhee glanced back.

"Ma Yunhee, what's wrong?"

"Did you leave something at school?"

"No, it's nothing."

Thinking she must have been mistaken, Yunhee turned back to chat with her friends.

Meanwhile, in a hidden alley behind them, the corpses of Sura guild hunters lay sprawled.

A winged man who had taken care of all of them spoke.

"This is Fettel. I've taken care of the ones targeting the Demon King's younger sister."

― This is Giuss. I've protected Mother. Thankfully, she wasn't alarmed.

― This is Ferris. Situation's the same with Father's side.

His ear was connected to a small radio.

And the three of them, connected via comms, spoke in unison.

"All for the great Demon King."

― All for the great Demon King.

― All for the great Demon King.

****

"The ones in danger are our guild members? What are you talking about!"

Jin Rain was shaken by Seongjin's ominous words.

A vague sense of dread crept through his veins.

"You don't need to know. Like someone who sacrifices others for their own guild would ever understand?"

"Stop talking rubbish! Our Sura guild—"

"Yeah, for this world, right? But you have no right to point fingers at us. You know why?"

Thud. Thud. Thud—

Suddenly a strange sound of footsteps began to ring out.

Much bigger than a human's, it was clear at once something massive was approaching.

From the darkness, glowing red eyes appeared as a giant three-headed hound emerged.

"Hiiiiik!"

"T-that's—!"

At the sight of the beast, Ai Hoon froze in terror and Jin Rain's face twisted in shock.

Because he had been involved with the creation of the Underworld Formation, he knew exactly what that beast was.

It was only natural that his face went pale.

"Cerberus...? How did you—!"

"After a bit of discipline, it listens to me now."

"Discipline... How could you possibly...!"

Seongjin whispered into Jin Rain's ear, who was flustered.

"Isn't it obvious? Because I'm the devil. The very thing you guys fear most."

For a moment, Jin Rain was paralyzed.

Cerberus was now devouring Sura guild hunters sprawled around the floor, one by one.

Even as the sounds of flesh being torn and chewed echoed, he didn't even flinch.

"Aaaahhh! S-save me!"

Even Ai Hoon's terrified screams beside him didn't move him.

The devil the Sura guild feared most.

He'd already heard about it from the Guildmaster, Jay Hoon.

The devil rumored to have destroyed an empire from another world in an instant.

"Don't tell me, you're...!"

Thud!—

Realizing Seongjin's true identity, Jin Rain's eyes widened.

But it was too late.

Seongjin kicked him like a soccer ball, sending him flying straight to Cerberus.

"We were in the devil's hands, from the very beginning...."

Blaming himself as realization dawned, his tears fell.

With the sound of flesh ripped apart, he became food for Cerberus.

Seeing this, Ai Hoon was swallowed by fear.

"No! Please, let me live! Please!"

She looked desperately at Seongjin and Ah-rin.

However....

"Did you know? There are no witnesses here."

"So what!"

Seongjin smiled radiantly.

"You were killed by that monster. Got it?"

"What?"

Leaving those words, Seongjin disappeared with Ah-rin back into the darkness.

It was a familiar line, one that had often left her lips in the past.

"Ahh..."

Ai Hoon, realizing the meaning, froze in place, mind blank.

Everything she'd done had only come back to her in the end.

And Cerberus was already right in front of her.

The Sura guild hunters who'd been lying behind her—were nowhere to be seen.

—Grrr.

"Ah... hahahahaha...."

A hollow laugh echoed.

At the same time, the chilling sound of crunching bones rang out through the space.

If you ruin someone else's life, your own is ruined in the same way.