The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably Chapter 164 : It Hasn't Even Started Yet

It Hasn't Even Started Yet.

Ever since the gate broke open, the world has developed greatly.

Monsters that brought harm to humanity began to appear, but humanity remained perfectly fine, as if to prove itself.

One of the main reasons for this was the ergence of awakeners.

Even now, gates appear frequently, and hunters are required to hunt the monsters that co out of them.

Not to ntion, S-rank gates were on another level; it took a whole group of veteran hunters to barely hold them back.

In this way, the help of hunters was inevitable.

Of course, as a result, many hunters gained power and beca arrogant.

'The Hwasan guild is the most typical example of that.'

However, recently, there had been growing anti-awakened sentint.

[S-rank gate at the Grand Canyon in Arica. Revealed that the concentration of magic power has dropped by 10% compared to last year...]

[S-rank gate in Guangzhou, China. Confird that S-rank or higher monsters are no longer erging from the gate.]

[The period in which the weakening of the most dangerous S-rank gates has begun to accelerate in earnest.]

News was being broadcast on the massive electronic signboard of a large dia building.

The screen was big enough to be clearly visible even while standing by the park fountain.

After magic power erged, there were signs of developnt everywhere in the world.

In addition, people who looked like beastkin with tails or fairies were walking through the park.

'If only wzealand had been like this too.'

Then, the screen on the electronic signboard changed, displaying a new piece of news.

[Choi Seungjin, attorney and parliantary candidate, officially enters politics.]

[He declares he will revise the law to help children in difficult circumstances if he becos party leader.]

[His past experience with ordinary people's protest movents is expected to boost his approval ratings.]

The image showed a lawyer having a press conference.

He was soone I vaguely knew.

'Wasn't he one of Dad's old friends?'

He was a friend who had once protested alongside my father, but they parted ways due to differences in opinion.

From what I heard, their relationship had soured enough to be almost hostile.

After breaking away due to worsened relations, they coincidentally beca training institute classmates, which was the catalyst.

'Children in difficult circumstances, huh...'

Choi Seungjin himself was said to have grown up in hard tis.

Because his father was an alcoholic, he couldn't prepare money properly, and had to study with neighborhood kids.

If he cared about kids in difficult situations, as the broadcast showed, it made sense.

But...

'In reality, he just wants to give gangsters a chance.'

Usually, students have their reasons for committing delinquent acts, and understanding and reforming them is what he calls true judgnt.

This was sothing he was known to say often ever since his training institute days.

Later, after becoming a juvenile rights lawyer, Choi Seungjin started giving opportunities.

The students who got those opportunities could always smile.

'That's what cos from studying law only from textbooks.'

If he only cared for the offending students, what about the victims?

People like him becoming lawyers and politicians was nothing new.

He didn't really care for the truly unfortunate—he just moved by the manual.

Inevitably, those who exploit that manual increased in number.

In the end, the manual would end up protecting people who deserved punishnt rather than the unfortunate.

In fact, one of those "unfortunate" people was soone close to .

Like that girl running toward right now.

"Seongjin!"

Eunseol was running up to the fountain, waving her hand.

It was winter, so she was bundled up thickly, wearing a scarf and gloves.

There were many signs she'd made an effort with her outfit.

"Have you been waiting long?"

"No, just a bit."

She made a sudden stop as she rushed over to and, due to inertia, her body tipped.

At the sa ti, her gold-edged wings trembled.

People passing by paused and stared at Eunseol.

No matter how common Mutamit-looking people with unusual appearances were, an angel-like Eunseol still looked rare.

"If it was hard, you could've just flown here. You'd have arrived in an instant."

"I can't do that. To train my heart, I have to get in the habit of running."

It was I who'd taught her not to rely only on her wings.

In fact, after training her heart, Eunseol had grown a lot.

She no longer went into self-hypnosis even when seeing an elephant trunk or my face.

"By the way, Seongjin."

"Yeah?"

"Your pants zipper isn't done up."

"What?"

Sure enough, she was right.

I felt a pang of self-loathing at having forgotten to check.

As I hurried to zip up, Eunseol suddenly spaced out.

"What are you looking at right now?"

"..."

"Baek Eunseol!"

"Huh, ah! What did you just say?"

I could tell exactly where her eyes had just been.

That's why I had to snap at her.

"You didn't just... look there, did you?"

"No! No! Of course not! I didn't see anything! I an, I just couldn't see!"

"..."

It seed we still had a way to go.

Like they say, it's not over 'til it's over.

"Eunseol. Do you know why Sang-ah and Ah-rin aren't here today?"

"Well..."

Of course, Eunseol knew the reason too—the fact that those two had played pranks with my underwear.

When I gave her a pointed look with that aning, beads of cold sweat ford on her forehead.

"Eunseol. I really hope you don't turn out like those two."

"Okay. I'll keep it in mind!"

Catching my drift instantly, Eunseol gave a hasty nod.

It had already been a week since the start of vacation, but those two still hadn't shown themselves.

Whatever was happening to Ah-rin and Sang-ah wasn't good for them either.

"By the way, why'd you get so dressed up? We're not even going on a date."

"It's just..."

Eunseol fidgeted, her face turning red.

A yellow coat that covered her whole body, a moderately sized brown skirt, white winter stockings over her legs, and a red scarf around her neck.

It was clear she paid a lot of attention to her outfit.

No wonder people kept glancing at her.

"Well, who cares? There's nothing wrong with dressing well."

"Is that so?"

"And that scarf..."

"Yeah, that's right."

It was the red scarf I'd given her the first ti we t.

Recognizing it, she smiled with relief.

To Eunseol, that scarf must be like a lucky charm.

So fox girl who tried using my underwear as a charm could stand to learn sothing from her.

― Kkeugeung.

At that mont, sothing slunk around at my feet.

But it wasn't botherso.

― Woof!

"Sang-gun. Long ti no see."

Sang-gun, who'd been circling around my feet, jumped into Eunseol's arms.

Eunseol liked animals, too.

Even up until the final exam, she'd cherished Sang-gun a great deal.

"It's okay to bring him along?"

"No problem. He needed a walk anyway."

So I started walking with Eunseol.

Hugging Sang-gun to her chest, Eunseol stroked him as we went.

Sang-gun responded by showing off.

Of course, Eunseol also knew Sang-gun's secret.

"It's hard to believe such a cute thing ca from the rift. How could it turn out looking like this?"

"I did so surgery while dragging him out. He was just so disobedient."

"That's amazing. I never would've thought a monster from a rift could just walk around like this."

Back during the rift incident, the streets of Hand were littered with monster corpses.

Normally, monsters from the gate would vanish instantly upon death.

But the monsters from this rift didn't.

That was because they weren't monsters but phantom spirits from the Underworld.

"Speaking of which, I wonder what happens to those monster corpses when they're collected?"

"They're mostly used to help humanity advance."

The corpses retrieved by The World would be used for that.

But I'd also heard so people who weren't officials secretly collected bodies.

Those types would obviously use them for sothing bad.

"Either way, for good or bad, they'll be used to make hunter equipnt. Like where we're headed right now."

I had called Eunseol to this park because there's a guild-run forge nearby.

I'd told her I had a gift to give her, but she seed to take it as a date.

"Co to think of it, we'll finally start gate training when we're third-years."

"Exactly. So tons of other students will be swarming to get gear, too."

"Don't you have any blacksmiths among your subordinates, Seongjin?"

"I do. But not here."

Currently, the Demon King's legion commanders on Earth are Vern, Alda, Akura, and Borg.

The rest stayed in wzealand.

And out of all these four, none make equipnt or have a subordinate who does.

So I have to make it myself for now.

"What about Ah-rin's and Sang-ah's equipnt?"

"Don't worry about them. Their situation will be resolved over there."

****

A building deep in an unknown mountain.

There was a wide space outside that looked like a field, but it wasn't a school.

People in green military uniforms could be seen here and there around the building.

Inside that building, Ah-rin and Sang-ah sat idly, staring into space.

"Sang-ah."

"Yeah?"

"I miss Sang-gun."

" too."

"I want to hug him while petting him."

"..."

Ah-rin spoke with a hopeless look.

Her limbs drooped weakly, along with her ears and tail.

"How many days have we been here now?"

"About a week."

Sang-ah, answering, sounded just as worn out.

It was only natural.

"A week... Only a week? Are you kidding !!"

Military uniforms that imdiately made you feel stupid, a cold and silent quarters.

Ti passed so slowly in this place where you couldn't do anything you pleased.

It had only been seven days, but it felt as if 700 had passed.

"How much longer do we have to stay?"

"Just hang in there. Only one week more."

"Aaaargh! What is this!"

Sotis the people dressed as soldiers put them through training.

But it wasn't the hunter training they'd expected; all they learned was marching and military drills.

They hated it, and whenever they made a mistake, they got scolded incredibly harshly.

On top of that, they had to walk around with packs on their backs in the freezing weather, almost frozen to death.

And they were told they'd have to do this again later.

"Damn it! It's Saturday, the least they could do is give us our phones!"

A weekend is supposed to be a day off.

But here, apart from resting, they couldn't do anything.

Their phones were confiscated, and even leaving the building was forbidden.

Except for reading, nothing was allowed. Such was a day off in the training camp.

"Hehe. That's why... ta-da!"

Ah-rin revealed a stash of books in her locker.

Seeing this, Sang-ah frowned.

"What's that?"

"Manga!"

The only books allowed here were philosophical or poetry books.

Manga and novels were forbidden in the quarters.

No wonder Sang-ah was surprised.

"Hey... where did you get those?"

"These? I snuck them out of the company commander's office~"

"The company commander... eek!"

Sang-ah was horrified at the thought of the company commander.

A bewitching woman with black hair, but in reality a witch who manipulated black trees.

And true to her witchy reputation, her temperant was terrifying.

Just thinking of her made Sang-ah tremble.

"Hahaha! For a scary-looking aunt, she's got unique taste."

"Put them back! Or else we'll..."

"Be serious! It's the weekend and we can't even play! What are we, robots?"

Ah-rin, resigned, flipped open a manga.

Her face, full of happiness, suddenly darkened.

― Kid. Did you know that?

"Huh?"

― Books are made of wood, you know.

A voice suddenly ca from the book.

Ah-rin, about to read the manga, was startled and dropped it.

And when Sang-ah heard the voice, she turned pale.

― And I am the World Tree, ruler of all plants. You get what that ans, right?

"No way..."

Just as that dread settled in, roots sprouted from the book.

Rapidly multiplying, the roots began to form the shape of a human.

A woman with black hair in a military uniform and a cap decorated with three diamonds.

"Did you just touch my manga?"

Alda, incarnated through the book, smiled and stared at Ah-rin.

Ah-rin wilted like a frightened puppy, not daring to utter a word.

"Three extra days added to your training."

"Why..."

"This is how training camps in Korea always are. Got it?"

With those words, Alda vanished out the door.

And the instant she left... defeated Ah-rin let out a huge cry.

"Dammmiiit! No way! This can't be happening!!"

"..."

Ah-rin raged and thrashed, while Sang-ah sat there like a gravestone, mind gone.

"I just don't get it! What kind of hellhole is this training camp!!"

"..."

"And that aunt's just as bad. For soone her age, she should act it. Who goes nuts over manga at her age?"

"..."

"This total failure of an aunt... I an, old hag! This black-haired crone! Rotten deadwood! Wrinkled old prune—go get buried in the senior center's flowerbed, why don't you!"

Ah-rin hurled insults at Alda's retreating back, while Sang-ah sat silent and motionless.

That was when it happened.

"Did you just call an old hag?"

Suddenly, Alda appeared in the room again.

This ti, she had traveled through another manga inside the locker.

Ah-rin's face went ashen and her heart sank at her ghost-like reappearance.

"I just ca back to collect the manga, and what do I hear?"

"Um..."

"Rotten deadwood? And... prune, was it?"

"No! No! No! No!"

Ah-rin shook her head frantically, her mouth moving quickly.

"You heard wrong, grandm—oops, I an, unni, right?"

"..."

"How could I say sothing so terrible to such a pretty unni?"

"Oh my, thanks for the complint."

"Right!"

Ah-rin sighed in relief at seeing Alda's smile lighten.

But she'd made a big mistake.

"Didn't you learn in drills? You have to end your sentences with 'dannaka'."

"Yes..."

"Not three, but four extra days now. Understood?"

Delivering the shocking news, Alda gathered the manga with her roots.

Then she completely exited out the door.

Eating, moving, playing... even speaking freely—none of it was allowed in this hell.

"Hahaha..."

"..."

Ah-rin let out a hollow laugh, crushed in spirit.

Sang-ah, still unmoving, quietly muttered,

"I'm hungry..."

Unfortunately, their hell had only just begun.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Poor Ah-rin and Sang-ah...

They deserve it though. Who told them to steal Seongjin's underwear...

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】