The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Chapter 150 : If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (1)

If You Want to Sacrifice Others, Bet Your Own Life Too (1)"Doggy, come here."

― Kki-ging!

I chased Cerberus, driving the guy into a corner with nowhere left to run.

Cerberus, shuddering in fear, crouched against the wall.

"Good boy~ Good boy~"

― Hihihihing....

He was the notorious three-headed dog, cerberus. But now, he whimpered like a puppy at the vet's office.

It was enough to make me doubt whether this really was the famed beast that wields the Underworld's karmic flames by burning all of its magic power.

"Huh?"

At that moment, one of Cerberus' eyes changed.

Of his six eyes, one had been blue, but now it turned back to red.

― Hihing?

He's a guy that shares his strength with the person he contracts with.

The more power he gives to his contractor, the more his eyes turn blue, one by one.

The fact that one reverted meant there must've been a problem with his contractor.

Of course, that didn't mean the guy had recovered his fighting spirit.

"Wait a minute. I've come too far from the rift, haven't I?"

I glanced back and saw the rift in the distance.

Chasing this guy around, I'd gotten pretty far from it.

The moment I defeat him here, the rift will close.

The distance was a problem, so I grabbed his tail and started dragging him with me.

"Come on, let's go! For katsu... No, for dog treats."

― Kkiiieeeng?

"Here, here, this way."

― Kkiheheeeeng!!

Sensing the danger by instinct, cerberus thrashed and tried to escape.

But against my strength, powered by the full force of the Demon King, there was no getting away.

"Anesthesia, applying!"

― Kihek!

I dragged the guy close to the rift and knocked him out with a punch charged with magic power.

Not just ordinary magic power—I used the Demon King's Power.

Without this strength, I couldn't harm a master-class phantom spirit like him.

Now that he was unconscious... it was time for the operation.

"Nurse, scalpel."

.......

"Oh right. I'm alone, aren't I?"

****

"Uaaaagh! Don't follow me!"

Ai Hoon was on the run, fleeing from the phantom spirits chasing her.

But she was an A-rank hunter before she was a celebrity; she wasn't so weak that she couldn't fight them.

Still, after facing phantom spirits back-to-back, she was exhausted.

"Huff! Huff! I seriously can't fight anymore!"

― Kyaaaaaak!!

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!!"

A phantom spirit in the form of a monstrous bird suddenly jumped out in front of her.

Startled by the jump scare, Ai Hoon lashed out with her whip like a madwoman.

Zzzzt—!

The electrically charged whip slashed in a full 360-degree arc.

All the phantom spirits within its range were ripped to pieces.

To clear out so many at once, she'd had to unleash a lot of power.

"I-I can't go on."

That attack had drained her magic power badly.

She couldn't afford to waste any more of her already low reserves.

If she wasted more here, the rift on her arm might run wild again.

"I have to run!"

At that moment, her eyes met those of five phantom spirits.

As soon as she saw them, Ai Hoon spun around and broke into a run.

In front of her, she saw a mother and daughter, being protected by one of Hand's security robots.

― Beep. Please proceed to the safe zone for your safety.

"Get out of my way!"

The robot approached politely, but Ai Hoon shoved it aside with her whip.

She shoved the mother and daughter aside as well and kept running.

The phantom spirits following her then saw the toppled mother and daughter.

"Kyaaaaaa!!"

"Help us!!"

The phantom spirits, sensing new prey, pounced on the mother and daughter.

The security robot, its upper body taken off by Ai Hoon's whip, couldn't move.

Ai Hoon paid no attention to the mother and daughter's screams; instead, she was just glad she'd ditched the chasing phantom spirits.

"Now... where can I hide?"

She needed to recover her dwindling magic power soon. As she glanced around for a hiding spot—

― This way.

A robot called out to Ai Hoon.

Turning her head, she saw a subway exit.

Apparently, this was the safe zone the mother and daughter had been guided toward earlier.

― Please enter quickly. Beep.

Due to the situation, the entrance was sealed shut with shutters, but the robot at the door recognized Ai Hoon's face and opened it for her.

"Who are you?"

"Mom!"

As soon as Ai Hoon came in, a girl called out to her.

Startled and on edge, Ai Hoon reflexively swung her whip.

"Ah! What are you doing?!"

"Huh?"

Luckily, the girl ducked and avoided the whip.

Only after that did Ai Hoon sigh with relief, realizing it wasn't a phantom spirit.

"What? She's a person?"

"What did you think I was?"

"Annoying... Wait, hold on—you."

The girl had boxers pulled over her face. Ai Hoon immediately recognized who she was.

"You were the one who suddenly ran on stage and sang just now...."

"Ah, yes...."

The girl's voice got quiet, clearly embarrassed.

Not that her current appearance was any less humiliating—crashing through the concert hall wearing boxers on her face was hardly sane.

"You're Ai Hoon, right?"

"Oh, you recognized me?"

"Come over here. The other contestants have taken shelter here too."

"Really?"

"This place isn't far from the stage. It's connected to the stage basement."

So this girl had fled here following the singers.

If you're powerless, running is only natural.

"But I heard Ai Hoon is an A-rank hunter."

"It's not like I was slacking off, okay? I'm just exhausted and I came here to rest."

With that, Ai Hoon showed off her arm, wrapped in cloth.

"Can't you see my arm's hurt?"

"Oh...."

"My magic power's all gone; take me somewhere comfortable so I can recover."

"Okay."

Though her arm wasn't actually injured, anyone would see her as a wounded person.

The girl couldn't object to that. Then, Ai Hoon suddenly asked the girl,

"By the way, what are you, anyway?"

"Me?"

"Why did you run on stage back then?"

"Ah... well."

The girl explained what had happened.

Ai Hoon scowled like someone wearing low-prescription glasses.

"So... you went up instead of Cha Eunju? And Cha Eunju's still alive?"

"That's right. And don't get me wrong! I had to cover my face because of how the show works, that's the only reason I wore these."

The moment she heard that, Ai Hoon seethed inside.

The Cha Eunju she'd tried so hard to kill was still alive.

That alone was infuriating, but the girl who saved her was right in front of her.

It felt like her masterpiece had been ruined by this girl spilling ink on it.

"If I'd been even a little later, she would've died."

And it didn't stop there.

Just now, Ai Hoon had been leading in Masked Singer.

Then, this girl suddenly appeared and stole first place from her.

She wasn't even a real singer, and her appearance was atrocious, yet she accomplished this feat.

Even the singing ability she'd shown was no joke—the audience fell silent at her song despite mocking her appearance.

The public was moved... but Ai Hoon was not.

'So infuriating.'

She couldn't stand people who got ahead of her.

Ai Hoon had always dragged such people into ruin.

She would secretly poison the drinks of singers who were rated higher than her in singing.

Even as a hunter, things weren't any different.

Years back, when a B-rank gate had appeared, there had been a female hunter who outshone Ai Hoon.

Called 'senior' by everyone, she hunted more monsters than Ai Hoon despite being the same rank.

Ai Hoon hateed that someone with the same grade was outperforming her.

Then, when they faced the gate's boss, the two of them stood, while everyone else was unconscious.

—Now's my chance.

Ai Hoon didn't let the opportunity slip and strangled the hunter with her whip.

Drained from fighting the boss, the senior couldn't resist.

Since the entire party was unconscious, there were no witnesses.

After choking her to death, Ai Hoon cut up the body.

—There's a rope mark like she was strangled.

An autopsy would reveal she'd been strangled by someone.

Ai Hoon, who used a whip, would become the main suspect.

So she mutilated the body so no one could identify the cause.

When the party awoke, they were aghast, but Ai Hoon explained,

― The senior protected me and got trampled by a monster. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to defeat it.

Ai Hoon's tearful act made even the party cry.

Watching them fall for it, she laughed to herself inside.

It wasn't just for fun, either—a system window would pop up every time she did it.

[Your trait's proficiency has increased.]

[By fulfilling the condition, your trait is strengthened.]

['Bioelectricity' has evolved from 4-star to 5-star rank.]

Even karma, which was like experience points, accumulated.

She relieved her stress and got stronger—there was no reason not to do it.

The same went for the boxers girl in front of her.

'I want to kill her....'

Then, Ai Hoon's arm began to twitch. The cloth-wrapped arm started to move on its own.

"What the...?"

"Why are you acting like that?"

"I-I don't know!"

A sense of dread flashed through Ai Hoon's mind.

That arm was connected to an open rift that spawned phantom spirits.

Without magic power to suppress it, phantom spirits could pop out at any moment.

And now, her reserves were almost empty.

"Why now of all times!"

In the end, the cloth burst apart and a monster burst out.

It was a phantom spirit resembling a minotaur.

The moment she saw it, Ai Hoon was terrified—she wasn't in any condition to fight.

Even worse, more phantom spirits kept pouring out of her arm, one after another.

She had no magic power left to handle them. At this point...

"You fight them off!"

"Eeek!"

Ai Hoon threw the boxers girl in front of the phantom spirits.

The minotaur-like phantom spirit immediately snatched her up and opened its massive jaws wide.

With a gul-p-ing sound, the girl vanished into its belly.

The annoying brat was finally dead.

"Hahaha! Now that's a relief."

But it was too soon to relax.

If only she'd used the right perfume, this wouldn't have happened.

Her plans had gone to hell all because of the Heaven and Earth Society guys.

If not for their interference, she wouldn't have had to deal with these phantom spirits.

As Ai Hoon grumbled—

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!!"

A woman screamed, spotting Ai Hoon.

She was one of the contestants from Masked Singer earlier, with MC Kim Seonghun next to her.

"Ai Hoon...! What the hell did you just do?!"

Kim Seonghun and the female singer looked absolutely terrified.

Ai Hoon asked cautiously,

"You saw?"

"...."

No one answered.

In that case, there was only one thing left to do.

With a chilling smile, Ai Hoon started walking toward them, her whip crackling with electricity, phantom spirits pouring from her arm.

The two bolted in terror.

"Can't have any witnesses, can I?"

If things kept on, people would think she was a witch summoning phantom spirits—and they'd seen her kill someone, too.

No reason to let them live.

Ai Hoon started to chase after them.

"She's a murderer! Somebody help!"

Kim Seonghun dashed into the shelter, shouting to the people inside.

While everyone wondered what was happening, Ai Hoon appeared with an army of phantom spirits.

"What now?"

Everyone stared at her, frozen in fear. Seeing this, Ai Hoon flashed a crazed smile.

"Guess I'll have to kill you all?"

Not like she had to do it herself—she could just pin it on the monsters again.

Luckily, the phantom spirits started attacking people on their own.

― Beep. Initiating defense!

― Stop your crimes immediately!

At that, the security robots tried to shield the people from the phantom spirits.

Ai Hoon whipped her weapon at the robots.

"It's fine. I'm not the one killing them—it's those monsters."

― Beep?

"Don't get in my way!"

The robots crashed into the wall from her whip strikes. Though not destroyed, they ended up far from the people.

In the meantime, the phantom spirits attacked, and Ai Hoon climbed to a safe spot to watch the chaos.

"Uaaaaagh!!"

― Krrrrrrrk!"

A massive phantom spirit grabbed Kim Seonghun.

Opening its jaws to swallow him in one bite, its cavernous throat loomed and Kim Seonghun screamed.

― Kieeeeeek!!

At that moment, the phantom spirit's body burst into flames. It immediately dropped Kim Seonghun, writhing in agony.

"Huh?"

"...?"

Both Kim Seonghun and Ai Hoon stared, stunned.

Then, the phantom spirit's body exploded from within, the heat engulfing the other phantom spirits nearby.

Someone shot out from the heart of the blast, swiftly cutting through the monsters.

〈Wind,Forest,Fire,Mountain〉

With blinding speed, the upper halves of the phantom spirits were severed cleanly.

The one who swept through the monsters was a girl with red hair and horns.

"Are you alright?"

Kwon Sang-ah helped the collapsed Kim Seonghun to his feet.