The Returner

“Wha, what are you doing?!” (Song Jeong-Su)

The trembling Song Jeong-Su quickly backed away .

“You should be able to guess, so why are you asking me that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk cackled like a villain, causing the chilly air to creep up into Song Jeong-Su’s body .

An insane man standing next to him and that insane man targetting him were two very different propositions .

The moment he realised that Yi Ji-Hyuk was targetting him, this madman before him transformed from a regular madman to a properly mad madman who no one could guess what he’d do next .

“It, it seems that there’s been some sort of a misunderstanding… . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

Even a small misstep right now would be the end of Song Jeong-Su . He was sure of it .

His perception that allowed him to survive the hostile, rugged world of politics was now warning him of the incoming dangers . A politician on the level of Song Jeong-Su wasn’t terrified of anything . Indeed, politicians would be more terrified of a little kid walking on the street rather than actual policemen .

Because, they would become stronger when facing someone strong, that’s why .

However, this guy before his eyes was different . This madman, he wasn’t beholden to common sense .

In all honesty, who’d dare to lay their hands on the leader of the ruling party of South Korea? He wasn’t some figurehead ruler, but someone with actual influence . Song Jeong-Su should be seen as the most powerful politician in this country . Even the current President would have to take a bow to him if it needs be .

‘Even then… . ’ (Song Jeong-Su)

This madman didn’t give a rat’s a*s about such a thing .

There were some people like that in this world . People who couldn’t be dealt with neither the status or political power .

The thing was, though, such people were usually country b.u.mpkins or someone with no influence whatsoever . Those with power were worried about their power disappearing, so they would be reluctant to do anything, and they would be wary of others with similar level of power, precisely because of that reason .

Any human would act like that .

However… .

‘This man isn’t like that . ’ (Song Jeong-Su)

First of all, the ‘power’ this man wielded was so huge that Song Jeong-Su couldn’t do anything about it . Secondly, even though this man possessed such power, he wasn’t sensitive towards other types of power .

It was almost the same as handing over an M60 machine gun to an aborigine tribesman emerging out of the jungle . It was dangerous since you didn’t know where he’d go next, and it was even more dangerous because he couldn’t be controlled .

“Misunderstanding?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk cackled ominously .

“This ahjussi, he must be thinking that I’m stupid because I have been joking around a bit . Mister Choi Jeong-Hoon?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Yes, Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Am I that stupid?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“No ways . Generally speaking, you are very intelligent, to the point of being a certifiable genius . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Keuh~ . Aren’t you building me up a little too high there?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Wow, aren’t you two in a perfect sync?

Yup, you two are so in tune right now .  (Song Jeong-Su’s inner monologue)

Song Jeong-Su quickly dabbed away the sweat on his forehead .

“I don’t understand why you’re acting this way . I only came here today with good intentions, so can you please enlighten me on what made you so angry?” (Song Jeong-Su)

However, he didn’t lose his courteous att.i.tude even now .

In any other situation, such an action could’ve been a plus point . Unfortunately for him, though, Yi Ji-Hyuk was never a man to care about people putting up false facade .

“Wowsers . Would you look at this old man trying to back away after trying to make a fool out of another person?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked and shifted his gaze over to Choi Jeong-Hoon .

“You should take note, don’t you think?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I should?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“I thought you wanted to become a politician? This ahjussi, he’s the perfect role model, isn’t he? I mean, I was somewhat disappointed by our dear Mister President, but this dude? Isn’t he the perfect example of a sly racc.o.o.n?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“… . . I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t say that with the person in question right before you . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It’s not a lie, though?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Y-yes, you’re right about that, but still . Saying ‘Hey, you’re really short’ to someone who’s vertically challenged is a great social faux pas, you see . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Is that how it is?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Well, it’s something like that . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Ahh . Okay . Hey, ahjussi, my bad . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

‘Now that’s good etiquette . ’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon nodded his head in contentment .

How righteous it was for one to admit to one’s faults and apologise to the party affected?

Contrary to Choi Jeong-Hoon’s thoughts, though, Song Jeong-Su’s expression was figuratively speaking, rotting away .

Where would he be treated so poorly like this?

Seeing how they were so in tune with each other, there was little doubt in his heart that these two had been making fun of him since a while ago .

“Look here . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

Song Jeong-Su’s voice became weightier .

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but if you insist on making a fool out of me, I will not hold back either . I, Song Jeong-Su, isn’t someone you can push around . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Ohh!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk opened his eyes wide and gawked at Song Jeong-Su, before shifting his head away .

“So he says?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I guess so . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“What will happen if I lay my hands on that ahjussi?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Mm… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon pondered something for a bit before making his answer in a quiet voice .

“I don’t think anything will happen to you . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Really?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Yes . Well, nothing will happen as long as you don’t kill him . And since Mister President isn’t insane, he’s not going to arrest you or anything, either . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“But, he might try to after losing his mind . What then?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Well, you can just emigrate to America . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Aha!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk clapped his hands . And with a strange little smile on his face, he looked back at Song Jeong-Su .

“So he says?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“……… . . ”

Song Jeong-Su became utterly speechless .

Even he began thinking that nothing would happen to Yi Ji-Hyuk if this insane b*stard harmed him in some way . h.e.l.l, if he was the President, he’d let it slide himself . Same for the judicial authorities, too .

The only people he could rely on at this point was the media . But his problem was that even the media folks couldn’t be counted as his allies right now .

‘Sons of b*tches . ’ (Song Jeong-Su)

There were dozens of reporters around him, yet not a single one raised their cameras to film this . Shouldn’t they at least pretend to film this c**p? Forget about filming, they were actually not even touching their cameras right now .

Because, these reporters also knew that something had gone wrong right now . They had provoked something they shouldn’t have .

“Senior-nim?”

One of the reporters whispered to his colleague, a fellow reporter from a major news outlet who could be considered the most ‘veteran’ of them all here .

“What is it?”

His reply also came in a whisper . It was as if he didn’t want to make a loud noise and unnecessarily stimulate Yi Ji-Hyuk any further .

“Shouldn’t we take some pictures right now?”

“What will you do after you did?”

“Write an article?”

“And what will it say?”

“Isn’t this situation where an ability user is about to physically harm the leader of the ruling party? The impact from an article detailing that should be enormous, wouldn’t it?”

“Sure . It would be . ”

“In that case, isn’t this a scoop?”

“Yup, it’s a scoop, alright . ”

“But then, why isn’t anyone reporting on it?”

The senior reporter shook his head .

“You wanna go ahead? Fine . But leave me out of it . ”

“Why?”

“Think about it . If you write an article about it, you might get yourself a big scoop . Fine . All sorts of chaos might get raised . Cool . And you will become a household name . ”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“However, what do you think will happen if that dude emigrates to another country because that article has started something?”

“Uh… . ”

“At first, people might think good riddance . However, once Gate operations don’t go well and the whole country begins to suffer financially, people will start looking for the cause . Don’t you know just how much that man is bringing to this country in terms of tangible and intangible benefits? So, what do you think will happen to you once it’s revealed that you’re the culprit for chasing him out of the country?”

“………”

“You see, our nation? It’s still protecting that scientist who copied someone else’s dissertation, got found out, and made us a laughing stock of the world . The ones feeling truly sensitive towards the country’s status isn’t the President, but us, the citizens . So, what will happen after you chased out one ability user whose equal could never be found again in Earth’s history with your own hands?”

The junior reporter couldn’t reply to that . He could easily imagine the consequences already .

“So, you go ahead and write that article . Me? I don’t want to get knifed to death on my way back home . And also… . ” The senior whispered back . “Well, he’s not completely wrong here, right?”

It was true that Song Jeong-Su did bring them all here .

“E-even then… . ”

“Well, if you wish to uphold your journalistic integrity and report on this, fine, I won’t stop you . However, do you honestly think just because you took some photos, your editor will let them be published? I’m sure he’d tell you to upload them on your personal blog or something . ”

“… . I guess you have a point there . ”

The junior’s hands left the camera .

“And also, if this event was all about serving greater justice or something, then sure, we could report on this . That’s the duty of us reporters, right? Our predecessors, they did risk their lives to report on the dictatorship in the past . However, that dude isn’t on the side of evil . So, I’m just going to watch from the sidelines . ”

“If you say so… . ”

The junior finally lowered his tail . He had finished calculating gains and losses in his head, and realised that turning his eyes away here would be for the best .

“…… . ”

Unfortunately for Song Jeong-Su, he thought his heart would explode from the sheer frustration .

‘You stinking sons of b*tches!!’ (Song Jeong-Su)

They were wagging their tails only a short while ago, but now they dare to wash their hands clean of this?? Even if it’s the nature of the ma.s.s media to latch onto someone stronger, wasn’t this just a bit too much?

“Looks like you don’t have any friends here, ahjussi?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked and gradually approached Song Jeong-Su .

“P-please, calm down and let’s talk about this . Please listen to me . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Just say it . You think I’ll suddenly go deaf because I’m not calm? I can still hear you just fine . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Well, that was true, wasn’t it?

“I didn’t bring these reporters here out of malice towards you . You know this . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“This ahjussi, I didn’t know he could crack jokes like this . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk spoke in dumbfoundedness .

“Looky here, ahjussi . I’m p*ssed off because you inconvenienced me, so what’s your malice or whatnot got to do with it? Should I rejoice if you screw me over with good intentions?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“…O-of course not . H-however, there are extenuating circ.u.mstances at play right now, no?” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Oh, don’t worry about that . Me, I’m very meticulous with my accounting, you see . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Yup, he’s very meticulous, alright . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon’s support fire proved to be on point even now .

“If you came here planning to screw me over, then well, ahjussi, you’d be talking to King Yama by now . Since that’s not it, I’ll make sure that you get to keep your life . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Although those words were meant for comfort, Song Jeong-Su didn’t feel comforted at all .

“L-let’s calm down first and… . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

Yi Ji-Hyuk had already reached Song Jeong-Su’s vicinity by then . He then placed his hand on the politician’s shoulder .

“Ahjussi . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Yes, yes?!” (Song Jeong-Su)

“I’m pretty sure that you came here hoping to do something . A politician of your calibre wouldn’t start something without a plan, and you were probably thinking that you’d take the gamble after considering the risks . Am I wrong?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Song Jeong-Su nodded his head unbeknownst to himself .

This guy, wasn’t he unexpectedly insightful?

“In that case, you must’ve thought about the potential ramifications if you failed, right? So, you should think of this as you paying the appropriate price . That should ease your burden somewhat . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“N-no, I was just…!” (Song Jeong-Su)

“So, then . What should I do with you?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk smiled in a very sinister manner .

Realising that there was no more room left to negotiate, Song Jeong-Su desperately looked around himself . This was not what he wanted at all .

Even if what he did p*ssed this man off, one shouldn’t treat the leader of the ruling party this way .

“W-what are you trying to do?! Don’t you know who I am!! You think you’ll be fine after laying your hands on me?!” (Song Jeong-Su)

“He said I’ll be . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“… . You think I won’t do anything?! It’s not too late now! I will… . !” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Argh, so noisy . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk lightly waved his right hand and opened up a jet-black Gate, before tossing Song Jeong-Su inside it .

“Uwaaaaaahk?!” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Oh, this old man, he’s got pretty nice pipes . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk watched the screaming Song Jeong-Su get sucked into the Gate and smiled rather viciously . He then closed the Gate and shifted his gaze over to the reporters .

“Ahjussis? I’m letting you go this one time . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

No one dared to say anything .

“If you wanna write an article, you should lodge a request for an interview . Why did you have to go and hara.s.s me like this?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I-if we request for interviews, will you grant them?”

“Is there a reason not to?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Reporters exchanged glances at each other .

Wasn’t what he said true?

Why hadn’t they make any requests until now?

“However… . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk used his fingers to form the unmistakable sign of a coin .

“Don’t forget to, you know, grease my palms, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“… . How could we forget…?”

“Well then, we’ll be on our way now . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk climbed back into the car . Choi Jeong-Hoon cleared his throat and addressed the reporters .

“If any one of you write up on what happened here today and publish the article, I’ll make sure that you pay dearly . With whatever means necessary . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Sounds of nervous swallowing could be heard coming here and there .

“By the way… . ”

“Yes?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“W-what happened to Party Leader Song Jeong-Su?”

“……… . ”

Choi Jeong-Hoon glanced at Yi Ji-Hyuk behind him and formed an awkward smile .

“Well, I, uh, am not sure…” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

At that moment, reporters all had the exact same thought in their heads .

‘Do not ever get involved with these madmen . ’

What a wise decision that was .

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