The Returner

Chapter 423

“What will speaking to Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk get us at this point in time?” (Yun Yeong-Min)

Song Jeong-Su smiled brightly .

“A drowning man would even grasp at straws, after all . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“That’s true, but…” (Yun Yeong-Min)

“Also…” (Song Jeong-Su)

Song Jeong-Su ever so slightly dragged out the ends of his words, before taking a small sip from the cup of lukewarm coffee resting on top of the table .

“Even if Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk has lost his powers, his overall worth is still incalculable in my view . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Are you thinking of doing the same thing as the Americans?!” (Yun Yeong-Min)

Yun Yeong-Min’s tone of voice was as sharp as a blade . It seemed that, despite making that suggestion earlier, he had some amount of rejection to the notion of using Yi Ji-Hyuk in a ‘negative’ way .

‘He’s certainly not a presidential material . ’ (Song Jeong-Su)

Somewhat ironically, Yun Yeong-Min wore this facade of an extremist fairly well, but his personality was anything but that . So much so that Song Jeong-Su often wondered why a man like him would resort to spewing those extremist-sounding declarations all the time .

But it did give the man the keys to the Blue House, so there was that .

“I never planned to do that, nor do we have the necessary technology . Unless it’s the Americans doing it, we won’t get anything by performing ‘research’ on Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk . It’s unfortunate that our level of scientific advancement isn’t as good as theirs, and you know that as well as anyone, Mister President . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

Yun Yeong-Min nodded, his expression remaining sour . Although he didn’t want to, he simply had to acknowledge that fact .

“The most important thing in modern society is information . And Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk holds the most amount of information on the demon world as well as the other world among us . If we are to find a way to overcome this situation, there’s a very good chance that we’ll find it buried among his vast pool of knowledge . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“But if he knew something like that, he’d have told us already, wouldn’t he? It’s not as if our relationships are so broken that he’s holding back on such vital info from us . ” (Yun Yeong-Min)

“A man holding a treasure sometimes doesn’t understand its true value, sir . I was planning to bring along numerous experts from every conceivable field out there and see if Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk can provide us with relevant information . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Mm…” (Yun Yeong-Min)

Yun Yeong-Min weightily nodded .

He didn’t think any of this would be of much help, but just like what Song Jeong-Su had said earlier, they needed to grasp at every straw they could see right now .

‘It’s not like we’ve got something better to do, anyway . ’ (Yun Yeong-Min)

Yun Yeong-Min could only chuckle hollowly .

The restoration and repair works were being carried at the moment, but truth be told, running those projects was no longer his job . And other than the reorganisation of the devastated districts, he nor any of his ministers weren’t even able to come up with a plan for the future, either .

…Because, if another demon king decided to show up after new buildings went up, then yet another hefty chunk of the nation’s planned budget would be thrown out the window, that’s why .

‘We’ve completely lost the initiative, after all . ’ (Yun Yeong-Min)

One of the biggest issues humanity currently faced was that they couldn’t go on the pre-emptive strike . Just trying to deal with the demon king armies that had popped out so far alone took everything mankind had to offer .

So it was simply impossible to even think about attacking the demon world directly through the open ‘spots’ or even find a way to close those gateways permanently .

“…At this rate, we’ll continuously be pushed back until we’re completely and utterly annihilated . ” (Yun Yeong-Min)

“Everyone here already knows that, sir . It’s just that we haven’t found a way out of this quagmire, that’s all . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Mm…” (Yun Yeong-Min)

Yun Yeong-Min let out a grave-sounding groan .

“Others are trying out new things as we speak . China’s attempt is one part of that . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“…You mean, that insane plan of theirs?” (Yun Yeong-Min)

Song Jeong-Su shook his head .

“We shouldn’t view it solely in that manner . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“Pardon?” (Yun Yeong-Min)

“If our current situation persists, the only thing waiting for us in the future will be our complete defeat, sir . So it’s only logical to try anything and everything . If they manage to get rid of one spot at the cost of half of China, then it’d still be a net profit in the end, Mister President . Because humanity would’ve found a way to survive with that method . As long as they succeed, that is…” (Song Jeong-Su)

Song Jeong-Su stopped talking there and chuckled softly .

“Of course, such a plan is only possible because it’s China . Their government doesn’t care much about their own citizens after all, despite their overall national strength . Even if we were to find ourselves in a similar situation as them, we wouldn’t even be able to attempt something as crazy as this . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

“That I agree with you . ” (Yun Yeong-Min)

Yun Yeong-Min and Song Jeong-Su exchanged gazes with heavy expressions .

‘It’s that problem that keeps popping up during all these critical moments . ’ (Song Jeong-Su)

Democracy might have been the most logical way to govern, but it had a big flaw in that as a ruling system, it wasn’t the most efficient one out there . In normal times, democracy certainly came across as a perfect political system but when a crisis happened, it became a massive hurdle preventing the quick formation of resolutions or making of extreme but necessary decisions .

Although all these were true, they weren’t something to be said out in the open . All Song Jeong-Su could do for now was to pull out another cigarette and smoke away the built-up frustration in his heart .

“By the way, where is Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk, and what is he doing currently?” (Yun Yeong-Min)

“Not sure, sir . Well, most likely…” (Song Jeong-Su)

Song Jeong-Su took into consideration Yi Ji-Hyuk’s style and provided the best answer he could come up with .

“He’s probably busy playing computer games . ” (Song Jeong-Su)

***

“…Can’t I, like, go and play games or something?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“No, you can’t . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Why not?! I have free will, don’t I?! I want to play games with my own free will, so why are you trying to stop me?!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Staying indoors and playing games all the time will only worsen your social skills . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“I’ve enabled the chat function in-game and I talk to other players, I’ll have you know! We use mics to talk to each other and stuff!” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Although, half of what he heard so far happened to be mostly unprintable profanities .

He heard so much profanities by now that his ears had reached the realm of applying the automatic swear filter without him needing to do anything .

“I’m hungry . Buy me a snack . ” (Kim Dah-Som)

“Urgh . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out a groan after seeing Kim Dah-Som cling onto his shoulders .

Since he got off work under the pretext of Kim Dah-Hyun doing his share of the work, at the very least he needed to go on this ‘date’ along with her until the office hours came to an end . That would be the ‘moral’ thing to do, after all .

‘This is one hundred times better than wasting time doing nothing on that demolition site, though . ’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Although Choi Jeong-Hoon went crazy while saying “No, you caaaan’t!!!” right till the end, Yi Ji-Hyuk did manage to get out of that place, while almost literally chucking that man out of his way in the process .

But a new problem had risen, and that was…

“Hey! You better let go! Why are you clinging onto someone else’s arm like that?!” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“What do you mean, someone else’s arm? It’s not your arm, unni, so it’s all fine, isn’t it?” (Kim Dah-Som)

“Sure, it’s not my arm, but it ain’t yours, either . Let him go, now!” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“But, I don’t want to?” Kim Dah-Som)

…A third wheel somehow managed to attach herself .

Yi Ji-Hyuk groaned grandly at the sight of Kim Dah-Som and Jeong Hae-Min starting to bicker again .

‘Hey, kids? May I remind you that the world is about to come to an end?’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He just couldn’t figure out the people of this world .

Back in Berafe, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s sudden re-emergence caused a world-wide emergency and every living person, be that a child or woman, pounced on him like crazy with a singular hope of stopping his relentless march .

From his perspective, such a thing was truly astonishing and flabbergasting, but they seemed to be under the impression that stopping him was the only way for their future to continue and without a shred of hesitation, stood in his way to throw their lives away .

Back then, he viewed their actions as moths rushing to a flame only to meet their doom, but now that he got to witness a completely contrasting scene here on Earth, he found himself rather frustrated by it as well .

“…Aren’t you even remotely worried?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“About what?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“I’m talking about the demon king army invading the world right now . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Well, yeah . I’m worried . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)

Jeong Hae-Min replied with a smirk .

“But what will change even if I worry about it? If something did change by me worrying and stomping my feet all day, then I’d have strapped on the pedometre and started running already . But that’s not how it works, right?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Mm…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“We don’t even know what’s gonna happen so what can we do? If it’s a nuclear strike, we can duck into an evacuation shelter, and if it’s a war, we might pick up a gun and fight back, but we’re supposed to prepare for the demon kings who might or might not invade us soon? In that case, it doesn’t matter whether we anxiously shiver away in fear or act like how we always have so far but still prepare ourselves, right?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

Although what she said wasn’t wrong…

Her words being agreeable no matter who heard it was causing that ugly problem to rear its head .

“That’s why we should keep living as if everything’s normal . Besides, I heard that there’s a problem with the power stations and we’re going to run out of electricity soon . There’s a good chance that we won’t even get to enjoy these normal things in the near future, so might as well get the most out of them while we can . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Mmmm…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk suddenly came to understand the old saying that you couldn’t win in an argument against women .

“Okay, so what are we going to eat?” (Kim Dah-Som)

“Urgh…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk had experienced an absolute peak of carefree, easygoing life based on nigh-infinite time as well as his forever-regenerating body, yet even then, he couldn’t win against this duo .

‘Then again, I’m not any different, aren’t I . ’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He didn’t really feel all that motivated to do anything, and he also didn’t have much to do until Alpha was done with his so-called preparations .

Excluding those countries at the forefront of the ongoing conflict against the demon kings such as America, China and Europe, the rest of humanity was in a similar situation as Yi Ji-Hyuk – busy sucking on their thumbs and waiting for something .

All of them felt the similar sentiment of wanting to provide as much assistance as possible and prevent the ripples from reaching their own nations, but that ‘assistance’ not being all that helpful remained as an unfortunate fact .

Even if soldiers were sent there, they would get wiped out in an instant, and the ability users were proving to be too powerless against the demon kings and the demon king armies .

Everyone knew that providing assistance practically equalled providing more cannon fodder so it was only natural that what little assistance offered in the first place remained as nothing more than some lip-service .

“You know, there’s something I wanna ask you . ” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Ask me what?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Jeong Hae-Min’s question caused Yi Ji-Hyuk’s head to tilt a little .

“Honestly, is this all we can do? The only reason why we aren’t doing anything is because, objectively speaking, we don’t have any way to defeat the demon kings . Am I wrong?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Mm…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“I mean, if we knew how to defeat a demon king, we wouldn’t be this uninvolved, right? We would probably be doing our best to drive those demon kings out of here, somehow . And currently at least, you are the only one who knows how to defeat them, isn’t it?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Well, the method itself is pretty simple, actually . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk replied disinterestedly .

“They aren’t some immaterial things like radiation or poison but actual, living creatures, so the method isn’t that complicated, you know? You just have to stomp them to death with even greater power, that’s all . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“We’re like this because that’s impossible, you know?!” (Jeong Hae-Min)

Jeong Hae-Min yelled loudly at him .

“If we were capable of using stronger force than they did, then why would we be worried in the first place? Demon kings being stronger than us is pretty obvious, so where would we go and find an even stronger power than them?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“There is, though . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Ng?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Not every demon king is as strong as you think . I mean, plenty of them aren’t even tough as the dirt trapped in my toenail back in my prime, you know?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“…How does that help us?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

Especially so when humanity currently was weaker than the dirt trapped in the toenail of the dirt trapped in his toenail…

“As far as the destructive powers are concerned, mankind has exceeded demon kings already . No matter how strong a single demon king is, you think one attack from it can display the destructive power greater than a nuke? If that was the case, our planet would’ve been destroyed a long time ago . In terms of pure firepower, no other dimension out there will exceed Earth . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Then why can’t we defeat demon kings?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“Because, they don’t want to get hit, that’s why . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk replied with a disinterested pout .

“Sure, we might possess nuclear punches, but there’s no meaning if those punches are too slow and can’t hit their targets . That’s the issue with humanity right now . We might have the firepower, but we don’t have a way to accurately hit the demon kings . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Does that mean it’ll work as long as we hit them?” (Jeong Hae-Min)

“There’s the other issue with breaking through their magical defence, but well, it’d be pretty hard to withstand such a high-energy reaction with your body no matter how many magic shields you cast on yourself . So yeah, they will end up getting hurt . Not just a little bit but really badly, too . If humanity utilises their nuclear arsenal cleverly, then it’s not like we don’t have any chances of survival whatsoever, but…” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

It happened right then .

Waaaaaaaaail!!!

Sirens suddenly went off in all directions and the evacuation signal was blared out from the loudspeakers .

“Looks like it’s about to begin . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk tutted loudly and continued on .

“Wasting such precious weapons in this manner is akin to chucking your slim hope outta window, though . ” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk looked over to the west with a criticising expression on his face . Jeong Hae-Min and Kim Dah-Som could only open their eyes wider in puzzlement, since they didn’t know what’s going on .

< 423 . I shall go and speak to Yi Ji-Hyuk -3 > Fin .