Chapter 15: Returnee Yua
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 15: Returnee Yua
7
[ The fluff balls explode. ]
After parting with Ahyu, Kkotbi and I continued to ascend the building.
As expected of a returnee, the dimensional entities stood no chance against Kkotbi’s power as a Word Spirit Art user.
With every shout from her, a dimensional entity would burst apart. To a civilian, she might have seemed even more terrifying than Ahyu’s true form, the Heavenly Demon.
If Kkotbi grabbed a microphone in front of a crowd and just said the word ‘explode’…
It would never happen, but the thought alone was enough to make me shake my head.
The mere imagination was horrifying.
“We finally made it to the top floor.”
As Kkotbi spoke while leading the way up the stairs, I glanced around.
Looking through a broken window, it seemed we had indeed reached the 10th floor of the building.
“The dimensional gate must be at the very top.”
“Alright. Let’s finish this quick and get out of here.”
Though, the fact that Ahyu was taking a little longer than expected did bother me.
“Come to think of it, Domi-oppa, you must have studied a lot about hunters.”
“Well, it was my major.”
The dimensional gate that opened this time was from Otherworld · 31.
The fluff balls we kept encountering were called Lethe.
Despite their cute appearance, they were extremely dangerous creatures that would insert their tongues through a victim’s anus or mouth to devour their internal organs.
Their weakness was that, compared to their thick outer hide, their insides were fragile, making them vulnerable to those with psychic powers, magic, or unique martial arts like internal energy strikes.
“Not that it’s much help to you, Kkotbi.”
For Kkotbi, who could solve everything with her Word Spirit Art anyway, they weren’t a difficult opponent.
“Hehe, that’s not true. There’s a big difference between knowing your enemy and fighting blind.”
“I only know about the older dimensional entities. I don’t know much about the recent ones.”
It had already been five years since I’d quit being a hunter.
Now that I had recently started a new job, I was studying again, but the reality was that I was still far behind the active hunters.
I’ll just have to study as much as I can before Ji-eun makes her official debut as a hunter.
While lost in thought, we arrived in front of a room on the 10th floor.
It was a space that would have normally been an office, but now, all we could see was the building’s interior with its peeling paint.
“I’ll go in first. Domi-oppa, follow me carefully.”
I nodded, and Kkotbi opened the door.
The moment she did, a sharp, pungent scent hit me.
As I covered my nose and coughed, I suddenly realized that Kkotbi, who had been walking ahead, had frozen solid.
“Kkotbi?”
The moment I called her nickname, Kkotbi was staring straight ahead with a vacant expression.
Following her gaze, I saw a single, enormous eye.
Tentacles spread out messily, merging with the ceiling, making the eye one with it. It had no other body parts—it was only an eye. I recognized it as a dimensional entity from Otherworld · 31.
Lepranomicon.
Its main characteristic: immunity to all forms of mental attacks.
An anti-mental-type creature.
If Ji-eun had encountered this, it would have been the worst possible opponent for her.
Of course, aside from that, it was a simple-minded creature that only swung its tentacles around.
The dimensional gate is…
I turned my head, quickly scanning for the gate’s location.
Past the ceiling, on a half-broken desk far in the back, an open computer was emitting a faint light.
I wondered why a computer was glowing, but then I noticed that the monitor was displaying a picture of a door and tilted my head.
What is that?
“Kkotbi, something’s not right here.”
A normal dimensional gate should have shown a spatial distortion with the other dimension visible on the other side.
But all I could see now was a computer with a picture of a door on its screen.
I pulled on Kkotbi’s arm and realized her clothes were completely soaked.
Startled, I looked back at her. Kkotbi was trembling uncontrollably, drenched in a cold sweat.
“Kkotbi?”
“Ah, ah, ugh.”
Suddenly, Kkotbi let out a strange noise and collapsed to the floor.
Panicked, I tried to catch her, but a tentacle flew toward us. I quickly shielded Kkotbi with my body.
Shit, this is gonna fucking hurt.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact, but instead, I heard a slicing sound from behind me.
Startled, I turned my head to see Cheon Hong-ryeon, who had appeared out of nowhere, glaring at the Lepranomicon with her sword drawn.
“How dare you try to touch my man?”
I wasn’t sure why she was calling me her man, but I knew I was saved.
“Ahyu! Something’s wrong with Kkotbi! And I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about that computer!”
Mindful that Kkotbi was right there, I explained the situation. Cheon Hong-ryeon glanced our way and nodded.
“Take her and fall back for a moment.”
With that, camellia petals began to scatter around Cheon Hong-ryeon.
Deciding to leave it to her, I helped Kkotbi up and quickly exited the room, leaning her against the wall in the stairwell.
“Kkotbi! Snap out of it!”
“Ugh, heuk.”
Kkotbi’s eyes were squeezed shut as tears streamed down her face.
She was clenching her fists so tightly that blood was dripping from them, and blood was also seeping from her lips.
Alarmed, I forced her hands open and wiped away her tears.
Why was Kkotbi like this?
As I tried to recall what had happened, I realized this started right after she saw the Lepranomicon.
The Lepranomicon’s characteristic is immunity to mental attacks.
It wasn’t particularly strong in combat, nor was it a common entity, so that was the only thing recorded about it. But what if it had a special ability?
Could it be a mental invasion? No, but I’m perfectly fine.
As I racked my brain, I remembered that the Lepranomicon possessed the power of mental immunity.
Could it be…
What if that mental immunity didn’t just affect the creature itself, but everything around it?
Having reasoned that far, I looked at Kkotbi.
Her eyes were squeezed shut.
Her fists were clenched so tight she didn’t seem to notice the pain.
A cold sweat covered her entire body.
The symptoms were similar to those of someone under a mental attack.
The only silver lining was that she wasn't having a seizure.
No way.
I placed my hand on Kkotbi’s forehead.
Heat was pouring out of her, as if her body had been pushed to its absolute limit.
“…Kkotbi, you… you placed a suggestion on yourself, didn’t you?”
Kkotbi was a Word Spirit Art user.
Her words affected everyone who heard them.
That’s why, when I was with her, she had specifically mentioned the Lethe by name to hunt them.
She must have been considerate of me, in case I was caught in the aftershock of her power.
Furthermore, the Word Spirit Art also affects the user.
The somewhat artificial demeanor I had noticed from Kkotbi.
It was a trace of the suggestion she had placed on herself to endure something within her.
I did think she was a little too bright.
I never imagined she had placed a suggestion on herself.
I didn’t know anything about Kkotbi’s history as a returnee.
She had returned around the time I gave up on being a hunter, and she had debuted as an idol right after.
I knew nothing about her.
“Hoo, hooh, heuk.”
Just then, Kkotbi began to writhe.
“Kkotbi! Yua! Calm down!”
I grabbed her arms as she tried to claw at her own throat, but before being a Word Spirit Art user, she was a returnee.
She paid no mind to my strength and continued to try and tear at her neck, but I clung to her desperately, trying to stop her.
Damn it, she’s way too strong.
As I struggled, able to do nothing more than hang on for dear life, I heard footsteps from behind.
“…What were you doing while I was cleaning up your mess?”
Holding the now-closed computer in her hand, Cheon Hong-ryeon looked down at me with a somewhat furious expression.
Why is she angry?
I didn’t know what was going on, but I shouted at her anyway.
“Kkotbi’s trying to hurt herself! Ahyu, do something!”
“Hah, I’ll let it slide since you’re not in your right mind.”
Cheon Hong-ryeon said this and then lightly tapped Kkotbi’s forehead with her scabbard.
Instantly, Kkotbi, who had been trying to claw her own throat just moments before, began to calm down.
As I let out a sigh of relief, Cheon Hong-ryeon tucked the computer under her arm and spoke.
“Let’s head down for now. That annoying bitch has decided to come here.”
Annoying bitch?
As I tilted my head in confusion, we went downstairs, and I saw who she was talking about.
“That’s our company’s chairperson.”
“See? An annoying woman.”
Having reverted from Cheon Hong-ryeon back to Shin So-ra at some point, she pulled her hat down and clicked her tongue.
Baek Seol-hyang was there.
Just like when I saw her at the company, she had arrived by car. She waved at me and opened the car door.
“Get in with Yua. There are too many eyes here.”
Anticipating this, I had already put Kkotbi’s sunglasses and mask back on her. I helped her into the back seat.
As I got in after her, Baek Seol-hyang closed the door.
“Hey! What about me!”
“Find your own way.”
Why is the relationship between these two so bad?
I let out a hollow laugh as I watched Baek Seol-hyang coldly tell Ahyu to find her own way before stepping on the accelerator.
“What is your relationship with Ms. Yua?”
As she drove, Baek Seol-hyang asked me.
I made an ambiguous expression as I fastened the seatbelt for the unconscious Kkotbi.
How should I explain it?
“Kkotbi… no, Yua and I used to play an online game together. I only found out today that she was Blackstar Yua, though.”
“So it’s the same kind of relationship you have with the Heavenly Demon.”
I nodded at Baek Seol-hyang’s words.
Then, it occurred to me to wonder if I had ever told her that I met Ahyu through a game. I tilted my head.
I searched my memory but couldn’t recall.
Did I mention it in passing?
Or maybe Ahyu told her.
As I decided to just let it go, the car continued on, soon arriving at the World Returnee Association.
While she was parking, a large man came down from upstairs.
He bowed to me, then effortlessly lifted Kkotbi into his arms and rode the elevator up with us.
He then laid Kkotbi on a prepared bed and left the room.
“Um, that man just now was…”
“Yes, he’s also a returnee. He works for the Association.”
As expected of the World Returnee Association.
To think that every single person just passing by is a returnee.
Then again, I’m the strange one here, being a civilian.
Normally, this was a place that civilians couldn’t enter so easily.
“Uungh.”
Just then, Kkotbi let out a moan and curled up, as if having a nightmare.
I covered her with a blanket, then scratched my head and turned to Baek Seol-hyang.
“Um, Ms. Baek, I think Yua was…”
“Under self-suggestion, you mean.”
She knew?
She seemed to hold a fairly high position in the World Returnee Association, so I just nodded.
“I don’t know what the suggestion was, but the shock of it breaking seems to have been quite severe. I think that’s why she was trying to self-harm.”
For some reason, Yua hadn’t even been able to make a sound.
Perhaps, as a Word Spirit Art user, she instinctively knew that letting her voice out would cause danger.
Her throat had looked like it was in extreme distress.
“Ha-chan, I believe that almost every returnee is suffering from some kind of emotional distress.”
Baek Seol-hyang suddenly said this, speaking casually as if stating the obvious.
As I listened intently, she plopped down onto the sofa.
“After being caught in a sudden dimensional transfer and going through all sorts of hardships in another world, most returnees end up mentally broken.”
She then let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“Of course, the ones who are truly broken often don’t even make it back.”
I was well aware of that part.
Most returnees were in such a serious state that they required concurrent psychiatric treatment.
“That’s why you sometimes find them among returnees. People who place limiters on their own minds.”