The Returner

“Did you say there’s a demon king riding on the nuke?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Not its main body, but it must’ve used the monster bird’s body as a medium to send a clone here.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...I’d be grateful if you explain in a way that makes sense to me.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It’s an alt.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk) [1]

“Ah, I see.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

That exceedingly uncommon ‘simple and succinct’ explanation from Yi Ji-Hyuk caused a satisfied smile to float up on Choi Jeong-Hoon’s face.

Ah, hang on a second, that’s not satisfactory at all! (Choi Jeong-Hoon’s inner monologue)

“In that case, how much of its original powers can a demon king’s clone use?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“If it’s forcing itself pretty hard, then I think maybe half of its powers?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Half? Surely we can do something about that much?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“I don’t see anyone even remotely capable of dealing with a demon king’s 10% among us, so what are you even talking about? It’s nice to be positive and all that, but there should be a limit to your positivity, man.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...It’s good to be positive, you know.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“You sound like a happiness evangelist or something.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk frowned and looked back at the sky.

“Is this supposed to be a demon king express or something? How so bloody thoughtful, meticulously delivering each and every nuke to their destinations.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...Although I’m very much a fan of responsible couriers, this is a bit...” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon definitely didn’t want to receive such a delivery, that’s for sure.

He gritted his teeth and asked.

“What will we do now?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Mm...” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“We do have a way, don’t we?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Yi Ji-Hyuk also looked rather concerned right now.

If only he could still use dark Mana, he would’ve easily blown away a clone of a demon king with a flick of his finger. It wasn’t even an actual demon king, after all.

But that was asking for too much of him right now. Even the archmages, arguably the pinnacle of human existences, were nothing more than little kids in front of demon kings.

Yi Ji-Hyuk’s breadth and scope of knowledge on magic far surpassed any archmage, however. The old saying went somewhat like this – that time was the great equaliser, that age can’t be beat. The time period any archmage could use to research and perfect their magic was only around hundred years or so at a stretch. But Yi Ji-Hyuk had lived ‘alongside’ magic for dozens of times longer than that.

It was only because he felt too unmotivated to do it, but now that he decided to step up, he could easily organise the knowledge of magic stored in his brain and start a brand-new school of magic if he wanted to.

Even then...

“What will happen if the strongest rabbit fights against a sick tiger?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...An instant meal?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“And that’s our problem right now.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk groaned under his breath.

“B-but, we aren’t only one rabbit, are we? We’re like, an army of rabbits...” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Wowsers, that’s one reassuring observation. And in the spirit of that astute observation, can you just scoot over there and wait, Mister Ant General?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Choi Jeong-Hoon was instantly rendered speechless and eventually trudged over to a corner. Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out a groan again and looked over to Alpha.

“Okay, then. Stop that thing.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“But... hang on for a second here.” (Alpha)

Alpha replied with a tone of voice that protested how unfair this was.

“No one told me that a demon king would be accompanying the rocket?” (Alpha)

“I also didn’t know.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...Well, it’s not like I’m trying to find every single little fault, but in all honesty, isn’t this a bit like a breach of contract?” (Alpha)

“So what?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Wow, would you listen to this guy’s reply? (Alpha’s inner monologue)

Alpha’s unhappiness threatened to shoot through the proverbial roof, but it wasn’t as if he had any other choice right now. If he went on a strike here, then never mind South Korea, he’d have to sit through the spectacle of the whole planet going kablooey.

Suddenly finding himself needing to protect this world from an almost out of control two-horse carriage called the demon king and Yi Ji-Hyuk, Alpha couldn’t stop groaning over and over again.

‘I prefer to be the bad guy, you know.’ (Alpha)

Of course, there was nothing wrong with the position of the apostle of justice, but there’s the thing about one’s natural preferences, so he couldn’t help but cringe at the thought of taking on the role of a good guy.

“So, what are we going to do, boss? This situation is turning in a weird direction, don’t you think?”

“Nah, it’s not weird. In fact, nothing’s changed. All we have to do is stop that thing.” (Alpha)

“Boss, even at a casual glance, we can tell that thing is not normal. Just what’s inside the missile anyway?”

“A nuke.” (Alpha)

“Eh?”

“A nuke. You know, a nuclear bomb.” (Alpha)

“Son of a...”

Only then did Alpha’s comrades realise that they had to somehow stop a nuke, and began shaking their heads in utter disbelief.

“Weeeell, the stuff our boss starts are all bat-sh*t insane anyway, so I guess we shouldn’t be too shocked here.”

“I finally figured out what was the worst decision I made in my life. Back then when boss talked me into joining the cause, I should’ve just reported his a*s to the FBI.”

Alpha’s comrades grumbled and complained unhappily but still got into position.

“...Why do I get the feeling that I’ve seen that scene from somewhere before?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

The more one looked at that scene, the closer it resembled a certain other scene. And it seemed to shed some light on why the NDF had ended up in its current state. Indeed, the organisation didn’t end up as a collection of crazies because crazies worked for it, but it was Yi Ji-Hyuk who turned them into crazies, instead.

“Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk!” (Alpha)

Alpha’s blazing eyes landed on Yi Ji-Hyuk next.

“There’s a demon king present. Can you really be able to defeat it after we succeed in stopping the missile somehow?” (Alpha)

“Not sure.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...Excuse me?” (Alpha)

“We still gotta try, anyway. It’s not like we should just give up and don’t even bother, right?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You’re right. So right that it sucks.” (Alpha)

Alpha chuckled bitterly then shifted his gaze back to the missile, now a little more clearer in his vision.

“But, uh, pre-emptive strike is a no, isn’t it?” (Alpha)

If he attacked a demon king directly, then that would be a clear violation of the cooperation pact. But, was it really a violation when he was attacking not even a demon king, not even its clone, but... a missile it was riding on?

‘It should be fine if I have a room to argue the technicalities.’ (Alpha) 𝐟re𝐞w𝐞𝒃𝓃𝒐𝐯𝚎𝒍.c૦𝚖

There was still a need for him to maintain a friendly relation with the demon kings. Without it, his life would be no more valuable than a fly to them.

Alpha licked his lips.

‘Yeah, I still need both camps.’ (Alpha)

He couldn’t give up on either Yi Ji-Hyuk or the demon kings. At the bare minimum, he needed to walk the tightrope hung between the two camps if he didn’t want to see this Earth get destroyed in an instant.

“We’ll try to stop it. It’s not going to be a problem, anyway. Get ready, everyone!” (Alpha)

“Okay!”

Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at the group quickly creating a formation around Alpha and nodded slowly.

‘If they can stop the missile, that’ll be good...’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

But if they couldn’t, then he’d have to precisely snipe the demon king’s clone perched on top of the missile itself.

What were his odds? Maybe 10%?

Yi Ji-Hyuk smirked to himself.

Seriously now, he felt like he really had become the apostle of justice lately.

All the monsters that showed up in the past were too weak and couldn’t even provide him with a nutritious meal so he didn’t feel nervous or felt threatened by them. He did feel some degree of danger when the demon kings started crossing over but even then, he couldn’t deny that a corner of his mind always was always like, “I’m sure it’ll work out somehow.”

But the story was different nowadays.

He was constantly thinking about how one wrong move could lead to the world suffering a complete destruction. Even at this very moment, humanity was continuously losing its territory.

And if Yi Ji-Hyuk failed to stop that missile today, then never mind some territory or whatever, the precarious balance between humanity and the demon king army would be shattered completely.

“Fire away!” (Alpha)

As soon as Alpha loudly roared out, the bodies of the ability users near him began emitting bright light.

Wuuu-wooong!!!

Half of the group raised their hands up high. At the same time, a rainbow of colours began dyeing the skies brilliantly.

Choi Jeong-Hoon watched the Ether shots flying towards the missile and cried out.

“You’re not attacking the warhead, are you?!” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Please calm down, they are merely trying to slow it down. Nobody here wishes to die after blowing the nuke up, you know!” (Alpha)

Alpha retorted snarkily.

‘...Well, this is a bit of a problem.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

It was at this point that Yi Ji-Hyuk newly discovered an issue with the ability users. A manifested ability differed from an individual to individual. Even if Spitfire and Seo Ah-Young belonged to the same fire-type ability group, their abilities were so different that they might as well be classified in different categories altogether.

Even if this group was trying to slow down the missile, the individual method of doing so was so different that it became harder to predict the overall result. There wasn’t much of a problem when the individuals were acting on their own, but when they had to work together to achieve a common goal like now, it became so much harder to quantify and unify the method of the attack. That was the biggest drawback.

Magicians that learned magic via the same system could unify their attacks simply by chanting the same spell. But such a thing was impossible with the ability users.

One only had to take a look now.

The lights of Ether flying towards the target looked similar to each other, but the effects they caused couldn’t have been more disparate even if they tried. Whitish light suddenly spread open like a spider’s web to ensnare the missile and acted like a gravitational force to push it back. Another one expanded like a balloon, while another one activated unseen sticky surface tension in the air to arrest the missile. f𝒓𝗲𝗲𝒘𝑒𝚋ｎoѵ𝒆𝗹.co𝗺

One of the abilities even interfered with time flow, too.

‘They have their pros and cons.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Although the abilities couldn’t be unified into one much larger, singular ability, which was a big con, there was also a positive in that as each attack was so varied and colourful, the other side should find it hard to deal with every single one of them.

But if someone asked Yi Ji-Hyuk which of the two between magic and abilities were more effective, then...

“Of course, magic.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He was a dyed-in-the-wool sorcerer to his core, so he couldn’t make an objective assessment.

“Is it slowing down?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon narrowed his eyes and asked.

The missile was so far away that he could only see it as a black dot so it was a bit hard to analyse the current situation.

“Can you tell if it’s slowing down at all?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Why didn’t you bring a speed gun to check for yourself? If you can tell while standing here, you sure you’re even a human being?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Choi Jeong-Hoon operated his smartwatch and had a short conversation with a voice coming from the device, then nodded his head rather energetically.

“It’s indeed slowing down. Its speed has dropped.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“By how much?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“They say it’s down to nine hundred from one thousand.” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at Alpha in a decidedly less-than-impressed glare.

“...But, it did slow down, didn’t it?” (Alpha)

“Changing wind direction alone would result in that much.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“W-we haven’t shown our full capabilities yet, you know!” (Alpha)

“This is a bit disappointing.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“H-how so?” (Alpha)

“You guys are the villains, right? I mean, here’s an evil organisation wanting to take over the world but if you guys are this weak, then there was no need for me to worry in the first place.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Euh, euh!!” (Alpha)

Alpha raised his voice louder as if his ego had been bruised just now.

“All of you, you heard him, right?” (Alpha)

Too bad for him, though, the replies from his group remained a bit... tilted.

“I don’t speak Korean.”

“I heard him, but dunno what he’s saying.”

“...............” (Alpha)

Should he work as an interpreter, then?

But, was there a need to go that far, anyway?

Alpha gritted his teeth and shouted out.

“Second line! Stop that thing, now!” (Alpha)

“Easier said than done, boss.”

Despite complaining away, the group still quickly made their move to answer Alpha’s orders.

Choi Jeong-Hoon watching this scene silently wiped away at the corner of his eyes.

Even though they are grumbling away, they still follow his orders to a T. Yet our own agents, our dear rotten agents don’t even answer me properly... (Choi Jeong-Hoon’s inner monologue)

The second line observing the situation got ready. They raised or extended their hands like the first group, then light began emitting from their bodies next. Some fired light projectiles, while some didn’t and simply demonstrated their powers immediately.

The missile had approached so much closer now and one could see its outline much more clearly. And it was faltering and wavering around. Choi Jeong-Hoon witnessed how it bucked erratically like a car moving at a high speed hitting the speed bumps, and clenched his fist tightly.

Every time it bucked, the missile’s speed slowed down enough to be noticeable by naked eye.

“Wouldn’t you say that this is enough?” (Alpha)

Alpha shouted out, and Yi Ji-Hyuk replied in a low, grave voice.

“Get ready, Alpha.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Roger that!” (Alpha)

“Stop it properly. If you don’t, your head will be the first to roll off.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Whistle~ now there’s a scary thought. Looks like I’ll have to give my all, then.” (Alpha)

Yi Ji-Hyuk glared at the missile with dark, unreadable eyes, before slowly raising both of his hands.

“This does feel strange.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk, a sorcerer who never really was one until recently, finally began circulating Mana like a real sorcerer. Mana circulating within his body collided with the dark Mana hidden in various parts of his body and stuttered somewhat, but he ignored that and simply forced them to move along.

As if he was a V12 running without any engine oil, his whole body began shuddering greatly. As if it’d explode at any given moment.

“Urgh.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Blood trickled down from the corner of his lips.

< 436. Wouldn’t you say that this is enough? -1 > Fin.

(TL: Just in case you’re not familiar with “alt” in [1], it’s a shorthand for “alternate character” usually associated with MMORPGs.)