The Returner

Michael's eyes begin to shake sharply.

Lee Hyuk laughed as he watched Michael's reaction.

“Why? Didn't you get frustrated? You didn't think you could be strong this way. You thought it was a waste of time. Aren't you?”

“ ……. ”

After hearing Jung-hoon Choi's words for real-time interpretation, Michael appeared to have been bludgeoned.

"Well, there's this guy, isn't there? ’

Usually, I would not speak out in front of this crowd even if I knew it. However, Lee Hyuk was speaking openly as if everyone would listen.

“What do you think? ”

“About what? ”

“Will you be strong by continuing this training? ”

Michael bites his lip tightly.

This Lee Hyuk was an unpredictable human being. I am careful what I say in front of such a human.

‘This is not a place of law. ’

Even if Lee Hyuk blew his head off because he was extremely unhappy with the answer, there was no person or organization who could convict him. Even those who are watching the current situation here will just close their eyes and be silent.

It was never easy to show your will in front of someone with such absolute power. Even if it's the right thing to say, depending on the power of the people, it could cost them their lives.

There was something boiling in his heart as he was pondering what kind of answer to be given.

“I don't know the correct answer……. ”

Michael stiffens his face.

“If you want my opinion, I'll tell you it's impossible. ”

“Hoho?”

Lee Hyuk's smile darkened.

“Why?”

“It's not working. ”

Michael turns his head as if to look at the evidence and stares at Alpha's fallen men.

“If these people are trying this hard and you don't see the possibility, you can't do it this way. I don't know if it's going to work the other way around, but it's never going to work this way. ”

Lee Hyuk nodded quietly.

“It's a similar idea. It's possible, but it's going to take too long. ”

After Lee Hyuk softly agreed, Michael looked curious.

What's he trying to say now?

“So I'm saying, I think we need to make a breakthrough. I can't eat or die like this. So... ”

Lee Hyuk smiled.

“I said, could you risk your life to become stronger? If there was a way to be stronger, stronger and more likely, if only we could survive instead of waiting for death... Would you choose that? ”

“ ……. ”

Michael couldn't answer right away.

Lee Hyuk was forcing him to choose. But no one can make that choice right away.

“… I think it's pointless. ”

“Why?”

“My opinions don't represent everyone else's. ”

Lee Hyuk smiled.

“One good thing about running away. ”

Michael's face is gloomy with a clear scorn.

“What I'm asking is your opinion, not someone else's. Then why bring someone else in? Do people have to decide if they can risk their own lives? That's a sad story. ”

Seeing Lee Hyuk grinning, Michael trembled.

But what can he say?

Lee Hyuk turned his head.

The sober ones and meditators were all staring at him.

“Some of them may know what they're talking about. ”

While Jung-hoon really had to translate this, Lee said without delay when he thought about one thing.

“You decide. I don't know. It's up to you to decide what to do. By this time tomorrow. I'll leave the door open.”

Lee Hyuk pointed to the distant gate.

“Whoever's going, go. ”

People's gaze turned to the front door.

“I won't stop you. ”

Lee Hyuk got up from his seat and walked to his place. Those who remained in the square gazed silently at the back of Lee Ji-hyuk.

“You're hot.”

“ ……. ”

Lee Hyuk was able to see Alpha's smiling face and see why the assault occurred in the world.

"Why are you bothering me? ’

It's been a long time since I've had an annoying experience just looking at someone else's face. In the past, he only allowed him to experience things like this in the days when he was in a bad relationship with the extremes.

However, it was great that Alpha, who didn't hold a lot of grudges, could elicit this reaction from Lee Yi Hyuk.

Alpha placed the Americano in one hand in front of Lee Hyuk and sat across the street.

Lee Hyuk sighed low and took a sip of the Americano given to him by Alpha.

I felt a little calm when the fragrance of fighting coffee wrapped around the tip of my nose.

“Filtering weights is a great choice. ”

“Does this include your men? ”

“Oh, no. None of us are running away. Everyone knows there's no future if you run away. ”

“You don't think you'll kill yourself if you run away? ”

“Oops, oops. I'm a pacifist. I'm not that easy to kill. ”

I saw an Alpha giggling and smiling, and I sighed.

He was joking about how ruthless an Alpha is when he says he doesn't kill people. Usually when a person makes a joke like that, it becomes the truth, not a joke.

“By the way, ”

Alpha looked at Lee Hyuk quietly and opened his mouth.

“I don't know why it's so aesthetic. ”

“Huh?"

“Lee Hyuk, Lee Hyuk. ”

“Hmm.”

I know what the Alpha means. Lee Hyuk agrees that what he's doing right now is very lukewarm.

“Lee Hyuk, who I know, was not like this. ”

“Do you know? ”

“Yes. I've been watching for a long time. I haven't opened my eyes for a moment since I first met Lee Hyuk. ”

“ ……. ”

“Lee Hyuk, who I know, is insensitive to sacrifice. And for the purpose, we didn't block the means. But I feel like I'm watching Mahatma Gandhi, not Lee Ji-hyuk. ”

“... It sounds like the Destroyer." ”

“I'm not kidding. ”

Alpha said with an unfamiliar face.

“I don't understand when you became such a humanitarian. Are you going to save everyone in the world? Without sacrifice? ”

Lee Hyuk silently listened to Alpha with a grumpy expression.

“That's not courage, that's all there is. No, actually, it's stupid. There's no such thing as wasting your energy on something that's not possible. ”

“I know.”

“But I don't know why you're doing this. ”

Alpha said with a cold face.

“I respect Lee Hyuk because Lee Hyuk is the key. In order to overcome this situation, Lee Hyuk needs to take the lead. For that, I'm willing to lick Lee Hyuk's shoes. It's just... ”

“ ……. ”

“Lee Hyuk is not a leader right now. ”

Alpha's words were firm.

“Even if you chose to reduce sacrifice, if you had a clear vision, you wouldn't say something like this. Lee Hyuk, who I knew, was a person who could do whatever he wanted to do. Surround yourself or beat the shit out of you! ”

Alpha's voice is getting louder.

“But what are you now? Like the person holding on to a game that's already over, the blurry feeling of" Humanity will perish anyway, but let's just do something about it. "”

Lee Hyuk secretly looked at the alpha.

Although it was very arrogant, it was undeniable that it was piercing the heart of Lee Hyuk.

“It doesn't work that way. You don't know what happens when you put all your strength into it. ”

“I know.”

“You know?”

Alpha, who was about to say something more, shut up and looked at Lee Hyuk quietly.

“So shut up. ”

Lee Hyuk leaned against the chair and asked him a cigarette. Lee Hyuk, who lit a cigarette, took his hand over the Americano of Alpha.

With a car.

Excellent ice fell from Lee Hyuk's hand and filled the cup of Alpha.

“Have a cold drink and calm down. ”

“Lee Ji-hyuk. ”

“I'm just saying that if you start installing more there, I might blow you up. ”

“ ……. ”

The Alpha has now lifted and inhaled the Americano that has become ice.

“I have nothing to say to you, even if you curse me. ”

Lee Hyuk sighed.

It's true that he was pessimistic about the situation, as Alpha said. Then I feel like I haven't felt confident in the last month or so.

"Was I this quiet and depressing? ’

It may have been because the Alpha took over, but it was also because Lee Hyuk drowned a lot on his own.

‘There is no hope...' ’

Do you really think that's what he was thinking?

No matter what Lee Hyuk did, it was difficult to prevent the invasion of the horse system. If there's a way...

‘No, I don't. ’

Lee Hyuk shakes his head.

There is no other way. The only way he can choose is to raise some of the people here as horsemen, as the Alpha has said.

At any cost.

“I'm sure that's true. I don't know when I became a humanitarian. ”

“I'm glad you know that now. ”

“Let's change the way we do it. ”

“Then I'll hold off all the people trying to escape. ”

“No.”

Lee Hyuk shakes his head.

“But leave it alone. If he thinks we have to give up and pull out of here anyway, he's not gonna make it. ”

“Hmm.”

I could see that Alpha didn't like it, but it seemed to respect Lee Hyuk's words.

“More than that……. ”

“Yes.”

Lee Hyuk glanced at the Alpha and opened his mouth.

“What do you really want? ”

The Alpha smiles awkwardly.

“What do you want? It's the survival of humanity.”

“Keep your mouth shut. ”

Alpha shrugged at Lee Hyuk's words.

“If you don't believe me, I can't help it. It doesn't really matter what I'm after. It's important that Lee Hyuk and I are on the same page. ”

“You speak well. ”

“That's the thing, that's the thing. ”

Alpha grins.

“The important thing is to survive now. You can talk about the future later. ”

Lee Hyuk secretly looked at the Alpha and said as if he was whispering.

“Do you think you'll still be alive after this? ”

“Anyone can hold on to hope. ”

Their eyes were sharply intertwined in the air.