The Returner

“Hey, Da Hyun. ”

“Yes, brother. ”

“You said it was worth fighting with Lee Hyuk the other day. You said you could take down all the NDF if you didn't have to do it alone. ”

“Me?”

“You did.”

Kim Da Hyun smiled.

“What are you talking about? I'm not suicidal. ”

“… Yeah, I guess I heard wrong. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu tightly squeezed his trembling right hand.

‘This is crazy, really. ’

That's not it.

So far, Lee Hyuk has been like Irregular people to them.

They played with giant monsters that they could never cope with like toys. He cannot compare, nor can he compare.

It was too far to target, and the gap was too large to learn. I thought I was just a person who exists next to me but lives in a different world.

But…….

‘That was also a mistake. ’

I heard Lee Hyuk's words many times. When you think of a time when you could use your strength, you can't even be trash right now.

I thought it was half true, half empty.

The Yi Hyuk they had seen was so strong that they couldn't even fathom it. It wasn't that I couldn't be stronger, but I couldn't believe that the dramatic difference would be strong enough, as he said.

However, Yoon Hyuk-gyu had to admit today.

The true power of Lee Hyuk was not what he had dared to imagine. I wonder why he's been dealing with them all this time.

Are you human? Really? ’

No matter how much magic I've learned and how long I've lived, how can I accept that the human body is using its power to make those Demon Kings look humble?

“… what did we look like to him? ”

“Ants?”

“If an ant gathers, there's only one person who can catch it. There are ants like that in the Amazon. ”

“Microbes? Aphids? ”

“... I'm strangely furious. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu sharpened her teeth.

“What the hell have we done? How pathetic do you think he felt when he saw us? ”

“Stop it, brother. ”

“It's true.”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu's voice was filled with tears.

“I rolled so hard, the result wasn't even close to his toes. What the hell have we done? ”

Kim Da Hyun sighed.

Yoon Hyuk-gyu said too much. But he too could not escape with the same thought. Every effort they made felt like all the pain they endured was being denied.

“That's not true. ”

At that moment, Yoon Hyuk-gyu and Kim Da-hyun turned their heads to the voice behind their backs.

“Appledrice? ”

The wind blows and the appendage stands there, waving its golden hair.

“… No. That's not what we meant, I'm not blaming Lee Hyuk.... ”

“Are you jealous of that power? ”

“Yes?”

Appeldrich asks with a expressionless face.

“I'm asking if you envy that power. ”

“ ……. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu nodded.

I couldn't deny it.

What they needed now was the power to overcome this infernal situation. Nothing that man has built has solved the current situation.

However, Lee Hyuk is alone in the face of this final war. I put all of humanity's hope on those shoulders. But why shouldn't I be jealous?

“Yes, I envy you. I'm sick of it. If I had that power, if I had the talent and the vessel to have that power... ”

“No.”

The appendage shakes its head firmly.

“Not what? ”

“In terms of talent and vessel, you're probably ten times better than Lee Ji-hyuk. ”

“Yes?”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu looked at Appeldrich as if he couldn't understand at all. So how do we get that power? No talent, no vessel.

“You know how Lee Hyuk taught you Mana, right? ”

“… I know. I'm sick and tired of it. ”

That way, Yoon Hyuk-gyu could only understand and operate Manara. I have to do it the hard way.

“That's how Lee Hyuk developed it. for use in their own bodies. ”

“To yourself? ”

“I couldn't feel Mana. ”

He said as if to mourn the appendage.

“Unlike you who have a sample called Lee Hyuk, Lee Hyuk fell to Beraf alone as a second person. Manga, who feels like people are breathing and who naturally handles it, feels like a strange sound to Lee Ji-hyuk. ”

“… of course. ”

“So it was the only way. You have to feel it with your body. So he chose a way to push Mana into the body. Taking the pain of hell. ”

“Is that how you got your hands on that power? ”

“No, I failed. ”

Appeldrich said calmly.

“If I had been so successful, I wouldn't have touched the power of black magic. Lee Hyuk repeated the experiment for over a hundred years and realized that there was no hope in that way. ”

“… how many years? ”

“A hundred years. There's no difference between the time here and the time there, so a hundred years should be right. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu shut up.

A hundred years, a hundred years...

How can man endure suffering for a hundred years for just one goal?

Failure also means I didn't even feel Mana, how I endured that terrible pain without feeling Mana.

How…….

“... with a robbery against us? ”

“It was more than that. because it was me who inspired him to do it. ”

“ ……. ”

“I couldn't understand it. because it looked to me like it was burning itself to understand fire. Understanding fire doesn't mean you can use it. But he also understood that, and he hung on. I thought I'd never come back to this world if I didn't get Mana. That's who he is. ”

“ ……. ”

“That power? ”

The face of the appendage is slightly distorted.

It was Yoon Hyuk-gyu who thought she had seen Apeldrich quite a bit, but I had never seen her frown before.

“That power is not allowed for humans. as well as non-human beings. That power is the realm of divinity. It's an area that you wouldn't dare touch without God. Have you ever wondered how much pain it would take for a physical being to reach that power, to use that power? ”

“Oh, no. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu shut up.

“I don't know if you'd understand the pain that tears your soul apart. That power... It's better not to have that kind of power. It's not the power a human being deserves. ”

It was self-evident.

There is always a reaction in the world. He who has power must pay for it.

Appeldrich looked at Lee Hyuk with sad eyes.

‘Why did God cause him so much pain? ’

In Beraf, Lee Hyuk was frustrated for thousands of years.

His life was not just a series of frustrations, more or less.

If he could die, he could be freed from his pain.

However, Lee Hyuk could not die.

I couldn't give up because I couldn't die. If you give up, he has nothing left. If his goal of returning here is no more, he should just live endless years with a non-aging brain.

Those who can understand themselves should just live in a place where there is no one else.

Who can understand him?

“But that was all to come back, right? ”

“To come back? ”

“… into this world. I think I would, too. ”

Appeldrich smiles.

Yoon Hyuk-gyu distorted her face because of the obvious laughter on her face.

“Do you know how many years Lee Hyuk spent there? ”

“That's right…. ”

“He spent less than 2,000 years in Beraf. But he spent more time on the horse system. And the person who's spent that time knows one thing. Do you know what that is? ”

“… I don't know. I've never done it before.”

“I don't think so.”

“Yes?”

The appendage mutters in silence.

“There won't be. There won't be anything left. The people I loved, the land I wanted to go back to, the time I wanted to live again, can no longer return beyond dimensions. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu's eyes shook.

“Ah……. ”

“If you had spent thousands of years in this world, would you think that returning to this world would leave the world as it is? Can you imagine what Earth would be like 2,000 years from now? ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu clenched his fist tightly.

This system has different time axes. However, the time axis was hardly more than 20 to 1. Even though Lee Hyuk has found the place with the biggest twist in the time axis to train them, that was the limit.

Beraf is particularly twisted.

“No matter how little you hold it, it takes a hundred years or more. If time had been reversed, Earth would have been tens of thousands of years ago. No matter how much I thought about it, there was no chance that this place was what Lee Hyuk thought it was. ”

Everyone nods.

“Got it? He's back where he belongs. Those who hated him tried to get in his way. And those who love him? I tried to get in the way worse. I didn't think such a futile death fit his end. But he came back to this world with everything around him he was desperate to do. He knew that. Even if he returned to this world, all he could enjoy was a lonely death where no one was around. ”

Appeldrich's eyes widen with grief.

“You said you could afford to come back to this world. Do you still think that? ”

“… No. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu shakes her head.

That would be unimaginable. The one who has nowhere to return has endured thousands of years of pain only to die.

That's a very sad story.

“I know how painful it must have been for you to have this power. But don't think for a second that he's got that power so easily. I've been watching you. It was better not to get it. ”

Yoon Hyuk-gyu who had grown old shut up.

Maybe that's why.

Aphedrice sighs as he grimaces at him.

“And Lee Hyuk wouldn't look down on you. ”

“Yes?”

As Aphedrice suddenly asked Yoon Hyuk-gyu, she turned her head to look at Lee Hyuk-gyu.

“He seemed happy. ”

“Are you having fun?”

Aphedrice nods quietly.

‘I've never shown you so much joy. ’

In Beraf.

Not once.