The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Hey, Your Boyfriend Was Insane (1)

A week had passed since the grand meeting with Go Donghyuk hyung.

The students, grumbling about the start of the semester, were gradually beginning to adapt to the new school year.

However, there was no time to rest since new subjects and new classes had been added.

From the second semester onward, the frequency of practical training was to increase.

"What's the interschool competition?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like. You get to face off against students from other middle schools."

Sung Chohyang-sunbae, who was sitting across from me at a park table, answered.

She had been discharged from the hospital long ago and had fully recovered to the point where she could continue her school life without issue.

She explained the interschool competition as if she had participated herself.

"Of course, it's not just a simple fight between students. There are troublemakers scattered all over the battlefield."

"Troublemakers?"

"I should explain the battlefield first..."

Sung Chohyang turned on her large tablet and pulled up a map of the Hande area.

She pointed to a forest located on the outskirts of Hande.

"Isn't that an off-limits area?"

"That's right. That's precisely where the interschool competition is held."

The forest looked to be at least twice as large as a regular stadium.

If the purpose was survival training, there seemed to be no better place.

"Each middle school will form teams of five. Teams can be formed freely among students."

"Is that really true?"

"That's why so many students wanted to team up with me."

It was surprising that teams were not randomized, but Sung Chohyang said one could also refuse a team request if they wanted to.

However, the opposing team would be assigned at random, not freely chosen.

"There are various event types. There's a survival match where you win by eliminating the entire opposing team, a domination match where you invade and capture the opponent's base, and a king match where knocking out the designated king decides victory or defeat. That's all of them."

"It sounds just like a game."

"Yeah, you can basically think of it as playing an FPS or AOS game."

These were the kinds of events possible only in fights between Hunters.

'Overwatch' and 'LoL,' which I used to play back in my school days, immediately came to mind.

"But as I said earlier, there are troublemakers out on the field."

"What are those?"

"Monsters."

As Sang-ah asked, Sung Chohyang fiddled with her tablet again and showed us her screen.

"These are the types of monsters that appear often."

The monster on the screen was a devil-bird, a monster in the form of a strange bird.

Of course, they didn't use actual monsters—they were only objects within the field, so to speak; well-made fakes.

"Even though they're small, you shouldn't let your guard down. I've seen plenty of strategies fall apart when these things suddenly get involved."

"So, we need to consider these monsters as possible variables."

"That's right. And they aren't the only ones. Sometimes more powerful monsters hiding in the forest show up."

Sung Chohyang displayed the devil-hawk and devil-kingbird, the evolved forms of the devil-bird.

At this point, these monsters would be too much for a student to handle alone.

Especially the devil-kingbird, which was considered an elite monster within a gate.

"Of course, these stronger monsters don't act on their own. That's how the objects were set up."

"Then why include them at all?"

Why put them in if they don't even attack?

When I asked like this, Sung Chohyang laughed and answered.

"If you kill one of these higher-level monsters, you get buffs!"

"Buffs?"

"In other words... Taking them down gets you closer to victory!"

Understanding what she meant, I let out an exclamation.

"They're like Baron Nashor, huh."

"That's right. Baron Nash— wait, what's that?"

Anyway, Sang-ah and I quickly understood what the interschool competition was about.

"But which school are we matched up with?"

"Middle School 3. I'm sure you've heard of it at least once."

That was the school Donghyuk hyung attended.

We'd formed a decent relationship, so it was a bit unfortunate I would have to face him as an opponent.

"Yeah... It's actually a really creepy place."

Sang-ah suddenly spoke with a sense of chill.

"They're always chanting slogans about 'Solo Heaven' all day long... It's a really weird place."

"Are you talking about Go Donghyuk? Don't worry. He's not a bad guy."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's crazy, but he's a really fun guy."

So, she's saying he's crazy but not a bad person?

It sounded a little contradictory, but he didn't seem like a bad person.

In fact, his mindset matched my own, so we got along well.

Couples are hell.

"Anyway, putting all that aside, there's someone you really need to watch out for. Emily Ruin."

"Ah... I know who that is!"

Sang-ah exclaimed in response.

She was the girlfriend of that Michael who had kidnapped Sung Chohyang and Park Sumin before.

Apparently, Michael had hired Hunters back then, all thanks to that woman's help.

"Wasn't she punished?"

"She slipped away like an eel. All the evidence that she was behind it disappeared."

She must have come from a pretty powerful family.

Destroying criminal evidence was next to impossible under normal circumstances.

"If you come across her, you'll need to be really careful. She was crazy about Michael."

Supposedly, she went beyond simply liking him to the level of pathological obsession. She was willing to sacrifice everything for her boyfriend.

"She'd extort money from classmates to buy presents for her boyfriend, and anyone who badmouthed him ended up in the hospital."

"That's scary..."

Sang-ah spoke with a pale face.

Her obsession went way too far.

If she liked him that much, shouldn't she have used her own money? Why extort money from her classmates?

Michael too—people really do flock together by type.

'No wonder I can't stand couples.'

Yes, Solo Heaven was the answer.

"You must've heard that Michael committed suicide some time ago."

"..."

"Then you can imagine what state the woman who was so obsessed over Michael must be in now."

The story that he'd bashed his head against the jail cell wall and killed himself was widely known.

The reason was none other than me.

He couldn't eat because he couldn't use his arms and he couldn't communicate because the only word he could say was 'damn.'

From his perspective, it was as if he'd lost all hope for life.

Of course, considering he'd ripped off Sung Chohyang's wings, it was his just deserts. Chapters fırst released on novel✶fire.net

Not to mention, he was a murderer.

"You're saying that even after all the crimes her boyfriend committed have been exposed, she's still clinging to his memory?"

That's why I just couldn't understand Emily.

Shouldn't she have cut ties with him the moment proof came out that her boyfriend was a criminal?

"Just make sure you don't ever meet her. Even if she has no clue who you are, nothing good can come from meeting her."

****

"Sang-ah, did you hear? Couples are such a dangerous species."

"Oh, come on. That's just your own selfishness speaking."

After finishing our conversation with Sung Chohyang, we set foot in Middle School 3 again.

As usual, it was to check if there was anything happening with Donghyuk hyung.

He was the child of church people from Mewzealand.

We needed to check in case there were any unusual circumstances.

"To be honest, I'm kind of scared to come here. Go Donghyuk-sunbae freaks me out."

"Why?"

"Are you really asking because you don't know?"

"Yeah."

"..."

Sang-ah started out shivering but soon lost her words.

I had no idea what Sang-ah's problem was. What is so wrong here? I'm perfectly normal.

"Seongjin, I'm sorry to say this, but..."

"...?"

"I really feel like I'm going crazy."

What's with her?

Making such a fuss over nothing.

"Seongjin, you go to three different churches... And honestly, you have a lot of weird quirks."

"As if you're 'normal', seeing how you went berserk the first time we met?"

"That's the point! At least I know what my own problems are... But you, Seongjin, are really strange."

"What? What do you even mean?"

As I sighed and asked, Sang-ah started thinking, squeezing her head as if wringing it out, then finally gave her answer.

"It's too complicated to explain in detail... But I'll just say this much."

"...?"

"Be careful, or you'll bring divine punishment on yourself."

"Divine punishment? Me?"

All I could do was laugh.

What kind of god would punish someone like me, who maintains faith in three different religions?

"Pu-hu-hup! Sure, I'll be careful."

"Don't laugh! I'm not joking!"

"Fine, just relax your face."

We passed through the school gates and headed inside.

The student council room was upstairs, so we walked up the stairs one step at a time.

Since it was after school, not many students were in the main building.

At most, ko Donghyuk would be the only one left in the student council room.

"Ahhhhh!"

We suddenly stopped on the third floor at the sound of a scream.

Looking down the third-floor hallway, we saw several students trampling one person on the ground.

"Why are you doing this all of a sudden! I did what you told me!"

The student being trampled yelled in protest, but nobody listened.

Behind the group of students stomping him sat a female student.

From the way she was sitting and laughing, she seemed to be the instigator.

Then it happened.

"Hey, what's your problem?"

One of the guys trampling the student noticed us.

Everyone seemed surprised, as if they hadn't expected anyone to appear after school.

"What's your problem, huh?"

He walked up to us in a thuggish way, practically threatening us with just his face.

"We're just students passing by. Is there a problem?"

"Ha... Listen to this guy's mouth."

He spat on the ground with a harsh "kahak!"

Thugs like that always acted out, trying to look dangerous.

If you ask me, it just makes them look pathetic.

"Judging by your faces, you're not our students. If you don't want to get eaten alive, get lost right now."

He glared at us fiercely, openly threatening like a tiger.

I found his attitude completely unlikable.

"And what about the way you talk?"

"What? Ha... Unbelievable."

He grabbed my shirt collar, making as if to hit me.

His expression showed he was frustrated he couldn't come up with a snappy comeback.

"Do you want to die?"

I stared into his twisted face.

Then, I used my mental pressure skill.

"Kuhek!"

The moment he met my eyes, he collapsed to the ground.

Rubbing his face against the floor, he suddenly began to vomit.

The power difference between us was so huge that he must have felt his brain being crushed.

"What, what the...?"

"What the hell is that guy?"

The rest of them stared at me.

Even the girl who had been sitting in her chair and enjoying the show now had a wary look on her face.

The blonde girl stared at my nametag.

"You... You're...!"

The moment she saw my name, her face twisted with rage.

"You're... Ma Seongjin?"

The girl came at me filled with venom.

Only after seeing her nametag did I realize who she was.

And it was a face I'd seen before.

"So, you're Emily?"

I remembered back to that time I'd bumped into Michael in front of an arcade while out for dinner.

We'd only passed by, so my memory was fuzzy.

"You remember meeting at the arcade before?"

"Ah..."

She let out a cry of realization, recalling as well.

"Hahahahaha!"

And then she burst out laughing maniacally, unleashing a torrent of hostility at me.

"It was definitely your father. That prosecutor bastard! Do you know what happened to my Michael because of him...?"

"What? Bastard?"

"Yes! That prosecutor bastard—if it wasn't for your father...! He never would've killed himself!"

Emily pleaded with passionate anger, sobbing over her lost lover.

As if we had framed an innocent person.

"Puhahahahaha!"

That's why I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.

There was no point in explaining what had really happened to the likes of her.

She'd only scream about how it was all our fault.

"Hey."

For people like that, this works best.

"Your boyfriend was insane, you know?"

I said with a bright smile, and blood vessels bulged in the whites of her eyes.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

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