The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

For My Boyfriend (3)

As the scarf was torn, the necklace hidden inside was revealed.

Seeing that, Seongjin let out a laugh and spoke.

"What is that?"

"Th-that..."

Emily's pupils trembled and even her speech became shaky.

It was a device that allowed her to control every object in the field at will, as well as having a function to turn off even the broadcast screen of the ongoing match.

Monsters and other objects were essential elements of the school competition.

They were devices meant to recreate the feel of a dungeon.

Controlling them was equivalent to cheating on a test or copying someone else's answers.

'What should I do?'

Emily increasingly felt isolated, and her heart pounded madly.

That bastard Ma Seongjin was openly suspicious of her.

She could tell just from the way he intentionally ripped the scarf.

Perhaps, he might've already concluded his suspicions.

At times like this, there was only one way to get away.

"This...? It's just a necklace."

"What...?"

"It's a necklace I got from my parents as a birthday gift last year."

"..."

Though it was actually a hacking device, on the outside it was perfectly disguised as a necklace.

Aside from a hint of a gold rim, nothing about it seemed special.

Who would suspect that such a small necklace was the device that controlled the Red Wyvern lying over there?

'Just what kind of group is this Holy Church or whatever, that could make something like this...'

Judging from how they remained in the shadows, they must not be an official guild.

Her curiosity about them only grew, but she needed to investigate later.

Right now, she had to handle the current situation somehow.

'But how am I supposed to smooth this over?'

When it actually came down to it, Emily had no idea what to do.

What she thought of as "handling" the situation was to beat up Ma Seongjin and shut him up.

But look at the Red Wyvern collapsed beside him.

If she carelessly attacked, she might end up like that too.

'But seriously, how the hell did he take down that thing by himself?!'

Just the five students gathered here might barely manage to defeat it.

And he did it alone?

Was he a monster?

'Shit, of all people...!'

She knew he was strong, but never imagined to this extent.

It made no sense at all.

In the end, she couldn't do anything to subdue him, and all Emily could do was struggle in vain.

"Is that really just an ordinary necklace?"

"What are you getting at with this necklace?"

"Then why did these guys come out of their nest and deliberately attack me?"

Unlike low-tier mobs flying back and forth across the field, Elite mobs almost never leave their nest.

Among the safety settings given to them is a rule that they won't attack unless someone approaches their nest.

"If these things had roamed around outside their nests like low-tier mobs, what do you think would've happened? Could the match have proceeded normally?"

Students would have no way to deal with elite mobs going wild.

That's why they're programmed not to roam across the field.

The hurdle is ridiculously high.

In the end, they're just devices meant to emphasize the environment inside the Gate.

Whether to take them down or not is up to the students.

"That's why the safety settings are there... but ignoring them, these things left their nest and attacked a student."

"That's probably because the organizers neglected their duties."

Emily tried to protest in any way she could.

But Ma Seongjin just smiled again.

"Organizers' mistake? Sure, let's say that's possible. Because of their mistake, something like this could have happened."

"Right? Then..."

"But you know, there's something strange."

For an organizers' mistake, things were suspicious.

Because the safety settings were disabled, the monsters left their nest.

Then wouldn't it be normal for them to just attack any students indiscriminately?

However...

"These things kept coming after only me."

"...."

Instead of running wild all over the field, the monsters targeted only him.

Not just the low-tier mobs, but also all three Red Wyverns at once.

As if they'd made an agreement.

"Do you think that makes sense?"

"Th..."

There were too many suspicious points to just let go.

Emily could only feel increasingly stifled and intimidated.

Convinced she couldn't leave things like this, she threw the necklace to the ground.

And then—

Crack-!

She stomped on the necklace with her foot, smashing it.

Then she spoke with a maniacal laugh.

"Hahaha... Do you have any proof that I controlled the objects?"

"...."

"I SAID, dO YOU HAVE PROOF, yOU BASTARD!!"

She even destroyed the evidence herself, trying to cover things up.

For now, she thought she'd put out the immediate fire.

But strangely, Ma Seongjin never lost his smile.

— Everything up to now has been recorded.

Just then, a voice from somewhere made Emily turn her head.

Standing there was a guard robot that must have arrived at some point.

Emily's face froze on seeing it.

"That's definitely..."

It was said to be a robot newly developed with a security system by Hand.

Only a few units had been sent out into the city as part of the test phase.

How did a robot like that end up here?

"Sorry, but I heard about your plan from someone else."

"Someone else?"

How could he possibly know?

Just as Emily was questioning that, the group members behind her started moving.

They took a step forward, coming to stand by Ma Seongjin's side.

"Don't tell me... it was you guys...?"

"We didn't go to this guy first. The one who heard our story first was the student council president."

They had endured Emily's violence all for the goal of entering the Golden Gate.

Above all, they'd feared retribution if they tattled to the teachers.

Then, a few weeks ago, Emily had shown them the necklace and explained her plan.

She said she was going to kill Ma Seongjin. She demanded their cooperation.

Her look had been full of murderous intent and madness.

She had truly been about to kill someone.

"You... you tattled just over something like that?"

"Sure, we wanted to enter the Golden Gate too, but not like this."

They'd been about to be dragged too far past the line.

She had even tried to implicate them as accomplices.

Unable to take it, they had gone to the teachers and begged.

Of course, it was all kept secret so Emily wouldn't know, and the story was passed discreetly through Jo Yun the staff member, then relayed to Go Donghyuk.

And through Go Donghyuk, it was also conveyed to Ma Seongjin.

"Thanks to the courage these friends showed, the story reached my ears too. Well done."

As Ma Seongjin patted her group member's shoulder, the group member suddenly spoke stiffly.

"I'm a second year."

"..."

Ah, he'd used informal speech by mistake.

In any case, upon hearing their sad story, Ma Seongjin couldn't stand by.

Elite mobs were easy enough to take down, but what mattered most was securing evidence to arrest Emily.

A perfect candidate for that suddenly came to mind.

— Emily Ruin, student. What is this necklace?

The guard robot looked at the necklace lying on the ground and spoke.

There weren't many of them out there, so they weren't usually at leisure.

Ordinarily, it wouldn't grant a normal student's request.

What allowed it to be called here was Jo Yun's authority as a researcher.

— Scan results: confirmed as a special, unauthorized, custom hacking device.

"... Gasp!

― Its functions appear to allow for arbitrary control of objects.

She had used it to control all monsters including the Red Wyverns.

Having realized that, the robot's eyes glowed red as it stared at Emily.

— Please explain what's going on.

With the robot glaring at her menacingly, Emily was terrified.

Her fear soon turned to rage.

"You traitors...!"

She looked at her group members as if she'd lost everything in the world.

"How could you betray me?! After all I've done for you!"

At those words, the group members' faces turned pale.

"All you've done for us?"

It was an absurd claim.

"You treated us like dogs, beat us for the smallest thing, even made us lick your shoes! What exactly did you do for us?!"

She had made them her slaves under the pretext of winning the interschool competition.

They had gone along only to get into the Golden Gate, but the talk of treating them well was absolute nonsense.

Their anger was more than justified.

And then—

"What's so unfair about any of that?"

"What?"

"With your level, I was more than generous. Why are you expecting more?"

"...."

A hush fell at her shocking words.

The group's faces were twisted in horror, and Ma Seongjin just stuck his tongue out in disbelief.

The look in her eyes showed she didn't see people as people—but Ma Seongjin was all too familiar with that face.

'Does she see her underlings as livestock?'

It was eerily similar to the people from that world who'd tormented him for fifty years.

They too had used people as slaves and mouthed similar lines.

'Shouldn't you be grateful just for being allowed to live?' Fresh chapters posted on N()velFire.net

Of course, everyone who said that had their heads taken off.

The same would soon happen to this Emily.

— All charges have been proven.

"... Hik!

― Emily Ruin, you are under arrest for cheating and attempted murder in the match.

The robot approached Emily, exuding a forceful aura.

She had no way to handle that robot with her own strength.

Was this really the end?

Was she going to be taken away without ever avenging Michael?

'But why should I be arrested?'

It was unfair.

She had done more than enough for her underlings.

Getting arrested like this was simply wrong.

"Why should I be arrested?!"

She picked up the necklace from the ground and put it around her neck again.

Then, she controlled the Red Wyvern that still remained, making it rise.

— Kyaaaaaa!

It was lucky that one elite mob hadn't yet disappeared.

The Red Wyvern, under her control, lashed out with its wings and tail.

Ma Seongjin managed to dodge by ducking his head quickly, but the others weren't so lucky.

"Uwaaaagh!"

The wind from the wyvern's wings sent her group members flying, leaving them unconscious, and the robot, hit by the tail, soared away like a baseball struck by a bat.

— Aaaaah...

It was like a home run.

The robot flew through the air, letting out an emotionless scream.

"Now that it's come to this... I won't just be captured."

Emily controlled the Red Wyvern again.

With a menacing glare, the Red Wyvern aimed at Ma Seongjin.

"For the sake of poor Michael... at least you!"

Once more, the wyvern's tail lashed out.

The sharply tipped tail could serve as a spear.

Squelch-!

"Huh?"

The wyvern's tail pierced Emily's abdomen.

Her group members were horrified by the unexpected event.

"Why...?"

Emily coughed blood in panic.

How strange—it was supposed to be aimed at Ma Seongjin.

But whether it made sense or not, the reason was obvious.

"Why else do you think? Who was it that smashed the necklace a while ago?"

"Ah...!"

She had stomped on the necklace trying to destroy the evidence.

It broke, which was why the wyvern wouldn't obey her.

"She broke it herself and then forgot?"

"Guh... ugh...!"

Emily, now full of blood, moved her lips as if she couldn't accept it.

It was almost laughable.

Did she have an eraser for a brain?

"But you're still alive. Is it because of your trait, maybe?"

Her vitality was astonishing.

Go Donghyuk had told him one of her three traits was 'Iron Endurance.'

As the name suggested, it meant tough resilience and rapid recovery.

Thanks to that, even after being stabbed, she didn't die.

"Well, it actually worked out better like this."

If she'd died instantly, it would have been anticlimactic.

Now, with no one else around, Ma Seongjin slowly approached her, smiling.

"Ma... Seongjin..."

"...."

"Give... Michael... back..."

Even now, Emily was fixated on the same idea.

Ma Seongjin scoffed as he replied.

"Do you miss your boyfriend that much?"

"Hic...!"

"Fine, I'll let you meet him."

Ma Seongjin stared straight into her eyes.

As they made eye contact, Emily coughed up blood and felt an inexplicable horror.

Soon, she was standing in a space she didn't recognize.

'Where am I?'

A white space with nothing in it.

Emily looked around, confused by the sudden shift.

— Emily!

At the sound of a voice, she turned her head.

There stood the Michael she had so loved.

"Michael! I missed you so much!"

With no doubt, Emily rushed to Michael.

Reunited with a lover she thought she'd never meet again, her mind went blank.

Squelch-!

At the same time, pain stabbed into her abdomen.

"Keuk!"

[Kekekeke!]

It was Michael, sword in hand, stabbing Emily in the belly.

He laughed wickedly as he skewered her.

"Michael...?"

[Why did I ever like a bitch like you?]

"What?"

[You're boring now. Just die.]

And then, other women began to appear around Michael.

Wrapping themselves around his arms, the women jeered at Emily.

"Mi... chael..."

She couldn't move her body.

Blood gushed from her abdomen and mouth.

It was a nightmare.

She felt no will to live anymore.

She remained trapped in her nightmare forever.

She couldn't even choose how to die.

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

She got what she deserves.

I got no pity for her whatsoever...

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】