The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Are You Completely Out of Your Mind?

A few days had passed since the opening ceremony.

It was a time when students were gradually adapting to the new semester.

But my attention was focused elsewhere.

"These are the materials I obtained this time."

An unused club room.

Karen called me here, saying she had something to share.

At the same time, Sang-ah, Ah-rin, and Eunseol were also gathered together.

She showed me a file she was holding.

Inside, several photos were lined up.

"What's this?"

"I received information that a large number of Sura guild members recently gathered in Korea. These are materials obtained from that site."

Currently, Karen had taken over the spot of a mercenary who was supposed to infiltrate under disguise.

If the Sura guild tried to contact that mercenary, it would be relayed straight to Karen.

After all, he was just a thug released from prison, looking to commit more crimes by joining the Sura guild.

"My phone received a group message summoning most Sura guild operatives residing in Korea. I covered my face as much as possible and snuck in."

All the places shown in the photos seemed like abandoned factories hidden deep in the mountains.

Most notably, they were all in what looked like underground locations.

Countless people were gathered in that gloomy place, and up on a high platform, a man stood giving a speech to them.

"Huh? That guy..."

At that moment, Ah-rin saw the man on the platform and widened her eyes.

"Do you know who it is?"

"Jin Rain. An S-rank hunter and top executive of the Sura guild. He's the guy who always used to guard me like a fortress."

"A top executive, huh..."

"Yeah. He knows my face."

One of the few people who knew Sura's true identity.

Just the fact that such a high-ranking executive was there had to put Karen under a lot of pressure.

With an S-rank as the opponent, it wasn't easy to cause a scene.

"There's no way he'd come to Korea without a special reason."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sang-ah asked, curious about the 'special reason' Ah-rin mentioned.

"His main job is security. That's why he usually followed me around everywhere."

"So what about now?"

"Normally, he should be guarding someone else. That's supposed to be his main job."

Just as Ah-rin was growing suspicious, another photo caught our eyes.

It was a picture of another man stepping onto the platform.

Seeing him, Ah-rin clicked her tongue in disbelief.

"Him, too...!"

"Who is it?"

"He's also a top executive of the Sura guild, just like Jin Rain. His rank is SS, and he's the strongest among the executives."

"SS-rank?"

Sang-ah couldn't help but be shocked.

SS-rank was the same level as her father, Kwon Yongha.

"He rarely ever shows himself, either."

"If someone like that is showing up, then..."

You could guess just how huge their plan was.

Then, as I looked at the next photo, I couldn't believe my eyes.

On the platform, with the two top executives standing there, light was shining.

The source of the light was a kind of magic array.

"This is..."

"I'm sure Demon King noticed it as well."

If that was what I thought it was, then the Sura guild truly had to be out of their minds.

I'd faced those things myself in Mewzealand.

"What... is this?"

The quietest one, Eunseol, cautiously asked.

We all felt a sense of discomfort at the bizarre, dark red glowing magic array.

"It's the Underworld Formation. It's a magic array that opens a passageway connecting underground to the Underworld."

"The underground Underworld?"

Karen and I explained to the others, who were clueless.

That place referred to another dimension, deep below Mewzealand.

It belonged to the afterlife, where the living should never go—a place crawling with countless monsters called 'phantom spirits.'

"Phantom spirits?"

"Their appearance and behavior aren't much different from the monsters that come out of gates. But..."

"But?"

"Don't take them lightly. Even my legion commanders almost died fighting them."

"They're that strong?"

They could probably guess how strong they were if I was calling them legion commanders.

Of course, not all phantom spirits were that powerful; only the 'master-class' higher-rank entities had that power.

"On top of that, I've fallen into that Underworld before. If a human goes in, they'll die in less than a second."

"How did you survive there, Seongjin?"

The first time I fell in there, it was a true shock.

It reminded me of my first transfer to Mewzealand.

But I survived in that place.

"Barely."

It's hard to explain in detail.

I couldn't even tell how much time I spent there.

"If the Underworld connects to Earth, those phantom spirits will flood over. In the worst case, the Underworld's environment itself could cross over."

"Can't we just destroy that magic array?"

Karen and I shook our heads at Sang-ah's question.

We already knew from experience what happened if you broke it carelessly.

"That's not an option. If you mess with it, the entire area becomes dangerous."

"What could happen?"

"A blast will wipe out everything within a 15-kilometer radius. If you make one wrong move, it explodes immediately."

The destruction doesn't end with just erasing the terrain.

The blast zone becomes an environment identical to the Underworld.

Basically, it turns into a hellish land where no one can survive.

"It's not even radiation..."

"How big is 15 kilometers, anyway?"

Ah-rin raised her hand with a question. The others looked just as lost.

Maybe they were too young to know? I gave a brief, easy explanation.

"It's enough to completely cover Hand—and then some. If that thing explodes, the city's gone."

"Ah..."

"Because of that risk, they can't use it lightly either. They'd get caught up in it themselves."

That's why Karen couldn't do anything about the Underworld Formation at the scene, even after seeing it.

If it's already completed, there are only two ways to get rid of it.

Either cause an explosion, or activate the passage to the Underworld.

In short, there's no way to stop it.

"Karen. Was that the only Underworld Formation?"

"Yes. That was all they had at the scene. And their purpose hasn't really changed."

Karen glanced at Ah-rin as she spoke.

That meant their purpose—to drive Sura to despair—hadn't changed much.

Looks like they planned to both destroy Hand and break Ah-rin's spirit with that magic array.

"Then, can you tell us where it is?"

"That's possible... but by now, they've likely moved the location."

"Do you know where they went?"

"I'm sorry. Not yet..."

It showed just how thoroughly prepared they were.

And we couldn't be sure there was only one Underworld Formation.

It would be safest to steal and recover it right away, but they probably couldn't use it carelessly, either.

If it exploded by accident, they'd be in danger too.

"Oh, and I found out the date hunter Ai Hoon is entering Korea."

That date was at the end of next month, around when the midterms would end.

They seemed to be planning an event for when the students would be excited after exams.

"And the Masked Singer is scheduled for around the same time."

"You mean that singing show where people sing with masks on?"

"Yes. Her Hand visit date aligns exactly with the Masked Singer filming."

Normally, masked Singer's identity is that the participants cover their faces.

Guessing who's behind the voice is the show's appeal.

Yet, on Ai Hoon's schedule, it literally said 'Hand visit' on the day of the event.

It was a show all about hiding your identity, and yet she was blatantly revealing herself.

Thanks to that, there was a sudden surge of people on social media announcing they would go to Hand.

"She's got some recognition in Korea, too. If people hear she's joining that show, they'll immediately head over."

"Then she wanted to advertise it openly for that reason from the start."

It wasn't just Ai Hoon.

Masked Singer's panel features celebrities with massive fanbases.

Hand would probably be overflowing with an unimaginable number of people.

What would happen if trouble broke out in such a place?

"I think I get what their goal is."

"Masked Singer..."

Suddenly, Sang-ah stared blankly ahead, mumbling to herself.

She looked out of it, as if hypnotized.

"What's wrong? Are you interested in Masked Singer?"

"Huh? N-no! It's nothing. Really!"

"..."

"Then I... I'll head out first!"

Sang-ah smiled brightly and left the club room.

Eunseol looked puzzled at Sang-ah's behavior.

"Don't you think Sang-ah seems a bit strange?"

"She acts like that a lot, so I don't really notice."

"Maybe it's just my impression... but she feels really different from first semester."

Since Eunseol was in the same class as Sang-ah, she'd seen her up close.

Her words felt oddly convincing.

Maybe there was some dragon race trait I didn't know about.

****

Leaving the club room, Sang-ah walked into an alley behind the second campus.

She checked her surroundings, making sure no one was around.

Then she bent over and opened her mouth toward the ground.

"Uuu... ueeeurgh!"

At that moment, Sang-ah spat something out of her mouth.

She looked sick, as if she'd finally expelled something she'd been holding back for a long time.

But what she spit out wasn't food waste or anything like that.

It was, of all things, a pair of boxer briefs.

"Thank goodness my stomach's unique."

A dragon race's stomach is quite different from a human's.

They have a stomach for digesting food, and another that just stores things without digesting.

She learned that when she met with the church people during vacation.

Ever since school started, Sang-ah had been hiding these boxer briefs in her throat at all times.

"Now, what am I supposed to do with this?"

She had to hide it at all costs.

Because this was Seongjin's underwear.

"Wait, why am I even carrying this?"

Sometime before, out of the underwear Seongjin had left behind, Sang-ah had secretly taken one.

It was absolutely something she should never have done.

She was a delinquent teenager, with no excuses if anyone found out.

"Is this because of the side effect...?"

Normally, it would be impossible for her to even hold something like this due to embarrassment.

That's why even Sang-ah couldn't understand herself.

Her body did things out of nowhere that she'd never do normally.

It was probably the side effect the priest mentioned, caused by one of the songs.

"I have to confess right away."

She needed to tell Seongjin and admit everything about the briefs.

If she just kept hiding it, who knows what punishment awaited.

At the very least, she should burn the underwear to make it disappear.

But...

"Move, hands! I said move!"

But her body instinctively resisted.

The moment she grabbed the underwear again, her mind went blank and turned pink.

By the time she realized she'd lost her senses, it was already too late.

'Kwon Sang-ah. Are you insane? You can control yourself better now; don't you remember all the blood, sweat, and tears you shed training up to now? You promised not to let side effects rule you anymore!!'

She grabbed her head, silently screaming at herself.

Sang-ah tried to whip herself back into control, but her arms still trembled.

'I should never have sung that song...'

With shaking hands, she barely managed to clutch the underwear.

Now, she had only one thing left to do.

"I have to get rid of this right now!"

"Get rid of what?"

"What do you think! This underw—"

Someone had just spoken to her?

With a stiff face, Sang-ah carefully turned around.

There stood a familiar girl with pink hair and fox ears.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ah-rin? Why are you here...?"

"I suddenly caught Seongjin's scent coming from this spot."

If something here smelled like him, it was obviously what Sang-ah was holding.

There was no way Ah-rin, with her keen nose, wouldn't recognize it.

You could say the reason Sang-ah had been hiding it in her throat all this time was mostly because of Ah-rin.

"Now I know why you wanted to split up first the other day."

Right before the opening ceremony, when we'd returned to school.

Sang-ah had parted ways with Seongjin in order to return his underwear.

She must've slipped one into her own pocket at that time.

"Sang-ah, I thought you were the most normal out of all of us."

"Don't misunderstand! I didn't do it on purpose! I swear!"

"..."

Ah-rin's expression remained utterly flat.

From Ah-rin's perspective, unaware of the side effect, it just sounded like an excuse.

"Ah-rin, please, I beg you! Please keep it a secret!"

As Sang-ah knelt down and pleaded, Ah-rin replied coldly.

"Are you completely out of your mind?"

"Yes, I'm totally crazy! But there's actually a real reason for—"

"Let me borrow it for a month."

"Yes! You can borrow it... wait, what?"

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

Of course, none of them are normal....

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】