The Returner

Chapter 366

“Urgh… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon frowned deeply and stabbed his hand inside his pocket .

“… . Not there . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

He couldn’t find his keys .

But then again, he had been basically living in his office for the past week or so, and it’d be a bit of a mission to recall just where he misplaced his keys all those days ago .

“Hah, seriously now… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Just where would he find a taxi at this late hour? The distance to be covered wasn’t to be scoffed at, either .

They said that a luckless fool would break his nose while falling backwards . Who would’ve thought that he’d lose his car keys just as he was ready to go home for the first time in seven days?

“Whew… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon turned around . Now that things had come to this, he was planning to cleanly give up on going home and simply head back to the office .

Honk, honk!

But it was just then, someone noisily honked their car horn . He frowned slightly and looked behind him .

“Ng?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

A white sports car was shining its headlights at him .

“What are you doing?” (Seo Ah-Young)

The driver’s side window wound down, and a familiar face peeked out .

“I don’t have my keys . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young chuckled as if she couldn’t believe it .

“And why don’t you have them?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Not sure . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Okay, what were you planning to do next?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I was thinking of going back, ma’am . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Why?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Well, it’s a bit late to catch a taxi, so… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Gimme a break . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young spat out a groan and beckoned him .

“Get in . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“… . . Eh?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“I said, get in . I’ll give you a ride . Just because you don’t have the keys, you are not going home anymore? That’s nonsense . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“N-no, hang on a minute, ma’am… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon hurriedly shook his head .

“If I don’t take my car, it’ll become pretty inconvenient to get back to work tomorrow morning . So I’ll just sleep in the office and call the service centre tomorrow and have someone come over . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Just get in, will you? Don’t worry, I’ll come to get you tomorrow morning, as well . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“You don’t have to go that far, ma’am… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Mister Choi Jeong-Hoon?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Yes?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“How many times did I tell you to get in?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon’s head dropped low .

Seo Ah-Young would become a stubborn mule once she came out like this . He realised that he no longer had a choice in the matter and trudged towards the vehicle, before opening the passenger door and climbing aboard .

‘So tight . ’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Since he preferred large saloons, Seo Ah-Young’s car felt just too small for him . Even the seat felt too hard .

He just couldn’t understand why anyone would buy a car like this .

“Okay, we’re off . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“You know where my house is, yes?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It’s not my first time, okay?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I thought it was?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“………” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Okay, maybe two times . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young groaned .

“I remember where it is, so don’t worry . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Alright, then . I’ll be in your care . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Vrooooom~

The loud engine notes accompanied the car accelerating forward at a rate of knots . The ride height was so low that he thought his a*s was busy kissing the tarmac . As for the harsh ride quality, Choi Jeong-Hoon couldn’t help but frown once more .

‘I don’t get why anyone would want to ride in a car like this . ’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Sure, sports cars were nice . Fine . However, just where would anyone find a place to drive such cars in a city like Seoul? Why would you waste money to buy cars like this, then?

“Are you unhappy about something?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Not really . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

When in front of Seo Ah-Young, even if he was unhappy about something, everything must be a-okay . This was a different type of uncomfortable atmosphere from Yi Ji-Hyuk .

‘Now that I think about it… . ’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon turned his head slightly and observed the side of her face . The first time he saw her, she was still a wet-behind-ears ability user newbie, but even before anyone had realised it, she had become a veteran widely acknowledged by her peers in this profession .

Sure, that’s how the passage of time worked, but still, that truth felt kind of awkward to Choi Jeong-Hoon today for some reason .

“You need to take more breaks, you know . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Yes, ma’am . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It’s not like in the past, right? Back when we needed to run around everywhere . You know, that’s you being addicted to work . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I understand what you’re saying, ma’am . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon smiled bitterly .

Well before Yi Ji-Hyuk made his entrance – how hard did Choi Jeong-Hoon work in order to create an organisation that improved the poor treatment towards the ability users as well as to respond to a crisis in a timely manner?

The societal treatment had improved by a good deal nowadays, and he was now a part of the ability user organisation that the entire world respected, yet his old work habit didn’t want to disappear at all .

“I’ll have you know, it’s the other people who are getting more anxious when you keep pushing yourself so hard like this . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“… . I see . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

He nodded his head in defeat .

“What are you so concerned about, exactly?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Pardon?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It doesn’t look like a simple work-related issue . Actually, it feels like you’ve gotten worse recently . What makes you so concerned that you keep looking over those documents?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Well, that’s because Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“No, it started before that . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon delayed his answer and instead shifted his gaze outside the window .

“I thought you knew the way to my home?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“I do . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“But, ma’am . This doesn’t look like the road that’ll take us to my place . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“You’re right . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Is this a kidnapping?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“It won’t take long . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“What a scary prospect that is . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

But, what could he do? He was already riding in Seo Ah-Young’s car, anyway . They drove for a long while, before she parked the car next to the riverside .

She climbed out and spoke as if she was being gracious here .

“You can smoke if you want . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Why, thank you . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his lips .

“Let’s talk for a bit . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I never said I didn’t want to, ma’am . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young’s dissatisfaction-filled eyes were now directed at him .

“Do you know what your problems are, Mister Choi Jeong-Hoon?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Mm . Well, I’m not sure . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“There are lots . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“……… . ”

Now normally, when a conversation started in that manner, you weren’t supposed to respond like that, no?

Wasn’t her reply wee bit off?

“You have lots . Too many . But your worst problem is that, even though you pretend to worry about other people, you never tell anyone if you have a problem yourself . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Mm… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

She hit the nail in the head, and he couldn’t really refute her .

“But, ma’am . That applies to most other people as well . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“I don’t know anyone who’s as bad as you, Mister Choi Jeong-Hoon . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“You think so?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon looked a bit embarrassed as he lit his cigarette up .

“So, just talk to me what the problem is . It feels like you’re getting more and more jittery as time goes on . There must be a reason for that . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon exhaled the cigarette smoke out the car’s window .

“It’s because I’m worried . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“About what?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“About our current world, ma’am . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young tilted her head . She couldn’t really understand what he was trying to say here .

“The Gate appearance frequency has decreased a little bit . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“I know . And thankfully, that’s giving us a bit more downtime . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“However, the ranks of the Gates are steadily increasing . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Really?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon nodded his head .

“Since we don’t get dispatched too often for such matters, it’s only normal for us to not realise it . If we take into account the entire world, then the Gate’s average level has gone up by around two . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“… . That much?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Have you seen a level one Gate recently, ma’am?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“No . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“It’ll be okay to revamp our grading system now . Because, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the Gates lower than level two have almost completely stopped appearing, ma’am . Right now, we are at the point where we need to reassign the level three Gates as level ones . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Mm, well, I admit that situation has become strange . But, is that really important?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Rather than important, it… . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon stuck yet another cigarette between his lips .

“That’s enough cigarette for you . Your lungs will rot if you don’t stop . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“But, you told me it’s fine?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Who said you can smoke two in a row?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“…Damn, so cheap . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Cheap?!” (Seo Ah-Young)

Flames erupted out of her eyes .

“Fine! Smoke all you want!! Get lung cancer and just die, why won’t you?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Even though he heard all of Seo Ah-Young’s venomous words, he unwaveringly lit his cigarette anyway . Then, quickly changed the subject .

“Currently, the Gates are growing stronger with every passing day . However, the frequency of new ability users appearing around the world hasn’t changed . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Okay . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“In other words, our situation will remain the same, but the enemies we need to face will get stronger and harder . And it’s about time the balance starts tilting the wrong way . At this rate, it won’t take long before something somewhere is broken . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young’s expression hardened .

“But, we’ve become stronger, haven’t we?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon smirked deeply .

“Just how much percentage do we take up in the world of countless ability users and Gates opening up constantly? A single fistful? I’m sure it’s not much more than that . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young nodded her head .

He was right . The population of South Korea should be less than 0 . 1% of the entire world’s . It shouldn’t be too different when talking about the ability user numbers, as well .

And the NDF only occupied around 0 . 1% of the Korean ability user pool . So, it was rather obvious that they wouldn’t be able to deal with the massive and urgent Gate crises occurring throughout the world .

Physically and realistically, it wasn’t possible .

“Even then, we have Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk, and… . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon smiled bitterly next .

This part was what tormented him the most . He was definitely not a slow witted man . What Affeldrichae told him during the consecutive battles against the demon kings, and the side effects the ability users told him about after receiving a bit of dark Mana in their bodies, made the situation abundantly clear to him .

‘That Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk you’re talking about, he has reached his limit now . ’ (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

He never thought that that guy would stay as a guardian protecting them for all eternity, but still, he didn’t expect a void to form so soon .

“… . Mister Yi Ji-Hyuk can’t solve everything . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Sure . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“The balance has already been tilted . If my thoughts are correct, then we will no longer be able to stop the Gates within a year . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“What about the other people?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Which other people, ma’am?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Are the Americans or the Japanese making the same assessment as you?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I’m not sure . I’ve never spoken to them about this matter . However, their own assessment shouldn’t be too drastically different from mine, ma’am . Because, it’s something you can see rather easily for yourself . Analysing it isn’t even all that difficult . They are probably searching for a response of their own right now . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon spat out a long sigh .

“Unfortunately, we just don’t have a good response and that’s the problem . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Mm… . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young nodded her head .

“I think I understand what you’re saying . Okay, so . You’re under a lot of stress while worrying about something utterly useless, right?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“…… . Utterly useless??” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Choi Jeong-Hoon’s expression crumpled . The end of the world was right before their nose, yet she called it a useless worry?

“Look here, Mister Choi Jeong-Hoon . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Yes?” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“You’re not a Superman . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“………”

“You need to recognise and separate what you can do and what you can’t . And your job isn’t to worry about the world’s situation, but to secure enough time tonight to get a good night’s rest . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I know that, ma’am . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“No, you don’t . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young resolutely shook her head .

“No, you think you know, but you don’t . You’ve been thinking that, since we still have some cards left, we’ll somehow find a way if you look at the problem hard enough, am I right?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon didn’t answer right away . But he still had no choice but to admit that she was on the money .

“You’re someone so predictable like that, after all . It’s so obvious what you’re thinking about . However, you should leave that to the higher-ups, okay? That’s not part of your job description, anyhow . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“… . You’re correct . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“And besides, let’s say we failed to stop a crisis and the world is destroyed . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Okay . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Is that a problem?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jeong-Hoon’s flabbergasted face looked back at her .

“What do you mean, is that a problem??” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“Well, is it really a problem? It’s not like you’re going to die alone, but everyone will die together, right? That’ll be the end of humanity, then . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“What a carefree observation that is . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young smirked a little .

“I’m not joking . Surely, everyone out there must’ve thought about it at least once after the Black Monday . But well, if it’s something inevitable, then you simply have no choice but to accept it . What would change by shivering away like a wet dog?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“…”

“Mister Choi Jeong-Hoon, you might be a talented man, but if this matter was something that you could resolve by yourself, then trust me, there will be other people in the world who can also solve it . And if it’s not something you can solve alone, then your current way of looking at it and agonising over it is all wrong . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

“…I guess so . ” (Choi Jeong-Hoon)

“That’s why I’m saying, don’t worry about unnecessary things . It’s only making people around you stressed out . ” (Seo Ah-Young)

Was this what others would call ‘cheering someone up’?

Choi Jeong-Hoon’s unconvinced face shifted over to Seo Ah-Young .

< 366 . Is that a problem? -1 > Fin .