The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Repaying Kindness (1)

Whenever we had free time, Ah-rin and I met up to finish the drawing together.

Ah-rin wasn't very skilled with her hands, so I often helped guide her arm.

On top of that, we had textbook homework aside from the art project, so I'd teach her those things as well while we hung out.

Showing her tricks to solve tricky math questions made me feel like some kind of tutor.

Finally, monday arrived. The day of the presentation.

Children presenting their drawings dreamed of becoming doctors or architects—their hopes and dreams were all different.

Among them, my own dream—to just live a comfortable life—made the others laugh, but I wasn't the only one who thought that way.

There were already kids whose dreams were just to get by and make a living.

And at last, it was Ah-rin's long-awaited turn.

Ah-rin's drawing depicted someone using magic to defeat monsters.

In the old days, the teacher might have scolded her for watching too many cartoons, but in this world where comics had become reality, nobody batted an eye.

"I want to become a hunter."

The kids were, of course, dumbfounded when they heard that. I, too, had been surprised the first time she said it.

Mainly because the weak image Ah-rin had always shown up until now made it hard to imagine.

I didn't know what had prompted that decision—but it wasn't really something I could criticize.

The teacher even praised her for it.

'The flower field in the background of her monster-fighting scene is a lot like the one in my drawing, though.'

After the presentation, Ah-rin kept sticking by my side.

It was as if, thanks to everything I'd done for her, she'd developed a full-fledged liking for me.

But because we were always together, the other kids started to look at us with misunderstanding gazes.

Children began making exaggerated teasing noises, "Heh heh, you two are totally drinking kimchi soup before anything's even started."

"Ma Seongjin! Kang Ah-rin! Are you two dating or what?"

"They're like a puppy couple! Puppy couple!"

"Is it Beauty and the Beast? Wait, no—Beast and Handsome!"

"Puhahaha! Beast and Handsome!"

Maybe they had a death wish.

The brats would tease us and run away, repeating it endlessly—just like the traditional elementary school game of hit-and-run.

They called me 'handsome,' but it did not sound like a compliment at all.
But then—

"Are you picking on Seongjin?"

"Heek!"

Before I could intervene, Ah-rin caught up to the kids who were trying to run away in the blink of an eye.

I doubted my eyes at what had just happened.

It was the first time I'd ever seen Ah-rin run so aggressively.

And she wasn't done yet.

"Do you want to die?"

"N-no..."

"I asked if you want to die."

"S-sorry! We're sorry!"

Ah-rin wore a terrifyingly fierce expression, filling the kids with fear.

You could feel her murderous intent in her face, and in a flash, the others ran off, pale with fright.

Unbelievable. Who would have thought that the always-anxious Ah-rin could show such ferocity?

"Seongjin... did I do well?"

The moment Ah-rin looked at me again, she returned to her anxious self.
Like a wolf turning back into a puppy.

She gently pushed her head toward me, and as soon as I patted her, she made a face of utter happiness.

'It's not like I'm petting a real puppy's head or anything...'

Ah-rin had changed quite a bit.

She was a kid who used to stay silent in the classroom's corner, not speaking a word to anyone.

It was a good thing that she could now smile genuinely, so different from her gloomy past.

Sometimes she looked rough, but that just showed how much she'd grown.

'Come to think of it, that wasn't just rough—it was practically murderous intent... but it should be fine, right?'

Ever since I started helping her with her drawing, I often hung out and played with Ah-rin.

The usual place was the closed-off playground in our apartment complex, which was normally empty due to broken play equipment.

But because I had quietly used my magic power to repair them, there was no problem using them.

Plus, nobody interrupted us—it was perfect.

"Kyahahahaha!"

Ah-rin's laughter rang out.

Either sliding down the slide or pushing her on the swing from behind.

Memories of my own childhood, buried by my years in Mewzealand, surfaced again.

"Should I push you more?"

"Harder!"

When I put all my strength into pushing, the swing whipped through the air.

Most kids would have screamed as if they were on a roller coaster, but even though she seemed small, Ah-rin was an Awakened.

The thrill wasn't the least bit scary to her.

But the more excited she got, the more into it she became.

"Wanna play rock-paper-scissors? Whoever loses spins on top over there."

Ah-rin pointed at the spinning platform.

The so-called spinny-thing. I knew well what that meant in a playground.

—The weak cannot survive.

A saying fit for martial arts or fantasy novels.

But this motto had also applied in my childhood playground days.

The equipment responsible for that was this very spinny-thing.

"I won! Seongjin, you have to go on top."

"...."

Having lost at rock-paper-scissors, I climbed onto the spinny-thing as Ah-rin demanded.

Memories of my childhood before Mewzealand flashed before my eyes.

Back then, older kids from the neighborhood would spin me on the turntable like crazy.

The speed would be so extreme that, even as I cried and begged them to stop, they would grin like demons and keep spinning.

That's the day I learned—the weak do not survive.

"Alright, here I go!"

But now, things were different.

Ah-rin might be an Awakened and could spin me harder than those older kids—but I was confident it wouldn't faze me.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

With that, the spinning began.

Ah-rin excitedly kept pushing, making it one of the fastest spins I'd ever experienced—yet I could handle it.

After all, as the Demon King, when I used the 'Floating' skill to bombard the ground, I'd moved far faster than this.

"Seongjin! I'm coming on too!"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Ah-rin stopped spinning and climbed on beside me.

Maybe she wanted a bigger thrill than the swing. Apparently, just pushing wasn't enough for her.

But a problem arose.

"Ah-rin! If you get on, who's going to stop this thing?"

"What?"

"Who's going to stop this thing?!"

There was nobody else around.

It was just the two of us in this closed playground.

Even if someone had come, unless they were an Awakened, they wouldn't be able to stop this.

"Does it matter if it breaks?"

"Well, that's true..."

As Ah-rin said, the equipment was already closed down, so it didn't matter if we played rough.

Usually, when Awakened kids used the playground, things broke quickly and complaints poured in.

That's why we chose this abandoned playground, and today proved it was the right choice.

"When's this thing going to stop?"

"Wahaha!"

Despite the equipment spinning like crazy, Ah-rin just enjoyed it all the more.

Seeing this once-depressed kid burst out of her shell made me genuinely happy.

The things Ah-rin went through were similar to what I'd suffered in Mewzealand.

So seeing a previously discriminated-against child laugh like that felt like a blessing to me, too.

"Wahaha... ugh!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm... gonna be sick..."

Ah-rin, starting to feel dizzy, finally covered her mouth.
Though she'd enjoyed the thrill, her limits had finally arrived.
But the spinny-thing was still going.
Ah-rin, you're the one who spun this. Endure, by sheer will if you have to.

"Make it stop... ugh!"

"You should've spun less."

Sighing, I leapt high.
Jumping off a rapidly spinning turntable was dangerous.

The stronger the centrifugal force, the farther thrown the object.

But as I floated in the air, I used my 'Floating' skill to counteract the momentum.

Though it wasn't as easy as before and I tumbled a bit when landing, I wasn't hurt.

Then, quickly, I used magic to stop the turntable with my hand.

"You okay?"

"Yeah..."

Ah-rin's eyes were spinning.

She'd seemed fine, but apparently even she had her limits with play equipment.

"Want me to get you a drink?"

"... Yeah."

"Wait here and rest for a bit. I'll be back from the convenience store real soon."

Ah-rin was too dizzy to move.
At times like this, I'd heard that an ion drink was best.

"Oh, while I'm out, wear this on your wrist."

I fastened the bracelet I had been wearing to Ah-rin's wrist.

A toy bracelet... but also a safety-tracking bracelet.

It was just in case Ah-rin disobeyed and wandered off somewhere else.

Usually, the location would be tracked on a parent's phone, but mine worked the same way.

"I'll be right back."

****

"Is this Seongjin's bracelet?"

Kang Ah-rin stared blankly at the blue bracelet on her arm.

Still dizzy, she lay down on the bench, facing her arm.
Even the bracelet gave off a fragrant smell.

If it hadn't been for Seongjin, she would probably have lived her whole life smelling only foul odors.

—I want to stay with him forever.

She remembered watching TV with her grandmother, when a couple wore matching rings.

What if she got the same kind of bracelet and wore it together with him?

Would they be together forever, then?

"Ow, my head hurts again."

Her dizziness was gradually fading.

But in another sense, her head hurt more and more.
It was because she'd been helped so much.

Her grandfather had once told her the fable, "The Pheasant Who Repaid Kindness."

It began when a young man saved a pheasant that was about to be eaten by a snake.

The snake died from an arrow that the young man shot, and the pheasant joyfully flew off.

Later, night fell and the young man sheltered in a cave, only to be tightly bound and threatened by a giant snake.
The snake said,

[I am the wife of the snake you killed with your arrow! I won't be satisfied until I avenge my husband!]

The young man was in mortal danger,

But fortunately, the snake proposed a condition.

[There's a bell in the empty temple atop the mountain! If the bell rings before morning prayers, I'll let you live!]

But as dawn neared, the bell still hadn't rung.

It was an empty temple, so there was no way anyone would conduct morning prayers.

The snake had deliberately made an impossible demand—to torment the young man with false hope.
But then—

Dong—!

The bell rang, startling the young man and sending the snake fleeing in fright.

Maybe the snake was just keeping her promise,
Or maybe the iron sound of the bell scared her off.

Whatever the reason, the young man was miraculously saved.

Curious about the bell, he went to the temple.

There, in front of the bell, lay the pheasant—bleeding, collapsed.

"I want to be like that pheasant..."

The pheasant even risked its life to repay its savior.

Even if she didn't go that far, shouldn't she do something for Seongjin?

She was thinking deeply when—

"...!!"

Sensing something, Kang Ah-rin jerked her head up.

Suddenly, an intense stench filled her nose.

She'd smelled it before—the same stench that had been the worst at her previous school.

"What are you doing here?"

A man suddenly appeared in the supposedly empty playground.

He covered his mouth with a mask, as if he was hiding his face after doing something bad.

But even with his face covered, Kang Ah-rin could recognize him by his smell.

"Mr. Choi... Mr. Choi Suyong?"

At the young girl's words, the man gave a bitter smile and removed his mask.

Seeing his face, Kang Ah-rin turned pale.

He was her former homeroom teacher—the man who'd psychologically tormented her at her previous school.

"I was in a hurry and was just going to pass by, but what are the odds of running into you here?"

It was unlikely she'd just happen to run into a transferred student in this neighborhood.

Choi Suyong was currently on the run after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The child abuse he'd committed had become widely known through the news.

That's why he had come to this apartment complex—to find the prosecutor who had issued the warrant.

'What kind of fate is this...?'

The girl he had abused was now living in the very prosecutor's apartment?

As the pieces came together in his mind, Choi Suyong grinned chillingly.

"It's been a while. Have you been well?"

"Eek!"

As he stepped closer, Kang Ah-rin jumped back in fright.

Her horrifying memories of Choi Suyong were still fresh.

But Choi Suyong himself had no awareness of what he'd done.

'She's as infuriating as ever just by looking at her.'

Choi Suyong decided to strike up conversation from a distance, just in case.

"Don't be so suspicious. Your teacher just got lost, that's all."

"... Huh?"

"Do you by any chance know Prosecutor Ma Jun-sang?"

She didn't think he wanted anything from her, but couldn't stop trembling.

Ma Jun-sang was Seongjin's family.

"I don't know him."

Ah-rin looked away as she answered.

Actually, she'd seen him on the news with her grandmother that morning.

She knew all too well that he was no longer a teacher, but a criminal, which was why she didn't want to tell the truth.

"You don't? Then why are you here in this apartment?"

Choi Suyong, exposed as an abuser, needed to find Prosecutor Ma Jun-sang.
It seemed very suspicious that Ah-rin was at the same apartment complex where the prosecutor lived.

"So, you tattled on me, didn't you?"

"...!"

"I don't know how you used that prosecutor, but you must know exactly where he lives, right?"

Electricity crackled from Choi Suyong's hand as his power began to flow.
It was 'Spark,' the trait he'd gained when he was promoted to a B-rank hunter.

"Just tell me the truth. Then I won't do anything to you—or to the prosecutor."

His words might have sounded nice, but since he was gathering power in his hand, it was no different than pointing a gun at a child.
With a chilling expression, he went on.

"But I have business with his son."

Even if he caught the prosecutor, there was no guarantee he'd come quietly.

But if he took the prosecutor's son as a hostage, even the toughest official would give in.

That was how he planned to get the arrest warrant cancelled.

"So just tell me right now, which apartment it is."

Gripping the sparking electricity, he stepped closer.

But something was off—Kang Ah-rin's attitude had changed.

With a face full of fierce determination, Ah-rin spoke.

"Get lost."

She had decided to become the pheasant.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Damn, that pheasant story is extremely sad...
What's even sadder is that Ah-rin is trying is that Ah-rin is trying to emulate the pheasant...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】