The Returner

Chapter 15: What a “soya powder” family (2)

Swiiiish!!

At the same time, mom’s head rapidly turned towards the door.

“Yah, you rotten girl, have you any idea what time it is now?!” (mom)

“Argh, what now? It’s not that late, so what’s up?!” (daughter)

A girl Yi Ji-Hyuk never saw before entered the house.

However, her attire seemed a bit suspect.

She was wearing a pair of white hotpants, but, said hotpants were really short. No matter who saw it, they would have to say, that thing might as well have been underwear, instead. And to add to this, she also wore a thin, loose-fitting blouse on top, causing a sense of fashion unbalance there. Up until to this part, one might be tempted to say, “Oh, she knows how to play around a bit, doesn’t she?”

However...

‘A blonde?!’

Her hair reaching down past the shoulders was golden in colour. She was a blonde. Not dyed in brunette, but actual, bona fide blonde.

‘Definitely a hooligan.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Although her face looked young, by checking out her fashion sense and that hair style, anyone could tell that she was a total lowlife scum.

And why did a kid like that barge into my home? (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Dad! You are drunk again?! This is why I don’t wanna come home, seriously!! Argh, so irritating!” (daughter)

Dad. She said dad....

Since that thuggish girl uttered out the word that denotes one’s biological paternal parent, it means my dad is that girl’s old man too, and that girl also happens to be my dad’s daughter... And my dad is, uh, my dad, and then, I’m my dad’s son, so.... (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

It was then, the thug-like girl’s eyes met Yi Ji-Hyuk’s.

“And who the hell are you?” (daughter)

The person replying to that cheeky girl’s grating voice was mom.

“It’s your Oppa! Your Oppa, Ji-Hyuk!!” (mom)

“My Oppa?” (daughter)

The ruffian chick began scanning Yi Ji-Hyuk top to bottom.

Oppa. Mom said Oppa...

That means, this girl is my younger sibling. Mmm.... My dongsaeng... Just what happened during the five years I went missing for a dongsaeng I never had before to pop out like this? Besides, my only other dongsaeng is.... (Yi Ji-Hyuk) (TL: “dongsaeng” is a collective noun denoting a younger sibling, regardless of gender.)

“Ji-Hyuk-ah, this is your sister, Ye-Won.” (mom)

...Right, I only have Ye-Won as my sister.

Ye-Won. Our little Ye-Won...

Our little cry-baby Ye-Won, who kept on crying because a boy named Chang-Sik in her class bullied her.

Our little Ye-Won, who clapped in delight like a circus seal when I Brazilian Kick-ed Chang-Sik’s chin.

Our kind-hearted little Ye-Won, who wanted nothing more than to sleep next to her Oppa whenever it rained hard.

So, in other words, the most cutest girl in the whole world, our Ye-Won, is standing over there.... (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s internal monologue. Lol. He’s defo confused...)

“Ye-Won?”

Right, this crazy, uninhibited blondie just so happens to be our kind little Ye-Won...

Just what the f*ck happened in the last five years for a gentle, sane-minded child to become a crazy b*tch?!

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Really, does this world not have a god? Not even a buddha?!

Do I need to drag Latrel over to this side now?

Do I need to call Berafe and inquire what’s the going rate for renting out a god of Light nowadays?! (Yi Ji-Hyuk’s internal monologue)

After checking out Yi Ji-Hyuk from top to bottom in a rather disrespectful manner, Ye-Won then sneered.

“Oppa? What Oppa? A guy who’s been AWOL for five years suddenly appears and wishes to be treated like one?” (Yi Ye-Won)

But, uh, I never said that, though?

I’d like not to be treated as your Oppa from now on. No, hang on a minute. To be brutally honest with you all, I’d like not to be associated with you, completely. (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Are you f*cking with me?! Oppa, my a*s!!” (Ye-Won)

“This rotten kid!! Watch what you say in front of your older brother!!” (mom)

And, as the somewhat moving sight of a mother and a daughter sharing their intense emotions continued to unfold, dad stopped watching it and stood up from the couch.

“Aigoo, my daughter came home? Give your daddy a hug, will you dear?” (dad)

“Hey, you moronic husband! Just go to sleep already!! Just go!!” (mom)

“There just isn’t a single godd*mn day in this family that’s normal!! Seriously, this is so f*cking irritating!!” (Ye-Won)

An utterly incoherent father, and a younger sister busy grumbling in irritation. And in the middle of them, a mother who was shouting at the both parties.

Yi Ji-Hyuk took a long look at this sight, chuckled quietly to himself, and sat back down on the dining table to finish his meal.

After taking the first spoonful of now-cold miyeok soup, he raised his head up once more and found a family of three who were busy arguing with one another, fingers wagging and all. (TL: a miyeok is a strand of edible seaweed.)

Mm. So, what was this... This situation... Mm.

What would be the perfectly apt term to describe this situation....?

That should be...

‘What a soya powder family this is.’ (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Now, that was just perfect!

Yes, it was a perfect fit indeed, yet, for some weird reason, Yi Ji-Hyuk’s eyes were getting moist.

He wiped the rapidly-moistening eyes and silently continued eating the bowl of miyeok soup.

Whatever the case might have been, he had returned home after spending an exorbitant amount of time away.

“Get out!! You stupid husband!!!” (mom)

....However, he might get chased out again at this rate...

*

Choi Jung-Hoon reported back every little thing he went through, without leaving anything out.

“A body enhancement type?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young tilted her head.

“Are you sure about this?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“I am not 100% sure but, if he wasn’t a body enhancement type, then it’d have been physically impossible to beat up a Goblin as if it was rice cake dough.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“That is true, but still....” (Seo Ah-Young)

Turning a Goblin into a meat paste wasn’t all that difficult to do, if one was an ability user. Even a noob elementary user could defeat a Goblin in a one-on-one battle.

However, the story changed if one were to mount on top of a Goblin and pound it to the ground.

Without being a body enhancement type, no one would be able to do something like that. The Goblin trapped below grabbing onto legs or the waist would result in legs getting broken and waist being torn out in half, after all.

“Gah-Yun-ah, what’s your opinion on this?” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young’s gaze went past Choi Jung-Hoon.

*SFX for fabric silently rustling*

In the empty space behind Choi Jung-Hoon, a silhouette of a person slowly emerged.

However, both Seo Ah-Young and Choi Jung-Hoon were not surprised in the slightest.

And the person who finally emerged was a young girl with a bob-cut hairstyle.

“Nothing much.” (Gah-Yun)

“Really?” (Seo Ah-Young)

The young girl called Gah-Yun nodded her head.

“Ether reaction, a level of an ordinary human. When fighting Goblin, also an ordinary level of Ether reaction. Fighting style, not organised, but practical.” (Gah-Yun)

“But, he did kill a Goblin using an Ether reaction comparable to an ordinary person, no?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“A momentary flux of Ether detected. The Ether operation, extremely efficient. However, considering the amount, still ordinary.” (Gah-Yun)

Seo Ah-Young’s brows narrowed.

She might possess good eyes to spot talent, but this girl standing in front of her was very objective in her observation. When two opinions collided, it was usually the young girl’s that proved to be correct.

“What about his growth potential, then?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Extremely low.” (Gah-Yun)

“Any possibility of him hiding something?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Somewhat likely.” (Gah-Yun)

“Explain it more.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“The Ether value less than 1000, difficult to detect Ether in one’s body, equally difficult to train. Thus, must consider, unable to use Ether.” (Gah-Yun)

“Right. That is why only those with values over 1000 are treated as ability users.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“His Ether, 800. However, his proficiency in Ether control, above expert level. Most likely, he encountered a lucky chance, sensed Ether in body. Continuously trained, since then.” (Gah-Yun)

“So, does that mean he can use abilities?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Impossible.” (Gah-Yun)

“Woooowoooowooowooo...........”

Seo Ah-Young grabbed her head and shook it. Her hair came loose rather messily thanks to that.

“Look like an old hag. Ugly.” (Gah-Yun)

“Shut up! I’m still in my prime, you know?!” (Seo Ah-Young)

“A wilting flower.” (Gah-Yun)

“Get the eff out!! You little...” (Seo Ah-Young)

The pen in Seo Ah-Young’s hand flew like a bullet towards Gah-Yun’s direction. But the young girl simply snatched it off the air and spoke.

“A problem?” (Gah-Yun)

Seo Ah-Young opened the drawer on her desk and pulled out a new pen.

“It feels like we’re missing something, somehow.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Why?” (Gah-Yun)

“It’s his attitude that’s the problem.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Difficult to understand.” (Gah-Yun)

Seo Ah-Young glanced at Choi Jung-Hoon. He nodded his head and agreed with his boss’s opinion.

“Anyone with only a regular level of abilities – no, even a fifth level ability user would start getting nervous the moment they step into the KSF’s interview rooms. Especially so with ability users, because they don’t usually get to feel the pressure of daily lives. But, with mister Yi Ji-Hyuk, although we had him confined to the room and pressured him for some length of time, he was acting like an elementary schooler out on a school field trip.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young added her own voice then.

“So, the conclusion is, either he’s a powerful ability user who can take the KSF very lightly, or a loon with a dozen screws missing in his head, but....” (Seo Ah-Young)

The young girl, Doh Gah-Yun tilted her head.

“Possibility of him not having information on this place, thus not being scared?” (Gah-Yun)

“This was the guy, while able to see a cordon of armed soldiers just past the toughened acrylic glass surrounding all around him, proceeded to draw a pair of hearts after blowing on that said acrylic glass.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“A certainty, his screws missing.” (Gah-Yun)

“It would’ve been wonderful if that was the case, but he did blow away a Jarchev’s head and pounded a Goblin to death.” (Seo Ah-Young)

The girl nodded her head if she understood.

“Impossible to determine.” (Gah-Yun)

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying.” (Seo Ah-Young)

Seo Ah-Young sighed out and asked.

“If that b*stard is really somehow hiding his true abilities, then how high would his ability level be, in your estimation?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“Impossible to evade my detection during operation of Ether. But, if possible, then judging his level, very difficult. Estimation by reverse calculation, then at minimum, above level eight.” (Gah-Yun)

“An eighth level, you say....” (Seo Ah-Young)

There were only a handful of the level eight users in Korea. And that was the lower end of estimation. So, it was pretty unimaginable what Yi Ji-Hyuk’s true ability level could actually be.

“How high is the possibility?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“3%.” (Gah-Yun)

“It’s a lot less than before?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“The higher the level, the harder it is to block the dispersion of Ether. Especially, when trying to enhance one’s body, the stronger the flow. An impossible ability. 3% only after considering the situation and my potentially deceived judgement. The realistic percentage, zero.” (Gah-Yun)

“So, it’s a Nagari.” (Seo Ah-Young) (TL: This is a Go-Stop card game reference. For the game itself, you can check out Wikipedia. Basically, it means whatever has been happening, it’s all meaningless/gone to sh*t.)

Seo Ah-Young asked Choi Jung-Hoon this time.

“What about surveillance?” (Seo Ah-Young)

“For now, everyone’s in place.” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

Seo Ah-Young finally came to a decision after a lengthy deliberation.

“We will maintain the surveillance for a fortnight only. Report back to me if there is any form of movement from his side during this time period, and if we find nothing remarkable by then, we will change how we deal with this ‘mark’. Hand this matter over to the support and management department.” (Seo Ah-Young)

Choi Jung-Hoon frowned slightly.

“But, can the S&M department handle someone whose abilities and pretty much everything about him are a complete mystery?” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

“Doesn’t mean we can continue watching him forever, though. If he’s a thorn hidden at the bottom of our pocket, then he will pop out sooner or later.” (Seo Ah-Young)

“That is true, indeed...” (Choi Jung-Hoon)

When the special law governing ability users was first enacted, quite a few of said users criticised it for being utterly pointless. The argument was that, why would anyone suffer the disadvantages by registering, when they could simply hide their powers and carry on with their lives?

If one were to think about it logically, then their view was indeed correct. Unfortunately, the matter of the world didn’t always revolve in the most logical fashion.

The unregistered ability users ended up using their powers anyways. One got p*ss drunk and started a fire, some went on crime spree, and others came up with a variety of creative ways to utilise their powers.

The issue was with how they went about using their powers. It was almost impossible for a person to live on while trying to completely ‘forget’ that he or she possessed special powers.

Well, if one were blessed with a pair of wings, wouldn’t that person want to experience flying, at least once?

And then, would there be anyone in this world who didn’t want to fly again, after having been to the skies already?

That was the meaning behind Seo Ah-Young’s words, and Choi Jung-Hoon agreed with her.

If they watched that guy long enough, then he’d slip up and use his powers in some way – and then, there’d be no god dang way he’d talk his way out of that one!!

Seo Ah-Young and Choi Jung-Hoon gazed at each other and smirked. And the young girl watching the two tilted her head slightly.

“An office waifu?” (Gah-Yun)

“Get the hell out, you dumba*s!!” (Seo Ah-Young)

< 15. What a “soya powder” family -2 > Fin.