The Returner

Chapter 452: Well then, should we get started (2)

This thing called pain could be rather strange.

People believed that they knew all about it but in actual truth, not many had the opportunity to truly experience real pain.

That’s why most people had no clue.

...No clue about how easily pain could reduce a person to a wretched state.

It wasn’t that humans died after failing to cope with pain, but chose to commit suicide in order to escape from it. The most scary situation for any person would be their death, yet pain was so terrifying that people would willingly choose to end their own lives.

And right now, in this very moment, Michael was having this fact bitterly drilled into his mind.

Wu-du-du-duk!

His tightly-clenched teeth began shattering. The broken fragments of his teeth dropped to the floor, but he wasn’t even conscious of that event.

The kind of pain that he had never imagined before was currently taking control of his entire being.

He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, and desperately cling to his torturer with tears streaming down his face but this indescribably immense pain didn’t permit him from moving an inch from the spot.

All the blood vessels in his eyes burst open and his vision was dyed in a crimson hue.

His nails tucked inside his tightly-clenched fists went past tearing his skin and began breaking into bits, too.

Michael never thought that a human being would be able to experience a level of pain this extreme.

It was exactly at this point that he finally understood it.

...That Yi Ji-Hyuk hadn’t been pushing the ability users at all until now.

That man, he... had been showing as much consideration towards everyone else, as it turned out.

“Kkeuh-euhhhhhh...” (Michael)

He couldn’t tell whether he was screaming or his body was automatically making weird noises after failing to endure the pain. But what he was certain of, was that... if this pain continued on at this rate, then there was a very good chance he’d die of shock eventually.

But he couldn’t afford to do that.

He never wished for a dog’s death like this.

Hoping to mount some resistance, he tried to tense his muscles but not even a single one listened to him.

His intestines ripped apart and bubbles of blood welled up from his throat.

He was getting wrecked to the point where he should’ve died already, yet his body was constantly being healed and he didn’t die.

He couldn’t die, yet he couldn’t endure, either.

The only thing he could do right now was simply stay here and feel this endless pain wrecking his body that’s no longer under his control.

If there really was hell, would it be like this?

Michael’s still clearly-awake consciousness continued to experience a living hell.

Pain brought on even more pain and this cycle endlessly tormented him.

‘Ah, aaaah...’ (Michael)

Nothing entered his mind. It was completely blank.

He couldn’t tell whether that was due to the pain or his brain had already been fried from the shock. He was simply in a daze.

It was then, a voice entered his ears quite vividly.

“Don’t do anything stupid, got that?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Kkeuh-euhhhh...” (Michael)

That voice belonged to Yi Ji-Hyuk.

...Anything stupid?

What did he even mean by that?

I’m not even doing anything right now, am I?

It was then.

Suddenly he was awash with this vivid sensation of Mana strands rushing into his head beginning to leak out through every little pore on his skin. His body convulsed uncontrollably.

He could sense it.

Mana leaking out of him...

Mana existing all around him...

And finally...

Mana seemingly filling up this world to the brim, too...

Like air, Mana was everywhere in this world.

Rapture.

Michael discovered ‘it’ amidst all the soul-wrecking pain. The sensation of Mana that he tried so hard to grasp and hold onto could now be felt so vividly.

The sheer joy of the moment even managed to dilute the pain.

‘I can feel it! Yes, I really can!’ (Michael)

When he thought about how he had to endure all the pain just to reach this moment, tears of overwhelming emotions almost began falling from his eyes.

‘I did it!’ (Michael)

The pain extreme enough to make him black out still remained, but when he realised that he could now sense Mana precisely because of this pain, he even felt like welcoming some more of it.

With this, he should be able to get his hands on brand-new power.

But then...

‘...Why isn’t he stopping already?’ (Michael)

The amount of Mana rushing inside his head had not decreased at all. Michael could vividly sense Mana now, so how come this torture had not ended yet?

‘...Ah!’ (Michael)

Only then did Michael remember.

What Yi Ji-Hyuk had said earlier, and the meaning behind those words.

Even if Michael could sense Mana now, Yi Ji-Hyuk had no way of knowing that. You couldn’t really let others know what you were sensing without saying anything, after all. And such a thing wasn’t exactly easily observable, either.

As such, Yi Ji-Hyuk didn’t stop.

Even if he figured it out in the middle of the process, there was no other choice but to carry on with the already-decided method.

Michael would’ve preferred to not know this fact, however.

After realising that the pain wouldn’t end, and that no one knew for how long this pain would continue on for, Michael’s mind began breaking down at a rapid pace.

You could potentially endure if you didn’t know.

However, knowing it only made it so much worse.

The uncertainty over how long he needed to experience this pain caused his everything to begin crumbling down.

“Kkeuh-euhhhh...” (Michael)

He wanted to shout out, to tell the other party to stop.

He wanted to shout out that he could sense it already, so there’s no more need to go on.

However, his voice didn’t want to come out. The contorted muscles and vocal cords only squeaked out moan-like screams.

An eternity-like time went by.

And out of the blue, the light at the end of the tunnel slammed into him.

Plop.

Michael rolled around on the ground as if he was sliding on ice, with only the weakest, faintest panting leaving his mouth.

“Hey, you still alive?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk asked while poking at Michael with his finger.

But then...

“Uwaaaaaahhhhangaaaa!” (Michael)

Michael jumped up from the floor and pounced on Yi Ji-Hyuk while roaring out a bizarre cry.

“I will kill yoooooou!” (Michael)

The sight of Michael with tears of blood gushing down his eyes as he pounced on Yi Ji-Hyuk possessed a certain visual impact that sent shivers down one’s spine. Even Alpha observing the proceedings shuddered a little from this madness-filled sight.

But that was all.

Thud!

Michael couldn’t reach Yi Ji-Hyuk and along with a loud bang, collapsed face first on the floor again.

“Tsk, tsk.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk lightly clicked his tongue.

“Well, you’re still alive. All’s good, then.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You son of a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!” (Michael)

“Aikoo~.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk raised both his hands as if he was taken aback. But that sight only caused more flames to erupt from Michael’s eyes.

“There, there. Time to cool your head now. I already warned you that you might really die. And it was you who chose to go through with this. So, don’t blame your choice on someone else, okay?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“You...!” (Michael)

Michael’s agitation finally lessened a little.

“Besides all that, can you sense Mana now?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Michael glared at Yi Ji-Hyuk for the longest time, but began nodding his head slowly.

“Then instead of worrying about how to kill me, you better devote your time in not letting that sensation slip through your fingers. I mean, by some stupid happenstance you end up forgetting that feeling, then we’ll have to go through this again. But I guess you’re cool with that.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...”

Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at the confused and lost Michael and nailed the final point home.

“If you wanna kill me, try fragging or something later on. If you kill me now, the ones behind you won’t even get the chance to sense any Mana, right? Well, judging from your expression, you’re probably thinking that that’s actually a blessing, but still.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk) [1]

Everyone watching on felt so vividly the severity of the pain Michael had experienced.

Sure, they couldn’t feel exactly how bad the pain was, but their eyes clearly witnessed a seemingly-normal body of a person breaking down to almost resemble a slime before reverting back many times over, so there was simply no way they didn’t feel frightened out of their wits right now.

No one alive would want to be subjected to such treatment.

“There, there. Time to meditate on your findings. Now that’s a good boy.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Michael noisily gritted his teeth before turning around to head towards an open space, then plopped down on the ground. He quietly closed his eyes.

‘I can sense it.’ (Michael)

He could oh-so vividly feel it.

It went beyond ‘I can feel it so well’ and reached the realm of ‘How could I not have sensed this substance that’s completely filling my world up?’

Just like how one’s view of the world would change the moment one realised oxygen had been filling up those seemingly empty-looking spaces, Michael began seeing the world in a new light after he began sensing Mana’s presence.

‘So, this was it.’ (Michael)

This sense of fullness welled up powerfully in his chest.

I did it! Yes, I pulled through!

He had managed to endure that motherf*cking pain and somehow made it to the end.

Tears threatened to trickle down his face for some reason. That determination of ‘I’ll become stronger even if I have to risk my life’ that he often mouthed? It felt like he had kept his own promise. This indescribable sense of accomplishment acted like a drug and erased all remnants of pain that had been deeply engraved in his body.

“Well, looks like one guy was a success.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Alpha asked with a less-than-impressed expression.

“By the way, this new method of yours isn’t all that different from what you did to me, is it not?” (Alpha)

“No, it’s exactly the same.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Why didn’t you do this from the beginning, then?” (Alpha)

“You think using this much Mana on a single person like how I have done is simple to pull off? Besides, there are two thousand people here.” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“...Oh, I see.” (Alpha)

Alpha nodded his head in understanding.

Even he thought that the amount of Mana Yi Ji-Hyuk flooded Michael with was way too excessive. He even began wondering if it was really worth it to spend that much Mana on a single person.

But there was no helping it with this process, it seemed.

‘...His hand is trembling.’ (Alpha)

Alpha didn’t miss the fact that Yi Ji-Hyuk’s hand was trembling ever so faintly. While constantly supplying the amount of Mana that a human body couldn’t endure, he operated some more Mana with his other half and activated healing magic to recover his victim’s body.

Yi Ji-Hyuk had to tread the precarious tightrope over and over again.

Several times harder? No, it’d be dozens of times harder than that.

‘I told him that sacrifices are necessary and he needs to find a sure-fire method even if that ends up killing half of the people here, but he...’ (Alpha)

Even though Yi Ji-Hyuk seemed to have made up his mind, he hadn’t let go of his attachments to humanity.

This was so weird.

All the moments of doubt Yi Ji-Hyuk felt about humanity must’ve been hundreds of times more profound and so much worse than Alpha’s own experiences. And the worth of a person’s life to Yi Ji-Hyuk should be so cheap that even someone like Alpha would have a hard time imagining it.

But that was only obvious. Yi Ji-Hyuk had watched humanity for an incredible length of time, after all.

He probably had witnessed millions of people being born, live their lives and die by now. Maybe it was way past hundreds of millions, even.

This thing called ‘stimulation’ was bound to lose its edge over such a long period of time.

When one witnessed near-endless deaths of people, it was only obvious that one would re-adjust their perceived value of human lives. After all, weren’t humans bound to meet the exact same end no matter what they do? So, one would begin thinking that it’d be rather ineffective to invest any amount of resources to change the fate of such human beings.

Yi Ji-Hyuk probably knew this truth far better than even Alpha.

‘Yet, why can’t he let go?’ (Alpha)

Letting go would certainly make it easier. The moment he let go, the number of choices Yi Ji-Hyuk could make would increase by several folds and the required effort would decrease by just as much, as well.

It would be perfectly fine to simply hit his test subjects with enough Mana and fish out only those that managed to survive, instead of doing something like this – trying to save the lives of humans worth only as much as insects by unleashing his horrifically precise Mana control.

Surely Yi Ji-Hyuk would’ve known this better than anyone in the world yet he was still doing his best to save Michael’s life, and that made Alpha feel strange.

‘...He’s only making it harder for himself.’ (Alpha)

Alpha slowly shook his head.

More than likely, he’d never fully understand Yi Ji-Hyuk even till his dying day. Just like how Yi Ji-Hyuk wouldn’t understand Alpha.

The only reason why they looked like they were getting along was because they conversed while matching each other’s pace. If there was a competition to find the two most incompatible people in this world, then Yi Ji-Hyuk and Alpha would have to be in the running for the top spot. That’s how similar yet so different they were.

“Well, it doesn’t matter either way.” (Alpha)

“Ng?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

“Nah, it’s nothing.” (Alpha)

Alpha lightly shook his head and stepped back. Now wasn’t the time to waste his mind space worrying about stuff like that. The world’s annihilation was directly linked to how many ability users could start sensing Mana and how long that would take.

Yi Ji-Hyuk stopped looking at Alpha then surveyed the rest of the ability users lining up the training hall.

Smirk...

He then smiled refreshingly and murmured in a hushed voice, his whole demeanour now resembling a villain having a whale of time.

“Okay, so. Who wants to go next?” (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

The atmosphere cooled down in an instant.

< 452. Well then, should we get started -2 > Fin.

(TL: In case you don’t know what ‘fragging’ in [1] is, here’s Wikipedia’s explanation: Fragging is the deliberate killing or attempted killing by a soldier of a fellow soldier, usually a superior officer or non-commissioned officer.)