The Returner

After sensing Doh Gah-Yun squeezing his hand, Yi Ji-Hyuk unhesitantly began walking forward. Although there were a few guards keeping a lookout around the k.u.msusan Palace of the Sun, they couldn't spot the two hidden by the cloak of Invisibility.

"Hold on tight, okay?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"I will." (Doh Gah-Yun)

Yi Ji-Hyuk in turn held her hand tightly. If they somehow let go of the hands and lose each other's presence, she might end up being an eternal lost child in this place. Since she had not a drop of Mana in her, not even the Mana detection spell would be able to locate her.

Which meant he would have to go with casting a wide-area dispel magic, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what might happen if an unknown girl suddenly popped out right in the middle of the k.u.msusan Palace of the Sun.

Of course, as Yi Ji-Hyuk was here, she'd not turn into a Swiss cheese or something like that, but still, their mission would obviously become that much harder.

He shut his mouth tightly and walked into the k.u.msusan Palace of the Sun.

This sort of infiltration wasn't really his cup of tea, but as the other side was holding a hostage, raising a ruckus was indeed not a smart move. If he wanted to, blowing this building up to smithereens wouldn't even be an issue. But he didn't know where Park Yong-Hui was being kept, so staying under the radar and infiltrating quietly was the best course of action for everyone involved.

Unfortunately, things in life had this tendency of not working out exactly as planned.

Riiiiing~~….

"Hiiii-eeek!" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk's hand reached into his pocket like a streak of lightning and quickly put his phone to silent.

He should've set it to silent mode or vibration-only before coming in here….

"What was that??"

The guard soldiers rushed in their droves. Yi Ji-Hyuk hurriedly pulled Doh Gah-Yun in and held onto her tightly while standing dead still.

"Didn't you hear something just now?"

"It sounded like a hand phone, sir."

"A hand phone? There's no one here, so how can a hand phone make noise in this place?!"

"….My apologies."

A man who looked to be the senior officer of this group snorted derisively and scanned the vicinity before loudly shouting out.

"Be more mindful with your duties! We should've blocked the citizens from coming in here a long time ago. If someone did manage to enter, then don't forget that your necks will fly off next!"

"We shall remember, sir!"

"Now, go!"

"Sir!"

Once the surrounding soldiers went away, Yi Ji-Hyuk spat out a sigh of relief and lightly patted Doh Gah-Yun on her back.

"…Ng?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He sensed some kind of heat emanating from her.

"Hey, are you feeling sick somewhere?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk guessed where her forehead should be and felt around there next. He could feel Doh Gah-Yun burning up like a hot coal and lightly clicked his tongue.

"If you were feeling sick, you should've rested at home. Why did you try to come with me…." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"I, I'm not sick." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Shee! Keep your voice down." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"….Okay." (Doh Gah-Yun)

Yi Ji-Hyuk grasped the burning Doh Gah-Yun's shoulder and hurriedly moved towards the inside of the structure.

"For the time being, let's go inside. It should be safer in there." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"….."

She wordlessly followed after him.

They managed to sneak inside the k.u.msusan and after taking a good look at his new surroundings, Yi Ji-Hyuk began tutting softly again.

"They sure spent a hefty chunk in this place." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Their own citizens were dying of starvation outside, yet the interior was so lavishly decorated that the word ‘opulent' seemed thoroughly inadequate to describe it fully. Heck, the automatic shoe steriliser installed at the entrance was something he had never seen before, not even back in South Korea.

"This is why people up here are starving to death." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He just couldn't understand how North Korea still functioned as a nation.

Of course, it wasn't as if everyone in South Korea enjoyed a wealthy, fulfilling life. Lots of people there also worried about where their next meal was coming from. If only the government chose to divert more of the annual budget to their cause, their hunger issue might get cleared up pretty easily.

The difference between the two Koreas was that in the South, the budget was used in the places they were originally intended for.

If they decided to deify their dead leaders like how North Korea was doing and divert a ton of annual budget to that cause? A bloodbath would've raged on, that's for sure.

"Or, maybe not?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Don't know what you're talking about." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Don't worry about it. Just talking to myself." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk continued to walk forward.

"Hand." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Ng?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Inside. Fine to let go of hand." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"What will you do if you get lost?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Confident of following you." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"I'm telling you, it'll be a pain to find you if you get lost. This isn't South Korea. This isn't a place where a single phone call will get you a friendly police officer coming to pick you up and take you home. So, stop wasting time and stick close to me." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"………."

"Got it?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"…Yes." (Doh Gah-Yun)

Once she became obedient again, Yi Ji-Hyuk nodded his head and searched for a path leading to the underground floors. According to Rhee Jin-Cheol, Park Yong-Hui was imprisoned somewhere in the bas.e.m.e.nt of this structure.

"What a pain." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He didn't come here to rescue Park Yong-Hui out of some misguided comrades.h.i.+p or stuff like that. It's just that, he figured someone like Park Yong-Hui conveying the news instead of Rhee Jin-Cheol would hold far greater weight and impact, that was all.

If another witness was added to the

"Is it this way?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk walked down a flight of stairs going down.

"Hmm?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

The upstairs were decorated opulently, but now that they were in the bas.e.m.e.nt, even the lighting had gotten much dimmer and all semblance of decoration was thrown out the window.

No matter how much of the national budget they poured into this place, North Korea's current financial situation probably meant that they found it a bit too hard to garnish those spots that eyes couldn't easily reach.

"Only the exterior is all fancy and stuff." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

But then again, this was none other than the one and only North Korea, so they should be commended for the efforts they had put in for the s.h.i.+ny exterior, at least.

Yi Ji-Hyuk continued to seek out staircases that took him to lower and lower floors. Once he got to the third bas.e.m.e.nt floor, he could no longer find any other stairways going even lower.

"H-mm." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He scanned his surroundings.

This whole floor looked just too plain to serve as a prison. And also, he couldn't see anyone who might be prison guards here, too. It'd be hard to argue that someone was currently locked up in this place.

"Did they move him?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Subject of your search?" (Doh Gah-Yun)

Yi Ji-Hyuk replied to Doh Gah-Yun's query.

"I heard there's someone being imprisoned in this place. But, kinda looks like that might not be it? Maybe they moved him elsewhere after the incident from before." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Wait." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Ng?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He sensed Doh Gah-Yun distancing herself from him.

"If you get lost in here, you'll never be able to go back home. So don't go too far." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

She didn't reply.

He clicked his tongue and continued to observe his surroundings.

"Well, they still went and built bas.e.m.e.nt floors and everything. I guess they at least tried to build a proper structure." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Compared to what he heard about the Ryugyong Hotel's interior doing a wonderful impression of a desolate ghost town, the North Koreans seemed to have been much more thorough with this building, at the very least.

Well, the corpses of two men they wors.h.i.+pped as their G.o.ds were entombed in this place, so of course they would be meticulous, now wouldn't they?

This was one bizarre situation where the pair of dead guys were ensuring the stability of the current regime, so they probably had to be extra meticulous, even if they didn't want to.

"Here." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Ng?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Doh Gah-Yun called Yi Ji-Hyuk over to her position. He went to where her voice came from, and she spoke again after hearing his footsteps getting closer.

"s.p.a.ce, below." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Say it in a proper sentence, will ya?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"…There's an empty s.p.a.ce below." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Behind the pillar?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"B, e, l, o, w." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Fine, fine." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk tapped on the ground just below the wall.

He heard the dull hollow thuds and nodded his head before saying something.

"Uhm, you know, I can't tell what's what?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"…….."

When Doh Gah-Yun didn't say anything, Yi Ji-Hyuk chuckled awkwardly.

"You're supposed to laugh at a joke. You youngsters." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Ok, boomer." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Hul." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

If he were to count all the years he had lived so far, being called a boomer could qualify as some kind of a back-handed compliment, but for some reason, Yi Ji-Hyuk didn't feel all that great right now.

"Okay, so. We know there's an empty s.p.a.ce, but how do we get inside? Hmm." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

It'd be simple if he just went and destroyed the wall, but that would be too eye-catching. Even if he blocked off all the sound, any guards suddenly developing an urge to go on a patrol would discover the mess in an instant.

"Should we just pa.s.s through the wall?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk pressed his hand against the wall.

Wuuuooong…

A large black doorway was generated on the wall next.

"Yup, s.p.a.ce magic is still my forte, alright." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

He smirked and jumped into the doorway. Doh Gah-Yun too must've sensed him leaping in and followed suit without a shred of hesitation.

Wuuong…

The doorway led to a hole being generated on the ceiling. He dropped down from there and surveyed his new surroundings.

"Well, now this is the proper atmosphere I was talking about." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

It might have been the difference of only one floor, but the gloomy, dreary aura was thickly permeating this place. Yi Ji-Hyuk stared at the dark, near-lightless corridor and smirked softly.

Now this was getting interesting.

He began walking forward while checking out his surroundings.

"So, this must be that naked face thing." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

The lavish opulence upstairs was hiding such gloomy, dark inner workings. It was perfectly in line with North Korea's image….. No, hang on a second, since the North's outer image itself wasn't all that flashy to begin with, maybe that wasn't the correct a.n.a.logy?

"Can you sense any presence of humans?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"……." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Stop nodding your head and verbally answer me. You know I can't see you." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"….I can." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Alright, then. I'll leave it to you." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk sensed Doh Gah-Yun's presence step forward and followed after her.

"I better come up with an Ether-detecting magic spell soon." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Such a thing would be useless in Berafe since Mana detection solved everything over there, but well, the dude Yi Ji-Hyuk was searching for was basically a powerless civilian in this world. Humans of this world were formed with Ether in mind, so rather obviously, Mana detection couldn't pick them up.

Way back in the past when he was learning all sorts of skills he could get his hands on, Yi Ji-Hyuk was taught the a.s.sa.s.sination and ranger techniques, but alas, he never received a lesson on the ins and outs of a spy tasked with infiltrating somewhere.

In that sense, Doh Gah-Yun was proving to an indispensable help to him right now.

"This way." (Doh Gah-Yun)

The location he got to with her guidance was in front of a ma.s.sive steel door.

"Here?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Yes." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"You say there's someone behind it?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Yes." (Doh Gah-Yun)

Yi Ji-Hyuk scratched his chin while staring at the steel door.

"Weeeell, visual-wise, it does look like someone might be imprisoned here. But hey, you're sure about someone being imprisoned behind this thing? I mean, if we waltz into a guard post or something, that's gonna complicate things ma.s.sively, you know?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Uncertain whether a human is imprisoned or not." (Doh Gah-Yun)

"Really?" (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"Except that, breathing very faint. Not strange if it cuts out any time s…" (Doh Gah-Yun)

"I'm going in." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

There was no time to dilly-dally. Yi Ji-Hyuk created a Gate on the steel door before him and walked inside.

"Urgh." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

What greeted him after he went through the door was a man dangling in the air.

The man's hands must've been bound for quite a long time, because the ropes had dug deeply into his flesh to the point where his bones were almost showing, while the limp torso below were so full of wounds that not one single spot looked unharmed.

It was a mystery how anyone could stay alive in that sorry state.

"Crafty. They only hurt him on the outside." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Signs of careful torture, where the internal organs and muscle fibres were spared as much as possible, were abundant on this man's body. Wasn't Yi Ji-Hyuk a true expert on torture himself?

However, no matter how careful the torturers were, the bleeding remained too severe, and the torturing session must've started a while ago as evidenced by the victim's stamina almost reaching the rock bottom.

The presence of people prompted the man dangling in the air to open his eyes.

"…Comrade Rhee Ji-Hyuk." (Park Yong-Hui)

"Hey, ahjussi. Looks like you've lost some weight there. Well, if you get all patched up, you might even pa.s.s off as Mister Suave." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"….And what is this Mister Suave thing?" (Park Yong-Hui)

"A handsome man, obviously." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Even though Park Yong-Hui was dangling in the air, he still managed to crack a faint smile.

"You can still say that after seeing the state I'm in?" (Park Yong-Hui)

"Eiii, this is way better than your previous pot-bellied look, you know. Because now, there's this charismatic side to you." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"…Before I croak, please put me down first." (Park Yong-Hui)

"Sure thing." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk snapped his fingers, and the ropes tying up the wounded body were automatically cut off, releasing Park Yong-Hui to free-fall to the floor. However, his figure suddenly floated up, and serenely travelled to Yi Ji-Hyuk's front.

"Looks like Jin-Cheol has safely arrived in South Joseon." (Park Yong-Hui)

"He wanted you to be saved, ahjussi." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

"….And you somehow decided to humour him." (Park Yong-Hui)

"Let's just say it's my unpredictable whims." (Yi Ji-Hyuk)

Yi Ji-Hyuk didn't hesitate and opened a Gate. He still had a few quips he wanted to say, but Park Yong-Hui's wounds were too severe so the man's treatment should take the priority, or so he figured.

It was then, the large steel door slowly opened.

Fin.

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