Player Who Returned 10,000 Years Later

Chapter 72 – Rest (Part 1)

Editor: Cherish

— It worked out.
— The man, who spoke in a low voice, was in a dark room, holding a magic crystal in his hands.

He turned around, appearing void of emotion through the red mask on his face.

He directed his gaze to the priests, who bowed before him on one knee.

— Congratulations on your successful calling.

— From this moment on, the School promises to provide even more support.

— With support from the School, we will be able to start implementing the main part of the plan.

The priests continued to congratulate him on his successful attempt at summoning a demon.
The unknown in the red demon mask lightly nodded his head in response.

— Tell me more about the support they have offered.

— We will get pure, concentrated Magi.
There will be enough to make the cardinal even stronger so we may carry out our plan.

— Excellent, — said the red mask cardinal, sounding satisfied by this response.

(Reminder: We last saw this cardinal character about 20 chapters ago.
Last time he spoke with Dae Shik, tattooed face man, in the video recording that the spy passed to Hwaran.)

Even in his answer, there was passion and zeal.

No matter what the outcome was, the calling itself had been successful.
The condition set by the School has been successfully fulfilled, which means that he will receive a reward.

‘I never thought it would turn out this way.’

He frowned as he recalled the video viewed through the crystal in his hands.

It was, of course, a good thing that the calling had been successful, but he could not have imagined that ordinary Players would be able to defeat the demon with such ease.

‘I expected that at least the Hwaran Squad would suffer from him.’

He’d realized that Hwaran could be a major obstacle to their plan of destroying Korea.

That’s why he hoped that the Squad would get hurt.

But in the end, it turned out quite the opposite.

For some unknown reason, the demon whom they summoned with great difficulty began to behave strangely halfway through, and fell at the hands of Hwaran.

‘Why did the demon behave like that?’ He frowned, puzzled by the sudden change in behavior.

Orias had appeared and presented himself as a mighty demon, but only moments later, he hid his tail between his legs with a squeal like some kind of cowardly dog.

He hardly acted like a demon at all.

‘Is it because of Chae Young-ju?’

The most powerful Player in the cave at the time was Chae Young-ju of the Red Rose.

After a few seconds of reflection, the masked man shook his head, dismissing the idea.

He himself has crossed paths with Young-ju several times.

While she surpassed all the female Players in terms of strength, it was not enough to take down a mighty demon from Hell.

No, even if she is that strong, the demon would certainly try to fight her before fleeing, to save his pride.

‘Something’s wrong.’ He narrowed his eyes.

There had to be some kind of decisive factor that he simply didn’t know about.

But it was something that couldn’t be seen through the crystal’s recording.

‘Maybe it has something to do with the guy who raised Orias’ sickle at the end?’

He recognized that guy; that man had made a dangerous impression.

Rumors of the young man named Oh Kang Yu had, of course, reached his ears.

A rookie sponsored by Red Rose.
A Player with extraordinary talent.
No doubt that there would be gossip about someone like him.

‘Hmm…’ He let out a sigh, deep in thought.

Still, no matter how talented Oh Kang Yu could be, he was just a novice.
It has only been a month since the Red Rose Guild started sponsoring him.
During this time, he could not have become so strong that he could intimidate a demon called from Hell.

‘I have no idea.’

The demon’s behavior defied logical explanation.

‘There’s more we need to know.’ He frowned again, his eyes flashing as he decided there was not enough information to work with.

— There is more news, Cardinal.

— Speak.

— World Ranker Players have started to make their move.

Hearing the news about the World Rankers, the face of the unknown man visibly twisted, even underneath the mask.

It was not the fact that they began to act that angered him, but the fact that they were mentioned.

— Hmm.
.
.
.

Calming himself down, he leaned back in his chair.

The walls between the worlds have weakened, so the Devil’s Teachers were actively advancing their plans.
Of course their actions would catch unwanted attention.

Therefore, he was not at all surprised by the news he heard.

— Did you get any instructions from the School?

— Not yet.

— Not yet, you say… — The masked man’s eyes gleamed with irritation.

The lack of instructions was practically an instruction in itself.
He continued:

— Then we must hurry.
Our plans cannot be put on hold.
We will start with El Quero.

The name he uttered belonged to the monster that dwells in the Level S Gate in Suwon.

— Yes, sir! — The priests answered loudly, bowing to the floor.

Immediately after leaving the Gate, Kang Yu hopped onto Echidna and flew home.
Young-ju and Hwa Yeon, who refused to succumb to his persuasion of riding home together, went their separate ways.

When the two of them arrived home, Han Sol was already back from taking Si Hoon to the hospital.

And it wasn’t just Han Sol.

Eun Bi and Dae Su were with her.

They rose from their chairs and stared at Kang Yu, as if implying that they had a lot of questions to ask him.

(Editor’s Note: Reminder that their group was at the Gate when Kim Yeong Hoon – aka Si Hoon’s half-brother – of Mir Guild attacked them.
And then Kang Yu used Yeong Hoon as bait to lure out his father, Kim Jae Hyun.
About 10 chapters ago.)

He met their gaze with confidence and nodded his head.

— I’ll tell you everything tomorrow we go to visit Si Hoon.

Now that they, too, have gotten involved, there was no reason to keep hiding it from them.

When they’re all gathered at the hospital tomorrow, he will explain everything:

The fact that he gets support from Red Rose; that a pseudo-religion began to act in Korea; even that Kim Jae Hyun and his son were involved with the disappearance of Players to sacrifice them to the Devil’s Teachers.

***

— So what happened was… you heard the rumors about me, and you’ve been following me for a week?

— Yes.
As soon as I heard the rumors, I realized they were talking about you, Si Hoon.

— Where did those rumors even come from…

— The world of Players is small.
Not to mention, such attractive people have gathered in our party.
It would be strange if rumors didn’t spread, — Kang Yu replied calmly.

Of course, the rumors didn’t appear on their own.
But there’s no way he would tell them that he was the one who threw out Si Hoon as bait.

He was only saying what everyone expected to hear.

‘Besides, I’m not exactly lying.’

The plan had only succeeded because Si Hoon’s party truly was different from other parties.

First, the party members’ physical appearance was already eye-catching, and second, their abilities were outstanding.

— And you couldn’t tell us in advance? — Han Sol looked at him, feeling a little disappointed.

She knew, of course, that Kang Yu actually kept a lot of secrets to himself.

‘Most likely, this case is not the only one.’

She felt that Kang Yu was hiding even more secrets of great importance.

The girl thought that, despite their cohabitation, she still could not get close to him at all.

An incomprehensible sad feeling weighed on Han Sol’s heart.

— I’m sorry I made you worry.

— Mm… —  Han Sol let out a barely audible acknowledgement of his words.

He simply apologized without trying to make excuses, and the girl felt remorse.

She shook her head and started to apologize:

— No, no, it’s nothing.
Why did I suddenly… You must have had your reasons.

— Nonetheless, I made my family worried.
I can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I will try my best.

— Wh…what are you saying? Aa… — Han Sol was so flustered she couldn’t even finish her sentence.

Her heart was pounding at breakneck speed.
If she didn’t force herself to look normal, she’d be smiling like a fool right now.

The word ‘family’ uttered by Kang Yu firmly stuck in her head.

— Thank you… — She said it barely above a whisper, as if she’d lost her voice.

The moment was so sweet, it looked like there was some kind of pink shining aura around them.

— Kang Yu, here, — Echidna said, sitting down on his lap.

She held out the tangerines she had bought before they went to the hospital.

The guy grinned and took a tangerine.

— So hyung, what happened to those Devil bastards? — Dae Su asked.

— So far, we’ve dealt with some of them, but we still haven’t been able to track down their leader.

— Oh… And they really sacrificed people…?

— Yes.
And don’t forget, you almost fell into their clutches, too.

— Ugh, those vile creatures! — Dae Su stomped his foot, a disgruntled expression on his face.

If Dae Su’s angry face appeared in someone’s dreams, that dream would definitely be considered a nightmare.

‘You really don’t look human.’ Kang Yu restrained himself from saying it out loud.
Instead he said:

— In general, you should be more careful when hunting.
Who knows when they will start acting again.

— Understood.

— Here, take this.
— Kang Yu passed a transparent ball to each of them, which he had received from Young-ju.

— Kang Yu, what is this? — Si Hoon took hold of it and stared at it.

— This ball allows you to call from the Gate to the outside world.
If anything happens, call me right away.

— Thank you! — Si Hoon, appearing overwhelmed, clenched his fist around the ball.
— And Kang Yu… I have a question.

— I’ll answer it if I can.

— What happened to Kim Yeong Hoon and his father?

— They’ll spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Si Hoon fell silent.

— Don’t worry.
This time they went too far and committed an act that they will not be able to pay off with money.

Kidnapping Players and sacrificing them for a pseudo-religion.

Of course, they can try to fake an alibi, but Kang Yu won’t let that happen.

‘If necessary, I’ll even fake the evidence myself.’

Kang Yu had plenty of opportunities to do so.

— And… I accidentally found out about your situation…

— Ah…

— I heard that Kim Jae Hyun had a hand in your huge debts.
I’ll do my best to get you reimbursed for all the damage they’ve done.
And if I’m not mistaken, your mother is sick, so I will help and make sure she receives the best medical attention.

— Kang Yu… — Si Hoon’s mouth dropped wide open, shocked by what he just heard.

He trembled slightly, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

— Gh… thank you.
Really, thank you.
Kang Yu… you are my savior, — he said, almost sobbing.

‘Don’t say that.
Or else I’ll start to feel guilty.’

Kang Yu, remembering how he’d attacked Si Hoon and forcibly made him his subordinate, smiled awkwardly.

— Oh Kang Yu, you really are a good man…

‘Enough is enough.’

— I’m so lucky to have met you.

‘Sorry, I was wrong, I’m sorry.
Not that I know you better, I understand that I went too far by making you my subordinate.’

— I also want to call you hyung, like Dae Su.

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(Editor’s Note: i.e.
he’s expressing he wants to have a more intimate — not romantic ofc…yet? cough cough — relationship with Kang Yu.)

‘Why are you doing this to me?’

Kang Yu’s guilt was eating him alive.

No matter how calculating and cold he was, he still had feelings.

‘I feel like real trash.’