Memoirs of the Returnee - Chapter 278



Only Krnovel

Episode 278

What is emotion (4)

Late at night. A dark, abandoned factory on the outskirts of the capital city of Edsilla.

There I met a new team member candidate, ‘Ruin’.

“I… … I… … .”

Ruin trembled as if the space itself was scary. I stretched out my arms to him.

“This is the hideout.”

“… … A hideout?”

“Yes. No one can enter without my permission.”

This is a hideout built by Growl himself. There are quite a few magical spells installed, so any uninvited guests will die trying to enter.

“Uh… … For a hideout… … ”

Exactly-!

I snapped my fingers. Then, the door of the container box in the corner of the abandoned factory opened. Ruin’s eyes widened as he looked inside.

“Oh, no!”

A personal space filled with colorful, twinkling lights, high-end computers, and mana servers.

“This is a team-only information room.”

This is where Ruin will work in the future.

“From here, Mr. Ruin can gather information on the situations and conditions of our team members and relay the solutions and information they need through the hotline. In addition, Team David will also be included in Mr. Ruin’s area.”

That means I’m going to do all the information and intelligence work I was doing.

Ruin nodded hesitantly.

“Oh, I understand.”

“Also, do you know Jake?”

“Jake?!”

He covered my mouth with a face of astonishment.

“Yes, Jake.”

“I know! You’re the Dark Web Black Scale! You’re my role model!”

Living as if he were living on the Internet, Growl has grown to become someone’s role model.

I pointed to the container.

“There is a hotline to Jake on this computer.”

“!”

Ruin’s eyes grew wide once more. He looked like he was going to burst.

“Then maybe… Mr. Jake too?”

“Yes, one of my team members.”

“Huh, gasp… … .”

Ruin stumbled and leaned back against the container, his limbs shaking and trembling like a baby deer.

“If there is something you cannot do alone, please communicate with Jake and resolve it. Of course, there is a limited ‘whitelist’ of things that Mr. Ruin must cooperate with.”

Whitelist means ‘a list of teams that can use information’. As of now, it is obviously only the Bellmore team and the David team.

“I, I wonder if I can do it well.”

“If you try hard, you will succeed. You have talent.”

Ruin would be an amazing coder.

Even if you don’t know as much as the developer who created [Bedondon], it means that he has risen to the level of ‘implementing’ the code he wrote to the world.

“Yes, yes… … .”

“Well then, I’m off. This is your space now, so feel free to use it however you like. Food, water, drinks, and nutritional supplements are all provided.”

At least three months’ worth of food. Talented coders hate going outside.

“Where, where are you going?”

Ruin asked.

“I have something else to do. Jake will give you the details.”

“Ugh… … Jake… … .”

Ruin, who had turned around blankly, sat down on the chair with an expression on his face as if welcoming some god.

***

I came to see Professor Yuhains again because of the rumor that Jahanna was seriously ill and admitted to Libra Medical Center.

“There’s no problem, right?”

“Patient’s personal information cannot be disclosed.”

Yuhanes was indeed a big shot.

But honestly, I don’t think she has any illness. She’s a very healthy person.

I came here only for my own purpose.

“hmm.”

I stared at Yuhains. Yuhains met my eyes calmly.

“I wonder why Princess Jahanna was hospitalized.”

“… … If you’re that worried, go and ask them yourself.”

I shrugged my shoulders at Yuhains answer.

“If I get close, you might feel burdened.”

“Why?”

Yuhains asked back. I scratched the back of my neck, pretending to be shy for no reason.

“Well, just… … more than that. It’s not a big deal, right?”

He asked, pretending to be worried.

Mimicking emotions is now easier than ever.

Of course I feel guilty. Because I am not just deceiving the person who is treating me, I am using them.

Yuhains said.

“You were the thirty-fifth.”

“… … The thirty-fifth?”

“There were that many Libra people who came looking for me. There were also informants from other families who pretended to be patients and came looking for me.”

Of course, not only Jahanna, but also Jedrick, Jade, Zia, several elders, other families other than Libra, and even the Cartel would have come looking for them.

“They seem to be more interested in other things than the health of the entire Jahanna clan. Unlike you.”

“… … .”

I pretended to be struck dumb for a moment, to be speechless.

“I heard that a cancer specialist professor has become your attending physician. It would be strange not to be worried… … . More than that.”

I glanced at Yuhains’s complexion.

My hair is quite dry, reaching down to my shoulders. My skin is also flaky. I also have quite dark circles under my eyes.

“Are you tired?”

I let out a small laugh. Maybe it was because of Jahanna.

“… … .”

Yuhanes, of course, kept his mouth shut. He did not want to reveal any information related to the patient.

I let out a small sigh.

“That’s just the way he is. If there’s something he wants, if there’s something that resonates with him, he’ll never give up.”

Yuhanes’ mouth was still tightly shut.

“But he’s not a bad person. Rather… … he keeps getting better.”

It’s getting better.

That’s absolutely true.

At least she is much better now than she was before her regression. Compared to her who used to kill people like Suranachara, she is lovable.

“Are you not going to tell me?”

Yuhains asked. I tilted my head.

“What is it?”

“‘thee.”

“… … .”

About me.

I think I know what that means.

“Well, wouldn’t that not work?”

Yuhans looked at me. His eyes seemed to want an explanation.

“I’m a burden. Princess Jahanna has a lot to do and a long way to go. You can’t get in her way.”

load.

That’s what a limited-time life is like.

In the first place, no human being can be eternal, but the painful thing is that we cannot spend time with them.

That’s why it’s a burden.

“I can’t cause trouble even though I know everything.”

I woke up.

“Well, anyway. I’ll go.”

Yuhans looked at me intently, but said nothing else.

He is a man who lost his companion to the same disease as me.

I am a person with the same disease as her companion.

Even though they seem to be in similar situations, they are actually very different. In the end, they are complete opposites. I will die, and he will live… …

“… … Rather than a nuisance.”

Yuhains caught me.

“The happiness of the moments we spent together was much greater.”

I looked back at him.

“If suffering had overcome happiness, I would have already taken my own life.”

Yuhains continued speaking calmly.

“Even that would be a waste. If I die, I won’t be able to think of her.”

“… … .”

I pondered his words for a moment.

A person who lives to remember the dead. A person who lives to smell the scent of love in a world without love.

Can Jahanna become like Yuhans?

“Hmm. That could be the case.”

He closed the door with a faint smile.

***

[New Frontier Short Selling Operation] is currently in progress.

The Gedler team is building up their operation, and if they get it right, they’ll break the news that New Frontier is a debt-ridden company funded by Bern’s slush funds.

But I don’t know if that was… … Bern induced it, or if it was just fate.

In [New Frontier], a pioneering team dispatched to make up a story discovers a crystal cave in the North Pole.

It was a pioneering effort worth tens of billions of renminbi.

Jedrick was hit pretty hard by this, as he lost hundreds of millions of Ren through short selling.

So, after this operation is over, Gedler’s position will also become unstable.

Then, until then, I’ll just do what I have to do…

“──Zion! Here!”

This is a coffee shop in the world of [Bedondon].

Solliet waved at me from the coffee shop. She was with Sieric and Sierin, disguised as ordinary people.

“Why are you so late~?”

Sierin asked. Sieric narrowed his brows in disapproval.

“I’m sorry. Something came up.”

“Anyway, sit down. I have something to say.”

I sat down next to Soliet and asked her quietly.

“What were you talking about?”

“I shared some very important information about Nightmare.”

Sierin nodded at Soliet’s words.

“Nightmare… … Soliet. Where did we end our conversation~?”

“It was from ‘Eternal Life’.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Sierin said, tapping my shoulder with her hand.

“I heard the previous story from Soliet, and I’ll talk about it again from now on. First of all, ‘Nightmare’ theoretically lives forever. That is, in the form of a parasite on the host.”

“… … But how did you know that?”

I asked Sierin. Sierin frowned.

“Aventajer, the former chairman’s family? Don’t ignore their information power, will you?”

“Ah… … yes.”

Well, if you look at the families that can compete with Libra, Aventager is included.

“Anyway. This nightmare is a very imperfect being. It’s as if… …it escaped from a laboratory.”

“Are you talking about the laboratory?”

Soliet’s eyes widened.

“Yeah. Look.”

Sierin handed me some test paper.

“The autopsy results are from Felix, the host of the Nightmare.”

I looked back at Soliet. Soliet smiled bitterly and explained.

“The Aventajer family collected Felix’s body.”

“……ah.”

“If you look at it, the structure of the corpse itself is very imperfectly maintained. It looks like it’s about to die. The nightmare forced it to continue its life activities.”

Sierin rested her hand on her chin.

“I think this nightmare. It seems like a byproduct of some research. Or more of a failure?”

That makes a lot of sense.

Solliet also nodded seriously.

“But, what kind of research specifically did you do to get this?”

“What do you mean? I told you that I was forcing myself to continue living~”

Sierin wrinkled her nose as if she was frustrated.

“Eternal life.”

“… … .”

Soliette was frozen, and I pricked up my ears quietly.

This woman, Sierin, surprisingly knows a lot. Her insight and intuition are also quite good.

Was she always like this?

Solliet asked.

“What kind of family studies eternal life?”

“We have to find it now~ There are so many entangled families. First─”

Sierin smiled faintly and poked Solliet.

“The House of Arcne.”

“… … Our family?”

Solliet looked surprised. Cierin nodded and pointed to her chest.

“Next, Aventager.”

“……yes?”

“There were such records from our great-grandfather’s time~ If we exclude all these things, you might start to doubt them for no reason, right? That’s why I’m telling you.”

Sierin, who had been snickering, hardened her expression again. Then she looked at me.

“There is also Libra among the families. At least eight great families are intertwined… … .”

***

Same time.

Jahanna, who visited the cemetery, is looking at the back of Yuhans. He is quietly laying flowers in front of a woman’s grave.

“……hmm.”

But I got a little tired of just looking at it, so I walked over and stood next to it.

“It was cancer?”

Jahanna asked Yuhanes. Yuhanes got up without saying a word.

Jahanna was thrilled.

“Is this also the patient’s personal information?”

“… … .”

That’s what it looks like.

Jahanna sighed. She looked at the same grave as Yuhanes.

[Cerine Eril Daisy]

“Was it painful? When this woman died.”

“… … Every moment was painful.”

Surprisingly, Yuhans answered. Jahanna raised her eyebrows.

“To what extent?”

Yuhans looked back at her.

“Your life will fall apart. Everything you knew will fall apart and be rebuilt. You will never be able to go back to the way it was before.”

“… … This is fucking crazy.”

Jahanna laughed vainly.

“Why didn’t you take preventive measures? If you got that disease, you would die, of course.”

“There is no such prevention.”

Yuhans smiled faintly. It was the first time Jahanna had seen the professor smile.

“If there is a preventive measure, the best preventive measure is not to love people so much.”

Ss …

Suddenly a wind blew. Jahanna’s hair swayed gently.

“Ordinary people like you don’t suffer from such things. We don’t.”

A sneer appeared at the corner of her mouth.

“Libra. Libra is the one who controls everything. It’s easier than anything to control just emotions.”

Yuhans looked at her askance.

“… … I thought so too, but when it actually happens, it turns out it’s not like that.”

“Huh. F*ck.”

Jahanna raised her middle finger. Yuhans looked at it intently and nodded.

“I will give you advice as a person, not as a doctor.”

“What advice?”

“Get as far away as possible from Zion Askar.”

“… … ?”

Yuhains said.

“If it is for his sake, stay as far away as possible.”

Jahanna thought.

Is it because a strange passion arose in front of the tomb? The professor suddenly became crazy and started talking nonsense.

“If it doesn’t seem possible, if it just won’t work… … ”

Yuhans said, staring into Jahanna’s eyes.

“Love without regrets.”

Her mouth fell open.

But Yuhains’s retarded words still had one word left.

“When you acknowledge my love, come to me.”

Jahanna looked at Yuhans quietly and laughed in vain.

“… … Isn’t this guy crazy?”