The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

The Girl Consumed by Madness (2)

The red-haired girl suddenly attacked me.

According to the ID in her wallet, her name appeared to be Kwon Sang-ah.

She made a huge leap and brought down a magic power-infused fist toward me.

Kwaaang-!

I leaned back and lightly dodged her punch.

But the floor struck by her fist cracked wide open, as if hit by a giant's iron mace.

'She's insane.'

She's insanely strong.

I don't usually use that phrase for regular kids, but this time was an exception.

Awakened ones of this age rarely display this kind of destructive power.

Just based on that brute force, she looked strong enough to take down even an elite monster from a C-rank gate.

'If it's just brute force, that is.'

As I avoided her punch, flames wrapped around the girl's hand.

It was as if an oil-soaked hand had touched a lighter, and her entire right arm began to blaze.

Hotter than I expected. Even though I increased the distance, I could feel the heat from here.

Whoosh—

As she thrust her fist, flames shot toward me.

It wasn't quite on the level of hell fire or anything, but dodging it easily gave me another impression.

It was pretty hot. As a new student at Hand, the major Hunter academy, it was natural for her to be at this level.

But what I wanted to say was something different.

'She's quite strong, even among new students.'

Not long ago, while registering, I'd gotten a gauge of the freshmen's ranks.

A peek with my Sight skill showed they were just so-so.

At best, I'd rate them just slightly above Ahn Seongwook, who used to play slap games in 1st grade.

But this girl, well...

It's like—she's in a different genre entirely.

No comparison with the others.

If there was one drawback...

"Kraaaagh!!"

The kid was completely out of her mind.

She'd totally lost her reason, firing off flames with a crazed face.

As I kept dodging the fire, she now charged straight at me to swing that fist.

Her movement was easy to predict, so dodging wasn't a problem, but the surrounding area turned to a sea of fire in an instant.

I figured this was getting nowhere, so I grabbed her arm.

"Wow, that's hot!"

It was hot at first, but I managed to neutralize the magic power in contact, so I could touch her.

And I could see the girl's blazing face up close.

"Grrr...!"

She made beast-like growls, looking at me as if I were prey she had to tear apart.

It looked less like rage burning her emotion and more like she was intoxicated, having lost her rationality.

The more I watched, the more suspicious I felt.

Just a little while ago, she'd told me—
to run away.

"Was this why you told me to run earlier?"

"Graaaagh!"

I didn't know the exact reason, but for some reason, the girl had lost her reason.

Not of her own will, but as if something had snatched away her self.

Otherwise, it didn't make sense to attack someone who came just to return her wallet.

I would have liked to keep things quiet if possible...

"Grrrrrk!!"

With a strange growl, she swung her other fist.

Whoosh—

At some point, flames had wrapped around that hand too, but I dodged it by a hair's breadth.

Now that she attacked first, I had no reason to just sit still.

Thunk—!

Wanting to silence her by any means, I punched the girl in the face.

With a loud impact, she flew several meters, rolling along the ground.

If I just let her keep swinging her magic power indiscriminately, I'd just keep taking hits.

"Krrrk!!"

The girl stood up and charged at me again.

Her power was impressive, but her movements were too predictable.

Apart from a few grazes, there was no way I'd allow myself to be hit.

"That's enough."

After dodging, I countered with a cross punch, then hit her solar plexus with a knee kick.

Again, an explosive sound rang out.

She seemed to be in significant pain as she caught her breath.

"Guh! Kuhk!!"

She endured it out of sheer grit and reignited the flames, but I immediately turned and dodged, landing an elbow to the back of her head.

The girl seemed dazed for a moment.

I followed up with a kick to the solar plexus, sending her flying.
She crashed into a huge wall.

Kwang—!

The tower of junked cars collapsed instantly.

This might have looked like I was just beating on a kid, but I was actually holding back.

Even so, considering my adjustment, the power felt far too weak now.

Only now, after the Yong-in Gate incident, could I truly feel how much my strength had decayed.

Even so, by now I expected she would be unconscious, so I relaxed a bit.

Why on earth was that kid rampaging like this?

It just didn't make sense to turn into a beast over something as trivial as losing a wallet.

That's what I was thinking when it happened.

"Hrrrk...!"

The girl rose again, pushing aside car debris.

A chill ran down my spine at the still-growling girl.

It was as if she wasn't finished yet, like she was clinging to my ankle, refusing to let go.

"Grrrrrr!"

Again, the more I looked, the stranger it became.

The girl continued to look at me with a crazed, vacant stare. It felt as if I were facing a real beast, not a person.

Then, a peculiar magic power began leaking from her, and her body started to change.

At first, I thought she was a Mutamit, a demon-kind like myself. After all, she had horns.

But the truth was, they weren't demon-kind's horns.

"Grrrr!"

Scales began sprouting on the girl's body. Wings jutted from her back, and a reptilian tail appeared.

Mutamit are a race based on beastkin, like something out of a fantasy story.

However, even among beastkin, she was an aberration.

〈Dragonborn〉

As she transformed, heat haze rose up around her.

Her blood-red eyes showed that instinct had completely consumed her reason.

Like beastkin, mutamit take on characteristics of the animals they're based on.

Of those, dragons always love to fight and their adrenaline constantly runs wild.

"So this was the reason for everything."

And the more a dragon gets excited in battle, the stronger it becomes... and the more it loses its reason.

Just like now.

The heat she exuded melted every metallic object that made up the nearby cars.

Covered head to toe in molten lava, a violent dragon had awakened.

****

—Sang-ah. You must become happy.

That was what her mother said before she collapsed.
She was the only person who ever stroked her red hair or didn't mind the strange horns that marked her inhuman heritage.
Kwon Sang-ah only had the will to live because mother was there.
The rest of the family never treated her as a person.

—Don't show yourself unless I call for you.

That's what her father always said whenever he saw her.

—All of us have black hair. Why are you the only redhead?
—It's always people who look like you among the Awakened who get into big trouble.
—Don't get on Father's nerves. Get lost.

The one called my brother would always say that whenever he saw me.
My father never let me sit at the same dinner table, and my brother treated me like livestock every time he saw me at home.
There was one more family member.

—What are you looking at, you beast?
—What's the use of you studying? Just stay out of sight in a corner.

She was her father's wife and her brother's mother—but she wasn't her birth mother.
She was the so-called "legal wife," while her brother and her were half-siblings.

Because of them, she never had a voice in the family.

—Welcome home, Guildmaster!

That's what the household staff always shouted at my father.
He was supposedly the Guildmaster of one of the four great guilds in Korea.
According to the "legal wife," he was a tycoon with wealth, political power, and strength all at once.
My brother was also known as a powerful Hunter within the guild.
He wasn't as strong as Father, but they said he'd soon reach S-rank.
By comparison, I had nothing.

—Hey, Kwon Sang-ah! Do you have any money?

Not just her family—even her school friends were the same.

They always borrowed things and never returned them.

Sometimes they outright stole money without asking.

Once, someone even stole her wallet, and that time, she almost beat them up.
But... she had to endure.

—If you want your mother treated, refrain from unnecessary actions.

That's what her father said.

If Kwon Sang-ah acted out, the Hwasan Guild's reputation might tank.

Once, when her so-called brother's harassment and abuse were exposed, the Hwasan Guild's reputation absolutely tanked.

It took a lot of work to clean up that mess, and it would be even more trouble if she caused an incident on top of that.

As long as she kept that in mind, neither her nor mother would be harmed.

Her Mother, her one and only true family, was precious to her.

The only photo Kwon Sang-ah had with her was the one inside her wallet.

But at school, all the kids ever did was steal it from her.

Eventually, they even messed with the photo... and that's when everything blew up.

—M-monster!
—I'm sorry! I'll never take it again!
—Aaaaaah!!

Had her anger crossed the threshold? Suddenly, she lost her reason and ran wild.

Scales and wings sprouted from her body as heat haze rose up around her.

With a fiendish gaze, she started screaming like a monster, and the children were engulfed by terror.

[A new trait has blossomed.]
['Berserker' (8-Star Rank)]
—When enraged, your attack/defense/agility rise to the maximum. However, you lose your reason. As your mastery grows, you will be able to control your rage.

A notification window popped up, but in her crazed state, she didn't see it.

All she had was pure hatred toward the ones who upset her.

Kwon Sang-ah rampaged out of control as a berserk dragonborn.

If a Hunter-turned magic power instructor hadn't directly subjugated her, the damage would have been huge.

The staff were shocked the entire time they were suppressing her.

—Not even a real monster.

Though not the highest-ranked instructors, they were respected for real combat experience.

Even so, all of them ended up bloodied in the process.

Thanks to this, Kwon Sang-ah became famous even before entering Hand, and no one ever stole from her again.

—Hahaha! Well done.

To her surprise, her father actually praised her when he heard about it. It was the first compliment she'd ever heard from him.

Despite her brother and her both causing trouble, she wasn't punished because she was still an immature Awakened.

Since there were others like her, public opinion was divided.

There was one more reason for praise.

—My eyes weren't wrong after all.

That was because the trait she awakened was an incredible 8-star rank power.

That pleased her father enough to quell his anger, but of course, he still didn't accept her as family.

He was only pleased that she'd awakened such a great trait—nothing more.

—If you're upset, become stronger. Stronger than your brother.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Winter break of sixth grade approached.

Kwon Sang-ah came to register for Hand, but as expected, no one accompanied her.

Seeing other kids with their parents made her feel left out.

'Will this be the same as always?'

When she went berserk as a 'Berserker' for the first time, her heart shook terribly.

It was the guilt of knowing others got hurt because of her.

There were many more times when she'd shown signs of losing control, but she barely managed to suppress it.

'I don't want to become like that...!'

She remembered the first time she completely lost it.

Her whole body recoiled with horror at the sight of herself turning into a blood-crazed beast.

But this was Hand.

A place where Awakened with powerful traits like her gathered, and where she could be taught to control that power.

Though it was thanks to her detestable father's connections, she had to attend here if she wanted to control her outbursts.
But then...

'It's gone!'

Her wallet, which she thought was in her pocket, was gone.

She remembered having it when she entered the registration tent.

But after wandering around the city for a bit, it disappeared.

'Was it... him?'

One person sprang to mind.

The boy she bumped into at the entrance to the tent.

Don't pickpockets always bump into you, say "Sorry," and then move on naturally?

'No!'

It was something precious related to her mother.

The moment she realized it had been stolen—

Thump—

It started again.

Spurred by the anger of losing her wallet, that trait was trying to manifest.

That mustn't happen, no matter what.

If it manifested here, packed with kids and parents, disaster would follow.
She hurriedly slipped away to the empty junkyard.

For a while, she'd have to suppress the rage where no one could see her.

But then...

"Hey! You dropped your wallet!"

It was that boy.

The boy she'd bumped into earlier had come to find her, to return her wallet.

Not a pickpocket, just an ordinary boy—she was filled with regret.

But it was already too late.

"Don't come any closer...!"

"Huh?"

"I said, don't come any closer!"

She failed to suppress her rampage.

When this happened, she would attack anyone in sight, indiscriminately.

That's why she'd picked somewhere with no one around.

"It's dangerous, so run away!"

"...?"

As she struggled to remain sane, a thought crossed her mind.

The teachers who tried to stop her when she first went out of control, and ended up covered in blood.

They were seasoned Awakened, so managed to survive, but that boy could be hurt much worse.

In the worst case...

"Hurry!!"

He might die.

But the boy, not understanding, just stood there blankly.
She pictured the worst future—her hands stained with his blood.

In the end, Kwon Sang-ah lost her reason and lunged at the boy... screaming inside for someone, anyone, to stop her.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Author-nim really likes to write characters with extremely terrible backstories...
That's 3...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】