Chapter 24: To Home (4)

There were uninvited guests in the house I had returned to with such difficulty.

“There’s no water! No water! Because of whom?”

“That’s why I said we should use it sparingly. And we all used it together…”

The loud chatter of several men carried beyond the main gate.

“Hyungnim. Perhaps acquaintances…”

I shook my head at Jang Hoseop’s question.

He looked at my face and gulped dryly.

“So what are you going to do? Go or not?”

“Should we go? Go?”

I could understand it logically.

We had also entered random places to scavenge and rest.

Those men were probably the same.

They probably just found an intact and safe place and came in.

“Still, going out now is a bit…”

“We’ve cleared the way anyway. Ah, this cowardly b*stard.”

But understanding it logically didn’t mean I could forgive it.

“Are they crazy? Making this much noise?”

Hearing Jang Hoseop’s mumble, I pushed the main gate.

The gate, which I always kept locked, simply opened.

I stepped into the small yard and confirmed that a first-floor window was broken.

I took a deep breath and headed for the front door.

Click.

My house doesn’t have a digital door lock.

I inserted the key and turned it.

“Huh? What’s that?”

At the sound of the lock disengaging, the men’s voices abruptly stopped.

I opened the door and went inside.

Jang Hoseop vanished smoothly, and the other party members simply followed me in.

“Who are you?”

Four men were gathered in the first-floor living room.

Two were standing, and two were sitting on the sofa.

I quickly scanned the surroundings.

Fortunately, the furniture, picture frames, and other things were intact.

“The owner.”

“What?”

What annoyed me was that those b*stards were all wearing shoes.

The wooden floor, old but always kept clean, was a mess.

The windowsill was covered in messy footprints.

Several pairs of shoes were placed in front of the stairs leading to the second floor.

The kitchen was full of piles of trash.

I could guess how these humans had been using my house.

“Hey, what do we do?”

At my answer, all three men looked at one man.

The man sitting on the sofa.

He stood up.

He was taller than me.

He seemed to be around 190 cm, and had a good build.

“Are you the owner, mister?”

I showed him the house key and pointed to a picture frame placed on one side.

It was a photo taken with my mother before she passed away.

“Hmm…”

The man pondered.

Was he in his late teens or early twenties?

The four of them seemed like friends.

This man with the cauliflower ears standing before me looked a bit worn down, though.

“You know, right? The current situation. Monsters appearing and all that.”

Cauliflower Ears pointed to the green blood on his clothes and spoke.

“We cleared out the monsters around here.”

I did well to hold back my anger.

Seeing their reaction, it seemed I could persuade them with words.

“Hey. F*cking pretty.”

“Exactly. What is she?”

The friends of Cauliflower Ears muttered quietly.

They were staring blankly at Lee Yoona.

“Ah, shut up. We’re talking.”

“Huh? Oh, ah. Sorry.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Cauliflower Ears snapped at his friends, then glanced over at my side as well.

He checked Mr. Lee Jangsu, Aunt Sujeong, and even Lee Yoona.

Then, with a confident expression, he met my eyes again.

“In a way, it seems like we protected your house.”

“So you think.”

“Yes. That’s what I think.”

I maintained a blank expression and pointed to the window.

“There’s a cart in the yard.”

“What cart?”

“I’ll offer a reward. There’s food and cigarettes in the cart.”

The friends of Cauliflower Ears excitedly checked outside the window and returned.

“Hey, hey! It’s really there. It’s full.”

“Wow, sh*t. This mister is awesome.”

“There’s water too. We don’t have to go out, right?”

I hated seeing those guys acting so freely.

They came up to Cauliflower Ears and spoke, seeming not to care that I was standing there.

“You’re giving us all of it, right?”

“Yes.”

That’s how it is.

People keep their distance from strangers unless it’s unavoidable.

They unconsciously try not to invade others’ space.

But there are people who can’t do that.

Humans who don’t care who is around them.

This tendency is especially prominent when they have their own side with them.

These guys are like that right now.

One of the men swung his arm excitedly, and I quickly stepped back slightly as it seemed about to hit me.

They think we’re not dangerous.

No, it’s more than that; they’re looking down on us.

“Leave the house in return.”

These uninvited guests are stressful from start to finish.

Their words and actions, their arrogant expressions and tone.

Still, I endured it to the end and spoke.

“Now? At this hour?”

“No, where are we supposed to go?”

“This house is nice…”

At my request to leave, the friends of Cauliflower Ears immediately protested.

Cauliflower Ears silently looked at Lee Yoona and then answered.

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

“There are quite a few intact houses nearby.”

“I like it here.”

Thinking I could persuade them with words was my delusion.

Indeed, there are many things in the world that don’t go my way.

---

The claim of Cauliflower Ears and his friends was this.

They wanted to use this house together.

I tried to persuade them.

I thought giving them the supplies in the cart was enough, but they considered it a natural reward.

They wanted more.

And the conversation started to take a strange turn.

“Ah, I’m hungry. Can’t we talk after eating?”

“Right. Should we check the cart?”

Cauliflower Ears nodded.

He already thought the cart was theirs.

“Excuse me. How old are you? Are you older than us, noona?”

“What’s your name?”

The b*stards approached Lee Yoona and started hitting on her.

Ah, one of them is relatively quiet.

Lee Yoona ignored their words with a blank expression.

“Hello? Are you deaf?”

“Hehehe. It’s because you’re coming on too strong.”

Two of the guys kept snickering as if they were drunk.

“Really? Ah, sh*t. That makes me feel bad.”

“So what are you going to do about it? What can you do?”

“There are things I can do. Especially now.”

They were speaking in a playful tone, but those kids were threatening her.

That the joke might not end as just a joke.

Lee Yoona ignored the men’s words to the end and looked at me.

“Huh? Does something come out if you look over there?”

“You’re being completely ignored.”

“Wow… I think I’m really going to get hurt?”

I nodded to Lee Yoona.

Meaning, endure it.

Because I was enduring it too.

Gurgle.

But a stream of water rose from behind Lee Yoona’s back.

Was my intention misunderstood?

Swoosh.

It was instantaneous.

Lee Yoona splashed water in the men’s faces.

Stab.

At the same time, she drew her knife and swung it.

The blade lodged in the neck of the man who had been shoving his face at her.

‘What the.’

Lee Yoona’s movements were fast and precise.

There was no hesitation, and her method was excellent.

Just like when I first met her.

But I didn’t like the result.

“Jang Hoseop!”

I don’t like it, but it can’t be helped.

The deed was already done.

Almost simultaneously with her splashing the water, I threw a punch at the jaw of Cauliflower Ears.

Thud.

Cauliflower Ears fainted and collapsed.

Jang Hoseop deactivated his invisibility, sprang out, and slit one man’s throat.

“Huh, huh?”

I raised my axe and looked at the remaining man.

“Kneel.”

“What? Ah, yes, yes. Please spare me.”

Jang Hoseop handcuffed the kneeling man.

He also covered his eyes and mouth.

I suppressed my surging anger and restrained Cauliflower Ears.

“Lee Yoona.”

“Yes…”

Was it because of my expression?

Lee Yoona answered in a dejected voice.

As I approached her, Mr. Lee Jangsu shielded Lee Yoona.

“This is my house.”

“What? Yes… That’s right.”

There was only one reason I endured.

Because I didn’t want to dirty this precious space any further.

Lee Yoona had turned that effort into nothing.

“My house, I said.”

“Yes…”

“You.”

I was so angry that words didn’t come out easily.

I pointed to the blood-soaked floor with my hand.

“Hyungnim.”

Jang Hoseop interjected.

I looked at Jang Hoseop’s face and then managed to turn away.

I know it too.

That the fundamental cause lies with these uninvited guests.

“Mister. I’ll wipe it quickly. I…”

I heard Lee Yoona’s tearful voice from behind.

---

I returned home after four days.

A distance that would normally have taken two or three hours on foot, took me several days to finally cover.

It was a life-threatening journey.

Nevertheless, there was a reason I absolutely had to return.

Creak.

I opened the master bedroom door.

I didn’t go in, but checked the wall area with my eyes.

“Hoo…”

I let out a sigh of relief.

The master bedroom is clean compared to the living room.

There’s something I want to go in and check myself right away, but I hold back.

Because my hands and body are dirty right now.

I want to clean myself up and then check it alone when no one will disturb me.

The reason I absolutely had to return to this place.

“Hoseop.”

“Yes? Ah, yes. Hyungnim.”

Jang Hoseop was startled when I called him without his family name.

His help was also significant in getting this far.

So I just called him by his first name.

“Let’s move those guys to the yard.”

When I was climbing the hill road, I was excited.

When I arrived in front of the main gate, that feeling plummeted to the ground.

It’s because of those bstards.

The joy, excitement, and happiness of returning to my home.

Those bstards ruined it.

“Yes, sir!”

Jang Hoseop answers energetically.

Lee Yoona is watching my expression.

“Ughhmm.”

The man attacked by Jang Hoseop died instantly.

The man whose neck was stabbed by Lee Yoona was still breathing thanks to Aunt Sujeong’s first aid.

We dragged one corpse and three men out to the yard.

“What should we do?”

“I need to know their skills.”

They ruined my precious thing.

So I will ruin their precious things too.

“You heard him, right? Tell us your skills. It would be better for you to tell us nicely.”

Jang Hoseop activates ‘Lie Detection’ and asks the trembling man.

Fortunately, he cooperated obediently.

“So this person breaks things he holds, and your skill is a search type, right? With your eyes? That one over there gets stronger when he holds a weapon.”

“Yes, yes. That’s right. Hyungs. Please spare me.”

Jang Hoseop looks at me.

They all awakened good Fundamental Skills.

“I’ll take it from here.”

Still, it doesn’t matter.

There’s nothing more to ask.

“Yes. Then, shall I go inside and tidy up the house a bit?”

“Yeah. Ah, don’t touch the master bedroom. I’ll do that.”

“Yes, sir!”

Jang Hoseop went into the house.

I gripped the axe.

Thwack.

“Kkeueueueup!”

I struck the wrist of the unconscious Cauliflower Ears with the blunt side of the axe.

Cauliflower Ears woke up and screamed.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.

I keep striking.

Even if bones break, I keep hitting.

After crushing both wrists like that.

I untied the cloth covering his eyes and ripped off the tape on his mouth.

“You fcking… fcking b*stard. You… Kuaaaaargh!”

Cauliflower Ears thrashed desperately.

I stepped on his ruined wrist and spoke.

“Watch carefully.”

I approach the man who had cooperated obediently.

The man who was already dead and this man.

In crude terms, these two were at least less annoying.

Whoosh. Crack.

I brought the axe down on his neck, killing him instantly.

I don’t have much time, so I’ll pick and choose.

“Uh…”

Cauliflower Ears, despite his pain, watched with wide eyes.

Next is the man whose neck was stabbed by Lee Yoona.

“Don’t come…”

The man, lying down and pressing the stabbed area, looked at me.

He seems to have the energy to speak.

This time, I again aim at the b*stard with the blunt side of the axe.

They must have many precious things too.

But right now, wouldn’t their own bodies be the most precious?

Thwump.

“Kuaaaaargh!”

I started by mincing the bstard’s toes.

The bstard who had hit on Lee Yoona writhed in pain.

Then, the hand he was pressing to his neck fell away, and blood gushed from the wound Lee Yoona had inflicted.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.

The man didn’t last long.

Ten toes. Five fingers.

That was it.

No more reaction.

After killing two men, I looked at Cauliflower Ears.

“Now it’s your turn.”

I raised the axe again to destroy the precious things of Cauliflower Ears.

---

Among the four uninvited guests, the aura of Cauliflower Ears was the strongest.

Stronger than Jang Hoseop’s but weaker than Kang Hyeseon’s, he seemed to be around Level 12.

So the b*stard lasted a long time.

“Please… please kill me.”

The bstard who initially begged to be spared now asked to be killed.

His arrogant tone had also changed to a polite one.

The bstard’s hands and feet were tattered.

“What level are you?”

Suddenly, I wondered how accurate my estimations of level based on aura size were.

“Cough… 11.”

“Ah, I was wrong.”

Kang Hyeseon might be a bit lower level than I thought.

“I was wrong. So please stop…”

Saying “I was wrong” is useless now.

That’s what you say when asking for forgiveness at home or school.

If you do something wrong, that’s just the end of it.

I have no relationship with Cauliflower Ears, and there is no order or rules here.

So I raised the axe again.

“Now for the big bones.”

I had broken all the bstard’s small bones.

I’ll start again from the shins.

Then, when I struck the bstard’s core.

Cauliflower Ears’ eyes flew wide open in extreme pain.

“Kkeueueok.”

He died.

It seems a lot of damage had accumulated.

This is done.

“Hoseop! Jang Hoseop!”

“Yes, Hyungnim! Coming out!”

We brought the luggage from the cart in through the broken window.

We loaded the four corpses onto the cart and left it on the road.

“Hyungnim. The cleaning is mostly done. The second floor was clean. Ah, I didn’t go into the master bedroom.”

“Yeah. You worked hard.”

After extracting the Mana Stones, I returned home.

Bloodstains, shoe prints, and such were cleanly erased.

Lee Yoona must have used her skill diligently.

“Mr. Lee Jangsu. Can you temporarily block this up?”

I said, pointing to the broken window.

Was it because of the screams the uninvited b*stards had let out?

Mr. Lee Jangsu’s fear of me had grown stronger.

“I need materials…”

“Let’s go to the storage.”

I went out to the yard and headed for the storage shed in the corner.

Mr. Lee Jangsu, who was following me, stopped and stared intently at the blood-soaked dirt floor.

“Here. Come and see.”

“Ah, yes.”

The sun had set.

There’s still so much to do.

I had somehow forgotten about the uninvited b*stards and continued to move busily.

I want to go into the master bedroom quickly.