The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably-Chapter 96 : Hooray for Juvenile Law!! (2)

Hooray for Juvenile Law!! (2)
"If it weren't for Hunter Kang Hyun-seok, I wouldn't even be here right now...!!"
I performed with all my heart in front of the crowd.
My teary-eyed, desperate bow drew everyone's attention instantly.
I had teamed up with the Hwasan Guild and received my promised compensation.
Specifically, the information about the Poison Guild that Kang Minji had.
At first, she'd been reluctant to talk, but the moment I threatened her, she started spilling everything like a waterfall.
Among that was information about Kang Hyun-seok, the man I had killed.
"Kid... you really knew my Hyun-seok hyung?"
Poison Guild's Kang Hyunsoo asked in shock.
I could vaguely tell they had a special relationship since he was Kang Hyun-seok's younger brother.
"Are you Hunter Kang Hyunsoo, by any chance?"
"You know me?"
"Of course I do! I heard a lot about you from Hunter Kang Hyun-seok!"
Of course, in reality, I'd never had any sort of conversation like that with him.
The only person I'd had a proper talk with in Golden Gate was Angel Guild's Hunter Yoo Cheon-hwa.
"Hunter Kang Hyun-seok said this."
"...."
"If I ever met Hunter Kang Hyunsoo... please tell him thank you for everything... sniffle sniffle!"
"H-hyung...!"
Anyone would think the nuance was that of a final message.
Duped by my act, Kang Hyunsoo's emotions surged, and he began to cry, so I did the same and bawled with him.
"Hyung... hyung...!!"
"Hunter Kang Hyun-seok...!!"
The two of us sobbing left everyone else in a daze.
Sang-ah had a floating question mark above her head, like she didn't understand what was going on, and Kang Minji looked shocked, as if she had just seen something grotesque.
I didn't stop there.
"But the world is so cruel. Why is Hunter Kang Hyun-seok, who saved me, being treated like a traitor!"
Based on testimony from Golden Gate survivors, poison Guild had no way out.
There was clear testimony that they'd fueled Golden Gate's rampage.
With Golden Gate now obliterated, that testimony was the only remaining evidence.
"I tried to protest too... but no one would believe me...!"
"Damn it! Daaamn it!!"
Hearing my words, Kang Hyunsoo slammed the ground with his fist in frustration.
Thud, thud— the town floor cracked under the blows.
Then Kang Hyunsoo stood up and patted my head, saying,
"Ugh... don't cry. It's not your fault! The real problem is this rotten world called 'Earth'! It's just a bunch of people blinded by evil power who ignore the truth!"
That was almost exactly what Kang Hyun-seok used to claim.
Clearly, this guy had the same mindset as Kang Hyun-seok.
Well, they were brothers, after all.
"That's why... I want to help Poison Guild too. I really hope you can get through this crisis by cooperating with Hwasan Guild...!"
"I see."
Kang Hyunsoo smiled brightly, his tension gone, and turned to Kang Minji.
"Kang Minji, you brought a really good kid here."
"Huh...?"
"No need to be embarrassed. Thanks to this boy, my worries are gone. Isn't that true for all of you?"
In response, all of the Poison Guild hunters shouted a resounding "Yes~!"
Clearly, they were all people who had trusted and followed Kang Hyun-seok.
"No."
It was at that moment.
"I said no!!"
Suddenly, Kang Minji shouted.
Her face was red with rage.
"Don't be fooled by that bastard!"
"Why are you suddenly saying this?"
"Everything he said is a lie! That bastard never got help from Kang Hyun-seok!!"
Seeing her react like that, it was obvious Kang Minji had caught on.
It made sense, given her sharpness.
"Kang Minji, what's wrong?"
Everyone looked at Kang Minji like she was acting weird, but she had reason for it.
She'd figured it out:
The culprit behind Golden Gate's rampage was Poison Guild's Kang Hyun-seok.
The one who calmed it was me, Ma Seongjin.
And then both Kang Hyun-seok and the Poison Guild's hunters had gone missing.
With just this information, Kang Minji could easily piece everything together.
"Th-that bastard...!!"
Her hunch had landed right on the mark.
If Ma Seongjin calmed the gate and clashed with the Poison Guild, there had to have been a conflict.
Meaning, the reason Kang Hyun-seok went missing didn't need to be sought elsewhere.
"That brat is the one who killed Hyun-seok!!"
As her family ran the Poison Guild, Kang Minji was close with the S-rankers there.
Especially, she had a special relationship with Kang Hyun-seok.
Even if she lost her chance to be his lover, they'd never fully cut ties.
When she'd first heard of Kang Hyun-seok's disappearance at the Golden Gate, she edly cried.
So, of course she was furious now.
"You—! You killed Hyun-seok!!!"
"Me...?"
"You bastard!!"
Kang Minji charged at me, magic power swirling around her hand.
But the Poison Guild hunters stopped her, restraining her from bursting into a rampage.
"Let go! That brat's the one who killed Hyun-seok! That bastard has to die, right now!!"
"What are you talking about, all of a sudden?"
"That bastard is the main culprit who calmed Golden Gate! He's your enemy!!"
Having lost her reason, Kang Minji screamed at the top of her lungs, desperate for someone to believe her.
Kang Hyunsoo just looked at me, then back at her.
"How could an ordinary kid like this do something so outlandish?"
"What...?"
"Aren't you being a bit too speculative?"
Kang Hyunsoo sighed heavily, looking at her as if she was pathetic.
To anyone, this boy looked perfectly normal.
Aside from being a promising Hand candidate, there were no special traits.
"Look, Minji. I get that you're angry about my brother's death. But you're blaming the wrong person. There's no way a kid like him could do something like that."
What, a kid killing an S-rank hunter?
Saying a mosquito killed a T-rex sounded more credible.
And he calmed a rampaging gate all by himself?
Might as well say a baby lifted Mount Baekdu with one finger.
"I get what you're trying to say, Minji, but you don't have a shred of evidence."
"No, that kid...!"
"Do those tears look fake to you? This boy is sincerely mourning my brother!"
─Look!
Shouting, Kang Hyunsoo made her look at my face.
I cried even harder, appealing my innocence like a child.
To be honest, considering my actual age, this was normal behavior.
How mature could you expect an immature student to be?
There were limits to one's expectations.
"Sniffle sniffle...!"
"See? Even now, do you want to take your anger out on this boy?"
"Take it out...?! I... I'm just telling the truth!"
"It's fine. Sniff...! I fully understand how you feel, Ma'am."
"You bastard...!"
Even after killing Kang Hyun-seok, what did I mean by saying I understood?
As if I wasn't going crazy already, what I was saying must have been dizzying her even more.
To make it worse, even Kang Hyunsoo, her erstwhile friend, was defending this brat.
"No matter what anyone says, this boy is under 15. Please, just don't get mad and say something nice."
"So you're saying you don't believe me?"
Kang Minji still cried out her injustice.
But with nothing to back her claim, nothing changed.
"Minji, there's something I want to say on this occasion. Do you remember how you raised your son, Yongjun?"
"What are you...?"
"Remember when Yongjun was a boy? How gently you raised him?"
It was more than gentle—she'd practically coddled him.
Any child other than her son was like a stone on the street for her to kick aside; that was her normal.
"So, Kang Minji. Just as you forgave anything your son did while he was young, I hope you can be forgiving to this boy as well."
"Wait, why..."
"We have to meet your guildmaster, so we're off."
Hunter Kang Hyunsoo, who had sided only with me, led his guild members toward the Hwasan Guild headquarters.
With Poison Guild gone, only we were left, a cold wind blowing by.
That's when Kang Minji broke the silence and asked me,
"You bastard. Do you even know what you just did?"
"What do you mean?"
"What, what?"
What do you mean?
Did I really not know?
"You killed Hunter Kang Hyun-seok, and now he's... your savior?"
I used his name, shedding fake tears, when I was his killer.
Anyone could see it was a blatant insult to the dead.
"Oh, hunter Kang Hyun-seok? That's too bad. If I had a flower, I'd lay it on his grave."
"F... Flower? What gives you the right?!"
"Oh right! There isn't even a grave, is there? Not even any remains found, right? What are we to do~"
"Yaaaargh!!"
Kang Minji's emotions exploded, and she released her magic power, splitting and shaking the earth.
Her only thought was killing me; the force of her magic power pressed down on me with chilling intent, like standing in a region of extreme gravity.
But I, unaffected, calmly walked over and stood before her.
"Die! Die already!!"
Mocking her, I jabbed her throat with my finger.
"Kegh!"
Without even time to react, Kang Minji clutched her throat in pain.
I didn't know if it was some special trait, but most of her magic power was concentrated in her neck.
Expecting she'd release energy from her mouth, I neutralized the flow by pressing her throat.
Sure enough, the dangerous magic power being emitted vanished instantly.
"You bastard... you really think you'll get away with this...?"
Kang Minji glared at me, her expression full of venom.
Her eyes blazed with rage, but the more I looked, the more I wanted to laugh.
"Of course I'll get away with it."
─Why?
"Because I'm a juvenile protected by law."
"..."
"Just like your son who always clung to his mother's side."
Sang-ah often talked about her family.
Every time her brother Kwon Yongjun got in trouble, Kang Minji would hire a lawyer to cover it up.
Apparently that had continued from his childhood until now.
"Is it really such a big deal for a kid like me to kill just one person?"
"You...!"
"Wow, your son is worth envying, huh? Whatever he did, you always covered it up since he was young, right?"
Kwon Yongjun was probably an adult by now, but he would have been a juvenile like me once.
That's how his misdeeds would have been dismissed as "kids' stuff".
She always covered for her own child; I'd do the same for myself.
"Ahh... this is what juvenile law is! It has amazing magic: even murder becomes mere 'child's play'!"
"Uh, Seongjin. We're not juveniles anymore."
"What?"
Oh, she was right!
Just as Sang-ah said, the law protects those aged 10 to just under 14.
"Still, so what! Everything's forgiven when you're young!"
Why?
Because we're still young and immature.
"Hooray for juvenile law!"
"Seongjin..."
"Kwon Sang-ah, what are you doing? Join in!"
"M-me too...?"
Unprepared for the sudden invitation, Sang-ah panicked.
In the end, overwhelmed by my momentum, she chanted after me.
"H-hurray..."
"Hooray for juvenile law~"
"Hurray!"
"Louder!! Hoooorraaaaaay!!"
"What?"
"Hooooorrrraaaaaaaaaaaaay!!"
"M-maaanhooooorraaaaay... Kehek! Seongjin... just a second!"
"Juuuuuuveniiiiiile laaaaaaw!!"
Watching this, Kang Minji collapsed to the floor.
"Kang Hyun-seok!! I love youuuuu!!"
"Uugh!"
I even heard posthumous insults.
The indescribable disgust made Kang Minji gag.
"Uweeeeeek!!"
As the demonic shouts continued, her insides twisted.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Seongjin is such a rage baiter...
Also, if you like this novel, try reading I obtained the final boss' power...
It is from the same author, and the MC is broken in a different kind of way...
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