The Way to Save the Crazy Returnees Chapter 81 - Salvation (2)

 

 

“CEO Kwak, why do you look so surprised?”

 

Well, because I didn’t expect you to show up here.

 

It had been a while since I last saw Lee Man-deuk. This was the first time since his father passed away.

 

‘Has it been about fifteen days?’

 

That was roughly how it felt.

 

In the meantime, it seemed Lee Man-deuk hadn’t been taking care of himself properly—his face looked noticeably haggard. Still, he spoke casually, smiling as if nothing was wrong.

 

“I heard something happened to my mother, so I came as a son should.”

 

“…I see.”

 

“You don’t believe me?”

 

Instead of answering, I asked,

 

“What about Deok-soon and Soon-deuk?”

 

“I left them with Seo Do-hwan. It wouldn’t be appropriate to bring them here, right?”

 

They said his mother had been restrained because of what happened last night. 

 

If Lee Deok-sun and Lee Soon-deuk saw her like that, it would have been a huge shock. So it was the right decision not to bring them.

 

“Are you going to be alright, Mr. Lee Man-deuk?”

 

“If I wasn’t, would I be here?”

 

Lee Man-deuk replied as he stepped into the psychiatric ward. I quickly followed him when the mage asked,

 

“How much was the hospital bill?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I’m not fine with it.”

 

Even though he wasn’t the type to leave debts unpaid, Lee Man-deuk insisted again.

 

“Give me your account.”

 

What a hassle.

 

“Just think of it as me returning the favor.”

 

“A favor?”

 

“Ji Geon-hyuk.”

 

Lee Man-deuk frowned. Understandable—he had been seriously injured by him. So I added,

 

“Thanks for granting my request. It couldn’t have been easy to lift the curse you placed on that bastard.”

 

“I wanted to ignore it. But if I had, you would’ve found a way to send me off to the U.S., wouldn’t you? You even tampered with the company I work for, didn’t you?”

 

At his complaint, I simply smiled faintly. Lee Man-deuk looked at me and muttered, clearly fed up,

 

“You’re a real piece of work.”

 

Even though he cursed at me, I didn’t mind. I had heard worse countless times. But that only seemed to irritate him more, and he scowled deeply.

 

At times like this, it’s best to stay quiet.

 

Pretending not to notice his mood, I headed toward the room where his mother was admitted.

 

“I didn’t exchange a single word with Ji Geon-hyuk.”

 

Lee Man-deuk suddenly brought him up again.

 

“We didn’t even fight.”

 

He said Ji Geon-hyuk had been lying there like a corpse because of the curse.

 

“If I had been even a little later, he really would’ve died.”

 

Those words made my insides go cold. Did my face turn pale without me realizing it? Lee Man-deuk spoke as if to reassure me.

 

“He didn’t die, so don’t worry.”

 

“I know.”

 

“What?”

 

“I know Ji Geon-hyuk didn’t die.”

 

If he had died, I wouldn’t be here right now.

 

Lee Man-deuk slowly narrowed his eyes and stared at me. The fact that I had confirmed Ji Geon-hyuk was alive must have seemed strange to him.

 

Before the mage could read too much into it, I changed the subject.

 

“Anyway, thank you.”

 

“…That’s it?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“You’re not curious about anything else regarding Ji Geon-hyuk?”

 

There was—plenty.

 

Whether the curse had truly been completely lifted, and even if it had, whether there were any lingering aftereffects…

 

Countless questions rose up, but I held them back.

 

I couldn’t bring myself to ask Lee Man-deuk about him. And more than that, Ji Geon-hyuk probably wouldn’t want it either—me asking that mage about him.

 

So I forced a smile and replied,

 

“There isn’t.”

 

“Really? I do.”

 

Lee Man-deuk suddenly stopped walking and asked,

 

“What exactly is your relationship with Ji Geon-hyuk?”

 

What kind of relationship?

 

There was only one answer.

 

“He’s a friend.”

 

No.

 

“He used to be a friend.”

 

The kind of friends who could call each other “hyung” and “younger brother,” bicker, and still laugh together.

 

That was what we were.

 

In that time we could never return to—the time only Ji Geon-hyuk and I remember—that was what we were.

 

Hearing my answer in the past tense, Lee Man-deuk chuckled.

 

“Did you have a big falling-out when you were kids?”

 

If only it were something like that. If a relationship breaks due to childish emotions in childhood, you can still try to fix it as adults. But once it breaks after becoming adults, it isn’t so easy to mend.

 

That was the kind of relationship Ji Geon-hyuk and I had. Taking my silence as confirmation, Lee Man-deuk began badmouthing Ji Geon-hyuk.

 

“No matter how you look at it, that bastard must’ve been the one in the wrong.”

 

I should have denied it, but I couldn’t. No matter what I said, it would feel like I was making excuses to myself. So again, I stayed silent.

 

“Still, it’s kind of strange. Even if you were once friends, you both ended up as returnees despite only being acquaintances. Don’t you think Ji Geon-hyuk might be the one who made you a returnee, CEO Kwak?”

 

Lee Man-deuk snickered, as if the idea made sense.

 

“But CEO Kwak… from what I can see, I think you’ll make up with him sooner or later.”

 

“You think so?”

 

Lee Man-deuk nodded.

 

“He basically survived because of you. If he has even a bit of decency, he’ll be the one to reach out first.”

 

Decency…

 

I held onto that word—one far too generous for someone like me—and forced a faint smile.

 

“Thank you, Mr. Lee Man-deuk.”

 

“You’re thanking me for the weirdest things.”

 

Grumbling, he started walking again. The next time he stopped—

 

“Master, please grant us grace and show us mercy… save us…”

 

—it was in front of his mother’s hospital room. 

 

***

 

“I have been loyal to you, Master. I have not betrayed you. I gave you everything. Please save me. Grant your grace and mercy, and save me…”

 

Lee Man-deuk’s mother kept repeating the same words, her eyes completely unfocused.

 

Once again, I was relieved he had left his younger siblings with Seo Do-hwan. If Lee Deok-sun and Lee Soon-deuk had seen her like this, they would have been deeply shaken.

 

Lee Man-deuk, on the other hand, looked as though he felt nothing. Or rather, his expression was unreadable.

 

As I glanced at him, a nurse approached.

 

“Mr. Lee Man-deuk?”

 

“Yes, that’s me.”

 

He asked calmly,

 

“How is my mother’s condition? I heard that last night she tried to harm herself. I thought you would have put a gag in her mouth… but is it really okay to leave her like this?”

 

“Well… could you step outside for a moment?”

 

“Alright.”

 

Without hesitation, Lee Man-deuk followed the nurse out of the room.

 

The moment he stepped out, the woman began calling for her eldest son.

 

“Man-deuk?!”

 

A flicker of awareness returned to her unfocused eyes. Mistaking me for her son, she asked,

 

“Where are Deok-sun and Soon-deuk? Your siblings?”

 

It was the same question she had asked the first time we met. But what followed was different this time.

 

“Man-deuk, can you untie me? I need to go pray to the Master… If I don’t, I’ll die. I’ll go to hell. I want to go to heaven… but because of this, the demon… the demon… the demon…”

 

Like a video stuck buffering, she kept repeating the same words.

 

“A demon! It’s a demon!! A demon came to drag me to hell!!”

 

She began screaming, wailing in terror. Then, with fear-stricken eyes, she recited the five precepts of the Ark of Universal Salvation Church.

 

“Master, grant us grace and show us mercy, and save us. I have been loyal to you. I have not betrayed you. I gave you everything. My child—here. My eldest son is here. I will offer him. When my life ends, I will bury him with my own hands. So please, Master…!”

 

Every word was heard by her eldest son, Lee Man-deuk.

 

“Mr. Lee Man-deuk.”

 

He stared at his mother, who was screaming toward him, then muttered,

 

“My mother’s condition is worse than I thought.”

 

Even if those words were spoken in madness, they should have hurt. But Lee Man-deuk seemed completely unaffected. Meanwhile, the nurse rushed in and injected his mother with a sedative.

 

“Look, my first son… our Man-deuk… Master…”

 

Her voice gradually faded, then stopped completely. Looking down at his now-sleeping mother, Lee Man-deuk asked,

 

“Who do you think this ‘Master’ she keeps talking about is? Do you know, CEO Kwak? You seem like you do.”

 

He seemed to assume I already knew what she had said. In this situation, it wasn’t something I could pretend ignorance about. And I had no intention of doing so.

 

“There’s a group called the Ark of Universal Salvation Church.”

 

“Sounds like a cult.”

 

“It is.”

 

“Hah!”

 

Lee Man-deuk let out a hollow laugh.

 

“Yeah…”

 

Soon, his expression twisted as he muttered,

 

“Well, this is still a world where people live. Of course trash exists. It’s not like the world can be made up of normal people only. That would be too boring.”

 

Right?

 

There was unmistakable hatred in the way he asked that last question. He looked like he might demand their location at any moment, so I spoke without thinking.

 

“Ms. Han Young-won has already infiltrated them. She plans to take care of those pieces of trash.”

 

So—

 

“Leave it to Han Young-won.”

 

“No.”

 

Lee Man-deuk answered firmly.

 

“To me, Han Young-won is no different from trash.”

 

The woman who took over Muse’s body and called him and Sol ‘trash.’ 

 

To Lee Man-deuk, Han Young-won was exactly that kind of person. Of course, he couldn’t leave it to her.

 

“But Mr. Lee Man-deuk—”

 

“CEO Kwak.”

 

He cut me off.

 

“You knew the name ‘Iz Kallion,’ didn’t you?”

 

As if expecting my understanding, Lee Man-deuk smiled.

 

“In that world where I lived as Iz Kallion, trash existed too.”

 

As he mentioned earlier, it was still a world where people lived.

 

“Those scumbags said that as long as you believed in the cult leader, no matter what sins you committed, you’d go to heaven. So they toyed with people, violated them, and even killed them.”

 

And as they grew in power, they took everything from their followers—even their families.

 

“Do you think this place is any different?”

 

Lee Deok-soon and Lee Soon-deuk.

 

Right now, Lee Man-deuk was probably thinking of the only family he had left.

 

“You agreed to hang out today because of Deok-soon and Soon-deuk, didn’t you?”

 

He looked at me as if asking why I brought that up. Under his questioning gaze, I calmly continued,

 

“Victory will be there too.”

 

A spark lit up in Lee Man-deuk’s eyes.

 

He was active in Victory’s community under the nickname Honorary Nike. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to spend time in the same place as the people he admired.

 

“Are you still going to go?”

 

Not to L-World—but to the Ark of Universal Salvation Church. That was my question.

 

Lee Man-deuk smiled.

 

“Yeah. I’m going.”

 

Though he looked slightly regretful, he continued,

 

“No matter how much I like Victory as a fan, I don’t like them more than my siblings.”

 

For the first time, the Star Mage spoke of “love” toward his siblings.

 

“Tell Deok-soon and Soon-deuk I’m sorry.”

 

At his awkward smile, I spoke.

 

“I’m coming with you.”

 

Before he could refuse, I added,

 

“You won’t be able to find the Ark of Universal Salvation Church without me anyway.”

 

“I can just use magic.”

 

“If you force it, I’ll break our pact.”

 

“CEO Kwak, I don’t think you understand what a pact is.”

 

“You can only break it by dying.”

 

There was also the option for the caster to release it—but there was no way Lee Man-deuk would do that.

 

Looking at his startled expression, I continued,

 

“I told you before—I’m not afraid of dying.”

 

Lee Man-deuk muttered with a disgusted face,

 

“You crazy bastard.”

 

Then he said,

 

“Lead the way.”

 

Smiling at the mage’s approval, I stepped forward. Lee Man-deuk silently followed behind me. That was how we headed toward the Ark of Universal Salvation Church—where Han Young-won was infiltrating.

 

I sent messages to the people waiting in front of L-World. More precisely, I only sent them to Seo Do-hwan.