Chapter 66

As expected, the blonde foreigner was indeed a viewer of my broadcast.

At first, she seemed to ramble, trying to hide her identity, but when I persistently asked how she knew my name, she finally revealed who she was.

She was none other than Jujijoa.

“…I had no idea Jujijoa was a foreigner.”

She speaks Korean fluently.

And since she’s so skilled at using Hangul, I always thought she was Korean.

When I asked, she said she wasn’t a white person born and raised in Korea.

She just had a strong interest in Korea, so she studied Hangul and Korean diligently.

“Well, that’s not important right now.”

What’s important now is why they’re here.

“…So, why are you guys here?”

I asked, looking back and forth between Maehwa and Jujijoa.

Maehwa was the first to answer.

“Well, you know I’m an exorcist, right? I heard there was a yokai here, so I came to exorcise it…”

“Senior, stop lying. You were stalking him, weren’t you?”

“Shut up before I really kill you.”

It was clearly a lie.

The way she stumbled over her words gave it away.

The cat-eared woman clinging to Maehwa’s side.

Listening to her, it was clear she wasn’t here to exorcise anything but had been following me.

‘What a crazy bitch.’

I swallowed my curses.

No matter the reason.

They rushed here to save me, after all.

“Alright, Juji. What about you?”

I turned to Jujijoa, who hadn’t answered yet.

“It’s Juji, not Jujijoa…”

“Same difference. Stop nitpicking and tell me why you’re here.”

“Uh… Actually, I was just passing by, and I got thirsty, so I came in to get some water. I had no idea you’d be here, Sehun. What a coincidence…”

“Bitch, if you’re gonna make an excuse, at least make it believable. You’re just spouting nonsense without thinking.”

“……”

It seemed Jujijoa had also been stalking me.

“Sigh…”

Seeing these stalkers made me sigh involuntarily.

‘…Whatever. Jujijoa also rushed here to save me, so I’ll let it slide this time.’

I decided to deal with the yokai corpse in the living room first.

We needed to clean up the situation.

***

***

***

We moved the corpse to the corner.

According to Maehwa, if it were a pure yokai corpse, it would disappear quickly, or at least within a week.

But these corpses wouldn’t disappear no matter how much time passed.

She explained that these were parasite yokai that had taken over human bodies.

I looked at Maehwa and asked, “Parasite yokai?”

“Yeah. Parasite yokai are yokai that use human bodies as hosts. The ones that parasitize the brain are the most dangerous. Like these yokai.”

I couldn’t help but think there were all kinds of yokai.

Looking at Yoo-soon’s severely damaged corpse, I asked another question.

“Can you tell how long they’ve been parasitized?”

“Why?”

“Just wondering if the parasite yokai had been planning to eat me from the start.”

There was no particular reason for the question.

I just wondered if Yoo-soon had already been taken over by the parasite yokai when I first met her.

Maehwa shook her head and answered.

“Unfortunately, we can’t figure that out. They’re already dead, so we can’t ask them directly.”

Maehwa’s gaze fixed on one corpse.

It was Yoo-soon, who had died in a particularly gruesome way.

I scratched my head and said, “I didn’t mean to kill her…”

“You didn’t mean to kill her? You smashed her head like that?”

“I didn’t know her head was that soft.”

I really didn’t mean to kill her.

I just wanted to subdue her.

I put all my strength into smashing her head, but I thought it was necessary since she wasn’t human but a yokai.

“But this isn’t murder, right?”

“Of course not. Once they’re parasitized, they’re already dead. They’re just empty shells without souls.”

“That’s a relief.”

As I let out a sigh of relief, the cat-eared woman wagged her tail and approached the corpse.

She looked at me and said, “Should I revive this yokai for you? If I bring it back, you can ask it whatever you’re curious about.”

“You can do that?”

I asked again.

Since the cat-eared woman wasn’t a viewer of my broadcast, I used polite speech.

“Maybe? Here, watch.”

The cat-eared woman grinned and turned her head toward the corpse.

Then she shouted, “Did I do it!?”

A moment of silence passed.

Nothing happened.

The cat-eared woman scratched the back of her head and tilted her head in confusion.

“Huh? Usually, when I exorcise yokai, they jump up and attack when I shout that. Weird?”

She seemed a bit… simple-minded.

I thought she had some kind of resurrection ability.

Maehwa looked at her with pity, sighed deeply, and said, “Ignore her, Sehun. She’s just an idiot.”

“Yeah, seems like it.”

Meanwhile, Jujijoa, who had been leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, finally spoke up.

“By the way, Sehun.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your real identity? From what I saw earlier, you’re not an ordinary person… You have superhuman strength…”

She’s quick to ask.

Well, I did grill her about her identity earlier, so she must be curious.

“I’ve been curious too.”

“Me too! Strong men are rare, you know!”

Maehwa and the cat-eared woman were also curious, staring at me, waiting for an answer.

I glanced at them and answered, “I’ve mentioned it on my broadcast. I’m just good at fighting.”

“……”

“I haven’t watched your broadcast!”

Jujijoa fell into deep thought, while the cat-eared woman, being an idiot, was ignored.

“Don’t believe me if you don’t want to. It doesn’t matter.”

“No, I believe you. I just saw your insane fighting skills… But why is your stamina so bad if you’re so strong?”

Maehwa asked again.

It was a question I’d had for a while.

In this world, my stamina was strangely poor compared to my strength.

“I don’t know. Maybe because I’ve been cooped up at home? My stamina’s been terrible for some reason. For the record, in my previous world, my stamina was good.”

“Previous world…”

“Of course, I’ve been doing regular cardio to restore my stamina. This body recovers quickly. I’m not at the level of hiking yet, though.”

“No… Uh…”

The questions didn’t continue.

Maehwa seemed to have given up on thinking.

The cat-eared woman’s brain seemed to have short-circuited, her eyes crossed, and Jujijoa was still deep in thought.

‘Come to think of it, Jujijoa doesn’t seem like an ordinary person either…’

Since I answered their questions, I had the right to ask Jujijoa too.

But I decided not to.

She seemed like she wanted to keep it hidden.

‘I’ve really grown more considerate lately.’

I was inwardly praising myself for my personal growth when I suddenly remembered someone I’d forgotten.

‘Ah.’

I had completely forgotten about Balloon Gum.

***

***

***

We hurried to the basement.

Everyone except me knew about the basement.

I was curious how they knew, but rescuing Balloon Gum was the priority, so I didn’t ask.

When we arrived at the basement, we saw a kid covered in blue blood.

“Huh? Sehun?”

It was the Balloon Gum Collector.

Around Balloon Gum were gruesomely mutilated pieces of flesh.

“Sehun, why are you here… Oh right! We were supposed to have lunch together today!”

Balloon Gum jumped up from his seat and smiled brightly.

The smile was eerie.

Not just because of the corpses scattered around.

“Balloon Gum, your arm…”

Balloon Gum’s left arm was missing.

“Huh? My arm?”

Balloon Gum looked at his left arm.

Despite the blood pouring from the severed limb, he had a cheerful expression.

“Oh, this? It’s fine! Watch this!”

Thud thud thud.

Balloon Gum clenched his teeth and strained.

Like he was taking a dump.

Then, white bones sprouted from the severed arm.

Next, blood formed around the bones, followed by muscles, and then flesh.

“Ta-da!”

Balloon Gum lifted his left arm triumphantly.

His arm had completely regenerated.

‘…What the hell? Is Balloon Gum a yokai too?’

I wasn’t the only one shocked.

Maehwa, the cat-eared woman, and Jujijoa were equally stunned.

“What the hell, Piccolo?”

“His arm regenerated? He doesn’t look like a yokai, so how did that happen?”

“…Experiment.”

From what they were saying, thankfully, he wasn’t a yokai.

‘If he’s not a yokai, then what? No ordinary human can do that…’

I looked at Balloon Gum with a bewildered expression.

Then I looked at Maehwa.

Then at the cat-eared woman.

And finally at Jujijoa.

One was a monster who could regenerate his body in an instant.

One was an exorcist who could create plum blossoms.

‘The exorcist is half-yokai, right?’

One was an exorcist with cat ears.

‘So those ears might be real, not just cosplay.’

One was a superhuman who could run as fast as lightning.

And she also carried a gun.

‘…What the hell? Is there even one normal person here?’

Looking at it this way.

Everyone except me was abnormal.

I was the only normal person here.

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