Returned With Horns

* * *

"Yes, Director. This is Deputy Director Han Ayoung. Yes, the returnee said they will join the association. A hypnosis app? What are you talking about? There's no way I would have such a thing."

[It's already two successes in a row. Don't you really have something?]

As a male voice flowed from the phone set to speakerphone, Han Ayoung smiled slightly.

"I don't have anything like that. You know me well."

Han Ayoung got into her car parked in the underground parking lot and set the route home. The car started moving automatically.

It was a self-driving car she had recently splurged on with a 36-month installment plan.

There are still people who insist on manual driving cars, saying they feel more comfortable driving themselves, but for Ayoung, who had just gotten her license and was nervous about driving, buying a self-driving car was the only option.

[So, how's the new person? Do they look strong?]

"I'm not sure about that. But she was incredibly beautiful. Enough to make me jealous."

[Beautiful? Is it a female returnee?]

"Yes, she was a woman."

An exclamation flowed through the speakerphone at Han Ayoung's answer.

[Huh, that's interesting. Did you know that among all the returnees so far, only two were women, and both of them were from South Korea?]

"I'm hearing this for the first time. Oh, then is Seol-ah the first female returnee?"

[Mm. That's right.]

"That's quite interesting."

Han Ayoung, who had quietly reclined her seat among the cars running along the night road, answered while blankly staring out the window.

[Right? Oh, by the way, did you conduct the test? If they're a returnee, we need to give them a rank first.]

"Her ID hasn't been issued yet, so we're planning to do it tomorrow."

[I hope she's strong. It would be good if she's at least as strong as Seol-ah.]

At the director's hopeful words, Han Ayoung, who suddenly remembered Seohyun's appearance from earlier, quietly opened her mouth.

"That might be difficult. Looking at her arms, she didn't seem to have the strength to swing a sword."

[...Really?]

Slender arms and legs, jet-black hair as dark as the night sky above. Add to that, eyes as red as blood. She was a beautiful woman, though somewhat ominous. A rare beauty that surprised even Han Ayoung, who had seen beautiful people all her life. But those eyes were filled with hatred and killing intent.

The reason she recommended Seohyun as an association employee was not only because of the manual, but also because of the deep, sticky emotions contained in those eyes. Who knows what she might do if let loose in society.

"Ah, I've arrived. I'll hang up now."

[Mm, good work, Deputy Director Han. See you tomorrow.]

"Oh, are you returning from your business trip tomorrow?"

[Yes. Since Seol-ah is also coming back, it might not be bad to greet her.]

"Sounds good. I'll keep that in mind then."

[Mm.]

With the beep sound of the call ending, the car stops. Han Ayoung got out of the car, stretched out fully, and headed into the villa where she lived.

* * *

"...What is this?"

"Oh my, who might you be?"

When I woke up, two huge lumps of flesh were placed in front of my eyes. At that violent sight, I blankly opened my mouth, and a voice was heard from above.

When I looked up, a beautiful woman was looking down at me.

"...Who are you?"

"That's what I'd like to ask. Who are you?"

"I'm Chae Seohyun. I'm an employee here as of yesterday."

"Aha. A new employee, I see?"

As my voice, which was slowly reaching the limits of patience, mixed with the growling sound of a beast, the voice that was soon heard began to slowly subside. Having barely suppressed my anger, I quietly asked a question.

"...And who are you?"

"I'm Seol-ah. Nice to meet you."

The woman who introduced herself as Seol-ah gets up from her seat. She was big in every aspect. Big breasts, tall height, big hips, and a big sword...

Sword? Why is she carrying a sword indoors, not even me? Just as I was wondering about this, the door of the night duty room burst open.

"Miss Seohyun! It's time to wake up... Oh, Seol-ah?"

"It's been a while, Miss Ayoung."

"It has been a while. By the way, why are you in the night duty room?"

"I arrived at dawn yesterday... but the transportation back home was cut off. So I stayed in this night duty room."

"Ah, I see."

As I looked back and forth between Han Ayoung and Seol-ah, I suddenly noticed something strange.

Seol-ah's eyes had never opened. At first, I thought she was just keeping her eyes closed because she was sleepy, but could it be...?

"Are you blind?"

"My, you're quite bold. Yes, that's right. I can't see."

"...Um, I'm sorry about that?"

"Huh? Ahaha. You're quite an interesting person. I never thought you'd apologize for something like this."

What's this, should I not have apologized? As I slightly furrowed my brow, Seol-ah stopped laughing and extended her hand to me.

"Well then, shall we head to work? Our new employee."

"Yeah."

I grabbed Seol-ah's hand and got up, then fumbled to put on my slippers. Seeing this, Han Ayoung tilted her head.

"Oh, I guess the shoes weren't cursed items."

"Of course not. What reason would there be to make shoes cursed items?"

"Why not? Like the tale of the red shoes."

"That's nonsense. It's a curse that ends if you cut off your feet."

"...Well, most people wouldn't think of cutting off their feet."

"Isn't the red shoes tale you mentioned the one that ends exactly with cutting off feet?"

"Oh, is it?"

What does this woman know? I looked at Han Ayoung with disdain and moved with them.

The office we arrived at had a middle-aged man holding a little girl in his arms, waiting for us.

"Wow, horns!"

"Oh my, Chaerin. You shouldn't speak so loudly. It could be a complex for that sister."

"It's not particularly a complex though."

At my answer, a look of surprise appeared on the man's face. What's with that reaction?

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yeah. So, who are you?"

"Ah, nice to meet you. I'm this kind of person."

Saying that, the man skillfully pulled out a business card from his card holder with one hand and handed it to me. The card, which read "Baek Cheol-un, Director of the Returnee Department, Hunter Association", had a phone number and email address written on it.

"Baek Cheol-un? Director?"

"Yes. Officially, I'm your superior, but there's no need to treat me as such. Yes, indeed."

"Horns!"

The hand of the child in Baek Cheol-un's arms reaching for my horns was a situation no one expected. The moment the child's hand grabbed my horn, it felt like an electric current was running through my spine.

"Uwah?!"

"Cha-Chaerin! Let, let go of her horns!"

"Huh? But the horns are so interesting?"

As the startled director told her to let go, the child's grip seemed to tighten in defiance. As I twisted my body from the intense sensation in my horns, the director frantically grabbed the child's hand.

"But, but the sister is in pain!"

"Sister is in pain?"

"Hnng...!"

This is crazy, why are these horns so sensitive? Even if they're a medium connecting the material and astral worlds, they don't need to be this sensitive.

I struggled to raise my hand and remove the child's hand, then moved away from the child, breathing heavily.

What a scary, scary child.

"...I'm, I'm sorry. It's my fault for not educating her properly."

"I-Is she your daughter?"

"Ah, no. She's my niece, my sister left her with me for a while."

"Damn... Don't come near me."

"Yes. Yes."

"Oh, that's a bit sexy."

"At times like this, I regret being blind."

"You two, want to die?"

I gritted my teeth at Han Ayoung and Seol-ah's comments.

"By the way, judging from your reaction, it seems no one has touched your horns before?"

"There wasn't a single person crazy enough to touch my horns in that world."

"...Well, Chaerin isn't particularly crazy."

"Who said she was crazy?! Shit..."

As I cursed and collapsed onto the sofa, the remaining three people sat in their respective seats. Even then, the director still held the child in his arms.

"Horns..."

"No, Chaerin. You shouldn't touch other people's body parts like that."

The director, who cautioned the child who was opening and closing her hands regretfully, let out a deep sigh.

"It seems like we've made a bad first impression, but well, what can we do? It's already happened."

"Want to die...?"

"For now, Miss Seohyun, please rest a bit. Shall we introduce ourselves? I've already introduced myself, so let's start with Deputy Director Han."

Han Ayoung, who was pointed out, smiled brightly and handed me her business card. Honestly, I didn't even have the strength to take it, so I put the card down on the table.

"I'm Han Ayoung, Deputy Director of the Returnee Department at the Hunter Association. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Seol-ah, an employee of the Returnee Department at the Hunter Association and a returnee. Nice to meet you~"

"...Likewise, returnee Chae Seohyun. Nice to meet you."

"We've all introduced ourselves now."

What's this, it seems like these are all the employees? As I looked around blankly, I realized something strange and asked a question.

"Wait a minute, are these all the employees?"

"Yes!"

"...I want to quit."

Does this make sense? For an association as big as the Hunter Association, to have only four employees in a department?

As I expressed my intention to quit, feeling dumbfounded, the eyes of the three people, no, one person doesn't have eyes, so two people. Anyway, the eyes of the two people started to change.

Just as I flinched at their expressions, which looked like children who had their Christmas presents taken away, Han Ayoung opened her mouth.