Hell Inn: Rebirth - I Became a Chef in Hell

Chapter 117: Mediocre people bother themselves

"...Tsk, you really are the most troublesome guy I've ever met."

Seeing your stubborn and unyielding attitude, He propped his head up, his face showing a hint of distress and regret that was hard to discern.

The character he portrays has a much richer range of expressions than you do.

...But no matter what expression that beautiful face makes, it is a simple visual treat for others.

"..."

You didn't want to talk to Him much, so you silently and unsteadily stood up from where you were.

The wound on your chest has almost healed, and the blood no longer seeps out from between your fingers as it used to.

You glanced at your palms, stained with blood, and frowned.

"However, although you are the most troublesome for me... you are also the first human I have ever met."

He is more talkative than you might imagine, even though he neither sings nor teases.

He chattered incessantly as he circled around you, chuckling as he lifted your chin with his finger.

"After all, I was born from you."

you:"……"

Perhaps it's because He spends most of his time in the "land of exile" that this guy talks so much at times like this?

And He clearly lives inside you, yet He learned to sing like those foreigners... I really don't know what to say.

Seeing the mockery in His eyes, you ruthlessly slapped his hand away, saying casually, "So it seems you're not planning to have a proper talk with me this time either, so I'm leaving."

"..."

"...What? No, wait a minute, you stop right there...Why are you like this?"

As you turned away without a second thought, He suddenly grabbed your wrist, which was unstained by blood.

You turn your head indifferently and see the complex expression on His face.

"'Looks like this'?"

You seemed to have a clue why the other person would ask such a question, and you were amused by them.

"...Are you even fucking human? After seeing so much, you can still... Hah!"

His emotions were clearly the opposite of yours, and he opened his arms in disbelief.

His sudden outburst of emotion was a stark contrast to his earlier teasing demeanor. His unexpected reaction to the situation made me want to laugh.

After letting out a short, angry laugh, seeing that you still didn't seem to care and didn't even stop walking, His expression twitched.

"And you don't seem that surprised to see me? What, did you know you'd be seeing me?"

He seemed to be speaking out of anger, and no longer had the smug and sarcastic demeanor he had shown before.

"……certainly."

You stopped in your tracks, then raised an eyebrow and stared at Him, who seemed to have suddenly become impatient, with a faint, enigmatic smile on your face.

He: "..."

"What?! What the hell are you saying?!"

Perhaps it's because it saw the teasing and ease on your face, that it only allows itself to tease you, but not you to tease its own? Its brow furrowed, and its forced smile twitched even more violently.

"You yourself acted like an idiot, triggering the fear trigger condition with some lowly scum and ending up in exile, and now you're spouting nonsense here..."

"First of all, please don't use my appearance to swear, it makes me very uncomfortable."

As he began spewing more and more profanities, you frowned slightly and forcefully interrupted him. Then, under his angry glare, you continued in a calm tone, "Secondly, it was indeed my mistake to trigger the fear condition, but I'm not surprised to see you."

"..."

"……what?"

He paused for a moment, seemingly a little confused about what you were saying.

"Is this so hard to understand? I was ready to see you a long time ago, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

Seeing that the other party looked unusually bewildered, you gave them a brief explanation.

"I've hardly seen you since I met Shirley. This is a rare opportunity, and I know you won't let it slip by, even if I didn't know it."

He: "..."

Your calm and nonchalant demeanor left him momentarily speechless.

But realizing he had shown weakness, He immediately frowned and said unhappily, "Then what about your preparations to see me..."

"Stop being narcissistic. The reason I said I was prepared to see you is because I'm used to all the ways you've 'tortured' me."

You interrupted him impatiently before he could say what he was about to say.

"Just next time you forcibly drag me into your 'drama,' don't use the excuse of merging my soul to forcibly add emotional fluctuations to me."

"How many times have you done this to me after experiencing the illusion of dying and going to hell?"

"You might get the reaction you wanted the first time, but if you use the same trick so many times, you might not get tired of it, but I am."

"Also, I remember I said I wouldn't allow you to do anything too outrageous using Shirley's appearance, right?"

You calmly looked at Him, who was stunned by your words, and your tone turned cold.

“This is the first time you’ve done this, and it’s the last time I’ll allow you to do it—don’t use Shirley’s appearance to inflict your malice on me again.”

"...What does it matter? She'll have to do it sooner or later anyway—if you keep resisting me like this~"

He crossed his arms, opened one eye and closed the other, giving you a somewhat smug and arrogant look.

"Isn't what I'm doing now helping you prepare mentally in advance?"

"Ha! If that idiot Hell Princess really stabbed you, I wonder how heartbroken you would be?"

"Oh, wait a minute, I almost forgot, when that day comes, you'll just have to watch her do it! Don't worry, if that day really comes, I'll release you the moment you die~"

"...You talk too much."

Faced with his highly provocative remarks, you couldn't be bothered to look at him anymore. You just kept thinking that you never thought that ■■■'s face could look so annoying one day, and then you turned around and walked quickly in the opposite direction from him.

"What, you've broken down?"

You, with the wind at your feet, casually asked Him this question.

"What? I'm broken... Don't joke around, I..."

Is it hard for you to accept that I'm not surprised at all about meeting you, or even that I was mentally prepared?

As His voice suddenly rose in pitch, in the brief moment you were searching for an exit, you turned around and raised one eyebrow to glance at Him.

Although He always does cruel and willful things, compared to a cunning schemer like Alastor, He is more like a mischievous child who only wants to gain the upper hand.

When things don't go as planned, He will show this impatient side—in a way, some of your actions reflect His personality.

“After my soul was torn apart and you could no longer pull me into the land of exile, I have been waiting for this day to meet you.”

You stated in your calm and even tone, "I've already told you, it was just a matter of time... Ah, but I really didn't expect to meet you so soon. But it's clear that the 'problem' that has been stalemate between us won't be resolved this time either, so I'm leaving now."

"Ha, ha...Aren't you mistaken? Before this, you reverted to your original form because of the only trigger condition! After making such a basic mistake, you still dare to spout such hindsight nonsense here!?"

His expression turned extremely ugly, amused by your nonchalant attitude. "You burst through your original skin and appeared before those foreign rats in a complete dragon form!"

"I know how big of a mess I've made, but don't get me wrong. What's the point of me staying here and listening to your rant?"

You frowned slightly, looking at Him, who had transformed into a [redacted], as if he were a fool. "Do you think I'm in such a hurry to go out because I want to go out and play? I'm in such a hurry to go out because I want to clean up this mess as soon as possible!"

He: "..."

Shouldn't a normal person feel guilty in a situation like this?

"You couldn't take over my body and consciousness before I separated my soul, so why do you think you'll still have a chance after I've prepared an escape route?"

Perhaps sensing something, your flat tone, which you had been using to explain, gradually turned into a cryptic smile. "You don't want me to blame myself for something like this and get caught up in an emotional mess, do you? Do you think I'm such a useless person?"

"Instead of solving problems, I just wallow in sadness, grief, and self-blame. That doesn't apply to me. You've always been two-faced yet connected to me. After all this time, don't you know what kind of person I really am?"

"Do you never plan what you do? Are you dissatisfied with this result because you did so much useless work?"

"Then I think you don't need to do that."

In order to convey your meaning, you slowly waded through the water, step by step, to stand before Him, whose face was grim, and spoke in a flat tone.

"My pain, my despair, have you ever used any of these things to defeat me?"

"Your arrogance will only drive you to use increasingly outrageous methods that cross my bottom line, but these increasingly despicable and pointless methods still haven't shaken my emotions... Where does your urgency come from?"

Is it because I am unhappy that I am so indifferent?

You narrowed your eyes and let out a few almost mocking laughs from your chest.

"What a pointless worry."

Seeing that His expression was getting worse and worse, you closed your eyes and let out a long sigh of helplessness.

“What right do you have to be unhappy? You’ve been torturing me ever since I went to hell, and I haven’t even uttered a single swear word to you when we confront each other now.”

"You get so worked up because you were hit where it hurts... If you really want to defeat me and become my inner demon, you'd better use your brain first."

The tall, weary-looking dragon girl had her hands behind her back, and her tone even had the patience of someone talking to a child... but what she said didn't quite sound like it.

"Perhaps I should even thank you. If you hadn't trained my pain tolerance, I might not have been able to endure the pain of my soul being torn apart."

"So, do you want to hear me say that? Thank you?"

"Although I can't show you what you want to see, whether it's despair or grief, I can still say 'thank you'."

As you said this, you gave Him a standard Eastern greeting with a nonchalant expression.

Although the Dragon Girl's attitude was impeccably polite, the meaning she conveyed between the lines was extremely sarcastic and bizarre.

But He understood Ji Xinglan's personality. He knew that Ji Xinglan might really mean that, but her words sounded like a wet cloth wrapped in honey.

It may seem like something weak and powerless, but when you apply it to yourself, you can feel its irresistible power... the "art" of language.

Or you could say it's a "polite pressure."

"Okay...haha...very good."

Not long after its birth, most of its knowledge came from the "name-stealing punishment" of ■■■, and its basic personality also came from the demons it had come into contact with. It was once again amused by the anger.

"There's obviously no point in talking about these things—let's ask something more practical."

"You really think that after you split your soul in two... the part of you that's with me will also leave hell along with the soul that's being kept by that stupid blonde?"