Return result of async function

Question

I'm trying to return the axios response in the function validateUser(). In the code below, the console.log() works but the return doesn't. I've tried other questions' answers but nothing helped.

import axios from 'axios';

export async function validateUser(user) {
  if (user.length < 1) return "This field is required";
  else if (user.length > 24) return "Max 24 chars";
  else checkUser(user).then(res => {console.log(res); return res});
}

export async function checkUser(user) {
  try {
    let res = await axios.post('http://127.0.0.1:8000/checkUser/', {
      user : user,
    })
    if (res.data == 0) { console.log("0"); return true; }
    else if (res.data == 1) { console.log("1"); return "This field is required"; }
    else if (res.data == 2) { console.log("2"); return "User not available"; }
  }
  catch(err) {
    console.log(err);
    return "Unknown error";
  }
}