Chapter 805: The Last (38)
“Are you having fun?”
“How could I not?”
“Life is too long. That’s why we need a story like this. I always say this, but your work is too outstanding. I just want to express my grat.i.tude for having entertained me over the past few days. What do you think? Do you want a gla.s.s of wine?”
“Thank you, Belial.”
“It seemed to have corrupted him perfectly.”
“Because he had problems from the beginning.”
“Being able to bring that out is also a talent. There is no human being in the world who can completely turn away from darkness. Bringing out the darkness in the human mind, hiding it inside, and stimulating corrupt desires… Isn’t that the direction that we, demons, should go to? It may feel like nothing, but your cunning and disgusting tongue has a trick to it that awakens darkness. You have a talent to poke in a very small gap and stimulate it.”
“The brighter one is, the better he engages with the darkness.”
“…”
“…”
“So far…”
“…”
“I’ve seen a lot of trash so far, but you’re really way worse. You are an amazing human. Enough to make me speechless. Haha.”
‘Director Bell, is that a compliment? Or an insult?’
“I can pull out their darkest desires because I truly shine. Fuhahehehehehe!”
“Disgusting human! No, you’re a disgusting demon! Hahahahaha!”
There seemed to be a reason why Belial was the one who responded to my soul and magic among so many demons.
“So, what are you going to do next?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. I’d like to prepare a wonderful stage since it turned out like this. Still, there are many variables.”
“Hmmm… is that so? Variables… okay. Variables…”
After shaking off the silver light showing hostility to Belial, I took a sip from the wine again.
“You’re thinking about what happens after.”
“Yes. It’s not perfect yet, but it something like that.”
He nodded as if he understood it. I didn’t explain anything, but I felt like he agreed with me.
Maybe he thought that it was right to use what I had started properly.
Well, I didn’t put in a tremendous effort, but still, it was a lot of work, so he probably thought it was only proper to see if it was worth it as a puzzle. I couldn’t deny that I got a quite usable card.
Emotionally, regardless of being a puzzle or not, I wanted to kill him in a single whipping, but rationally speaking, it was better to give him a role.
I thought I could use him more than I initially expected…
‘The demon contractor.’
No, no, the demon itself.
Although that may be a little too much, it was difficult to ignore the picture that came to mind.
‘I think I can really pull it off.’
The reason Jihye was working while minimizing contact with me was to avoid Lucifer’s eyes. However, it was also to collect her achievements.
a.s.suming she knew what my contract with Lucifer was, the justification of her actions was even more p.r.o.nounced.
‘She thinks she needs divinity.’
Of course, what she was collecting wasn’t faith but a nutrient of fear and terror. However, considering that it could also be converted into points, I came up with a simple answer.
I was gathering divinity because I came to the same conclusion as her.
‘Insurance.’
Divinity was insurance. Insurance that could bring back any possible circ.u.mstances to square one. The possibility of the villain that Song Sookyung showed bothered me for no reason.
“By the way.”
“…”
“If something happens with my mortal body, would something happen to me too?”
“No. When you go back to the present world again, nothing would have changed. Your heart… Well… If you leave it out for too long, something might happen, but you will bring it back anyway, right? Even if you return to your insignificant mortal body, your character will remain the same. Although a little different, isn’t there a suitable example? Just look at those shiny insects…”
As I quietly turned my gaze, I could see the blue and brown lights comforting the silver light. I saw them stopping the silver insect that made up its mind and was trying to get up again.
I understood what Belial meant.
“I think I know what you’re talking about. My body…”
“The body is just the body. What you need to go down to that world is not the resurrection of your body, but the amount that you need to pay.”
“I know that.”
“But…”
“Yes?”
“No… nothing. I guess I know what you’re thinking. Ha… Hahahaha!”
‘You’re too quick, Director Bell.’
It was already fun enough so far, but his eyes seemed to be expecting that it would be even funnier in the future, and I felt that he wanted me to proceed with the plan.
“That’s cool.”
‘I think it’s a cool plan too. It seems to be fun too.’
The storyboard was pictured in my head.
The demon that led the abnormal phenomenon that was taking place all over the continent, a deceiver who fooled all humans and denied the existing light, a villain who deceived himself to corrupt the light…
Song Sookyung.
Just imagining the scene where the great demon, enough to make even his own kind look like angels, took the eyes of the Son of Light and made the continent tremble in terror was enough to make me shiver. Only with that much would the ma.s.ses fall into despair. It would be nice if our Jihye could join us.
If that woman was just being stubborn, she might have made a scapegoat to die with everything in its place, but there was a chance that she wasn’t.
Maybe she knew about the Song Villain. Since she was more sensitive to information than anyone else, she might be expecting that I was…
‘That I’m framing him up.’
I liked the fact that I could collect quite a lot of points as a result. Maybe I could get a similar amount to that of the 27th Corps incident.
Naturally, Kim Hyunsung and the sons of light threw stones at him…
“What should I prepare then? Hahahaha!”
‘Director Bell is too excited.’
“I’ll call Limur.”
“No, you don’t have to call her right now.”
“Are you troubled? Not only great revenge… Are you also aiming for a wonderful story? I don’t understand why you are hesitant about the best option given to you to get results. It may even surpa.s.s the divinity that Benignore and I had at the time of the 27th Corps summoning. No, I think it certainly will. Unlike that time, when we invested a lot, we don’t have to invest anything now. I don’t like the numbers game, but if I convert it…”
‘Director Bell is way too excited.’
Honestly, he didn’t seem interested in how much we could get or how much profit we’d have.
I thought the reason why he brought out such data was to convince me. It seemed he didn’t want to miss out on the entertainment he hadn’t seen in a while. It’s the first time I saw him become this excited.
Did he make that face when he corrupted the Son of Light? At that time, he wasn’t a humanoid, and I couldn’t read his expressions properly, but I thought he probably did.
“If it’s the current you, you will have an idea of how much it will be.”
‘I have.’
“Is the reason you’re hesitating because of the possibility that something will happen to your mortal body?”
Well…
“No. It’s not. There’s a problem with physiological reluctance, but since you said that nothing wrong would happen… If we could get that much profit, my eyes won’t be a problem. We’ll be able to meet all the budgets in question now… and the amount that Benignore and I will get will be tremendous… Even the G.o.d of sunset would get profit.”
‘That’s all mine. Virtually all of them are mine.’
It was true that there were many things I could do. In addition to insurance that could be used in a decisive situation, it was possible to finish the restoration and update of the continent.
“You don’t like waiting, do you? You want to do it right now.”
“No. It isn’t that long, so waiting isn’t a problem.”
I took another sip of the wine. As if he wanted to feel fancy, I heard the old-fashioned music that Belial played earlier.
As I quietly turned, I could see him turning his head too, and it was the Rangers who entered the screen. There was one a.s.sa.s.sin whom I thought to be best in the continent, and all the rest of the rangers were ranked in the upper ranks. The way they moved, melting in the shadows, was fast, even for me.
They were trained professionally only for infiltration missions, after all.
They probably simulated it several times already. The guys stepped inside the Blue Guild with minimal hand signals. I also wanted to believe that those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds would do something, but of course, nothing would happen.
The guild already knew that they had invaded.
‘Do you see the Blue Guild as a pushover?’
The lovely regressor, manager Kim Mi-young, and Cho Hyejin were in a meeting, and they look tired since it had been going on all night. I didn’t think that the regular guild staff could stop them, but…
‘Who is on duty today?’
Seeing someone falling between the rangers from the sky, pulling up her twin swords, I had no choice but to nod.
‘Park Li-ahn.’
The enemy rangers were scattered in an instant due to the sudden situation. She cut two throats in an instant.
The guy who seemed to have decent skills tried to stab her with his dagger, but she leaned back and dodged the attack.
He couldn’t even scream as his arms and legs were cut off. It seemed that those measures were taken to prevent them from killing themselves, but I could see Park Li-ahn’s expression crumpling as she saw the guy melting in an instant.
‘Curse.’
The curse of melting in the event of being incapacitated had probably been given before the start of the mission.
As if she thought the same thing, she seemingly decided that she had to find another way. I saw her immediately hiding in the shadows with her sword pulled out again.
In fact, I wondered if it would be possible to deal with them with Park Li-ahn alone, but the purpose of the invaders was not to go into battle or to a.s.sa.s.sinate guild members.
It was to find my body. Judging that there would be few opportunities except for the first try, more rangers were constantly invading from the other entrances.
They sent too much power to raid a single guild house. Their target being the Blue Guild could be enough reason for them to deploy that many people, but… even with that in mind…
‘There are many indeed. They prepared well.’
A few of the guys were thrown with a bang from a place not far away, and Yoo Ahyoung, who appeared in the room, did not have time to put on her armor and took part in the battle with a hammer, but…
‘She can’t catch them.’
Rangers would not try to fight her. Even though there were many of them, no a.s.sa.s.sin wanted to slay tanks with high endurance.
While big and small skirmishes were already taking place, the battle itself was too unilateral, making me unable to comment. Still, since they were a unit consisting of the highest-ranking rangers in the continent, they managed to arrive where the body was placed.
Right. The problem started there.
-W-W-W… Who are y-you guys…
-…
-W-W-Who are you? I’m asking… who you are…
Jung Hayan could be seen biting her fingernails.