Chapter 1
Before making a contract, you should think carefully.
Especially if it’s a contract with a devil who asks, ‘Do you desire power?’ You should think even more carefully……
‘I mean, there’s no reason a devil would lend humans power for free, right?’
In my case, I lend people power in exchange for their souls.
And before every contract, I always tell humans the rules they must follow.
First, never tell anyone the identity of the devil you contracted with.
Second, never become addicted to the power the devil lends you.
Third, never forget why you’re using that power.
Great power comes with great responsibility.
I wanted to guide them so that no one else would become a victim.
……I was human once, too.
“You understand the rules, right? If you don’t follow them, you’ll……”
“I understand, Little Devil! So if I make a contract with you, I can become an S-rank Devil Hunter just like the others, right?!”
“……Sigh, I told you not to go around telling people.”
But……
For some reason, most of the people who contracted with me couldn’t even follow the first rule.
*
This is the story of when I was human.
“……Do you desire power.”
In Seoul, in the dead of night.
A voice spoke inside my head as I lay bleeding by the roadside.
At the sound of it, I suddenly came to my senses and slowly looked around.
Through my blurred vision,
I saw a giant black Cerberus rampaging down the road.
And I saw my comrades, one by one, being bitten and torn apart by the monster.
Right, I had……
‘I collapsed while fighting that thing.’
It had been two years since devils first appeared in the world.
By now, it had become commonplace for all kinds of monsters to emerge from Gates and attack cities.
Along with the appearance of the Gates, some people had awakened.
The Awakened banded together, calling themselves Devil Hunters, and fought against the devils.
Eventually, they even established the Devil Hunter Association and formed teams to go on raids, just as we did.
……It seemed our team had lost to that devil.
“Do you desire power, my friend.”
The voice rang out again.
It was the cold, emotionless voice of a young woman.
I didn’t know who it was, but I couldn’t just stand by and watch my comrades die. I gritted my teeth and nodded.
“……Understood. I shall form the contract.”
As soon as she finished speaking, I felt a strange sensation inside my body.
My broken bones snapped back into place, the bleeding stopped, and the muscles throughout my body seemed to go berserk.
I sprang to my feet and picked up the sword of the comrade lying dead beside me.
“The condition of our contract is your transformation into a devil.”
Just a few seconds later.
-Slice!
-Grrraaaaah……!
Cerberus was cut in half by a single sword strike, one I’d swung with all my strength.
The slain Cerberus’s body began to slowly disappear, turning into black mist.
“Enjoy the devil’s power for the remaining year.”
My exhilaration at the victory lasted only a moment.
I saw my reflection in a pool of blood mixed with the blood of Cerberus and my comrades.
‘……!’
……My eyes had reversed colors.
The whites of my eyes and my irises had switched colors.
I’d more or less guessed it from that moment on.
That the owner of the voice in my head was a devil.
From that day on, my life as nothing more than a C-rank Devil Hunter changed completely.
-Slice!
“Th-thank you for saving me, Devil Hunter!”
“……”
After receiving the devil’s power, I defeated countless devils and saved the citizens of this city.
My rank rose in no time: I reached B-rank in a month, then A-rank two months after that.
My market value multiplied several times over, and I started getting offers for all kinds of advertisements and sponsorships.
……And finally.
“Once again, we were able to hold back the devils thanks to you. You’re now the light of South Korea, young man. Kang Sihyeon.”
“……”
After subduing even an S-rank devil that had appeared from a Gate, I was named the Best Devil Hunter at an awards ceremony held in the Association’s administrative offices.
An Association executive offered me words of comfort, then presented me with a medal of merit and a plaque of gratitude.
Apparently, my eyes looked normal to other people.
[Plaque of Gratitude for S-rank Devil Hunter Kang Sihyeon]
‘S-rank…….’
The pinnacle of Devil Hunters.
The highest rank, attainable by only 0.001% of all Devil Hunters.
I’d hunted devils left and right, and before I knew it, I’d been designated an S-rank Hunter.
……Yeah.
At least this should satisfy my parents, who died after being attacked by devils.
After the ceremony, I carefully put away the plaque and went home.
The moment I stepped through the front door, a cold little girl’s voice rang out in my head.
“There is only one hour left until the day of the contract.”
“……”
“The devil souls you’ve collected number in the thousands. Well done. I shall put your body to good use.”
……So that was it.
Come to think of it, a year had already passed.
No wonder I’d been feeling the urge to kill humans while hunting devils.
I’d somehow managed to hold on through sheer force of will, but now I could feel myself reaching my limit.
Was it all because of the devil?
‘Was this thing’s reason for lending me power to collect the souls of devils?’
Thousands of souls.
If she used my body to descend upon the world, she might bring about a great calamity.
……I made up my mind.
I wouldn’t let her have her way.
“I have one last question.”
“Ask me anything.”
“Can’t you control your contractor’s body as you please?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“So I was right. Then……”
I took the rope from a drawer, climbed onto a chair, and tied it to the ceiling.
Then I put the rope around my neck and kicked the chair out from under me.
“Y-you. What on earth are you doing……”
“You can’t have this body.”
“Ghk, you fool……”
-Grrrk.
“How foolish. Even if you die, it’s not as though there’s no way to retrieve your soul!”
“……”
“Fine. Since it has come to this, I’ll make you suffer the same eternal torment as me……!”
The rope tightened around my neck, and my eyes began to close.
I could hear her voice, shrill enough to tear through my head, but I couldn’t answer her.
And so, S-rank Hunter Kang Sihyeon quietly disappeared into the darkness.
A distant place where no voice or regret remained.
For a moment, that silence didn’t feel so bad.
*
“Hah, hah……”
The silence was broken.
When I came to, I was lying in a space that was pitch-black in every direction.
Still dazed, I got to my feet and noticed a mirror beside me.
A black mirror framed with skulls.
My reflection appeared in it.
“W-what is this……?!”
Reflected in the mirror wasn’t my original appearance, but a woman with pink curly hair, the ends dyed purple, braided into twin tails.
……A petite, flat-chested woman wearing a gothic dress, black gloves, and stockings.
Two black horns sprouted near her temples.
Unable to believe the figure in the mirror was me, I lowered my head and examined my body.
……But when I realized I looked exactly like the reflection, I grew troubled.
“Don’t tell me I’ve possessed the devil I made a contract with……?!”
Looking at it now, my voice had changed into that of a cold, emotionless woman, too.
……Somehow, even the way I spoke felt oddly girlish.
Growing uneasy, I turned my head this way and that, checking my surroundings.
‘Is there a way out of here?’
But no matter how much I looked around, there was nothing but the mirror.
Just as I wondered if there might be something in the mirror and started feeling around it……
……A strange vision appeared before my eyes.
[Notification: You have changed class to Lesser Devil!]
[Your soul and body are now bound to a devil.]
[Accordingly, the unregistered soul ‘Kang Sihyeon’ has been temporarily assigned to the body of the devil with whom he contracted.]
[Current body: Lesser Devil Asmode]
[Position: Contract Administrator]
[Rank: C-rank Devil]
Is this the so-called status window?
After carefully examining it, I felt a chill run down my spine.
Apparently, I’d become a devil.
I didn’t know what that thing was thinking, giving me its body, but……
‘I will never let things go your way.’
At least I was still in my right mind. That was something to be grateful for.
I touched the status window before me and scrolled down.
[Passive: Contract Devil]
You can do the following:
- Soul Contract
- Authority Lending
- Unlock Potential
[Passive: Lesser Devil’s Dignity]
You will speak like a young lesser devil.
[Trait: Devil’s Body]
- A devil’s rank rises according to the number of contractors it has.
- If there are no contractors, the body will gradually collapse along with the Contract Space.
[Time until current body collapses: 23 hours 59 minutes]
[Find your first contractor to survive.]
‘……Body collapse?’
Maybe it would be better to disappear like this.
Maybe quietly dying here was the way to make this devil disappear.
At that moment,
The mirror flickered with static, and the figure of a human began to appear.
Amid the ruins of a crumbling building,
A woman with long, straight black hair stood bleeding, dressed in a black uniform and beret.
……From her attire, she was a Devil Hunter.
She was holding a whip and fighting dozens of gargoyle-like monsters.
[Notification: A human seeking a contract has been detected!]
[The target is currently in mortal danger.]
[The contract target’s voice is connected.]
“Ghk, when are the reinforcements getting here……”
Soon, a woman’s desperate voice rang out from beyond the mirror.
Behind her, three injured children watched her with pleading eyes.
“I don’t care if it’s a god or a devil……”
As she spat blood, I heard her whisper desperately.
“Please, give me the power to save my younger siblings……”
“……”
I’d been planning to quietly accept my end, but……
‘Of all things, why did it have to be family…….’
Of all people, the first person to appear in the mirror was someone I couldn’t just stand by and watch.