Chapter 13
After watching the Featherman movie with Lee Minjeong, I talked with her about what we thought of it and ended the call.
The moment the skull-framed mirror began reflecting me in that pitch-black space,
a status window appeared before my eyes.
[Time Until Bodily Collapse: 2 days 11 hours 19 minutes 11 seconds]
“……Ah, seriously. I hate this so much.”
I crouched down and buried my face in my knees, sulking.
Since I had enough low-rank souls, I effectively had five days left—but that meant I had to make another contractor.
It was a disgusting system.
……To protect my contractors’ lives, I had to create even more contractors.
On top of that, being cooped up in this pitch-black room all day, staring at nothing but a mirror, was driving me crazy.
It was like hiding inside a box, then carefully lifting the lid to peek outside through the crack.
I felt stifled, bored, anxious, and empty.
The longer I spent as a devil, the more I felt my heart rotting away.
“I’m going to turn into a real devil at this rate……!”
I clutched the two horns on my head and shouted as if screaming at the top of my lungs.
Just then.
-Zzzzt.
With a crackling sound, static appeared across the mirror’s glass.
“……Huh?”
From beyond the gray screen of the mirror, I heard several strange, metallic noises, then silence fell for a while.
Just as I held my breath and blinked quietly at the mirror’s sudden malfunction,
a woman’s figure appeared inside it.
-Zzzzt.
A long-haired woman with inverted eyes and two black horns was wielding a whip.
……Han Seorin was lashing the arm of another Devil Hunter just like herself.
In a city beneath a purple sky and a black moon.
-Zzzzt.
Next, the mirror showed a woman with inverted eyes, horns, and a short, curly emerald-green bob.
She flapped her black wings and flew through the sky, then drew her bow at the Devil Hunters.
Her arrows struck the Devil Hunters in the heart, killing them in a single blow.
“Stop, stop……!”
I grabbed both sides of the mirror’s frame, shook it, and shouted at them.
Why was this suddenly happening……?
Just as I was startled and confused by the sudden situation,
-Zzzzt.
“……Stop? Stop what, Lord Asmode?”
The mirror crackled again, then showed Han Seorin in her suite, dressed in her pajamas.
Alone in her room, Han Seorin was using her phone when she tilted her head and asked me a question.
……What was that?
What had that just been……?
“……N-Nothing. Yeah.”
“Really? You sounded utterly despairing. Did something happen to one of your other contractors?”
“Another contractor? How do you know about that? No, nobody died. How did you know?”
“I can tell. Lord Asmode suddenly got a lot quieter. I’m just an ordinary person, but since I made a contract with you, I figured you might have contracted with someone else, too.”
“……You’re pretty perceptive. You’re right. I have a new contractor, and that kid is such a handful that I’ve been looking after her every little problem.”
“A handful……?”
At that, Han Seorin’s lips curled up slightly.
……It was a smile that seemed to show her feeling superior.
“Hehe, you have it rough too, Lord Asmode. I guess there are all sorts of contractors, huh?”
“I only have two, so I wouldn’t know. But I suppose that’s true. Anyway, you’re hardly one to talk. You’ve been overusing the devil’s power lately. At this rate, you might turn into a devil within three months.”
“……But without the devil’s power, I’m just an ordinary C-Rank Devil Hunter.”
“You should be grateful you’re even C-Rank. Start controlling your power when you fight, even now. You idiot.”
Han Seorin’s expression stiffened when I told her she might turn into a devil within three months.
She looked around her suite and fell into thought.
……Now that she’d gotten used to this kind of comfort, she could never go back to the days when she lived in a shabby villa.
“……You nag more than my mom.”
“You don’t have a mom.”
“As expected of a devil. You don’t pull any punches.”
A little while later, Han Seorin wrapped herself in a blanket and continued in a girlish voice.
“Still, can’t I use it just until tomorrow? Ms. Baek Seol-a offered me a B-Rank devil-subjugation request.”
“What? You’re a C-Rank Devil Hunter, so why are you taking a B-Rank devil-subjugation request?! That’s illegal!”
“……Ms. Baek Seol-a said she’d write me a recommendation for B-Rank Devil Hunter if I distinguished myself on this mission. And it’s a team operation, so it should be fine.”
“Haah, seriously. Why didn’t you ask me first?”
Thank goodness Lee Minjeong overshadowed her, because I was starting to think this one was nearly beyond saving, too.
In the end, I decided to accept reality, let out a deep sigh, and answered.
“……Fine. I’ll focus on you tomorrow. But only perform at the level of a C-Rank Devil Hunter, got it?”
“Yes, Lord Asmode. I’m counting on you. So now I can sleep soundly without worrying, right?”
“Do whatever you want……!”
I snapped at Han Seorin, ended the call, and bit my lip in frustration.
……That insolent girl.
The least she could’ve done was tell me!
Just as resentment toward Han Seorin was building up inside me, I remembered the scene I’d seen in the mirror a little while ago.
Han Seorin, turned into a devil, mercilessly killing her own comrades with her whip.
……If I let her do whatever she wanted, it felt like the scene I’d seen in the mirror would come true.
I needed a plan.
Maybe I should add a new rule.
‘Never forget why you’re using your power.’
Han Seorin seemed to have gotten a taste of money and become consumed by greed.
That must be why she was trying to rank up recklessly.
After all, Devil Hunters’ salaries increased exponentially as their ranks went up.
I was just thinking that I’d have to give Han Seorin a stern scolding after she hunted devils tomorrow.
*
The next morning.
Han Seorin carefully got up so she wouldn’t wake her younger siblings and changed into her Devil Hunter uniform.
Then she quietly finished breakfast and took a quick shower before heading outside the Association building.
She arrived at an apartment complex.
Association staff and low-rank Devil Hunters were evacuating the residents.
Han Seorin stepped over the yellow barricade and entered the apartment complex.
At its center, a blue Gate had opened in midair.
Dozens of Devil Hunters, including Baek Seol-a, were waiting in front of it.
Just then, Baek Seol-a sensed Han Seorin’s presence, turned around, and spoke to her.
“As expected, you came, Ms. Han Seorin. Is this your first time entering a Gate?”
“……Yes. It’s my first time, so I’m a little nervous.”
“You’ll be fine. We have B-Rank Devil Hunters in this formation. And it’s not as if you’re lacking in skill, Ms. Han Seorin.”
Baek Seol-a patted Han Seorin on the shoulder and continued.
“If you just follow our lead, we should be able to seal the Gate without any major problems.”
“I’ll do my best to live up to your trust in me.”
“Then shall we set off right now? Everyone’s been waiting for you, Ms. Han Seorin.”
“Uh…… I’m sorry I’m late. I had to make breakfast for my siblings before I left.”
“That’s all right. Your family matters more than this city, doesn’t it?”
“……”
As Han Seorin fell silent at Baek Seol-a’s teasing jab, Baek Seol-a gave her a light pat on the back.
“All right, let’s really get going! We’ll finish this quickly and seal the other Gates, too!”
““Yes, Team Leader!””
With Baek Seol-a at the forefront, Extermination Division, Section 5, entered the Gate.
Han Seorin desperately endured the dizziness that came when she crossed the Gate and made her way inside.
Inside the Gate, where a B-Rank devil lurked,
apartments lined the roads beneath a purple sky.
All the lights in the apartments were off, and wrecked cars sat haphazardly along the road.
-Sssss……!
Devils shaped like enormous red mantises wandered along the road.
The moment Han Seorin saw them, she took out her whip and charged ahead alone.
Then she clenched her fist and began slaughtering the devils with the power of a devil.
-Slash! Slash!
The mantis devils that met Han Seorin’s red gaze were cut in half one after another.
The other Devil Hunters, including Baek Seol-a, looked flustered.
“Wait, you’re moving too fast……!”
In the end, Baek Seol-a and the other Devil Hunters started moving faster than usual to keep up with Han Seorin’s pace.
A little while later, after clearing out the low-rank devils nearby, Han Seorin and the Devil Hunters began panting.
……When Han Seorin noticed the other Devil Hunters looking at her resentfully, she scratched her cheek, trying to figure out why.
Then Asmode’s irritated voice rang out in her head.
“……You idiot, everyone wore themselves out keeping up with your pace before they even got to fight the B-Rank devil!”
“Ah, r-right……”
Just as Han Seorin scratched the back of her head and reacted awkwardly, Baek Seol-a approached her with a laser gun in hand and chuckled.
“Pfft, Ms. Han Seorin, are you going to clear the whole Gate by yourself at this rate? I’ll be hurt if you don’t leave any for us.”
“I’m sorry. I got carried away. I just kept thinking that all the devils had to be eliminated……”
“It’s all right. Sometimes an experience like this is good training. And thanks to you, we found the B-Rank devil quickly, didn’t we?”
“……Pardon?”
“Look over there. Isn’t there something huge?”
Han Seorin turned her gaze toward the place Baek Seol-a was pointing.
The rooftop of an apartment building in the distance.
A black giant hornet the size of an apartment hovered there, its wings buzzing as it looked down at them.
-Bzzzzzz……!
The bee-like devil tucked in its legs, then began flying rapidly toward them.
“Everyone, close your eyes for a moment.”
Just then, Baek Seol-a hooked her laser gun onto her waist.
She slowly walked toward the incoming devil and pushed up the frame of her glasses.
At last, just as the devil charged at Baek Seol-a at the speed of sound, aiming its stinger at her,
she calmly spoke with both hands tucked into the pockets of her lab coat.
“……Hexagon Veil.”
-KABOOM!
A massive, high-tech mechanical door appeared in front of Baek Seol-a in an instant.
The mechanical door slowly opened, and a pure-white laser beam shot out from inside.
……Struck by the intensely saturated laser beam, the devil melted away without leaving a trace.
As if accustomed to this, Baek Seol-a placed a hand on the radio in her ear and spoke.
“Extermination complete. Returning. Over.”
“Wow, as expected of Baek Seol-a!”
“Is this the power of the next S-Rank Devil Hunter?!”
“……!”
Han Seorin, too, was impressed by Baek Seol-a’s unique ability.
So this was the power of a top-tier A-Rank Devil Hunter……
Overwhelmed by the vast gap between their abilities, Han Seorin felt completely outmatched.
And yet, she found herself coveting Baek Seol-a’s level.
She wanted to become as strong as Baek Seol-a, exterminate high-rank devils, and earn more money.
‘If I use even more of the devil’s power……’
……In the end, Han Seorin became ambitious, wanting to be like Baek Seol-a.
She resolved that she would have to rely on the devil’s power even more.
[‘Han Seorin’ has chosen her future.]
[Her path to becoming a devil has been set.]
- Evolution Path: Executor of Slaughter
- Predicted Devil Rank: A-Rank
- Unique Authority: Whip of Judgment
[Estimated Time Until Devilization: 17 days]