Chapter 16
“Her soul erosion rate has exceeded 50%…….”
In a pitch-black space where nothing else existed.
I let out a deep sigh as I watched Han Seorin through the mirror.
Han Seorin’s soul erosion rate had passed the halfway mark.
Maybe because of that, Han Seorin had lashed out with her whip and ripped open Baek Seol-a’s abdomen.
And then came the faint sound of her scream……
-No. I-I thought you were a devil. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!
“……It didn’t sound like nonsense.”
After all, Han Seorin, who was always calm and composed, had said it as if screaming.
There was no way she’d mistaken what she saw.
Han Seorin wasn’t foolish enough to confuse a devil with a human in the first place.
That left only one possibility.
The ‘abnormality’ that had appeared in the status window a little while ago had occurred.
A phenomenon that made her mistake humans for devils.
A phenomenon that filled her with extreme hatred for humans and made her perceive them as evil beings.
……The same phenomenon I’d experienced back when I was a Devil Hunter was happening to Han Seorin, too.
The moment I realized that, all sorts of thoughts began to race through my mind.
Had I failed to manage my contractors?
I thought I’d done my best, but could I have done any better?
“……No.”
A contract manager’s role was to induce humans to become devils.
Therefore, it was impossible to prevent contractors’ soul erosion rates from rising in the first place.
That was how the system was designed.
“There has to be…… there has to be some way.”
Feeling desperate, I hurriedly checked the contract terms in the status window.
[Contract Terms]
- The contract manager lends the contractor a devil’s authority.
- The contractor offers their soul as collateral to the contract manager.
- When the contract ends, the contractor’s soul and body belong to the contract manager.
.
.
.
- The contractor offers their soul as collateral to the contract manager.
“When you think about it, Han Seorin is eroding my soul and turning me into a devil, right?”
What if Han Seorin could control my soul?
……It was a plausible idea, but I couldn’t think of any concrete way to take it further.
How could you even control a soul in the first place?
It wasn’t visible, and it wasn’t something you could grab with your hands.
Unless Han Seorin was a shaman.
I couldn’t imagine she could control the soul I’d lent her.
“……Wait. Lent?”
- The contract manager lends the contractor a devil’s authority.
“That’s it!”
Anything you lend can be taken back at any time.
So couldn’t I take back the authority I’d lent Han Seorin?
If she couldn’t use the authority, her soul erosion rate wouldn’t rise!
“Give me back my authority……!”
-Zzzzt.
[The contract manager’s hidden system has been unlocked.]
[If a contractor’s authority is reclaimed, their soul erosion rate can be lowered by a certain amount.]
“Huh……?!”
……It worked.
I’d finally found a way!
If I just reclaimed Han Seorin’s authority, I could lower her soul erosion rate!
“I’ll reclaim your authority!”
[An authority granted to a contractor cannot be forcibly reclaimed.]
[The contractor’s consent is required.]
“……Right. This is a contract, after all. We need to come to an agreement.”
Excited, I immediately tried to contact Han Seorin.
A little while later, the suite came into view in the mirror.
While Han Seorin’s younger siblings ran around the living room, she was sprawled on the sofa, listlessly watching TV.
I cautiously spoke to her as she rested a hand against her forehead.
“Han Seorin. How are you feeling?”
“……”
Han Seorin didn’t answer, just shifted her position.
I continued speaking, undeterred by her lack of response.
“You must have been shocked. But that’s the price of using a devil’s power. It’s a power that gnaws away at a person’s inner self and turns them into a complete devil.”
“……”
“It was too much for you to handle in the first place. No, no human could handle it. So, before you commit an even greater sin, return the devil’s authority.”
“……There you go again! What’s so wrong with me?! Do you really have that little faith in me?!”
When Han Seorin shouted and sat up, the younger siblings playing around her flinched.
She belatedly relaxed her furrowed expression and tried to smooth things over with an awkward smile at her siblings.
“S-Sorry……. I must’ve had a nightmare. I’ll go lie down in the bedroom for a bit. Tell me if you get hungry.”
“……Okay, Sis.”
Han Seorin hurried into the bedroom.
She plopped down on the bed, frowned again, and shouted at me.
“Live within the means of a C-rank Devil Hunter? I can’t do that. I have to protect my siblings! I’m the only one they can rely on! I have to become stronger for them……!”
“You say you want to protect your siblings, but you’re just being greedy.”
At Han Seorin’s complaint, I lowered my voice and spoke seriously.
Just as I’d said, she was being greedy.
……Greedy to keep her success going without end.
From the moment she’d been offered a place in Extermination Division, Section 5, Han Seorin had begun to be consumed by greed.
“If you become more of a devil, you might hurt the siblings you treasure so much. So be satisfied with what you have and let it go. What you’ve achieved so far is already a real miracle for you, isn’t it?”
“……”
“……This is the only answer. So please. Listen to me.”
Hearing the desperation in my voice, Han Seorin fell silent and thought for a while.
A little while later, she replied with a troubled expression.
“Telling me to go back to a time when I couldn’t protect my siblings? To me, that’s more terrifying than becoming a devil.”
“……Han Seorin!”
“Lord Asmode, I’m the one asking you. Please trust me just once. It was a mistake. I-I’ll figure out how to control it…….”
……At that moment.
An emergency alert came through on Han Seorin’s phone, which she’d left on the bed.
A notification that D-rank devils had appeared in the nearby area.
As soon as Han Seorin saw the message, she put on the beret hanging on the coat rack and prepared to head out.
……I resented her so much I wanted to tear her to shreds.
“Fine, do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore whether you become a devil or not.”
“……”
“If you become a devil and your siblings die, or you die, it’ll be your own fault.”
“……I understand.”
Clenching her teeth at my words, Han Seorin left the suite and headed to the scene.
……Unable to tolerate her stubbornness, I cut off the communication and clutched my head.
Why……?
Why was she so obsessed with the devil’s power?
In the end, I couldn’t hold back my anger and said something cruel to her, but deep down, I knew.
……I couldn’t turn my back on this girl.
-I don’t think Lord Asmode is a bad devil.
-I can’t share my power with Lord Asmode, but I’ll be your strength.
“……There’s no way I don’t care. You idiot.”
Since things had come to this, let’s see it through to the end.
I’ll be your strength, too.
Spurred on by Han Seorin’s stubborn insistence on going her own way, I steeled myself even more.
[Special Mission ‘A Fight Against Oneself’ has begun!]
*
Han Seorin arrived at a large supermarket near the Devil Hunter Association.
Her head was still throbbing from her argument with Asmode, and she walked slowly into the supermarket, clutching her forehead.
After confirming that there was nothing unusual on the first floor, Han Seorin went up the stairs to the second floor.
The moment she entered the clothing section on the second floor.
-Click. Click.
Han Seorin saw featureless mannequins with no eyes, noses, or mouths wandering around the store.
The mannequins were browsing the displays here and there as if they were shoppers.
Holding her breath, Han Seorin unfurled her whip and began approaching the mannequins.
Just as she was thinking she should wipe out these monsters while the mannequin devils were off guard.
“Han Seorin, behind you!”
Asmode’s voice rang out in her head.
Han Seorin immediately turned around and swung her whip swiftly.
-Klak! Klak!
A mannequin devil that had been sneaking up behind her leaped at her.
Then it tore off its own face, revealing a long tongue and rows of sharp, pointed teeth inside.
-Shk!
Just as Han Seorin somehow managed to sever the mannequin devil’s neck.
The mannequin devils in the supermarket noticed her and began charging toward her in grotesque poses.
But Han Seorin, looking shaken as she heard my voice, spoke to me.
“A-Asmode……”
“Focus! Hunting the devils comes first right now!”
Just then, a mannequin devil hiding in the display beside Han Seorin detached its own face.
Then it hurled it at her like a grenade.
“Right!”
-Boom!
……Fortunately, she quickly came to her senses and avoided the explosion with a backflip.
Without using the devil’s power, Han Seorin steadily hunted down the mannequin devils.
-Rrrr…….
At last, she detached the head of the final mannequin devil.
Panting and drenched in cold sweat, she spoke to Asmode.
“……Hehe, you said you didn’t care.”
“Shut up. Just get upstairs. I can sense a C-rank devil on the floor above.”
Han Seorin nodded at my words, then staggered as she began climbing the stairs.
The third floor of the large supermarket.
The section packed with expensive appliances.
A TV mounted on the opposite wall displayed a red screen and gave off an ominous aura.
She stayed alert to her surroundings as she walked toward the TV.
-Kzzzt.
The moment Han Seorin came right up to it, the TV turned black as if nothing had happened.
Just then.
-Whoosh!
“Gah……!”
Blood suddenly streamed down the arm Han Seorin was holding her whip with.
Feeling the pain in her arm, she checked her reflection in the TV again.
The Han Seorin reflected in the TV was swinging a whip at her.
“……What is this?!”
-Whoosh!
She threw herself aside at the sound of a whip coming from the TV and rolled across the floor.
By the time Han Seorin got back to her feet, a black figure had begun crawling out from inside the TV.
-Slither.
Dark crimson eyes.
And a face exactly like Han Seorin’s.
The figure that emerged from the TV wore an utterly grotesque smile and opened its mouth.
“Lord Asmode.”
It was Han Seorin’s exact voice.
The double twisted its neck with an unpleasant smile and continued.
“……I’ll be your strength, Lord Asmode.”
[The objective of Special Mission ‘A Fight Against Oneself’ has been updated.]
[The eroded soul of ‘Han Seorin’ has resonated with the devil.]
[The devil’s rank has risen to B-rank!]
[Subdue the devil whose soul has resonated.]
[If you fail, your soul erosion rate will reach 100%.]