Chapter 14 – 5. Corruption (3)

5. Corruption (3)

The demon, whose head had exploded, writhed on the floor. If it had been cleanly severed, I might have tried to piece the parts back together, but it had burst, leaving no form behind.

Aren’t demons supposed to be incredibly strong? In the tales of heroes, it was said that demons were hard to kill and so powerful that they posed a great challenge…

I crouched in front of the demon, squirming like a bug, and poked it, but there was no response. I looked around, wondering if I could return to where I had been by going through the mirror I had entered, but strangely, I couldn’t see the mirror.

“Did it disappear after I entered…?”

No. I could definitely feel its presence even after passing through the mirror. It was that peculiar sense of existence you feel when something is behind you.

So it didn’t disappear immediately after I entered…
As I continued my train of thought, I was able to realize the answer while looking at the still writhing demon on the floor.

That demon.
Yes, the door had disappeared when the demon died.

“Ah.”

What should I do now…
Do I need to find another demon…

While I was agonizing over this, the headless demon suddenly rose to its feet.

I was startled by the sight of the demon moving without a head and widened my eyes in surprise. So, a demon can move even without a head.

“Hey, are you alive?”

As I asked this to the demon, I scratched my head, realizing that it had no mouth to answer. It was funny to expect an answer from someone without a head, but the demon gave a thumbs up.

“How can you understand what I’m saying without a head?”

This time, it shrugged its shoulders. It was a bit frustrating, but it was interesting that we could communicate.

“Did the door disappear because of you?”

It nodded its head. Even though it had no head, I could see its neck bobbing, so it seemed like it had nodded.

“Why did it disappear?”

The demon moved its hands here and there, trying to explain something. Honestly, I couldn’t understand half of what it was trying to explain with such effort, but from its hand gesture that seemed to indicate its head and its action of mimicking an explosion, I could understand that the door had disappeared because its head had exploded.

“Why did your head suddenly explode?”

The demon, which had been continuing its explanation, froze at that question. Unable to respond, the demon stood still and then began to regenerate its head.

The face of the demon, which had regained its form, was completely different from before, not resembling Nae at all. The demon, who had been pressing its temples and laughing, gave a broad smile.

“It’s indeed difficult to express things with the body without a head. Haha.”

“Did you deliberately not regenerate even though you could?”

Why would it bother to do such a troublesome thing? As I blinked my eyes and looked at the demon, it gave a gentle smile.

“How did you feel when you thought I was dead?”

“Um, troubled? Because without you, I can’t return to my original world.”

“Yes. I pretended to be dead to show you that.”

“So, I can’t go without you?”

The demon widened its eyes in surprise at my words.
For a moment, it rolled its eyes in silence, then awkwardly scratched its cheek with a laugh.

The human-like reaction irritated me a bit.
Seemingly noticing this, the demon returned to its previous smile, but its face felt expressionless.

“I didn’t expect you to say that. It was a very fresh response, and I was quite surprised.”

“So, what was the answer you were thinking of?”

“Troublesome, I suppose.”

“I was in trouble, but… was it necessary to do that?”

“In the far east, titse’s a saying. ‘Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.’ If you thoughtlessly kill when you’re upset, and don’t think about what to do afterwards, you’ll end up in trouble like this. Isn’t that what I wanted to tell you?”

its words were undoubtedly correct… No, they were indisputable truths.
I etched the demon’s teachings deep into my heart and nodded.

Seeing me, the demon smiled broadly and gently stroked my head.
I quite liked having my head stroked, so I quietly entrusted my head to the demon’s hand.

“Hehe, I never imagined someone stronger than me could be this cute.”

“I’m strong?”

“Yes, didn’t you get a sense of it when just a touch of your palm made my head explode?”

“I thought you blew yourself up on purpose.”

I never thought of myself as strong.
I couldn’t even lift the axe I used, and I couldn’t carry more than four pieces of firewood at once.

I used to groan under the weight of a basket full of laundry.
I used to wince in pain even from the stick I was hit with as punishment.

And I’m strong?

“Are you joking?”

“That’s because you don’t know how to use your strength.”

“How to use strength… Like slapping your cheek earlier?”

“Hehe, you’re quite off the mark. No.”

The demon who firmly said no showed me its palm.
Then, a black flower bloomed in the demon’s palm.

“Do you see this flower?”

“Yeah.”

“This is my power. If this flower is planted in the ground, the land loses all its vitality and turns into a desert. What do you think will happen if I throw this power into the sea?”

“The sea dries up?”

The demon shook its head.

“Nothing happens.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not the kind of power to be used that way.”

After that, the demon explained about power.
It was so interesting that I almost forgot about wanting to traveling the world.

I learned not only how to use power, but also how to utilize what I have.
This place was hell, a place without day or night, so I listened to the explanation without knowing how time passed.

When I came to my senses, a day had already passed.

“It’s interesting….”

“I’m glad you found it interesting. Now, let’s begin the world journey you wished for.”

“Okay.”

Nodding, I responded, and the demon opened the door with a broad grin. Beyond the mirror-like entrance was a vast city with a sprawling sea before it.

“Now, this is the coastal city of Prague, where the hero was first chosen. Take your time and look around.”

Unlike the sea I had seen in books, the sea I was seeing in person was incredibly vast and beautiful.

The clean sandy beach and the endless blue sea seemed to merge with the sky.

The floating clouds and the breaking waves sparkled like stars.

“The sea… is that the sea?”

“Yes. Is this your first time seeing the sea?”

“Yes.”

“It’s quite fortunate that I chose this place as the first city. Now, let’s go down. I’ll guide you.”

The demon said so, standing in front of the mirror and extending his hand to me. As I was about to take his hand, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

“But I’m curious.”

“What are you curious about?”

“When the demon comes out into the world… doesn’t God notice?”

“Hmm?”

It was a story I heard when the saintess told me about the demon. God is always watching the earth, so the moment the demon appears, he immediately inflicts divine punishment.

That’s why demon worshippers hide in deep caves or underground where God’s eyes can’t reach. That’s why I hid deep in the forest where their eyes couldn’t reach.

But if it go out like this…
Won’t divine punishment strike?

“I’m talking about divine punishment. I don’t want to die without accomplishing anything….”

“Ah, so that’s what you were worried about.”

The demon, saying so, sighed as if it had just realized something.

“Did you forget?”

“Of course not. Divine punishment is, as the name suggests, a punishment from God. That strike, filled with divinity, is the greatest power to strike a fatal blow against demons. The moment it hits, not only the form but the existence itself disperses and disappears. How could I forget that?”

The demon, saying so, looked up at the sky beyond the mirror.

“…That strike, which killed thousands and tens of thousands of demons, is not something you can forget even if you want to.”

“Did you try to go out knowing that could happen? Or are you strong enough to withstand divine punishment?”

“Of course not. Even I wouldn’t be able to gather my bones if I were directly hit by divine punishment. There’s a way around it.”

“A way? There’s a way?”

As I blinked and looked at the demon, he pointed at me with a smile. Wondering if there was something behind me, I turned around, but there was nothing.

When I subtly moved my body to the side, the demon’s hand followed me. As I tilted my head and pointed at myself with my hand, the demon grinned and nodded.

“Am I the way?”

“Yes. Your existence shields me.”

At the slightly difficult explanation, I tilted my head, and the demon pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. He then spread it out until it was uncrumpled.

“Think of this as the world. From this corner to this corner. Can you see it all at once?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“What would happen if a black dot was marked here?”

The demon said so, marking a dot in the middle of the paper.

“It stands out.”

“Yes. This is the perspective of God looking at the world.”

I nodded at the explanation that made perfect sense. However, I still didn’t understand how to avoid divine punishment.

“What does that have to do with what you said earlier?”

“This is it.”

The demon said so, punching a hole in the part where the black dot was marked.

“This, this large hole is you. I’m so obscured that he can’t even notice that I’m here.”

“Ah….”

“You are similar to me but different. The black dot stands out, so he tries to ‘erase’ it, but he with the hole in the paper, he tries to ‘fix’ it. The world took everything from you to kill you, stole your hope, and even took away your place to be. That’s why.”

Your very existence is a big hindrance to this world.
The demon said so, chuckling.

“…Why does he want to get rid of me after he’s ruined me?”

“Didn’t I tell you? God has no interest in individuals.”

You were an existence that didn’t matter whether you existed or not.
That’s why you couldn’t receive blessings, and he even took away the blessings you had.

“It was too great a blessing for you to have. A child who has all the blessings of the hero and the saintess… To God, who cares about harmony, you must have looked like a being that ruins the garden.”

“Just because of that trivial reason….”

I felt bad.
My disdain for the world grew deeper.