In the past, humans could be called the owners of this planet. All of the resources on Earth belonged to them, and the only valuable currency was the humans’.
They even added prices to the land, sea, and sky.
There were about 100 countries.
They were all connected under the same banner of ‘humanity’, but they all had their own languages, cultures, and values.
They also had numerous conflicts amongst themselves. Racial conflicts, conflicts between countries, between cities, and even between groups and organisations.
But all of these conflicts were resolved by the appearance of a different being. No. It would be better to say that they were left unattended.
In any case, they no longer continued the various civil wars among their species.
Because ‘they’ showed up.
At first, the names used to refer to them were not the same.
Scientists and scholars called them otherworlders, aliens, and space people while religious groups called them evil spirits. Depending on the region, they were referred to as monsters, creatures, or nightmares. (TL: This was so hard. Many of these things meant the same thing in english T~T)
These names varied because each of them had their own individual appearance and characteristics, which made it hard to find a commonality between them.
As time went by, their actions became more and more terrible. It developed to the point where the word ‘damage’ was no longer sufficient. Instead, it could only be described as a ‘disaster’.
And it was only then when humanity finally found the most appropriate word.
Demon.
* * *
Min Ha-rin was 22 years old this year, and by the time she was born, the lives of the humans had already changed miserably.
The land was no longer theirs.
Most humans were either dead, living miserable lives, or rebelling.
Min Ha-rin was also a rebel.
She was no less afraid than the others, but she didn’t refuse to fight. Instead, she felt it was scarier to be deprived of even the right to fight.
Because of that nature, she was given the chance to become a Demon Hunter.
Click-
The door to the room was opened, and several cages were brought in.
Min Ha-rin realised that it was more human slaves like her.
It seemed that the auction would begin soon, so they were all being rounded up. The room was large, so even though they had all been put together, it was still spacious.
The Demons scanned the room after carrying out their task before leaving once again.
Min Ha-rin turned to the cage that had been placed on her right. Inside it was a black man. She couldn’t tell his age.
She’d long learned that foreigners often looked much older than they were.
When their eyes met, he gave her a bright smile. Min Ha-rin felt a bit of discomfort at this, but the man opened his mouth before she could react.
“Are you Min Ha-rin?”
Min Ha-rin opened and closed her mouth a few times before she finally spoke.
“You know me?”
“I am also a hunter. Ha, it’s an honor. I never expected to meet one of the big names from the EastAsia branch…”
The man touched his collar regretfully and sighed.
“I would have asked for an autograph if our circumstances were better.”
“You are…?”
“I’m Drisa. A hunter from the Africa branch.”
“Black Panther…” (TL: facepalm…)
When Min Ha-rin muttered with a shocked expression, Drisa smiled again.
“Just call me Drisa. You don’t want me to call you White Flower, do you?”
“…fine. Drisa.”
Min Ha-rin looked at him closely.
“You seem pretty relaxed.”
“Huh? Yeah, that’s true.”
“Have you given up?”
“What can I do about this?”
Drisa tapped the collar.
“It’s over once they manage to put this collar on. I’m sure you know that too, don’t you?”
“…”
Of course she knew.
Human power and technology were still very far from being able to dismantle the Demon’s collars.
There was still a chance if the Demon who was bound to the collar died, but from what Min Ha-rin knew, it required five Demon Hunters using state-of-the-art equipment.
No matter how they looked at it, it was an impossible task for them, who didn’t even have a small knife.
“Is this how livestock feel before they get slaughtered? Kuku. No, we’re still better off than them. They say if you meet a nice Demon, you can live a comfortable life…’
Min Ha-rin’s expression hardened at those words.
“Do you intend to live as a slave?”
“We don’t have a choice in the first place.”
“Being killed while resisting is also an option.”
Even if they couldn’t take their own lives because of the collar’s control, they could still get weak, sick, or die at the hands of the Demon who became their master.
Drisa laughed like he’d heard a funny joke.
“Haha. You’re joking, right? You should know how much they enjoy breaking human minds. The only reason they haven’t touched us is because we are products to be sold. In other words… Once the auction is over and ownership transferred, their goodwill will disappear. “
“Goodwill?”
When Min Ha-rin snorted coldly, Drisa only shook his head before gesturing to the clothes he was wearing and the feed in the container.
“Maybe it’s because you are still young. You don’t understand how enslaved humans are treated. You should be thankful that they gave you clothes to wear and food to eat.”
“…”
Drisa gritted his teeth for a moment before continuing.
“I’ve seen a hunter who miraculously survived and was rescued after being enslaved. He could do nothing more than called out the name of his owner, a Demon, while crying. Not even medication and intensive counseling could help. And when we told him that we had already killed it, he immediately bit off his tongue and killed himself without hesitation.”
“…!”
She had never heard of something like that before. She knew that Humans who were enslaved would certainly have mental scars, but she had never thought that it would be so severe.
“I don’t want to be like that. No matter which Demon becomes my master, I will smile, grovel, and even lick the soles of his feet. Just to stay alive.”
Drisa’s voice contained a firm determination. It was a desire to survive while somehow keeping his body and mind intact.
When he saw Min Ha-rin looking at him with a complicated expression, he smiled faintly.
“Do you think I’m disgusting?”
“No.”
It wasn’t Min Ha-rin who answered.
Instead, it came from a man whose cage was not far from Drisa’s. An Asian man.
Min Ha-rin’s gaze turned to him.
She didn’t think… he was Korean. Min Ha-rin, who was also Asian, could at least tell that much.
“I will also obey them to stay alive. At first.”
“At first?”
“Right.”
A fierce gleam seemed to shine in the man’s eyes.
“Then I will look for a good opportunity to kill the Demon who bought me.”
Drisa’s expression became a bit strange.
“You know that killing your owner is suicide, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. But I still think it’s worth it. To have a Demon Noble accompany me to Hell.”
The man’s voice was unwavering. Just like Drisa.
This man also had a clear purpose.
Their cages also had feed containers. But these containers, which were similar to the one in Min Ha-rin’s cage, were empty.
“…”
They’d eaten.
This man, who was filled with determination, had eaten the Demon’s feed without hesitation.
As soon as she realised this fact, Min Ha-rin’s face burned slightly.
She’d thought that it was right to openly rebel against the Demons and bare her fangs. She’d thought that constantly showing that she’d never give in was the best way to express her resistance.
But it wasn’t. In fact, it was stupid.
Who would be afraid of an exposed blade? Instead, the true threats to the Demons were people like this man. Those who hid sharp daggers in their pockets.
Compared to him, she realised how foolish she was. How young and inexperienced she was.
Min Ha-rin’s eyes turned to the corner of the room. There, the blonde man was still sitting with his eyes closed and a blank expression on his face.
‘…that man was right.’
There was no point to dying from starvation. It was no better than a dog’s death.
Min Ha-rin turned her eyes to the feed container once again. The feed inside had a disgusting appearance, like vomit that had already cooled and hardened.
Nevertheless, she stuck her face into this container without hesitation.
She chewed and swallowed without even tasting what she was eating.
“…”
Her attitude caused the Asian man’s eyes to shine. And when Min Ha-rin finally raised her head, he opened his mouth.
“Min Ha-rin, this is my first time meeting you in person.”
This wasn’t a surprise. After all, Min Ha-rin was quite famous among the hunters.
She had also guessed the identity of this man. Nevertheless, the reason she didn’t ask was because this identity was much greater than she’d initially expected.
“…are you… Lee Jong-hak?”
The man nodded.
“Right, I’m Lee Jong-hak.”
“…!”
Not only Drisa but even the people who hadn’t said a word reacted when they heard this.
“The Human Dragon Lee Jong-hak.”
“It’s one of the three Dragons.”
“Th-, this kind of person was caught too…”
Drisa couldn’t help but mutter.
“Vice President of the Asia branch. You’re much bigger than I thought.”
Min Ha-rin, on the other hand, looked at him in confusion.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe a man of your calibre was captured…”
“We were hunting a noble in Shanghai. The enemy was a Demon Duke, and our forces had over 1,000 hunters.”
There was a large scale noble hunt in Shanghai. Min Ha-rin had heard about it.
“You failed?”
“Right.”
Lee Jong-hak’s voice was calm as he continued.
“They wanted to capture me alive. So I proposed a trade. My condition was that they release the rest of the hunters.”
“And they accepted it?”
“Right. They probably thought the 300 or so hunters that they released were less of a threat.”
In other words, he had sacrificed himself to save 300 people.
Just like in the rumours, Lee Jong-hak was closer to a hero than a hunter. More than half of the people in the Asia branch followed him. In a sense, he had even more influence than the Branch President.
‘If Lee Jong-hak was captured…’
Then the atmosphere in the Asia branch was currently desperate and hopeless.
Suddenly.
“Are you really Lee Jong-hak?”
It was a woman who was sitting across from them. She had bright red hair and extremely determined eyes.
“This isn’t a situation I would lie in.”
“…I see…”
The woman hesitated for a moment before sighing and saying.
“I’m Allida. A hunter from the European branch.”
“Allida Grabino. You are a famous Italian hunter.”
Drisa seemed to be extremely knowledgeable about the famous hunters from other regions.
“If you are really Lee Jong-hak… then we might have a chance to get out of here.”
“What?”
When Lee Jong-hak asked this with a surprised expression, she nodded and continued.
“It won’t be easy, but it’s possible.”
“How can we do it?”
Allida touched her collar.
“I have a way to paralyse the function of this collar.”
“What did you say?”
It was Drisa who retorted with an absurd expression.
This was natural. After all, he’d just affirmed that it was impossible to remove the collar just minutes ago.
But he immediately realised something, and his expression changed.
“No. Wait… did you say paralyse and not remove?”
“Right. It would temporarily stop functioning. Both the explosive that is attached to our carotid artery and the curse that weakens our physical ability would disappear.”
“How?”
Allida pointed at herself.
“I’m a Wizard, and this collar uses a kind of spell.”
“Wizard!”
Drisa couldn’t help but cry out in a surprised voice. Wizards were very rare, and there were only a few of them among the hunters.
Min Ha-rin was also surprised by this remark, and something managed to catch her eye.
The blonde man, who was silently sitting in the corner, opened one of his eyes and looked at Allida.