Chapter 240. Two (6)
Chi-Woo suddenly disappeared. There were two possibilities—first, he went back to the present by himself, or second, he was kidnapped. Whichever it was, it remained unchanged that she needed to address this immediately, but Shersha somehow had a hunch that it would be the latter. She didn’t have a good feeling about this.
Shersha called someone in a hurry first—it was Astarte. As a great demon like her, Astarte was one of the very few comrades who shared the same goal as her and whom she could trust.
“What happened?” Astarte asked.
“Disappeared…suddenly…” Shersha quickly explained the situation and bit her lower lip. “We might have…to prepare ourselves…”
“…Let’s look for him first.” Astarte opened her eyes widely and quickly ran out.
* * *
Thud. Chi-Woo was thrown onto the ground. His eyes filled with shock and nervousness as he looked at the demonic creatures who forcibly dragged him to an unknown place. Before they grabbed him, he had been focusing intently on the opportunity that Shersha created for him. Although Apoline, Eustidia, and Maria-ju gave no reactions, he didn’t give up and poured exorcism mana into each and every one of them. Then suddenly, he heard someone coming, so he quickly stopped what he was doing and pretended to be unconscious. However, a couple of demonic creatures rushed in and dragged him away.
He instinctively knew that something had gone seriously wrong. He could resist if he wanted to, but it would be suspicious if he suddenly came to his senses after pretending to be drugged. Thus he decided to stay calm for now. That was how he found himself dragged to…
“As expected, it’s you.”
Chi-Woo heard a voice. It was a very unpleasant voice, like iron scraping against the floor.
“Why don’t you raise your head?” Then laughter followed. “I know you’ve come to your senses.”
Chi-Woo flinched. How did she know? The thought that he might be screwed crossed his mind, but since he was already caught, he slowly looked up. A huge figure entered his sight. Her appearance reminded him of dragonite from pokemon. But of course, the real thing was not as cute as a cartoon. The first thing he noted was her human face, but she had snakes as hair, and her pupils were vertical like those of a reptile. Her skin was covered in scales, and she had a long, thick tail. Overall, she reminded Chi-Woo of Medusa, a terrible monster in Greek mythology.
“Hmm. As expected, it is you,” she said again.
Even though Chi-Woo didn’t know her name or rank, it was clear that she was a great demon. The snake woman smiled and said, “It’s really been a while since I saw your face.”
Judging by what she said, it seemed she knew who he was. Chi-Woo stared silently at her with his mouth closed.
“Well, there’s no need for you to be so nervous,” the snake woman said in a gentle tone. “I was just curious. I’m the type who can’t stand to be curious.”
‘What was she curious about?’
“Shersha…the honorable noble lady of the Demon Empire…” the snake lady continued as if she was humming her words. “You know, I think our admirable noble lady has gotten a little strange since we took over this city.”
“…”
“When was it again…ah, yeah. Did you know?” The snake woman rolled her eyes around and glanced sideways at Chi-Woo. “You were supposed to be dead.”
…Come to think of it, he might have heard something similar earlier.
“There was an almost unanimous consensus that we shouldn’t even keep you as a slave, but kill you then and there. It couldn’t be helped, right? You killed over twenty great demons by yourself.” The snake woman stared intently at Chi-Woo. Although she didn’t show it, she was a bit nervous because this human male had an extremely frightening power—it could be called the natural bane of the Demon Empire.
“But you didn’t die in the end because one among us desperately opposed it.”
Chi-Woo had an inkling who it was—Shersha.
“Our honorable noble lady who never showed even the slightest interest in any spoils suddenly expressed her opposition. For one measly human male. Wouldn’t you also think that’s strange?”
“…”
“But after that, she simply put you in a cage and fed you drugs, so I was wondering what she was planning… Then I heard some interesting news just now.”
“…”
“I heard she purposely brought you to your senses for an experiment…but is that really true?” The snake woman looked at Chi-Woo with her eyes curved into crescent moons as he stayed resolutely silent. “Now, tell me.” She crossed her arms and demanded, “What did you talk about with Shersha?”
“…”
“Would you be able to tell me what she said to you?” Although Chi-Woo didn’t say anything even when she repeated herself, the snake woman didn’t get angry or frustrated; her intuition was telling her that this was a golden opportunity. Thus, she needed to coax this human. If she could get what she wanted, it didn’t matter to her what happened to one human male.
“Haha, don’t worry too much,” the snake woman softly said. “Although I’m lower in hierarchy than Shersha right now, she only got her rank because of her special power. In reality, I’m stronger than her.”
Chi-Woo’s eyes twitched.
“And if I use this situation well, my rank might become higher than hers. With my protection, Shersha won’t even be able to touch you. I promise.”
Chi-Woo had been wondering why the snake woman was acting like this, but he finally understood the reason behind the kidnapping. It seemed the snake woman did not acknowledge Shersha’s superior rank and coveted her position.
‘That means her rank is lower than seven…’
Chi-Woo had guessed right. Due to the Demon Empire’s social structure, everyone wanted a position worthy of their power, and this phenomenon intensified as one moved higher in ranks. Moreover, the fact that the snake woman touched the spoils of another great demon was equivalent to challenging their rank.
“And that’s not all.” The snake woman continued without stopping, “If you spit out valuable information for me, I’ll also give you a corresponding award.”
Chi-Woo began calculations inside his head; it did not take long for him to come to a decision. It was not a deal he should consider. Although he didn’t know Shersha’s true intentions, she had clearly proved her willingness to help, which wasn’t the case for the snake woman; in the first place, he would never believe her insidious words. Thus, there was only one option left.
‘First, I’ll pretend to accept her offer…’ By now, Shersha must have noticed that he was gone, and he needed to drag things out as much as possible until she came to find him.
“A…reward?” Chi-Woo purposely spoke awkwardly and pretended to be interested in her proposal.
“Yeah! You’re a human male after all! Right?” The snake woman clapped as if she thought he had taken the bait. “Of course I can’t promise you freedom, but…let’s see. For example—” The snake woman suddenly turned around, and Chi-Woo’s expression hardened. He hadn’t realized it, but there were decorations hanging everywhere on the walls. Naturally, they were not ordinary decorations.
“Before you go back to your cage, why don’t you have a good time?”
They were more like taxidermy.
“If you want, you can pick one person here right now… Ah, yeah. What about this guy?” The snake woman pulled out one of the decorations; it was a man with his hair down. Chi-Woo suddenly felt his heart pound as he got a better look. The person no longer had his arms and legs, and all that was left was his head and torso, but his hair was clearly blonde.
“If you do this…” The snake woman connected a long chain from the sides of his leash and hung it around like a necklace. “Look at him.” She said with a slightly flushed face. “I don’t know how he looks to you, but don’t you think he’s quite handsome?” Seemingly trying to show his face, the snake woman brushed the man’s bang to the side.
Color drained from Chi-Woo’s face as the man’s face was revealed. His soulless eyes stared down at the ground. A once-promising hero of humankind was now reduced to a mere devil’s ornament. It was no other than Ru Amuh.
“Ru…” Chi-Woo had been wondering where Ru Amuh was; he thought Ru Amuh might have already died because he couldn’t find him. However, he was wrong. Ru Amuh was, he was…
“It’s my favorite ornament these days. It’s something I cherish.”
Chi-Woo’s already strained mind was about to explode at that moment. “…!” But he held it in; he had to endure it.
Griiiiiiit-! The only thing he could do was grit his teeth. Chi-Woo looked away; he was not confident that he could keep looking while keeping up his act, so he desperately looked elsewhere.
The snake woman didn’t seem to notice, and she said in amazement, “Wow…you have a better eye than it seems.” She began walking to where Chi-Woo was looking. There was a decoration there too. However, it was not hung on the wall like the others, but covered with a white cloth.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t play with this.” The snake woman reached for the cloth. “Because this is my most cherished item among all my collections.” She took off the cloth. “It’s too precious for me to touch, so I just look at it every day.”
The white cloth slid down; this ornament was the opposite of Ru Amuh. The man’s limbs and torso remained intact, but his head was gone. As if it had been crushed and exploded by enormous pressure, the top of the neck was empty. Strangely enough, however, Chi-Woo knew who it was.
“Do you know?”
Although he couldn’t see the man’s face, the body looked all too familiar.
“How much I had to pay to get this body alone?”
Chi-Woo shook his head unconsciously. It couldn’t be. This couldn’t be happening. His brain was trying to deny it with all its power.
“What did they call him again…the legend?”
Chi-Woo’s breath hitched; his action also came to a halt, and his mind blanked out. Then he stopped moving entirely. The snake woman slightly licked Chi-Hyun’s body and looked back in excitement, and was a little taken aback when she saw Chi-Woo’s reaction.
“…Was it that shocking?” The reason why the snake woman had shown off her ornaments one by one was simple: spoils symbolized victory and power in the Demon Empire. The higher the quality of the spoils, the more it displayed a demon’s influence and power. In short, the snake woman had shown off her ornaments to prove her power to Chi-Woo. However, it seemed as if she had gone too far.
“You guys are so weird.”
Chi-Woo could no longer hear her mocking voice any more or hear any sounds. He had come to Liber not to save a world; he didn’t have a noble or grand purpose like that. There was only one reason—it was for his brother. His brother was going to be like this in the upcoming future. He knew very well that he was in the future, and that this future could change. That was the reason why he had been enduring and putting up with all of this—so he could go back and change the future. He knew all this, yet…he recalled what his brother had said about a definite future: a future that was impossible rather than improbable to change. Chi-Woo didn’t want to think about anything anymore. His mentality had been all shaken up and barely holding onto its last lifeline, and it had been cut a while ago.
“When I show humans this man, all of you react so similarly…” Then the snake woman noted the way Chi-Woo’s back and shoulders shifted up and down. “…What the…” His breathing gradually became rough, and something translucent flowed from his eyes. “Don’t tell me, are you cry—” At the very moment the woman was about to say something with a chuckle—
“━━━━━━━━━━━━━━!”
A tremendous roar rang out. It was an ear-splitting cry from neither a human nor a beast. At the same time, the whole place began to shake with terrifying momentum as if hit by an earthquake. Decorations fell, walls crumbled, and the whole building collapsed. It felt like the world was falling apart—no, it was not an illusion. Not only the earth, but even the sky was fluctuating and vibrating as if it was howling.
Flassssssssh! What followed was a vast expanse of light. The radiance emitting from Chi-Woo swallowed his whole body at once and grew rapidly in size. A huge shadow cast over the snake woman as she slowly tilted her head and looked up blankly.
Crumbbbbble! At the same time, fierce vibrations spread outside the building and swept throughout the city like violent tsunamis. Shersha and Astarte, who were racing down the street, looked at the same place at the same time. Even while shaking, the two looked up inadvertently, and Shersha’s face turned pale.
“No…” She shook her head without realizing it. A giant made out of light looked down at the sky with both feet firmly planted on the ground. A king who was going to break the balance of the universe and announce a new order in the universe finally stood up. This only meant one thing—the future that Shersha and Chi-Hyun never wanted had arrived.