episode_0015

“Hey, bring me some water.”

“Soo, I developed a new magic this time, so please give me a sandbag.”

“Hey. Go get the party dress I left at Elegant.”

Again.

‘Do you think I’m a handyman… damn it.’

Sue spoke quietly, bringing water.

“Hey… First of all, Elegant is in the Imperial Capital, but… And last time, there was a problem with my magic, so I couldn’t use my arm for a few days…”

“So you’re dissatisfied? You’re a thief. You should be grateful if they take you in. You’re a savage!”

“…Sorry. I’ll be back now.”

As I quietly opened the barracks door and set out, I felt nothing but gloomy.

“When I was assigned to a party of warriors who couldn’t even enter the bell, I thought my life was over, but what is this… An errand boy? A porter? I used to be a former party member…”

When I kicked the rock with my foot, it quickly flew far away, perhaps out of frustration.

Seriously, how did it end up like this?

While Leon was out on the front lines, two other warrior parties trained with the sole purpose of capturing the Demon King’s head. Out of them, she was assigned to the party of Gretel, a blue-haired, yellow-eyed warrior.

When I first heard the truth, I was so happy I could die. They hired me after already being fired once? I imagined a future where I would become like Belle or Ena.

He thought that he must have recognized his talent, and that he could once again defeat the Demon King as a member of the warrior party and enjoy wealth.

But the reality was different. Far from having power or subjugating the Demon King, these people were nothing more than pigs with oil on their bellies.

At the time when I should have been practicing with the people’s tax money, I ate pork, bought dresses, and played debaucherously with women and men. I never even saw the devil’s ㅁ and had no intention of seeing it. Far from being wealthy, I was treated like a porter and never set foot in the devil’s realm again. I felt like a person was rotting away with mold.

What the hell am I doing here?

*****

“…Dress… I ordered it in the name of the warrior party… I wonder if it’s been made by now.”

The sound of her voice grew fainter and fainter, almost to the point where it could be said that she had no voice due to shame.

The tailor of Elegant also looked at me with uneasy eyes. Of course, she would. She trusted the warrior party to protect her and paid her taxes diligently, but now she’s buying such a luxurious dress.

I couldn’t even say anything in response to her gaze, so I could only haphazardly pack my clothes into a basket and escape.

It was unfair. At least I had the will to catch the Demon King, but I was treated the same.

“What, why are you so late?”

“I’ll hurry up and go.”

“Follow me. We need to use the sandbag, right? Don’t you think so?”

I heard two motherfuckers pecking at me. One of them threw a rock at my head, calling me a warrior.

“What’s going on? What’s going on with everyone? The atmosphere seems a little strange…”

Although the situation was resolved when Gretel opened the door and came in, it actually got worse.

“Aha-? Hmm, hmm. Su, can you follow me for a moment? It might be a little rough around here.”

Gretel grabbed my wrist and dragged me into my room as if she was thinking of me as a caretaker. She must think I don’t know anything, because just yesterday I was here all day, having fun with the women in the brothel.

“Soo, are you okay? Those three… um, they just need a little time to adjust to accepting you. After all, your previous party member, the warrior, defected and joined the Demon King. Don’t hate me too much. If you endure a little longer, things will definitely get better.”

“…Okay. It’s okay. Let’s just hurry up and go catch the Demon King.”

“Oh, Su. Being too hasty can ruin things. Let’s take it a little slower. It’s not like we don’t have time, right? If there’s an area that’s being invaded by the Demon King’s army, we can go there safely without having to take risks in the Demon King’s realm. Oh, and if you’re bored while you’re waiting… I can entertain you at night. Are you not interested? ”

As he said that, he hugged me and pretended to comfort me by patting me, and then he ran one hand down my thigh and secretly rubbed my butt.

Her heavy breathing was unpleasant, but I couldn’t argue with her. If I were to openly offend Gretel here and now, I’d be banished. …Like Leon.

All I could do was try my best to not upset him and keep him from touching me.

*****

“Sigh…”

After barely getting Gretel off, Sue let out a sigh. For some reason, it felt like things were only getting harder after she cut off Leon, the miser. But, did that mean her choice was wrong? Sue just couldn’t admit it.

But not admitting it didn’t change the fact. At least, Leon looked at her warmly. He didn’t treat her with dirty hands, just to play with her.

“…Jin. Han Su-jin…”

A single letter of the name that was abandoned. And the last name. Whenever he was having a hard time, he would repeat the name that he had abandoned in order to infiltrate the empire as a person from the East.

‘Soo, by the way, you said last time that you have a different real name.’

‘Someday, if you open your heart to me, can you tell me?’

‘I’ll wait until then.’

I did nothing wrong. I just kicked you out because your abilities were lacking. But why is it stuck in your head and won’t go away? After all, you’re a traitor who’s been siding with the Demon King.

Su, or Han Su-jin, crouched down on the cold floor and began to reminisce.

*****

hungry.

This was Han Su-jin’s childhood.

Why are you hungry?

It was Han Soo-jin’s question.

If you have money, you can buy bread. But, there is no money at home.

So poverty was a sin, was her conclusion.

Her family was absolutely miserably poor. Her mother starved to death because she couldn’t afford to buy a loaf of bread, and her father wouldn’t give his children even a crumb.

The father, who had lost his mind due to heartbreak, did not love his children.

As for the reason, I could hear it vaguely through the jeers coming from the street.

Long ago, before I was born, there was a place called the East, and my father, who came to the empire from there, was said to be a person of high status, almost like a nobleman. So, there was no need to be discriminated against just because he was from the East.

Of course, since it is past tense, it is not now.

‘Traitor’.

Those who are in league with the Demons.

That was my eleven-year-old brother, who was about a year younger than me and was once a knight. Of course, I didn’t even know his face.

Our family was destroyed miserably because a traitor emerged from within the family.

The jeers that the uncivilized Easterners knew would do that were a given, and as Han Seung-woo of the Demon King’s Army achieved great feats, their hatred for us grew even stronger.

And that was around the time I was born.

Although I have never enjoyed any of the wealth of my family, I have enjoyed poverty in abundance.

Judging from what my mother and father, and the now starved siblings, had said, my brother’s betrayal must have been unknown to my family, because they had fainted first when they found a blasphemous book in his room, mostly about the true nature of the goddess of the scales.

Well, the truth is, poverty was a sin, and I was a sinner.

And, I wanted to live.

The only thing you could learn in this house was the assassination techniques brought from the East… ninja, I think. That was it.

And there was only one thing you could do with this: steal.

I learned the secrets of being a ninja, hiding from my father’s eyes and making my hands bleed.

In order to avoid being discriminated against if it was discovered that he was from the East, he deliberately tanned his skin in the sunlight. Eastern thieves are bound to be discriminated against, but dark elf thieves gave off a mysterious aura.

I erased everything except for the letter ‘Su’ in the name. ‘Su’ seemed like a commoner without a surname in the empire, but the surname ‘Han’ was a symbol of a traitor in the empire, and adding ‘Jin’ to it would have been obvious that she was from the East, and using only ‘Jin’ would have been obvious that it was a man’s name.

When I was 15, my father got sick and died. I wasn’t sad or anything. We were a family that had no affection for each other.

However, the sign was that it was an illness that could be cured immediately by drinking a potion worth only 2 silver coins.

The end of a person without money is so miserable.

So, no matter how humiliating and difficult it may be, as long as you have money, it will be fine.

No matter what you do.

*****

She became a thief in the underworld.

If it was a request that gave money, he did whatever he was told, whether it was killing monsters or people, and as a reward, he received shining silver and gold coins.

However, because she still hated her brother, she did not accept the request of the Demon Tribe, and to some, it must have seemed like a gem that would not lose its shine even in that dirty mud.

“Soo, this is a formal proposal. Become a member of the warrior party.”

When I first saw Leon, he looked like a commoner, so much so that I didn’t even realize he was a warrior.

“Because I will be your friend, your precious person.”

However, Leon did not know that just an hour before he refused the Demon’s deal, he had killed a nanny with a crooked nose and white hair at the request of a nobleman, and an innocent boy who had been abandoned by the nanny and lived with the nanny as his parent.

“I will lift you up to the light.”

What’s the use of being bright or dark? No matter how much emotion you waste, as long as you make money, that’s all that matters.

Still, I caught a fool.

I had no particular sense of being drawn into the light.

Even after being pulled up, I asked Leon for money. Expensive potions, expensive daggers, expensive food.

At least I am helping to punish the evildoers of society, the Demon Tribe, and I am a front-line warrior party, so I deserve this much.

I also received quite a few bribes. Since Leon only continued to practice during the rainy season, I didn’t even have enough time to check things out, and I wasn’t even curious about what Leon was doing.

I thought of him as a black cow that was good at sucking money.

Even if you take the time between those rigorous training sessions to point out my dagger skills,

“When using a dagger, the reach is short, so move your legs a little further apart…”

I thought it was just meddling, so I listened with one ear and let it go out the other.

“Are you hurt? Your wrist seems swollen, but here’s some ice. If you hold it against something, it’ll get better.”

I threw the favor in the trash because it was cold.

At that time, Leon was just that much to me.

*****

“Ugh…”

My wrist was swollen. It was because I had hit it wrong with the wizard’s magic.

-It hurts, it hurts.

I looked for ice for the soreness in my wrist, but no one brought it to me. Seriously, not one.

-It’s so annoying.

If I apologize now, will you accept it? I will. Let’s go apologize. Apologize… and? …Anyway.

Su, whose reason was paralyzed, got up from her seat, determined to leave without any proper plan and with only the thought that things would work out somehow.

“Wed. Finally, I’m thinking of doing it with you-”

“Hey, fuck! Bring me the book. Do you think I’m fucking telling you?”

Ignoring all other sounds, I just headed straight for the door.

I firmly believed that we could reconcile, and that she would love me again, no… that she had to.

‘Elf Forest… Let’s go to where Nia is… She was once a comrade, so she could ask for some information, and the wind spirit is quick to bring news. She probably hasn’t really joined the Demon King’s army… ‘Leon’ has to do that.’

It wasn’t something that could be resolved with just an apology, and the golden time had long passed.

The perpetrator’s apology could be another act of violence against the victim. This is a fact that many people do not know.

*****

“Han. Are the invasion preparations going well?”

“It’s not Jeon Han, it’s Han Seung-woo.”

“Do you think I called you that because I didn’t know? It’s in front of Leah. Just in case, watch your mouth.”

“zzz…”

Leah was asleep, leaning against Abel’s shoulder. She had just finished eating a pudding, so her expression was full.

“May I offer you a piece of advice?”

“Let’s try it.”

“Your Majesty… Don’t you think it’s strange that the former warrior is sleeping on your shoulder right now?”

“Keep trying.”

If it had been Galvein, Mino, or Hira, it would have been a story that would have been cut off immediately, but ‘Han’ was treated specially. He had surrendered to the Demon King’s army purely out of faith, not because of immortality or wealth, and had brought back numerous victories, so Abel was treated with a little more patience.

“The Demon King’s actions have been reported in writing. No matter how much he was ‘saved’, it is impossible for a person to immediately develop feelings similar to love toward someone they were once enemies with. ”

“…”

“The warrior right now, just because his body has become a woman, his heart has also become a woman and he doesn’t love the Demon King or anything.

Just… I’m anxious about the empty space that was created again after the hatred and self-loathing that filled the void of loss from being abandoned by 5 people at the same time disappeared, so I multiplied the intimacy by a hundred times and appropriately created a feeling called love, and consoled myself that I’m okay now. It’s nothing more or less than that. ”

“My bones hurt.”

Abel said as he chewed on the ribs. The bone cracked and snapped under his teeth.

“I’m not joking, Your Majesty. How long do you think this relationship will last?”

“I’m not joking either. Let me ask you this in return. …How long do you think Leah will live?”

“The average lifespan of a warrior is expected to be-”

“You know Leah isn’t average. She did the work of three warriors by herself. …In my opinion, it’ll take at least a year. To be more precise, she’ll die next spring.”

“…”

“Do you know how long it takes to bury a person’s wounds, heal them, and get back up? Even if it’s short, it’s still too long when you only have one year left in your life.”

“Your Majesty.”

“In that case… wouldn’t it be better to make friends with Hira, get revenge, eat delicious food, and go to peace in the remaining time?”

Han Seung-woo looked at Abel’s face. His face was filled with sincerity.

“But don’t you know? That love is a blackmail love that the Demon King cannot repay.”

At those words, Abel smiled bitterly.

“I’m… okay. As long as I can see Leah again like this, that’s enough.”

Oh, I see. Han Seung-woo had already realized that he could not persuade Abel.

Outside the window, blood-red demonic flowers fluttered in the wind.

“Do you think one year is too short?”

“It’s too short. There were so many things I wanted to do. But I can’t pray to God. Still… there’s one thing that’s fortunate.”

“Are you talking about the water glass theory? The difference between a half-cup of water being as full as a half-cup and a half-cup being empty…”

“…No, I’ll die around that time too. If I’m lucky, we’ll meet again in the afterlife, not in the hands of the Libra Goddess. If I’m even luckier, we’ll meet again in reincarnation. And if I’m not lucky, we won’t be living alone, we’ll be sleeping together.”

“…”

“The first Demon King is said to have a saying that he always has on his lips. He wants to die, and living is hell, but this power won’t let him die. If that’s the case, I should at least…”

Isn’t it better than the first Demon King? Abel swallowed his words.

The demons fight to the end for their one and only demon lord, even though they know it will be a losing battle in the end.

Most of them are because even if they die in the human world, they can come back to life in the demon world and receive the reward they want…

Occasionally, very few. But at least once in every generation, there were those who stayed by his side because they had a human-to-human interaction with the Demon King, sympathized with him, and pitied him.

And Han Seung-woo was one of them.

It was spring.