A Feast for You (1)

* * *

People fear death because they don’t know what lies beyond. What if there’s nothing at the end of death? Just endless nothingness? Only eternal oblivion? That’s true emptiness. Most people are terrified just by realizing this horrifying truth. How severe must the fear be to make them cling to religious organizations and the like? That’s what death is like.

Naturally, as I am still human, I fear death too. When I think about death, I get scared like a child facing the night, and I tremble without realizing it. When I get close to death, I cry and beg for my life.

But, like the pervert I am, I’ve twisted the struggle for life into pleasure. The more I fall into the abyss, the wetter my legs get, and my nipples perk up. My body and mind have rotted to the point where pain manifests as sexual physiological phenomena. Do I regret it? Well, I think I’m a hundred, a thousand times happier and more joyful now than on the first day I fell into this world.

For greater pleasure.

I’m going to try something new to feel masochistic pleasure.

In some ways, it might be the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done.

Have you ever bet your life?

That’s what I’m about to do.

A semi-awakened state where the five senses are closed off and only the mind is awake. In terms of martial arts, it’s similar to demonic possession. Because unskilled magicians are trapped in their minds and can never wake up. You can’t see anything, you can’t feel anything. Even the sense of time is distorted, so you can’t even tell how long you’ve been there. Most magicians starve to death trapped in their minds.

Maximizing dependence.

Creating a situation where movement, cleanliness, life, everything must rely solely on the hands of others.

My heart was pounding. I was very curious about how the thugs would treat me, stretched out like a corpse. Would they rape me again, or would they think I was dead and throw me away like trash? They said they’d sell me, so I don’t think they’d kill me… but people’s minds aren’t all the same, are they? I wonder if there’s someone who wants a broken toy like me.

The thrill that my life could end with just a thug’s change of heart….

I risked my life to feel that thrill.

....

-Jeojeok….

However, the strong mind of the Archmage broke through the wall and crawled out on its own, even though I deliberately tried to prevent awakening.

As someone who wanted to enjoy the thrill a little longer, I couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed.

Tch....

I can’t kill the awakened mind again… It’s possible to forcibly cut off the mind, but that’s the same as falling asleep. It’s meaningless if I can’t feel it while I’m conscious.

“Eueg….”

Still, I must have lasted a long time, right?

I open my eyes, letting out a twisted groan.

-…Where did you get…something like this…

Jerk.

“Higeut?!”

As soon as my eyes opened and my five senses were reactivated, a creepy sensation of being groped ran up my spine.

“…!”

When I shuddered, the man who had been groping my navel took his hand away and stepped back a couple of steps. His fingertips were as cold as ice. So, it wasn’t a thug’s touch. The fingertips of thugs who always had cigarettes hanging from their mouths were black and even hot.

I immediately spread Mana around to figure out the location.

A kind of map scan.

I can’t identify the colors, but I can get a rough idea of the shapes.

Two men... and that's a corpse? Why are there so many?

What baffled me was none other than the corpses lying around. The corpses, stretched out like butcher shop meat, were all missing several body parts.

Am I... going to end up like that too...?

Wait, hold on. Why am I getting wet?

This is serious.

“I want to ask where you got such a treasure. I’ll ask again. Did you really `subdue` her?”

“What treasure is a drug addict lying on the street…”

“Nonsense!”

A strange conversation flows between the two. The raspy voice, typical of chain smokers, belonged to one of Rahil’s group who raped me a few hours ago. But I had never heard the other voice before. It was ambiguous to even call it a voice. It wasn’t a vocalization that could come from a human throat. I wondered if the static sound, like a radio with a disconnected channel, could really be called a `voice.`

“….”

The thug was frightened by the radio voice and just stood there blankly without saying anything.

“I can’t believe you brain-dead bastards got your hands on her! If she had died, your heads wouldn’t have been left intact! Well, just kidding! Haha!”

“…….”

“Ah, hmm. I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken. That’s enough. Let’s end this deal. I don’t need any other corpses. This one is enough… because.”

The more I heard the man’s voice, the more it lingered in my ears and wouldn’t leave. Aside from being creepy, there was something about that human’s voice that shook people’s minds.

The thug said in a calm voice.

“…Aren’t you going to butcher her?”

“Excuse me?”

“Didn’t you always have a selection process? Like the corpses lying over there.”

The thug glanced at the corpses. A woman with a hole in her chest because only her heart was taken, a man without a thumb and middle finger, a young child with a torn pancreas. Wasn’t it all the work of the man in front of him?

“Haha….”

The man who heard the thug’s words laughs lowly. The noise got worse. It was hard to tell whether it was laughter or the sound of a TV buzzing. The man straightened his voice like a comedy show host and said in an exaggerated voice.

“Don’t you hear something?”

“…What?”

-Peoeong!!

Tak!

“I’m talking about the sound of your head exploding!”

Thud. After a burst of explosion, something warm and sticky poured over my body. Flesh and brain fragments. And brain fluid. Is that marble an eyeball? Is that hard thing a tooth… no, why am I calmly figuring this out? My head just exploded, right?

Before I could even grasp the insane situation, the man said.

“It would have been nice if there was an audience to see how my joke was! Oh, right, you. You were alive, right? How was it? My masterpiece joke!”

My head went blank.

“…”

What the fuck is this guy.

* * *

There are several reasons why other members of the organization don’t want to meet `them,` that is, those who always come to buy corpses, but most of them cited that one. It was because it was creepy. It may seem funny to see grown men collectively scared, but once you meet them, you can’t say that.

“Surely, you didn’t come out to see me off? I’m touched!”

He was wearing a fancy black tailcoat over a white mask and speaking cheerfully. He was slender and very tall, so the clothes looked good on him. He looked strangely neat for someone who came to buy corpses.

Instead, the function of the mask covering his face wasn’t very good. The white mask without any holes covered the entire face, including the eyes, nose, and mouth, and it was so big that it even covered his jawline. It’s a wonder how he can speak and breathe wearing such a mask.

“More than that, how’s your insides? I hope they’re doing well!”

“….”

The thug replaced his answer by closing his mouth.

The masked man’s words were playful, but the inside wasn’t. Moreover, his voice was buzzing, creating an even more terrifying atmosphere. The bizarrely large mask, the exaggerated gestures and actions, were all creepy. The thug regretted coming to meet the masked man. He finally understood why no one came to meet the masked man, swallowed hard, and said.

“…There are three corpses prepared. One little girl, two men.”

“They’re just useless lumps of flesh like last time!”

“….”

The masked man sometimes said sharp words while speaking comically. The playful tone was the same, so the man, who didn’t know where to match the beat, eventually gave up speaking and entered the slaughterhouse.

The man showed the masked man the corpses he had prepared.

“Hoo….”

The masked man who followed in let out a small exclamation.

“Do you like anything?”

“….”

“Hey?”

His gaze didn’t think about leaving Yujin.

The masked man ignored the thug’s words and said.

“Is that a corpse?”

“What?”

“I’m talking about the red-haired girl you’re staring at stupidly.”

The masked man saw the flow of Mana surging within Yujin’s chest. The Mana pulse, beating incredibly strongly, had a size beyond imagination. The stupid thug probably didn’t notice, but- that was an item. A diamond found in the mud, a flower blooming on a burnt prairie.

How could something like that come out of a back alley?

Greed flashed in the masked man’s eyes. Although it wasn’t visible because it was covered by the mask, the gaze was so strong that it seemed to penetrate the mask. I must get that. With that much magic power, I could more than fill my quota.

“This bitch? She was gang-raped until just now, so I don’t know if she’s alive.”

Tuk tuk. The thug checked Yujin’s life by slapping her cheek.

He slapped her without much thought, but unfortunately, he had offended the masked man.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh? I’m checking if she’s alive.”

“That’s why humans are… Get lost!”

The thug stepped back with a sullen expression.

The masked man, who wanted to take Yujin as soon as possible, asked one last time.

“I want to ask where you got such a treasure. I’ll ask again. Did you really `subdue` her?”

There’s no way a human with this much magic power would have just been defeated. Judging from the circumstances, it didn’t seem like these thug bastards had subdued her, but just in case. But the answer that came back was just a low-quality, stupid answer. Feeling that she was no longer worth dealing with, the masked man ended it for the thug, filled with hatred for humans.

“Don’t you hear something?”

“…What?”

-Peoeong!!

Tak!

“I’m talking about the sound of your head exploding!”

The flesh of what was once a human scatters in the air.

If I kill him like this, it will be impossible to supply corpses anymore, but… it doesn’t matter. The Mana dwelling in this girl’s body was so great that it couldn’t be surpassed even if all the corpses I had collected so far were combined. There’s no need to supply any more corpses. Yujin’s existence was a really unexpected harvest for the masked man, who hadn’t gotten any worthwhile results even after passing through Kahalia, which was hot with the Great Labyrinth, and the snowy northern Haperin.

“It would have been nice if there was an audience to see how my joke was!”

If I take this back, I’ll be praised to the skies by my master. The masked man was truly sorry that he couldn’t express his rising joy. He looked at Yujin, who was shining like a jewel, and said.

“Oh, right, you. You were alive, right? How was it? My masterpiece joke!”

Then he takes off his mask.

The man’s skin was grayish, similar to ash. His sly eyes and pointed nose were a face that seemed to reflect his playfulness. And above all, the small, cute horns on his forehead were noticeable.

He was a Demon.

“Ah, Artania-nim! We’ve finally reaped the rewards of our efforts!”

How hard it was to act as inconspicuously as possible. I wanted to kill them all and pile up mountains of corpses, but I couldn’t because I was thinking about my master’s safety. There was no point in being noticed by humans. He was able to distinguish between things, unlike the always selfish Demons.

“Eueg…?”

“Be careful not to die!”

He picks up the red-haired girl and draws a magic circle in the air. It was a high-level space movement magic. The location coordinates were the Ketalia swamp, far from Bridonia. It’s where Artania-nim’s castle is located. He bent his fingers and infused magic power into the magic circle. The magic circle emitted a blue light and created a gate large enough for one person to enter.

The Demon with the small horns smiled so wide that his gums were exposed and said to Yujin.

“Do you have any favorite foods? If there’s anything you want to eat, I’ll cook it for you!”

* * *

...This is really fucked up.

Another Demon?