Ch.157Chapter 6. Kill the Dueoksini (1)

[Let’s make a contract.]

I didn’t really want to call it a deal, so I brought up the word “contract” to Yoon Yi-seon.

[If you provide the location, I will eliminate Dueoksini. Other students from the island will arrive soon, and I don’t have much time. I’ll find you later to discuss the details.]

“……!”

[What do you say? Will you make the contract?]

Though it sounds like a demon’s whisper, in reality, it’s an offer to eliminate Dueoksini.

“If we do this… can you defeat that villain Dueoksini?”

[I will eliminate him completely. I can’t just leave someone who causes this much chaos and then claims he’ll appear a month later.]

Even if some group or organization has connections with Pandemonium, they’d likely cut ties with Dueoksini after he caused this much trouble.

[When you make a contract with me, you only need to keep two things. First, keep our contract confidential. And…]

“I know nothing about Platinum Sun.”

[I see we understand each other.]

I extended my fist toward Yoon Yi-seon, and she cautiously bumped her fist against mine.

[The contract is established. Tomorrow, at 10 PM, I’ll come to your room.]

“My, my room…?”

[Keep your window open. I’ll find you.]

“Isn’t that dan-“

[You don’t need to worry about that.]

There’s no one on Sejong Island who can detect me.

Even if someone notices, there are people who might pretend not to see depending on the situation.

[See you later.]

I got on my bike and left.

On the way, I simply ignored the two white-haired Zenros agents and headed toward the sea with my bike pointed toward Sejong Island.

“Hey, over there!”

Vrooom!

I drove the bike off the cliff and fell straight down.

Following inertia, I moved forward without hitting the cliff, but I was about to fall into the churning waves below.

VROOOOM!

I operated the bike to expel all remaining magical power downward.

Turning westward, I activated stealth mode—etherealization—completely disappearing from others’ sight along with my bike.

‘This really is amazing.’

Not only can I etherealize myself, but the bike too.

Though the chairman participated directly in its development, it’s even more impressive than I thought.

It’s an excellent and perfect bike for a rider, especially considering it remained intact even after I charged at an S-class demon with mana surrounding me.

But.

I turned back toward land.

How long did I ride?

10 minutes?

It didn’t take long.

I immediately returned toward the island, expelled magical power downward from the bike, and slowly descended onto the familiar pension.

Vroooom.

Wind swept across the ground like a helicopter landing, but no one paid attention.

After all, I had reserved this pension, and besides me, there were no other—

“What do you mean by ex-girlfriend?”

“Exactly what I said. I’m his ex-girlfriend. We didn’t break up badly, so you could say I’m practically still his girlfriend.”

“Hmm. I see. But you know the Goblin has a wife, right?”

“……”

“Did his wife steal the Goblin from you, so now you’re the ex-girlfriend?”

“You, you’re being quite insolent?”

Hearing the confrontation inside, I put my hand back on the bike.

Somehow, I felt it would be troublesome to enter now, but I noticed the tavern owner standing alone in the kitchen holding a cup.

Slurp.

She was leisurely drinking what looked like sikhye, but her fingers gripping the cup were trembling slightly.

She seemed to be hoping someone would come in and resolve this situation, and naturally, there was only one person who could do that.

[Transform release.]

I released my transformation.

Suddenly appearing naked outside might be a problem, but that’s not really an issue.

“What are you doing inside the pension?”

Click.

As I opened the veranda door and entered, Ymir and Taowu, who had been closing the distance between each other, turned their attention to me.

“Pffft!”

The tavern owner spat out her sikhye and started coughing, while I entered the room, closed the veranda door, and headed straight for the closet.

“Why are you fighting as soon as you meet?”

“T-Teacher?”

“What?”

“Um, when you suddenly appear like that…”

“Like it?”

“…It’s quite a feast for the eyes, but a bit startling.”

Ymir cleared her throat and stepped back.

As for Taowu who had been on edge…

“Urgh.”

With a strange sound, she fell backward onto the sofa.

Thud!

Blood started flowing from Taowu’s nose as she collapsed on the sofa.

I took out a white robe from the closet to wear temporarily, while Ymir was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

“W-What is this, like some manga scene…!”

“She does this often, so don’t worry. She just fainted from seeing something too good. You’re probably used to it since you see it often.”

“I-It’s not that I’m not affected…”

Ymir licked her lips and looked up and down inside my robe.

“Y-You’re all sweaty… it definitely has a certain appeal…”

“I’ve been busy running around.”

“You’re being quite direct.”

“Because Baek Seol-hee isn’t here.”

The only people here are two from the Syndicate and Platinum Sun.

Obviously, there’s no reason to hide that I’m the Goblin.

I’ve already shown everything, and this isn’t the time to joke around with Ymir about Do Ji-hwan and the Goblin.

“Ymir. You need to go back to where you should be.”

“The dormitory?”

“Yes. People will appear soon, and I’ve talked with Yoon Yi-seon. She’ll help hide your identity.”

“Ah, that’s a relief…”

“The problem is the other one.”

I took out a tablet PC from the table and showed her someone’s face.

“Eun Hae-young, be careful of this woman.”

“…Is there a possibility she discovered my identity—”

“No. I checked before I came here.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I’m not that careless.”

With one team member missing, I naturally checked where the remaining one was and what she was doing.

“She’s probably still holed up in the women’s bathroom, so just coordinate well with Yoon Yi-seon.”

“Got it. Then…”

“And one more thing.”

I got up and approached Ymir, grabbing her shoulders with both hands.

“From now on, you need to think as ‘Ymir.’ Put aside all thoughts as Platinum Sun. You did your best, and you did everything you could.”

“…Teacher?”

“The world will say all sorts of things about Platinum Sun. Some might be favorable, but most will hurl abuse at you. Whether it’s jealousy, anger, slander, or intimidation.”

“……”

Ymir still doesn’t know.

About internet witch hunts.

She hasn’t directly experienced how people dig up personal information once an issue starts.

I showed her glimpses of it before, but that’s nothing compared to the arrows of criticism that will be aimed at Platinum Sun in the future.

“Ymir. If you have anything you want to release, anything that’s building up, come to me. I’ll listen to all your worries and help you release everything that’s piling up.”

“…Is that how you persuade people?”

“I’m saying this as one person to another, before being a member of the Syndicate.”

“You say that, but you actually want me to join the Syndicate, right?”

“That’s part of it too.”

I can’t beat around the bush in front of Ymir.

“Sigh. Alright. I’ll keep it in mind. As you said, whatever unfair criticism people throw at Platinum Sun, I’ll let it go in one ear and out the other, and if it builds up, I’ll come to you to vent.”

“Yes. Come without fail. I’ll listen to your story even if I’m in the middle of counseling someone else.”

“I don’t think that’s the kind of counseling you mean.”

Ymir glanced at Taowu, then looked at me with a serious face.

“Teacher. Everyone’s the same except your wife, right?”

“…For now.”

“Then that’s fine. I thought you might have multiple wives. Hmph.”

Ymir smiled and patted my hands on her shoulders, and I stepped back from her.

“I’ll be back soon. After the field training falls apart, if we end up staying on Ulleungdo, I’ll talk with the student council president and come straight here.”

“When you teleport—”

“I know, I’ll appear somewhere a bit far away since I don’t know what might be at the teleportation spot, then check the situation before moving. That’s good enough, right?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

Ymir opened the veranda window and jumped outside.

“Phew.”

Though it seemed like a commotion had occurred, I sat down on the sofa with a sense of relief and exhaustion.

“Tavern Owner.”

“Would you like a drink?”

“Anything cold.”

The tavern owner brought me iced tea, and I drank it down.

“…Whew. I really moved around a lot today.”

The distance I traveled probably exceeds 1000km easily.

Even though I moved by bike, there were frequent battles in between.

“Taowu. Wake up.”

“……”

“…Wake up, Hyun Se-rin.”

“Hehe.”

Taowu, Hyun Se-rin, slyly opened her eyes.

“How was it?”

“You’ve read too many comics.”

“But you backed off appropriately. You were completely smitten. What made you fall so hard?”

“This, this, and this.”

With her index finger, she pointed to her face.

With her thumb, her chest.

And then moved her hand downward.

“Fair enough.”

Hyun Se-rin readily admitted it.

“Now tell me. Dueoksini, who is that guy?”

“One of Pandemonium’s Seven Deadly Sins.”

“…One of those arrogant bastards? That guy? No, there wasn’t anyone that crazy among them. We destroyed them all.”

“He could be called one of the newly emerged Seven Deadly Sins.”

Human experimentation.

DNA manipulation.

“He’s someone who turned himself into a demon. Maintaining a sane mind after becoming a demon… he maintains it through extreme nationalism.”

“Embracing an even crazier evil to avoid being tainted by evil? He’s insane.”

“He wants to turn everything non-Korean into demons, to eliminate everything outside of Korea.”

“…He’s even crazier than I thought.”

“Well, he’s someone who researched demons and implanted them in his own body.”

I realized it while fighting.

He died countless times.

“You know, I always thought he was just a low-ranking madman. But after seeing him create 72 demons, I realized.”

It was just the demon seeds implanted in his body that died; Dueoksini himself didn’t die.

“I thought he was just a nationalist lunatic, but it seems he’s a bigger figure than I expected.”

Dueoksini.

“The fact that he doesn’t appear in the Syndicate’s intelligence is proof. When you think about it, it can only be them. The Seven Deadly Sin demons who transcended humanity, abandoned humanity, became non-human.”

The unfortunate executives that the original author only briefly mentioned during the work, planning to use them in the second part, but who never even appeared properly due to the meteor impact.

“Dueoksini is not human.”

The confrontation between heroes and villains within the country expands to a broader dimension, and the origin of superpowers, the protagonist’s truth, and various plot points would have been resolved in the second part’s main villains.

“He might be an alien.”

“……”

Beneath Sejong Island.

“A demon from outer space who studied Korea, and ended up with kimchi broth flowing through his veins instead of blood. Or maybe he took over a Korean body.”

A monster derived from a fallen meteor.

“In other words, an alien exposed to extreme nationalism.”

Once again.

“We call that a demon.”

This world is a nationalist light novel.