Ch.161161 – Devil 5

# 161 – The Devil #5

[2 minutes have passed.]

“Shit!”

I never thought 120 seconds would pass so quickly.

I wasted 2 minutes without accomplishing anything.

To be fair, exorcising a devil through conversation in just 2 minutes was impossible to begin with.

[What do you fear so much? Do not be afraid.]

Still, I learned something during these 2 minutes.

The devil couldn’t harm us much while we remained inside this operating table circle.

‘If the game content is true, then even the devil was once sealed. That means there’s a way to defeat it.’

The opponent isn’t invincible either.

Somehow, I needed to find a strategy to learn its name and defeat it.

Soon, Kwon Sua spoke with a trembling voice.

“Hey, please tell us your name! So we can exorcise you! Please let us exorcise you! Please!”

Sua’s words contained no lies, only sincerity. A direct approach.

If a famous idol made such an emotional appeal, any man’s heart would surely waver. But the entity beyond the circle laughed in a low, gloomy tone.

[Exorcise me? Why?]

“Because you’re a devil!”

[I’m a devil?]

The dark entity questioned its identity again.

It seemed unwilling to acknowledge itself as a devil.

[What harm have I done to you, girl? Don’t believe what you want to see, and don’t see what you want to believe. Stretch out your feet and extend your hands. I clearly exist here.]

At this point, I considered rushing toward the darkness.

To fight a tiger, you must enter its den.

But my feet wouldn’t move.

It took tremendous courage to enter the devil’s lair.

[You can safely leave this place through that door from your comfortable sanctuary. I do not speak falsehoods. However, only 4 people can exit through that door.]

The voice from the darkness offered to let us leave through the exit door.

But only 4 could leave.

There were five of us.

One person had to stay behind.

“I will.”

Swish-

Yang Juhui stepped forward.

“I’ll go out.”

Was she planning to step beyond the circle and into the darkness?

Yang Juhui’s courage was remarkable.

But also reckless.

“Hey! That’s too dangerous!”

“But staying in this circle won’t solve anything either. I was the virgin sacrifice. Maybe something will change if I go out there and see that thing!”

It was a baseless claim.

But we were so cornered that even such words sounded hopeful.

Pop-

Finally, Yang Juhui moved toward the outside of the circle.

Thud.

Just one step.

With that, Yang Juhui left the circle and stood in the darkness.

What would happen now?

We watched her, forgetting even to breathe.

“Hey! Juhui! Are you okay?”

Yang Juhui was standing in the darkness.

Was she alright?

As I wondered this, Yang Juhui spoke.

“Weooooong-“

It was a loud, cat-like howl.

A truly chilling sound, but what was even more bizarre was that Yang Juhui, like someone who had lost her humanity, crawled on all fours into the darkness and disappeared.

The sight was so terrifying that Kwon Sua started sobbing.

“This is so scary!”

I felt the same.

I was about to wet myself.

What happened to Yang Juhui?

“Hey! Jeongseok! What should we do?”

“……”

Jeongseok had been silent for a while.

He seemed thoroughly frightened.

What about Jeong Sojin?

Jeong Sojin’s eyes were gleaming behind her glasses. In my opinion, she was probably planning to use us as bait and escape alone if necessary.

Then a voice came from the darkness.

“Guys, come out here. Don’t stay in that cramped space.”

It was Yang Juhui’s voice.

Yang Juhui was speaking to us from the darkness. We couldn’t see her.

“Come out, I tell you. Really, there’s nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong? You suddenly went crazy, made cat noises, and crawled on all fours!”

I was angry at Yang Juhui for lying.

Of course, that wasn’t really Yang Juhui but the devil who had taken over her body.

“Crawled on all fours? Like this?”

Pop-

Yang Juhui approached the circle.

She circled around it on all fours.

Grrrr…

She also growled like a hungry beast.

“Come out here.”

“What will you do if we come out?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t like this body. Give me another one.”

Poke-

Jeongseok jabbed my side.

“Hey, I think the devil has taken over Yang Juhui’s body.”

“I can see that.”

“What should we do?”

“That’s what I want to ask you.”

While Jeongseok and I were talking, Yang Juhui sat down on the floor and lifted her foot to scratch her neck. It was cat-like behavior.

Is that even possible?

Despite the situation, perhaps because of Yang Juhui’s appearance, it looked somewhat funny and cute. Was she deliberately trying to appear cute? Truly a devil’s temptation.

Slap-!

I hit my own cheek.

It was to regain my senses.

“Hey, Jeongseok. Is it possible for one devil to possess two people simultaneously?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Multiple spirits entering one person is written in the Bible, right? A legion of demons entered a man’s body and tormented him, so Jesus made those demons enter pigs instead.”

Multiple souls entering one body was possible. In the Bible, demons who called themselves a “legion” all entered one person’s body, causing self-harm and suffering.

But one soul entering multiple bodies…?

That seemed impossible.

In fact, the devil-possessed Yang Juhui just said, “Give me another body.”

If it were me, I would have taken over two bodies simultaneously.

“Hey, you crazy devil! Get out of Yang Juhui’s body!”

I shouted at Yang Juhui outside the circle.

Yang Juhui, who had been scratching her chin with her foot, chuckled.

“Then give me another body to enter. Come out and touch any part of my body. Then I can transfer.”

Swish-

Yang Juhui extended her hand.

Despite the situation, her invitation to touch any part of her body sounded somewhat suggestive.

Anyway, it seemed the devil could switch bodies.

The devil can only enter one body at a time-

Keeping this in mind, I devised a plan.

In my opinion, it was a brilliant plan.

“Guys, listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

# # #

I whispered my plan very, very quietly.

Everyone was surprised.

“…Isn’t that too reckless?”

Kwon Sua was shocked.

Jeongseok and Jeong Sojin didn’t say anything, but their dim gazes suggested they thought it was impossible.

However, in my mind, there was no other solution.

“Fine. I’ll come out and touch you, so enter my body.”

I slowly extended my foot outside the circle.

Then I completely stepped out of the circle.

Thud.

Just that alone made my skin tingle as if the surrounding temperature had dropped below zero, and the hair on my neck stood on end.

My body trembled like an aspen tree, regardless of my will.

Swish-

Yang Juhui stood up and reached out her hand to me.

I pretended to slowly extend my hand toward hers, and then—

“Now! Everyone out of the circle!”

I made everyone leave the circle.

Then I grabbed Yang Juhui’s hand and threw myself back into the circle.

My plan was to touch Yang Juhui to draw the devil into me, then trap myself in the narrow circle. This circle seemed to be a boundary that could block and contain the devil.

Such a courageous act could only be done by me with my “Strong Heart” trait, except for Yang Juhui.

“Urgh!”

However, the moment I touched Yang Juhui, I felt a pain like a hundred worms crawling inside my head. It was pain beyond what I could bear while maintaining my sanity, and my heart hurt so much that I screamed.

“Guys! Get out quickly!”

I would probably lose control of my body in about 2 seconds.

It took exactly 2 seconds for Yang Juhui to lose consciousness after leaving the circle.

Since I had the “Clock” trait and had counted the time, the timing should be accurate.

“Hurry! Don’t touch my body!”

“We need to get out!”

“Let’s go! Go!”

I heard Kwon Sua and Jeongseok frantically escaping the circle.

Was the plan succeeding?

Losing control of my body was the worst outcome, but if I could just keep this devil confined within the circle rather than the spacious operating room, things would work out somehow.

Thwack-!

Suddenly, something powerful pushed my shoulder hard.

The two palms that thrust forward carried the weight of one person plus various emotions.

“Whoa-“

I fell backward with a thud and out of the circle.

When I came to my senses, Jeong Sojin was pulling her outstretched palms back to her chest and clenching her fists.

It was an urgent situation with no explanation, but I understood what had happened.

Jeong Sojin had chosen to be trapped alone in the circle.

She had touched my body, drawing the devil into herself.

“…Why?”

“Everyone go to the door. That exit is real.”

Swish-

Jeong Sojin pointed toward the operating room entrance.

Four people could leave through that exit.

Excluding Jeong Sojin trapped in the circle, there were four of us.

The numbers matched perfectly.

It was shocking.

I had somewhat expected Jeong Sojin to push me during this expedition, but I never thought that push would be a sacrifice born from goodwill rather than malice pushing me into an evil abyss.

In some ways, this was more shocking to me than the existence of a real devil.

“…Why?”

“Yeongwon, you saved me too. When I was alone and scared in the infirmary. And last week, you saved me from a dream where I was being eaten by a dinosaur. The week before that, you rescued me from the sea.”

But those were just dreams.

Yet the devil had said:

People see what they want to believe.

And believe what they want to see.

For some people, even dreams could become reality.

To Jeong Sojin, I was someone who saved her.

Good deeds performed in dreams.

It seemed people could change from such small, trivial catalysts.

For the better.

Many people and possibilities I had given up on flashed before my eyes.

People do change.

That’s why you could be betrayed by someone you trusted, but the opposite was also possible.

‘We can become better.’

In that operating room lurking with a devil, in that hell where even breath froze without warmth, I ironically felt hope from the woman I trusted least.

Hope.

A light unique to humans that ghosts and devils cannot possess.

I saw possibility. That possibility gave me strength.

“You devil! I’ll make you feel in your very soul that you must give up on life!”

It was time to unfold the forbidden exorcism theory that would make even a devil abandon its attachment to life. This time for real.