Ch.645Chapter 24. Real Estate Never Die (23)

In the empty suite room where no one else should be, Firenze, now an ‘S-Class Hero’ officially recognized by the Hero Association, closed her eyes while touching the awakening seal engraved on her lower abdomen.

“Congratulations!”

“With this, Italy has practically secured a spot in the World Cup finals!”

“Milanio…? Ah, don’t worry about him. The authorities will arrange for his return home. Yes. Thanks to him you were able to awaken as an S-Class, weren’t you?”

“He sacrificed himself to awaken you as an S-Class, and that should be enough.”

Firenze repeated the staff member’s words with a self-deprecating smile.

One S-Class is better than two A-Classes.

While she agreed with this statement, as someone who knew better than anyone how the current situation came to be, such words were incredibly painful to hear.

“Death might be the end, but with Zenros, a living hell awaits.”

She had seen it in a hero documentary.

Until now, how much national support and tax money had been invested in ability users and heroes.

Even E-Class ability users received millions in government funding to ensure they got education in good environments, but all that tax money evaporating with Zenros had significant implications.

“We should confiscate all the tax money invested in those who undergo Zenros!”

“How much tax money went into them? You think that’s too harsh? Undergoing Zenros is what’s harsh! They should have protected their own cradles!”

“What use are they alive? Once they undergo Zenros, they’re just ordinary humans. They may have been ability users, but they can no longer use magical power!”

Was it really necessary to treat people so harshly just because they lost everything to Zenros?

Firenze thoroughly examined the reactions of citizens in the Italian hero community, confirming the true feelings of the Italian people.

Most words spoken behind the mask of anonymity were sincere.

Italy wanted S-Class Hero Firenze, hoped for her relationship with Korea’s Patriotic Luminary Do Ji-hwan to develop further, and wished to treat Milanio, who had become nothing, as if he never existed.

“I can’t do that. I must…”

“Must what exactly?”

“!!”

Firenze hurriedly sat up.

In the reception area of the suite room where no one should be able to enter, a white-haired girl sat cross-legged, smiling leisurely.

“W-who are you…?!”

“I’m a demon. I grant human wishes.”

“W-wishes?”

“Yes. A demon who grants any wish. Want to be rich? Want to be powerful? Tell me whatever you want. I’m like a passing genie.”

The demon in the form of a girl stood up from the sofa, spreading her arms.

“Firenze. A woman who abandoned her husband Milanio and formed a relationship with Patriotic Luminary Do Ji-hwan to become stronger as an S-Class. Hmm, hmm. Good. If you went that far, it means you desperately want something, right?”

“Uh…”

“What do you want? Is just becoming S-Class enough? Or are you aiming for something more? What would you like to happen?”

“……”

When Firenze didn’t respond, the girl took out a wine bottle from the suite’s minibar and handed it to her.

“Tell me whatever you want. I’ll grant it all. Want to get rid of Milanio? Or make Do Ji-hwan your man? Or perhaps you want to naturalize to Korea without being criticized by Italians? Or maybe you want to become a hero of an even higher class than S-Class?”

“…What do you want?”

“Me?”

“Yes. You.”

Firenze asked as she accepted the wine bottle from the demon.

“If you grant my wish, you must have a purpose. You wouldn’t just do it for nothing.”

“Just because.”

“Just because?”

“I used to have other thoughts. But someone once told me, if you have the power to grant wishes, you might as well bestow it generously on someone at least once.”

The demon sat across from Firenze and broke the neck of her wine bottle with her hand.

“That’s it.”

Crack.

“If you make a wish, you’ll be exactly the 777th person.”

“…Are you saying that’s lucky?”

“Out of 777 people, I could grant one wish for free, couldn’t I? So, what’s your wish?”

“That’s…”

Firenze lowered her head while holding the wine.

“My wish is…”

“……”

The girl held her breath, waiting for Firenze to speak.

“My wish…”

“Yes, your wish. What you desperately want. What is it?”

“……”

As Firenze continued to hesitate without speaking, the demon began to grow impatient.

“Is it difficult to say what your wish is? Yes, I understand. Sometimes even you don’t know what you truly hope for. But really, you can wish for anything, okay?”

“Then…”

“But would it be right to wish for something trivial? Rather than wishing for tteokbokki because you suddenly crave it, wouldn’t it be better to wish for something deep in your unconscious? Something you truly, desperately desire.”

“If I wish for it, will it really come true…?”

“Of course!”

Clink.

The demon clinked her wine bottle against Firenze’s.

“Anything, really any-thing can be granted! So tell me. What’s your wish?”

“My wish is…”

“That wish, I’ll grant it.”

Whoosh.

Another presence appeared in the room.

A man in black hanbok who appeared with black mist was wearing a black gat pulled down over his face.

“Eek…!”

“……”

Firenze was startled, and the demon gritted her teeth at the sight of the black-clad man.

“You, what are you doing…?”

“As someone who has already granted a wish, I cannot let another touch my client. That woman is my ‘contractor.'”

The black-clad man took out something like a club and rested it on his shoulder.

“I made her S-Class as she wanted.”

“Tsk. Actually only A-Class, but installing a magical item that makes her appear S-Class and deceiving the world?”

“But she is S-Class.”

“You’re vicious. Listen. I’m qualitatively different from you.”

The demon reached out her hand toward Firenze.

“Take my hand. Then you can truly become S-Class.”

“Without becoming a demon?”

“Of course! I just grant wishes. If you want to be a true S-Class, or even beyond that, I can make it happen!”

“Then…”

Firenze turned her body toward the demon.

“You.”

“I’m… sorry. But you cannot grant that wish.”

The black-clad man growled lowly, but Firenze bowed her head deeply and turned to the demon.

“My wish is.”

“Yes. Tell me your wish. No, speak your wish. Then your wish shall be granted.”

“……”

Firenze hesitated for a moment, glancing at the black-clad man, then spoke with a determined face.

“My wish is…”

“Yes, your wish is?”

“…for my husband’s ‘cradle’ to be restored to its original state.”

“……?”

The demon.

“Even if he’s not an ability user anymore, I want my husband returned to his state before he was damaged.”

“……?!?!”

Was confused.

“What? Did I not speak clearly? Or should I be more specific? Let me be clear. Please return my husband Milanio’s genitals.”

“Uh, uhh…”

“What’s wrong?”

Firenze.

“That’s my wish.”

Twisted her lips at the demon.

“You said you were a wish-granting demon, but I guess you’re useless.”

* * *

How to defeat a demon.

I considered several methods, but basically, the way to attack a demon lies in the ‘collapse of self.’

Making what they thought possible impossible.

Or creating vulnerabilities by making them unable to do what they were confident in.

So I thought.

What method could make a wish-granting demon, one who could cast golden curses, recognize the ‘impossible’?

Creating something from nothing?

Immortality?

World creation?

It was surprisingly simple.

Future possibility.

Demons are beings that close off future possibilities, beings that can no longer give birth to future possibilities.

Just look at the ‘TS incident’ that was a big issue in Japan.

They became women, but could they actually ‘get pregnant’?

Well.

Perhaps the Demon of Lust made them ‘females,’ but not biologically female—more like what’s commonly referred to as female in subculture.

In that sense.

The wish-granting demon, though unaware, has wishes it cannot grant.

The birth of life.

It can shoot beams that turn men into women.

It can give hands that turn anything into gold.

It can even turn an S-Class ability user into an S+ Class demon.

But it cannot restore reproductive function to someone who has suffered testicular loss, to someone who has lost their reproductive ability.

“W-wait…! Does it have to be that man…? For pregnancy, you could use another man’s… That man is…”

“If it’s not him, I’d rather die.”

The demon began to panic.

It realized.

“If it’s not Milanio’s child, I’d rather kill myself.”

The wish that an ability user would throw away everything for, eliminating all other possibilities.

“I want to have Milanio’s child. Whether he’s undergone Zenros or not.”

That wish.

Is a wish that Yoo Yeol-chung cannot fulfill.

“Is it not possible? Ah… that’s unfortunate.”

And.

“I heard the Goblin of the Syndicate can do it.”

“!!”

That wish, I can grant.

“H-how…?”

“How to repair a crushed cradle? Well…”

I.

“That’s a trade secret.”

I won’t tell the demon about the artificial reproductive organs being researched by The Syndicate’s recruited bioengineering and genetic engineering researchers as part of homunculus creation technology—organs that, while unable to contain magical power, can at least perform reproductive functions.

Even if ability users cannot give birth.

I can create artificial reproductive organs that will allow Milanio and Firenze to have a baby.

“Continuing future possibilities, human perpetuation is one of the ultimate goals of The Syndicate.”