Ch.647Chapter 24. Real Estate Never Die (25)

I’ve seen demonic rampages before, but the demons of Pandemonium are particularly different.

Each one has the visual appearance of a final boss that might appear at the end of any content.

And Yoo Yeol-chung, the wish-granting demon, is no exception.

[I think I know where the motif came from.]

Before me stands an enormous cup.

Its exterior shines brilliantly white, while dozens of red jewel-like eyes on its body twinkle as they stare at me.

KYAAAAAAAAAK—

Though it has no mouth, it still screams.

The demonic rampage that suddenly erupted in the Geumgangsan Hotel room, growing to a size threatening to devour the entire hotel, boasts an incredible size—

[Huh.]

While only the demon shrieks loudly, the surroundings are utterly silent.

There’s no one around.

Only me.

Those who should have been in the hotel, the couple in the room, and even Baek Seol-hee, Seong Ji-eun, and Kim Yoon-ji who were closely observing me confronting the demon—all gone.

I thought at least the S-rank heroes might come for support, but it seems better to handle this alone.

PUHWAAAK!!

The demon, shaped like a gleaming white cup, sprays something in all directions from above.

The white powder scatters like spores, and though I’ve never seen it before, I can guess what it is.

[Hallucinations? Sleeping powder? You said you grant wishes, but putting people into dreams when you can’t fulfill wishes seems a bit unfair, doesn’t it?]

PEEEEEEEEEK!!

When I swing my Goblin Club to create wind that prevents the spores from approaching, the demonic rampage begins to scatter spores more violently.

[It’s useless. You’re already inside my ‘domain’.]

The demon is startled by my declaration.

Its red eyes quickly scan left and right, desperately searching for the presence of any living being other than me.

But there’s nothing.

Only the demon and I exist here.

[Dueoksini died here. This is a very special execution ground prepared just for you.]

Another world, you might say.

Or perhaps a dimensional gap.

Though I can describe the foundation of this ability in various ways, it’s difficult to definitively explain its true nature.

[There’s no one else here. Only you and me, just the two of us.]

At the very least, there are no others here for the wish demon to use.

[Granting wishes in dreams and trapping beings in an eternally repeating paradise, or absorbing magical power or abilities through that—those are all clichés that have appeared in classic films.]

Like humans living as energy sources for machines, but believing they live in a world better than reality.

[There are no beings here whose wishes you can consume.]

“No.”

Goo-goo-goo.

Above the white cup.

“There is someone here with stronger wishes than anyone else.”

The demon, maintaining its white form but now appearing human-like, revealed itself.

“A human with desires several times stronger than other humans!!”

The demon, resembling an elongated rabbit doll, flashed its red eyes and smiled at me with a mouth stretched from ear to ear.

“Other people’s wishes are boring! They only wish for things like becoming stronger or getting rich—all just filled with their own desires!”

[Isn’t that natural?]

“But you’re different!!”

Chwah-reureuk.

Blood-colored hands shot out from the red eyes.

The elongated hands resembled monkey paws on the outside, and they rushed toward me quickly as if trying to grab me.

KWANG, KWANG!!

As I leap backward, the hands reach where I was standing.

I aim my Goblin Club at the monkey hands that only grabbed innocent soil, intending to fire a magic bullet, but faster than that, hands from other eyes chase after me.

[This definitely isn’t a good sight for pregnant women.]

I gather magical power at the tip of my Goblin Club, avoiding the hands while releasing magic forward.

TA-ANG!

The magic bullet gathered at the club’s tip flies straight through the fluttering hands, directly hitting the root—the eyes—and explodes.

KEEEEEEEK!!

As if screaming in pain, the hand whose root was bombarded by the magic bullet shot upward before drooping down.

One hand falls limply.

And dozens more hands rush toward me.

[This won’t end.]

Though I aimed carefully, having to fire dozens more magic bullets would be inefficient in many ways.

If that was my strategy from the beginning, I wouldn’t have lured it here.

[Hey, demon.]

“Hehehe, quick to catch on, aren’t you?”

[You’re using me as a host, aren’t you?]

“AHAHAHAHAHA!!”

The hands spread out to the sides once, then began clapping toward me.

JJAJAJAJAJAK—!!

“Exactly! I am a being derived from human wishes! As long as there isn’t a being without desire, you cannot eliminate me!”

[You’re like a Maguni.]

Or perhaps Mara would be appropriate.

The true nature of this demon is like a byproduct created from human emotions and desires—what Buddhism teaches must be discarded through cultivation.

A wish-granting demon exists because there are beings who desire wishes.

Though its behavior is malicious and its enjoyment of suffering is quite detestable, if we ask who’s really at fault—

[Humans are the problem.]

“Where is there a human without desire? Right in front of me is a being with incredibly strong desires, isn’t there?”

Dozens of hands point at me with only their index fingers extended.

“The person with the strongest greed in this world is right here. You.”

[…….]

“As long as there is even one human with desire, I cannot die. Even if humanity perishes and the world collapses, as long as there exists even one being with the ‘desire to live,’ I will continue to exist.”

[What a terrible parasite.]

It’s a being that lives by parasitizing the fundamental nature of humans.

It probably can’t be defeated by ordinary methods.

[I have no choice. I didn’t want to use this method.]

“Haha, what are you going to do?”

The demon spread its dozens of hands wide and pulled something from its palms.

“I don’t know how you plan to take me down, but how can you eliminate me when you have desires? Not at all.”

The demon’s hands were laden with all sorts of mannequins.

“Is it possible for someone like you, who loves women so much and loves your country so much, to abandon those desires? No, no. Even if you erase those thoughts through self-hypnosis, those desires remain in your unconscious.”

Those mannequins were blood-colored figures of women, as if embodying all the women I’ve been involved with until now.

“How about it? Won’t you join hands with me? Let’s make a deal. If you get me out of here, I promise you unlimited women. Pure, innocent women.”

[That’s quite tempting.]

It’s a proposition that would tempt any male at least once.

[Now I understand why in RPG games or fantasy stories, the Demon King offers the hero half the world or something like that.]

“What?”

[Because they’re scared.]

Proposing a deal means they believe a severe blow will come to them if the situation unfolds without a deal.

[You think I can eliminate you by any means necessary. That’s why you’re trying to make a deal with me, right?]

“…….”

[Not very fitting for a wish-granting demon. Shouldn’t a demon make even a goblin wish for something?]

“Hu, huhu….”

The demon.

“AHAHAHAHA—!!”

Its entire body trembled, even the white cup that could be called its lower body shook as it burst into laughter.

“Ahaha! So that’s how you plan to eliminate me?! By making a wish like ‘Please remove the wish-granting demon from this world’!”

[…….]

“I won’t grant that kind of wish! If you want to eliminate me, you need to put in the effoooort!”

The demon grew even angrier.

“Is prayer all you could think of to get rid of me? Your plan to kill me, a demon, is just to wish for my death? That would never work! I decide how wishes are granted!”

The demon’s fingers pointed at me.

“Or I could grant it this way. I am a being that can only disappear when humanity dies. To kill me, the prerequisite is obviously human extinction! If you kill every single being capable of making wishes without leaving even one, then my disappearance would follow. Right?”

[…….]

“You’re the start, Goblin.”

[Hmm.]

It’s logical, but.

[Who said I wouldn’t pay a price?]

“What?”

[Of course, to defeat a demon, there must be an appropriate price. As you said.]

That’s natural.

[Until now, I’ve dealt with demons in ways appropriate to completely annihilate them, preventing them from exerting influence on this land.]

By denying the demon’s very existence.

[I’ll state my wish. If you’re truly a wish-granting demon, you’ll know this isn’t just casual talk but a wish I sincerely and desperately desire.]

I stuck my Goblin Club into the ground, then spread both arms.

[I’ll make a wish.]

“…Are you serious?”

[Of course. I think it’s a wish you can easily grant. Or would you like to see it directly? What my wish is.]

“…….”

The demon extends one hand forward.

I folded my arms, not even picking up my Goblin Club, and quietly closed my eyes.

“I’ll see that wish directly and grant it.”

The demon confidently swallowed me, and I closed my eyes to the oncoming sleep.

The demon saw.

A young man lying in bed, mindlessly looking at text on an e-book reader.

That young man resembled the goblin yet was different—

He was an ordinary young man with no trace of mana.

And.

The demon sensed.

“Where…is this?”

That the young man’s world was somehow ‘different.’

“Hey.”

The young man holding the e-book reader turned his head toward the demon with a sharp voice.

“You’re a wish-granting demon, right? Then can you help me escape from this novel world?”