episode_0097

The largest entertainment city in history, under the rule of Helia, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. The so-called underground city is run in a rather unique way.

Even leaving aside the laws of the underworld that apply only within it, labor is absolutely necessary in any field for any city to function, but most of the people living in the underground city do not work.

The underground city is structured in a clearly abnormal way, with more consumption than production. Its members are less likely to have experienced the concept of ‘work’ than those who have not, which is clearly strange.

If you just listen to this far, it sounds like the structure could collapse at any moment, but there were two reasons why this city functioned properly.

First, the flame dragon Helia, who supplies more than half of the city’s energy with her single body.

The energy used by the city’s facilities is supplied throughout the city by crystals that branch out from Helia’s residence.

It may seem like a stretch of the imagination to say that one person can power an entire city, but it is a fact.

With endless magical power supplied by the Four Heavenly Kings, a naturally gifted body and a strong heart, and endless energy radiating from her body as light and heat, she was clearly the ruler fit for this underground city.

That was also the reason why she was in such a unique position that it was said that all the gold and treasures in the underground city had passed through her at least once.

The second are dolls that every resident of the underground city has at least one of.

If Helia is the ruler of the underground city, these people play a role in supporting the city at the lowest level.

Anyone who makes a contract to be under the Demon King’s control can receive one doll, which makes them an excellent labor force for the underground city.

This is also the reason why consumption is greater than production.

The producers who work to maintain the city are mostly dolls. However, as can be seen from the word distribution, the dolls are treated as mere objects.

The labor of the dolls is the labor of the master. Therefore, the money the dolls receive is only the money the master receives. If you ask whether the dolls do not spend gold coins for themselves, I will simply say that it is ridiculously small compared to the amount of labor.

That is why in the underground city, the number of dolls you own is a symbol of wealth, and you can often see demons trying to make the wandering free dolls their own.

But there is one rule that even these people cannot avoid, and that is the doll’s expiration date.

Older dolls sometimes show abnormal symptoms, but there is no way to fix them. However, dolls showing abnormal symptoms can be reported to higher-ups and disposed of, and new dolls can be received, so the welfare is relatively good.

Well then, here’s a question.

‘Where do discarded dolls go?’

The role of the dolls is not limited to providing labor for the underground city, but also has various other uses, from providing food to entertainment for the demon race such as succubi.

However, the main role of the doll is simply to act as a relay device to lower the status of angels and transform them into demon stones, as discovered by this laboratory.

In that sense, ‘defective products’ that have begun to have an ego are quite difficult to deal with.

The easiest way to deal with it is to break off any appendages, such as arms or legs, to prevent any accidents, and then send it to the slaughterhouse.

But sometimes things happen.

***

Not all demons use their dolls only for labor.

When Hyunho thinks about when he went undercover with Nacha, it’s not as common as you might think for a relationship between a demon and a doll to be more than just a master and a tool.

It is a crime to possess an expired doll. If you are caught, you will be punished by the Demon King’s mark on your lower abdomen, but there is a way to bypass that mark.

You can camouflage it by getting a tattoo of a similar pattern on your lower abdomen, or you can use a camouflage seal sold at illegal shops.

That’s why there were more cases than you might think of people hiding their dolls that needed to be discarded in the underground city without telling others.

“You idiot! What are you going to do if you come back here!”

“But Master…”

Inside a store, beneath a striking sign featuring a deep pink heart pattern, a demon who seemed to have reached maturity was scolding a woman larger than him.

“I told you not to call me master! What if someone hears…”

The little girl’s voice rose for a moment, and she looked around to see if anyone had heard her. Then she pleaded again in a quiet voice.

“Leon, please… If anyone sees, I can’t protect you. You know that too.”

The girl reached out her small hand and pushed the woman away. The woman seemed to comply, then bit her lip and grabbed the girl’s wrist.

“Master, no, Lin. But I can’t just leave you here. You never know what might happen!”

Lin’s words telling the doll to run away to be disposed of made sense, but she had a gut feeling that something even scarier was happening.

I had a gut feeling that if I left it like this, her master would be in trouble too.

It was nothing short of fraud to explain away an effect without a cause, but she and her master had developed a bond over the years.

“You know too. The day I had a strange memory, I also got a special ability. Can’t you believe me just this once?”

“But Leon…”

“Please! Trust me just this once, okay?”

Leon’s master, the girl named Rin, was hesitating uncharacteristically.

Leon, a handsome and beautiful man who was always loyal to himself.

The moment that blunt girl started smiling when she saw him, he knew she had a special ability.

“Huh? Lin, please…”

“Okay, I get it, so stop hanging on.”

The time for hesitation was short. It was already hard to imagine life without her. She sighed deeply and spoke resolutely.

“Come with me, Leon.”

“Really? That’s fortunate.”

It was a choice to give up everything that had been built up until now, but it was a risky choice to steal Leon, who was going to be discarded in the first place.

Although she was physically large, I was still mentally young, so I was also anxious about sending her off alone.

It would be a lie to say that they weren’t anxious, but they were confident that they would get along well.

As long as you take care of the food for Rin, who is a doll, you can survive for a long time without interacting with other people. Even among the lower-ranking succubi, you have no problem functioning with just the small amount of energy that Leon emits, so the two of you should have no problem living together.

The goal is to survive until the pursuers who are chasing them disappear. If they can hold out with Leon until then, the two can sneak up to the surface and live happily ever after.

I don’t know what danger she’s talking about, but neither humans nor demons will be able to reach the surface.

As Lin was thinking those happy thoughts, she felt a warm hand pressing against her head.

“Bow down, Lin!”

“Ugh, what the…”

Lin couldn’t continue speaking. A sight she had never seen before appeared before her eyes.

Where her head had been, an object had emerged. A single stream of red and mostly blue. It appeared to be still, but in fact it was flowing.

A single liquid that was quiet but passed by so quickly that it was difficult to see or react to. The first thing that came to Lin’s mind when he saw it was the nature of the liquid.

“Is this, blood…?”

The blood, flowing quietly but rapidly, started from outside the store’s door.

Unidentified, Lin grabbed the doorknob to check its starting point.

“Rin, be careful. I don’t feel well.”

Now she could tell. The blood flowing through the air was full of ominous energy at a glance.

“I know. What the hell is going on…”

When she opened the door and followed the blood, the first thing she saw was the lower abdomen of a dead succubus.

The mark on the lower abdomen that the Demon King had carved to demand absolute obedience to him. The blood flowing out from there shot up into the sky, piercing through the store.

The sky above the city that had always been bright had become dark, and instead, countless torrents of blood were flowing.

“What the heck…?”

***

The very bottom of the underground city, where neither the sun nor the flames of Helia can reach. A peculiar darkness has settled there.

It’s not strange. Even though the bright flames of Helia always cover the city, there are places that its power cannot reach.

For some, darkness is a source of fear, but for others, it is a home that provides comfort.

It is a haven and a shelter for runaway dolls. A place to endure with the hope that one day they will be able to return to the surface.

With the Demon King dead and no longer receiving magical power, Helia could no longer illuminate the entire city.

The lights of the underground city, which seemed to always shine, went out, and the dolls that had lost their place began to appear one by one.

The dolls who have regained some of their selves. They have surrendered themselves to the darkness, waiting for the day when they can escape.