episode_0185

The girls I thought I had abandoned and left behind.

The heroines I thought had disappeared are actually within me.

I just didn’t know.

They have always been with me.

Realizing this fact, a warmth fills a corner of my heart.

I was not alone.

All along, the heroines were protecting me.

I had thought that the path I had walked was just a repetition of losing something.

But in reality, it was a path of continuous accumulation within me.

“Gasp…”

My eyes flash open.

I can feel my body and Mijung’s hand.

It’s a bit dark, but my vision is clear.

Breathing…

“Cough?! Cough! Gulp…”

|Oh. Breathing like in the mortal realm. Someone please extract the magic from this guy’s lungs|

|I will do it|

As I take a deep breath, a tremendous amount of magic enters my lungs.

The magic instantly chews through my lungs, causing excruciating pain and blood to spew out.

In that moment, I felt like I was going to die.

But someone’s touch pierced through my body, and the pain that was ravaging my lungs disappeared completely.

“Thank… thank you… Cough, cough.”

|There’s no need to thank me. Helping a handsome guy like you is free of charge|

|What kind of…!|

“…”

The tension eases slightly with the playful conversation.

I stiffen as I guess the identity of the owners of these voices.

In the air is full of magic, and if I don’t pay attention, I might be corroded by the magic in an instant.

The beings in front of me are loudly talking while spitting out magic with each breath.

I’ve seen such beings before.

The Archdemon Velfegor.

They are similar to that guy.

Without raising my head, I grip Mijung’s hand tighter.

“You guys…”

|Seems like you have the leisure to look around now. Breathing isn’t uncomfortable, is it? It’s the first time a living human has made it this far, so we couldn’t teach you how to breathe properly… You seem to be doing fine, which is fortunate|

“Demons, huh. This is the Demon Realm.”

|Correct, human!|

I move forward with my heavy body.

At the end of the dark cave, light seeps in, revealing a waterfall of boiling lava.

And beside me, there are two figures with dark magic swirling around them.

With black pupils, they may look similar to Archdemon Velfegor at first glance.

But staring at them for too long might make you feel like you’ll be devoured, so I had to lower my head.

|Shall we start with the names first?|

“Yujin. And this child is Mijung.”

|Yujin… And Mijung, you say…|

‘They are quite different from Velfegor.’

They are opponents who can make Velfegor look like nothing.

Rebelling against them or going against their will is suicidal.

Or maybe it’s even worse than death.

For now, it seems like they are showing me kindness, so I have no choice but to accept it quietly…

At least until I fully understand the situation I am in.

“Then, is this the Underworld?”

|Hmm. Yes and no, right? The Demon Realm is one of the four realms that make up the Underworld|

“Then I would like to meet the Underworld Deity. Please.”

|The Underworld Deity…? Haha! Hahaha!|

“…?”

Did my words really amuse them that much?

The two demons suddenly burst into loud laughter after chuckling for a while.

After a while, when the laughter subsided, they took a deep breath and leaned in close to me.

|If you’re talking about the Underworld Deity, aren’t you already looking at them right now?|

“Yes?”

|The Underworld is what you call the beings that you refer to as the Underworld Deity|

“I understand. Then, does the Lord of the Underworld still hear my voice?”

|One could say so. But the Lord of the Underworld is not your friend, so why would he respond to your call-|

“Come out, you two. Lord of the Underworld.”

Kurung!

The moment Mi-jeong whispered to the ground.

The entire Demon Realm shook as a great earthquake occurred.

It was just a brief moment of vibration, so nothing serious happened.

But the faces of the two demons were filled with surprise.

|Just now…|

|That’s right. The King of the Dead has spoken. Since he cannot intervene, he told us to figure it out on our own…|

|…|

|…|

The two demons conversed with each other as they probed the ground.

Then, their gaze turned towards me and Mi-jeong.

With a slightly menacing look, the two demons approached us and grabbed us before we could even flinch.

|Who are you two? What is your relationship with the Underworld?|

|Who do you think you are that the ‘Will of the Underworld’ would respond to a mere human’s call?!|

“…!”

Black pupils that seemed to suck me in met my gaze.

Eyes that came right up to me without being able to turn my head.

I couldn’t even muster the courage to resist, as I was held firmly by their iron-like arms.

|Intriguing… So intriguing… Full of fascinating things…|

“Argh?!”

“Ugh.”

A magic that the two demons couldn’t control seeped into me.

As if dissecting my body into parts to examine it meticulously, it infiltrated every corner.

But my body couldn’t withstand it, and my heartbeat gradually slowed down.

‘Damn. I’m dying.’

Surviving all sorts of hardships only to meet death due to innocent curiosity.

It was so absurd that I was on the verge of cursing.

Exhaling hot breath, it was a moment when I was about to make my final struggle.

|That’s enough. If you continue, I will kill the esteemed one.|

|Ah…|

|What have I done… I’m sorry, I’m sorry? I didn’t mean to hurt you! I’m really sorry. With the cute human and… Ugh. A corpse? I’m really sorry.|

As the cascading lava subsided, a passage appeared.

Through it, another black figure entered.

The pressure that supported me disappeared, but just his presence alone made my pupils lose focus, causing a headache to start in my head.

|Hmm. Feeling a bit queasy?|

“No…”

Even with a mental reinforcement trait, this was the strongest blow since conversing with the Lord of the Underworld!

I quickly covered Mi-jeong’s eyes and closed mine as well.

|You’re quite quick on your feet.|

“I’ve met someone like you more than once, so it’s become a habit.”

|That’s a pleasant thing to hear. I was considering the hassle of relaying messages through another person, but now direct conversation is possible. By the way, have you heard the names of these two?|

“Not yet.”

|These two… Tsk. I apologize. They are beings who live for their own interests, so I have been somewhat, no, quite lacking in consideration. Unfortunately, you have awakened in their presence, so I can only say that you have been unlucky. My name is Wrath. In other words, I am Satan.|

“…”

Hearing that name, I felt my body tremble.

Satan.

If I were to write the scenario for the sequel during game development, the name of the guy who was supposed to be the final boss of the second installment was Satan.

|What have you done besides tormenting them since the esteemed one woke up!|

|It’s unfair! We were planning to explain slowly, but why suddenly summon the Lord of the Underworld!|

“Yes. It seems that the mistake was letting the smell of something so delicious waft through.”

“I’d rather leave the task of dealing with Ma-seok to Hwaryong. It seems that having you two here was a mistake…”

Satan knelt the two demons down and shook his head in disappointment.

Although I am currently receiving the treatment of a guest of honor.

Feeling like I should do this, I am kneeling with Mijung and listening carefully in a humble manner.

The guy who was supposed to be the main villain of the sequel seems to be friendly to me for some reason.

Anyway, I am grateful and have received various explanations from Satan.

First of all, this is the Demon Realm.

One of the four realms that make up the Human Realm, located in the north.

It seems to be the realm corresponding to the northern pillar in the four pillars drawn when calling the Human Realm.

Although it is part of the Human Realm, there is no way for me to contact the Human Realm God again.

The fact that I was able to contact the Human Realm God and receive his help last time was only possible because it was a special situation.

It was only because I cooperated to catch an escapee who was beyond his sight, not because he had a special interest in me or was friendly.

Of course, falling into the Demon Realm with my living body is not a common situation, but…

From the perspective of the god who governs justice, it is impossible to help me.

Therefore, he told me to escape on my own and has been silent ever since.

“Let me ask you one more time. What did you say was the way to travel through the dimensional rifts and reach this place?”

“If you are an intelligent being, don’t you all have your own worlds within you?”

“That world is called the Microcosm in the Demon Realm.”

“I simply expanded that world. Expanding within the dimensional rifts, continuously expanding until it reached another world.”

“…?”

There was a moment of silence.

Satan stared at me intently, then turned his head slightly as if he remembered that I might have a hard time focusing under pressure.

It seems like he is just organizing his thoughts.

“So… you didn’t travel through the dimensional rifts? You didn’t receive the protection of the Great One, just did it on your own?”

“Yes…”

“It’s hard to understand… I heard that there is a power that controls the world inside, but it’s the first time someone has expanded it so ignorantly and crossed the dimensional rifts…”

“I was lucky.”

Satan rubbed his temple as if he had a headache.

Although he is praising me, the reality is different.

I was just lucky.

The dimensional rift that was transferred through Longinus’ spear happened to be close to the Demon Realm by chance.

If it had been a little further away, no matter how much I expanded my world, I wouldn’t have been able to reach another world and would have just disappeared.

‘I can’t go back this way.’

So, it is impossible to return to the Human Realm in the same way.

I am not receiving any help from the Human Realm as I am not dead.

However, the distance between the Human Realm and the Demon Realm is too far for me to reach, no matter how much I expand my inner world.

To make it reach, I would have to fill my inner world with all emptiness…

By that point, wouldn’t I be a god rather than a human?

“You couldn’t even accommodate one more person in that world and had to fill it with emptiness. I’m sorry to say this, but you are truly a madman.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“So, since you have come all the way to the Demon Realm, it must be fate. I will make sure you are comfortable during your stay. Since living bodies are all new to the demons, most of them will react like these guys. So, I will patiently explain to all the demons how to treat a living being without killing them.”

“I am grateful for your kindness.”

Truly, it is a stroke of luck.

There is no other way to describe the situation.

It’s just my luck to have landed in the demon realm, only to have the leader be not just friendly, but almost overly so.

At this rate, it seems like I should slowly adapt to the demon realm and find a way to return to the human world.

But this…

“If that’s the case, would you perhaps consider providing some support in researching a way to return to the human world-”

|How about we go as far as arranging a marriage while we’re at it? Some demons may feel hostility towards humans, but if you were to marry someone of my bloodline, there would be absolutely no issue. Even if it’s just for show. Hm? What do you think?|

“…”

What a cheeky brat.

It seems like he has no intention of letting me go.