Chapter 35: The Devil's Seed (3)
What exactly was a demon?
Was the succubus bound to the pillar over there a demon, or was the demon the people who had been conducting all sorts of bio-experiments using that succubus?
“Gaaaah!! Ack.”
“Ah, demon…!”
Or could it be that I was the demon who was crushing these inhuman beings?
[Hearing that word from you lot, I have no qualms about my actions.]
Clang.
I swung my bat, shattering the spine of someone attempting to escape.
“Gu, haak….”
Their white lab coat began to turn red, and I swung my bat once more, this time at the back of the fleeing researcher.
Boom.
The researcher could no longer escape.
He could not even crawl on the ground and lost his breath right then and there.
Today, I killed a person.
A being that might not have been a person but a demon.
Someone’s child or someone’s parent.
However, they were clearly ‘villains.’
They researched the demon’s seed, and this seed could eventually germinate, bringing a threat to the world.
From an individual’s perspective, I had killed a person, but from a humanity-wide perspective, I had killed those who could bring about the end of the world.
“Urg, ugh….”
[Still alive?]
A groan came from inside the glass, from the space where the succubus was imprisoned.
-Warning, warning, warning, intruder detected, warning, warning.
The warning alarm started sounding when I broke the glass, and the machine meant to disassemble the succubus had stopped.
“I can’t, I can’t possibly hand this over…!”
Perhaps thinking I came here to rescue the succubus, the researcher tried to reactivate the machine using the internal controls.
“Ah, ah…?!”
Whiiirr.
The machine’s drill was not aimed at the succubus’s abdomen but at her face.
The succubus looked at me with terror-filled eyes, and her gaze clearly said to me:
-Save me.
[…….]
Before I had a chance to think, my body was already moving.
I kicked off the ground, jumped over the broken glass window, gripped my bat tightly, and put all my strength into both hands.
“Ku, kuhuhuhuh!!”
The researcher was manipulating something with his contorted body.
If I did not attack the researcher right now, he would surely attempt to escape from here by any means necessary.
It was a moment of choice.
Do I take down the researcher now?
Or do I stop the machine drill?
[Hmph.]
The path of my bat swung over my shoulder and was naturally aimed at the machine drill.
[I’m not a frustrating hero.]
Clang!
I struck hard at the arm part of the machine drill with my bat.
The succubus turned her head to the side, and the twisted end of the drill barely grazed her cheek.
“Kuhaha! Success! Fool! I am-”
The researcher froze in place when trying to escape through a door that seemed like an emergency exit.
[Here’s a gift.]
I landed while kicking the arm of the machine drill in mid-air.
Pwoosh!
Naturally, the spinning end of the drill was aimed at the researcher, and the drill precisely penetrated his abdomen.
“Ku, Hak…”
The researcher spat blood from his mouth as he screamed in agony.
It was a grotesque sight too horrid to describe in words, but considering everything that had happened within this facility, one would think he had it coming.
“Hahaha!”
At least if you saw the tear-streaked laughter of this succubus.
“Aha ha, good riddance, you damned people…! You tormented me so…! Ha, ha…!”
Although she was still tied to the pillar and could only exclaim and laugh using words, she seemed ready to rush and stomp on the corpse with her foot the moment I freed her.
[Your name?]
“…Jeon Yu-bin. 22 years old. I’ve heard rumors about you.”
The succubus gave me a wistful smile as she sized me up.
“You were just a common villain when I was kidnapped here. How much stronger did you become…?”
[When were you kidnapped?]
“Last fall.”
[That’s a vague time. That’s when I was known as a C-class.]
I tore off each of Jeon Yu-bin’s restraints by hand.
[I’m an S-class villain now.]
“That’s incredible. How did you get so strong so quickly?”
[That’s classified. Absolutely.]
“Right. Classified, I like that. Then… why did you come to rescue me?”
[Rescue?]
I took out the rope I had created using my goblin club, not the restraints of the research facility.
[I didn’t come to rescue you.]
“……?!”
Eek!
Before Jeon Yu-bin could move, I immediately tied her up with the rope.
Binding her wings and arms so she couldn’t move even a bit, I forced her to kneel on the floor.
“What, what are you doing!!”
[Why would you think I came to rescue you?]
I stepped on Jeon Yu-bin’s back, on the roots of her wings, and raised my club over her head.
[It’s certainly pitiful to think that you’ve been experimented on by devils in human disguise, but that doesn’t mean you’re an angel in the guise of a devil.]
“No, no! I’m not a bad person!”
[Have you ever killed a person?]
“……!”
Jeon Yu-bin couldn’t say anything.
Of course.
The basic requirement for becoming a devil was ‘fratricide,’ and ‘pure-blooded devils’ like Jeon Yu-bin, who had not been forcibly made devils by the seed of a devil, became devils in a regular way.
[You didn’t become a devil due to the runaway of your abilities. You pursued strength by killing people with your abilities. How many have you killed?]
“No, I didn’t kill…! No one!”
[You’re lying.]
I was not judging her by using physical symptoms of lying, like her heartbeat or gaze.
[The investigation is already over. Jeon Yu-bin, you killed your junior on Sejong Island and stole her ability. Do you remember the name ‘Hwang Do-hee’?]
“……!!”
Jeon Yu-bin’s expression changed.
Until just a moment ago, she was expressing her grievances with her whole body, but her expression turned cold, and she just sneered at me.
“What’s this? You already knew everything?”
[I came here already knowing. We have an excellent informant.]
To simply summarize the information I received.
[You killed Hwang Do-hee, a junior of yours, on Sejong Island and stole her magic, and you went berserk after becoming a devil. The Sejong Island security forces said they arrested you and put you in a secret prison, but in reality, it was a secret research institution… something like that.]
Using prisoners for experiments was a common story.
[Since you’ve become a devil, human rights or whatever can be easily ignored. Isn’t that so? Even if you think about it in advance, a devil isn’t a human.]
“Hah, haha… If I escape from here, I will surely enter ‘Pandemonium’ and expose the situation of this place. And I’ll demand that all devils have the right to live as humans.”
[Dream big.]
I raised my club high.
[The talk is over. Anything to say before you die?]
“Wai, wait a sec. Are you really going to kill me? Huh? Really…?”
[Did you think I was trying to scare you or was going to reveal the reasons for becoming a villain and tell you to repent?]
“Sto, stop! Just a sec! You’re not really going to kill me…! Why are you doing this among villains?!”
Jeon Yu-bin’s expression started to become desperate.
“The person who informed me that I was trapped here and the person who ordered you to raid this place would not have given you a mission to kill me!!”
Struggling, she started to use all her strength to escape from me.
“Catch me and reveal the disgusting truth of Sejong Island, or use me to unravel the truth of this research!!”
[That could be possible. But didn’t you hear the conversation from above before I came down?]
I leaned over and whispered in Jeon Yu-bin’s ear.
[All the guilty shall be executed.]
My mission was to kill all devils.
[Even if heroes kill devils, they might bear moral responsibility but not legal responsibility. Why should I spare you?]
“There, there would be value in using me! Wh, where in the world would they treat me like this! The disgusting truth of Sejong Island! They trap devils and experiment, human experimentation! Shouldn’t that be spread to the media!!”
[You seem to be mistaken. Do you think you’re the only subject being studied on Sejong Island?]
“Can’t be…there are other devils too?! Why do they keep those people alive?! Why are they only trying to kill me!!”
[Well.]
Naturally, there was a reason, but…
[Because the person who asked to kill you is Hwang Do-hee’s parents.]
“…….”
Jeon Yu-bin couldn’t say a word.
She looked up at me with a dazed face as if she had been hit from an unexpected place, an angle she had never thought of.
“How could they…?”
[They wanted to see the face of the murderer who killed their daughter and how they lived. But they couldn’t even have a visit, couldn’t approach. That’s where it started.]
That was how the request came for the role of an assassin.
[Did you think the person you killed wouldn’t request you to be killed?]
I was an executor and an ‘exaggerator’ for the assassin. I just carried out the given mission.
“Ha, haha…! Do you think you’re different?! You hypocrite! You’re the same!!”
[I know. I’ve killed many people too, and their families want to kill me.]
There were more people who hated and wanted to kill the Goblin compared to Jeon Yu-bin.
[They can point a knife at me. But I have no intention of taking that knife.]
Because I was not a dumb, frustrating hero.
[And.]
I sharpened the club’s end like a pickaxe and held it upside down.
[What I hate the most after villains is devils.]
Whoosh!!
Red blood splattered.
Red blood that was no different from a human’s.
Clap, clap, clap.
Beyond the exit that the researchers had opened.
“Wow, this is impressive.”
A man started to approach while clapping.
A man in black hanbok, wearing a ridiculous mask and a straw fan on his head.
“You sure know how to make it flashy, Goblin. Was it absolutely necessary to kill?”
[Who are you?]
“If I were to describe myself, I belong to a different organization than you, I have the same tasks as you, but I made a different choice than you.”
The man flipped a cane-like rod over his shoulder.
“A person who aims to spread the ugly truths that occur here and to reveal the true nature of those in high places.”
Flutter.
The man lifted the rod over his shoulder, gripping it with both hands and bowed as if he were a stump.
“I am known as ‘Mattluk’ of ‘Hwalbindang’.”
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