Chapter 108 : Don't Spread My Cringe History
Don't Spread My Cringe History
The person who showed up at our house so suddenly looked strangely familiar.
My father, sitting opposite her, was trying his best to put on a smile, but he looked as if he was scared, his body shrinking away.
The woman at the table turned her head and looked at me, so I was able to see her face.
Her eyes, cold as a frozen river, stared blankly ahead.
Her skin was so pale it seemed like not a drop of blood was circulating.
Her pure-white hair looked neglected and limp as if it had gone untouched for a long time.
Anyone could see she looked no different than a moving corpse, so it was no wonder my father, sitting across from her, was terrified.
'But more importantly...'
I had definitely seen that face before.
That woman, who seemed like a zombie or a virgin ghost moving around just fine with a normal mindset, was impossible to forget.
"Excuse me, are you Ma Seongjin?"
At that moment, the woman spoke. From a throat that seemed ready to wail, an ordinary person's voice came out. And even that voice was very familiar to me.
"Nice to meet you. I'm 'Karen Reyhold' from The World, the global organization."
Even the name matched perfectly with who I knew.
"I came here like this because I wanted to talk about Seongjin—"
"To my room."
"Pardon?"
"To my room."
With a brief word, I coolly walked into my room.
The woman who introduced herself as Karen looked suspicious but ended up complying with my request.
As she stepped inside, I quietly closed the door.
Even while the door was closing, my family and Sang-ah were all wearing perplexed expressions.
Thud—
As soon as the door shut, she stared at me with eyes full of suspicion.
I'd heard that people working for a global hunter management organization like The World weren't ordinary by any means.
Whenever there were problems caused by awakened ones around the world, they always showed up.
And yet, someone had been sent from The World just to meet a single student.
Even if Hand was created by The World, did a giant dinosaur really need to enter a rabbit hole like this?
"Is there a particular reason why you called me to your room, Ma Seongjin?"
She asked, focusing her sharp nerves on me.
For someone from such a huge organization to go out of their way to visit me... it was highly likely she already knew something.
So there was no need to hide anything.
"Maybe you were up to something suspicious—"
As she continued in a voice full of doubt, she suddenly lost her words. The sharp expression on her face instantly turned deathly pale.
It was because the student standing before her suddenly grew horns on his head and wings from his back.
"That's...!"
Of course, even if she was an ordinary person, it was only natural to be this surprised.
If a child suddenly transformed into a demonic figure, who wouldn't be shocked?
But in this age of awakened ones, it wasn't really that shocking.
She herself was an unusual, ghostly existence, so she was in no position to comment.
The reason for her shock had to lie somewhere else.
"That power... You're really...!"
"It's been a while, Karen."
I called her by her name for the first time in a long time. She instantly lowered her head and completely changed her demeanor.
"L-Lord Demon King...! I greet you humbly!"
Completely overwhelmed, she showed proper respect immediately in front of me.
Her actions brought up old memories I'd nearly forgotten, filling me with a sense of nostalgia.
Member of the Demon King's Army 1st Corps.
Among them, there was an undead girl who controlled cold.
Taken in by Vern, the Vampire King and leader of the 1st Corps, she had joined the Demon King's Army and soon gained notoriety as the 'Frost of Curse'.
She had been our corps' loyal subordinate, and now she sat before me.
"How did you find me here?"
Now that it was evident she was the Karen I knew, I felt both glad and filled with questions.
Holy Church, Sura guild, poison guild, church people—like them, it was a mystery how Karen managed to reach Earth as well.
"Are you talking about Earth?"
"What else could it be? Sometimes I see people claiming to be from Mewzealand, and I really wonder how they get here."
I'd heard bits and pieces from Kwon Yongha and church people, but that was only a very small part of the information.
There was still much I couldn't understand from those tidbits, such as how people from Mewzealand crossed over to Earth through dimension rifts.
"At any rate, I still remember what you said when you left Mewzealand, Demon King."
"Oh... you mean that?"
[Just take care of yourselves! I'm going to toss away all the chains and restrictions of this world and live a quiet, happy life! You all have to be happy too!]
That was what I said to my corps just before disappearing into the dimension rift.
After the long, tough struggle to conquer the empire by fighting against the imperial army and guardians, my Demon King Army's role was over, so I declared our dissolution and left those words.
Just as I broke free from the empire's fetters, I wished the corps happiness as they too threw off the shackles imposed by those creeps.
"After you disappeared, we tried investigating the rift you had entered to find your traces. Since the rift didn't immediately close after you vanished, the investigation was relatively easy."
A dimension rift.
Honestly, I didn't even know how it worked.
I simply dove in, and it turned out to be Earth, where I reincarnated into a new body.
That's all I knew.
"Thanks to analyzing the components of that rift, we were able to replicate a similar rift to the one you used to enter."
"You managed to make that?"
"Yes. Of course, we couldn't replicate it perfectly, so there were unstable elements involved. But the transfer was a complete success. That's why I was able to appear before you like this, Demon King."
They managed to create a copy of the rift. Honestly, it doesn't seem impossible.
Including Vern, the 1st corps leader, there were plenty of talented sorcerers in the Demon King army.
Even if there wasn't enough magic power to open the rift, magical devices in the corps could have supported it.
Especially if they used relics stolen during the occupation of the empire's castle, it seemed fully possible.
"And... while researching that rift, we found out another thing."
"What's that?"
"The real reason imperial humans exist here on Earth."
The instant I heard that, my nerves sharpened to total focus.
I'd been burning with curiosity on that matter, and now Karen was about to spill the beans.
"To tell the truth, the rift didn't first open during your time, Demon King. Long ago, the rifts had opened multiple times."
"They opened before, but it was never made public in the empire?"
If something that bizarre happened, word would have spread everywhere.
Just like how everyone knows the dangers behind floods and natural disasters.
"The reason it wasn't made public in Mewzealand is because the rifts opened and closed without anyone knowing. After opening and sucking people in, they were closed before anyone could discover them."
Rifts would open and close completely unnoticed, over and over.
There was simply no way for witnesses to exist—it was impossible. People would be sucked into rifts and disappear before anyone saw.
It felt odd thinking about Karen's story about the rift I entered remaining open for a while afterward.
"It's almost like someone was deliberately opening and closing them."
"Exactly. Sensing something suspicious, we dug deeper—and found out who's behind it all."
"Who?"
"They moved the humans to this world, Earth, in anticipation of being devoured by you, Demon King!"
During my time in Mewzealand, I'd devoured quite a few of them.
Just by listening to those words, I wouldn't know exactly who was eaten, but I instantly had a hunch.
The scale needed to open and close dimension gates was impossible for humans alone.
As Karen suggested, I knew who they must be.
"The eight guardian deities."
"Yes. They opened rifts all across Mewzealand using some bizarre system, and shut them just before witnesses could arrive. They kept repeating this."
No wonder it was impossible to figure out, since those guardian deity creeps did everything—they were dead by my hand, so Karen was able to make more progress on the rift research.
"That bizarre system they used?"
"Well... we still don't know for sure, but maybe it's this?"
"This?"
"Aren't all magic power users on Earth using some kind of system? I'm using it right now as well."
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Name: Ma Seongjin
Age: 15
Rank: A-rank (Lv 10)
Karma: 55%
Magic Power: 230/230
[Full Bloom Traits ▼ (10)]
[Acquired Skills ▼ (120)]
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The status window that showed the state of awakened ones.
The first person to hunt a monster would become subject to that system.
Karen had it as well since she claimed to have hunted as soon as she arrived here.
But, if even those guardian deities had used this system, it really complicated things.
When I first transferred to Mewzealand, I'd been using this system since then—so how were those creeps related to it?
"So in the end, you're saying Mewzealand humans are on Earth because of those guys?"
"Yes! I'm sure of it!"
"What are they, the Noah's Ark or something?"
"Noah?"
"'Noah's Ark'—it's a sort of myth spreading on Earth."
Noah's Ark.
It was actually quite an apt analogy for the dimension rift.
They foresaw their own destruction and put civilians in the dimension gate to send them to safety.
"So, since you're here, others may have come as well?"
"Yes! Several corps leaders crossed over to meet you, Demon King! There's no need to worry anymore!"
"So Vern must've come too, huh? Since you're here."
Karen and Vern weren't just superior and subordinate; they were inseparable, practically soulmates.
You couldn't talk about one without mentioning the other.
"...."
However, at the mention of Vern, Karen's face suddenly clouded over.
I'd never once seen her make that face when talking about Vern before, so it gave me a bad feeling.
"I never want to see that bastard again."
"..."
"Since you left us, Demon King, you wouldn't know, but he and I are now sworn enemies."
"So Vern is also on Earth, yes?"
"Indeed. But I will never see that guy again."
Just what on earth happened between them to make her seethe like that? I'll have to scold that bastard Vern the next time I see him.
"By the way, Demon King—your tone seems a bit strange, come to think of it."
"My tone? How so?"
"No, it's just... even a moment ago—it's so different from how you used to speak in Mewzealand."
At that moment, I understood what Karen was getting at and flinched.
After ascending to the throne of the Demon King, my speech style had come under the system's influence.
Standing in a high position, I'd acquired a 'kingly' manner of speaking befitting the Demon King.
'But hell, it was only dignified on the surface.'
Chuunibyou.
That was the only way to describe my speech—it was nothing more, nothing less.
It just spilled out against my will, and I couldn't control it.
"The speech you gave us when we were longing for you... I want to hear it one more time!"
"Don't talk nonsense! Why would I ever repeat those cringeworthy lines after all this time?"
"Demon King...?"
Seeing my intense reaction, Karen wore a face as if she'd lost everything—like she'd lost that precious flame of hope she'd sought for so long.
"We... we just wanted... to see that solemn, revered side of you, Demon King, one more time...!"
"Karen. Are you in your right mind?"
"Even when you vanished through the dimension rift, you weren't the same! The Demon King we always saw never used such crude language! Please, just like before...!"
"Rejected."
Go back to my old chuunibyou self? Unless I go mad or start taking drugs, that will never happen.
The king of darkness, the taste of blood, guiding you down a rosy path, blah blah.
Ugh—!
The more I recall it, the more goosebumps I get, and nausea rises.
Even third-rate villains in mass-produced fantasy wouldn't be that cringey.
It was an embarrassing history I wish I could erase forever, but...
"Actually, vern wrote a book of your quotes, Demon King."
"What?"
Karen, what did you just say?
"A book of the great Demon King's quotes! The World will spread it under our authority to every corner of the globe!"
"No way...."
"Rejoice, Demon King! Now all the humans of Earth will learn of your supreme majesty...!"
From the mouth of my undead subordinate came a sound just as terrifying as a funeral wail.
A surge of doom crawled up from my toes to my scalp. And I understood what book Karen was talking about.
It was 'The Great Quotes'—the book I saw previously in Kwon Yongha's guildmaster's office.
"Nooooooooooo!!"
I'd heard that book was even delivered to all the parents of Hand's students.
Has my cringe history already begun to spread? Shouting in despair, I finally lost my grip on reality.
'Where am I...? Who am I...?'