When the giant’s body crashed to the ground, a massive whirlwind-like gust surged upward from the impact.
Moments later, as the winds died down and silence returned, the shattered remains of the giant came into view.
The giant who was destroyed entirely by a single punch lay motionless without the faintest twitch.
It sprawled pathetically in place as if it was trying to prove it was truly dead.
But Na-yoon—or rather, Kang-joon who was now awakened in Na-yoon’s body—wasn’t fooled.
He had already seen this creature play dead once before, and if it were truly dead, this mental world would have collapsed and vanished by now.
“Show yourself.”
Nothing happened.
An immense power began to surge in Kang-joon’s hand, swirling like a storm.
“If you don’t want to come out, then stay down. I’ll turn you into an actual corpse, just as you wish.”
[W-Wait! Just wait a second!]
A panicked voice sounded from somewhere.
It was the mouse head that was half-buried in the wreckage.
The head rolled awkwardly across the floor, found its body in the rubble, and settled into place where its neck should have been.
Now that it was whole again, the mouse doll scurried forward and stumbled into place in front of Kang-joon.
As if it knew that a single movement from Kang-joon could spell real disaster for it.
[Y-You… No, Your Eminence… could you perhaps be… one of the Great Ones?]
Kang-joon’s eyebrow twitched.
The problem wasn’t that he couldn’t understand what the other party was saying; rather, he understood too much.
Over the past several thousand or perhaps even tens of thousands of years, there had been countless titles used to refer to Kang-joon.
Demon King, Evil God, Lord of Hell, All Evil of the World, Incarnation of the Apocalypse, Master of the Infernal Battlefield, and so on.
There were so many titles attached to him in place of a name that counting them would have been pointless.
As he searched his memory, he thought he could recall someone once referring to him as a “Great One”.
However, having awakened now after a thousand years of sleep, he couldn’t be certain if that title still referred to him.
From what the other party was saying, it almost sounded like it was talking about more than one being, not just him.
Perhaps interpreting Kang-joon’s silence as tacit confirmation, the Entertainment Devil continued in a voice laced with fear.
[I, I dare to ask for forgiveness for my sin of being blind and not recognizing the Great One. I never imagined, not even in my wildest dreams, that a being as great as yourself would inhabit such a lowly form.]
Considering this was all taking place in a dream, it was a rather double-edged remark.
True to his title as the Entertainment Devil, he was attempting to ease the tension with a lighthearted yet respectful joke, but Kang-joon’s cold gaze remained unmoving.
The Entertainment Devil quickly lowered its head to the floor.
[I had no intention of ever offending a Great One! If I had known, I swear; I never would have brought that woman here! Or, no, at the very least, if you’d even hinted the moment she arrived—]
“You’re saying I should have explained everything to you, one detail at a time?”
[N-No, of course not…!]
The Entertainment Devil pressed its forehead to the ground with its eyes darting frantically.
It was grasping for any way to survive this moment without losing its life.
[It must be that you inhabiting our enemy is part of some grand plan beyond my comprehension! So please spare me and use me as your loyal servant!]
“Hmm?”
The devil’s voice no longer held even a trace of the exaggerated calm he had when he was cornering Na-yoon and the others.
It was filled only with desperation.
[My power excels in manipulating emotions, in amplifying distrust and suspicion, in feeding anxiety! If there’s even a sliver of doubt in someone’s heart, I can fan that spark until they collapse under its weight! Just imagine! The Security Bureau who claims to be humanity’s guardians getting torn apart as they gnaw at each other with suspicion!]
The Entertainment Devil bowed its head lower and started pleading fervently.
[Give me the order, and I’ll infiltrate anywhere to bring human souls to you, just as I have today! So I beg you, have mercy… after all, am I not one of your own kind?]
Kang-joon slowly tilted his head.
“Our enemy?”
[Huh?]
“What exactly do you mean by ‘enemy’?”
The Entertainment Devil lifted its head and stammered a response.
[W-Well… The vessel the Great One is currently inhabiting belongs to the Security Bureau, right? And the Security Bureau is our enemy, right?]
Kang-joon took a moment to glance around.
The Security Bureau agents, including In Ha-young, were already unconscious and buried under debris.
When the giant had struck the ground, Kang-joon had managed to protect Na-yoon, but the others had been left defenseless and got swept away by the shockwave.
Except for Seo Na-ri who was physically strong, the rest of the agents were seriously injured and barely clinging to life, but their lives were already in danger.
And Kang-joon knew that death in the mental world meant death in reality.
Looking calmly ahead again, Kang-joon spoke.
“The Security Bureau isn’t my enemy. At least not for now.”
The Entertainment Devil was momentarily at a loss for words.
[…I… I don’t understand the intentions of the Great One… Isn’t the Security Bureau an organization of humans, desperate to exterminate us decils whenever they get the chance? Why would you say they aren’t your enemy?]
Kang-joon replied with a mocking smile.
“You think that just because an ant can bite your foot, it deserves to be called your enemy?”
[What…? Gah! Keh-hek!]
The devil’s body suddenly rose into the air by an unknown force.
As Kang-joon’s grip tightened around its neck, the devil gasped for air and writhed in pain.
“The reason you’re about to die is the same. It’s not because you’re my enemy or because you’re of my own kind.”
Kang-joon’s eyes flashed with a piercing intensity.
“It’s simply because you dared to offend me.”
[P-Please… have mercy… G-Great One…!]
The Entertainment Devil now understood that what was suffocating it wasn’t just the grip around its neck but the immense aura of Kang-joon’s overpowering magical power.
It felt like it was being crushed by gravity thousands, even tens of thousands of times stronger, as the pressure bore down on it. All of its senses were overwhelmed by Kang-Joon’s magical power.
Though its existence was more spiritual than physical, at that moment, a chill ran down its spine, and terror pricked the back of its neck.
The devil realized that the archdevil before it had no intention of sparing it; the only reason it was still alive was because Kang-joon wanted to see what it might sputter out before its death, for a fleeting bit of amusement.
There was no point in asking for mercy. Right now, it had to say something else.
[I… I serve the Pride Devil! If you kill me… the Pride Devil will be most displeased…!]
“What?”
The crushing force on the Entertainment Devil lessened slightly.
Sensing an opening, the devil quickly seized the chance to speak.
[If I may say so, I understand that there is a non-aggression pact among the Great Ones! They agreed not to trespass on each other’s domains except under special circumstances! If another Great One harms his follower, the Pride Devil would be deeply offended!]
The so-called non-aggression pact was something Kang-joon had never even heard of.
But before he had a chance to respond, the Entertainment Devil continued speaking.
[Up until now, if a high-ranking demon tried to force its way through the gate, there was a severe penalty that greatly suppressed its powers. But now, that’s no longer necessary. The entrance has widened! Soon, the Pride Devil will be able to set foot here with his full strength.]
“And so?”
[I am the advance guard! I-if I were to die, the Pride Devil would know that something had gone terribly wrong in his plans as soon as he crossed over!]
A crooked smile played at the corners of Kang-joon’s mouth.
“So, you’re asking me to spare you?”
Kang-joon released his grip on the Entertainment Devil’s neck.
The devil mistook this as a sign that it had been spared and allowed a brief flash of joy to cross its face, but that feeling was short-lived.
“Pride… that name, I remember it. Along with the pathetic image of him fleeing after I severed his arm. I don’t know how much power he’s regained since, but when you return to Hell, make sure you deliver this message.”
At some point, a blade of dark red energy extended from Kang-joon’s hand.
Before the Entertainment Devil could open his mouth, Kang-joon’s hand moved far faster.
[Yo-You’re not actually—]
Kang-joon swung his hand in a wide arc.
Following the arc of the crimson blade, the devil’s head was severed in one stroke, drawing a long line across the dark sky.
Through that opening, a faint sliver of light seeped in. It was the first light of dawn.
“Your flesh was disgustingly tasteless.”
***
Na-yoon suddenly came back to her senses.
“Ugh, my head…!”
The moment she opened her eyes, her head throbbed with a splitting pain.
Come to think of it, a giant devil had done something to her mind…
But she couldn’t remember what happened after that.
“Huh? Where… is this?”
When she looked around, she found herself back in the plaza in front of the exit of the theme park where she had first blacked out.
The security agents who had been lying in the plaza were also coming to their senses one by one.
Rising groggily from the wreckage, they looked around with faces still marked by confusion.
“What… what is this place? Could we… really be back?”
“That can’t be… I’m sure we were all defeated by that devil.”
“What’s going on? Is this another dream?”
Though they had managed to escape that world, the security agents looked more bewildered than relieved.
They hadn’t defeated the devil, and yet, they had somehow returned to reality when they opened their eyes.
While everyone was in a state of bewilderment, Na-yoon’s gaze suddenly met that of Seo Na-ri who was watching her silently.
“Huh? Na-ri-ah?”
“..….”
Seo Na-ri’s usually expressionless face was, for once, filled with complex emotions.
As if she was worried, but also as if she was afraid of something…
Na-yoon tilted her head slightly. She couldn’t understand why Seo Na-ri was looking at her with that expression.
At that moment, Seo Na-ri seemed to come to a decision and slowly brought her hand to her mouth.
She made a motion as if zipping her lips shut tightly.
“…..???”
Na-yoon blinked. She couldn’t make sense of her gesture.
In any case, the fact that they were still alive was relief enough, and a faint sense of ease passed across each of their faces one by one.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems like we survived, at least.”
“But what about the devil? Did it escape or something?”
“Who knows? It’s not like it would have had any reason to just let us go.”
At that moment, a loud noise from a helicopter echoed from above.
Flying rapidly from a distance, the helicopter arrived overhead in no time.
“Isn’t that a Security Bureau helicopter?”
“Could it be the support team arriving?”
Everyone suddenly wondered if it might be the backup Han Min-ho had requested when he went out ahead of them.
The helicopter that was descending slowly and stirring up a strong wind opened its door.
But inside was not the support team. There was only one person on board.
“What’s this? Rushed over here, and it seems like there wasn’t much going on after all?”
The moment they saw the face stepping out of the helicopter, everyone except Na-yoon couldn’t hide their shock.
A woman appeared. She was holding back her fluttering hair with one hand.
It was none other than the Security Bureau’s ultimate weapon, Security Bureau Director Cha Soo-yeon.
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