Chapter 195: The Demon King of Fear
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 195: The Demon King of Fear
After finishing their meal, Yohan and the witches continued their tour of the United States. They took photos in Times Square, passed by the Empire State Building—once the tallest skyscraper in America—and the current tallest, the World Trade Center, before heading back to Washington D.C., where the White House stood.
The witches showed some interest when told it was the president's home, but Yohan didn't bother going inside, moving on to the next location instead.
They watched street buskers, shooed away men who tried to hit on the witches, and were even approached by someone claiming to be a famous producer who wanted to scout them.
And as they walked, they also ran into people who recognized them.
“Oh my god…! You’re those superheroes, right?”
“Superheroes…?”
“The famous superheroes from Korea!”
A citizen on the street immediately pulled up a video on SNS of the witches in action, gushing about how wonderful it was to meet them.
The witches weren't particularly pleased, so he didn't get a photo—but he declared that just meeting them was an honor for his family before hurrying away.
Watching the citizen's retreating back, Yohan cautiously turned to his teacher and spoke.
“You’re quite popular.”
“Why? What did he say?”
“He said it was an honor to see you all.”
“—How ridiculous. Truly.”
Evangeline scoffed, beginning to mock the humans who knew nothing of the witches' true nature. She found it utterly foolish that they were being praised like this when the great disaster in Seoul was the witches' fault to begin with; they had only cleaned up their own mess.
Her words were harsh, but Yohan noticed the corners of her mouth trying to creep upward.
‘Teacher…'
It was a difficult situation for the witches to accept. Having been betrayed for hundreds of years, they couldn't just open their hearts the moment someone approached them with such friendliness.
But it was true that their hearts were slowly changing. Yohan could feel it.
This was a good thing. If they could completely open their hearts to humans, assimilate, and live among them.
If that could happen—.
“Yohan?”
“...Ah, yes, Teacher.”
“Where should we go now?”
“Let’s see. Ah, I heard a place called the Rocky Mountains is beautiful. Shall we go take a look?”
“Yes! I’ll go anywhere! As long as I’m with you, Yohan!”
The 21st century, with its population of eight billion, was a hell teeming with humans.
On mountaintops, beneath the sea, in remote lands untouched by civilization, in ruins abandoned for decades, or even out in space, far from the planet itself.
There was no escaping people. Humanity had already set foot not only in space but on other planets as well.
[With the superheroes!]
#superhero #supergirls #beauty #hotties
Which meant that photos of Yohan and his companions on their travels spread across SNS in the blink of an eye.
His group was spotted in America in the morning, China at lunch, and Hawaii in the evening.
If only one or two photos had surfaced, people might have assumed they were taken on different days and were just being uploaded slowly.
But countless people recognized the now-famous witches from the Seoul disaster. The number of secretly taken photos easily surpassed several hundred, and it didn't take long for people to start compiling them.
[Japan in the morning, Canada at lunch, and this one, the sun is up, but it’s evening in Korean time… it’s Switzerland. And this photo was taken at dawn—this is the Han River in Seoul??]
It took a mere three hours to collect and organize the data proving they had circled the globe in a single day.
Thanks to the sheer number of time billionaires—people with nothing to do, too much time on their hands, and a knack for organizing information—the public quickly realized the witches possessed the ability to travel through space.
The citizens, who had assumed the witches were in negotiations with the government since they hadn't been seen since defeating the black tentacled monster that had half-destroyed Seoul, began to grow anxious.
─Isn't this dangerous?
─How can they trust them enough to let them wander around like that;;
─Weren't they the ones who caused the Seoul disaster in the first place? lol
Civic groups skillfully latched onto this anxiety and immediately began to sway public opinion. As the ruling party started taking the heat, the opposition party played a card to pressure them even further.
They leaked the fact that Hekaterina, the one who had saved police and citizens from a drone attack before the Seoul disaster, had the same registered address as the witches who defeated the black monster during the disaster.
─What is this???
─So, are they saying it was all staged?
Deceiving the public didn't require precise, clear-cut truth. All it took was a plausible story and a bit of entertainment.
[The witches who destroyed Seoul must apologize immediately!]
[The demon bitches who killed people must repent!]
[Everyone! They are the children of Satan! We must drive them from this country at once!]
Hekaterina sipped her hot chocolate, a sneer playing on her lips as she watched the people protesting loudly outside their house.
“Mmm, delicious.”
“You can stomach that right now?”
“It’s as sweet as honey.”
“Crazy bitch.”
“The screams of these powerless commoners are just so delicious.”
As Hekaterina cackled, a pillow flew through the air and smacked her square in the face. She shot up from her seat and roared at Evangeline, who had thrown it.
“You crazy bitch! What’s your problem!?”
“...Shut up.”
“Did getting pregnant mess with your head?”
“I said, it’s loud.”
“Hmph, as if my voice could be any louder than those bastards out there.”
Hekaterina pointed at the people protesting fervently outside. Evangeline pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Noticing this was a slight departure from her usual behavior, Hekaterina realized she had found a weakness and a sly grin spread across her face.
“Hey, you. Apologize to me. Right now.”
“...Why should I?”
“Okaay-? If you don’t apologize, I’ll kill every last one of those bastards out there.”
At her words, Evangeline stared fixedly at Hekaterina. Her hands clenched into tight fists, trembling, as she bit her lip and began to hesitate.
Finally, after a long moment of indecision, Evangeline slowly opened her mouth.
“I’m sor—”
“That’s enough.”
Yohan’s hand covered her mouth before she could finish. Physically silencing Evangeline, he turned to look at Hekaterina.
Their eyes met. Hekaterina gave a slight shrug and turned her head away. It seemed she couldn't act tough in front of him. Getting on his bad side meant getting on the bad side of nearly ten other witches.
“Hekaterina.”
“...What?”
“Go to your room.”
“Why should I?”
“Do you want me to come in with you?”
“...Tch.”
Hearing Yohan’s threat, Hekaterina clicked her tongue and stormed into her room, slamming the door with a loud BANG. It was loud enough that if Yohan had been her parent, he would have yelled at her not to slam it.
Roughly guessing how she felt, Yohan sighed and turned back to his teacher. For some reason, Evangeline’s eyes were welling with tears as she whimpered.
“Teacher?”
“Sob—Yohaaan…!”
Falling into his arms, Evangeline began to weep sorrowfully, as if the world were ending. Yohan said nothing, simply holding her tight and stroking her back.
After she had cried for a long time, Evangeline looked up at him, her face a mess of tears and snot.
“Oh dear, Teacher. How did you get so ugly? Here, blow your nose.”
“Hnnngg—!”
Yohan wiped her face clean, then led her into her room for some quiet time, just the two of them.
Once she was completely drained, Yohan gently stroked her hair and asked.
“Teacher, why were you crying so hard?”
“I just… I just don’t know.”
“Was it because people were cursing you?”
“...I don’t know.”
“Then was it because you hesitated when Hekaterina threatened to kill them?”
“...I guess so.”
Yohan knew what was in her heart. She was disappointed in herself for coming to cherish humans, for trusting them again.
She had vowed never to trust humans again, yet she had allowed herself to feel affection for them. And now, only a few days later, she was crushed by their betrayal.
Disappointment in herself, and disappointment from the betrayal. With both emotions crashing down on her at once while she was pregnant, her sorrow had finally burst forth.
“You’re not sure?”
“Nnngh…”
“It’s okay, Teacher. It’s okay not to understand your own heart sometimes.”
“Yohaaan…”
“Go to sleep, Teacher.”
After lulling the exhausted Evangeline to sleep in his arms, Yohan slowly rose and left the room.
He went straight to Hekaterina’s room. Lying on her bed fiddling with a game console, Hekaterina glared fiercely at Yohan as he entered without knocking.
“...What is it?”
“Hekaterina, I have a job for you.”
“What now?”
“But first—Makina?”
“Yeah.”
Yohan entered Hekaterina’s room with Makina, whom he had summoned separately. Then, he immediately locked the door.
Seeing the two of them in her room, Hekaterina sensed something unusual was about to happen. She swallowed hard and braced herself.
“I asked, what is it?”
“—Hekaterina, transform.”
“...What?”
“Transform into that monster you showed me before.”
“Suddenly?”
The command to transform into a monster was baffling, but Yohan was resolute. He roughly pushed her onto the bed, his blazing eyes looking down at her as he commanded.
“You said you’d drag them down, didn’t you?”
“—You.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said transform.”
Reading Yohan’s intent, Hekaterina silently transformed into a mass of black tentacles, which began to coil around his body.
Nestled in the embrace of the grotesque tentacles, Yohan sent a signal to Makina. The next moment, Makina hacked the airwaves of the entire world.
Smartphones, TVs, computers, even every electronic billboard on the streets.
Having hacked every electronic device on Earth, Makina connected them all to her camera.
Appearing before the eyes of every human on the planet, Yohan’s eyes flashed as he opened his mouth.
“Humans, listen well.”
The Demon King of Fear had manifested.