Chapter 62
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Library Committee Chair (7)
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Space came to a halt.
The cave dust crumbling under the weight of his presence,
and the sweat drops trickling from the foreigner drenched in cold sweat amid the inexplicable situation.
They hung frozen in mid-air, locked in perfect stillness.
As if time itself had frozen solid.
'...A voice.'
Yes. The change had occurred right after that voice rang out.
Soon enough,
that same voice whispered into Bihyeong's ear once more.
"Time Stop, is it... Humans truly are amusing. Many in the past yearned to halt time, yet to use it for chasing carnal desires? Hehe. Even I am impressed."
"What... are you?"
Bihyeong's voice growled through his overwhelming presence.
The enraged roar of a dokkaebi filled the cave.
Yet amid that crushing aura, the other's cadence remained utterly unchanged.
"Me?"
This was no weaker foe.
"Rather than tell you... it's quicker if you see for yourself."
With those words, Bihyeong's spirit slipped free from Eunyoo's body.
The instant he returned to his true form,
he realized his state was no different from a soul.
"What is this?"
"A spirit body."
The moment the answer echoed in response to Bihyeong's question,
a thick mist began to fill the cave.
And not just any mist—it was dyed a vivid crimson, evoking an eerie, bewitching atmosphere.
The fog converged, taking on a single form.
A sensuous woman clad in scraps of fabric that barely concealed her.
Behind her, wings like those of a bat.
And finally...
'...Horns.'
Pink locks framed horns at her temples, resembling those of a ram.
Bihyeong knew this entity all too well.
"Dream Demon. Succubus."
"Oh? You know your stuff. Looks like you're quite the man. A fan of that genre, are you?"
"......"
Bihyeong was struck speechless by the sudden teasing remark.
The succubus giggled at his reaction.
"Just kidding. Don't make that face."
"...What are you?"
"Didn't you just say it yourself?"
"I mean your name—your true name. To orchestrate something on this level... you must possess no small stature."
Though it appeared a calm exchange, Bihyeong's mind was in turmoil.
This space was manifested through the Library Yokai—from the committee chair's memories.
Control of it belonged neither to him nor the chair, but to the Library Yokai.
Yet that creature was bound by 'rules' as the price of creating the domain.
It could not intervene like this midway.
'Which means this succubus before me has torn through the Library Yokai's domain and descended within.'
How?
Was she imprisoned here like that dragon last time?
Various questions tangled in Bihyeong's mind when—
"You look like your head aches. Shall I hold you in my bosom? It'll chase away all your worries."
"Quiet."
"Oh dear. And I was quite proud of these."
She cupped and lifted her ample breasts—truly flawless...
But that wasn't the point.
"I told you to reveal yourself. And explain how you're here."
Shhhk—!
Bihyeong's presence surged, instantly scattering the crimson mist.
An aura that yielded to none. A presence of equal footing.
He was bluffing to the hilt, projecting unyielding strength.
'I can't gauge her level. Which means... she might be stronger than me. If so, I'll fool her into thinking we're equals.'
Fortunately, the ploy seemed to work. The succubus Lilith chuckled softly, licking her lips seductively.
"My name is Lilith. Progenitor of all dream demons—and the source of your legends."
"......"
"As for why I'm here... you'll see soon enough."
Without giving Bihyeong a chance to respond, Lilith pressed close to his side.
She licked a finger and smeared her viscous saliva into the air.
The world began to turn again.
'What the—?'
But Bihyeong could not return to Eunyoo's body.
As a spirit body, he watched the scene unfold as it had in the original history.
Oddly, no energy emanated from Eunyoo.
The committee chair, by contrast, brimmed with it.
"This is not the landscape of altered memory you created. This is Eun-ha's memory as it truly unfolded in history."
'Why show me this?'
"You think you've figured it all out, but you're wrong. You still haven't grasped Eun-ha's fundamental issue."
Bihyeong fell silent.
Why?
Why did a hint of 'affection' color the succubus's voice when she spoke the committee chair's name?
So he held his tongue and watched the true history unfold.
Changes began.
"Gahk!"
The foreigner’s crimson eyes gleamed demonically as he savagely bit into the restrained Eunyoo's nape.
Crunch!
Fangs far too inhuman pierced her carotid, gulping down the gushing blood.
'That’s...'
"A familiar. Mere mosquito thralls used by vampires—neither fully human nor yokai. Pathetic wretches not even worthy of half-yokai status."
'Familiar?'
"Yes. Half-baked slaves commanded by vampires."
Lilith's gaze upon the familiar was chillingly cold.
"...Keep watching."
The story continued to play out.
"Teacher. Any more, and her value as a sacrifice diminishes. You know that."
Only after the family head gripped the teacher's shoulder did the familiar snap out of it and grin.
"Hoo. The first taste of a child's blood in ages nearly made me lose my mind. So... sweet."
"Don't tell me you've forgotten? We'll open the Demon Pleasure Hall—you head to your 'territory,' and we summon the Pavilion of Revelry."
"Of course. Time to begin."
With that,
Eunyoo's spilled blood rose from the floor.
It gathered in the familiar's grasp, sharpening into a blade that pierced the committee chair's body.
"......!"
Staring at her little sister's rapidly cooling corpse in profound shock, the committee chair couldn't even scream.
She merely gasped as her gutted abdomen sent her tumbling to the ground.
At the same time,
Vmmm—!
A pentagram formed from their blood covered the cave wall.
How many children's blood had stained it before?
The wall was not just red, but blackened with it.
"Come forth!"
The family head threw his arms high in ecstatic joy.
Rumble—!
With an unearthly tremor, the wall crumbled, revealing a colossal bone gate.
A triumphant smile bloomed on the familiar's lips.
"Finally!"
"We have prepared your nest here! Descend to the present world, dispel our illusions, fill us with rapture, we beseech—"
The family head never finished.
Bang!
A sudden sound.
And then...
Screeech...
The door opened with a sinister groan.
"Humans truly are an entertaining breed."
The emerging woman's face was familiar.
Bihyeong turned to Lilith, floating beside him.
'Her...?'
"'Her'? How rude. I have a proper name: Lilith."
'Don't dodge. Is that you?'
"Precisely, my past self."
Her gaze urged him to keep watching the past.
"No, not humans—it's desire that's amusing. Hehe. To think mortals can be so cruel... just to sate their own."
Her eyes coldly fixed on the family head, his head now burst open.
Kyahhh!
The wife’s scream echoed through the cave.
"Darling!"
She collapsed to her knees.
Her trembling eyes swirled with indescribable emotions.
Resentment, confusion, denial, rage...
But the moment she beheld the descended demon—no, demon lord.
All feelings vanished, leaving only bewilderment.
"...Why?"
"Why did I kill him?"
A cold smile curled on Lilith's—the progenitor dream demon who had crushed the familiar to death with presence alone—lips.
"Because..."
The wife unwittingly leaned in.
The next instant—
"You don't need to know."
Bang!
With a smirk and a finger-gun gesture, she met the same fate as her husband.
Silence swept in.
Familiar, family head, his wife.
All the ritual's leaders perished, and the sacrificed child as well.
But one remained.
"It's you."
Lilith's gaze turned to the committee chair Eun-ha, collapsed and teetering on death's edge.
'......'
The abdominal wound had ravaged her organs.
Even her heart was damaged—beyond recovery.
Yet she clung to life thanks to her accumulated energy and prodigious talent that exceeded the familiar's expectations.
"Oh dear. We meet at last, only to part so soon."
Lilith knelt, peering into Eun-ha's fading eyes.
Then she whispered softly.
Like a devil's temptation.
"Do you want to live?"
"......!"
Her dying body twitched.
"Truth be told, your will matters little to me."
"......"
"I'll be frank. I want you to live."
So.
"Live."
And with that,
Stab!
Lilith plunged her hand into her own chest.
She pulled out her heart.
Sliced it in half, and implanted it into Eun-ha.
......Thump!
Moments later, the heart pounded fiercely once more.
The abdominal wound healed, her pallid face regained color—everything returned to normal.
Soon, Eun-ha's eyelids fluttered as if rousing from sleep.
Lilith watched tenderly, then smiled softly.
A warm smile utterly unlike the one she'd shown the family head and his wife.
"Forget what happened today. This is a 'command'."