Heavenly Demon Great Destruction!
I had no idea how the day had slipped past me.
"Ugh, I really don't want to go…"
Outside, the sky was packed with dark clouds. The whole morning carried a bleak, heavy mood that mirrored my own.
And then—
Beep— bebebebeep.
The front door lock chimed from the entryway.
"No way?"
It was barely nine in the morning…
"Hyundo! Are you still asleep?"
Mom was already here? The trip from home to my place was at least an hour and a half even without traffic. I couldn't even begin to guess how early she must have gotten ready and left.
"Mom. Your son is awake."
"Oh-ho, look at this kid—wait, no. Look at this girl?"
She breezed right past my greeting. Standing face-to-face with me for the first time, Mom scanned my face and torso with the same clinical intensity I used when counting remaining sets at the gym.
"At this level? Extremely satisfied!"
"Haha… thank you."
She smiled with genuine delight. That smile, somehow, filled me with a vague sense of dread.
And then I realized just how much stuff she had brought with her.
"Alright, start with these!"
From outside the door, she hauled in item after item in a steady parade.
"These are the towels Mom uses, plus basic skincare, shampoo and treatment, cotton pads, and…"
Dozens of products poured into the room.
"Mom! How did you even carry all this?"
"Obviously with your dad's car, you dummy."
"What? Then why didn't Dad come?"
"He's busy! I already told him you became a girl, and all he said was to take some pictures for him!"
Of course. That was my father for you. It was crystal clear which side of the family my genes had come from.
"Here—put these on."
She handed me clothes still in shopping bags, clearly brand-new.
"You don't even know my size…"
"You brat! Your mother's been selling clothes at the market for twenty years. You think I can't estimate a size?"
In the end, I started changing into the clothes she forced on me. Thankfully, the underwear was a sports bra I'd seen online advertised as comfortable to wear.
"Ow—it's tight!"
Still, it felt like being stuffed into non-breathable skinny jeans; the pressure on my chest was miserable.
"Sigh, that's because you inherited your mother's bust. You're stuck with it!"
Faced with that completely unhinged assessment, I couldn't even muster a proper comeback. Watching me struggle must have driven her crazy, because she half-forced the rest of the outfit onto me herself.
And so I was dressed in a soft, fluttery blouse and sleek cotton pants that were pure Mom-taste.
"Oh my, look how pretty you are like this!"
At least she had enough consideration for her former son not to bring a skirt… or so I thought.
"Aww, a skirt would make you even prettier!"
Scratch that. She was definitely planning to put me in one a little later.
"We're done, right? Let's just go buy what we need…"
At this rate we wouldn't even leave the house; I'd be stuck playing clothes hanger all day. Ignoring her protests that I still needed basic makeup, I gently herded her toward the door and out onto the road to the department store.
The moment we hit the street together, eyes started gathering.
"Ugh, is it because of the hair color…?"
I'd always drawn stares thanks to my build, but this felt differently uncomfortable. I twisted a strand of hair that fell all the way to my waist around my finger as I muttered.
Mom answered in a voice thick with disbelief.
"Oh, please. Of course they're staring because my daughter is gorgeous."
The word "daughter" slipped out of her as if it had always been natural.
"What?"
"With a face like yours? Celebrities are a given—you'd put most actresses to shame!"
Hearing Mom lay out the facts like that, I realized something: getting noticed for being huge and getting stared at as a beauty were sensations from entirely different dimensions.
Keeping my head down under those oddly intense gazes, I walked until we could climb into the Pistachio Call Taxi I'd ordered ahead of time.
"Wow, a mother-daughter date, is it?"
"That's right! This one suddenly has no clothes, so I'm taking her to the department store to buy some!"
"My goodness, your daughter's drop-dead gorgeous, but I've never seen her on TV. Is she an aspiring idol?"
"Oh, stop! With a daughter like mine, 'aspiring idol' is underselling it—she could be an actress!"
Even I found it hard to build rapport with a random taxi driver, yet Mom's social skills—honed by twenty years surviving a market—were on a level that left me in genuine awe.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the department store.
"Here you go—twenty thousand won."
"Come on now, you're having a lovely date with such a pretty daughter! Meter says twelve thousand, so just give me ten. When your girl shows up on TV, I'll have bragging rights!"
"Oh my, I won't say no to that! You—hurry up and say thank you…!"
"I mean… sigh. Thank you."
Her friendliness was genuinely terrifying.
And so we finally stepped into the department store.
That place was hell.
We zipped from rack to rack at lightning speed, and an endless parade of clothes was forced onto my body.
"Hmm, with that foundation, sporty looks suit you too!"
"Mmm, that one over there looks better than this!"
"We need underwear too—underwear!"
I finally understood, in real time, what it meant for a soul to leave the body. After three hours of being turned into a mannequin—trying on dozens of outfits under a constant spotlight of stares—the end was finally in sight.
"Mom, isn't this too much? It came out to ten million won!"
"You brat, Mom has money! I was just a little tight because of that voice-phishing witch last time. You think I can't spend this much on my own daughter?"
"Still, ten million is a bit…"
"Enough! And you're an Awakened, aren't you? Once you make it big, just be a good filial child!"
Her attitude was far too cool for comfort. The only silver lining was that she hadn't paid it all at once, so I could help chip away at it later.
"I had the clothes sent by delivery, so when they arrive, wear them properly, got it?"
"Got it… Can we go home now?"
"Honestly, you only ever sound obedient when you talk…"
At last, the moment to escape Mom's affectionate nagging had arrived. I quickly ordered another Pistachio taxi on my phone for the return trip.
"Once we get home, Mom will make you a delicious kimchi stew."
Music to my ears.
"Really? I need the protein, so make it with pork neck!"
"Alright, you little brat!"
Liberation, plus a home-cooked meal from Mom for the first time in ages—just thinking about filling my stomach had my spirits soaring.
And then—
WEEEEEEEEEEEE——!
A siren blared loud enough to rattle the skull. Gates rarely opened in Seoul, so the sudden alarm sent civilians into a panic as they fled.
"Mom, run—now!"
I scooped her up with everything I had and sprinted straight back toward the department store. Luckily, the store seemed prepared to take in nearby refugees. We made it just in time—I got Mom inside safely before the security shutters came down.
And then, in an instant, a colossal Gate tore open in the sky. So many people were still outside, unable to escape…
The Gate opened. Green-skinned monsters began raining down from the heavens.
"We can't wait any longer. I'm lowering the security shutters now!"
The moment a department-store guard moved to drop the shutter, my eyes caught the countless people still fleeing beyond the doors.
Am I just going to stand here and watch this…?
I had Awakened. I was a prospective Climber, ready to ascend the Tower.
Why did Climbers earn so much more money than everyone else? Why were they admired?
Because when people are in danger, they have the power to step forward.
Turning my back here went against everything in my nature.
If I'm the Heavenly Demon… I can save them…!
Right before the security shutter slammed shut, I shouted.
"Wait! I'm a Climber!"
Eyes turned toward me from every direction.
"I'll go outside and save people! Just give me a moment!"
In that instant, Mom grabbed me. I'd half-expected her to stop me from going—but of course she was still my mother.
"Sweetheart… can you do it?"
"Ha, Mom, you know me better than that. Of course I can!"
"Then go. If your own mother doesn't believe in you, who will? Come back safe!"
With hands trembling like aspen leaves, she pushed me forward by the back. A strange heat surged up through my chest.
I slipped outside before the iron grate sealed shut—and unleashed every ounce of power I had.
The instant I kicked off the ground and ran, the concrete cracked beneath me like glass. Sensing the threat, the orcs that had dropped from the sky fixed every gaze on me at once.
Meeting those eyes, the Magi dormant in my body began to boil.
"Heavenly Demon Divine Art…"
There are no fixed forms. Magi answers the body of its own accord. Thus, everything the Heavenly Demon does is Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
The moment I spoke the skill name for the first time, a flood of knowledge poured into my mind.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art has no set techniques… Magi responds naturally to whatever this body does… therefore, everything the Heavenly Demon performs is Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
I dove straight into the heart of the orc swarm. Magi erupted from my entire body as I carved through them in every direction.
Orcs lunging for civilians.
Thwack—
Orcs charging in to scratch me.
Thwack—
Even the one that looked like their leader, pouring massive Magi into an axe as it brought the weapon down.
"Kraaagh—!"
Every punch I threw burst open whatever it hit, flooding the air with the stench of blood. My pale hands were already scraped raw and painted red.
Endorphins drowned out the pain entirely. Like a lone wolf tearing through a flock of sheep, I drove the orcs without mercy. And the more Magi I used, the more it answered me like my own hands and feet. Every movement I imagined unfolded without resistance, and the scent of Magi spreading around me honed my senses to a razor edge.
Faced with that overwhelming force, the dwindling orcs finally felt despair and scattered in every direction.
"Where do you think you're going!"
I boiled Magi through my entire body. Behind me rose the colossal form of a demon god with three heads and six arms.
A three-headed, six-armed demon god rises. Through six hands, blades of colossal Magi tear across the field.
As I lifted my hand, the demon god raised its hands with me. The instant those hands swept toward the fleeing orcs, enormous blades of Magi erupted outward through all six arms as conduits.
Slash—
In a single breath, the orcs' torsos were severed clean, and they collapsed.
"This… is Heavenly Demon Great Destruction…"
Drunk on the endorphins flooding out after the slaughter, I spoke the technique name I had once seen in a shorts video.