Chapter 236: Jealousy (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 236: Jealousy (8)
There was a certain demon.
By chance, he had discovered a vessel far superior to the woman he had originally intended to take as a contractor.
It was a high-quality vessel—one that was underdeveloped relative to its inherent capacity and, perhaps because of that, harbored a fair amount of inferiority toward those around it.
Furthermore, unlike most humans, her compatibility with demonic energy was exceptionally high. The moment the demon discovered this vessel, he abandoned his original candidate without a second thought and switched targets.
Since the previous contractor was only meant to be a temporary tool anyway, he didn’t care whether that vessel was shattered or not. He believed any potential loss could be easily recouped by making this girl his new contractor.
However.
It proved unexpectedly difficult.
Despite harboring jealousy and inferiority, the vessel resisted with surprising intensity.
To the demon, it was the height of stupidity—resisting her own true feelings just to protect things like “friendship” or “love.”
After all, jealousy and obsession were the very things born from that friendship and love.
But since the previous contractor was already broken, switching vessels again would incur too much of a loss. Curious to see how long this soul could endure, the demon decided he would simply corrupt the girl.
He made that choice.
Without having the slightest inkling of the massive karmic retribution it would bring upon him.
* * *
Returning to the dormitory with staggering steps, Kim Ga-eul decided to check her condition and then wash up.
In truth, even though she had been hit, she hadn’t been seriously injured—perhaps because she had become quite sturdy herself, or perhaps because her opponent simply had weak, pillowy fists. Once she calmed her heart, which was startled by the psychological terror of being attacked and the pain she hadn’t felt in a long time, it was nothing much.
There were no scars left, and her hair hadn’t been hacked away with scissors.
— What do you mean, “it’s fine”? Don’t you resent Aisha? She could have saved you sooner. Don’t you think she did it on purpose?
She shook her head to clear the thoughts that had surfaced unbidden.
She found herself loathsome for having such thoughts about the person who had saved her.
— Saved you? She said it herself. Now, using the excuse that she saved you, she’ll get even closer to the person you like. You—no, we—were just used.
No.
I won’t think like that.
Ha-ni and the Professor promised to help me, so it’s okay.
— Help you? Don’t make me laugh. You trust a coward who played at being a man while snatching him away behind your back? You trust a woman who clings to him after hurting him as much as she possibly could?
No, I’ve never thought that.
I’m the same, anyway.
I bullied him and discriminated against him. Being forgiven was more than I deserved, yet here I am, still coveting the spot by his side.
— What did you do that was so wrong? All you did was have the kind of bickering common among ordinary people. That much can be forgiven.
She didn’t know why such wicked thoughts were plaguing her today, but she had to ignore them.
If she started thinking that way, she would truly become irredeemable trash, beyond even recycling.
She would lose even the right to stand beside those people who were far too good for her.
To calm her trembling body, she turned the water to a hot temperature and let the spray from the showerhead wash over her.
It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.
* * *
Watching that scene in silence, the Demon of Jealousy clicked his tongue.
Based on the memories he had read, he’d expected her to be a mere lump of inferiority that would crumble easily, so her strangely persistent resistance put him in a foul mood.
Because she so fiercely denied the jealousy she clearly held in her heart, he had no opening to propose a contract.
— You harbor a hideous jealousy toward Cathy. Because she is more beautiful, stronger, and more radiant than you. You are jealous of the hero who can capture everyone’s attention through action, unlike you, who is all talk.
— You hate Kang Ha-ni. You are jealous of her relationship with him—how she fights by his side and builds mutual trust in the closest position possible, a place you can never reach no matter how hard you try.
— You’re jealous of Aisha, too. You don’t like how she immediately switched targets after saying she liked someone else, or how she blended in with everyone with such subtle brazenness. Her character overlaps with yours, but she’s incomparably better than you in every other way.
She covered her ears, bowed her head, and closed her eyes, blindly denying her own impulses.
It seemed simple, but the demon knew very well that this was actually an incredibly difficult feat.
He had seen countless humans fail to do this, collapsing under their impulses and losing themselves to envy of others.
Of course, there were humans who overcame such things through superhuman patience, self-confidence, or unshakable bonds, but no matter how he looked at her, the girl named Kim Ga-eul was not that kind of person.
She was a girl whose personality was better suited to being an ordinary student than a hero. Her mental strength wasn’t exceptionally high, nor did she possess a will so strong that she would never betray others.
She was an ordinary human who was easily swayed, suspicious of others, and capable of betrayal when cornered.
And yet, as he watched her desperately resist again and again, the demon…
Slowly.
Very slowly, he began to smile.
He had moved beyond simply viewing her as a decent vessel; he now sincerely wanted to bring her down.
What on earth was allowing this girl to hold out so stubbornly?
He wanted to test every method he had ever used to corrupt humans on her.
He was so excited to see how long she would last that he could hardly contain himself.
The light of a resisting human was always beautiful, and for his kind, demons, stealing that light was the very purpose of their existence.
After conducting numerous psychological experiments, the demon finally understood her principles of action.
Black-and-white logic.
Absolute trust and empathy toward allies, contrasted with one-sided denial and repulsion toward enemies.
It was the blind loyalty to a group that boys and girls of this age often fell into.
She possessed that trait to an excessive degree.
In short, her boundaries were clear.
Having identified the cause, breaking a single girl was child’s play for the demon.
All he had to do was attack the point she had reacted to most clearly today—the girl who, based on her goodwill, refused to listen to any other opinion.
— Pet.
Ga-eul’s hands, which had been rinsing out shampoo, suddenly froze.
The stiffness lasted only a moment, and she immediately began to move again.
That is, if you could call trembling “moving.”
“N-no. I’m not something like that.”
Found it.
The weakness.
— Oh, of course they wouldn’t think of you that way, would they? Your precious friends are kind, wonderful, and good people.
Yes, I won’t deny it. Your precious friends are perfect. At least, you believe they are, so it would be foolish of me to deny that.
But you know…
It’s surprising how much you don’t trust yourself.
— But does the reality change just because they don’t think that way?
“…Shut up.”
— You learned very well today how you look to those around you.
“No. No. No. I said no! Get out of my head. What even are you?”
— I only want to help you. You can’t change unless you face reality head-on.
A little more. Just a little more.
— Even if you don’t want to hear it, you have to keep listening. Because this is the truth.
One more twist and she would open up. The firmly shut fortress walls would crumble.
— Your relationship with Kang So-hyun is built purely on the other person’s goodwill.
— But everyone else has a bond that started for a clear reason. They are bonds that would have eventually connected even if their starting points had been different.
Yes, it’s not hard to imagine.
If Cathy hadn’t met him in that dungeon, would they have failed to develop the relationship they have now?
Oh, absolutely not. He would have continued to grow, and though the process might have differed, Cathy would have lost her heart to him all the same.
And she would stand by his side as his reliable master and the helper who protects him.
Unlike you.
“Be quiet.”
— If Kang Ha-ni hadn’t been his roommate, would they not have become close?
I guarantee they would have. She, who strangely loves taking care of others, could never have ignored him back when he was weak but trying his best.
Ah, of course, they might not have become close as quickly as they did! But since the two of them are so strangely in sync, the end result wouldn’t have changed.
Unlike you.
“No. You’re wrong.”
— It’ll be hard to hold out without a clear reason, won’t it? You’re starting to doubt.
It’s the same for everyone else. Even Aisha, who helped you today.
In the end, they were fated to meet; the world was structured for them to meet.
But what about you? You, who were so hell-bent on bullying him that day.
You, who didn’t even know who you were really looking for and pushed others aside without a thought just to be recognized by Cheon Yu-hak.
“Ah, aah…”
— You, who didn’t do a single thing right, yet avoided becoming an outcast purely thanks to their goodwill.
You, who aren’t even particularly talented, yet became close to them for the sole reason that you were almost victimized by a murderer.
— Your relationship with those kids is built purely on their consideration and forgiveness.
— I don’t call that being friends.
— A relationship where they don’t get angry even when you make mistakes, where they expect nothing even though you’re good at nothing, and where they applaud you just for sitting there smiling… that isn’t a friendship.
She was starting to break.
— If a relationship that exists purely because they chose it and because they look after you isn’t that of a pet, then what is it?
The ironclad defense was failing.
“What… what do you want me to do? I’m… I’m a friend too…”
— You just have to catch up.
“…Huh?”
— What’s so hard about that? So you can proudly call yourself their friend. You just have to catch up. So what if the start was a bit twisted? You just have to become someone who suits them in the end.
It was like offering sweet bait to a beast terrified by a relentless assault.
— I told you, didn’t I? I’m trying to help you. And to do that, you first have to accept the truth honestly.
You won’t be able to resist. This isn’t a temptation an ordinary human can withstand, and you are just an ordinary human like any other.
— Now, repeat after me. It’s just an admission. It’s not even hard. If you just admit it, I will help you.
Ah, how sweet.
— I’m envious of Cathy.
“…I’m envious of the Professor.”
— I’m envious of Kang Ha-ni.
“…I’m envious of Ha-ni.”
She had held out quite well for an ordinary person, but this was the end.
As she called out their names one by one and confessed her envy, the sweet jealousy that had been suppressed in her heart began to overflow.
— You want the spot by his side, don’t you? Since you’ve admitted it, I’ll help you.
The blooming flower of jealousy was so fragrant, and its nectar so sweet, that…
“Take my hand.”
The demon made a mistake.
“…Him? So-hyun…?”
The moment he explicitly mentioned the spot by his side, her heart surged, and the emotion he had barely managed to corrupt began to return to its original form.
It was an emotion similar to jealousy, yet different.
Admiration and longing reared their heads within her again, threatening to throw ashes into the meal he had just finished cooking.
At this point, the demon was annoyed, but he gave up on trying to persuade her with words.
He couldn’t afford to drag this out any longer.
— Doing things by force wasn’t really my style. You win, human.
“Huh?”
Corrupting her through words was the ideal, but it was also true that he was in a hurry.
The demon swelled his demonic energy and used his power to forcibly twist her reviving heart.
He didn’t like the ungraceful sight, but the grand cause of the Demon of Jealousy race was more important than his own displeasure.
Besides, it didn’t take much demonic energy to corrupt a human of this level, and even if he used a small amount like this, the number of people who could sense it would be limited.
He simply went ahead with it.
That foolish choice was the turning point.
In order to force a contract with her—whose resistance was more violent than expected—the demon released a large amount of demonic energy, drawing the attention of those who could sense it, however faintly.
“…What is this, now?”
And among them was a boy with black hair and crimson eyes.