Chapter 237: Jealousy (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 237: Jealousy (9)
When Kim Ga-eul woke up, she was frowning due to a strange dizziness clouding her head.
She remembered the incident happening and returning to the dormitory, but everything after that was a blank.
There was a lingering sense of dissonance in her body. At first, she wondered if yesterday’s struggle had caused some internal injury, but contrary to that thought, her body felt strangely light.
Now that she thought about it, while her head was a bit dizzy, her mood wasn’t all that bad.
It was quite surprising, considering what had happened the day before.
Glancing out the window, she saw it was still dark. It seemed she had woken up in the early hours of the dawn.
She tried to go back to sleep, but for some reason, rest eluded her.
Should I just do some light training?
She had skipped her evening session yesterday, so it seemed like a good idea. A light jog might help her feel sleepy again.
With that thought, she prepared herself and headed out. However, the results of her run were entirely unexpected.
She was fast.
So fast it felt as if this wasn’t even her own body.
Yet, her senses were vivid—so sharp she could feel every single muscle being controlled exactly as she intended.
…What is this? Am I dreaming?
Her condition felt so surreal that the sheer clarity of her senses actually made her doubt if this was reality.
Just in case, she pulled out the whip she carried as her armament and gave it a light flick.
It really was different.
Movements she had never even dared to attempt because they were too taxing flowed together perfectly. Her physical strength and endurance were incomparably higher than they had been just a day ago.
What is this? Is it a miracle? Has Kim Ga-eul’s era finally arrived?
“Oh? What’s this? Ga-eul, did you come out to exercise too? Join us! The Professor and I were just training over there!”
Turning toward the friendly voice, she saw Ha-ni, dressed in a tracksuit, waving at her.
Wow, Ha-ni! I think I’m in amazing condition today!
She was about to return the greeting happily, but in that instant, her excitement vanished as if it were a lie, and her heart began to grow cold.
Huh? Why am I like this? She wanted to brag, but strangely, the face she was usually so glad to see didn’t feel welcoming at all.
No, it went beyond not being welcoming; she felt a sense of hypocrisy from Ha-ni, and it was even unpleasant.
…Was Ha-ni always like that?
“Ga-eul?”
“Ah, yeah. It’s nothing. I’ll join you!”
* * *
“So-hyun isn’t here today, but Ga-eul came instead. That’s nice. Shall we do it together?”
The blonde woman welcomed her with a radiant smile, but Kim Ga-eul didn’t feel the slightest bit of joy.
— Of course. You’re only saying we should do it together because So-hyun isn’t here.
That was the first thought that crossed her mind.
She knew something was wrong, but the sense of unnaturalness or dissonance wasn’t overwhelming. She felt as if she might have always thought this way, or perhaps she was just being sensitive because of yesterday’s unpleasantness.
The two of them watched her movements blankly for a moment before striding toward her.
— What now? Are they going to accuse me of using some strange sorcery?
“Whoa! Ga-eul, when did you get this good?!”
“Indeed. Most third-year cadets couldn’t even pull this off. I knew you’d made progress recently, but this is impressive.”
Oh, I was wrong. They seemed genuinely happy for her, as if her success were their own.
‘Hehe, right? I just woke up this morning and I was like this!’
Yeah, I really do like these two…
— No, I hate them.
— It all feels like a sham, a disgusting mask. They must be doubting me deep down.
— In the first place, why are they looking down on me like that? It means they’ve already concluded I’m inferior to them.
No, that’s not it. That’s not what I was trying to think…
— Yes, it is.
It… is? Yeah, I guess it is.
“…Ga-eul? Your expression looks a bit strange. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Did you perhaps overexert yourself just now? I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were in bad condition.”
…Are they even worrying about someone like me?
— Hypocrisy…
No? It’s not hypocrisy. They’re truly worried about me.
For a moment, the demon guiding her consciousness was startled, but it soon smirked.
They’re so pretty. They’re worlds apart from me. Their faces and their hearts are so beautiful that when I’m near them, I feel like I’ve just become a tool to make them shine brighter.
No matter how hard I try, I’m so much uglier than them. Even my heart is so hideous that I feel this jealousy. Those eyes looking at me without a shred of doubt are so noble and beautiful it makes my skin crawl.
That’s why you two are the proud ‘firsts,’ and I’m just the ‘second,’ constantly terrified that my rank will slip even further.
He must instinctively know who is more beautiful, who is the purer person.
— Ah, I guess I don’t even need to step in anymore.
I’m envious. I’m so envious I could go crazy.
“I’m fine. More importantly, I’m in great shape today, so I’d like to try a duel.”
I wanted to be like you. I wanted to be born like that.
If I had no talent and was weak, I wanted to at least pretend to have a beautiful heart.
“A duel…? With whom?”
That’s why. That’s why.
Her grip tightened on her whip.
“How about both of you at once?”
The whip she lashed out with in a surprise attack was several times faster and more menacing than usual. To any observer, it carried a lethality that was far beyond what one would use against a friend in a duel.
However.
That was only from the perspective of a mediocre person like her.
“Whoa, that surprised me.”
She envied the girl who so easily blocked an attack that surpassed her full power.
“It was a fast and good surprise attack, but it’s not the kind of behavior one should show during a duel. I can’t praise you for that.”
She envied the woman who stood there with such confidence, as if she weren’t even threatened.
And that envy, that jealousy, transformed into something else and granted her power.
An ominous purple energy began to ripple along the whip.
I want to be like you, too. If I can’t, I want to drag you down.
But, but if even that is impossible…
“Aaaahhh…!”
“…Professor, I don’t know what to say about Ga-eul, but she seems a bit strange.”
“…I’ve thought so for a while now. We should probably subdue her first.”
Subdue me? Not a chance.
Right. If I can’t be like you, and I can’t break you…
I’d rather be destroyed by your clean, beautiful hands before he sees this ugliness of mine.
By you, whom I [Adored] Jealousy.
By you, whom I [Admired] Hated.
If I’m broken by you, it might feel a little less unfair.
* * *
At this point, the demon who had been snickering was flustered.
It was partly because the girl, who should have been unconditionally slandering her opponents due to the mental manipulation, had overcome the shackles. But more so, it was because her subsequent actions were completely outside the realm of common sense.
Originally, the plan was for her to flaunt her new power, switch to another group, and spread malicious rumors.
Who would have thought she would lose control of her emotions and go berserk?
The demon wondered just how much she hated the fact that she hated them, and what kind of intense emotion was causing the demonic energy to run so wild.
Regardless, though it was heading in a completely different direction than expected, this wasn’t bad in its own way.
In fact, it could be seen as an even better result than the original plan.
Even if it wasn’t the emotion of jealousy, if this girl suddenly went berserk and met a tragic end, the two people in front of her would undoubtedly feel immense negative emotions like despair and regret.
Negative emotions emitted by such massive vessels…
If used well, it might even be possible to open another gateway to the human realm.
If luck was really on its side, it would be even better if other kin could form contracts with those two.
To think she’d try to die just because she hated hating her own friends. What a stupid girl…
“…I’m too late. I’m always late when it matters most.”
In an instant, everyone present turned toward the owner of the sudden voice.
A boy with black hair and eyes tinged with purple was approaching with a somewhat bitter smile.
“Sorry. It took more time to prepare than I thought.”
The moment he smiled and raised his hand.
The demon clinging to Kim Ga-eul instinctively tried to abandon everything and flee.
“And you, don’t think you’ll get to die easily. You damn piece of fish.”
That is, assuming such a thing was even possible.
* * *
It is easy to remove demonic energy by borrowing power from the Touch of the Devil.
However, in this case, if the fusion has progressed too far, there is a risk of leaving behind a permanent disability.
Just like those whose lives I could only save by removing the demonic energy during the previous drug incident.
Their minds could be twisted, or in severe cases, they could become mindless shells.
You should have just not resisted, Ga-eul.
If she had just surrendered her body, I could have saved her easily before it became this painful.
Last night, sensing the quickening of demonic energy, I rushed over only to find that Ga-eul had been forced into a contract with a demon.
The Touch of the Devil spoke flatly.
It said that because the host resisted so fiercely, the demon had used force to forge the contract, and in the process, her soul might have been scarred.
It said returning her to normal wouldn’t be easy.
Honestly, I felt like shit.
If I hadn’t been so distracted by the shock of meeting Seo-ha yesterday and hadn’t let my guard down, this wouldn’t have happened.
When Aisha bragged about solving things before a major incident occurred, I shouldn’t have just thought about comforting her when we met today; I should have rushed over immediately.
Regret is always such a slow and miserable emotion.
Still, even so, I’ve found a way to save you properly this time.
Though it’s not my own ability.
The Touch of the Devil said it was extremely difficult, but by no means impossible.
It said it would allow me to do it if I deepened my contract with it.
As a result, the small demonic crest that had been on the back of my right hand had now crossed my wrist and invaded halfway up my arm.
Thanks to my eyes, I could clearly see the demon trying to escape, and thanks to the knowledge received from the Touch of the Devil, I understood what I had to do.
Concentrating my demonic energy, I reached out and grabbed the fleeing bastard by the scruff of its neck.
I was clearly grabbing thin air, but I felt something solid in my hand.
Tracing back the contract engraved on Ga-eul’s soul, identifying the demon from that trace, and summoning it.
The bastard, whose true form was forcibly summoned, looked at me for a moment in disbelief, but soon reality set in, and its face was dyed with terror.
“W-Wait! What the hell are you?! No one said anything about something like this existing…! No, human! If you kill me, this woman will also…!”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Why would I kill you?”
“…Huh?”
Right, why would I kill it? Why waste precious nutrients that will heal Ga-eul?
Because her soul was linked to the demon, she couldn’t be healed with divine power right away.
It wouldn’t be impossible if I removed all the demonic energy, but if I stripped all the demonic energy from the current Ga-eul, she would be left with some kind of disability.
I can’t call that ‘saving’ her.
So, I learned a way to heal using demonic energy instead of divine power.
Fortunately, the devil I contracted with was a high-ranking one, capable of making that possible.
It didn’t matter if I was starting to move beyond the realm of a provisional contract.
This time, I could end it without losing anyone, and the target of my revenge was clear.
“You can look forward to it. You’ll end up begging me to just kill you instead. I swear again, this won’t end with just you.”
The demon, realizing what I was about to do, struggled wildly, but as I tightened my grip on its throat, its resistance soon vanished.
“A… Aaah…!”
The moment the demon was exposed to a level of demonic energy it couldn’t handle, it began to lose its form and melt into a mass of pure demonic energy.
Its appearance as it pleaded as if begging for its life wasn’t pitiful; it was just disgusting.
The way it made such a fuss over just this was pathetic and laughable, so I decided to let it know the reality of its situation.
“I will make sure to use not only your kin but even your master, whom you follow so faithfully, for the sake of my precious person—leaving nothing behind. As a result of the mistake you made, there will no longer be any beings called Demons of Jealousy in the Demon Realm.”
The demon wanted to scream that I was joking, but it couldn’t.
“Oh, and of course, I won’t kill you easily. I will humiliate and torment your master in ways you could never imagine, and I won’t stop until their pleas for mercy finally turn into begging for death.”
That was because the demon had realized that the demonic energy this monster was currently wielding was mixed with a very familiar kind.
The demonic energy of Jealousy.
About half of its comrades who had ascended to the surface had already met their deaths at his hands, becoming part of the demonic energy he possessed.
He said the preparation took a long time… but this madman was maintaining his sanity while harboring such a vast amount of demonic energy in his body? Was this truly a human?
He’s really going to do it. It had a premonition that if it was this man, he might actually be able to do it.
This man was the kind of being that should never, ever be made an enemy.
“Ah, don’t worry about not being able to see your master being broken. The devil I contracted with is quite capable; it said it can extract your consciousness separately.”
And here, the demon was struck with even greater shock.
It thought it would all end with death, but even death wasn’t the end…?
“You can really look forward to it. I feel like I’ve gone a bit soft lately since I’ve been living quietly.”
The Touch of the Devil absorbed the consciousness of what had been the demon, pulling it away from its physical form.
“But I happen to have a lot of experience in that field.”
Even after losing its body, the demon’s consciousness was separated and imprisoned in a jail created by the Demon King.
Listening to the screams of countless comrades echoing through the soul prison, it remained unable to even lose consciousness as it wished.