I Ended Up with a Daughter

A demon, faced with a contract, is fairer than any other being alive. They do not rig the deal, they do not break a promise, and they do not rewrite the price to please themselves. Set the terms a human offers and the payment a demon demands on the same scale, and they will balance the two without a hair's breadth of error. That is a demonic contract.

There is, however, one very small problem. A demon promises only to grant the wish. A demon never promises to grant it the way you had in mind. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that you would turn out to be me.

Between one breath and the next, I had become a woman—and not merely a woman, but the living image of the demon who had killed me.

Crimson eyes looked back at me from a puddle of rain. Everything that ought to swell had swollen, and everything that ought to narrow had narrowed: a mother's body, without a single shortcoming. That it had to be the face of Belian, of all people—the one I hated—stuck in my throat. Start picking every grievance apart, though, and all you get is a headache, so I let it go.

I lifted my gaze a little, and something came into view above my head. Horns, curled in on themselves like the ram-horn towels they used to twist up for kids at the bathhouse. Where there are horns, a tail is only a matter of course. I felt around behind me, and sure enough, something caught on my fingertips.

Wonderful.

That alone was headache enough. And then there was the real problem.

"Nnngh……."

The baby.

How was I supposed to raise this?

Before I became a demon, I had looked after a younger sibling, but that had always been under my parents' roof. How one adult was meant to raise a newborn alone—I didn't know the first thing about it.

Hah.

The unforeseen disaster brought a headache crashing down. First, I had to hide the horns. Once, slipping into a human shape had been as easy as breathing, but this body still didn't feel like mine, and every time I tried to draw power up it slid off me like somebody else's clothes. No matter how many times I tried, I looked exactly the same.

"……Fine. Fine."

I hauled the hood of my coat up and jammed it down over my head. The tail I could just wind around my waist and be done with, but the horns were so large they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠raised a little hill under the cloth. I supposed I ought to count it a mercy that it was a dawn without a single soul in sight.

I drew the loosened front of the coat closed and gathered the child inside. Bundle and all, pressed tight to my chest, the small cold body slowly took on warmth. She slept soundly with the ring clutched in one fist, wearing the face of someone who knew nothing at all about what had just happened.

"Right. Keep growing, just like that."

If she woke and started crying, I truly had no plan.

Dodging every pair of eyes, I arrived at Mammon's officetel—the cramped little office-apartment from which she oversaw the whole of the demon settlement support program. Ask why a thing like that even exists, and, well. From what I'd heard second- and thirdhand, the Demonic Realm had been choking on a brutal employment shortage, and as more demons came down to the human world to work, a place like this had sprung up after them. Most of those who descended, though, came to feed on negative emotions, so the only ones who actually used the center were a tiny handful of upright, gainfully employed young demons. In short, it was a service window for migrant workers on an unofficial employment permit.

I pressed the bell, and an irritated voice came through the door.

"Who the hell is it at this ungodly hour……? Can't you read? It says by appointment onl—"

The lock clicked. Beyond the open door stood a woman in a neat black suit and glasses.

Mammon. Demon of Greed and Wealth, and director of this ridiculous center.

I pulled my hood off and met her eyes. The color drained from her scowling face in an instant, and the stack of papers in her hand hit the floor. Sheets scattered down the hallway like snow.

"……Lady Belian?"

Mammon froze, then bent so deeply at the waist she looked ready to drop to her knees.

"I—I failed to recognize you! To think you would grace us without so much as a word……. N-no, this center is fully licensed, there's nothing illegal here whatsoever……."

Ah. This was fun.

Mammon, who turned her nose up even when she was handing over a single form, was bowing her head to me. It lasted only a moment, but honestly, it didn't feel bad. If I kept up the Belian act, couldn't I walk off with a house, money, and an identity, all for free?

……No. Lie here, and let it reach the real Belian's ears, and I was finished that very day.

"Director Mammon."

"Yes! Yes!"

"It's me. Lee Seowoo."

"……Yes?"

"Last year. The one Belian—that bitch—introduced, who went home with nothing to show for it."

Mammon slowly raised her head. She looked me up and down, ragged clothes and a baby in my arms, then sniffed. The blood that had left her face came flooding back, hot and red.

"……Lee Seowoo?"

Hearing my name after so long felt strange.

"You son of a bitch."

"I'm not a son anymo—"

"Shut up."

Mammon pressed her forehead to the doorframe.

"I thought my heart just fell out of my chest. You know that?"

"I'm sorry."

"If you're sorry, get that face out of my sight."

"Believe me, I would. Unfortunately, this is my face now……."

"……Just get inside."

The place was a studio that had been converted into an office. Steel cabinets lined one wall, and binders and stamps lay in a mess across the desk. A folding cot stood open in the corner, which suggested she ate and slept here. A frame hung on the wall.

……So the Demonic Realm had a labor office too.

Mammon dropped into the chair at her desk and pushed her glasses up.

"Explain. What do you have to do to be wearing Lady Belian's face overnight?"

I sat in the consultation chair and gave her the rough version. Mammon's expression grew stranger by the second.

"Hold on. You made a contract? How?"

I lifted the ring at the child's neck just enough for her to see. Dark red, it gleamed ominously under the fluorescent light.

"……You've completely lost it."

"Excuse you."

At the time, there had been no other way. The despair a wish required was nowhere near enough to eat on the spot, and if I simply sat on my hands, the things circling me were only waiting for an opening.

"It was the best option I had."

"Bullshit."

She wasn't buying it.

"So why show up at the crack of dawn?"

"I need money."

"If you mean emotion, earn it the way you always do. Why come here of all—"

"No. Human money. Won."

"……?"

Mammon stared at me, blank, for a long moment, then tipped her head. Fair enough. To a demon who takes food, power, everything from emotion, human money is nothing but useless scraps of paper. For me, just now, it had become the thing I needed most of all.

Because—

"I can't use my magi."

The magi I had been trying to draw up since earlier had already hit the bottom. What ought to have welled back on its own was not returning, not even a handful. A demon without magi is no different from a human. A heart-tipped tail and a pair of thick horns were about all that still proved what I was. Take those away, and I was just a pretty woman. Nothing more, and nothing less.

"So your body's no different from a human's, and if you want to live, you need money. Is that it?"

"Add a house, while you're at it."

"……?"

What. Was she seriously going to tell a willowy woman with a newborn in her arms to sleep on the street?

"Has it occurred to you that greed is what got you into this mess?"

Coming from the Demon of Greed, it was oddly persuasive.

"I'm not sure that's yours to say, Director Mammon."

"I at least only get greedy for what I can actually hold."

Mammon rose, came around the desk, and crouched in front of me. Without a word, she laid her palm on my forehead.

"……Hmm."

"What are you doing?"

"Hold still."

Something traveled through her palm and groped around inside me—unpleasant and ticklish, like a stranger's hand rifling through my drawers. At last she opened her eyes.

"It isn't that your magi won't fill. It's leaking out as fast as it comes in."

So I was pouring water into a jar with no bottom.

Mammon's gaze dropped to the child asleep in the bundle.

"The contract made you a mother. Where do you think what a mother eats is going to go?"

"……You can't be serious."

"All of your magi is flowing into that kid."

That meal I had eaten earlier—all of it had gone to this thing? What is this, a Bluetooth umbilical cord?

"So no matter how much despair I eat from now on……."

"None of it is yours. Except that deepest despair you're owed the day the contract ends."

Mammon stood and brushed off her knees.

"Congratulations. For the next twenty years, you're a demon who doesn't get to eat."

"……."

The side dish was about to cost more than the meal. Because of one tiny thing, I was going to starve for twenty years.

I looked down into my arms. The child knew nothing. She had a fistful of my shirt and was working her mouth, mumbling at nothing.

"……Utterly useless."

"So."

Mammon perched on the corner of the desk.

"What are you going to feed her right now? Unlike you, she's human, so she actually needs food. She'll be hungry when she wakes. What, you planning to go door-to-door begging for milk?"

"Well, obviously I'd……."

Buy formula, I had been about to say. A prickling ache spread through my chest, and I looked down.

"……?"

A round wet stain was spreading across the front of my shirt.

"Pfft—!"

"Huh?"

Mammon sprayed the coffee in her hand.

"……Huh?"

My mind went white. No. Wait. This was—

The baby in my arms cracked her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes halfway open, sniffed, and turned her head toward me.

"Unh— unh!"

"H-hold still!"

Mammon coughed and wiped the approval forms with a tissue.

"Cough— so that's— cough— where the magi was leaking."

"Don't say it."

"Found one of the holes, at least."

"I said don't."

"Formula's covered, then. Want me to knock it off your living expenses?"

Crazy bitch. Is this really the moment for jokes?

"So you're not going to feed her? Leave her like that and she might starve to death, you know? Pfft."

"……Shut up."

I twisted so she couldn't see, pushed the hem of my shirt up, and let the child latch.

……Fuck. What the hell am I even doing? If I had known a contract made for the sake of eating despair would be this much of a nuisance, I should have just eaten her and—

A hard little crunch.

"Ah! That hurts!"

Pain surged up all at once. I folded forward and pulled the child off.

"Pff—hahaha! Wow. I haven't seen anything this entertaining in several thousand years."

"Why is she like this……?"

"Because you keep trying to straighten your back."

"You little—"

She doesn't even have teeth…….

Mammon laughed for a good long while before she sat back down.

"All right. I understand the situation. That still isn't a reason for me to hand you a house and money."

"I have a reason."

I forcibly peeled the clinging child's face away from me and turned her toward Mammon. At the same time, the scent pouring off that small body spread through the cramped studio.

"This is…… the smell of breast milk……."

"Fuck— shut up."

"Oh my. You really shouldn't talk like that in front of a baby already. Pfft."

She was going to clown me to the bitter end…….

"Aren't you curious, Director Mammon, what a density like this becomes after twenty years of aging?"

Mammon looked down at the child for a long time. Behind her glasses, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her eyes glittered the way they would at a gold coin. The face of the upright center director peeled away, and the Demon of Greed raised her head.

"How much do I get?"

There was no question the despair inside this child was worth a fortune. Otherwise Mammon, who had tasted every emotion there was, would not be drooling with interest like that. God. This is filthy.

"……Deal."

I had named the smallest amount I could, just to seize the upper hand, and Mammon snatched it up as if she were grateful for the scraps. ……I should have gone lower.

"As you know, emotion is our currency, so we don't have much human money. I'll pay you in kind instead."

The deal was over quickly. One apartment. A monthly living stipend. And, on paper, a perfect human identity.

Haah. Now this was living. Money coming in on schedule without me working a day. If this wasn't heaven, what was?

"So. What are you naming the kid?"

Mammon asked it as she handed me the papers. A name……. I looked down into my arms. The day this one turned twenty, I would disappear. That was why I had picked her up in the first place: ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so that on the happiest day, the most precious thing would vanish.

In that case.

The pen moved softly over the paper.

Mammon looked over the paperwork and frowned.

"……Lee Byeol? Farewell? Are you joking?"

"We're going to part someday anyway."

I set the pen down.

Mammon stared at me for a while, then snorted.

"Nasty little hobby. Disgusting."

"I'm a demon."