The Faceless Demon Lord (1)
Yoo Hwa-yeon leaned in close, bending at the waist toward me.
"Y-Yoo Hwa-yeon?"
Her long straight hair cascaded down, tickling the tip of my nose. She seemed to be in some kind of pain, collapsing against my shoulder and pressing her cheek to it while panting with ragged breaths. Her body was burning hot, like a lump of fire.
"M-My heart's pounding like crazy, and my vision's going white..."
"What's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"
"Elixir..."
Wait, elixir? Then...
"You mean you ate all of it?"
"Yeah."
I pressed my hand to my forehead. How could she just wolf down the whole thing without knowing what it was?
Yoo Hwa-yeon suddenly straightened up. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and I could make out her face now. Flushed cheeks. Eyes brimming with desire, like she was indulging in some addiction. Heaving shoulders and perky breasts. And then... her body pressing firmly against my lower abdomen.
"I can't hold back anymore..."
"No. We can't do this."
Yoo Hwa-yeon grabbed the collar of my shirt. Maybe because I was tensing up too, my heart started racing wildly. She slowly rose, pulling me up with her by the collar.
"W-What are you doing?"
Without a word, Yoo Hwa-yeon yanked me to my feet by my collar. We stood facing each other on the wide sleeping mat.
Gulp. My heart was thumping like mad. With her eyes half-lidded in a sultry gaze, panting heavily and staring at me like pure temptation, any man would feel his pulse quicken...
"I can't take it anymore!!!"
...Huh? Wait, what? Why is the world upside down...?
BOOM!!!
"Gahhh!!!"
A sharp pain exploded in my back. It hurt so bad I couldn't even breathe. Looking up at Yoo Hwa-yeon's inverted face, a chilling smile spread across it.
"I can't control it... Haah, help me... Hnng!"
Her mouth let out hot, suggestive breaths, but her hands kept gripping my collar.
"H-Hey, wait a sec! Think rationally!!!"
"Do it!! With me!!"
BOOM!!
"Arghhh!!"
Damn. Seriously. At this rate, I'm gonna die. Is she a former judo athlete or something? Why's she so good at throwing people?
I bolted out of the men's break room like I was fleeing for my life, yelling at the top of my lungs.
"Hyo-seon!! Hwa Hyo-seon!!"
Hwa Hyo-seon burst out with her messy bedhead, clutching her sword and charging forward.
"Who is it! An enemy?!"
"Heh heh, wanna do it with me? With the Grand Matriarch. I want the Grand Matriarch."
No, damn it, what the hell! Yoo Hwa-yeon drew the sword from her waist. A sword fight? Wait, not inside the convenience store!
"Y-Yoo Hwa-yeon? Military Advisor, what's wrong with her?"
"F-First, lure her outside!"
We hurriedly slipped on our shoes and slowly backed out of the convenience store, drawing Yoo Hwa-yeon with us. The moment we got outside, she assumed a stance like she'd been waiting and shot forward like an arrow, unsheathing her sword. If Hwa Hyo-seon hadn't blocked it, I'd have been sliced in half.
I slipped away alone and huddled in hiding. Sigh. Such is my fate.
Under the bright moonlight, only the clanging of metal echoed through the night.
I was reading the usage instructions.
"Overuse may grant uncontrollable nocturnal power, similar to aphrodisiac effects... What the hell kind of tonic is this? Are they insane? Who makes crap like this?"
I was grumbling to myself when Yoo Hwa-yeon, dragged in by the scruff of her neck by Hwa Hyo-seon, mumbled with her head hung low.
"S-Sorry..."
"You calmed down a bit?"
"Yeah. Thanks to you."
"What were you thinking, eating a whole jar?"
Yoo Hwa-yeon fidgeted before speaking up.
"Well, at first I didn't think it was an elixir, but after one bite, my body felt light. So..."
"Aigoo. My fault for not explaining."
"But after the whole jar, instead of feeling great, my vision spun, my lower belly started itching, and that other thing..."
I cut her off.
"No need for details. This is family-friendly content."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a thing."
Anyway, it was a huge relief that Yoo Hwa-yeon was back to normal. If she'd stayed like that, flipping a shelf wouldn't have been the end of it. No broken stuff, no injuries—lucky break.
"Yawn."
"Yawwwn."
Aside from me and Hwa Hyo-seon losing sleep over it.
"By the way, Military Advisor."
"Yeah?"
"Does eating that elixir mean I can enter your room too?"
...What?
"I'm confident I can do it right."
"...Huh?"
"She'll be putty in my han—"
"Aaaah!! Confiscated! You two aren't touching this anymore. Try it once, and you're out on your asses!!"
"Why! Why can't I? Fine, I won't eat it, so let me into the Military Advisor's room!"
"W-What the hell are you saying! Get out! You deaf?!"
"I'll be good!!"
"Good at what! Scram!"
Ah. Seriously. I'm exhausted. So tired.
A shadowy night where even the moonlight hid behind clouds. Around dawn, when Yoo Hwa-yeon was getting frisky(?) with Jeonghyeon, a man strode into the bustling Manokru.
Even at dawn, Manokru's lights never went out. It was a place anyone wandering the night streets could find by following the glow—as long as they had money.
"W-Welcome..."
The doorman started his greeting but trailed off. The man's attire was oddly off-putting.
"Is the Madam in?"
"Wh-Who might you be to see the Madam? No appointment, no entry."
Even a doorman had some martial arts training. He could sense the aura the man exuded. But judging its intensity, whether to tread carefully—that relied on instinct and gut feeling. Those lacking either often spoke rashly and lost their heads.
This doorman had the gut but no instinct. His heart screamed dangerous man, but his head insisted on protocol.
The man at the edge of the dim hallway slowly raised his head. The moment his blood-red eyes flashed...
"Shift change. Go get some shut-eye. Who's this guy?"
The relief doorman asked—the veteran who'd recognized Jeonghyeon before and fetched Madam Cheon Hyang. He eyed the man's shadowed figure up and down, then his sleepy eyelids flew wide open, tripling in size.
"G-Gasp!! P-Please, come in!"
"So it's you, the doorman from before."
"H-Have you been well?"
"Surviving."
He then kicked the clueless doorman's ass hard.
"Get inside! You're lucky, punk!"
Bowing to the man, he said, "Please, enter. The Madam awaits. Faceless Demon Lord."
The man stepped forward. As he emerged from the shadows, his face was covered by a devilish mask with two horns.
Faceless Demon Lord. One of the Demonic Cult's Eight Demon Lords, master of the masked wanderers who hid their faces.
He entered Manokru. The devil-like mask was enough to instill fear. Drunks beyond coherence, those barely standing—all gasped at the sight of the Faceless Demon Lord's mask.
It embodied humanity's greatest terror, and he had no intention of hiding it.
Gazing at a tense courtesan's back as he walked, the Faceless Demon Lord stopped before sliding doors that parted to either side.
"Madam. A guest."
The courtesan announced, and a calm voice replied, "Come in."
The doors slid open, revealing Cheon Hyang at once. A grand table overflowed with delicacies from land and sea. Seated across from the door, she elegantly sipped her tea with poised grace.
The Faceless Demon Lord sat with a flourish of his robe hem, and the doors closed.
"You've grown even more beautiful."
"And you've grown even more terrifying, Faceless Demon Lord?"
"My mask is always the same."
"Sounds like you're saying there's a shadow in my heart."
The Faceless Demon Lord silently sipped the tea before him. Even the mouth had no opening; he always had to lift the mask slightly to eat.
"Found a man yet?"
Cheon Hyang smiled faintly, thinking of Jeonghyeon. They hadn't met much lately with how busy things were, but that pondside stroll was a memory she'd cherish till death.
"Ah, too late, I see."
"Even if you'd been quicker, I wouldn't stroll with a man whose face I don't know."
"Haha. You wound me so casually. New hairpin, though?"
"A gift from some man. Quite tasteful, no?"
The Faceless Demon Lord nodded with a chuckle, then barked in a lowered voice.
"Enough catching up. I hate beating around the bush. What about my request?"
Cheon Hyang gave a meaningful glance, tilting an empty teacup and spinning it idly as she eyed him.
"I was honestly shocked when the Demonic Cult's Sovereign made such a request."
"It's time for some change."
"Are you sure? I'm worried it might stir up a bloodbath..."
"Bloodbath? Do I look like someone who'd fear that?"
"Did I seem worried about a Demon Lord? Hardly. It's the unrelated folk I'm concerned for. If those two forces clash again—"
"Enough."
The Faceless Demon Lord slammed down his teacup. Crack—a clean straight fissure spiderwebbed across the table of delicacies, reaching right to Cheon Hyang's spot.
"...Expensive table."
"What happens next isn't your concern."
Cheon Hyang nodded reluctantly and offered a neatly folded hemp cloth.
"Go there."
Ghost Soul Great Forest Entrance