Chapter 566: God and Devil, and the Human Between Them (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 566: God and Devil, and the Human Between Them (5)
It’s human nature to yearn for what you lack.
If that’s the case, what is it that I want so badly?
What do I crave, what do I desire so fiercely?
“How dare a slave act on her own whims against her master’s will? Huh?”
Am I angry at her for this, for what she did supposedly for my sake?
I don’t really know.
Perhaps it’s the person herself that matters.
Because I had no one by my side from the moment I was born.
Because I’ve had to let go of so many people while living as a Hunter.
Perhaps those moments, which I thought meant nothing, have piled up layer by layer to make me who I am today.
I hate it.
This sacrifice, supposedly for my sake.
It’s not noble at all.
This self-serving devotion that completely ignores my own will.
It’s infuriating.
This premature assumption that no one could possibly stand against this being.
The brunt of all this displeasure is directed at her.
And she…
“I-I’m sorry…♥”
…is smiling.
As if my anger, my lashing out, brings her unbearable joy.
With the face of a female completely undone, melting, she feels my rough touch.
What a perverted bitch.
With my other hand, I manipulate my mana and release the chains binding her.
Clang!
Clank!
The chains clatter to the ground and vanish without a trace.
Finally free, she instinctively starts to kneel before me, but then she stops.
Even if he was a father who tried to use her as a sacrifice, he was still her father. It seems she’s still conscious of him.
I reach out, grab the head of the awkwardly frozen girl, and press it down firmly.
I can feel the bewilderment in her eyes as they meet mine.
I say to her, “If you did something wrong, you should get on your knees and beg.”
“Ah…”
Im Na-eun resists for a moment.
Her eyes dart back and forth, clearly deep in thought.
To save face?
Or to obey?
Her deliberation didn't last long.
“I-I’m sorry. Please punish this worthless slave until your anger subsides, Master…♥”
Im Na-eun says in a pleading tone, submitting to my touch and obediently kneeling.
Right.
That’s more like my slave.
Hesitation was a luxury.
A heartless father who tried to offer her as a sacrifice, and a master who came all this way to this dangerous place to save her.
Isn’t it obvious which one she would choose?
“N-Na-eun…”
However, it seems the shock was quite severe for our dear father.
He’s frozen solid, his mouth agape.
As if to flaunt it in front of him, I stroke Na-eun’s hair and ask him, “You look surprised.”
His head whips around.
His gaze, tinged with a subtle anger, lands on me.
“What… what is the meaning of this?”
The meaning?
“It’s exactly as you see it.”
Na-eun rubs her head against my thigh, trying to curry favor.
I pull her head closer to me and continue.
“Na-eun is my slave, you see. But don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t force her. She wanted it herself.”
“What kind of nonsense—!”
“Who knows.”
Ignoring the enraged Chairman Im, I stroke Na-eun’s hair and speak.
“Alright, Na-eun. Tell him yourself.”
“Yes, Master.”
Im Na-eun slowly rises to her feet.
Then, as if for show, she links her arm with mine and speaks to her father.
“Master is right, Father. I became a slave because I wanted to.”
“But why would you—!”
“Why?”
Na-eun’s eyes turn icy cold.
So cold it was hard to believe she was looking at her own father.
“N-Na-eun…”
Chairman Im is flustered by this.
A voice as cold as her gaze pours over him.
“I wanted to be loved. But you, Father, and everyone else in this family, never gave me what I wanted.”
“……”
“All I ever received from this family was oppression, surveillance, and coercion. And always, the emphasis on sacrifice.”
His head drops powerlessly.
Despite his rather pitiful appearance, Na-eun’s scathing criticism did not stop.
No.
“At first, I thought it was normal. I lived more affluently, more comfortably than others. I thought it was only right that I pay the price for it.”
It grew even more intense.
“But… yes, that was only a half-baked understanding. My head could understand, but my heart found it hard to accept. Isn’t it a parent’s job to spare no expense in supporting their daughter’s growth? Why did you have to say such things when I was still too young to know anything? The thoughts were endless.”
Like a small wave gradually swelling into a massive tsunami.
“I received a lot materially, but it never felt like love. So I always wished for it. For someone’s love.”
Why she had no choice but to become this way.
She pours out the devastating emotions of that time, making Chairman Im’s heart sink.
“I wanted to be loved completely. Even if it meant giving my all, even if it meant giving up my humanity…! I wanted to surrender myself to a complete love that demanded no price, no sacrifice.”
I can feel Na-eun’s body, linked with my arm, gradually tensing up.
Soon, I feel a faint tremor.
Her eyes welling up, Im Na-eun exhales the last breath that clung to her lungs like dregs and utters her final words.
“Do-jin here, no, my Master, made that wish come true. He always loved me. Day or night. Outside or inside. Anytime, anywhere.”
She wipes away the tears that are about to fall.
“So don’t interfere with what I do. Because right now, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”
Chairman Im didn’t say a word.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he couldn’t.
It was only natural.
Though it was due to the deals and coercion passed down from his predecessors, it was still a fact that he tried to sacrifice his daughter.
What could he possibly say to the daughter who had been on the verge of death because of him, only to be narrowly saved?
Chairman Im can’t lift his head, overcome with despair.
This must be the most painful moment of his life.
To have committed an unforgivable act against the daughter he brought into this world, and now to be condemned by her.
It would be a pain that even I, who rarely bats an eye at anything, couldn’t endure.
So I was curious.
“Chairman.”
“……”
“You remember, don’t you? The conversation we had on the way here.”
He had promised.
That if I saved Na-eun, he would set everything right.
That he would offer everything he had gained by sacrificing to Dantalion to the daughter who had been forced to make that sacrifice.
Is that promise still valid?
Even now, after being so brutally condemned by his daughter?
He lifts his head, his seemingly indifferent face failing to hide the rampant anguish, and nods.
“…Of course. I have no intention of breaking my promise.”
His gaze shifts to Na-eun.
“Whether I should call it atonement… or compensation…”
After a bitter laugh, he continues.
“From now on, all the assets belonging to our family are yours, Na-eun.”
“……!”
Na-eun’s eyes go wide.
“…What do you mean?”
“I made a promise with Hunter Kim Do-jin before coming here. That if he saved your life, I would set everything right.”
Na-eun’s eyes ask me.
Is what he’s saying true?
I nod.
“That’s right. That’s what I promised Chairman Im.”
“Really… is it okay for me to do as I please?”
That’s what she’s asking me.
What belongs to the slave belongs to the master.
This was a golden opportunity to devour the Mirae Group whole, and she was asking if she could really do as she pleased.
I nod.
“Do whatever you want.”
It would be a lie to say I didn’t feel a twinge of regret.
I’ve said that I’m not bound by money, but when it comes to money, isn’t it always the more, the better?
Offer the company to me.
All I had to do was say the word, but I didn’t want to.
I just hoped that this would resolve, even a little, the resentment that had been building inside her for so long.
Once my permission was granted, she smiled happily before turning to her father with a blank expression.
“I don’t want to concern myself with complicated matters. I’m happy just being able to serve my Master. So, Father, you continue to lead the family. And do as you wish with the position that comes after.”
Chairman Im’s eyes widen as if they would tear.
I was just as surprised.
“…Are you saying you won’t accept the family’s assets?”
“No.”
Im Na-eun shakes her head firmly, as if to say that wasn’t it.
Then what on earth is she trying to say?
As I wondered, she continued.
“With the money you earn, please support my Master. You must get him whatever he wants, and do whatever he desires.”
The color drains from Chairman Im’s face in an instant.
“Does that mean…”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Na-eun nods, a faint madness showing in her eyes as she speaks.
“From now on, our entire family will serve my Master.”
“……”
“……”
Wow.
Even I didn’t see this coming.
So, what?
She’s basically dumping all the complicated work like running the company on him, while we just reap the benefits.
She presses him.
“If you don’t think you can do it, say so now.”
Her tone was utterly cold.
After some thought, Chairman Im slowly nods his head.
“…I will do as you wish.”
He had said it before.
That if possible, even if he had to hand over all his assets, he wanted to leave enough for his remaining family to live on.
It seems Chairman Im judged this proposal to be that very opportunity.
Although Na-eun—or more accurately, I—had devoured the entire company, as long as he held the management rights, providing for his family would be more than possible.
Just when I thought things had worked out well, with both our interests aligning…
“Oh, and one more thing.”
“……?”
Na-eun adds another condition.
“The Mirae Group must remain number one in the business rankings of the Republic of Korea.”
“…That’s.”
“Never let the company’s value fall. Because it all belongs to my Master.”
In other words, she was telling him to now protect, through his own strength, the value of the company that had been built on sacrifice.
It was a double-edged sword.
It could be a single chance for atonement, or it could be revenge intended to make them suffer.
It was a task that bordered on the impossible.
After a moment of deliberation, Chairman Im accepted the proposal with a nod.
“…I will try.”
It seems he has made his decision.
To walk a path of thorns, as he should.
Hoping that at its end lies a sliver of atonement.
Well, it didn’t matter to me.
Atonement or revenge.
As long as my slave is happy, that’s all that matters.
I look down to see Na-eun looking up at me with an expression that says, ‘I did well, didn’t I, Master?’
I stroke her head and whisper in her ear.
“……”
Her face flushes red.
Soon, Na-eun’s gaze turns to Chairman Im.
“…First, please give us a room. A spacious one that’s soundproof.”
Now, it was time to punish the slave who had acted on her own.