The Demon of Envy
Though demons wore appearances identical to humans, they were fundamentally different beings.
Because the majority of life on Earth belonged to the species called humanity, they had little choice but to live with habits and behaviors that resembled human ones — yet at their core, they thought of humans as nothing more than food.
For that reason, the things humans prized most — dignity toward one another, reverence for life — simply did not exist within them.
There was no reason to harbor such feelings for the creatures one was meant to devour.
The further a demon strayed from humanity as defined by the human yardstick, the more warped and twisted it became, the stronger it grew.
The Archdemons who stood at the very top of their kind were beings so irreparably broken, so profoundly abnormal, that their immense power came hand in hand with their ruin.
Even other demons — the very same kind — revered them, and at the same time feared them enough to tremble.
And yet, in the wake of recent events, the Demon of Dreams, having resolved to seek help from an Archdemon, had come to find the only one among them capable of rational conversation.
This dim place, where moonlight spilled in from beyond the windows, was a long, corridor-like chamber in the style of a medieval building, resembling an audience hall built for receiving a king.
At the center of one end of the hall, a woman sat upon her throne in a rather seductive pose, legs elegantly crossed, one finger tracing her lips.
On either side of her stood demons bearing the visages of various races, arrayed in disciplined formation — though their expressions varied wildly.
The gazes they fixed on the Demon of Dreams, who knelt before the woman's throne, were as diverse as their faces, but in one thing they were uniform: every single eye was trained on her.
Their stares, as the woman's subordinates, could only feel uncomfortable and terrifying to the Demon of Dreams.
The weakest among them were demons with names known even in mid-tier circles; the largest share of their number were High-Ranking Demons; and one or two were even High-Ranking Demons on the cusp of Archdemonhood.
Considering that among demons, deep loyalty existed without any trace of camaraderie, the sheer scale of a retinue following a single demon spoke volumes.
But the Demon of Dreams knew what the woman's epithet and Authority were, and so she understood through what circumstances such strong, capable demons had come to serve an Archdemon — and that alone was the one thing that did not surprise her.
"A man deeply entwined with this world's destruction... and an unidentified demon at his side... and if those two are not killed, this world will end?"
When the Demon of Dreams finished recounting the world's ending she had witnessed through her dreams, along with the incident she had experienced days ago, the woman murmured with apparent interest, the corner of her mouth curling upward.
"Th-that's right. Lady Demon of Envy..."
The Demon of Dreams, in the form of a young girl, bowed her head deeply, straining to show that every word she had spoken was true.
Even if this was one of the few Archdemons capable of conversation, the being before her was still somehow deeply warped — a dangerous demon.
And knowing that, the reason she had come was not some noble heart worried for the world.
If the world met its end, it meant her own life would not be spared either.
In other words, she had come crawling to the Demon of Envy purely for the sake of her own survival — a bitter necessity, nothing more.
"Hmm..."
The woman rested her chin on her hand and began to ponder something intently.
When she heard the woman murmur under her breath — so it was true — the Demon of Dreams nearly opened her mouth to ask what she had realized, and barely managed to stop herself.
"Very well. I'll believe you."
"...What?"
Unexpectedly, the Demon of Envy accepted the words of the Demon of Dreams — who had just been preaching about the end of the world — with ease.
She knew the Demon of Dreams possessed a measure of foresight, but there was no way the Demon of Envy couldn't also know that the gift was fragmentary, and that there was a chance of falsehood in it.
And yet the Demon of Envy believed her plainly.
"But I won't step in myself just yet. First... you, you... you, you, you, you... and you as well."
Seated on her throne, the Demon of Envy pointed out several of the demon subordinates flanking her with her finger, and finally pointed at the Demon of Dreams.
"You all understand you're to cooperate, yes? By your own account, you're in danger too. Surely... you didn't spin that whole tale just to use me and be done with me?"
When the Demon of Envy — who had seen straight through her shallow scheme — let her lips curve upward, the Demon of Dreams broke out in gooseflesh from head to toe, seized by a violent terror.
"Ah... y-yes? That is, I..."
"Don't want to?"
"No! Not at all!!"
When the Demon of Envy tilted her head, narrowing her eyes as she asked, the hesitant Demon of Dreams hurried to answer and stumbled over her tongue, her words turning up at the end in a squeak.
"Yoon Dohyun, was it? Go to Korea and look into it. See what the situation is."
At the Demon of Envy's command, the demons she had pointed at all bowed their heads in unison.
The Demon of Dreams was astonished by the Demon of Envy's selection of personnel, and in that moment realized she had taken her words completely and seriously.
Every one of them was a High-Ranking Demon.
One of them was even a High-Ranking Demon on the verge of Archdemonhood.
"And you know, it's all so terribly~ romantic, isn't it? A being who loves one man, guarding his side without his ever knowing. And on top of that, her identity is unknowable... it's like a scene from a fairy tale. How splendid♥"
Tracing her lipstick-red lips with a finger, the Demon of Envy narrowed her eyes to slits.
From the Demon of Envy, who wore the form of a mature woman capable of bewitching any man, there wafted a bewitching aura — but layered within it was that dangerous emotion called jealousy.
"And yet at the same time, it makes me jealous? To the point I want that relationship for my own..."
The Demon of Dreams, who knew the Demon of Envy's Authority, understood that her words were no idle cliché.
In truth, the reason she obeyed the Demon of Envy so readily was precisely because she knew what that Authority was.
"Then off you go, my dear children bound to me."
At a wave of the Demon of Envy's hand, the surrounding demons vanished in an instant.
The Demon of Dreams, huddling her small girlish frame, glanced warily about, then slowly retreated backward, seeping into the darkness until all trace of her was gone.
Left alone on her throne, the Demon of Envy stared keenly at some point within the darkness before parting her lips.
"So it really wasn't a lie."
With a laugh that might have been mockery or might have been intrigue, the Demon of Envy spoke the name of the existence hidden within the shadows.
"The Monster, Yoon Seongha."
The named being emerged from the darkness on soundless footsteps, revealing herself within the moonlight.
Waist-length hair black as jet, and ruby-red eyes gleaming vividly out of the dark.
Her pitch-black dress, like one worn in mourning for the dead, evoked the image of funeral garments.
A woman so beautiful the word escaped one's lips unbidden, she wore an expression simultaneously deadpan as a poker face and languidly aloof.
"What a pointless waste of time. Are all of your kind so suspicious by nature?"
A faint irritation clung to her toneless voice.
"Being suspicious is how one keeps this seat. The seat of an Archdemon, that is."
The Demon of Envy said this while idly tapping the armrest of her throne with a fingertip.
Indifferent to whether she listened or not, the Monster Yoon Seongha simply regarded her coolly and asked, low and flat.
"The conclusion?"
"The contract is struck. You will give me the Demon of ■■... ugh."
The Demon of Envy went on smiling as she spoke, but the moment she tried to bring the existence Yoon Seongha had told her of past her lips, she felt a headache and nausea surge up and clamped her mouth shut.
"The Demon of Existence."
"The Demon of Exis—... ngh."
Though Yoon Seongha patiently spelled the epithet out for her again, the Demon of Envy ultimately failed to pronounce it, writhing in anguish before finally giving up.
Even though it had been made perfectly clear to her, she could not even summon the name within her own mind.
"Does the name matter so much?"
"It matters to demons. It's the very meaning of our existence, I'd say."
"Is that so."
Yoon Seongha replied flatly, as if it were of no concern to her.
"You will tell me the weakness of the demon who will destroy this world, and how to bring her down. And in return, I will use my Authority to grant your request... correct?"
"Correct."
"Good. Very good~ Once I make that demon mine... once I make that man mine... this world will be mine."
"If you manage to make it yours. Try not to die before then."
"As if I would die. Me, the Demon of Envy? So long as I know of Existence, no demon in creation can kill me."
The Demon of Envy snorted.
"Nothing more to say. Keep the contract."
"Of course, Monster. Thanks to that parasite of yours planted inside me, I don't exactly have a choice, do I?"
The Demon of Envy tapped a finger against the vicinity of her own heart as she said it.
Yoon Seongha turned away as though there was nothing left to discuss.
The Demon of Envy gazed blankly at her retreating back, then suddenly smiled at a malicious thought that sprang to mind.
"Why are you searching for that demon? Ah, you have a regret, don't you? What could you possibly regret so—"
Thud.
A crimson tentacle, whipping past her cheek in an instant and burying itself deep in the back of her throne.
A single line of blood trickling down her cheek — in its wake came a searing sensation, and the Demon of Envy shuddered.
"Do you want to die?"
Killing intent.
Faced with the thick, suffocating malice that filled the chamber, the corners of the Demon of Envy's upturned mouth trembled faintly.
It was not because of the strike that had just threatened her life.
The overwhelming killing intent erupting from Yoon Seongha — from the Monster — alone was enough to put an Archdemon squarely on edge.
As the terror of death swelled until she could scarcely breathe, the Demon of Envy was startled into a visceral awareness of the gulf between herself and the Monster.
"You know nothing of love. That is why I say this: even if I told you, you would never understand."
"For someone with not one name but many... just how many humans have you devoured, how many humans have you slaughtered, to carry so many names?"
Her pride stung at having felt fear before the Monster, the Demon of Envy spoke with a sneer, as if refusing to be the one who backed down.
"My name is one, and one alone — Yoon Seongha, the name I shared with him. Speak carelessly of it one more time, and I will kill you, contract or no."
"How dreadfully envious that makes me. Your relationship with him, too."
The Demon of Envy still spoke with a jeering lilt, but she chose her words carefully now, careful not to provoke the Monster any further.
That one more push against her temper would put her life beyond guarantee — she had understood that with perfect clarity from the single glimpse the Monster had shown her moments ago.
"Aotherworlder who isn't even a part of this world...!"
The moment the Monster's figure vanished completely from the chamber, the Demon of Envy could no longer swallow her fury — but then a thought occurred to her, and a scheming smile spread across her face.
"What an enviable romance it truly is. Your relationship... so much so that I could almost want to make it mine."
When she imagined the relationship the two of them had built brick by brick under the name of love — turned inside out, rearranged, all because of her — the Demon of Envy trembled with excitement.