Chapter 9
It was while they were stopping the wagon and preparing to camp.
Yoon Sang-hyuk, who had been lying with his arm folded beneath his head on top of a container box and staring up at the Demon Realm sky, sat up.
His gaze fixed on a point ahead.
There was nothing a normal person could have made out there. But to Yoon Sang-hyuk’s eyes, it was clear enough. A group of people was approaching the place they had chosen for camp.
There were about thirty of them.
Thirty-two. Four of them are children.
As Yoon Sang-hyuk focused his mind, their figures grew larger in his vision, as if he were zooming in with a camera. Their appearance resembled that of humans. Which meant they were not monsters or beasts, at least. Or perhaps there were monsters capable of imitating human form, so he still couldn’t be certain.
Yoon Sang-hyuk jumped lightly down from the container box and walked over to Zeronia, who had her eyes closed and was deep in meditation.
“Do you know anything about people with a strange marking in the middle of their foreheads?”
“What kind of marking?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk drew on the ground the symbol he had just seen at the center of their foreheads, a mark that looked almost tattooed there.
“They’re the Arian Clan.”
“The Arian Clan?”
“A clan known as the cursed clan, the eternal wanderers, the unwanted ones, and a few other names besides.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk sat down in front of Zeronia and stared at her, wordlessly telling her to continue.
“A very long time ago, before I or my brothers ever existed, the Arian Clan was a power with considerable influence in the Demon Realm. They produced many high-ranking lords. Naturally, their authority was enormous. But they made one fatal mistake, and because of that choice they became wanderers condemned to roam the Demon Realm forever.”
“What choice?”
“They made a contract with humans, then tried to use that power to take Satan’s place as the Demon King.”
In other words, they had attempted a coup and failed.
“Was the seat of Demon King really something they could try to seize so casually?”
Baal’s subordinates, the seventy-one demon lords, were absolutely loyal. Yoon Sang-hyuk didn’t know what sort of Demon King Satan had been, but if even his own followers had plotted rebellion, then he clearly hadn’t been a perfect ruler.
“The number of lords the Arian Clan produced at the time was seven.”
Seven out of the seventy-one demon lords. Ten percent of the total. It was a staggering number, if not in scale then certainly in impact. Zeronia’s explanation of them as a clan with tremendous influence in the Demon Realm now made sense.
“Two of them were high-ranking lords within the top ten. But even their power wasn’t enough to drive Satan out and seize the throne. So they reached out to humans. But rebellion, in the end…”
“Failed, I’m guessing.”
They said Satan had been stronger than Baal. There was no way such a Satan would have been brought down by subordinates who had merely joined hands with humans.
“I didn’t witness it myself, but according to the records, their rebellion reduced the Demon Realm’s strength to less than half of what it had been.”
The coup itself must have been far more violent than he had imagined.
“After suppressing the rebellion, Satan placed a curse on the Arian Clan. From that day on, they had to wander the Demon Realm as exiles. They became beings unwelcome anywhere they went. The Arian Clan was even hunted by those who coveted dark energy. Because they were born carrying exceptionally pure dark energy, they became targets for hunters. And so, for ages beyond counting, the Arian Clan has drifted through the Demon Realm without ever settling anywhere, hiding their traces all the while. I haven’t heard any news of them being seen recently. And yet…”
Zeronia blinked in confusion and looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk.
“How do you know about the Arian Clan, Lord Sang-hyuk?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk scratched lightly at his chin and muttered, “You’ll know in a minute.”
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“How dare a cursed clan of wanderers approach here so brazenly? Get lost, or do you want to die?”
Zephyr drew both swords and hurled out a cutting shout.
A little way from the campsite stood the people Yoon Sang-hyuk had seen, the Arian Clan, all of them with their heads bowed.
“We followed the guidance of the Star of Prophecy. Please, show mercy…”
At the front of the Arian Clan, an old man with a white beard grown all the way down to his belly bowed lower and spoke with desperate urgency.
“A star?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk glanced up at the sky. Since arriving in the Demon Realm, he had not seen a single star in it even once.
“In the Arian Clan, once every thousand years, a prophet with extraordinary ability is born. In the Demon Realm, they call that one the Star of Prophecy.”
“Ah.”
At Zeronia’s explanation, Yoon Sang-hyuk let out a small exclamation of understanding.
“So which one of you is the Star of Prophecy?”
At Yoon Sang-hyuk’s words, the old man respectfully stepped aside.
Behind him stood a girl who was very small in stature. Perhaps frightened, she was trembling so badly that her whole body shook, even though she hadn’t met his eyes.
“Are you the Star of Prophecy?”
“……”
The girl could not answer, and only trembled harder.
“I’m not going to kill you. So don’t worry. And all of you lift your heads. I’ve heard enough to know what your clan did, but it has nothing to do with me. Besides, the Demon King of the Demon Realm has already changed from Satan to Baal.”
The girl slowly raised her head, met Yoon Sang-hyuk’s eyes, and then hurriedly lowered it again.
“Honestly…”
Yoon Sang-hyuk walked toward her with unhurried steps.
The entire Arian Clan flinched and backed away.
“You came all this way for this? If that’s how it’s going to be, you might as well just keep going down the road.”
“……”
“A-arin.”
“Hmm?”
A faint murmur reached him.
“It’s Arin.”
“Ah, your name? Nice to meet you. I’m Yoon Sang-hyuk. Pretty unusual name, huh? I…”
“I know. You’re human.”
“Oh-ho. So the Star of Prophecy really is something.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk asked the old man, who seemed to be the clan’s leader, “Have you eaten?”
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Yoon Sang-hyuk quietly watched the girl named Arin as she devoured the combat ration in front of her. Two more campfires had been lit, making a total of four, and all thirty-two members of the Arian Clan were eating the combat rations Yoon Sang-hyuk had given them around the enlarged firelight.
“Want more?”
He asked Arin, whose eyes lingered regretfully on the empty wrapper of her ration. But Arin shook her head faintly.
“If I eat my fill today, I’ll go hungry tomorrow.”
“What kind of strange logic is that?”
“Our clan’s power is mostly sealed from the moment we’re born, because of Satan’s curse. So even hunting is difficult. When we hunt even one weak beast, the whole clan has to fight with our lives on the line. If we get greedy and eat too much of food that we struggled to find, then the next day we’ll only feel hunger all the more.”
He understood what she meant.
“That’s when you’re only with your own people. Right now, you’re inside my territory. Which means you don’t have to worry about tomorrow’s prey. And…”
Yoon Sang-hyuk pulled another combat ration from his subspace, tore it open, and handed it to Arin.
“If you don’t eat properly when you’re young, you won’t grow.”
A little while later, once the ration had heated through, Arin glanced at Yoon Sang-hyuk and finally began to eat in a hurry. Only after polishing that off completely did she look satisfied.
“All right. Now that your stomach’s full, why don’t we have a conversation?”
The old man, whom they had introduced as the Arian Clan’s chief, approached Yoon Sang-hyuk from where he had been eating nearby.
“If it’s a conversation you want, it would be better to speak with this old man. Arin merely tells me what she sees in abstract form. It is my role, as chief, to interpret it.”
“Fine. I only need to hear the story from whoever gives it. You said the Star of Prophecy, meaning Arin, led you here. What exactly did Arin see in her prophecy?”
“Someone in the Demon Realm, yet not of the Demon Realm, will break the long curse upon our clan.”
“I see. Someone in the Demon Realm, yet not of the Demon Realm, would naturally be me. Which means I’m the one who can break your clan’s curse.”
“Yes. The reason our Arian Clan was cursed is because we joined hands with humans. Therefore, to lift the curse, we must once again join hands with humans.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at the old man silently.
The prophecy was too abstract. There was no mention of the method for breaking the curse.
“Ah. I get it.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk snapped his fingers.
He was on his way to the Gray Wasteland. Why was he going there? To gain the power needed to destroy Satan, who was imprisoned in the Abyss of the Void.
In other words, Yoon Sang-hyuk’s ultimate target was Satan.
And the one who had placed the curse on the Arian Clan was also Satan.
“If I kill Satan, will your clan’s curse be lifted?”
“I’m not sure. Arin’s prophecy was only what I just told you. I do not know whether the deed you’re thinking of would become the clue to breaking the curse.”
It probably would.
Wasn’t it a remarkable coincidence that the Arian Clan, cursed by Satan, had appeared at the very start of the journey meant to destroy him?
“I’ll ask directly.”
The entire Arian Clan, which had been in the middle of eating, froze and turned their heads toward Yoon Sang-hyuk. Under the gaze of these long-wandering exiles, whose lives had left them looking anything but clean, Yoon Sang-hyuk slowly opened his mouth.
“Why should I cut down Satan for your sake?”
“……”
Neither the old man, nor Arin, nor any other member of the clan could answer.
“You really do seem intent on living far too comfortably. Listen. Nothing in this world comes free. If you want something, you have to offer something in return. Ah, though there is free food, I suppose. What you just ate, for example. I’ll give you that much for free. But that’s where it ends.”
“Our clan has… nothing to give. Because of Satan’s curse, we cannot truly possess anything. Even if we hunt, by the next day the meat begins to spoil, so we can’t keep food for long. Even if we somehow obtain something valuable, it vanishes like a mirage the moment we touch it.”
It was a long way of saying they had nothing to offer.
“Then there’s no deal. Think carefully about what you can give me.”
“The only thing we have to offer is our bodies, worn thin by long years of wandering. You may treat us like slaves if you wish.”
“No. That’s a problem for me. I’m not some slave trader. What would I even do with a bunch of useless people I could boss around like servants? Can any of you even do anything properly? Arin already said it, didn’t she? Most of your power is sealed by the curse. I’ve already got no lack of burdens, and I have the best guide there is. Your value to me is lighter than this one breath of air. Hoo.”
He smiled faintly and looked at the old man.
“So I’ll give you another chance. This time, answer properly.”
“What do you have that you can give me?”