A Short Break
Cheon Ji-hoo found himself enjoying the task of tossing demons into rifts. He'd summon one right in front of a demon swinging its fist, or drop another through a rift beneath its feet when it least expected it. He'd even swallow them headfirst. In all sorts of ways, he shoved every single demon Nok had pointed out into the rifts.
A modest amusement. This must be what they call simple, solid happiness, he thought.
"That's the last one."
Following the path Nok had shown him, Cheon Ji-hoo ambushed the final demon and crammed it into a rift. Then he cast and returned home. He headed straight to his bedroom and hit the sack.
The demons were all secured for now, so dealing with them could wait until tomorrow. No one was getting out of those rifts unless he opened the door himself. Besides, whatever happened to the forest inside... whether it burned or not, he didn't really care.
As Cheon Ji-hoo lay down on the bed, Nok came trotting over and flopped down beside him.
-I'm gonna sleep with you too~
"Do what you want."
Crack, crack. He heard Nok's massive antlers smashing the bed frame, but the fluffy fur felt too good to mind. He could always buy a new frame anyway.
Checking the payment he'd received for handling the monster wave, he figured money wouldn't be an issue for a while.
And so, he left the demons trapped in the rifts for over a full day.
* * *
The next day, Cheon Ji-hoo woke up, confirmed that Cheon Ji-yoon had gone to school, and stretched languidly.
He couldn't quite recall how long it'd been since he'd collected (?), or rather stuffed, the demons into the rift. By now, they were either plotting together inside or had killed each other off until only one remained. One or the other.
Time to go in and clean house.
First, he cast . Every demon he'd encountered on Earth so far had been aggressively feral—ready to throw punches at the slightest eye contact. Who fought with bare fists in this day and age? When there was the elegant art of magic, that is.
Demons had ranks among them. Those who could use magic were decent, while the punch-happy ones were just riffraff. The 'Tol of Dark Clouds' he'd seen in Uijeongbu, who could build a domain, counted as upper-tier. Of course, to someone at Cheon Ji-hoo's level, they were all much of a muchness.
"Nok, get up."
-Auuung...
At his call, Nok stirred from where it was sprawled on the bed. Every time it'd tossed and turned overnight, its antlers had snagged the frame and mattress, tearing everything to shreds. He'd have to live with it until the mattress was completely wrecked, then buy a new one. Even torn up, it beat sleeping on straw in the other world.
Nok's fur was a bit mussed from standing by his side, so Cheon Ji-hoo stroked it a few times. Then he snapped his fingers, opening the door to the rift.
He hopped onto Nok's back, and they stepped inside—to a barrage of curses, as expected.
"That bastard's here!"
"Kill him! Kill him dead!"
"Grab him and beat him senseless!"
"Looks like you've all been scheming hard."
He'd deliberately placed the entrance in midair, which delayed their detection. A few demons hurled massive boulders at him, but they shattered to dust before reaching him. was doing its job.
"Nok."
-Yeah?
"You're good here, so grow big. Like when we first met."
-Okay!
At Cheon Ji-hoo's words, Nok opened its mouth wide and gathered mana from the air. Then it began to expand in size. As the once-small Nok grew larger, the demons below reacted more fiercely, but Nok didn't even seem tickled—it just kept growing silently.
Before long, it matched the size it'd been at their first meeting.
A bit smaller than back then? Probably because of the heart bug. No big deal, though.
Sitting between Nok's eyes, he patted its head firmly with his palm.
"Alright, now—mana cannon."
-Groooaaaaargh-!!
Nok let out a strange roar, mouth gaping wide as it gathered mana. Golden energy rippled within, looking ready to burst. And burst it did—golden mana blasted downward.
It was a catastrophe for the demons. Not only had a giant deer appeared out of nowhere, it was firing threatening mana blasts from its mouth. A bolt from the blue.
Cheon Ji-hoo watched with a faint smile. What a delightful sight.
The demons leaped every which way to dodge the mana cannon, looking just like grasshoppers in a frying pan. A few landed punches on Nok's legs after evading, but it didn't budge. It might wobble a bit, but Nok would just swat them away with a leg sweep, claiming it tickled.
-This is fun.
"Demons these days got no grit. No grit at all."
Back in his day, so many had tried to take him down with them in suicide attacks. Hell, when a thousand demons went for a group detonation, even Cheon Ji-hoo had been rattled. His body was fine, but the blast would've wiped out the area—including a precious cluster of herbs.
"Gaaah! Fuck! Spare me!"
"Kyaaack!"
Screams echoed from below. These immature demons couldn't use magic or build domains. Trapped in the rift, they'd never see the light of day again.
"Hm, looks like one decent one's in the mix."
Gazing down, not all were total pushovers. One was slaughtering the others and absorbing their demonic energy. Smart—bulk up to avoid getting picked off one by one and break through.
Polite to let it transform, so Cheon Ji-hoo halted Nok's relentless assault until the demon had absorbed the rest.
Oblivious to the pause, the demon lost itself in bloodlust from the demonic energy, hunting its fellows. Blood soaked the ground. Grayish brains and chunks of flesh splattered stickily everywhere.
"U-Us too, pleeeease nooo!"
"Stop, you psycho!!"
"Uwaaaaaah!!"
Three demons slain by Nok. Then the standout one hunted the rest, devouring their demonic energy. In its hand dangled Lee Joo-cheol's head. Freshly turned demon, and already dead by a comrade's hand.
"Kuhaha, kahahahaha-!!"
The demon bellowed with laughter, eyes gleaming with madness. Clearly off its rocker.
What happens when a demon overindulges in demonic energy? Cheon Ji-hoo rummaged through old memories, then gave up. No point thinking about it—it'd just jinx things. His goal was killing demons, and ultimately the Demon King.
Craining his neck to peer down, he heard the demon's voice.
"Cheon Ji-hoo-!!"
"What."
"I'm coming to kill you now!"
Not exactly "on my way to see you."
At the demon's booming declaration, Cheon Ji-hoo tapped Nok's brow.
"That's enough. Shrink back to normal."
-Yay yay ho!
Wonder where it picked up phrases like that. Kinda cute, though.
As Nok had expanded quickly, it shrank just as fast to its original size. Cheon Ji-hoo praised it lavishly, stroking its head, then floated Nok in the air and cast to land a short distance from the demon.
The demon eyed him with eerie chuckles. Ash-gray hair and suit soaked in blood, sticky and repulsive—not something you'd want to touch.
Cheon Ji-hoo regarded it coolly.
"Answer me. Where is the Silence Demon King."
"You think I'll tell you? I am Ermo of Silence! The demon who'll rip you apart right now!"
"Why are all demons like this."
No sane ones around to spill the Demon King's location nicely. Of course, a sane demon was about as real as swordsmanship beating magic.
Ermo kicked off the ground and charged, swinging Lee Joo-cheol's head like a flail.
Cheon Ji-hoo promptly raised and clicked his tongue. A magic circle materialized between them, forming a physical wall that blocked the flung head.
Splat! The head burst on impact, unrecognizable. Ermo hammered the barrier with fists nonstop. Crack. A fissure appeared—proof of the absorbed demonic energy. Cackling wildly, Ermo shattered the barrier and grabbed Cheon Ji-hoo by the collar.
"Kehhehe, you little shit."
"P-Please, spare me!"
Terror twisted Cheon Ji-hoo's face as Ermo gripped his collar. Pondering how to smash that face, Ermo raised a finger, aiming to gouge out an eye. Rip the eyes, then the mouth and ears—should be a good show. A gruesome grin spread across his face.
...Or so it played out in Ermo's head.
Cheon Ji-hoo prodded the prone Ermo with his foot.
"It worked perfectly."
-What'd you do? What'd you do?
"A holy spell called ."
This holy magic treated mania. It lulled sufferers to sleep, conjuring pleasant dreams in their minds for relief.
Two conditions to cast: the target must be manic, and mostly bereft of reason.
Ermo met both, making him easy prey. Tol from before lacked mania and reason, so it'd been impossible.
sedates the hyperactive brain, activates only the cerebellum for unconscious functions, and boosts endorphin production—internal opioids. The victim enjoys happy delusions in their dream, curing the mania upon waking.
But that'd be no fun. Cheon Ji-hoo wasn't here to heal—he tweaked the formula, removing the endorphin limit.
Know what happens then?
"Heehee, hihihihee, hihee, heehee."
Ermo's body convulsed, flopping like a fish yanked from water. His lower half twitched wildly—endorphins probably flooding overtime. Wonder what it's dreaming.
Not that he cared much. But to find the Silence Demon King, he had to peek into its subconscious.
Cheon Ji-hoo jabbed Ermo's forehead with a finger and chanted.
"The witch's mirror reveals dreams. ."
The dream-speaking mirror. Channeling mana with the incantation and formula, water droplets gathered over Ermo's head, forming a broad watery looking glass.
It shimmered briefly, then reflected Ermo's dream.
In this dream bending to his will, Ermo would hunt himself down and seek the Silence Demon King—revealing its location in the process.
-I wanna watch too.
"Come here."
Nok settled behind Cheon Ji-hoo, who leaned back against its body like a sofa. Fluffy as ever—real deer fur.
They peered into the watery mirror like it was a movie screen.
Should've grabbed some popcorn, he thought.