Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: The Imprisoned Doll (1)
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Long ago, one day, under the scorching sun of hell, a man stood.
The man with radiant golden hair held a sword emitting blue light in his right hand and a golden shield in his left.
His body was stained with blood, and at his feet lay the severed limbs of countless demons.
"Hades! Beelzebub! Open the gates at once and face my sword!"
The man shouted toward the massive bronze gates.
It was the palace of Hades, king of hell and the heart of the underworld, and he was yelling at its entrance.
Behind the man, hell's malevolent gods, demons, and all manner of evil beings swarmed, covering the land and sky.
From atop the bronze gates, on the ramparts, an intimidating voice crashed toward him like a tidal wave.
"Lucifer, this is no place for a noble angel like you. We have no desire for a great battle with you, so please withdraw."
The man's body shook momentarily at the earth-shaking majesty of the voice.
Steadying himself, the man shouted back against the sound.
"Great Demon Beelzebub! I will sever your head and Hades's, eradicate hell, and return to my master. Come out, you filth!"
Neither the enemies swarming from sky and earth toward him nor the voice from the ramparts could shake the man's spirit.
A massive crow flew up onto the ramparts.
It transformed into Hades, king of hell, clad in black robes, and sneered down at the man below.
"Foolish Lucifer, your master has abandoned you. Look at your pitiful state, Lucifer! Where are your radiant wings? You've fallen for Gabriel's scheme and been forsaken."
At Hades's side, Beelzebub, who had been speaking to Lucifer only through his voice until now, finally revealed his form.
Beelzebub appeared as a black bull with burning horns, possessing human hands and bovine hooves.
"Source of evil, you've finally shown yourselves. Stretch out your necks and wait! I'll sever them painlessly with my sword of light!"
The muscles in the fearless man's right arm twitched.
As Hades raised his hand to give the order, a massive bell tolled from hell's palace, and malevolent gods, demons, and evils from sky and earth assailed the man.
The man blocked the foes with his golden shield and slashed relentlessly with his sword of light.
"Seize that sword and shield and bring them to me! I'll spare his life to tarnish his honor and make him live as a demon of hell!"
At Beelzebub's command, the ground split open, revealing the ancient colossal beast Leviathan with its dozens of tentacles.
Leviathan, meant to dwell in vast oceans, unleashed its pent-up rage from being confined beneath hell's cramped earth, extending its long tentacles freely to ensnare the man's body.
"A puny Leviathan like you won't block my sword!"
Even as the tentacles wrapped around him, the man's sword whipped blue light, severing Leviathan's tentacles helplessly.
However, the ensuing enemies overwhelmed him, obscuring his form and the brilliant sword light.
"I'll take the shield, and you can have the sword."
Hades spoke to Beelzebub beside him as if bestowing a favor.
This generosity from the greedy Hades acknowledged that without Beelzebub's demon legions, they couldn't have subdued the man.
"Shall we kill him?"
Beelzebub nodded and asked about Hades's words regarding giving him Lucifer's sword, curious about the man's fate.
"Even if we kill him, he won't die—he'll resurrect. We can't annihilate him with our power, so take his sword and shield and let him wander as a demon here."
Beelzebub simply nodded in agreement to the shrewd Hades's quick assessment and clever proposal.
"Place a sacrifice on his golden shield and sever its neck with the sword of light. If we make the Black Dog swallow that damned hell sun suppressing our power, we can go to the surface world!"
Hades's voice echoed across the ramparts as he looked up at hell's scorching sun.
Hades was a politician.
He instilled false hope in the malevolent gods, demons, and evils trapped in hell to make them follow him.
Beelzebub, standing beside Hades, wore a strangely rigid expression, as if harboring other intentions.
'There's no way a living Black Dog would enter this hell. What a dreamer. I'll keep Lucifer alive to check Hades. At the right time, I'll take my army and head to the human world.'
Unlike Hades, Beelzebub had no interest in hell since primordial times.
The human world was his sole goal, but he had no intention of handing all of hell to the arrogant Hades who treated him like a subordinate.
'This hell, where Gaia is imprisoned, is far too small for Hades and me to share.'
* * *
One spring day in Seoul, near Jamsil Bridge blocked by a sinkhole.
The radiant blond man gazing at the sinkhole shifted his eyes.
His blue eyes captured a woman emerging from a nearby shop, carrying a large doll and loading it into her sedan’s back seat.
"You mustn't buy dolls that resemble humans in their limbs."
The blue-eyed man spoke with eerily precise pronunciation, startling the woman as she looked at him.
His voice was neither high nor intimidating.
Though tall and sturdy, his gentle gaze put the woman at ease, and she replied without fear.
"Your Korean is excellent. I didn't want such a big doll either, but my son loves it so much. Anyway, thank you for the advice."
The woman gave a light bow and quickly got into the driver's seat, driving off.
A bald, gaunt middle-aged man ran up to the man staring blankly at the departing car.
"Lucifer, what are you looking at?"
"That woman seems about to give her child something dangerous. Jijang, where is this place? Just like we ascended through a pit last winter, something will probably come up through that pit too, right?"
"No. That's a sinkhole, caused by sewers. They need to cover it properly. But what do you mean by something dangerous?"
In response to Jijang's question, Lucifer placed his hand on his knee to gauge the doll's size and answered.
"Dolls with limbs."
"All dolls have limbs. That's what makes them dolls, isn't it? What did you play with as a child?"
"A golden shield and a sword of light."
* * *
Byung-su was getting an earful from Cho-seon again today.
"Traitor Kim Byung-su."
"Pardon?"
"I saw a photo of the Eulsa Five Traitors who sold out the country, and one looked exactly like you, Mr. Kim Reporter. Wasn't that you?"
"Selling out the country out of nowhere... No, what are you talking about?"
At Byung-su's question, the corners of Cho-seon's eyes twitched upward.
"Suicide Lodge... You claimed expenses, huh? Gas receipts processed too. Even udon at a rest stop. Planning to collect your salary too?"
Already strapped for cash lately, Byung-su broke into a cold sweat at the mention of salary.
"Y-Yeah, salary is necessary. You know it's tied to survival."
"Sure, I get it. Survival... Selling the story to broadcast and collecting salary? What about KD Report's survival? Tell me."
"Cho-seon, it's not like that."
"Editor Kim to you! Editor-nim!"
"Yes, Editor-nim! So, it wasn't selling the story... I provided it to create buzz for investigation. The statute of limitations is almost up. It wasn't exclusive; we published too."
"That's selling the story! Exclusive! That's what drives views, don't you know?"
"It might get buried."
"Shut up! Bring a written apology!"
As Byung-su opened the door to leave, he turned and casually asked Cho-seon.
"Cho-seon, how's the Jamsil apartment you moved into after getting that loan?"
"Why? Housewarming gift? In your dreams! I don't want anything from you."
Leaving the editor's office, Byung-su headed to the editing department.
"Print the article I sent earlier."
The editing chief, four years Byung-su's junior, cautiously asked.
"Sunbae, the editor really said to run that article?"
"You saw me coming from her office, right? Go ahead and print it."
The editing chief pulled up the article on his monitor, reread it, rubbed his broad forehead, and muttered.
[Jamsil Sinkhole: Connected to Hell?]
"Hmm, is this title really okay?"
He glanced back at the editor's office, rubbing his forehead.
"Sinkhole... They'll complain about falling property values. Why are the religion and science team writing stuff like this?"
* * *
Thud.
The woman's car bumped over a speed bump into the apartment complex.
The doll in the back seat shook.
She parked in the ground-level lot and opened the back door.
The doll, which she'd seated on the chair, was gone.
"No way, where did this big doll go?"
The back seat was small enough to see everything at a glance, so tilting her head, she shifted her gaze forward—and her eyes widened in surprise.
A boy doll wearing a crooked baseball cap sat comfortably in the passenger seat, back turned to her gaze.
"I definitely put it in the back... Did I seat it in the front and it stayed by my side the whole way? Amazing."
A few days ago, her four-year-old son had been captivated by this doll visible through the car window and threw a tantrum for it.
"Can't go to playrooms these days; he'll like it, right?"
With the new flu rampant, Min-su, stuck at home, was thrilled by the mischievous boy doll.
Excited, he hugged the doll as tall as himself, hopping around and cheering.
"Wow! Mom! I love this doll! It's as tall as me! I'm gonna name it after me!"
With no one else named Min-su in familiarity, it was natural.
From that day, Min-su was always with the doll.
He even insisted on taking snacks to his room to share with it.
A few days later, one afternoon.
Min-su's mom noticed bruises under her son's eyes and asked in shock.
"Min-su! Where did this bruise come from? Did you bump into something?"
"It wasn't a bump. It hit me because I was late bringing snacks."
"It? The doll?"
At the absurd claim, Min-su's mom sighed deeply, stroked her son's head, and hugged him tight.
"Next time, Mom will bring snacks faster."
It didn't take long for Min-su's mom to realize her child's story was true.
* * *
"Honey! Wake up. I hear noises from Min-su's room. He's still awake."
In the middle of the night, startled by the child's screams, Min-su's mom urgently woke her husband.
"Tuck him in then."
Her husband, who had come home drunk, didn't budge.
The phone screen showed past 1 a.m.
Leaving her unmoving husband, Min-su's mom went out to the dark living room and looked toward Min-su's room.
Since getting the doll, Min-su often stayed up late into the night.
She thought it was time to stop letting him play with it.
"Min-su, still awake?"
She called softly toward his room.
Min-su, who always came running with a smile at her call, only groaned in response.
A chilling unease emanated from the tightly shut door toward her.
"Min-su!"
Startled by the groans, the mom rushed over, roughly turned the cold doorknob, and burst in.
"Min-su! Are you hurt? Why are you groaning?"
As she entered and spoke, her eyes caught the mischievous boy doll straddling her small son, who lay under the bed.
Even with mom entering, Min-su continued groaning painfully under the doll.
Crack.
The doll sitting on Min-su's upper body twisted its neck with a grotesque sound, turning backward to face Min-su's mom.
Its lips twitched before spitting out harsh words.
"It wasn't me groaning. It was Min-su!"
Blood stained the doll's clenched fists.
She saw her son's lips split and bleeding under the doll.
Blood rushed to Min-su's mom's head.
"Y-You... you monster!"
Min-su's mom lunged forward and kicked the impudent head of the smirking doll staring at her.