Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: Cheon-il's Return
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A contract with a demon is like candy laced with poison.
Candy where you devour all the sugary coating, only for the venom inside to slowly kill you afterward.
"Is that... even possible?"
Yet Yong-un had proposed the absurd idea of plucking out the poison and handing over only the sweet candy.
As always, common sense didn't apply to Yong-un.
He turned the impossible into possible and treated the irrational as everyday normal.
To all his subordinates, Yong-un was an omnipotent god.
"I've found a way."
All his subordinates, Cheon-il included, looked at Yong-un with curious eyes.
And Yong-un pointed at something, drawing everyone's gaze.
The sole unwelcome guest in the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts' house.
Count Ratari.
A demon suffering from an irreparable soul wound as a aftermath of having all its soul's memories read through soul possession arts.
Even using Crimson Heaven Demonic Energy for soul possession would turn it into an idiot.
Yet Yong-un had thoroughly read every corner of its soul—not with Crimson Heaven Demonic Energy, but with the Ultimate Realm.
There was no chance of recovery.
"Simple. Just contract with a demon whose body is intact, but whose soul is gone."
The subordinates nodded unconsciously as they examined Count Ratari's condition.
A demon contract without the risk of your soul and body being taken by the demon?
It was a revolution—a historic rebirth that would upend the entire hunter world.
But those very thoughts evaporated as Yong-un spoke, leaving them all shaking their heads.
'Of course.'
They'd gotten their hopes up, but it was just as expected.
This method couldn't be used by anyone else.
Only the Sovereign.
Only Yong-un could pull it off.
Barum asked with a worried expression.
"Sovereign, if the demon's in that state, won't the contract be impossible?"
Though Barum didn't know the exact method of demon contracts, his demonic instincts seemed to have stirred something.
Regardless of his demonic nature, Barum's words were perfectly logical.
How could you contract with a demon when the very demon you were supposed to contract with was in that condition?
"If it were impossible, I wouldn't have brought it up."
Yong-un walked toward Count Ratari.
He placed a hand on the count's shoulder and drew up his energy.
Smoothly.
Demonic energy gathered at Yong-un's fingertips.
Not the black-red Crimson Heaven Demonic Energy? Not the violet Ultimate Realm energy?
No, neither.
The demonic energy pooling at Yong-un's fingertips was none other than Count Ratari's own— the unique gray-black demonic energy of demons.
"Train diligently. If you master the martial arts I've taught you to the Ultimate Realm, you'll be able to do it too."
Drawing out and using someone else's energy?
As martial artists who cultivated their own, the subordinates were utterly shocked.
But the shock was short-lived.
Swish. Swish swish.
As Yong-un used Count Ratari's demonic energy to draw patterns in the air, the subordinates tilted their heads in confusion.
English? Hanja? Korean? None of them.
It was a completely unfamiliar script.
No—more like drawings, a sequence of utterly alien characters that had everyone cocking their heads.
Then...
"N-No way..."
Barum stared at Yong-un with wider eyes than anyone, utterly stunned.
"You recognize it."
"No way that's... the Demon King's rune script?"
Barum's words were shocking.
"D-Demon King?"
"The Demon King's rune script? What does that..."
Not even count, marquis, or duke level.
It was the rune script of the Demon King himself.
A script no living human in this world would know—and yet Yong-un drew it with effortless naturalness.
"It said this is how you perform the contract."
"The Demon King's rune script is such a closely guarded secret that even most demons don't know it... How did you..."
As he continued drawing the runes, Yong-un glanced down at Count Ratari.
"Got it from this one."
Barum looked at Count Ratari.
Even as its own demonic energy was being drawn out and used, the count stared with hollow, lifeless eyes.
'What kind of demon even is this?'
Curiosity flickered in Barum's eyes.
The Demon King's rune script was so intricate and forbidden in the demon world that scarcely any demon knew it, let alone could learn it.
Not even a count or higher.
So how did this female demon know the Demon King's rune script?
Tap.
"Done."
Barum's curiosity was cut short.
As Yong-un announced the contract preparations complete, Barum shook off his thoughts and glanced at Cheon-il.
Gulp.
Cheon-il swallowed dryly.
He was trying to play it cool, but truthfully, he was terrified.
Yet with no other way, he mustered his courage and suppressed the fear.
"Extend your hand."
Cheon-il's small hand rested atop Yong-un's palm, where Count Ratari's demonic energy swirled.
And then...
Whoosh!
The gray-black demonic energy poured from Count Ratari's body, seeping evenly into the runes embroidered in the air and into Cheon-il's body.
"Ngh..."
Cheon-il's face twisted in agony.
And soon...
Gray-black demonic energy erupted from Count Ratari's eyes and mouth as light, and the count's body crumpled powerlessly.
Hiss...
Gray-black smoke billowed from Count Ratari's entire body.
It was unmistakably demonic energy formed into smoke.
But beyond the smoke, not a trace of demonic energy remained in Count Ratari's body.
Like staring at an empty husk.
"Cheon-il!"
Barum shook the fallen Cheon-il's shoulders frantically.
"Ugh..."
Cheon-il lifted his pained, contorted body.
And then.
Whoosh!
He smiled.
Gray-black demonic energy leaked from the corners of his widely grinning mouth.
Scratch. Scratch scratch.
Gray-black patterns began embroidering themselves across Cheon-il's vanished form.
As the patterns completed, demonic energy enveloped his entire body.
And from amid the gray-black glow, the now-demonic Cheon-il shot out, kicking off the ground toward Yong-un.
"Block it!"
All the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts were startled.
They suspected the demon contract had gone wrong.
At Myung-su's command, the Guihon of the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts summoned their demonic energy en masse, moving to surround Yong-un.
"It's fine. Stand down."
Whoosh.
But at Yong-un's follow-up order and the sight of Cheon-il leaping straight into his embrace, the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts quelled their rising demonic energy and broke into smiles.
"Worried for nothing."
The Guihon of the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts chuckled one by one.
Cheon-il, now in the familiar form of a perfect demon like Yi Gwi-hon, looked up at Yong-un and bloomed into a radiant smile.
"Sovereign hyung! I'm back!"
Cheon-il's innocent, bright smile warmed every Guihon's heart.
"Welcome back."
A smile matching Cheon-il's spread across Yong-un's lips.
Yong-un's hand ruffled Cheon-il's hair, just like the first time they'd met.
Swish.
Barum, standing behind Cheon-il, turned away visibly.
"Cheeky kid, looks can be deceiving."
The demon Barum, unaccustomed to showing emotion, shrugged his shoulders slowly.
Yong-un smirked at the demon's back, where he was desperately hiding tears.
Yong-un emerged from Cheon-il's room.
Barum followed behind Yong-un, who had left the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts' Guihon behind.
And then he knelt before Yong-un.
"Thank you."
Sincerity shone in Barum's eyes.
His slightly dazed gaze and flushed face resembled someone who had overcome immense hardship.
'Well, Barum probably suffered the most mentally through all this.'
Barum was a demon who had lost a blood brother.
Perhaps because of that, he had cared for Cheon-il more dearly than the other Guihon.
Setting aside demon and human, Barum had treated Cheon-il like his own little brother.
"Thank you again, truly."
To such a Barum, this situation must have reopened old wounds.
A flash of Barum's desperate efforts to protect Cheon-il, even making unreasonable demands unlike his usual self.
"No need for thanks. Cheon-il is precious to you and the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts, and just as precious to me."
"Thank you, Sovereign. I will serve you with my life."
Barum's voice brimmed with deep sincerity.
Barum wouldn't realize it.
That his voice trembled ever so slightly as he spoke his gratitude.
'This ordeal taught him—and all of them—much.'
Yong-un smiled and patted Barum's shoulder.
Then he slowly turned to gaze out the bright window.
"Hahaha!"
"Hyung! You're bad!"
"Il Gwi-hon's the one at fault here."
The cheerful laughter of the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts reached Yong-un's ears from outside.
Yong-un and Barum both smiled at the sound.
"What more is family? Eating together, sharing the same heart—that makes a family."
Yong-un turned and stepped outside.
Barum's fervent gaze burned into his back.
"In the end, you've become family once more."
A smile refused to leave Yong-un's lips as he stood atop the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts' house roof.
The endless laughter from below made his heart feel light and fuzzy.
The Soul-Exterminating Ghosts were a peculiar gathering of individuals, each bearing unique pains.
A group of colors too special and hard to mix.
Anyone seeing them for the first time would have declared they could never blend.
But Yong-un knew.
Those with pains so deep they pushed others away would open their hearts endlessly to those in the same boat.
They shared their pains, empathizing by grafting others' hurts onto their own.
Thus, those special colors thought unmixable gathered into one grand, beautiful hue.
Filling each other's lacks, highlighting each other's strengths.
Becoming family.
"Family, huh..."
Yong-un chuckled softly.
Contrary to his worries, the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts had already become a perfect family.
The unintended Cheon-il incident had made it crystal clear.
The Soul-Exterminating Ghosts were family.
A tight-knit family that put family before self.
Swish.
Yong-un rose from the roof, the laughter below filling his ears.
"It's been a while..."
Perhaps stirred by the word "family," a term deep in Yong-un's heart surfaced.
Family—Yong-un thought of his father, mother, older sister, and little brother.
"Time to go see them."
Yong-un glanced at the empty house of the Demon Dragon Corps next to the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts' place, then lightly stomped the roof.
"Hahaha!"
Warmth lingered where Yong-un had stood, slowly fading.
But the warmth filling the Soul-Exterminating Ghosts' house showed no sign of cooling.
Tap. Tap tap.
The wide, board-shaped arcade machine that had heated up the arcade spat bright light, displaying victory.
"Haa..."
But for a victor, Demon Dragon Lord Sword Tiger let out a deep sigh.
"This isn't the taste... It's not that guy..."
"Whoa, another win? How many is that now?"
People swarmed around the lamenting Sword Tiger, snapping photos wildly.
In other words, he'd played 199 games right here.
Yet Sword Tiger expressed deep regret even at this extraordinary streak.
"When the hell is he coming? That bastard... It was fun..."
At the arcade's announcement of yet another challenger, Sword Tiger shook his head.
The 200th time seeing that message, but it didn't stir his blood.
"Whatever. You take it."
No expectations left.
Sword Tiger set down the sword-hilt-like controller and turned away from the machine.
But right then.
"Then I'll..."
"Out of the way."
A voice made Sword Tiger's cooled blood boil once more.
The sound he'd waited and waited for.
'Myeongdong Player.'
The controller he'd set down flew back into his hand like a magnet.
Grabbing it, Sword Tiger unleashed a fierce, precise speed the likes of which he'd never shown—from the very start of the game.
Bang!
"Wh-Who can block that...?"
But something astonishing happened next.
Bang!
Another hidden master appeared, one never seen before.
"He... blocked it?"
Bang! Thud! Bang!
The game accelerated to where the ball was a blur.
"Yes! Where've you been! Krahaha!"
The one Sword Tiger had awaited so long.
Myeongdong Player had returned.