EP 5: The Demon of the In-Seoul Class

"...Baek Seol?"

"Yes. Yoo Ji-tae-nim. I am your Baek Seol."

Baek Seol, who had been prostrating herself, straightened her back. The sight of her sitting upright with perfect posture was like a painting.

"...Are you all right?"

"Yes, I am fi— Don't make me laugh. There's no way you can break my control—fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Eh? I am fi— How could that be? This body is mine. You just stay crumpled up."

Marbas had seized control of the body. Yet both knees remained demurely folded on the floor. Marbas forced the body to move anyway. It tried to cross its arms, but that was all it could manage. The sight of it throwing a petty tantrum was almost comical.

"Don't make me laugh. I am...!"

Its pronunciation was strangely off. When a person spoke, the words came out broken: "Don't. Make. Me. Laugh." But Marbas had just said, "Don'ch. Mayg. Me. Laaaugh!"

"Pfft."

Marbas lifted its head. Seeing me laughing, it flew into a rage and continued.

"You bastard, how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dare you...!"

This time it came out as "You ba'ard, how daaaare yooou!"

"Pfft! Hah! K... khahaha! S-sorry! The tension just snapped! Hah... hahaha! Ahahaha!"

I clutched my stomach and burst into uncontrollable laughter right where I stood. Marbas's killing intent was visibly skyrocketing. Even if I wanted to run, my arms and legs were in no condition to move. All I could do was lean against the wall. Looking down, I saw black mana swirling violently beside Marbas's body.

Ah. I'm screwed. Seriously.

EP 5: The Demon of the In-Seoul Class

The body of Baek Seol that I currently controlled was kneeling. Even though Baek Seol was tall for a woman, she was still shorter than the man Yoo Ji-tae. As a result, my current line of sight was aimed directly at Yoo Ji-tae's crotch.

"I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I will definitely... kill you."

A grown, beautiful woman was staring at a man's groin while muttering "I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you," so Yoo Ji-tae once again grabbed his stomach and howled with laughter.

He was suppressing his anger. Yoo Ji-tae had reached his mental limit from the fear of death and sheer exhaustion. With the sudden release of tension, all he could do was laugh like an idiot.

"Sorry! Sorry! Hahaha! Hahahaha!"

Yoo Ji-tae was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face. It was completely uncontrollable.

I ignored Yoo Ji-tae and focused on assessing the situation. The armor wrapped around the body was intact. The magic I had cast was still active. In other words, there was no problem with the connection to the mage. If that was the case, there could only be one possible issue.

'...Did I lose control of the mind?'

I was not a mage. Since I lacked the biological organs required to use magic, I had no choice but to compensate by using the host's body. If a mage was a computer, then a demon was a battery with various functions attached. If I lost the battle for mental dominance against the rightful owner of the body—the mage—then I was nothing more than a mana shuttle.

But... how many humans could actually do that?

'I've stolen the bodies of women even on the battlefield. I've got more than enough experience!'

'Not only that! I've corrupted women's minds before. I've turned those so-called virtuous wives and wise mothers into loyal dogs on more than one occasion!'

'And I lost to this? To some Refined Realm brat?'

"Fuck. That's impossible."

The pronunciation came out as "Fug. Tha's impossibuuu!"

"Hahahahahaha! Urgh, kuh, k... khahaha! Ahahaha! Gah—!"

Yoo Ji-tae laughed so hard he coughed up blood. His internal organs were already a mess from the mana explosion, and roughly half of his abdominal muscles were torn. That explained it.

I suppressed the fury that felt like it would tear my insides apart. As I kept thinking, something occurred to me.

'...Come to think of it, I've been connected to Baek Seol's body for about a week now.'

The struggle for bodily control was always one or the other: you either took it or you lost it. For the past week, I had simply remained connected to Baek Seol. While I was deeply asleep, the body had been used according to her will. In other words, for the past week I had surrendered control to Baek Seol.

Then the possibility that Baek Seol's mental strength had grown strong enough to suppress me...

No. That couldn't be it.

'I've taken over the bodies of Condensing Realm and Sacred Lotus Realm mages without issue. There's no way I could lose to someone like Baek Seol.'

A sense of unease crawled up my spine.

Baek Seol was weak. It was impossible for me to lose to her. The next sentence that tried to form in my mind vanished before it could take shape.

"......?"

I forced the unease aside and pried open Baek Seol's consciousness.

'...I'll destroy Baek Seol's mind. That will make her body mine.'

I connected to Baek Seol's mind. A dark, cold universe appeared. If I went deeper, her mental world would emerge. If I destroyed the mind hiding there and took its place, this body would become completely mine.

Baek Seol's mental world was a very large house. There was a long hallway with various rooms inside. Finding Baek Seol and destroying her mind would take some time.

"...Tch."

Left with no choice, I opened a random door.

It was a wedding hall. Baek Seol, wearing a white dress, was standing beside Yoo Ji-tae, making her marriage vows.

"Bride. Do you, Baek Seol, take Yoo Ji-tae as your husband and swear to serve and love him for the rest of your life?"

"I do."

I raised my claws to charge, then stopped. Baek Seol's figure was slightly blurred. That was merely a mental image created by her training method. The real one was elsewhere.

"...What kind of heart method is this, anyway?"

I was a demon who had once walked the path of a creator. My curiosity was impossible to suppress. I activated emotion magic. Because I was currently fighting Baek Seol for control, only low-level magic could be used.

'...A heart method that turns the body and mind into an ideal feminine form.'

It was completely useless in combat.

'A society where women compete to be virtuous wives? Ridiculous. What use is teaching something like that? What matters is power. This can't be it.'

I moved to the next door.

It was a nighttime street. In the middle of the road, a naked Baek Seol was crawling on all fours. The red collar around her neck was pulled taut. Yoo Ji-tae was holding the leash.

"Hurry up, Seol-ah."

"Yes, yes, Husband!"

Her appearance was equally blurred, so this too was merely a mental ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠image from her training.

"...What the hell kind of heart method is this?"

'This one's similar too. A heart method meant to receive a man's attention.'

'It offers no help in combat whatsoever. It only makes one's own body and mind weaker.'

I closed the door and moved on.

This time, Baek Seol was wearing a cat-ear headband, with cat gloves on her hands and feet. Yoo Ji-tae was there as well. He sat in a chair wearing a bathrobe, leisurely swirling a glass of wine. Baek Seol clung to his lap.

"Nyaa. Nyaa. Nyaaah."

"...Again?"

I grabbed the next door. If this one was the same, I would just destroy Baek Seol's body and switch to Yoo Ji-tae's.

When I opened it, Baek Seol and Yoo Ji-tae were there. Yoo Ji-tae was holding a baby bottle and feeding Baek Seol, who was wearing baby clothes and happily drinking from it.

Baek Seol, who had been drinking from the bottle, popped it out of her mouth. With an ecstatic expression, she opened her mouth.

"I like Papa the most in the whole world!"

As I was about to leave the room, my feet stopped. The meaning of the sentence was as written, but the actual pronunciation had been "I wike Papa da mos' in da whole wowld!"

"?"

Unease crawled up my spine. I looked at the mirror in the room. My own reflection stared back.

"...Good heavens."

My mental form resembled its owner, Toma Hanna—a mature woman. But the outfit was something I had never experienced even once before. Toma Hanna was wearing a wedding dress. On her head was a cat-ear headband, and a cat tail was attached to her rear. Not only that, her body was covered in graffiti declaring her affection for Yoo Ji-tae.

Yoo Ji-tae-nim. I love you. This body is all yours, Ji-tae-nim.

Such phrases were written everywhere. A red collar was even fastened around her neck. And finally, a pacifier that had somehow found its way into her mouth.

Only then did I understand the true nature of the unease.

Baek Seol could never defeat me. Because Baek Seol was weak. Yet Baek Seol was fighting me for control of the body. That meant it wasn't Baek Seol who had grown stronger—it was I who had grown weaker.

I connected to my own mind and rushed into my mental world. My mental world had originally been an infinite darkness filled with books. The magic I had collected by stealing the bodies of soldiers was stored there. The library was always filled with a terrible darkness, and entering it always brought me peace of mind.

"Fuck. My heart methods!!! Where did they all go!!!!"

My dark library had become a bedroom. Hundreds of heart methods at the level of ultimate magic that I had gathered by parasitizing first-rate warriors had vanished without a trace.

No wonder I lost the battle for control!

In the center stood a king-sized bed. On it lay a naked Yoo Ji-tae-nim.

"Marbas."

Because Yoo Ji-tae-nim had called my name, I approached him and offered a kiss to his feet. Yoo Ji-tae-nim smiled. He was pleased even by a kiss from a lowly female like me. I wanted to act cute.

"Nyaa."

Yoo Ji-tae-nim roughly stroked my cheek. Joy and happiness welled up inside me. I was so happy that I burst into tears without realizing it. He probably hated a female like this.

*****

"Fuuuuuuuuck!!!!"

Marbas, who had returned from the mental world, finally screamed with proper pronunciation.

"Baek Seol, you fucking bitch!!! What the hell did you do to my mental world!!! You, you, while I was asleep!!! How dare you touch my mind!!! My magic!!!"

Baek Seol briefly regained control above the neck.

"Ah, so those were heart methods. I saw something weird so I just erased them all."

"Why the hell would you touch someone else's stuff!!! Why!!!"

"Well, at the time I just thought they were some kind of strange heart demons. I saw black stuff flowing out from the corner so I just got rid of it all. I never imagined it was a demon's mental world. Actually, I didn't even know you were a demon in the first place."

Marbas opened its mouth. It had pushed Baek Seol back below the neck again.

"You like Yoo Ji-tae that much? Fine. Then I'll kill you right now...."

The body bounced upward.

'Right now, below the neck is controlled by Baek Seol, but above the neck is mine.'

White teeth were revealed between parted lips.

'I'll bite her to death!'

Yoo Ji-tae's face turned pale. Marbas, who had been about to bite Yoo Ji-tae's neck, discovered that it was instead giving him a sucking kiss on the neck. Marbas let out a hollow laugh.

"...Hah."

Marbas recalled the phrase about how both body and mind would change.

"This... fucking magic...."