The Story of the Remaining Two (Part 1 Finale)
Miel rose, her body trembling at the cold touch of the floor.
After being dragged into the prison, the memory of the disgrace she had made of herself in front of everyone made her face burn hot.
Yet when she thought of the punishment Yurin had received before she herself was brought here, a sense of satisfaction welled up inside her.
The thought that Yurin, too, would never be able to possess Seona—the one she herself could never have—made her feel a little better.
She had been subjected to a sentence that meant she could never again feel him, see him, or touch him for all eternity.
Even if Yurin returned to Earth, Seona had become someone she could never lay eyes on again, and that satisfaction was what Miel used to console herself.
Only hollow laughter escaped her lips.
She had let slip the one who had been right there in front of her, ready to be claimed, and now she was merely propping up her fragile pride by sating her jealousy toward Yurin.
The moment that thought struck her, her mood plummeted once more.
The gloomy thoughts would not leave her heart.
She knew that when morning came, she would have to face the truth she had been avoiding all this time.
Tomorrow, she would be executed.
She would never see Seona again.
Since Seona had gone to the other world, even if she died, every time he looked upon the Yin Crest carved into his own body he would think of her—that was the thought that remained.
The only thing left in Miel's chest was the idea that at least she could linger in Seona's heart.
She compared herself to Yurin, but in the end the fact that neither of them would ever see Seona again was the same.
The more she thought about it, the more wretched Miel's heart became.
In the underground dungeon, only Miel's muttering to herself as she lost herself in her own imagination, conjuring Seona's form, echoed through the dark.
There was no way to tell time inside the prison.
No sunlight entered, and unlike Earth where she had lived for four months, there was not even a single clock.
She did not know how much time had passed, but the only last struggle left to her was to lust after the Seona of her imagination as much as she desired.
Until her execution, Miel would only claim Seona within the confines of her own heart.
Someone approached the bars in front of the muttering Miel, but she paid it no mind.
She still wanted to lust after Seona a little longer in her thoughts.
With her sense of time gone, she did not want to think about why someone had come before her.
She felt the end approaching, yet she still wanted more.
Contrary to Miel's expectations, that someone opened the door of the cell.
As if intending to let her out, Miel stopped her thoughts and looked at her.
She knew who that woman was.
That figure was the woman she had hated with every fiber of her being for four months.
She had been saying something for a while, but since Miel had not paid attention, she had not had the chance to look at her properly.
Yet suddenly she became curious why that woman had released her.
One of those who had tormented her for so long, yet here she was trying to free her.
"Miel, looks like you're finally listening to me. Long time no see. How've you been?"
Speaking lightly as if she had just run into someone she was glad to see, she was acting as if the way she had always tormented her was nowhere to be found.
That woman was the daughter of the same Succubus Lord as herself—her sister, the second daughter, Bianca.
Bianca, too, shared many similarities with Miel.
They both had been captivated by Seona, and both had experience living on Earth.
Every time she tormented Seona, she had been captivated by the sensation of releasing her twisted sexual desires.
If things had gone according to her original plan, Bianca would have killed Miel, gone to find Seona on Earth, and rewritten the Yin Crest to make him her own consort.
If she had not witnessed that incident while watching Seona with her own eyes as he tried to cross the Gate.
Those presumed to be Royal Knights had attacked the humans fleeing beyond the Gate.
Seona had been kidnapped not back to Earth, but into the hands of three Royal Knights.
Along with his mother.
Even if she killed Miel right away, she judged that she would not be able to get Seona into her hands.
The reason the Royal Knights kidnapped them would be to interrogate them for information or resources, and Seona and his mother would inevitably end up in the hands of the council or the royalty.
A group with power so great that her hands could never reach them.
But she could not give up.
Now, she could not do without that child named Seona.
There was no one else who could soothe the sadism that surged in her heart every time that mouth attached to that incomparably beautiful face let out sweet moans, and every time tears spilled from his eyes.
And one more thing.
The faint but high-purity mana sleeping in Seona's body.
The moment she claimed that mana for herself, she would be reborn as a being who could make a name for herself across the Demon Realm—not this backwater territory.
She wanted Seona.
Body, heart, mana—she needed all of it.
But to bring Seona out from that mighty force, her own power alone was insufficient.
She needed people who would stake their lives to stand with her.
Talents who would throw away their own lives if Bianca demanded it, to rescue the prince from that Demon King's castle.
The only one she knew was Miel.
Of course, if she rescued Miel, she would be put on the wanted list along with her by their mother.
But if she succeeded, she could build power and fame enough to erase a territory like this without a second thought.
Seona was worth that much.
After rescuing Seona, she would kill Miel, re-carve the Yin Crest, and make him her consort.
For that purpose she set up a reckless but sufficiently worth-trying plan.
It might be close to a gamble.
It might not even be something worth staking her life on.
But there was no other way.
Because she was already mad for that gamble.
The expedition team that had escaped the Gate looked at the portal that had closed not long after they hurriedly got out.
"Where's the expedition leader?"
"No... the leader...."
The expedition leader had fought the mysterious assailants to the end for their sake and ultimately failed to escape the Gate.
Along with her own son.
Most of the expedition team knew the anecdotes about Mina well.
The story of how Mina's son had been kidnapped to the Demon Realm on his wedding day along with his fiancée named Yurin, and how as a result her husband Hyuntae—now deceased—had suffered a mental shock from which he never recovered.
And the story of Yurin, who alone had returned alive.
It was like watching an episode of a drama.
Mina had never told any of them the stories herself, but most people knew why she had gone to the Demon Realm.
They expected that in this large-scale project she had joined as vice expedition leader, Mina would search for her son who had been taken to the Demon Realm.
Most of the expedition members thought that the son who had been missing for well over a year was already dead.
But defying that expectation, Mina had rescued her son Seona from the castle of the Succubus Lord.
It was like watching the story of a hero rescuing a prince from the Demon King's castle.
They had thought it would end in a sad conclusion, but seeing Mina who had rescued her son, they believed the drama's ending would be a happy one.
Until the Gate closed, like now.
Many people expressed their pity for Mina and her son Seona.
Especially when the assailants attacked, they had thought she would abandon them to protect her son Seona—yet she sacrificed herself for them instead.
And what she left for them was only one thing.
It was Yurin, whose entire body was bound and who was not in good condition.
The words the expedition leader had spoken as she hurriedly sent them through the Gate were shocking.
Yurin—the first human to return after being taken to the Demon Realm, and the unfortunate woman who had lost her husband.
She who had always said she wanted to join the first Demon Realm expedition to save her husband.
The fact that she had violated Seona, who was her husband and Mina's son, and thrown him into the clutches of the succubi.
It was hard to believe, but through the testimonies of Mina and Seona who were present, it was revealed that all the heroic aspects she had shown were lies.
She was now nothing more than a rapist.
The words that came from his mouth were days of shame and humiliation hard for any human to contain, and the violations he had endured.
Considering that most of the expedition members were women, it was hard to see Yurin—who had done such things as a fellow woman—as a person at all.
She looked like a monster worse than those monsters.
It was time to carry out the words Mina had spoken as she handed over Yurin, telling them to take her outside the Gate.
Seona, Mina's son, said he wanted Yurin to receive the judgment of the law.
Even if they themselves had suffered such things, they might have stabbed her with a knife on the spot—yet whether it was some meager sense of justice or some reason they could not understand, it was not clear.
He added that he hoped Yurin would not die.
For the sake of Mina who had sacrificed herself for them.
The expedition team granted that last wish that was like a will.
Yura was eventually ousted from the representative position of the Hwaryong Guild.
Because of the failure of this mega-project—the Demon Realm expedition—and the social uproar caused by Yurin.
In the end, the beast-like acts no human should ever commit were all laid bare, and the fallout reached Yura as well.
Yura had intended to step down from the representative position anyway if this project failed.
She had thought of it as nothing more than a temporary seat she took to grant the wishes of Yurin and Mina, to save Seona who had been taken to the Demon Realm.
But it was not a complete failure as she had imagined.
Even if the expedition team itself had failed, when she heard from the returning members that Mina had rescued her son, hot tears streamed down her cheeks.
Unfortunately, the story had headed toward a sad ending as the Gate returning to Earth closed.
Yet as a parent herself, hearing the story of meeting the child she thought she had lost, she cried without end.
At least the fact that she had met the child she believed dead in living form and shared an emotional reunion was something special for any parent.
And now it was Yura's turn to go meet her own daughter, Yurin.
Unlike Seona, she was a truly worthless girl.
Upon learning that she was the root of every incident, Yura had actually wanted to beat her to death—yet as a parent, seeing what Yurin had become, tears of pity spilled from her eyes.
That her daughter had changed was not merely the fact that she had become a rapist who reduced Seona to that state.
The final form Yurin had taken was that of a girl locked in a psychiatric ward, engaging in self-harm.
When she realized that by her own hands she had handed Seona back to the succubi and that there was no longer any way to meet him again—
Yurin had first fallen into despair.
But the expedition team now could not be formed again for decades.
Even though so many high-ranking hunters had gathered, they had failed to occupy even a single territory and it had ended there.
Maria, the expedition leader who ranked among the upper tier of S-rank, had died a month after the team entered.
It was because they had realized that the Demon Realm was a realm humanity could not yet pioneer.
Now no one knows what became of Seona and Mina.
But for Yurin, who can no longer see Seona, that will be the greatest pain of all.
If she had cherished Seona a little more and had a normal romance, such things clearly would never have happened.
It was close to her own destruction—the end she brought upon herself by handling the man to death just to leave her mark, and ultimately handing him over to the succubi's hands.
If no one treats Yurin's mind—
Yurin will be forever trapped inside her own hell.
With such thoughts, Yura goes to visit Yurin in the hospital today as well.
And she recalls in her heart the lives her daughter ruined, and the memories of poor Seona...