Episode 568. Youâre mean, even behind your back (2)
Overflowing malice.
Though his powers were suppressed by Luciferâs Chains, and he was trapped in a trashy body, Barbatos was the Ten Thrones. The man who had been chattering loudly stuttered.
âCha, Mr. Changwooâ¦â¦? Whatâs wrong with your eyes?â
That too for a moment.
Pug.
âUgh! all of a sudden, whatâs wrong with everyone?!â
Everyone except himself and Choi Changwoo pass out and hit their heads.
Even if he dreams, he doesnât dream of such improbable things.
Moreover, Choi Changwoo would never appear like this in a dream.
So.
This is real.
I must run away.
âShit!â
Tadadak.
It was the moment when the man who had made his decision was about to run out of the office. The mediatorâs understanding. Barbatos, who understood all of Choi Changwooâs memories in his body, spoke.
âSo thatâs what happened.â
Choi Changwoo.
This man is a ghost of the past to you.
The Ten Thrones, Lee Hoyeol.
Barbatos spoke in Choi Changwooâs voice.
âExcuse me, Mr. Huang?â
âCha, Mr. Changwoo? What, have you come to your senses?â
âWhat? What do you mean?â
Startle.
Mr. Huang, who was holding the office door knob, frowned.
âAre you trying to beat up on me now, Mr. Changwoo, after making the office look like this? When did you do something like this, huh? What, did you put sleeping pills in the water dispenser?! â
I thought I was seeing things.
The blackened pupils were everywhere.
Huang vowed to himself.
I will never be fooled.
âNo, thereâs no need to mix things up, right?â
Mr. Huang turned to leave the office.
The office door opened from outside.
âHuang, are you going to the restroom?â
âMr, Mr. Manager, you need to get out of here right now!â
âWhat? What are you talking about?â
âChoi Changwoo, that assholeâ¦â¦! No, look at the office!! â
Itâs better to see this unbelievable sight than to say a hundred words.
It might be faster to tell the story.
Bam.
Mr. Hwang quickly stepped aside.
âHuh?â
Hwangâs face went blank.
As if nothing had happened.
No, as if he was about to make a fool of himself.
tadadadadak
The calming sound of typing.
Itâs just a normal day in the office.
Suddenly, the bossâs icy gaze turns from the office to Mr. Hwang.
A barrage of scolding rains down.
âMs. Hwang, did you fall asleep on the job again?â
âOh, no, sir, itâs that asshole Choi Changwoo.â
âWhat, asshole?â
âThatâs not it, obviously.â
âMr. Hwang?â
Without making any excuses, Choi Changwoo holds out the papers to him.
âIâve sorted the documents you asked for.â
âSorting documents? Why is Intern Choi doing that?â
âThatâs what Assistant Manager Hwang asked me to doâ¦â¦.â
âWhat? Asked? Hey, what did Assistant Manager Hwang ask intern Choi to do?! â
Normally, he would have been shaking in his boots.
The managerâs scolding fell on deaf ears.
At this moment, he was more afraid of Choi Changwoo in front of him than anything else.
Hwang swallowed dryly.
âWas I dreaming?â
ââ¦â
ââ¦!â
Did I doze off like the manager said?
No, thatâs not possible.
I didnât fall asleep.
I wasnât tired enough to hallucinate.
Then.
âWhat the hell was that?â
I feel like Iâm literally possessed by the demon.
âIâm sorry, sir.â
But Mr. Hwang was a professional.
Even if he didnât understand English.
That meant he had to take responsibility for what he had done.
Mr. Hwang bowed his head and the manager clicked his tongue.
âForget it, Mr. Hwang, you need to see me right now, and Intern Choi, youâve had a hard time, and you deserve a break, especially in this day and age, what an asshole, you asshole.â
Mr. Hwang was still puzzled as he accepted the documents.
But he soon understood.
Well, it was an extremely improbable situation.
âWhy, didnât you talk about a fictitious day in Todayâs Arcana?â
Possession doesnât happen to just anyone. Most of the time, you have to be a player or someone of great social standing to be possessed. In short, you have to be of value to the demon.
Hwangâs gaze fell on Choi Changwoo.
âThereâs no reason for the demon to possess this asshole.â
Then Choi Chang-woo started to look like his normal self again.
After the chief, he takes a moment to pray.
Huang whispered to me privately.
âLook at me later, Mr. Chang.â
I must have been mistaken.
I guess heâs going to tell the director soon, right?
Hwang vowed to himself.
Before I take off his intern tag.
He would make Changwoo crawl out of the company on his own feet.
However, the answer he got back was different.
âReally?â
âAre you kidding me? Really.â
âMr. Hwang, youâre going to regret this.â
âWhat?â
The same was true of the secretly whispering voice.
âDo you think that was really a dream?â
ââ¦â¦!!! â
Mr. Hwang couldnât say anymore. When he stopped walking, the manager himself grabbed him by the nape of the neck and dragged him away.
Choi Changwoo. No, Barbatos shrugged.
âThe lives of ants are beyond my comprehension.â
You can use magic to search for truth.
You can use your gifts to reach superhuman levels.
Itâs not like you can live forever.
Why do we live with hatred for each other.
Why do we waste our fleeting lives?
Why are we so obsessed with the ghosts of the past that we ignore reality?
âI know without looking through the Objective Eye.â
Humans.
You are indeed foolish animals.
But thanks to you.
âIndeed, a suitable land.â
A land of such negative emotions would be more conducive to concealing oneâs presence than the desolation of the Demon World. It will be harder for you to track me down now that I have willingly relinquished my power.
And then there is the fact that cannot be overlooked.
You are, after all, human, arenât you?â
Barbatos thought while reading Choi Changwooâs memories. Perhaps, this ghost of the past may be a clue that can shake up âHuman, Lee Hoyeolâ.
Indeed.
A trace of a memory.
It was a strange, yet delicious word.
Barbatos murmured.
âSeongseon Middle School.â
*
The Crystal Hall is shaking.
âDid he collapse?â
âWhat the hell, all of a sudden?â
âDid he pass out?â
No wonder everyone is freaking out. Barbatos, who had just removed his mask and spouted his diabolical words, is now slumped over in the lectern.
Marcelo speaks up.
âDo you have any guesses, sir?â
Me neither.
I donât just guess, I know the whole story.
Iâve been seeing flashes in my vision.
[Barbatos gives up possession of the power, the Objective Eye].
Yes.
Barbatos gave up his powers to escape the effects of the [Luciferâs Chains of Atonement], and not only that, but he fled from this place, leaving his body behind.
I opened my mouth as usual.
âYou cut off your tail and ran away.â
You know, Grandfell always have a way with metaphors.
âLooks like lowering the tail wasnât enough.â
Thatâs not to say itâs wrong.
Barbatos had thrown away the entirety of the Ten Thronesâ âpowerâ and I know firsthand what that power can do.
âWhen I think of Paimon and Gamigin.â
The Ten Thrones without power is like bungeoppang without red beans.
Even if it said he was hiding somewhere.
It means he canât pose much of a threat to Reality and the Arcana Continent.
But in this moment, I was regretting it.
ãI should have killed him.ã
I donât know what you think, Grandfell, but I wanted to make sure I hunted down Barbatos, even if I had to concede a little bit of it.
It has to be that way.
âSo that we donât lose anything.â
Is this my mistake?
âNo, I didnât even think about it.â
In the first place, it was impossible to even expect that Barbatos would give up his power. As I said, power meant a great deal to the Ten Thrones.
âWithout it, youâre no better than a common demon.â
If it were Paimon.
âPaimon would rather die as Ten Thrones than give up his power.â
Barbatos, he was definitely a weird demon.
âWe must be on our guard.â
But I couldnât let myself fall into deep thought.
This is a Magic Tower, and I am the Chief mage of such a tower.
Besides, I was the only one who could explain what had happened.
ttogag.
Therefore, I stood up.
I didnât even activate [Heavenly Demon Reign].
The gazes of the Crystal Hall were focused on me as I stood up.
Click.
The camera lenses that had been focusing on Barbatos also turned toward me.
I wonder what else this cubic crystal will say to the cameras that are broadcasting around the world, and whether my sisters will be watching.
âThis is our weight too, isnât it, Grandfell?â
I shifted my feet, as always.
Toward the pulpit where Barbatos had fallen.
Then, as I lifted my hand, there was a clang.
â¦!
The [Luciferâs Chain of Atonement], which had been wrapped around Barbatosâ neck, was once again returned to my hand. At that point, the silent crystal hall began to roar.
ââ¦â¦.As expected, the Commander-in-Chief put a leash on the dog!â
âWell, thatâs certainly an item Iâve never seen before.â
âIsnât it at least legendary to be so gorgeous?!â
Iâm glad I donât have to tell you the name of the item, Lucifer, blah blah blah. Letâs see, what should I say first?
âUnnecessary misunderstandings are not good.â
The fear of the footless horse.
I know this better than anyone, donât I?
If this is the end of the matter without any explanation.
-Barbatos, Pre-verification Burden? Self-destruction
You wonât be surprised to see a lot of articles like this.
Itâs not over yet.
Before everyone starts drinking the kimchi soup.
We need to set the record straight.
With all the attention.
âBarbatos broke his promise and fled.â
I opened my mouth.
âHe abandoned his power and his dignity as the Ten Thrones.â
I wish I could have left it at that.
But you never let it go, do you?
Do you have to say it out loud to get it off your chest, Grandfell â¦â¦!
âHe ran away from me.â
*
âThatâs an unexpected ending, isnât it, senior?â
Sung Hyunjoon stuck his tongue out.
Hoyeolâs words were simple.
Barbatos fell for his own trick and became a cornered rat.
The rat cut off its tail.
It was cowardly and fled down the rat hole.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Yoon Soogyeom nodded.
âSurely we canât categorize that as a demonic monster anymore, itâs too complex and different to be one of the simple patterns.â
âExactly. Who would have guessed?â
It was an unexpected finish, but Sung didnât feel bad about it. In a strange way, it felt like the tide had shifted from Barbatos back to him, to General Manager Lee Hoyeol.
âThe Ten Thrones have given up his power â¦â¦!â
Although I didnât know what kind of power it was, just the fact that Barbatos, who had been choosing flattering words, had shown his true colors, cut off his tail, and fled was enough to make me feel better.
âSenior, you feel the same way as me, right?â
After saying that, Sung Hyunjoon couldnât help but stutter.
For some reason, Yoon Soogyeomâs expression wasnât very bright.
Yoon Soogyeom replied.
âIâm supposed to be happy, but I canât.â
âWhat? Why?â
âBecause I realized it again.â
Lee Hoyeol.
A player beyond players.
The leader of the Holy War Alliance and General Manager of the Yusra Branch.
That he is in a place where you canât reach him even if you stretch out your hands as much as you can.
Because I felt it again.
Yoon Soogyeom spoke with a wistful tone in his voice.
âI used to think that if we tried hard enough, we might be able to keep up with him, but I guess not, Hyunjoon, because all we could do was look at him.â
Instead of helping or working together.
Once again, it was an overwhelming victory.
It was truly an overwhelming feeling.
Yes, that feeling is truly âawe.â
Itâs a very subtle emotion, a mixture of respect and fear.
*
Jiziiing.
A vibrating smartphone.
It was the alumni chat room of Seongseon Middle School.
Kim Hyunminâs brow furrowed as he checked the sender.
âChoi Changwoo?â