Chapter 328: Chapter 328

-That... Do you have to go that far?

One of the demons had asked that in a shaky voice.

Each demon under the Demon of Contract and Order was essentially assigned to different realms.

For example, if a black magician drew a summoning circle in a certain kingdom of the Abyss and called them, the demon in charge of that side would fly over. If someone pulled out a magic sword buried upright in a certain graveyard, the demon in charge of that side would fly over...

The demons didn’t create and fulfill contracts by just sitting at a desk. Some of them took care of the paperwork and the legalities, while others ran around the field.

As such, the demons were accustomed to conforming to the customs of each kingdom or area. If a black magician summoned them, they would assume an evil-looking, terrifying form before flying over; when summoned by a magic sword, they assumed a spirit form to make it seem like the sword itself were talking to the one who pulled it.

However, they had never heard of the demon constellation disguising himself as a human. That would be too...

‘It doesn’t make sense...’

‘Why go that far?’

The demons were completely lost for words. The idea of disguising oneself as a human completely defied common sense and shook the concept of good and evil!

“...Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

Choi Yeonseung was even more embarrassed. The demons looked like they had been hit in the head.

-Something like this is too shocking for the mortals of the Abyss.

The goddess of sloth wasn’t surprised by this. No matter how necessary Choi Yeonseung’s disguise was, the mortals of the Abyss couldn’t comprehend something like that.

It was only after taking some deep breaths, meditating, and reading books with various evil anecdotes that the demons came to their senses.

-We apologize, Master. We’ve shown you an unsightly appearance.

-Rest assured our ugliness does not reflect our abilities, Master. Please believe us.

The demons apologized firmly.

Choi Yeonseung was a bit impressed by their professional conduct.

‘Ugh, I keep comparing them to the orcs even though I shouldn’t…’

When he had come across them, the orcs had essentially been a blank canvas, so Choi Yeonseung had to teach them everything from scratch. As he did so, the orcs had evolved into great farmers that used environmentally friendly farming techniques in the Abyss.

In comparison, demons were all excellent mortals who had lived in the Abyss for a long time. All of them were high-level and they had many skills and talents.

They had an air of trustworthiness about them.

“Alright, the reason I called you is because I have an order for you. For the time being, I’m going to put the ongoing contracts in the Abyss on hold and focus on dealing with Endless Linked Explosions. We’ll go after the mortals in his realm.”

-!

The demons were surprised by Choi Yeonseung’s words. The explosion constellation was their enemy, so they also wanted to get revenge as soon as possible, but…

-But Master, the realm of the explosion constellation is formidable.

-That’s right. His servants aren’t susceptible to deception.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be with you.”

-!

The demons were thrilled to hear that their new master would join them in disguise. They had never thought he would offer them this much support.

-You are truly wicked! With your presence, no mortal will be able to defeat us.

‘Their praise doesn’t feel that good…’

***

“This place is called the Iron Cart, and it's one of the Abyssal realms owned by Endless Linked Explosions,” explained one of the demons.

The one doing the explaining was Demon No. 77. Based on what Choi Yeonseung heard, No. 77 seemed to be a great demon who had landed several high-profile contracts.

He had proven his abilities and all the other demons trusted him.

‘It looks like a primitive factory.’

Choi Yeonseung was surprised by the scenery around him.

Thick smoke covered the sky, and mortals trudged toward the factory with expressionless faces. It wasn’t clear what the mortals were doing in that factory, but explosions were constantly heard from them.

[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ is angry that there is no skill or passion in this type of production.]

-It looks like they’re trying to constantly make explosions to satisfy the constellation.

This place was basically a workshop in which the mortals kept dedicating explosions to their master. It didn’t matter whether they used magic or explosives, or any other method for that matter; they just continued making them.

‘...Is this some kind of ruse? Just thinking about all the trouble I went through because of that explosive bastard makes me want to set it on fire.’

Choi Yeonseung clenched his fists for a few moments. As a human, he was naturally furious at what the explosion constellations had done.

He just wanted to destroy everything in that factory!

“What are the main races here like?”

“There are mostly robots here, but recently, there have been quite a few humans.”

“...Huh?”

Choi Yeonseung was taken aback by that. There were humans here?

“It looks like the humans of Earth who serve the explosion constellation have come here to work.

“I-I see.”

Choi Yeonseung wished he hadn’t learnt that!

If people chose to serve the wrong constellation, they wouldn’t get to live out their lives on Earth. Instead, the constellation would have them work in the Abyss like this until they died.

After all, there was a reason why humans shouldn’t believe in evil god constellations.

“Is it because of the robots that the contracts don’t work well?”

“How did you know that? Yes, you’re absolutely right.”

Demon No. 77 admired Choi Yeonseung’s intuition.

However, Choi Yeonseung thought it was absurd that the demon was impressed by that.

‘There were only two options… The robots or the humans...’

“The robots here aren’t particularly greedy. Even with the explosion constellation, it’s more of a transactional relationship than loyalty. So no matter how much we try to tempt them, it won’t work.”

Generally speaking, demons preferred beings with strong desires.

I want to be stronger.

I want to be the master of the kingdom.

I want to knock someone down.

The Abyssal races with such strong desires were guaranteed to get into a contract in order to achieve their goals. On the other hand, creatures with no particular desires wouldn’t bother signing a contract.

The Abyssal robots were born from the ores of the Abyss, and they actually had a soul. However, due to their robotic characteristics, they didn’t really wish for anything in particular. As a result, they wouldn’t easily fall to temptation.

‘I’ll have to target the humans.’

“By the way, can we walk around like this? Won’t they see us?”

“Robots don’t really care about other people. They don’t care if we just walk around.”

“...”

In fact, the robots walking around didn’t seem to pay any attention to Choi Yeonseung and the demons.

The robots were a peculiar Abyssal race that minded their own business!

“...Let’s target the humans.”

“It’s a good idea. Since you’re so knowledgeable about humans, you’ll most certainly manage to trick them.”

***

“...???”

Choi Yeonseung blinked in disbelief. There was a human whom he had definitely seen many times before.

‘What? That guy looks strangely familiar.’

That man had to be quite old for Choi Yeonseung to be familiar with him. It had to be a first-generation hunter, right?

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing... Wait. Let me refresh my memories.”

If he was in fact a first-generation hunter that Choi Yeonseung knew, then he had to be Korean. However, even if he was from another country, the fact that Choi Yeonseung knew him meant that he was very famous.

On a second look, he didn’t seem Korean...

‘Gary Nelson?!’

Memories flashed through Choi Yeonseung's mind. He finally remembered who this person was: America’s first-generation A-grade hunter, Gary Nelson!

Gary had once been known as the man closest to S-grade, but he had unfortunately fallen into obscurity, forgotten by everyone.

There had been a specific incident that caused the decline in his popularity.

Gary, an A-grade hunter, had signed a contract with an evil god constellation in order to attack the government.

People would be extremely shocked even if B-grade hunters made contracts with evil god constellations, as it had recently been the case in the US, where a B-grade hunter went on a rampage after signing a contract with an evil god constellation. Thus, one could only imagine how unbelievable Gary’s incident had been.

That event had taken place a few decades back, and its impact had been overwhelming.

‘Did he make a deal with the explosion constellation back then? It’s surprising. If I recall correctly, the explosion constellation wasn’t very popular back then.’

In the early days of the Abyss gate, there were only a few prominent constellations.

The explosion constellation had started out as a relatively unpopular constellation and had gradually increased his power through terror and war.

Choi Yeonseung was surprised because he thought an A-grade hunter would’ve never signed a contract with him back then.

‘It doesn’t really make sense.’

Choi Yeonseung thought about it for a while. It would certainly be a good thing to find out more about Gary, especially since he was struggling under an evil god constellation.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Choi Yeonseung wasn’t anxious about this. After all, Gary had sided with an evil god constellation and tried to commit acts of terrorism!

‘I don’t think I can figure him out.’

Still, he had to try it. Choi Yeonseung took the demons to Gary Nelson.

“What?”

“Hello, I’m here to tell you something nice.”

“You again? I already told you! I won’t sign any more contracts! In addition, where did you learn to say such ■■■ things?!”

“What do you mean? We’ve heard from humans that this is a great way to greet them.”

“No!”

“Don’t deny it.”

“It really isn’t the case, you stupid demon bastards!”

No matter how angry Gary Nelson became, the demons ignored him. The insults of a mere mortal wouldn’t affect them.

Of course, it was ridiculous from Choi Yeonseung’s perspective, who was watching from the side.

‘They’re handling it so terribly.’

Even though they lacked knowledge about humans, they still shouldn’t have approached Gary like that.

Choi Yeonseung came forward. He was disguised as a demon, so Gary Nelson didn’t recognize him.

“Is there anything you desire?” asked Choi Yeonseung.

“...What?”

“I know you very well. You signed a contract with the evil god constellation to overthrow the US government. You must’ve been very dissatisfied.”

“...”

Gary Nelson trembled slightly.

Confused, another demon asked, “Hey, why are you listening to him and not to me?”

“He’s actually speaking normally, you demon bastard! Get lost!” Gary yelled. He was furious, so he lashed out at the demon. He then looked again at Choi Yeonseung.

“But I think I can actually talk with you. I’ve never seen a demon who can communicate with me.”

“...”

Choi Yeonseung had only said a few words… The fact that Gary Nelson acted like this meant that he really didn’t have anyone to talk to here.

‘Ugh, I don’t know if I can do this.’

Choi Yeonseung was a bit worried. His talent wasn’t to persuade others with words, but with his fists. Could he really talk to this ill-tempered A-grade hunter?

“What happened…?”

“In order to tell you what happened, I have to go all the way back! I’m talking about that damn Alex Parker!”

“...”

It seemed that Choi Yeonseung didn’t have to try hard to get Gary to talk to him. After all, he usually had nobody to talk to here, and now that he did, Gary was excited to share his story.

‘Ah, I get how he feels.’

At times, even Choi Yeonseung had felt lonely while wandering in the Abyss. Fortunately, he had only felt that way occasionally. It wasn’t unusual for people to lose their minds due to loneliness.

Gary Nelson was doing forced labor in the Abyss and was surrounded by nothing but robots. It was only natural that he felt lonely.

“Wait. Parker? The chairman of Parker Group?”

“Yes! I’m the one who’s made him all the money he has.”

Gary’s story sounded like a great TV drama.

Gary Nelson, a hunter, and Alex Parker, an entrepreneur, had joined forces at the beginning of the raid era…

Once things started going well, Alex Parker immediately stabbed Gary Nelson in the back with various contracts and took away Gary’s shares in the company.

When Alex caught him off guard and stole his assets, Gary furiously shouted, “How dare you put your hands on an A-grade hunter?!”

Gary was understandably enraged and tried to resolve the matter through force, but Alex Parker had been prepared. He had bribed the government and recruited other A-grade hunters to back him up.

What could Gary have done against that?

“Man... I can’t believe you attacked him so ignorantly. You should always determine how prepared your opponent is before you attack...”

“...”

As the demon bastard lectured him, Gary Nelson choked up in frustration.

It was rather humiliating. He couldn’t believe he was being lectured by a demon… However, he put up with it.

After all, he had no one else to talk to.