WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 28: Itaewon Club (3)

──────

(Recommended BGM: Siloam)

"Oh Lord~! I will thank You! For giving me~ Siloaaam!!"

The hymn rang out pleasantly.

A hymn in a club.

It definitely did not fit the place, but what could anyone do when the big spender told them to sing?

Come on, show yourselves.

It couldn't be easy for demons to sing a hymn. If anyone sang even slightly off-key, God's sulfurous fire would rain down on them!

With that, I made everyone go around and sing the hymn.

Most of them were bad at it.

It was their first time singing a hymn, so most of them sounded awkwardly off-key, and they all looked bewildered by the situation.

Still, a few people sang it naturally.

"You're good. Have you sung hymns before?"

"Yes, I went to church from when I was little."

"Oh... Anyone else here go to church?"

The hostesses who had sung well raised their hands.

"I was born into the faith. I've gone to church since I was little~"

"Me too!"

"Get out."

"???"

I told the hostesses who had just raised their hands to leave.

"What kind of churchgoers work in a place like this? Get out. Now!"

"......"

When I thundered at them, three out of the ten left.

"That fucking psycho."

The hostesses cursed as they left.

Good. That filtered out three people.

I looked at the rest and asked, "Anyone else here have a religion?"

"......"

"......"

Hmm. Too bad. I would have sent out any Buddhists too.

After seeing me throw out the Christians, they probably couldn't bring themselves to admit they had a religion.

Making them sing hymns had been meant to identify Christians in the first place.

About 30 percent of South Korea's population were Christians, including Protestants and Catholics.

That meant that, statistically, three out of every ten people were Christian.

If I could filter out three people, I could narrow things down by a meaningful amount.

That was what I meant by testing their beliefs.

At first, I considered making them drink holy water right away, with whoever drank it and died being the dream demon!

But that relied too much on luck.

Holy water was basically salt water. Anyone who drank it would spit it out at once and tell the others.

That would only filter out one or two people.

Getting rid of three just by making them sing was enough to accomplish my goal.

And even after the three women left, the stench had not faded in the slightest.

They had also fallen neatly into the trap I had set after the women entered.

That meant those three women had been ordinary humans.

"All right. That's enough. Let's get drunk and have some fun now!"

Gagaram livened up the mood and started working the room.

All right, I had to narrow down these seven next.

How was I going to do that?

"Hey~ Stop that and let's drink something nice and have fun, okay?"

"Should we?"

One of the hostesses offered me a drink.

She had a lot of nerve, even after watching me kick people out. That was probably professional spirit.

As I drank the alcohol she poured, I looked around the room.

The skimpy outfits these women wore for work made me uncomfortable.

The air conditioning was blasting. Weren't they cold?

Anyway, we drank and sang, enjoying ourselves.

Unlike me, Gagaram was having a great time, and so was Wolryeong Bodhisattva.

No, why was the Bodhisattva...?

"Wow, ma'am, you know how to have fun. Were you a real wild one back in the day?"

"I was the head hostess at Gukbin-gwan, you brat."

"???"

Was I the only one falling behind the times?

Was this the spirit of the younger generation?

More importantly, how was I supposed to identify the dream demons among them?

At least two out of the seven were dream demons.

I knew dream demons were here.

The dream demons also knew I was an exorcist.

* * *

Sunmi had gone beyond disbelief and started to feel suspicious of this crazy bastard making people line up and sing hymns in a club.

'What? Is this guy an exorcist?'

She had been hunting rather conspicuously around here lately.

A few exorcists had come looking for her.

But they had only become prey or minions of the dream demons.

The power Asmodeus had granted them gave the dream demons an absolute advantage in places like this.

Sunmi exchanged a glance with Jessica.

Whenever someone suspicious of being an exorcist appeared, one of them would go outside and bring in their comrades stationed at the club.

"I'm going to the restroom for a moment."

Jessica rose from her seat to head for the restroom. Then...

'What? What's wrong with her?'

Jessica, who had been about to call in their comrades, stopped at the door.

Like a cockroach frozen in a spot sprayed with insecticide, she trembled and backed away.

'What?! What's wrong?'

'A, a barrier...'

A barrier?

Jessica had whispered it, but that was definitely what she said.

So what?

They were dream demons. Minor demons, perhaps, but still servants of a great demon.

No ordinary barrier or talisman could stop dream demons.

'Holy oil. And it's horribly powerful...'

'...!'

At those words, Sunmi stared at the man she had suspected of being an exorcist.

"......"

Their eyes met.

The man grinned.

This bastard... Had he trapped them in here?

She thought he was just a lunatic making people sing hymns, but he had made a barrier of holy oil at the only entrance!

Still, he did not seem certain which women were dream demons yet.

Making them sing hymns had likely been his way of filtering out Christians.

That meant the other two might be exorcists too.

Three exorcists. Two dream demons.

They were at a disadvantage. If they were exposed, they could not avoid a fight.

"All right, everyone, drink as much as you want. I'll pay for it all."

"Really? You're so generous!"

"Then we're ordering everything~?"

The hostesses ordered drink after drink.

What was his plan?

Still, this benefited the dream demons.

If they kept pouring drinks into them, they would eventually fall asleep drunk.

They could force them to sleep, but that was a last resort.

If they could just put them to sleep, the dream demons would win.

"Great! Want to see who can drink more?"

Hiding their intentions, the two decided to drink their opponents under the table.

Even if they only got tipsy enough to feel drowsy, they would have an opening.

They kept drinking with false smiles when...

"Ugh... I need to use the restroom for a second."

"Ugh, I should go too."

How many bottles had they gone through?

One by one, the hostesses began going to the restroom.

Only then did the two dream demons realize.

'These bastards! Don't tell me!'

'Are they narrowing down the suspects by who goes to the restroom?!'

The dream demons could not leave because of the holy oil barrier.

Humans, on the other hand, could leave without issue.

That meant anyone who left to use the restroom was human, while anyone who could not was a dream demon.

They had fallen into a trap.

'We'll be exposed if this goes on. We have to settle this!'

The list of suspects was shrinking.

It was only a matter of time before the dream demons' identities were revealed.

Sunmi exchanged a glance with Jessica, then pulled out a small bag of white powder from her pocket.

It was a drug distributed at the club.

They seemed able to hold their liquor, but drugs could knock them out in one hit.

She secretly slipped it into the bottles, hiding what she was doing from the other women.

"Here~ Take my drink~"

"Hey. Have a drink."

"Should I?"

Yohan calmly accepted the glass Sunmi offered.

At that moment, Sunmi smiled triumphantly.

Got him.

Gulp, gulp.

The dream demons smiled as Yohan swallowed the alcohol.

It was not a lethal dose, but enough to knock someone out in one shot.

A trick they often used to get leverage over rich suckers.

Once he got drugged and fell asleep, he would be easy to...

'What? Why is he fine?'

Yohan was perfectly fine even after downing the drugged drink in one go.

The two had no way of knowing.

Yohan currently had the Blood-Drinking Ward Bead in his mouth.

The Blood-Drinking Ward Bead could block even a vampire's bloodsucking, the ultimate form of infection.

There was no way it would fail to absorb toxic substances like alcohol or drugs.

Then...

"Cough!"

Jessica, sitting beside him, suddenly grabbed her throat.

She looked as if something had lodged in her throat, then began pouring out tears and snot in agony.

"Aaaah!"

"What's happening?!"

Everyone rose in shock.

Only Sunmi could not understand the situation and stared in disbelief.

'Poison doesn't work on us demons!'

Yet Jessica was in pain.

No, she was thrashing as if she might die at any moment.

"You! Go out and call an ambulance!"

"Y-yes!"

The women rushed out in a panic.

But Sunmi could not leave.

The holy oil barrier stopped her.

Gagaram stepped past Sunmi, who could not get out, and closed the door.

Click!

The door locked from the inside, leaving only four people in the sealed room.

Jessica was melting horrifically.

Truly horrifically... She could not even retain her shape.

It was the worst possible way to die.

"Gari Bodhisattva... Is this really holy water?"

"The Bodhisattva is no ordinary person."

Whew. The operation had worked.

Yohan felt relieved that his plan had succeeded.

Making a barrier by pouring holy oil on the door had been Yohan's idea.

Anyone who could not leave through the only entrance marked with holy oil was a dream demon.

About three people had not gone to the restroom, but they still could not tell which ones were human.

All three might have been dream demons.

So they kept making them drink.

They still had a second plan.

"Gari Bodhisattva, you brought holy water, right? How about mixing it into their drinks?"

"That's a good idea, but how?"

"I'm pretty handy, you know."

While everyone was singing and drinking, Gagaram had secretly mixed in holy water.

Then he gave it to the remaining suspects one by one.

The result came immediately.

Whiiiiine~!

The dream demon's soul was sucked into the brass ring.

As expected, the dead woman had been a dream demon.

After all, a person did not melt just from drinking holy water that was basically salt water.

"There were two dream demons."

"Minions of evil do not travel alone."

The three of them surrounded the remaining dream demon.

"You cowardly human bastards... Ganging up on a woman."

"What kind of crazy bullshit is that? You expect us to give you ladies first in a situation like this?"

"Shit talk worthy of a demon."

Sunmi had brought up something she did not need to say, only to get insulted in return.

Still, she had not accepted defeat yet.

"If you men are going to fight dirty, then I have my own methods. Do you really think there are only 'two' of us?"

At that moment, the dream demon released sinister demonic power.

Yohan hurriedly threw holy water at her, but Sunmi blocked it with her arm.

"Ghhhk!"

Her arm seemed to burn away.

Fortunately, it was not enough to melt her like before.

Sunmi was a fairly high-ranking demon, and she had not had holy water poured directly into her insides.

"You let your guard down! The moment you encountered a high-ranking dream demon like me, your defeat was decided!"

At that moment, all four of them saw darkness.

Gagaram and Wolryeong Bodhisattva fell first.

Then Yohan collapsed, clutching the rosary inside his clothes.

Sunmi also seemed to lose consciousness and fell to the floor.

Soon after, the dream demon's view changed.

A garden spread with green grass and trees.

A quiet world, free and peaceful.

"Ha! No wonder you're God's dogs. Even your dream world is boring."

That was right.

This was a dream.

Sunmi, a high-ranking servant of Asmodeus, could forcibly drag nearby people into a dream.

It was not a risk-free spell.

It consumed a huge amount of demonic power, and she could not move while the spell was in effect.

But dreams were the territory of dream demons.

Here, they were like gods who could mold the world however they pleased.

"Nothing feels better than corrupting a minion who serves God."

The dream demons had corrupted people in dreams and turned them into their dogs.

That was why they preferred clubs and red-light districts, where they could find depraved targets and approach them easily.

They would plant fierce loyalty to themselves in a person's subconscious and take control of society.

To do that, they had to take control of the subconscious first.

"The deeper level... What? I can't go down? Is his inner consciousness so solid because he's an exorcist?"

Then she would have to take the form of someone familiar and get him to naturally let down his guard.

Sunmi thought over some candidates, then recalled the beautiful woman beside him.

Since he had brought her to a place like this, she was probably a precious companion or lover.

Taking Wolryeong Bodhisattva's form, Sunmi met Yohan in the garden of his dream.

"Wolryeong Bodhisattva?"

"Yes, that's right. It's me, Wolryeong Bodhisattva."

Wearing Wolryeong Bodhisattva's face, Sunmi approached Yohan with a seductive smile.

"Bodhisattva?"

"I'd like to get to know you better. You know what I mean, right?"

Sunmi loosened the front of her top slightly as she tempted him.

Men always fell for it, even when they pretended otherwise.

When Sunmi looked back up in anticipation, she found Yohan frowning at her.

"What's... wrong?"

"Sorry, but you're kind of an old la... No, you're not my type."

Old-lady... what?

Why was he so unshakable? He was not wavering at all.

Wolryeong Bodhisattva was an incredibly beautiful woman.

What man would not fall for a beauty like her loosening her clothes and seducing him?

Ah!

Not his type?

Sunmi realized she had made the wrong judgment and quickly changed her form.

Into Gagaram.

With well-trained muscles and his zipper lowered...

"Hey~ Let's have a hot night togeth..."

"Aaah! Fuck off!!"

Thud!

Sunmi was knocked to the ground by a fist Yohan swung in a panic.

Even if a dream demon controlled dreams, the dream's owner was still the dreamer.

The strength of their will was expressed according to how much intent they put into it.

That had been an incredibly powerful will.

'That's not his type either?!'

Then what was he into? Animals or something?

A Christian with such blasphemous tastes!

"Grr! You damn human bastard! Fine, I'll corrupt you no matter what!"

She would try every preference imaginable.

This was a dream, after all.

In this world where minds were connected to minds, she was invincible!

Dream demons tempted people in dreams.

Yohan knew that too.

Meeting a dream demon in a dream.

【Po.】

It was exactly what he wanted.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried