WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 30: Just by Encountering It (2)

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A gaze.

That was all. The dream demon had merely met that thing's gaze.

There had been no attack.

Some of its kin had been ground apart by the rings, but that was like getting swept up in a passing typhoon, caught in a natural disaster.

That thing had done nothing but remain still. The dream demon was a moth that had flown into a blazing fire.

But.

Even so.

"Ah..."

Its body swayed.

Something was wrong.

Its thoughts would not connect.

Even when it tried to pull itself together, remembering what it had seen made its head throb as if it had been struck.

"Ah, aah..."

Only a sobbing scream came from the dream demon's mouth.

No, it was not a scream. It was the collapse of language itself.

Its memories melted away, its personality came apart.

The being it called itself was about to scatter like mist.

All because it had met its eyes.

It was unfair. So terribly unfair.

The gaze of the One who existed beyond was, by itself, almost too much to endure.

How fortunate were those who had died beneath the rings.

Being ground away and disappearing without even realizing they had died would have been better than this miserable destruction.

It wept, laughed, and clawed at its head.

Before long, blood poured from its entire body.

This was the price of looking upon something it should never have seen.

「And He said, You cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.」

No one who had beheld the Throne that carried out His power had any right to live.

* * *

A massive club in Shanghai, China.

Club culture was supposedly a symbol of darkness and depravity, but the club scene on the mainland went beyond imagination.

Every country had its culture of showing off and hostesses, but when the Party protected it, the scale escalated exponentially.

Ordinary people would not just frown at a place like this. They would be horrified.

To certain beings, though, it was paradise.

"Tch. They're still having fun in the filthiest ways."

"Do you feel uncomfortable despite being a demon, Belial?"

He was a beautiful young man.

Yet he gave off a decadent, dangerous air.

Belial, the sixty-eighth demon, clicked his tongue as if the young man was laughable.

"They have no class. What is so enjoyable about lowly things getting lost in lowly pleasures and failing to hold grand ambitions, Asmodeus?"

Asmodeus, the thirty-second demon. The demon of lust, ruler of carnal desire.

This beautiful demon, once a fallen angel, pursued ugly and filthy pleasures regardless of his appearance.

"Why? I like it. Humans always pursue pleasures more creatively decadent than we demons do."

"Astaroth."

Astaroth, the twenty-ninth demon, was a gorgeous beauty, the complete opposite of the handsome Asmodeus.

By coincidence, all three shared one trait. They were demons who had once been angels, fallen angels.

Once, they had delivered God's word and led God's legions.

Now, they had fallen and been cast into Hell.

That shared bond had formed their current demonic faction, but...

"So? I've seen enough of your den. Why did you call us here?"

"Decarabia is dead."

"..."

"Decarabia?"

The two demons were not shaken by the death of one of their kind.

Demons did not truly die.

They were immortal beings. Death only meant being expelled from this world.

Who could possibly erase a demon's soul?

"So what? How many times has that idiot died already? He failed to manifest in the mortal realm several times."

"I don't mean it that way. Dead... That is not accurate either. 'Eaten' would fit better."

"What are you talking about?"

Astaroth, who had been lazily lying down and swallowing grapes, frowned.

"Stop twisting your words and say it plainly. Even listening is tiring."

"Lazy as ever. Though that is what you govern."

Asmodeus shrugged and continued.

"Decarabia did not return to Hell after he was expelled from the mortal realm. What do you think that means?"

"...!"

"...!"

The two demons immediately understood.

Demonic souls were immortal.

They were beings born from the Great One's breath.

Only the owner of that breath had the power to bind them.

Even if they died, their souls were supposed to return to where they belonged.

But Decarabia's soul had not returned to Hell?

"...!"

At that moment, Asmodeus felt a shock strike his mind.

"What's wrong?"

"...My servants died. All at once."

"I do not care how many of your whores died."

"..."

Even through Belial's mockery, Asmodeus searched for the souls of his dead servants.

All servants of the demon Asmodeus belonged in his grasp.

If they died, they should naturally return to his hand.

But they had not returned.

Like a gust of sand, they had slipped from his fingertips, empty and impossible to hold.

Yet in the memories of the souls he traced, Asmodeus saw it.

A vast gaze.

Countless gazes.

A being so enormous and majestic that it could be mistaken for the sky.

"Father! Are You planning to lock us in the King's Brass Ring and punish us again?!"

"Asmodeus?"

"The King's Brass Ring?"

Belial and Astaroth sprang to their feet at those words.

The King's Brass Ring.

There was no demon who did not know it.

Those shameful, agonizing days.

They had been used by the king, then imprisoned in a brass vessel and cast aside.

For a long time, until they could spill into this land again through human desire, it had been an era of humiliation and chaos.

"What are you talking about, Asmodeus? Speak clearly!"

"The King's Brass Ring? Are you saying that bastard Solomon has been reborn?!"

"..."

At their urging, Asmodeus reconstructed the being beyond with burning eyes.

The dream demons had clearly seen it.

They had dared to look, and so they had died.

No one who dared to see its form could live.

Its nature itself was exercised as God's power.

"Father's Throne has descended to earth."

"...The Throne."

"It must be for the crowning of a new king."

"Yes, and to make slaves of us for the king once again."

It could not be allowed.

They could not suffer such humiliation again.

"The Throne and this era's Solomon are in Korea."

There was only one thing they had to do.

Kill him before he became king.

* * *

I opened my eyes.

For some reason, I felt refreshed, like I had gotten a really good night's sleep.

It looked like the rosary had worked perfectly.

"Is everyone alri... Good grief."

I had been checking whether Gagaram and Wolryeong Bodhisattva were safe when the corpse of a dead dream demon in front of me made me jump.

The dream demon that had melted to death after holy water was poured into its body had been horrifying enough, but the dream demon that had dragged us into the dream world was in no better shape.

Blood poured from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

The fact that it had not even closed its eyes after dying made the sight even more awful.

I had expected something, but this much?

"Ugh... Gari Bodhisattva? Are you all right? That dream demon made one last desperate struggle."

"Mmm... That was close. To think it was such a high ranking demon."

Good thing I had prepared for the possibility that the dream demon had magic that could force people to sleep.

"Get in there!"

"We can't! It's like something's blocking us!"

There was a commotion outside.

I did not know how long we had been asleep, but it had clearly been long enough for people to gather outside.

"What do we do? There goes any chance of sneaking out quietly."

"Gari Bodhisattva, do you have more holy water?"

"Huh? Ah, yes."

"Give it to me for now."

When I took the holy water from my pocket and handed it to Gagaram, he started pouring it onto the dead dream demon's body.

Sizzle!

The dream demon's corpse melted until its shape was unrecognizable.

Soon, it became a gelatinous lump that could not possibly be mistaken for a person, just like the dream demon from before.

Scrape, scrape!

Gagaram gathered it with his foot and pushed it beneath a chair.

"Whew. Evidence disposal complete."

"No, is that really enough?"

"For now, yeah. Even if the police come, it should be enough for them to conclude there is no body, right?"

No body meant no evidence.

Even if it became a problem, the lack of evidence should be enough to get us released.

"It'll be a headache if we're caught red handed."

"Gagaram is right."

Hmm, cleaning up evidence.

I never thought holy water could be used to erase evidence.

I felt a little weird about using my holy water like this, but I had learned something useful.

"But why can't they get in? We locked the door, but they can't get past that?"

"Should we go outside?"

When I opened the door, I found something firmly blocking the entrance.

"Huh. Gari?"

Clack, clack!

It was not just Gari.

Eight-Foot Sister was crouched beside Gari, waiting for us.

Eight-Foot Sister and Jjaekjjaeki were one thing, but Gari was a spiritual entity with a physical form.

If Gari blocked the entrance, people would probably feel as if there was an invisible wall there.

"You did a good job blocking them. Thanks."

I had left them outside because I was worried the dream demons would notice them, but I had told them to push their way in if anything happened.

When my connection to Jjaekjjaeki was cut off, Jjaekjjaeki must have brought the two of them over.

"If we leave like this, we'll clash with the club staff."

"It'll be a headache, but we have no choice."

"I do have a way."

"Hm?"

"Bodhisattva, do you have an idea?"

At that, I spoke to Gari.

"Gari, open your mouth."

Gaaape!

...

...

...

When the club staff heard that a hostess had died in VIP Room 3, they grabbed their weapons and rushed over.

"Are you sure? Someone melted to death?"

"It's true! It was Jessica! Her whole body melted, and she died!"

"It better not be a lie!"

The club guard wondered if the hostesses had taken drugs.

A person melting to death? That made no sense.

But if it was true, what the hell was in Room 3?

The guard gathered all the subordinates and rushed over, but for some reason, they could not enter Room 3.

"W, what is this?"

"Something's here?!"

Something was there.

They could not see it, but no matter how hard they pushed, something like an unmoving wall blocked the entrance to Room 3.

"What are you doing? Push!"

"Yes!"

But how could human strength move a being beyond human?

They struggled against the immovable something for a while, then the wall suddenly vanished and they all toppled over.

"Urgh!"

"W, what the hell?!"

The wall was gone?

What was going on?

They had no time to be confused. They entered Room 3 and soon found it empty.

"What... There is nothing here?"

The VIPs and the hostess who had supposedly died were all gone.

Every trace of people had vanished from Room 3 without a trace.

* * *

Ptooey!

"Ow!"

"Aah!"

Outside the club, Gari spat us out, and we landed badly enough to roll a couple of times.

"Whew. Escape successful."

"Ugh..."

"Are you two okay?"

Gagaram and Wolryeong Bodhisattva were shivering as if they were cold.

"F, for some reason, I have chills."

"M, me too. I think I felt something like... a gaze."

Unlike me, the two of them seemed to have been creeped out by being inside Gari.

Well, I knew Gari was on my side, but to them, it must have felt like being swallowed by some unknown space.

"Gari, good work. Thanks again for coming to help."

Clack, clack!

I patted Gari, then walked over to Eight-Foot Sister and Jjaekjjaeki.

"You both did a good job too. You watched over me in the dream, right? I could sort of feel it."

【Po~】

Chirp!

Anyway, this problem was resolved...

Whoosh!

At that moment, a faint green glow drifted toward me and was absorbed by the brass ring.

It was the same phenomenon that happened when I defeated an urban legend.

Come to think of it, a similar glow had been absorbed when the dream demon died inside the club too.

"Was that the dream demon named Sunmi?"

But why had it only been absorbed now?

Just as I wondered if the timing was a little late.

"Huh."

I saw lights filling the sky.

Dozens... no, maybe even more than a hundred glowing lights were rushing toward me.

No way...

All of those... all of them?

Footnotes:

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