“My siblings…My siblings…”
As Specter chased after Torres to the hall, Marco stood up as if he was possessed. He couldn’t take more than a few steps before he vomited again.
“Bleeghh! Ugh…”
Marco was a responsible older brother, but he was still only 19. He was too young to watch dozens of fiends explode like water balloons.
“Anna…Shu…Leo…Finn…” Remembering his younger siblings, Marco struck his trembling legs. He barely managed to stand up, but he slowly started to make his way to the benches, where his siblings had collapsed. The sea of blood made the ground slippery, and the stench of iron pricked his nose with every step he took.
“Wake up! Anna! Leo!”
When he made it to the bench, he tried to shake them awake but they remained unconscious. Even though they had become fiends, the children were only level 1. They couldn’t handle Specter’s venomous bloodthirst.
“What do I do…What do I do?”
Just as he was panicking, the doors of the lecture hall opened and he saw Specter walk in.
“S-Specter-nim! Over here!” Marco waved frantically, and he made his way over. “They’re not waking up. Did they hit their heads too hard?”
“…Perhaps.”
“I think we should take them to the hospital as soon as possible. Because the demon blood—shouldn’t we take it out? They’ll go back to normal then…” He blubbered. Seo Jun-Ho looked down at him.
He knew why Marco was acting like this.
‘…Poor kid.’
Marco already knew that it was too late for his siblings to return. Seo Jun-Ho understood, and he felt sorry for him.
“Huh?” Marco looked up when Specter started to stroke his head. Specter, a legendary Player that he had always looked up to, was stroking his hair. Marco should have felt happy, but tears formed in his eyes instead. Once he started crying, he couldn’t stop.
He begged with a choked voice. “Please…Please save my siblings.” But he wasn’t stupid. He knew that no fiend had ever turned back to normal. “They’ve already been thrown away once. They didn’t have many clothes or even food. Ever since they were old enough to think, they had to steal food and run away just so that they wouldn’t die.”
How could such pitiful kids be fiends? They were children who cried because they couldn’t understand why they didn’t have parents. He couldn’t just let them die when they had never experienced happiness. Marco felt like his chest was being ripped apart from the unfairness of it all.
“…”
Seo Jun-Ho felt bad as he watched Marco sob. He hated fiends, but these children weren’t the fiends he was thinking about.
‘They did nothing wrong.’
True, some of them had killed before, but that was because they had been under Torres’ control. They wouldn’t even remember their victims.
‘And it’s all my fault that this happened.’
Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes tightly. He understood how Marco felt. He truly wanted to help him, but he couldn’t because…
They were fiends.
“I understand how you feel.” Seo Jun-Ho said.
Marco raised his head. There was hope in his red, swollen eyes.
“But I still can’t,” Seo Jun-Ho said in a resolute voice that shattered Marco’s hope. He knew how cruel it would be to give Marco hope in a situation like this.
“Why not? Why can’t you? You heard what he said, they didn’t want to become fiends in the first place!” Marco protested.
“Marco. Do you know why society treats fiends so badly?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.
Marco couldn’t answer. News and reports had always talked about the crimes and terrorism committed by fiends. He only thought of them as criminals and most people thought the same.
“When a person drinks demon blood, one of two things happen. They either die because they can’t adjust to it, or they become a fiend.” Seo Jun-Ho pointed. The children were starting to stir.
“Huh…?”
“Ow, my head. Where is this place?”
“Sniff sniff… What’s that smell? Blood?”
The first thing they saw when they woke up was a hall covered in blood. Just like Marco had, they started to vomit.
“Urp…!”
“Bleegh!”
Marco watched them. “Look, they’re just like me. They’re humans.” 𝐨𝘃𝗹.
“Yes, humans and fiends aren’t so different. But…”
The childrens’ eyes turned red at the sight of blood. As if attracted by a magnet, they started to walk toward the two.
“…Oppa?”
“Hyung…”
Among them were Marco’s siblings. Marco started to run toward them, but Seo Jun-Ho grabbed him.
“You can’t.”
“What are you saying? They’re my siblings! Let me go!”
“…”
Seo Jun-Ho silently held onto him.
A moment later, Anna approached them. She shook her head, confused. “Oppa…I think something’s wrong with me.”
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did you get injured?” Marco asked.
“Oppa…I really like you, but…” She raised her hands and they started to shake violently as if she was having a nervous breakdown. “Why…Why do I want to kill you?”
“…!” Marco’s mouth dropped in shock and he couldn’t say anything. He looked up at Seo Jun-Ho, trembling.
“…Do you get it now? That’s what a fiend is.” Characteristically, demons were violent and savage. Once humans drank their blood and became fiends, they would become the same as them. Although they would be able to use the power of the demon clans, they would have the constant, uncontrollable urge to kill.
‘I’m sorry.’
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes held pity as he looked at Anna. She was still a young child. She was still at an age where she needed the warmth and support of a parent.
It was unfair that she had to die without even knowing why.
“…You understand now, don’t you? Why society rejects and hates fiends so much.”
“…”
Instead of responding, Marco squeezed his eyes shut. He understood.
‘…Because they kill the people that are precious to others.’
Those who became fiends were no longer humans. They were monsters that always wanted to kill, even those that they loved.
“Don’t come any closer,” Seo Jun-Ho warned with a sharp edge to his voice. But the children couldn’t control themselves and continued.
He let out a long sigh and just as he grabbed Anna’s wrist to break it, a system message appeared before his eyes.
[You sense very low demonic energy from the target.]
[Watchguard of Darkness can absorb demonic energy.]
[After absorption, magic stat will increase.]
“…!” Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes widened. He read over the message several times.
‘Very low demonic energy? And I can absorb it? This is…’
It was the same message that had appeared when he treated Choi Sun-Hee’s Nine Yin Severance Syndrome.
His head started to spin.
‘Impossible. I’ve killed hundreds of fiends, but this has never happened before.’
Had Watchguard of Darkness developed a new ability after 25 years? He didn’t believe that.
‘If there’s a reason why this is happening…’
Then it wasn’t because of him. It was them.
‘Maybe…?’
Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes began to sparkle. He remembered Torres’ memory—the conversation between him and Chef.
– Exactly. They aren’t Players. Even if we feed them the blood, they’ll only become half-rate fiends.
Half-rate fiend—that was what Chef called these children. On top of that, the children hadn’t been Players before they drank the blood of the demon clan. In other words, Paradise had taken children who didn’t have any talent and fed them a demon’s blood.
‘This is it. This is the only difference between them.’
Most of the fiends that Seo Jun-Ho encountered had been Players who were tempted by a stronger power. That was it—they were Players.
“…Specter-nim.” Marco bit his lips and raised his head, revealing his tear-stained face. He looked like he had made a decision. “Please…Please let me be the one to end it.”
Because of his misjudgement, his younger siblings had become fiends. Someone had to deal with them now that they were no longer humans and Marco thought that he should be the one to do it.
“…Are you sure? This will follow you for the rest of your life. You won’t ever forget it.”
“I’ll carry the burden and push through. That’s what you told me.”
Specter had told him that a Player had to keep going even if the people they loved died in front of them.
Both Seo Jun-Ho and the Frost Queen patted him on the head.
“I’m proud of you.”
“You should be proud.”
“…?”
As he looked down at Marco’s confused face, Seo Jun-Ho felt sure that he would become a great Player.
‘There aren’t many Players that could cry for others.’
“Too bad. I don’t think you need to carry that heavy burden just yet.”
Seo Jun-Ho poured his magic into Anna, pushing it into her circuits.
‘Consume it.’
Seo Jun-Ho expelled the small amount of demonic energy stuck in her circuits with a single push. Watchguard of Darkness lapped up the crumbs. It only took 3 seconds for his magic to travel all throughout Anna’s small body.
[Magic increased by 0.05.]
The amount of magic he gained was also small. But beneath his mask, Seo Jun-Ho was grinning wide. Anna’s eyes faded back to normal.
“Huh?! Anna, your eyes!”
“You can touch her now. She’s your sister again.”
“How…Anna! Are you okay?!”
Anna fell to the ground, and he rushed over to help her.
“Oppa…? M-my brain feels foggy. My memory’s vague…And I’m tired.”
“You idiot… Thank god…Thank god!”
“…Ew, why are you crying on me? Give me some space.”
Seo Jun-Ho watched them fondly. The Frost Queen saw him and cackled.
“My goodness, is my contractor weak to children?”
“…Shut up. I’m not.” Seo Jun-Ho snorted.
“You are a man with many weaknesses.”
“I said I’m not. I don’t have any weaknesses.”
“Fufu. So you say.” The Frost Queen stuck her tongue out and took her seat on his shoulder.
They were smiling.