### Chapter 470 – Room 206, The Cursed Room – ‘Demon King Revives After 100 Days’ Re (29)
—
– Kim Mooksung
In the gloomy mansion filled with silence, Seungyub, peering through binoculars, muttered,
“People are gathering.”
“…”
“Could they be planning a protest?”
Protest, huh… Even someone clueless would realize that there have been issues with the water supply by now, so it was about time for things to go haywire.
“That’s good news.”
“What?”
“If they go outside to protest and waste their energy, they’ll collapse faster, right? That means the time we need to hold out here gets shorter.”
“I guess you could think of it that way.”
Seeing Seungyub anxiously watching the outside reminded me of that guy’s ‘clean field tactics.’ To summarize the plan roughly:
Before the Demon King feasts on humanity, let’s cut off humanity’s lifeline ourselves. Once the food runs out and the Demon King leaves Earth, we’ll resurrect the dead as masters of time—it’ll be a success.
However, there were three major issues with this ridiculous plan.
First, how do we kill them all?
Survivors wouldn’t just number in the dozens or hundreds. There are over 2.3 billion people on Earth, and even more in Paradise!
Second, what if the Demon King descends during the process?
The Demon King is docile because relentless reason offers daily sacrifices. To do this, we need city-wide control, but can such control be maintained when the city itself is falling apart? If it comes to everyone dying, those informers and agents who were once the ruling class won’t listen to orders!
Third, will the Demon King really act as we expect?
Let’s say the plan succeeds. If we’ve succeeded in cutting off humanity’s lifeline and the Demon King wakes up in a world full of corpses, will it simply leave as we hope? After all, it knows about the prisoners, the participants, and the hotel!
“Phew…”
“Grandpa?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Isn’t it too too many holes in this plan? The fact that everyone agreed to such a flimsy plan felt like a silly joke.
Thinking about the colleague who pushed this absurd plan, I felt a gloomy thought cross my mind.
Did we agree to this plan? Or were we ‘agreed upon’?
“… Wow, I’m just being silly.”
Just then, it registered a piercing noise from afar.
— Bang! Bang!
“Here, I heard there’s water… there’s water!”
“Get lost; we have nothing to drink.”
“Please… please! E-Elena! Are you listening? Our whole family are fans of yours! Just one bottle for the kids—”
— Thud!
“AAAH!”
“Last warning shot. Next shot is for the head.”
“AAAAH…”
Just hearing it from a distance painted a horrific picture. Obviously, Seungyub’s expression next to me turned deeper into despair as well.
We had generously utilized Elena’s wealth to stock up on food and water, and now we were all holed up at Elena’s mansion. Surely, the clueless Paradise folks couldn’t have made such preparations?
Every day, people showed up pleading for even a single bottle of water.
“What a relief.”
“Relief? What on Earth is there to be relieved about?”
This guy was reacting as if the word ‘relief’ shouldn’t have even come up in this situation, but to me, it was a true relief.
If only people like Seungyub were left in the mansion, what kind of situation would that cause? They’d be debating over whether to give one bottle of water or not while sobbing!
When it came to this kind of problem, Eunsol or Jinchul weren’t that reliable either. Thankfully, Seunghyun teacher is quite resolute, chasing out outsiders without wavering.
“Seungyub, go fetch Songee.”
First off, the issue of ‘how to kill off all survivors’ was solved by our comrades who went below.
All the paths leading outside the city are blocked, and the water supply was gradually being cut off. It means destruction is just a matter of time.
Secondly, the matter of ‘what if the Demon King descends during the process?’ must be resolved by those above.
“… Resolved, huh?”
A snort escaped me. This plan felt more ridiculous than ever.
All we could do was hope for salvation at the end of the pain everyone had to endure.
“Grandpa.”
“Have you heard from the progenitor?”
“… Yes.”
“What did they say?”
“They asked if I knew the reason the pipes were cut. I said I didn’t know.”
“And then?”
“… They said if it continued like this, it would be hard to maintain the unyielding reason and seemed worried.”
“Hmm. It’s about to begin. Prepare yourself mentally.”
“… You too, Grandpa.”
“I’m always prepared.”
A smile broke out on my face as I saw Songee, who had been stiff, smile back.
Right, this is how it should be.
Even if the Earth crumbles tomorrow, we must be able to laugh today.
…
Five more days passed, and the water supply was completely cut off.
Then, four days later, in the morning…
Having gone over a week without a wash, everyone gathered looking utterly ragged.
In silence, we cracked open cans and shoved the food into our mouths.
Suddenly, an indescribable, intense sense of alienation struck us all.
“Ah!”
“Y-Yeah!”
“It’s back!”
“Here we go!”
The powers of blessing and inheritance were returning. This signified that the progenitor had lost control over the confused Paradise, and the unyielding reason had stopped working.
It also meant the Demon King’s descent was near.
“Phew.”
Out of thirst, many had already withered away. The number must have exceeded a billion at this point.
However, there were quite a few who had weathered the storm, monopolizing whatever little water remained with power and wealth. What would happen if the Demon King devoured these survivors?
They won’t be able to be resurrected.
This was the second problem of the ‘clean field tactics.’
The only ones who could resolve this problem were us, and the answer was singular.
We had endured from within Paradise for this very purpose.
At least for the people of Paradise, we would seek ‘salvation.’
— Snap!
“Kids, it’s time to start.”
“…”
“…”
“Kill them all. Before the Demon King devours the survivors, let’s do it with our own hands!”
*
As we exited the Elena mansion, which had been our holdout for so long, a hellish scene came into view that I could hardly bear to witness.
Signs of conflict were revealed here and there, corpses rolling on the ground, and—
— Squee! Gulp! Slurp!
Songee turned her head away in disgust as she saw a person sucking the blood from a corpse to quench their thirst.
And soon, the kids started scattering to their chosen positions.
Where should I go?
“Where’s Karidropp?”
“I denounce the lies of the progenitor! I denounce them!”
“Thieving scum of the mansion! Come down this instant!”
“… The energy still seems good. It looks like they still had some fight left in them.”
As I approached the plaza, there were at least hundreds, no—thousands of people in an enormous crowd.
None had probably had a drop of water in over three days, but their spirits were chillingly fierce.
What moved them was not strength but anger—a boundless resentment towards the Karidropp family, who turned the city into hell.
Come what may, they desired to stab the rulers before dying themselves, fueling their last fire to the end.
Yet, their perception of reality was completely incorrect.
Until very recently, the entity controlling the city wasn’t the Karidropp family but the progenitor, acting through a proxy, and she bore no responsibility for the cut-off supply.
We cut the water ourselves.
“… Karidropp, step down!”
I joined the protestors, raising my voice alongside theirs.
[‘Mob Psychology’ Activated!]
“Karidropp, step down! Step down!”
“Step down! Step down!”
I moved forward as if I’d been leading the protest from the start.
Naturally, the enraged crowd parted for me as if it was only fair.
“The Karidropp family led us to hell!”
“The Karidropp family—”
“Punish the greedy mayor!”
“Punish them!”
Like parrots, the crowd mimicked my words as if under a spell, and at some point, I found myself standing on a podium, leading them.
Ah, standing at such a height revealed everything.
I could see what these people wanted and how I could achieve my goals.
A bizarre sensation of omnipotence surged through me.
Kain used to enjoy speaking so well, and now I understood why.
“Citizens suffering from thirst! Hear my words!”
“We hear you! We hear you!”
There were countless people in the crowd, but no megaphone.
I worried that people in the back might not hear me, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Bizarrely, everyone was focused on every single word and action of mine.
“Let’s go to the mansion! Let’s bring down the wrath upon those devils, the Karidropps!”
“Wrath! Wrath!”
“Let’s go!”
The luxurious mansion above Paradise was once the most noble place in the city.
Yet now it was the focal point of everyone’s hatred.
— Boom!
“…”
A strange noise echoed from the sky.
Surely this must be a sign of the Demon King awakening.
I hurried my steps, continuing to shout.
“Wrath upon Karidropp!”
“Wrath! Wrath!”
“Punish the sinners!”
“Punish! Punish!”
A parched and starving crowd, certainly people who should’ve collapsed from exhaustion, were led by hatred right up to the mansion.
Breathless, people stared in a daze at the mansion in the sky, and someone unknown questioned me as if seeking an answer.
“Uh, what do we do?”
“What do you mean?”
“The mansion is above, right! We need to fulfill the wrath, punish them—burn those Karidropp trash!”
“Good thought! Communicate that feeling upwards.”
“So how do we do that! The mansion is in the sky—”
I turned to the crowd and smiled broadly.
“Everyone, what are you pondering? Here, can you see the pipes leading up to the mansion?”
Climb.
Climb and vent your hatred.
Climb those pipes until you drop dead from exhaustion!
*
— Kim Sanghyun
Hundreds, thousands of people gripped metallic pipes, climbing dozens of meters high.
It’s impossible even when you have normal strength, let alone with bodies weakened after days.
Naturally, those climbing soon slipped and fell to the ground.
But the truly bizarre thing happened next.
Like possessed by ghosts, those who fell began to climb the pipes again, falling and then climbing repeatedly!
Even as people beside them fell to their deaths, others rushed headlong into the pipe like they were blind.
Clearly, they would repeat that action until they drop dead.
Is this what it’s like to be a ‘lemming’ jumping into the water, even after witnessing someone drowning before them?
“You’re creating quite an amazing scene, agent.”
I’ve thought it before.
Having spent each day together face to face, we’d not realized that in the hotel party, humans are no longer human.
There are demigods deluding themselves into thinking they’re human, and those who can’t even deceive themselves anymore.
Becoming something other than human, having been born a person—this is not a good thing.
Haven’t we experienced countless times in the hotel?
Gods, devils, transcendants—they are essentially all beast-like entities.
“…”
It’s pointless musings, of course.
I, too, am no different from that.
It’s time for decisions aimed not at flimsy sympathy but for the greater cause.
I reached towards the densest place in Paradise, where countless apartments were crammed together, so many they couldn’t be counted.
“I’d like to change this juvenile starter phrase. ‘I am now death, the destroyer of worlds.’”
In the moment a flash pierced through dozens of apartments, the triangle left within human Kim Sanghyun faded.
‘Do you believe today’s murder will disappear just because you rewind time later?’
And so I answered.
‘I just wish today’s suffering will be the cornerstone for tomorrow’s salvation.’
As the scenario moves toward its climax, the more elements the writer must deliberate upon, making my sense of timing go haywire.
The haunted hotel escape story happens to be my first work, and I think there’s an evident lack of long serialization experience. I will try my best to improve.
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