Chapter 2: The Descent into the Demon Realm

Two men, claiming to be from the Association, took me away.

They confined me to a bleak room, furnished only with a single desk and two chairs.

Utterly exhausted, I asked no questions. I simply allowed them to do as they pleased.

A man in a suit placed an unknown device against my wrist. My personal details appeared on its small screen.

[Seo Yeowon. 8 years old. F-rank.]

I slowly raised my head to look at the man. He tapped the inside of my wrist, where he had just placed the device, and informed me that an ID chip was embedded there.

‘So that’s it,’ I thought inwardly, lowering my gaze once more.

“You’re not surprised? Your background doesn’t suggest you’d know about Hunters.”

I saw no need to elaborate that I already knew. The man, who had been observing me, muttered, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter,’ before turning to converse with his companion.

“What are the test results?”

“F-rank for now, and it mostly fits the criteria. Though the blood type is different.”

“That’s a minor detail.”

“They said it was important on their end.”

“Who cares about that? As long as the rank is correct. Last time, we sent someone with a different blood type, and there were no complaints.”

“True.”

After their cryptic conversation ended, both men simultaneously turned to face me.

An inexplicable chill ran down my spine.

I recoiled, instinctively pulling my body back. Creak, the chair scraped loudly across the floor.

In that instant, the two men lunged roughly toward me.

I attempted a futile, belated resistance.

“Stay still. You’ll only get hurt.”

My efforts were as useless as the fluttering wings of a singed moth.

The man subdued me with alarming ease. Meanwhile, the other man pulled a small silver case from his pocket and opened it, revealing a suspicious syringe within.

The man spoke casually to me, even as I clenched my teeth.

“It’s alright. It’ll be over quickly.”

He wasn’t lying. The needle pierced my forearm, and soon after, my vision blurred.

I lost consciousness on the spot.

When I next opened my eyes, I was in an extremely cramped room. The rectangular space contained nothing but a sink, a toilet, and a bed.

‘What is this…?’

I looked up and saw a dimly lit light bulb. It seemed that this faint bulb was the only reason I could discern the room’s interior at all.

“Hey, lights out!”

Startled by a loud voice echoing from beyond the steel door, the light immediately extinguished.

Total darkness enveloped me. I fumbled for the thin blanket, clutching it, and burrowed beneath.

The trembling would not cease.

I curled into myself, consumed by fear for what lay ahead.

The steel door featured two openings. Food was pushed through the square one at every meal.

“Hey, hurry up and stick it out.”

The round opening was for extending an arm. A needle pierced my pale skin.

I didn’t know its contents, but after each injection, I would suffer for days, barely able to control my own body.

I wasn’t alone; faint groans and screams emanated from nearby. The sounds soon quieted.

I couldn’t tell how many days had passed, only that it wasn’t a short amount of time. The steel door finally opened again after my sixth injection.

“Come out.”

A masked man urged me forward. Hesitantly, I looked around before stepping through the doorway.

Beyond the room lay an incredibly vast space. It was an enormous, desolate area, barren of anything save for armed, masked figures standing rigidly at its center—a facility so vast it was hard to believe it was underground.

I swallowed hard, pushing forward with difficulty, when a commotion erupted behind me.

Turning back, I saw several people being half-dragged out, making guttural, animalistic sounds. Every single one of them looked utterly haggard.

Only then did I realize that my cell was just one of countless doors. The sight of steel doors, packed together like a honeycomb, was daunting, but then my gaze fell upon the open ones.

There were only six open doors. Most of the others remained firmly shut. The thought of what lay beyond them made me suddenly imagine the stench of rot.

As if to dismiss the intrusive thought, I quickly averted my gaze. The masked men were looking at me, seemingly urging me forward.

I gritted my teeth and slowly advanced. It wasn’t until I neared the designated spot that I belatedly noticed something amiss.

“Mmph! Mph!”

Beneath the men’s feet, a red circle and a magic circle were drawn, and at each point of the pentagram, tightly bound people struggled.

‘What is this?’

Even in a world where Gates opened and monsters crawled out, this felt like pure fantasy.

“Six people. Quite respectable.”

I turned my head, following the sound of the voice. A man wearing a black mask instead of a hood stood on the opposite side of the magic circle.

He gestured, and the armed thugs roughly prodded the people’s backs. Once everyone had been forcibly pushed onto the formation, the masked man spoke.

“From this moment, think of only one thing.”

His previously excited voice deepened ominously.

“Survival.”

In his gleaming eyes, fixed upon us, I sensed an indescribable madness.

“You must survive and retrieve Grisha’s Three Crescents.”

With his words, the formation began to glow. Simultaneously, the five masked figures bound to the pentagram writhed in agony.

The ominous atmosphere terrified the people. The thugs, seemingly accustomed to this, pointed their guns to prevent anyone from leaving.

Despite the surrounding chaos, I kept my gaze fixed on the masked man. He reached into his jacket, pulled something out, and tossed it into the center of the formation.

It was a small cloth pouch.

Clink.

Inside the pouch, I heard the sound of pebble-like objects clashing together. Still in a state of panic, the other people failed to notice the pouch.

Thwack!

The head of a violently writhing masked figure exploded.

Thud! Thwack!

The second and third died in the same gruesome manner. Finally, people disregarded the guns and rushed out like a swarm of locusts.

The thugs, seemingly familiar with such a scene, expertly blocked their escape. Those who attempted to flee were mercilessly kicked, collapsing like bundles of straw.

Amidst the pandemonium, I remained eerily calm. The masked man cast an intrigued glance my way.

After a brief moment of eye contact, I turned my head to the center of the formation. There, sitting alone and unnoticed, was the pouch.

‘Why did I do that?’

Even looking back, I couldn’t understand my own reasons. I threw myself forward and snatched the pouch.

Perhaps it was my sudden movement, but the masked figure standing nearby couldn’t hide their surprise. It seemed they hadn’t expected me to approach the formation itself.

“?!”

Yet, that momentary confusion paled in comparison to the masked man’s reaction. His composure vanished instantly.

The sheer horror that pierced through his mask told me I was doing something right. The objects in my hand were hard, small, and slightly rounded.

They felt like distorted glass beads. I grabbed a handful of the white objects that spilled from the loosened opening.

My initial thought was to throw them at the man. ‘But would that even matter? He’d just throw them back.’

My hesitation was brief. I emptied the beads into my mouth and swallowed them whole.

“You insane…!”

I grinned. The madness had been worth it.

At that moment, my vision suddenly turned white. I couldn’t tell if it was due to the coldness that began to freeze me from within, or the light radiating from the formation.

With a chilling coldness that squeezed my chest, I collapsed and lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes, a purple sky stretched above me. The red earth was overgrown with poisonous plants of five colors, and grotesque monsters roamed everywhere.

I thought I hadn’t fully woken from a dream, but I was wrong. Three crescent moons, each of a different size, seemed to mock me from above.

This was the Demon Realm.

Every moment in the Demon Realm was a struggle for survival. Simply breathing, the dense demonic energy seeped in, piercing my lungs.

My frail human body rapidly deteriorated. My organs twisted, and I incessantly vomited blood.

Half of the people who had fallen with me died within a single day. The rest perished day by day.

Within three days, I was alone, gradually transforming into something that could no longer be called human.

Demonic energy simultaneously ravaged my human body and, with its pure power, restored my broken physique. The newly formed body was incomparably stronger and more resilient than before.

It was a kind of molting. The process was accompanied by inexpressible agony.

Blood flowed from my nail-pierced palms, and flesh tore from my lips, only to be restored once the transformation ended.

My left hand, torn off by a monster, regrew, and my right hand, melted by a carnivorous plant, also regenerated. The newly sprouted hands were pristine, without a single scar.

I ran my fingers over my wrist. The ID chip that had been embedded there was surely gone now.

My eyes, reflected in the water, grew increasingly sharp and venomous. When I found myself sweetly drinking water imbued with demonic energy, I finally hunted and devoured a small rat monster.

I felt no aversion to eating raw meat. The bitter entrails, chewed between my teeth, tasted sweet.

I was reminded of the goddess who ate pomegranate seeds and became bound to the underworld. Yet, there was no spirit or elegance in me, no defiance like hers despite being abducted by ruffians.

I willingly succumbed to corruption, becoming an inhabitant of the Demon Realm.

The more I moved and ate, the more my body absorbed demonic energy like a sponge. Then, upon reaching a certain threshold, a familiar transformation would occur.

My body would twist, my organs would tear, and then, at some point, everything would be fine again. And there I would be, incomparably stronger than before.

The demonic energy that had once constricted my body was no longer perceptible. The suffocating feeling, like a fish living without awareness of water, also dissipated.

My prey changed accordingly. From rats to wolves, then ferocious magical beasts, and finally, a massive golem over five meters tall.

Clutching a fist-sized core extracted from the chest of the fallen magical automaton, I visited a village in the Demon Realm.

I had been nervous and hesitant, fearing my human identity would be exposed, but my worries proved unfounded. No one suspected me.

Since many demi-demons could assume human forms, I was simply regarded as a peculiar mutant.

After exchanging the core for money, the first thing I bought was clothes. Shedding my tattered rags and donning ordinary clothes with a hood, I became outwardly indistinguishable.