Chapter 13: I Like the House

The Demon God’s group descended the hill and stood before the mansion’s gate.

“Do you really have to go inside?”

The elderly real estate agent asked again, his face etched with worry.

“Of course.”

The Demon God answered vigorously.

Even if they weren’t as enthusiastic as him, the Team Leader and the members also nodded for the time being.

It couldn’t be helped, as it was said that this mansion even came equipped with a soundproof room.

“To think the owner was preparing to establish an agency at the end…”

“He died before the official founding, however. For that reason, other agencies coveted this place as a dorm several times, but after experiencing ominous occurrences, they never looked back.”

Nonetheless, Origin Ent was in a position where they had to meticulously examine even the places others wouldn’t consider.

“You said it was possible with our budget. We must take a look.”

“Sigh… fine, then.”

The agent nodded reluctantly at the Team Leader’s words.

“But the gate uses a key instead of a door lock? Do you have to bring the key from the office?”

The mansion’s gate was the type where you pressed the intercom for someone inside to open it.

Otherwise, you had to use a key to enter.

It seemed like it would inevitably take some time, but.

“It probably won’t be necessary.”

As soon as the agent replied with a dark expression, the gate opened on its own with a clanking sound.

“…….”

Everyone’s faces turned pale.

“It is welcoming me. Let us enter.”

Except for the Demon God, of course.

The Demon God simply moved his feet with delight.

“I will be at the parked car. Please, return safely…”

Leaving the agent’s ominous words behind, the group followed the Demon God into the mansion.

***

The main door of the house was wide open.

It felt like it was inviting them in, which only made them want to run away.

“Follow my lead.”

However, under the Demon God’s leadership, the group ended up entering the house before they knew it.

“What is with this place? Even the atmosphere is eerie.”

Yoon-seo looked around the mansion like a meerkat.

Outside, the early September sunlight was blazing down.

Yet, the inside of the mansion was dark and chilly.

“In horror movies, people die when they go where they’re told not to. Can’t we just leave?”

Yoon-seo shivered and grabbed onto Tae-young.

Tae-young’s arm was quite tense, confirming that he was also nervous.

“Fear? You dare discuss fear in my presence?”

The Demon God laughed as if he had heard an amusing story.

“…….”

Yoon-seo stared at the Demon God for a moment.

‘The mansion is scary, but Sun-woo hyung is just as strange, so maybe it’ll be okay?’

Even such a thought occurred to him.

However, as he looked around, a large mirror hanging on the wall caught his eye.

Tap.

A faint handprint appeared.

“Aaaah!”

“Yoon-seo, what is the matter?”

“Look over there, Sun-woo hyung! The mirror! The mirror!”

“It is a common handprint. Someone must have touched it.”

“It wasn’t there before! It appeared while I was looking at it!”

“Indeed, I just said that someone touched it.”

“?”

The Demon God said it so naturally that Yoon-seo almost let it slide.

But it made no sense for a handprint to appear when no one was there.

“Someone please turn on the lights. It’s scarier because it’s dark.”

With the sound of a switch clicking, the lights came on brightly.

“Whew, it’s a bit better now that it’s bright. Thanks, Tae-young hyung.”

“I didn’t touch anything.”

Yoon-seo tilted his head.

“Huh? Then did the Team Leader turn them on?”

“I wasn’t even near the wall.”

Then who did?

In the end, Yoon-seo looked at the Demon God one last time.

“Sun-woo hyung?”

“It was not me.”

This meant that no one had turned them on.

At that moment.

Click, click, click, click. The sound of the switches echoed frantically, and the lights flickered on and off.

“Hiiiieeee!”

“Wh-what is this?”

Yoon-seo and the Team Leader were startled.

“Don’t let go of each other.”

Tae-young calmly gave a warning.

“Such trivial tricks.”

The Demon God alone merely gave a thin smile.

By the time the rest of the group huddled close together, the flicking sound stopped with the lights remaining on.

“Shall we go?”

“Let’s leave.”

“I agree.”

Yoon-seo, the Team Leader, and Tae-young reached a consensus.

They didn’t want to stay here after what they just experienced, and they had no idea what would happen next.

There was no reason to stay.

“Did you not say we have no money? I shall continue to look around.”

No, there was a reason.

That reason sprang from the Demon God’s mouth.

“Urgh, it’s true that a mansion of this caliber within our budget would be an incredible gain.”

The Team Leader, who couldn’t ignore the finances, clenched his teeth first.

“Team Leader, what are you saying? You want to live in a haunted house because of money?”

Tae-young soothed the still-terrified Yoon-seo.

“Yoon-seo, let’s just look around as Sun-woo said. It is far better than the dorms we’ve seen so far.”

As a leader considering the members’ living conditions, Tae-young was also coveting the mansion.

“Ugh. Then Sun-woo hyung, you lead the way.”

“You state the obvious.”

The Demon God roamed the house without hesitation.

The mansion consisted of three floors.

The entrance had a separate mudroom, and entering further revealed a wide-open hall. It was dark now, but it was structured so that sunlight would originally stream in from a skylight.

“We could practice choreography here.”

On the first floor, besides the hall, there was a kitchen and a party room.

The second and third floors had several bedrooms with attached bathrooms, providing enough space for the five members to have rooms left over.

It wouldn’t even be a problem for the manager or Team Leader to stay over occasionally.

“Wow, it really is good.”

And there were spaces for special purposes, including a study and a dressing room.

On the third floor was the soundproof room they had heard about beforehand.

Looking into the soundproof room from the hallway, Yoon-seo spoke.

“Did he intend to provide this house as a dorm for singers or idols? Or live here himself and occasionally test the skills of the agency’s singers?”

“I do not know. But one thing is certain.”

The Demon God replied to Yoon-seo’s question.

“What’s certain?”

“I like this place very much.”

At the Demon God’s words, no one said anything else this time.

In truth, the Team Leader and the members also felt that this was the optimal dorm they could get within their budget.

However, the psychic phenomena were the problem.

“Ah, a handprint just appeared on this mirror too.”

“The lights are turning on and off again.”

Yoon-seo and Tae-young looked at the mirror and the lights respectively.

But their reactions were clearly different from before. It was more of a wait-and-see attitude.

“Should we still sign the contract?”

Even the Team Leader chimed in.

“You have all thought well.”

The Demon God nodded.

The battle between the occult and capitalism.

Was the winner being decided like this?

However.

“Uh?”

“That?”

“Careful.”

At first, they thought it was an afterimage.

Because the lights had been flickering, afterimages were forming on objects.

But there was no other object in the middle of the hallway.

the black figure appearing there was initially the size of a backpack before gradually growing larger, and above all, it was taking a concrete shape.

Specifically, a human shape.

“Aaaaah!”

Starting with Yoon-seo’s scream, they all began to run in the opposite direction. In an instant, they ran down from the third floor to the first, across the garden, and out the main gate.

“My, humans are so weak.”

The Demon God tsked as he looked down from the third floor.

In the meantime, the black mist filled with malice stood there, now having perfectly taken the form of a person.

The specter and the Demon God were now facing each other.

“…….”

– …….

As their gazes met and they recognized each other.

– Gieeeee!

The specter began to flee in a panic.

The moment it faced him, it had felt the Demon God’s status. Despite being in a human body, he had a gargantuan presence.

When the Demon God revealed a fraction of his existence through his Authority, [Aura], the specter felt the terror of annihilation and fled through the air.

“Kahahahat! Halt right there!”

On the other hand, for the Demon God, it was a truly exciting game of tag.

After living too peacefully for a Demon God who was used to constant battle, the appearance of a specter he could destroy was a welcome event.

“No, do not stop! Flee as much as you can!”

The Demon God was filled with excitement. While chasing the specter closely, he didn’t catch it but waved his hand moderately to tear away parts of it. Every time he did, the black mist vanished bit by bit.

– Gieeeee!

If the specter had eyes, it would have shed tears, but it simply fled with shrieks. It went down to the first floor even faster than the Team Leader and members had fled.

“Do not go out toward where the others left. They might faint if they are startled further.”

The Demon God meticulously drove the specter, eventually forcing it toward the back door instead of the main entrance.

The door swung open, revealing the backyard.

However, the specter stopped at the threshold as if its nonexistent ankles were caught.

– Git! Gi-it! Git!

It tried to leave the mansion to escape total annihilation, but it didn’t seem to work.

“Are you a specter nailed to a specific location?”

The Demon God leisurely approached the specter.

“But you know. The texture of that black mist you’re draped in is quite strange.”

– Gieee!

The Demon God grabbed the specter firmly.

Just from that, the specter screamed, but the Demon God shook it vigorously up and down as if snapping out laundry.

“Now! Reveal! Your true form!”

The black mist of the specter scattered like water droplets from laundry.

– Uuugh! Ugh! S-stop! Please stop!

Soon, the ghost inside the mist was revealed—

– Uh, uhh… where am I right now…?

It was a middle-aged man with a dazed face.

The ghost wore a well-fitting luxury suit, giving off the vibe of a businessman.

Seeing him, the Demon God pouted with disappointment.

“What, you are not even an evil spirit. Just a lost ghost.”

He had thought that if there were something more wicked inside the specter, he would bully it to his heart’s content and then take it home to raise as a pet.

It was a ghost that only needed to be sent to the afterlife.

“What are you? Why are you here as a specter?”

– I, I am… who?

The Demon God flicked the ghost’s forehead.

“Remember.”

– Argh! My head…!

It wasn’t an Authority; he just hit him.

However, the ghost clutched his head as if there were a physical form, and truly remembered his identity.

– I, I was a businessman in life… yes, that’s right… and when I died…

Suddenly, light began to flow from the ghost.

– Yes, yes…

“Did you remember why you became a specter?”

The ghost stared blankly at the Demon God before speaking.

– O great and powerful being, who might you be?

“No need for you to know, trivial ghost. If you have realized your past, then hurry and ascend. I intend to use this mansion.”

– Ah… yes.

The specter answered submissively.

“Good.”

The Demon God smiled with satisfaction, imagining the dorm life that would unfold in the mansion.

‘…Why isn’t he leaving?’

The ghost remained in place even after answering.

When the Demon God looked at him with a displeased gaze, the ghost trembled as if he were about to be destroyed, but still didn’t leave.

“What is it?”

– Um, ex-excuse me, I’m sorry, but could you deliver a USB I hid in this mansion to my bereaved family?

The Demon God stared at the ghost in disbelief.

Was a trivial being who deserved to vanish immediately actually making a request of me, a Demon God?

“How dare you?”

– I’m sorry! I’m sorry!

Whether he realized his request was excessive, the ghost prostrated himself.

– I became a ghost because of the lingering regret of not delivering that USB…! I can only ascend once it is sent.

“Hmph, it matters not to me whether you ascend or stay here. You will not be able to withstand my presence anyway.”

– Yes, yes. That is true. However…

The Demon God reached a decision.

This ghost was trying to talk back again.

There was no greater rudeness than this, so he would not tolerate it further.

He would split him in half and annihilate him.

The Demon God reached out his hand to grab and tear the prostrated ghost.

– I hid 1 billion won in capital in the mansion. It isn’t much, but would it be alright if I gave you that?

The Demon God’s hand touched the ghost’s shoulder.

Pat, pat.

That hand kindly patted the shoulder.

Following that, the Demon God suggested.

“Shall you stand up and speak slowly?”