Chapter 49: The Savior of the Fog

The Demon God reappeared.

Leading the people who had gone missing.

“Jin-ah unnie!”

“Yeon-hee!”

Yeon-hee and Yoo Jin-ah ran toward each other the moment they saw one another.

The moment they embraced without caring who went first, tears burst out, once again regardless of who started.

“Waaaaah! Unnie, where were you!”

“Mmm—, sniff, I’m not really sure either. I got lost and wandered in the fog, and then I fell asleep.”

The anxiety and tension of the night finally melted away.

As relief filled that space, the two slumped down right where they stood.

“Sniff! Where is the Demon God-nim?”

Yeon-hee looked for the Demon God.

He said he wouldn’t disappoint his believers, and he truly kept his promise!

He had found Jin-ah unnie for her.

She had to say thank you.

As she turned her teary eyes, she saw the Demon God standing over there and a man clinging to his side.

“?”

Even in her state, Yeon-hee knit her brows and stared.

“Sun-woo, thank you so much. I like horror concepts, but I hate actual horror. I was so scared after getting lost in the fog.”

The man was on the verge of tears as he tried to hug the Demon God.

Of course, he failed as he was pushed away by the Demon God’s hand.

“Get a hold of yourself. We never agreed to speak informally.”

“Sniff? But you speak informally to me.”

“I am allowed.”

“Ugh?”

The man was none other than Zion of Novior.

“!”

Recognizing him, Yeon-hee was startled.

The sudden appearance of a first-tier idol.

It wouldn’t be strange if this place turned into a madhouse.

Fortunately, his identity hadn’t been discovered yet because Zion was bundled up tightly and the missing people were still in a daze.

And above all, the interest of the missing victims was focused on the Demon God at this moment.

“If that person hadn’t helped us, it would have been a disaster.”

“To fall asleep on the street in this winter. I wonder what would have happened if that man hadn’t woken us up?”

“Hmph.”

And Yeon-hee saw it.

Even looking back later, she was certain of what she saw.

The Demon God unwound the scarf he had been wrapped in, pretending it was an accident.

“Eh? That person?”

“I think I know who that is! Isn’t that Sun-woo from Pantheon?”

“An idol saved us?”

Most of the missing people were idol fans who had come for MAMA.

It took less than ten seconds for them to identify and share the Demon God’s identity.

“KYAAAAAAAA!”

“Please give me an autograph!”

Following the bizarre experience of the night, the fact that their rescuer was an idol added to it—

The missing people couldn’t contain their excitement and swarmed him.

And Yeon-hee saw another thing.

Zion of Novior being swept far away, pushed by the flow of people.

And the Demon God wearing a satisfied smile for some reason while watching that scene.

“?”

Yeon-hee was briefly puzzled.

“Hmph.”

Soon, she let out a laugh mimicking the Demon God.

Because no matter how you looked at it, that was exactly Demon God Sun-woo.

In that way, the Demon God didn’t even receive the thanks from Yeon-hee and Yoo Jin-ah as he led the people away and vanished into the distance, but he suddenly turned back and waved.

— [ Rest easy now, O fans. ]

Was it an illusion that she heard the Demon God’s ominous voice?

Yeon-hee and Yoo Jin-ah stood there waving for a long while toward the direction where the Demon God had disappeared.

***

“We must evacuate all visitors and begin a search.”

Inside the theme park.

The local police chief spoke with a troubled expression.

“Evacuate all visitors?”

The one who questioned the chief was Chairman Hayasaburo of Samkang Enterprise. Since it was such a critical issue, he had come down personally.

“Yes. There are no traces of the missing persons outside the theme park. We will continue the search, but I don’t know if new traces will appear. We must start from here, the scene of the incident.”

The chief continued his explanation while feeling intimidated by the Chairman.

“Nearly a hundred people vanishing without a trace? It makes no sense from a common-sense perspective.”

“Then what?”

“I cannot say hastily either. We must consider all possibilities.”

At the mention of ‘all possibilities,’ the Chairman momentarily looked back at one of the executives.

It was the executive who had mentioned the exorcism the previous day. He was also deathly pale.

‘Could it be…. Truly something spiritual…?’

The Chairman felt chaos.

Could it really be such a problem? If so, is there a way to solve it?

““Chairman!””

He must have stumbled involuntarily.

Executives rushed over to support him from behind.

His mind had grown faint at the impending collapse of his long-cherished project.

And there was a group whispering to each other as they watched the swaying Chairman. It was the MusicNet production crew.

“Song Jakga, did I hear that correctly just now?”

PD Choi Ji-seung’s complexion was bone-white.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. Did I also hear that correctly?”

Song Hwi-na’s face was no different.

The two simultaneously looked at the junior writer.

They hadn’t brought an interpreter, thinking it would be bad if the situation leaked out. Since the junior writer was proficient in Japanese, they had been using her for interpretation—

That junior writer also had a face that had turned very, very white.

“Ah.”

“It seems we heard correctly.”

The writer and PD sighed in unison.

They thought something would change once the police arrived, but it was not the case at all.

They had only received confirmation that it was an inexplicable situation, and to think even the Chairman of Samkang Enterprise would sway like that.

The hosting of MAMA tomorrow was essentially out of the window.

Searching for the missing was the top priority. Even Zion of Novior was on that list of names.

“We’re ruined.”

“We are ruined.”

Here, there was another person who was almost on the verge of fainting.

“O-Our Sun-woo then….”

It was CEO Gu.

The Novior team leader and the Origin CEO had come here after being suddenly called by MusicNet in the middle of their sleep.

They only heard the explanation after arriving, and it was a situation beyond imagination.

Sun-woo, who had dragged Pantheon all the way here, was suddenly missing?

“A-No. We have to find our kid….”

Even for the CEO, who had recently become bolder, it was hard to bear.

Confusion and shock spread among the people facing this unprecedented situation. It was on the verge of turning into frustration and a sense of helplessness.

“Do not worry.”

The chief stepped forward.

The experienced chief knew that if those involved fell into despair, the investigation would also be difficult.

In times like this, one needs something—anything—to believe in.

Therefore, he made a firm declaration on purpose.

“Trust me. We will find the missing persons before forty-eight hours pass.”

The golden time for a disappearance is 48 hours.

At the firm yet realistic time declaration, everyone looked at the chief with a ray of hope.

The chief tried to put on his most reliable face—

“Slow.”

A strange sound was heard.

“Then they will not be able to see MAMA, will they not?”

The strange sound was followed by even more nonsensical words.

Watching the event in the middle of all this?

The chief, feeling a surge of irritation, turned his head to look at the person who spoke.

A young man was at the front.

And people were following behind him.

“And you are?”

But as soon as the chief’s question dropped, the CEO and Song Hwi-na shouted.

“Sun-woo!”

“Sun-woo-ssi!!!!”

Along with Zion of Novior, one of the two missing idols.

Sun-woo of Pantheon had appeared.

“I can hear you well, so lower your voices.”

It was the same Sun-woo as always.

The CEO ran over frantically to hug the Demon God,

But the Demon God lightly dodged him as if he were bullfighting.

Song Hwi-na approached a bit later and poured out a series of questions.

“Sun-woo! What happened? Were you kidnapped? Are you okay? Did you see Zion by any chance? What about the other missing people?”

The questions were disjointed as they were thrown in a state of confusion.

“What do you mean, what happened? It was an interesting game.”

“Kidnapped? I merely found the people who were lost.”

“Body? I am perfectly healthy.”

“Zion is here.”

“The other missing people, I have brought them all.”

The Demon God provided answers to all the questions.

““What did you say?””

And the Demon God’s answers were enough to shock everyone here once again.

“There were many who were lost due to the sudden fog. I heard they even collapsed from exhaustion while searching for the path. I woke them all up one by one and brought them here, so you should be grateful.”

If one thought about it logically, there were many holes in those words.

“Is that not so, everyone?”

The Demon God asked the missing victims leisurely.

The people who had woken up had forgotten everything that happened in the malevolent spirit’s domain.

However, they still had the memories of wandering lost in the fog before entering that domain. That alone had been quite a terrifying experience.

They felt immense gratitude toward the Demon God who had found and woken them at the end.

They answered the Demon God’s question in unison.

“That’s right. Sun-woo is right.”

“It was so scary. It would have been a disaster if not for Sun-woo.”

“For real. I was literally sleeping on the road.”

Nearly a hundred people answered in agreement.

To this.

“Song Jakga-nim.”

“Zion!”

Zion of Novior appeared before Song Hwi-na.

Zion, who had been swept quite far away until the Demon God restored order.

Still, he only looked a bit haggard and had no other abnormalities.

“It’s true. I was really scared after getting lost in that sudden fog, but Sun-woo appeared and found the way for me.”

He also added his testimony.

Eventually, the police chief, having heard the interpretation, nodded.

“What a relief. For now, we will prioritize the people’s safety and conduct the investigation gradually.”

At those words, the MusicNet staff cheered.

“Sun-woo, you really did it! MAMA was almost canceled entirely!”

“Our station was almost ruined too!”

They were about to come over and give him a victory toss, but the Demon God slowly backed away.

However, there was someone else approaching.

“Oh, ohhh…. You….”

It was Chairman Hayasaburo.

He walked out slowly and approached the Demon God.

“Thanks to you, we have averted a great crisis.”

“Who are you?”

Ah.

There had been no self-introduction.

An executive who could speak Korean stepped forward and revealed the Chairman’s identity.

Only then did the Demon God nod.

“Ah, is that so?”

At the word ‘Chairman,’ the Demon God stopped his backward steps and headed forward.

“Young man. You said you were an idol?”

“Correct.”

“I am so very grateful.”

The crisis of his long-cherished project’s collapse had passed.

To think the missing people had just been lost.

It was a relief this young man found them before it turned into a major accident in the winter.

How could he not express his gratitude?

But then.

“If thou ever intendest to build a place like this again, thou must be sure to deal with the entity that lived there.”

“!”

The Demon God leaned in and spoke so that others could not hear.

But even though the languages were different, the meaning was conveyed.

He was talking about an exorcism.

“Was it truly…, was today’s matter spiritual….”

“It seems thou hast understood.”

The Chairman slowly nodded his head.

“I shall, without fail, do as you say.”

The Chairman looked into the Demon God’s eyes.

He had only considered him a young idol, but now he saw him differently. Those ominous yet alluring eyes told him that this youth was anything but ordinary.

He was perceived as an entity even more cunning and wise than the Chairman himself.

That entity looked steadily into the Chairman’s eyes and said.

“I shall accept the gratitude in cash.”

“…….”

On that day, the Chairman ended up becoming an overseas investor for Origin Ent.

An investor who provided funds without management rights.

Hayasaburo Keiichi, at the age of 83, had become a late-blooming pushover.