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Chapter 57: Stay, you are so beautiful(3).

“…Jo Namyeon.”

Seohee opened her mouth.

Her voice was hoarse, as she hadn’t used her throat in a long time.

She tried to move her body, but to no avail.

Telekinesis, clairvoyance, telepathy, teleportation – none of it worked.

The only thing possible was to link her mind to the remaining doppelganger. However, the doppelganger didn’t budge, as if its mind was suppressed.

‘At least, the Director. It was delivered to Yeonkyung unni.’

Even while being suppressed by Jo Namyeon, she didn’t cut off the doppelganger and left it as it was.

If the main body was under mind control or domination, the doppelganger created afterward would be the same.

Yeonkyung would have immediately realized that the Seohee she caught was a doppelganger.

Yeonkyung, having realized it was a doppelganger, would have wondered why Seohee wasn’t retrieving it.

If Seohee was a traitor, she could have simply run away and destroyed the doppelganger.

Not retrieving the doppelganger meant that Seohee either ‘wanted’ to be caught by Yeonkyung and have her mind investigated or was ‘unable’ to retrieve it.

In Seohee’s case, it was both, but either way, it didn’t matter.

Both cases created the need to open Seohee’s head.

Would Yeonkyung have properly torn apart the doppelganger’s head?

She wanted her to open it thoroughly and quickly, even resorting to torture if possible, but it was uncertain whether Yeonkyung would have done it.

Her personality had changed drastically since that day, but she still had a soft spot for her comrades.

She might not have done it properly.

It’s not like a doppelganger doesn’t feel pain.

Moreover, Seohee was Yeonkyung’s longtime older sister, younger sister, and friend.

Until she was separated from her husband several years ago, Yeonkyung was a weak crybaby.

Even if her personality had changed drastically, there was no way such a nature had disappeared.

How much time had passed?

She couldn’t tell.

She knew that at least a week had passed, but that was all she could know.

A week? A month? Or even more?

“Teacher.”

Jo Namyeon opened his mouth.

“You have a very good head on your shoulders.”

What was the identity of this person?

What meaning was he trying to convey?

Just as her head was about to become complicated, her eyes adapted to the darkness, and the blurry silhouette beyond Namyeon’s shoulder gradually began to reveal itself.

This place, could it be…?

A giant pillar, and the red thing pulsating inside it.

She couldn’t believe it, but she was sure.

“That’s right.”

Namyeon smiled.

“It’s the heart.”

The heart, the Jindal Heart.

This place was inside the Jindal Heart.

But how could Namyeon, a demon, be in this place?

The answer was obvious.

He was continuously feeding other demons to the heart.

“What exactly are you?”

Demons were basically individualistic.

It was natural for them to act individually, and even if they acted together, it was only in groups of two or three.

Demons don’t cooperate, and no one stands above anyone else.

Even if they were king-level demons, they wouldn’t lead or control lower demons.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t, but that they wouldn’t.

That was their nature.

That was the basic common sense about demons that humanity had known until now.

Therefore, the man in front of her, who was able to sacrifice other demons instead of himself to enter the heart and calm it down, was literally beyond common sense.

Creak-

Namyeon pulled a chair next to him and sat down.

“Chayeon is coming with Yeonkyung.”

He said that instead of answering Seohee’s question.

Chayeon and Yeonkyung. They were coming together.

In the end, Yeonkyung hadn’t succeeded in finding out the source of the mind control through Seohee.

What did she see in the doppelganger’s head?

Did she go to meet Chayeon because she misunderstood that the child was an enemy, or did she go for another reason – such as cooperation?

Whatever the case, the fact that they were coming together meant that it had worked out well.

“That’s right. They had a brief falling out, but they eventually reconciled. It’s heartwarming as Chayeon’s friend.”

Friend, my foot.

Seohee’s teeth clenched involuntarily.

He hadn’t said anything since a while ago, but the conversation was meshing.

Namyeon, who was quietly looking at Seohee’s eyes, smiled as if affirming.

Even Seohee’s Siman couldn’t do this.

“Daddy!”

A child’s voice broke into her confused mind.

Two girls ran from the darkness on the opposite side.

“…Why…”

Seohee’s mind became even more confused.

Melara and Meridi.

Why were they, the vessels of the Heukgumiho, here?

Daddy?

“Oops, don’t run.”

Namyeon hugged the two children who ran into his arms.

The two children rubbed their faces against him with happy expressions.

The situation was clear.

Traitors.

Melara and Meridi were traitors.

No, he clearly said Daddy.

From the start… he wasn’t human.

“Let me introduce you. These are my daughters, Melara and Meridi. They’re adopted, though. Aren’t they cute? Ah, humans call them this.”

-Doppelgangers.

New information was constantly coming in amidst the confusion.

Doppelgangers were king-level demons that were already known to have been subjugated long ago.

How were demons that had already died moving and living?

She couldn’t believe it, but at the same time, Namyeon’s words clearly resolved this situation.

Doppelgangers – demons that could perfectly imitate any target.

That meant,

“From the beginning…?”

A year ago, the vessel of the Heukgumiho was killed.

Jindal naturally declared a state of emergency.

Something of unknown identity had killed the vessel of the King.

Judging from the fact that the next of the Seven Divine Pillars hadn’t been born, it could be seen that the Heukgumiho had escaped safely, but a Shinsu without a vessel quickly consumed power and soon disappeared.

Even the Heukgumiho, the king of the Shinsu, couldn’t avoid this.

Not long after that, Melara and Meridi entered.

The two twins said that they had accepted the Heukgumiho.

Jindal naturally thoroughly examined them, and the conclusion was that they were the Heukgumiho.

Of course.

The Seven Divine Pillars had confirmed it, and dangerous existences like Doppelgangers were already dead.

Besides, the timing was perfect.

-Heukgumiho-nim, what happened to the previous vessel?

Who killed the Heukgumiho?

Melara and Meridi answered like this.

A dangerous demon in the form of a girl.

Jindal was in an uproar at the Heukgumiho’s statement.

A demon so powerful that the Heukgumiho was wary of it, and that demon was walking around openly.

Jindal’s alert posture became unprecedentedly high.

The barrier was further strengthened, and security was tightened.

Foolishly, they never even dreamed that Teacher Shim, who was in charge of that barrier, was also a traitor.

“Could it be.”

The one who killed the Heukgumiho once, was the one in front of her.

“No.”

Namyeon lightly denied Seohee’s thoughts.

“I’ll tell you specially since you’re Teacher, whom Chayeon respects. I’ve never directly laid a hand on the Heukgumiho.”

While stroking the heads of the two twins nestling in his arms, Namyeon continued in a refreshing, beautiful voice.

“The one who attacked the Heukgumiho was the Baekgumiho.”

“The Baekgumiho? What’s that?”

“Isn’t love truly interesting?”

Namyeon spat out an unexpected word.

“I’m very interested in love. I’m a romantic. I think it’s no exaggeration to say that everything in the world is made of love.”

His soft voice echoed in the dark room.

“The pillars, black and white. As long as the two Gumihos are guarding their positions, there’s no way even I could interfere. But you see. One day, a gap appeared.”

-A gap, that is.

A very trivial trigger.

A slight liking.

The most powerful Shinsu, having only a very slight liking for her own brother, who was another Shinsu.

A sweet melody flowing from there.

Mephistopheles took hold of the flowing melody and shook it slightly.

“Please call me the demon of love.”

The love that had begun to grow soon went beyond the limit, turning into jealousy and resentment.

Why was she born as a Shinsu?

Why had she become a Shinsu?

Why was she the brother’s sister?

Why couldn’t she be with her brother by becoming his vessel?

What qualifications did that human have to be with her brother for life?

“Who else but his sister could keep that ignorant Heukgumiho in check?”

The Baekgumiho yearned for and coveted the Heukgumiho.

In order to monopolize her brother, she boldly murdered the vessel.

The Heukgumiho escaped from such a sister.

The Baekgumiho constantly chased after such a brother.

“I had my daughters enrolled in Jindal back then.”

-There’s a demon so powerful that it threatens the Heukgumiho.

That statement maximized Jindal’s vigilance.

“I kept secretly following the Heukgumiho.”

The Heukgumiho constantly fled to find a new vessel to contain himself.

Finally, he shook off the Baekgumiho, and just as he was becoming impatient because he couldn’t find a suitable vessel, he discovered it.

A perfect human who could accept him.

“Teacher, how much do you know about Chayeon?”

“……..”

“The two of you are close, but you’ve never shared past stories in depth, have you? Let me tell you. How Chayeon has lived.”

Thus, Namyeon’s one-sided story began.

“Chayeon lost her parents when she was fourteen.”

Namyeon continued, making a bitter expression as if he were really telling the story of a friend’s past.

“They deserved to die. They were trashy parents. The father was always drunk and physically abused his wife and son. The mother vented all her pent-up resentment on the child. Well, Chayeon relied on her, even though she was her mother. That vicious cycle was broken.”

Domestic violence, abuse.

Beatings were Chayeon’s deep trauma.

“After that, Chayeon lived alone. Chayeon’s aunt, who was desperate to care about her reputation, subsidized her living expenses every month, but she didn’t bring Chayeon into her house. Chayeon, who lost a place to rely on in adolescence and had no social skills, eventually spent the rest of her middle school years vaguely and graduated from school.”

Chayeon didn’t enter high school.

What he chose to overcome his fears was exercise.

“If I was strong, if I wasn’t born weak, could I have resisted Dad? If I had a body as big as Dad, could I have stood proudly in front of Dad, who was beating Mom?”

Chayeon, who was congenitally weak, was fortunately very talented in handling her body, so she quickly learned exercise.

He didn’t go to school, and since he received living expenses, he didn’t need a part-time job.

He devoted himself to exercise to forget reality.

“But you know what? Chayeon was always lonely.”

Exercise didn’t fill the emptiness in his heart.

As time passed and scabs began to form on his wounds, an unconscious desire for his lost school life and the ‘friends’ he had never had began to bloom inside him.

“That’s why he went to college.”

After studying hard for the high school equivalency exam, he entered college.

For Chayeon, who yearned for human relationships and friends, it was a new beginning.

A yearning for human relationships.

A yearning for friends.

A yearning for the lost school life and the ‘parents’ who had never had, who would embrace and cherish the child.

A desire for the past time that had been completely cut off in the middle like scissors.

It became the demon’s prey.

“It was really easy to become Chayeon’s ‘friend’.”

Chayeon’s desires were manipulated, and new memories were implanted in him.

The high school days he had longed for.

Someone who was somewhat frivolous, but who could be revealed as soon as she became a woman, the most trusted friend.

It was the moment when the character ‘Jo Namyeon’ was born.

“Even if it was me, I couldn’t recklessly enter Jindal, where everyone was glaring, could I?”

The demon’s mind control was different from the Heukgumiho’s.

He couldn’t turn suspicion into affection in an instant.

So, Mephistopheles used this wariness in reverse.

He went to Jindal with Chayeon.

He turned all of Jindal’s wariness and suspicion towards Chayeon.

He maximized it.

It was too easy for him.

“Thanks to that, Chayeon almost got shot as soon as he came in.”

That’s how Mephistopheles succeeded in entering Jindal.

“Chayeon and Jin Sira left on the same task. This was something I didn’t expect either. So, I was curious. What choice would Chayeon make?”

Chayeon wanted to separate from the Heukgumiho and return to being a man.

The form of his conscious, superficial desire to become stronger.

A trained man’s body.

But Mephistopheles could see it.

Chayeon’s true desire was not that.

Her desire was simple.

She wanted to be loved.

She wanted to be cared for.

She wanted to know the unconditional love that everyone born normally receives and grows up with.

She wanted to be protected and wanted to rely on someone.

She longed for human warmth.

Parents who loved her, the school days she had lost, and friends that others had, all of them.

A longing and desire for the past times that had passed and had not been enjoyed.

“So, I tried it out.”

He created cracks earlier than planned.

He sent some demons to make the Heukgumiho exert its power.

As expected, the Baekgumiho recognized her brother’s energy, his scent, and immediately ran over.

A battle between the two broke out, and Chayeon subdued Jin Sira.

Just before he struck down with the blade.

The moment he could return to being a man.

But Chayeon didn’t know.

That what she was truly wanting had already been fulfilled.

The Heukgumiho always held onto Chayeon’s mind and became her support.

Sometimes lightly, sometimes heavily, sometimes like a friend, sometimes like an adult, he held her center and played the role of ‘father’ for Chayeon.

Seohee cherished Chayeon, cared for her, and helped her in every way so that Chayeon could adapt to her new life.

Chayeon had gone from a man to a woman.

Now that she had become an Ineungnyeokja, there was no turning back.

So that Chayeon could adapt as quickly as possible, Seohee tried to ignore the fact that Chayeon had been a man and treated her like a younger sister, like a daughter.

Moreover, Seohee, who had Siman, could clearly see Chayeon’s wounds, though not specifically.

Unlike the past when she was just a doppelganger’s acquaintance, Seohee couldn’t just stand by and watch Chayeon since she had become her student.

For Chayeon, such Seohee was truly like a ‘mother’.

Lost school life.

A high school life that she had never experienced.

Jindal’s class system was closer to high school than university.

There were grades, semesters, homeroom teachers, and peers.

She made new friends too.

She, who was not familiar with peer groups, gained Arena, a friend who was now a lover.

Decisively, Chayeon’s physical age was no longer that of an adult.

She had returned to the age of sixteen or seventeen at the most.

She had regained it.

Everything she had lost, her time, memories, scenery, relationships, all of it.

That’s why she couldn’t strike down with the sword.

She couldn’t go back.

She couldn’t throw away what she had finally regained, just for the reason that she would return to being a man.

“Well, the things that happened after that were somewhat improvised.”

Jo Namyeon, who had finished the long explanation up to that point, shrugged his shoulders.

Seohee could only blankly listen to that unbelievable story, the story of humanity, Jindal, and a human being played with, mocked, and insulted by the hands of demons.

“…There’s one thing I don’t understand.”

Seohee opened her mouth.

Before she could even speak, Mephistopheles had already figured out what she was curious about.

“Yeonkyung, you mean?”

Jo Namyeon had gained Yeonkyung’s favor and made her his lover.

After that, he manipulated the minds of those involved, including Seohee, so as not to feel any strangeness.

But, Yeonkyung was the most suspicious person in Jindal.

How did he manage to manipulate her mind?

“I haven’t released this for you, have I?”

Namyeon, with a refreshing smile, snapped his fingers once.

A clear, clicking sound echoed in the room.

At that moment, Seohee’s cognitive impairment was lifted, and her eyes widened.

Diabolical.

Too diabolical.

The man in front of her, Jo Namyeon.

That face was the face of Seohee’s friend and Yeonkyung’s partner, who had left first.

“I told you, I’m a romantic.”

A painful memory for her and Yeonkyung.

A face that was longed for but also wanted to be forgotten.

This cunning demon had even used such feelings to bury their memories.

Her lower jaw trembled.

She felt hatred growing from the depths of her heart.

She forcibly calmed it down.

If it was this man in front of her, she didn’t know how he would use this hatred.

She had to be calm. She had to be calm.

If not, she would be eaten in an instant.

“I’m very interested in Chayeon. At first, I thought about making her fall for me, but it seems that’s a bit difficult.”

Namyeon stood up from his seat.

The two twin girls, who had been asleep, were startled and woke up.

“Melara, Meridi. You have to wake up now, right? You have something to do, don’t you?”

“Uuung, something to do?”

“That’s right, didn’t you forget that you were going to pick up Daddy’s friend tomorrow morning?”

“That’s right! Aah!”

“Pick up! It’s a pick up!”

“Wow! Daddy’s friend!”

“Yes, yes, there are things to prepare, so hurry up and pack and go to your room and sleep. Take the key.”

With movements that suited such sound effects, the two girls ran out.

The unique high tones of squealing children faded away.

“I’m curious.”

Namyeon’s, Mephistopheles’, finger touched Seohee’s forehead.

Seohee stared at him silently, trying not to lose her composure.

“This time, will my Faust be able to throw away all those things he has regained?”

From his fingertips, a refreshing, clear energy flowed into Seohee’s mind.

Seohee could recognize the identity of this clear energy that was breaking into her mind.

The Geumje was taking its place deep inside her.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Chayeon.”

Looking at Seohee, who was losing consciousness, Namyeon muttered.

This time, for sure,

Verweile doch, du bist so schön.

He wanted her to tell ‘him’ to stay ‘with me’.


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3 months ago

If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂