Prologue
I opened my eyes.
Everything within my sight was a stark contrast of white and red.
Grand stone pillars and walls stood pristine white, yet they were entirely drenched in a crimson liquid.
And then….
“Are you the Demon King?”
Amidst the red blood and corpses that carpeted the floor, a man stood tall, strikingly white.
“Are you, the Demon King?”
The white man took a step closer, repeating his question.
Watching the white man’s white feet press into the crimson pool of blood, I nodded.
The white man smiled, a stark, white smile. Or perhaps, it was a bloody, red smile.
The white man, his smile still lingering, spoke. Or perhaps, he merely whispered.
“Demon King, please….”
From the tip of the white man’s sword, a single drop of crimson blood fell.
“Defile me.”
The white man smiled, a stark, white smile.
I slowly nodded my head.
After all, defiling him would not be a difficult task.
In his entirely white form, only his sapphire eyes held a gleam of ecstasy. Those sapphire eyes slowly drew closer. And soon, our lips met. A faint, metallic scent of blood emanated from the white man’s lips.
“So, you just nodded without asking any questions? And even sealed it with a contractual kiss?”
“What else was I supposed to do? He was holding a knife and smiling menacingly. If I’d refused, I felt like he would have stabbed me on the spot.”
Paimon furrowed their brow, casting a pathetic glance.
I felt deeply wronged. Anyone in that situation would have nodded. It wasn’t because I was cowardly, not at all.
“It looked like he killed all the corpses around us too. His sword was covered in blood, his hands were covered in blood….”
“….”
“He was laughing with his limbs dangling, his whole body hacked to pieces — he looked completely insane, I tell you!”
“….”
“I was suddenly summoned, with no one else around, and this crazy guy with a knife was grinning, asking me to defile him. What was I supposed to do in that situation?”
Paimon, who had been watching me with a pathetic gaze, sighed. Their eyes fell upon the area near my heart.
Tugging open my collar, I revealed a chaotic contract seal near my heart, which glowed faintly as if in response, then faded as if seeping into my skin.
“Even if you were going to make a contract, you could have done it casually, but to embed a seal directly into your heart? Do you have any sense at all, or none… No, no. The contract is already complete, so there’s nothing to be done now. I understand.”
“…Yeah.”
“So, what do you plan to do now?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’? I just have to defile him, right?”
At my reply, Paimon let out another deep sigh. They even shook their head.
I felt somewhat offended. Despite appearances, I was the Demon King; shouldn’t I be treated like royalty? What kind of subordinate would get annoyed just because their king caused a little trouble?
I glared intensely.
“Hey, I’m the Demon King.”
“I know.”
“I’m the Demon King!”
“Yes, yes.”
Paimon let out another faint sigh and turned away. I watched Paimon’s retreating back for a moment before lowering my gaze to my feet. The man lying in the pool of blood looked incredibly pale. His body was so brutally mangled that he hardly seemed alive.
I cautiously poked the man’s cheek with the tip of my finger. The skin I touched with my fingertip was incredibly cold.
“Surely he isn’t dead, is he?”
At my anxiety-filled words, Paimon clicked their tongue. Then, they prodded the man’s thigh with the tip of their foot and spoke.
“He’s alive. For now.”
“That’s a relief.”
I muttered sincerely. After all, he was the first person I had contracted with as the Demon King. It would be problematic if he died before I could properly fulfill the contract. Moreover….
I slowly looked around the surroundings that I hadn’t properly observed earlier.
A high, domed ceiling, a circular interior, and rounded stone pillars. Everything that made up the space was pure white, each element sacredly and beautifully sculpted.
The only problem was the human corpses, blood, and intestines strewn everywhere within it—.
“Ugh—.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth at the sight of the coiled intestines spilling out. Nausea surged within me.
Seeing my reaction, Paimon shook their head and moved. They then casually kicked the scattered corpses aside, clearing them into one corner.
Once the corpses were gone, my nausea subsided somewhat. The pool of blood, deep enough to slosh with every step, remained, but at least with the intestines out of sight, I felt I could breathe again.
I let out a sigh of relief and crouched beside the man.
The man lying in the pool of blood was still strikingly white, just as he had been at first glance. Not only was his skin white, but his hair and eyelashes were also white. No, it would be more accurate to say they were silver-white. Even the clothes he wore were white. Though, they were now thoroughly soaked in blood, having turned crimson.
“Those clothes.”
Paimon approached me and spoke.
As I glanced up, questioning, Paimon narrowed their eyes at the white man.
“The clothes that human is wearing are priestly robes. And—.”
Paimon paused for a moment, then continued, looking towards the corner where the corpses were piled.
“The clothes worn by the deceased humans are all priestly robes as well. And they belong to priests of quite high standing.”
“…So, a priest sacrificed other priests to summon the Demon King?”
“Well, that’s certainly what it looks like.”
At Paimon’s reply, I looked down at the white man with renewed scrutiny. It seemed this contractor was utterly insane.
“…Is it really okay to make a contract with a priest?”
As I muttered worriedly, Paimon’s expression soured, as if they had sensed something unpleasant.
“We should leave this place at once. Humans are gathering.”
“Here?”
“Yes. The Demon King has descended, so the temple couldn’t possibly fail to notice. Running into the Holy Knights would be quite troublesome.”
Having finished speaking, Paimon extended a hand to me.
Hearing that people were gathering from the temple, I quickly took Paimon’s hand.
The moment space shifted, the sight of the contractor lying on the floor in a mangled state caught my eye.
‘Can I really leave him like this?’
I took one last, lingering look at the stark white contractor before closing my eyes.
****
Chapter 1
There’s a saying: life can change in an instant.
It’s a phrase that frequently appears in interviews with stars who climbed from rock bottom to the top, or in the essays successful individuals invariably publish. If one were to be precise, perhaps sayings like ‘a woman’s fate is like a gourd’ or ‘ruining one’s life happens in a flash’ are similar in sentiment?
In any case, upon careful consideration, it isn’t entirely untrue.
For instance, one might be playing enthusiastically with neighborhood friends until just a moment ago, saying, “See you tomorrow!” before returning home, only for their mother to announce, amidst moving boxes, that they’re relocating tomorrow. Or, one might rush home from school, shouting for dinner, only to hear the news that a relative has died in a car accident. Or perhaps, a lover who passionately whispered sweet nothings just last night might declare this morning that they’re breaking up….
Upon closer inspection, such events don’t truly happen in an instant; rather, they were being prepared somewhere I wasn’t aware of. The move would have been planned by parents at least a month in advance, and the relative who died in a car accident would have already passed away while I was laughing and eating lunch with friends at school. As for the lover, they would have agonized over the breakup for days on end.
In other words, when strictly scrutinized, the phrase ‘out of the blue’ isn’t entirely appropriate. Nevertheless, the impact of certain events inevitably strikes ‘me’ ‘out of the blue.’ For me, it truly feels like something that happened ‘out of the blue.’
And the ‘out of the blue’ moment that befell me originated on a particular day when I was eight years old.
The age of eight, back when I had just started school, was vastly different from what eight years old is now. I was, quite literally, just a snot-nosed kid.
Eight-year-old Jeha wrote their future dream in large letters on the paper the teacher handed out.
I don’t recall the teacher’s reaction upon seeing it. However, it was certain that Jeha’s nickname became ‘Demon King’ thereafter. Until the day I transferred to a different region in third grade, my nickname was always ‘Demon King.’ And I remember being quite fond of that nickname.
In truth, I didn’t particularly want to be a Demon King. I didn’t even want to be a great villain. Nevertheless, the reason my future dream was to be the Demon King was purely because of Bioman.