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Chapter 01
The day I quit my job and was heading home, a worn-out book suddenly dropped right out of the sky—and directly in front of my eyes. It almost hit me on the head.
I wondered if it was one of those black notebooks that were popular a while back, where writing someone’s name makes them die, but looking closely, it was just a children’s storybook.
Yet, it was impossible to just ignore it and walk past; my curiosity was thoroughly piqued. After all, who wouldn’t be curious about a storybook that randomly fell from the sky? It felt like… my heart was fluttering with a tiny pulse of excitement, as if something incredibly special was about to happen.
So, I headed straight back to the studio apartment where I lived alone. Without even changing clothes, I lay down on the lonely mattress on the floor and opened the storybook.
Contrary to the clumsy art style—reminiscent of a primary schooler’s picture diary—the contents of the storybook were quite gruesome.
Is this one of those grim fairy tales for adults? I thought.
Reading through it with those thoughts in mind, I unwittingly finished the whole thing. It was so absurd that I couldn’t help but wonder what on earth I had just read.
Just as I muttered a brief thought to myself, as short as the quick storybook itself…
A mysterious pattern glowing with bright light emerged on the small floor. It looked identical to the one drawn on the cover of the book.
“Whoa…”
Blinking in disbelief, I foolishly let out a gasp at the absurd situation.
And just as the thought crossed my mind, Wait, doesn’t this look exactly like the magic circle from the storybook?—the magic circle spreading across the floor grew larger and larger, slowly engulfing my body in brilliant light.
Watching my body dissolve into glowing white dust and disappear, I realized it.
“What the… shit, what is…”
Something had gone tremendously wrong.
Once upon a time, long, long ago.
The sky cracked open into multiple fissures with a sharp clack, and a Demon King, pitch-black from head to toe, appeared.
“Ho. Is this the realm where humans dwell?”
At the existence of the Demon King, who felt like a sudden natural disaster, humanity trembled in fear and cried out to the gods—pleading with them to prevent poor humans from perishing at the Demon King’s hands, and to protect fragile, weak humans from his evil grasp.
It had been exactly one full day since the Demon King split the heavens and earth to reveal himself in the human realm.
The Demon King was a bit baffled.
Because he hadn’t actually done anything yet.
Regardless, whether the gods decided to answer the humans’ desperate prayers or not, a hero appeared in the world, and a strike force was formed to defeat the Demon King.
“How boring.”
However, that hero and his strike force were defeated all too easily by the Demon King’s bored yawn and a light flick of his finger.
It was only natural. The Demon King was terrifyingly strong.
Even after that, heroes and strike forces continuously tried to defeat the Demon King, but they failed time and again, and every single plan the humans devised came to naught.
“This place isn’t any fun either.”
The Demon King was deeply disappointed. He had come out because he heard the human realm was bound to be interesting, but humans trembling in fear without even meeting his eyes were no different from the residents of the Demon Realm.
Having lost interest, the Demon King left the humans alone and wandered across the continent.
Yet other places were just the same.
Whenever he sought out strong beasts or monsters, they all turned out to be weak stragglers cast out from the Demon Realm. None of them could relieve the Demon King’s boredom.
He wandered until he welcomed his third spring in the human realm, only to conclude that the human world was ultimate no different from the Demon Realm.
That was when a certain human caught the Demon King’s eye.
She was the wife of the hero who had been defeated multiple times by a simple flick of the Demon King’s finger.
The Demon King recalled that the human hero was the only one who had managed to alleviate his boredom, even just a little, in this otherwise terribly dull human realm.
“Where did the hero go?”
The hero’s wife replied:
“My husband died by the hands of humans. They said that a hero chosen by God could not possibly lose to the Demon King, so he must have lied. They claimed he fabricated an oracle and committed a sin worthy of divine punishment. He… was truly just chosen by God, but tell me… Was my husband a fake hero?”
“No. That guy was the real deal.”
“Then why did he lose to you?”
“Because I am stronger.”
The Demon King answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It wasn’t wrong, after all.
At his answer, which held arrogance without a trace of mockery, the hero’s wife smiled.
The Demon King found it rather intriguing. Up until now, not a single human had ever smiled in front of him.
“You’re right. You are stronger, Demon King… so of course the hero could lose…”
“It’s only natural that he lost.”
“You let him go back alive, Demon King.”
“I heard humans grow. I thought if I let him live, he would come back stronger.”
“I see… But he ended up being stoned to death by his fellow humans.”
The Demon King quietly looked down at the hero’s wife.
He could feel a power radiating from the woman, who was calmly wrapping her arms around her belly—a power far stronger than the petty fear of thousands of humans combined.
Negative emotions were the source of the Demon King’s power!
It was wrath.
“Do you wish to take revenge on those who killed the hero?”
“Are you planning to do it for me?”
“I’m intrigued.”
“I thought you had no interest in killing humans?”
“I have a little interest in forming a contract with a human.”
Looking at the hero’s wife who didn’t avert her eyes, the Demon King felt an unexpected sense of amusement.
It was the first time he had felt enjoyment since coming to the human realm. It was also the first time he felt pleasure without committing slaughter.
However, upon sensing a tiny hesitation within the hero’s wife’s quiet anger, the Demon King’s disappointment quickly returned.
Only then did he notice that she was holding her belly differently from other humans, and he asked:
“What are you hiding in your belly?”
“…A child.”
“I see. So humans harbor children inside their bellies?”
The Demon King found it somewhat strange.
Demons were born from the Divine Demon Tree in the Demon Realm. They had no idea how beings were born in such a manner; they simply opened their eyes and found themselves standing before the tree.
“Is that why you’re hesitating?”
At the Demon King’s tilted-head question, the hero’s wife answered:
“Yes, because I have this child.”
“Is that child more important to you than revenge?”
“It is his and my child.”
“What does that matter?”
“It is the only remaining link to my late husband. And… if I form a contract with you for revenge, Demon King, won’t I die?”
The Demon King readily affirmed.
“Correct. Humans are frail, so they can only pay the price of a contract with their lives.”
“If I die… the child will be left all alone.”
Saying so, the hero’s wife never brought up the word ‘revenge’ again.
The Demon King couldn’t understand what was so bad about being alone. Born alone from the start, demons had no concept of ‘parents.’
Regardless, the Demon King was intrigued. The child was the very thing suppressing a vengeance far more powerful than the fear of tens of thousands.
“When is it coming out?”
“It will take a while longer. It hasn’t fully grown yet.”
“Is that belly going to get even bigger?”
“Probably.”
The hero’s wife stroked her slender belly and smiled softly.
It was quite different from her quiet display of wrath, so the Demon King found himself intrigued once more—thinking that spending time with this woman was indeed quite enjoyable.
From that day on, the Demon King waited for the child to come out.
Every single day, he visited the cabin hidden in the woods where the hero’s wife lived to check if the child was coming.
“Has it come out?”
“Not yet.”
Then a question suddenly crossed his mind.
The hero’s wife was human, yet she lived hiding away from human eyes. The Demon King couldn’t understand why she lived like that when they were of the same species.
He didn’t ask, though. He merely presumed it was because of the hero who had been stoned to death.
More than that, the Demon King was curious about the child.
So, to ensure the hero’s wife wouldn’t starve to death, he brought edible human food every time he visited the cabin—just to avoid the unfortunate event of her dying before he could see the child.
Though the wife occasionally looked at him with indescribable eyes at his kindness, she did not refuse the food he brought.
And so, day after day, the Demon King waited for the child’s arrival.
“Has it come out?”
“Not yet… but I think it will be soon. Lately, it moves around a lot and kicks quite lively.”
“Kicks? From inside there?”
“Yes… Would you like to touch it?”
Looking at the bulging belly that looked heavy enough to suffocate her when she lay down, the Demon King placed his hand on her delicate belly, just as she instructed.
The soft human flesh felt a bit unfamiliar, looking as though it might pop with a thump if he pressed too hard with his fingers.
The Demon King had to be extremely careful not to burst it.
“It moved.”
“It kicked.”
“The thing inside kicked me?”
“I suppose so. If that’s the case… this child will be the very first human child to kick the Demon King.”
She ought to be worried about the Demon King’s wrath, yet the hero’s wife smiled gently and stroked her swollen belly, looking proud of the child.
That behavior was still fresh to the Demon King, but somehow, it made him feel slightly annoyed.
Clearly, just a few months ago, he had found that smile quite enjoyable.
So, he refrained from visiting the cabin for about a week.
Ever since he met the hero’s wife, he had visited the cabin every single day, making a week-long absence an absolute first.
During that time away, the Demon King realized one truth:
Even when annoyed, seeing her face in person was better. Being away from her made his irritation spike so much that he nearly wiped out all the neighboring kingdoms.
Delaying no longer, the Demon King headed back to the cabin deep in the woods where the hero’s wife resided.
However, the cabin, usually filled with the scent of warm sunlight, was freezing cold. Furthermore, a sickly metallic scent of blood stung his nose, making his brow furrow.
The hero’s wife—who usually struggled to stand up while supporting her swollen belly and greeted him with, “You’ve come?”—was nowhere to be seen.
It annoyed him that he couldn’t see her waddling toward him, despite having specifically told her to skip formal greetings because her clumsy steps looked precarious.
Noticing his own heart beating strangely fast, the Demon King tilted his head in confusion and set off to find the hero’s wife.
Before long, he found her collapsed not far away.
Her belly, which had been swollen to the point of bursting, was now as flat as when he had first seen her.
Approaching the blood-drenched wife of the hero, the Demon King asked the very same question he had asked for months:
“Has it come out?“
