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“…Are you really doing this? Basilisk’s blood tears? This is extremely poisonous.”

“If you don’t do it, do you think you’d be drinking that poison right now?”

The demon Gerg, with a physique so robust it was almost overwhelming, looked down at the little demon with a pitiful gaze.

“B-but… I’ll die right away…”

“That’s why I said if you don’t do it, you’ll die.”

The little demon looked up with trembling eyes, as if asking if it really had to come to this.

Usually, they only used strong sleeping poison or paralyzing poison.

Even if the opponent ended up penniless, at least their life was spared, so it was a way to ease the guilt.

But this time, they were being told to kill.

However, the little demon couldn’t refuse Gerg’s order.

It wasn’t like they could die in place of a few unknown humans.

And even if they died defying Gerg’s order, it wouldn’t end there.

In this city, there were plenty of other demons who could take the little demon’s place.

Life in the dark valleys, known to be the most desolate even in the harsh demon realm.

Little demons living such lives considered this kind of task as nothing special.

‘Why am I the odd one out… Why me?’

Even if he wondered why a mutant like him was born among the violent and warlike demons, he had no way of knowing.

Abandoned at birth, the little demon didn’t even know what his own race was.

“If you don’t want to do it, quit. There are plenty of others to take your place.”

“…No. I’ll do it.”

Born with thoughts unlike a typical demon, the little demon eventually compromised with reality.

“Don’t make it obvious. Just do it like you always do.”

“…Yes, Gerg-nim.”

Receiving the needle from Gerg, the little demon headed straight for the humans who had visited the city.

‘Stay calm.’

Even though he had done this dozens, if not hundreds of times, the fact that this needle would kill the target weighed heavily on his mind.

As a result, he was more nervous than usual, and his actions couldn’t help but be awkward.

‘They haven’t noticed yet. It’s fine. It’s fine.’

Repeating to himself that it was fine, he stood in front of the group of humans.

Just as one of the human girls, looking at him with pity, was about to pull something out from her pocket—

Another girl reached out and pushed the little demon away.

At the same time, a woman who seemed to be their guardian muttered in a low voice.

“Stop and go back. It’s not worth risking your neck for this.”

“…”

How did they know about this method?

Until now, not a single human or demon had ever suspected it.

How did these human women, who didn’t look very old, know and push him away?

The image of Gerg flashed through the little demon’s mind.

‘No way…’

Could it be that Gerg was using these humans to eliminate him?

But he quickly dismissed that thought.

‘If he wanted to kill me, he would have just done it. Why go through all this trouble?’

Ironically, it was because Gerg was such a bad demon that he could be sure of this.

However, whether it was Gerg’s plan or not—

The little demon, having failed the task, would face punishment.

The human woman’s threat wasn’t as scary as he thought, but the punishment Gerg would mete out already clouded his vision.

The frightened little demon turned and headed back the way he came.

“Stupid brat.”

“I-I’m sorry, Gerg-nim.”

“Don’t feed this brat for two days. Lock him in the outhouse.”

“Yes, boss.”

The demon men, following Gerg’s orders, approached to drag the little demon away.

“P-please, just this once! I don’t know how those humans knew, but I can try again—”

“Do I look stupid enough to use you again after you’ve been caught? Beat him before locking him up. You seemed to be doing well, but tsk.”

“N-no! I’ll die! Please spare me!”

Clutching at Gerg’s pant leg, the little demon was dragged away by the demon men into a shabby warehouse.

Soon, the sound of a young scream echoed from inside the warehouse.

“By the way, boss, why are we suddenly supposed to kill all the humans?”

“Another idiot, huh? Don’t you know about the incident where the big boss lost an arm to a human man? You must be a spy, you brat.”

“I-if I were a spy, I’d know that kind of information! I’m really not! This is unfair!”

“Relax, kid, I’m just messing with you.”

“…Thank you.”

Gerg patted the shoulder of the demon man who had frozen under suspicion and chuckled.

“We were trying to take the easy way, but now we’re taking the hard path. Gather some men.”

“Yes.”

With the order to exterminate humans issued—

The ordinary demons living in the city would naturally hide from humans, so even if a large-scale fight broke out, there wouldn’t be much damage.

‘Why am I overthinking such a simple task of catching five human women? I must be getting old.’

Before long, a group of burly demon men gathered in front of Gerg.

However, the number wasn’t enough to satisfy Gerg.

“Is this all? Where are the others?”

“Except for those who went to deal with the Bolg gang, this is all we have.”

“Sigh… Those damn bastards are causing trouble even at a time like this. Well, it’s just five human women, so let’s go.”

“Yes, boss.”

While Gerg was mobilizing his subordinates to attack the expedition team—

The expedition team moved according to Jeong Gyeoul’s plan to lure them in.

They deliberately walked through back alleys.

“…Are they really coming? It’s been 20 minutes already.”

“They’re probably late because they were beating up that little demon and gathering their men. Let’s walk a bit more.”

“…They beat him up just for failing once?”

“If beating him up is all they did, that’s lucky. If they’re as vicious as I think, they probably already killed him.”

“…”

Lee Ha-yoon looked at Jeong Gyeoul as if doubting they would go that far, but Jeong Gyeoul’s prediction was accurate.

The little demon’s fate was already sealed.

Jeong Gyeoul avoided Jeong Ha-yul’s suspicious gaze and kept walking.

As they walked, they could sense the presence of demons following them.

There was no effort to hide their presence.

They seemed confident in their strength and numbers.

In fact, since the entire expedition team was made up of human women, they walked with the confidence of having already won.

“See? I told you it would work.”

“Wow… This is really working.”

The situation was unfolding exactly as Jeong Gyeoul had predicted.

When the expedition team turned into a dead-end alley, the demons following them slowly approached.

“I thought we were just going to kill some human women… But they’re the prettiest I’ve ever seen.”

“I was going to kill them earlier, but I couldn’t resist following those swaying hips.”

“Boss, do we really have to kill them? Taking one home would be a dream come true.”

“If we get caught, we’re all dead.”

The demon men looked disappointed.

Seeing this, Gerg reluctantly opened his mouth.

“Once before killing them should be fine.”

“Wow! Boss, you’re the best!”

“Thank you, boss!”

“Now, how should we cook these frightened little lambs—”

One of the demon men, who had been drumming up excitement, suddenly tilted his head.

“Weren’t there five of them earlier?”

“Can’t you even count now? Just because the boss allowed it, you’re already excited! You idiot. Let’s see, one, two, three, four… Huh?”

The demon man, who had been counting on his fingers for his foolish comrade, was stunned.

“Why are there only four? Where did the other one go—”

The demon man who had been pointing ahead couldn’t finish his sentence.

Jeong Gyeoul, who had disappeared, suddenly reappeared and slammed the demon’s face into the ground.

“What the—! Crazy bitch!”

“Why are you all so talkative… Let’s hurry up, I’m tired from moving around too much.”

“What are you all doing! Hurry up and attack!”

“Ahhh!”

“Die!”

As soon as Gerg felt uneasy, he ordered his men to charge.

The bravest of the men charging forward flew bravely into the sky.

Since they were a wingless race, the landing wouldn’t be pretty.

Seeing a man much larger than herself sent flying dozens of meters, no one dared to move.

“…What the hell are you doing! Kill her now!”

“B-but boss. How is that possible? Even the big boss couldn’t do that—”

Thud—

Realizing this wasn’t going to work, Gerg beheaded one of his trembling subordinates.

“Damn it! If you don’t go, I’ll kill you myself!”

In front was Jeong Gyeoul, behind was Gerg.

The subordinates, glancing back and forth, eventually chose Jeong Gyeoul.

They were brave because they were foolish, and foolish enough to be brave.

“Damn it! She’s just one human woman! Let’s all take her down together!”

Thinking Jeong Gyeoul was the only combat-capable member, they believed that if they could just take her down, there was hope for them.

Gerg, meanwhile, pushed his foolish subordinates to their deaths and backed away, disappearing from sight.

The subordinates, focused on the fight, naturally didn’t notice.

“Damn it, how are we supposed to beat her! She seems even stronger than that human man who came last time!”

Even though he had lost his subordinates, Gerg, thinking his own survival was more important, ran desperately.

“Wow, is that a human? He’s running away after abandoning his men.”

“He’s a demon.”

“…Right. That’s why he’s acting like that.”

“No, humans do that too.”

“…”

Lee Ha-yoon, at an age where she should be dreaming of hope, was learning the darker side of society.

“Who’s going? Should I go?”

Park Seol-hwa, with a bored expression, asked who would catch the fleeing demon.

Her tone was as casual as asking who would do the dishes today.

After all, no matter who went, catching one demon was a trivial matter.

“No, I’ll go.”

Jeong Gyeoul, who had been dealing with the subordinates, was now left with only one.

Seeing this, Jeong Ha-yul, thinking her physical strength would make her the fastest, stepped forward.

It took exactly four seconds for Gerg to be slung over Jeong Ha-yul’s shoulder and brought back.

“The fish are lively. Flopping around. Maybe I should become a fisherman since I’m so good at this.”

“Everything else aside, fishing really doesn’t suit you, Gyeoul.”

“Right, it feels like you’d massacre the fish if they didn’t bite.”

“…What do you all think of me?”

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