Chapter 82
The moment I read the message, I felt as if all the blood in my body had drained away.
Lia, who saw the color fade from my face, approached me.
“Who is it? Master? You have a master, Groom?”
At that, Joo Sarang jumped in surprise and hurried over.
When she checked the caller ID displayed on my phone’s home screen, she grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently.
“Are you out of your mind! Don’t tell me—it’s that person?”
“If the person you’re thinking of is the Heavenly Demon……”
“You idiot! If you know it’s her, why haven’t you answered yet?!”
“Whether I answer or not, I’ll die anyway. Wouldn’t it be better to live even a second longer?”
Smack!
Joo Sarang’s fist slammed into my shoulder.
“Then at least die alone! Hey, hide!”
Lia tilted her head, completely lost.
“Who’s your master, anyway? What are you talking about, Dahee? Why are you suddenly telling me to hide?”
Joo Sarang dragged the confused Lia to the corner of the small room.
“Shut up and get over here. And don’t even breathe loud enough to hear.”
After confirming that they were no longer visible on the phone screen, I took a deep breath and accepted the video call.
Then, on the other side of the screen, appeared a woman of fatal beauty.
Notwithstanding her dreadful reputation, her appearance was more exquisite than any female character in Become a Hero.
The Heavenly Demon, with her bored expression and emotionless eyes, stared at me.
Even through the screen, I could feel the crushing pressure she exuded.
Her lips—red as blood—parted slightly.
[You’ve made me wait again, haven’t you.]
Her voice was calm, languid, and filled with apathy.
Yet, I could tell—
The Heavenly Demon was in a very foul mood right now.
I immediately dropped to my knees and began to explain myself.
“I was… pondering how best to present myself to my Master in a good light… Please, just kill me.”
[This One is not such a merciless teacher who would kill her disciple over something so trivial.]
As she said that, her gaze shifted elsewhere.
[But… I think I hear someone else.]
Her transcendent senses made everyone in the room freeze.
No one else was visible on the screen—
Yet with nothing but faint sounds leaking through the crude machinery of a smartphone, she had already detected the presence of others.
How is she even human…?
If I tried to lie now, she’d kill me on the spot.
I quietly motioned toward Joo Sarang. She grimaced, barely noticeable, then forced an awkward smile and stepped into view.
“It’s just that… I was chatting with an old friend for a bit.”
“Ah, hello. I’m Lilith, under Baiden’s command.”
The Heavenly Demon’s eyebrow twitched.
“Baiden, you say. Disciple, were you consorting with a necromancer’s courtesan?”
Her cold eyes turned toward me in displeasure.
I knew this would make things worse, but since it had come to this, I couldn’t back down.
“Master, she is not a courtesan.”
[Hoh? Are you daring to argue with your Master?]
Her voice deepened—and the oppressive pressure through the call intensified.
She was transmitting her intent through speech itself.
As expected of the strongest being in Pandemonium.
“She is like family to me, someone I was separated from as a child. Please, I ask you to retract your words.”
[You’ve been under My tutelage since you were seven. The only one you could call family should be Me, no?]
“She is someone I met before I was taken in by you, Master.”
At those words, the Heavenly Demon seemed to ponder for a moment, then spoke as if remembering something.
[Are you referring to the Nest?]
“Yes.”
In that instant, the suffocating pressure filling the room dissipated.
Beside me, Joo Sarang gasped for breath.
Even in that short time, the weight of her presence had been unbearable; fear toward the Heavenly Demon clouded Joo Sarang’s eyes.
[You’ve changed, Disciple.]
“…Pardon?”
[I’ve sensed it before, but now I’m certain. It’s as if you’ve become someone else entirely—like another soul wearing your skin.]
Her words made my heart sink.
Could she have noticed something?
No way… and yet, given that she was the strongest being in existence, perhaps she could.
After all, she was the one who had known Yoo Seongwoo—known me—better than anyone else.
Her lips curved faintly.
[Still, this change of yours doesn’t seem entirely bad.]
With that, her gaze shifted to Joo Sarang.
Joo Sarang flinched as the Heavenly Demon’s eyes landed on her.
[Child.]
“Y-yes…?”
[My apologies. I misjudged you.]
“N-no, not at all!”
Pale as a ghost, Joo Sarang shook her head frantically.
In a world ruled by the law of the strong, where weakness itself was a sin, an apology from someone of such overwhelming power sounded less like contrition—and more like a death sentence.
This was probably the first time she had ever experienced something like that.
[Do not be troubled. This One is magnanimous enough to admit her own mistakes. I was simply curious to see who could so captivate My disciple that he dared ignore My call.]
That’s somehow scarier than a threat.
“Yes.”
Though I feared her deeply, the Heavenly Demon was still one of the few in Pandemonium who could be called rational.
I could never call her good, but in Yoo Seongwoo’s memories, she was proud yet dignified, wicked yet merciful, arrogant yet willing to admit fault—a paradox in every sense.
Unpredictable and contradictory.
That was precisely why I feared her… and also why I respected her.
“By the way, Master.”
[What is it, Disciple?]
“May I ask what prompted this call?”
I still hadn’t heard her reason for contacting me.
[It’s nothing much. A new mission has been issued.]
“Why are you personally delivering it, Master? You could have sent one of your subordinates.”
When I first possessed this body, the mission to retrieve the Heart of the Demon had also been delivered directly by her.
At that time, I’d been too out of it to question anything, but thinking back on it now, it was strange—someone like the Heavenly Demon personally giving me a mission was highly unusual.
She was one of the highest-ranking executives of Pandemonium, the strongest among them.
For someone like that to hand down a mission directly—what was this, some kind of cheesy ’90s tokusatsu drama logic?
Even if I was her disciple, the hierarchy made no sense.
Ignoring my comment entirely, she continued.
[It’s not a difficult mission. You simply need to deal with one person.]
Seriously, she always did things her own way.
“An assassination target?”
[That’s what I’ve been told.]
Compared to infiltrating the Seoul Artifact Museum and retrieving the Heart of the Demon, this was far easier.
Of course, the difficulty depended on who the target was.
Still, taking down a person who moved around was easier than stealing an item buried under layers of security.
“But what’s this mission about?”
[You remember the incident at your Academy not long ago, don’t you?]
“The Beast Rampage incident?”
[Yes. Because of that, the other executives were absolutely furious.]
That made sense. After the Beast Rampage, Pandemonium’s prestige had plummeted.
They had plotted so carefully, convinced of success, only to fail spectacularly—and with minimal casualties to show for it.
News reports and comment sections exploded afterward.
Comments like ‘Pandemonium’s a bunch of pushovers’ were mild compared to memes flooding the internet—like ‘I’m from Pandemonium, is it okay if I hurt you today?’ mashed up with hamster GIFs. They became the laughingstock of the web.
Honestly, I’d saved a few of those memes on my phone too.
[To restore Pandemonium’s fallen honor, a grand act must be staged. Someone within the Academy insisted on it.]
Berid, huh. For him to say something like that, he must be desperate.
“He should clean up his own mess. Why do I have to risk my neck to restore Pandemonium’s reputation?”
[Are you not My disciple? You’ve already completed several missions successfully. Isn’t it only right to entrust the task to one who’s succeeded rather than one who’s failed?]
I had no argument against that.
What an ironic situation. I’d given Berid a laxative to make him suffer a bit—and now I was the one cleaning up the mess he made.
[The target you must eliminate was once a collaborator of Pandemonium. But that traitor sold us out and used that credit to secure a high position within the Hero Association.]
“So, I just need to eliminate him?”
[Correct. However, since this operation is meant to display our greatness to the world, the stage is important. In a few days, the Daeho Guild will hold a banquet to celebrate the conquest of an S-rank dungeon.]
I fell silent for a moment.
So… to raise Pandemonium’s prestige, I had to infiltrate one of the top ten guilds in the country and kill someone at their celebration?
“…So basically, you’re telling me to crash the headquarters of a top-tier guild and cause a scene.”
[Precisely.]
“At a banquet like that, the attending Heroes will be powerful, won’t they?”
[That’s exactly why it must be done—to truly restore what was lost.]
I fell into deep thought.
To be honest, this mission was practically a death sentence.
It felt like Berid was plotting my demise out of spite for his own failure.
If it was a guild like Daeho, the attendees would all be at least mid- to high-ranked Heroes.
“Honestly, I think this is unreasonable. It’s not just any place—it’s the banquet hall of a major guild. This is no different from suicide.”
[I am aware. I’ve heard you recently reached a new level of power—at least comparable to a High-ranking Demon. But if multiple high-tier Heroes engage you at once, you’ll still be in trouble. That’s why I negotiated on your behalf.]
“Negotiated?”
She nodded leisurely.
[Pandemonium will grant you a Power of Authority.]
Now that changed everything.
At the word Power, even Joo Sarang—standing beside me—glanced at me in shock.
For Demons, a Power of Authority was both a fraudulent ability and an object of irresistible temptation.
“……Truly, Master?”
[Of course. Do you doubt Me, Disciple?]
I shook my head violently.
With such an offer, how could I refuse?
Even though I had no Demonic Energy whatsoever, I had still earned a name as a formidable Demon.
All thanks to the SS-rank skill, 【Lamb】.
As its rank suggested, the skill allowed me to borrow a demon’s Power of Authority without becoming bound to them.
Because of that, unlike ordinary Demons who could possess only one Power through a soul contract, I could hold multiple.
Of course, borrowing such power required a corresponding price.
A price steep enough to justify borrowing without submission.
Each demon offered different terms, but their demands were similar—
One hundred liters of pure maiden’s blood, ten innocent souls, and other atrocities far removed from morality.
The four Powers I currently possessed had all been obtained through payments provided by Pandemonium.
Honestly, I was torn.
No matter what Power I gained, my combat ability would increase drastically.
And if I obtained an additional one, it would open the door for even more Power Combinations.
But one thing bothered me—no Power came for free.
If Pandemonium said it would “grant” me one, that just meant they’d pay the price in my stead—fulfilling whatever the demon demanded through their own hands.
How was that any different from a contract killing?
Was a Power truly worth the sacrifice of innocent lives?
Could I clear the ending with the abilities I already had?
Or… would I need a new Power to finish the story?
As my thoughts deepened, the Heavenly Demon spoke again.
[What are you hesitating for, Disciple? You have no choice.]
The moment I met her black eyes, my mind went cold.
Right. The Heavenly Demon was right.
Despite all I had accomplished—thwarting Pandemonium’s schemes and succeeding in multiple missions—within Pandemonium, I was still nothing more than a spy embedded in the Academy.
I was still weak. I still couldn’t defy their orders.
I had always known that—yet for some reason, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.