Chapter 293: Awkward Days (5)

Tae-Oh’s funeral was a small event. No one really knew him, and he had no family left. His funeral took place in one corner of Eden. The only attendants were Gi-Gyu and Sung-Hoon. There was no need for those who didn’t know Tae-Oh to attend.

But El waited for Gi-Gyu until Tae-Oh’s funeral was over.

“Master.”

“El.”

With his head bowed, Gi-Gyu approached El, and she hugged him tightly without a word. He was surprised by her unexpected action but didn’t push her away.

He remained in El’s embrace for a while.

“You’re doing very well, Master. Please do not doubt the path you took,” El mumbled. “No matter what others say, don’t stop. You’re doing the right thing, so keep moving forward.”

She, in essence, meant that Gi-Gyu could never be wrong, which was quite an irresponsible thing to say. However, he couldn’t help feeling consoled.

“Thanks, El.”

“And you can stop at any time. You can seek comfort if you are too tired. All I want to do is help you find happiness…”

Gi-Gyu took a step back. El seemed a little confused at first, but she smiled shyly. She looked so beautiful to him.

‘That was close.’ Gi-Gyu sighed secretly. In her soothing embrace, he had almost burst into tears. Tae-Oh’s death certainly saddened him, but he drew anger more than sadness from it. He didn’t feel like crying over this.

‘Something feels strange…’ Gi-Gyu was confused, but hid his feelings, smiled back, and replied, “Your presence helps me greatly, El.”

El bowed deeply, confusing Gi-Gyu.

“...?” Gi-Gyu tilted his head, wondering what El was doing.

El looked up at him and whispered, “Sweetie… I’m here for you.”

“...?”

“Yoo-Bin said… it will cheer you up… if I say this to you. I-I’m sorry!” El ran away in embarrassment, making Gi-Gyu grin. He had to admit that it was a little strange, but she had ended up making him feel better.

He felt thankful to both El and Yoo-Bin.

***

“So…” Gi-Gyu’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You want me to order you to do something?”

“That’s correct,” Paimon replied. He seemed annoyed that Gi-Gyu wasn’t doing what he had asked immediately. “Give me an order. Do you know how forceful this sync is?”

“No.”

“So I need to check it. I want to know what kind of power you have over me. How come you haven’t studied your own power until now?” Paimon seemed frustrated. He then turned toward Old Man Hwang, Hwang Chae-Il, and Hart, who flinched.

Paimon continued, “Those two are just blacksmiths, so I can understand their ignorance. But that lich over there. Hart! How come you never advised your master to study this? Are you sure you’re a purebred lich?”

Rattle.

“...” Hart slumped, shivering in fear.

‘Did Paimon do something to Hart? Maybe a special mental training or something?’ Gi-Gyu wondered.

Meanwhile, Paimon clicked his tongue in disapproval and ordered, “So give me an order.”

“Order what?” Gi-Gyu couldn’t think of anything.

“For now, just try anything.”

“Hmm…” Gi-Gyu rubbed his chin and thought for a while before ordering, “Address me more formally.”

“...” Paimon frowned for a moment before asking, “Is that the end of your command, Master?”

“...!” Gi-Gyu jolted at Paimon’s respectful tone.

“I see, so this is how it works. Hmm… Your words seem to strongly urge me to follow them, Master.” Paimon had seemingly realized something.

But Gi-Gyu felt so uncomfortable by the change in Paimon’s tone that he added, “Please just return to normal…”

“Oh… so this is how it works. If your order matches what I want, the urge becomes even stronger. That was an excellent order.” Paimon praised Gi-Gyu.

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed.

“Try giving me another order. Maybe something bigger this time.”

“What do you mean ‘bigger?’” asked Gi-Gyu.

“Something I might hate. Addressing you formally wasn’t difficult to do, so although I felt a little hesitation, it wasn’t a problem. But I don’t know what will happen if you make me do something harder.”

“...” Gi-Gyu thought for a moment before ordering, “Cut your hand off.”

But the moment he said the words, Gi-Gyu quickly added, “Stop!”

Gi-Gyu canceled the order because Paimon was really about to cut off his hand.

“Oh, come one. That was also an easy one,” Paimon grumbled.

“...” Gi-Gyu couldn’t believe Paimon called hurting himself too easy. Was pain inconsequential to all demons?

Paimon offered, “Do you need an example? Fine, let’s try this. I’ll tell you what I hate.”

Paimon began listing all the things he didn’t like. “I hate seeing poorly-made weapons. I hate how unskilled blacksmiths talk back to me. I don’t like how people are awed by mystery…”

As Paimon continued, Gi-Gyu contemplated what he should order him to do. He understood what Paimon hated, but he wanted to take this opportunity to prank the demon.

‘I want something dastardly…’ Gi-Gyu wanted something that would embarrass Paimon. Something that would help him release some of his anger. Paimon was asking for it, and Gi-Gyu knew this was a rare chance.

Paimon was still listing all the things he hated when Gi-Gyu mumbled, “Servant.”

“...?” Gi-Gyu had spoken so quietly that Paimon didn’t hear him. Paimon stopped and turned toward Gi-Gyu.

“Dance like a crazy person while pretending to be a rabbit and say out loud that you’re a moron and Kim Gi-Gyu’s loyal servant.”

“...!”

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“...!”

“...!”

Old Man Hwang, Hwang Chae-Il, and Hart all gaped in shock.

Rattle.

Hart was so surprised that his lower jaw came undone.

“A-all right,” Paimon muttered and glared at Gi-Gyu with bloodthirst. Slowly, he began dancing.

“Pfft…”

“Pfft…”

Old Man Hwang and Hwang Chae-Il tried their best to suppress their laughter.

“I’m a moron…” Paimon began chanting.

Gi-Gyu only canceled his order after ten full minutes.

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed, feeling like he had finally relieved some of his stress.

“...” Paimon looked down, his eyes filled with regret.

“Ah.” Gi-Gyu turned toward Paimon as if he had remembered something. Paimon’s tuning was still incomplete; he was on the last step. Gi-Gyu still hadn't learned from him how Ha Song-Su was in hell. Paimon was supposed to tell him this after tuning up.

“I have something I want to ask you,” Gi-Gyu whispered. When Paimon saw the serious look in Gi-Gyu’s eyes, he straightened up and faced Gi-Gyu.

***

Gi-Gyu finished his conversation with Paimon. The questions he had asked were things only Paimon could answer.

‘Jupiter and my union…’ 

Gi-Gyu had merged with Jupiter, but he wasn’t sure if Jupiter’s consciousness was asleep or completely gone. So far, Gi-Gyu hadn’t had any contact with him. Gi-Gyu had no idea exactly what had happened and what the result was.

Paimon had shown interest in learning more about the sync, so Gi-Gyu was curious about his findings.

‘Paimon and I are very similar,’ Gi-Gyu thought. Just like him and Jupiter, Paimon had become one with Min-Su.

Of course, their situations weren’t exactly the same. Gi-Gyu and Jupiter were one in body and mind, while in Paimon’s case, there was one body with two consciousnesses. But despite the difference, this was closest to Gi-Gyu’s case.

Another case Gi-Gyu considered was El and Yoo-Bin’s case. They shared a piece of Asmodeus, but he didn’t feel like it was the same as his own.

‘But maybe what happened to Yoo-Bin is similar to what happened to me.’ 

El didn’t absorb the power Asmodeus’s piece offered, but Yoo-Bin had. Because of this, even her personality had changed.

Gi-Gyu wanted to know exactly what had happened to him, so he had asked Paimon for help. Gi-Gyu had asked for his condition to be studied, and Paimon agreed without hesitation.

After the meeting with Paimon, Gi-Gyu left the room. He was walking outside when he paused.

Someone was leaning against a wall and watching Gi-Gyu.

“Can we talk for a moment?” Soo-Jung asked.

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“Hey, Soo-Jung.”

Soo-Jung continued to lean against the wall and added, “I want to ask something.”

Soo-Jung seemed calm yet cold. Gi-Gyu watched her quietly, waiting for her to ask whatever was bothering her.

“Why didn’t you kill Kim Sung-Moo? I mean, even if you don’t kill him, I thought… You would at least take out a bit of your anger on him.” Soo-Jung seemed confused. “But you didn’t do what I expected. You put restrictions on Kim Sung-Moo and let him live. Even if you killed him, it wouldn’t have been a problem. It’s not like you made a deal with the government because you really needed it.”

Soo-Jung was right. Gi-Gyu could have killed Kim Sung-Moo, and no one would have made a fuss. He doubted the government would care if he killed Kim Sung-Moo. On the contrary, Kim Sung-Moo was a sore spot for the government.

“But there was no reason for me to kill him,” Gi-Gyu replied.

“...” Soo-Jung seemed shocked.

“I have no right to punish a fellow human in that manner.”

Soo-Jung’s eyes wavered as Gi-Gyu continued, “If someone directly threatens me or someone important to me, I will take care of them. But…”

With a bitter smile, Gi-Gyu added, “I’ve become powerful now. I can’t just go around killing people because they annoy me. I thought it would be better if I just turned their lives miserable.”

“You’ve changed…” Soo-Jung mumbled as she stared at Gi-Gyu. A smile appeared on her face as she continued, “But in a good way. Or maybe you have always been like this…”

Something in Soo-Jung’s eyes changed, but Gi-Gyu didn’t panic. Her eyes turned violet, but they weren’t hostile toward him.

Soo-Jung studied Gi-Gyu silently for a moment before muttering, “Perhaps I’ve misjudged you from the beginning.”

During their first meeting, she had claimed that he was naturally evil and was just suppressing his true nature. Gi-Gyu wondered if she remembered that day.

“Your eyes.” Gi-Gyu asked, “They aren't just normal Evil Eye, are they?”

“...”

“I got a violet Evil Eye as well.” Gi-Gyu’s eyes turned violet just like Soo-Jung’s. “As you claimed, the violet Evil Eye allows you to see the true nature of your enemy. But…”

Gi-Gyu added calmly, “Yours is different. Your Evil Eye is…”

Before Gi-Gyu could finish his sentence, Soo-Jung turned away from him.

She said, “Whatever. All I wanted to know was your condition. It’s still unstable, but… At this point… I don’t know. I think I said something I shouldn’t have. You should go rest, Pupil.”

Soo-Jung left, and Gi-Gyu didn’t stop her or ask any more questions. He only smiled.

It was then that Hal’s voice rang in Gi-Gyu’s head.

-Go Hyung-Chul has arrived.

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