Chapter 111 - Chapter 108: Episode 106 - Strange Cohabitation
Min-ah was experiencing a situation she never could have imagined.
It was only natural, given the absurdity of seeing someone who should have been in the Arandel territory walking out of her own front door.
The woman, who resembled Miel but appeared more mature, opened the door and glared at her with annoyance.
'Should I kill her?'
At first, she had only intended to check if anyone was home.
Seeing the blinds drawn despite the early hour, she assumed the place was vacant and rang the doorbell—only for the demon she'd met in Arandel to answer.
The very same demon who had sold her sister, Miel, to Seon-ah and herself.
'Why the hell is she here?'
She was furious that this creature had not only emerged from a house filled with Seon-ah's memories but had also spouted nonsense at her. Still, she was curious why the demon was living in Seon-ah's home.
'Couldn't I just hear her out and then get rid of her?'
"Why are you coming out of Seon-ah's parents' house? I've never even heard of a demon immigrating to Earth..."
The demon, who had been annoyed but now trembled at the sight of her, spoke up.
"The Demon World was just so boring... Not long after I handed Miel over, I came to Earth. I bought this house under a fake identity through a real estate agency."
"The Demon World that I rule is boring? Is that something you dare say in front of me?"
Bianca had spoken her honest feelings.
However, Sophia flew into a rage.
To think that the reason she had abandoned the world she'd ruled for thousands of years was because it was "boring."
The Demon World had strict technological limitations to prevent the rapid depletion of resources, making it an environment where novelties were scarce, yet it was a dimension with a longer lifespan than any other.
She had pioneered the most efficient resource-consumption methods to prevent total collapse, drawing from other dimensions, which was the only reason the demons had survived in such a barren wasteland.
If not for her, the Demon World would have perished long ago.
"Um... weren't you Seon-ah's mother?... Or did I make some kind of mistake..."
"Bianca-eonni, this person is... the Demon King..."
Miel corrected her from behind, seeing Bianca's confusion.
She didn't do it for Bianca's sake, though.
Miel only spoke up to ease the frustrating situation for Sophia.
Caught in the chaotic, complex situation, Bianca's thoughts began to unravel.
Realizing her mistake, she tried to beg for forgiveness.
"Ah... um... I'm sorr..."
"Your words have been nothing but bullshit from start to finish. Is your final testament really just 'I'm sorry'?"
Sophia raised a hand, gathering magic.
As enough power to kill her condensed in Sophia's hand, rippling like blue waves, Bianca's face turned deathly pale.
She realized that if that magic touched her, she was dead.
'So I'm going to die just like this... and I was just starting to think I'd live a fun life...'
Just as she thought that, someone blocked her path.
It was Seon-ah.
He had been watching them, curious about the conversation.
At first, he thought she was wearing a hat, but the shape of her horns and her blonde hair and brown skin looked just like Miel's.
Seon-ah found it fascinating that someone who looked so much like Miel was standing right in front of him.
"Wow! This noona looks just like Miel-noona. That's cool, but why did you come out of our house?"
"Seon-ah... just stay still for a second, it's dangerous..."
Miel urgently stopped Seon-ah.
Reaching out to pull him into an embrace, Miel watched Sophia's expression nervously.
She feared Sophia might be even angrier because Seon-ah had suddenly broken the mood.
Contrary to her worries, Sophia stopped when she saw Seon-ah intervene.
She had intended to kill the demon out of anger, but realized that doing so in front of Seon-ah—who was currently in the form of a child—could cause him great trauma.
Especially if she killed someone he was looking at with interest.
And even more so if the killer was his own parent.
She didn't know what kind of impact it would have on his mental health.
He was in the form of a child, and she worried that if things went wrong, he might end up becoming simple-minded.
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Therefore, she acknowledged her mistake and reverted to Min-ah's appearance.
What would Min-ah have done, really?
'She probably would have asked this demon for an understanding and bought the house back... assuming, of course, she didn't know she was a demon...'
That was the right way to go if she were imitating Min-ah.
However, she couldn't back down an inch because this was the only place where Seon-ah could recuperate.
"For now, you've saved your life. If you pack your bags and leave this house immediately, I'll pretend what just happened never occurred."
Sophia said to Bianca in a dignified voice.
She was demanding the house as the price for Bianca's mistake, not her life.
In the value system of Sophia, the Demon King, that was only natural.
"Mom... you shouldn't keep using that strange tone. And it's not nice to use such mean words to someone you've just met."
Seon-ah kept picking at her.
It was difficult; she had to imitate Min-ah in front of Seon-ah while maintaining the stance of the Demon King in front of other demons, so she didn't know which tune to dance to.
"Seon-ah? Do you want to go play over there with Miel-noona for a bit?"
"No... I want to rest at home... I've finally come back after so long, what is this... I can't even go inside..."
Upon hearing Seon-ah's pouting, Sophia glared at Bianca and signaled with her eyes.
Faced with that murderous gaze demanding she let them inside immediately, Bianca had no choice but to comply.
.
.
.
The inside of the house had changed completely from Min-ah's last memory.
Everything from the appliances to the desk, chairs, bed, and clothes had been replaced.
It seemed as if everything had been disposed of the moment the house was put up for auction.
The exterior was the same, but because the interior was so different, she worried whether Seon-ah might feel uncomfortable or shocked.
However, Seon-ah was looking around as if he found the changed appearance of "his house" fascinating.
"Wow! Look at this, it's cool."
Seeing Seon-ah like that, Bianca, who kept feeling that something was off, asked Miel.
She chose Miel to satisfy her curiosity because asking Sophia might have cost her her head just a moment ago.
Considering she had locked Miel up and eventually sold her off, she couldn't easily strike up a conversation, but Bianca didn't really care about the past.
That was, of course, assuming she wasn't the one being harmed.
"It wasn't like that when I last saw it... What happened to Seon-ah? It doesn't look like his mind was manipulated..."
"Don't suddenly act like we're close now... after you kept me locked up all this time and sold me off in the end..."
Miel had absolutely no reason to tell Bianca anything.
She felt a lot of resentment toward Bianca, who had only ever harmed her, so she showed open hostility.
"..."
Bianca had always been slick, trying to ask casually with a thick face, but Miel knew her all too well.
Bianca was someone who had always acted friendly to dig into others' hearts and then snatched away only what she wanted.
The reason she took Seon-ah from Yu-rin was also because of that friendly tone.
It might have worked on someone meeting Bianca for the first time, but not her.
Living together in their mother's mansion, she knew very well how selfishly Bianca acted and that she would stop at nothing to achieve her goals.
That was why she put up a wall and didn't give a proper answer.
An awkward silence was about to linger, but someone's voice broke it.
"What is this? Is it a game console?"
Seon-ah held a packaged box with a picture of a game console on it and began to fiddle with it.
Seeing that, Bianca shouted in surprise.
"Ah, no, don't touch that! My Nintendo Switch!"
'I barely managed to get that as a limited edition...'
Bianca was startled and snatched the object from Seon-ah's hands.
Then Seon-ah began to touch her other items.
There were quite a few items piled up that hadn't been unboxed yet, from VR devices to other game consoles and monitors.
These were items she had purchased because she wanted to try gaming after getting tired of movies and dramas.
Bianca didn't want to entrust the new products, which she hadn't even unboxed herself, to someone else.
But when Sophia glared at her, she found it difficult to stop Seon-ah.
Among them, Seon-ah picked up the packaging box of a game console he liked and approached Bianca.
"Noona... I want to try this once, can I?"
"... Ah... okay... I'll show you how to do it myself..."
She couldn't bring herself to refuse.
She thought there probably wasn't a single person in the Demon World or on Earth who could refuse while under the gaze of that fierce Demon King.
.
.
.
On the monitor screen, a game was displayed where two people passed boxes or balls to each other in different spaces.
It was a cooperative puzzle game rated for ages 7 and up, with absolutely no violence.
Bianca originally liked action or RPG games, but because Sophia had forbidden anything violent, she had no choice but to play this, which met the criteria Sophia had mentioned while she was looking for free games.
"Seon-ah, that's it. Pass it this way."
"Okay, Noona!"
The word "PERFECT" was displayed on the screen, indicating that they had cleared the stage perfectly.
The two characters high-fived and moved on to the next stage.
Although the game was getting harder, Seon-ah followed along well under Bianca's guidance, and they began to clear over ten stages perfectly.
It was Bianca's first time playing a puzzle game like this, but she thought it was more fun than she expected.
She felt that games she could play together were more fun than the ones she had been playing alone all this time.
After a little over two hours, the sun set and it began to get dark.
Sophia said they had played for too long, turned off the game, and sent Miel and Seon-ah to the bathroom.
That left only Sophia and Bianca alone in the living room.
Sophia had one thought after seeing Seon-ah and Bianca.
'Sigh... come to think of it, Miel and I aren't very used to life on Earth...'
Miel and she weren't as used to life on Earth as she had thought.
Miel, who had been living here for four months, had been hiding and worrying about getting caught, and she herself only had Min-ah's memories, but her values and actions were still operating as the King of the Demon World, so unexpected things could happen at any time.
Just today, she had tried to put into action the thought of separating Bianca's head from her body, so it was obvious.
Even if she said she would follow Min-ah's actions to the letter, her own personality could pop out at any time if she faced a situation she was experiencing for the first time or if something sudden happened.
Sophia knew the reason for that well herself.
Even though she had Min-ah's memories, it was like a video she could open at any time.
Because it was a convenient video with annotations that included functions to watch desired sections or search for what she had done, just as a person's values didn't change in an instant just by watching a movie or drama, her personality didn't change, nor were her values shaken.
It was the secret to maintaining her ego even while continuing to succeed and changing bodies to collect memories, but now that had become a poison.
It seemed it would take quite a long time for her to get used to life on Earth.
However, this being in front of her was already acting as if she were a full-fledged Earthling.
From Sophia's perspective, she couldn't believe this demon had come only about a month and a half ago.
'At this rate, she's practically a local...'
When Sophia stared at Bianca without a word, Bianca began to break out in a cold sweat.
Her complexion was so pale that one could tell at a glance how scared she was.
Then, as if she couldn't stand this situation any longer, Bianca spoke to Sophia.
"Um... I'll leave as soon as tomorrow comes. So... for now, I'll go pack my things..."
"No... for now, you'll have to help us until we get used to life on Earth. But if you lay a hand on Seon-ah, you're finished that day."
"Please... let me leave... I'm begging you."
At first, she had been scared of losing her house, but living with the Demon King was many times scarier, so Bianca began to plead.
She was so desperate that she had both knees on the ground and was rubbing her hands together.
"I don't like it either, but there's no other way. Then, I'll be counting on you."
As if it were already a decided matter, Sophia ignored Bianca's words and replied as if the matter were settled.
At this moment, she could understand what it felt like for a tiger to enter a fox's den.