Chapter 81 - Chapter 78: Episode 77 - Story of the Remaining Two (Part 1 Finale)
Miel woke up, shivering as the cold floor bit into her skin.
Back in the prison, her face burned with shame as she relived the pathetic display she'd made in front of everyone.
Yet, thinking of the punishment Yu-rin had received before being dragged here, she felt a grim sense of satisfaction.
It was some small comfort to know that the bitch wouldn't be able to have Seon-ah, even if she couldn't have him either.
After all, she'd been hit with a penalty that meant she could never feel, see, or touch Seon-ah ever again.
Even if Yu-rin managed to return to Earth, Miel took solace in the fact that Seon-ah was now forever beyond her reach.
A hollow laugh escaped her.
She had let him slip through her fingers when he was right there, and now she was just clinging to her shallow pride to spite Yu-rin.
As that realization hit, her mood plummeted once more.
Depressing thoughts wouldn't leave her alone.
She knew that when morning came, she would have to face the truth she'd been ignoring all this time.
Tomorrow, she would be executed.
She would never see Seon-ah again.
She figured that even in death, now that Seon-ah had gone to that other world, he might think of her whenever he saw the Yin Mark carved into his body.
The only thing left in Miel's heart was the hope that she could at least linger in Seon-ah's mind.
She compared herself to Yu-rin, but in the end, it made no difference—neither of them would ever see him again.
The more she dwelled on it, the more miserable Miel felt.
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Inside the dungeon, only Miel's muttering echoed, her mind lost in fantasies of Seon-ah.
There was no way to tell the time in the prison.
No sunlight reached her, and unlike Earth, where she'd lived for four months, there wasn't even a clock to be found.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but indulging in her memories of Seon-ah was the final struggle Miel could muster.
Until her execution, she could only possess Seon-ah in her heart.
Someone approached the bars, but Miel didn't pay any attention.
She still wanted to lose herself in thoughts of Seon-ah for a little longer.
With her sense of time gone, she didn't care why someone had come to see her.
She felt the end approaching, but she still craved more.
Defying her expectations, the visitor opened the cell door.
Seeing her act as if she were letting her escape, Miel stopped her internal rambling and stared.
She knew exactly who that woman was.
It was the woman she had hated with every fiber of her being for the past four months.
She'd been saying something for a while, but Miel hadn't been listening, so she hadn't bothered to look at her.
Suddenly, she was curious: why was this woman setting her free?
She was one of those who had tormented her for so long, yet here she was, trying to save her.
"Miel, it looks like you're finally listening. It's been a while—how have you been?"
She acted as if they were old friends, behaving as if the constant torment she'd inflicted had never happened.
The woman was her sister, the second daughter of the same Succubus Lord: Bianca.
Bianca and Miel had a lot in common.
They shared the bond of being women captivated by Seon-ah, and both had experienced life on Earth.
Bianca was addicted to the thrill she felt whenever she unleashed her twisted desires while tormenting him.
If things had gone to plan, Bianca would have killed Miel and gone to find Seon-ah on Earth, intending to overwrite the Yin Mark and make him her own.
That was, until she witnessed what happened while tracking Seon-ah as he tried to cross the Gate.
Those presumed to be Royal Knights had attacked the humans fleeing beyond the Gate.
Seon-ah hadn't made it to Earth; he'd been kidnapped by three Royal Knights.
Along with his mother.
Bianca realized that even if she killed Miel now, she wouldn't be able to get her hands on Seon-ah.
The Royal Knights were kidnapping them for interrogation or to use them as resources.
It was obvious that Seon-ah and his mother would eventually fall into the hands of the Council or the Royals.
A group with influence far beyond her reach.
Still, she couldn't give up.
She couldn't live without that boy anymore.
No one else could soothe the sadistic urges that surged whenever she heard the sweet moans from that beautiful face, or watched him shed tears.
And there was one more thing.
The faint but high-purity Magic Power sleeping in Seon-ah's body.
The moment she claimed that power, she would be reborn as someone who could make a name for herself in the Demon World, far beyond this backwater territory.
She wanted Seon-ah.
She needed his body, his heart, and his Magic Power—everything.
But she wasn't strong enough to snatch him from those powerful forces on her own.
She needed people willing to risk their lives for her.
Talents who would rescue the prince from the Demon King's castle, even if it meant sacrificing the lives Bianca wanted to discard.
The only one she knew was Miel.
Of course, if she rescued Miel, she'd be put on a wanted list by her mother right alongside her.
But if she succeeded, she could build enough power and fame to easily erase a territory like this.
Seon-ah was worth that much.
After rescuing him, she would kill Miel and re-carve the Yin Mark to make him her own mate.
For that, she had devised a reckless but doable plan.
It was a gamble, perhaps.
Maybe not something worth betting her life on.
But there was no other way.
She was too obsessed to stop now.
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The expedition team that had escaped the Gate stared at it as it sealed shut behind them.
"Where is the Expedition Leader?"
"No, Leader..."
The Expedition Leader had fought the assailants to the very end for their sake and ultimately couldn't make it out.
And she had done it all with her son.
Most of the team knew Min-ah's story well.
They knew how her son had been kidnapped to the Demon World on his wedding day along with his fiancée, Yu-rin, and how Min-ah's husband, Hyeon-tae, had died from the shock.
And they knew the story of Yu-rin, who had returned alive alone.
It felt like watching a drama unfold.
Min-ah hadn't told them anything, but most knew why she had gone to the Demon World.
They expected that in the large-scale project she joined as Vice Expedition Leader, she would search for the son who had been dragged away.
Most members had assumed her son, taken over a year ago, was already dead.
However, defying those expectations, Min-ah had rescued her son, Seon-ah, from the Succubus Lord's castle.
It was like a hero rescuing a prince from the Demon King's castle.
They had thought it would end in tragedy, but seeing her rescue him, they'd hoped for a happy ending.
At least until the Gate closed just now.
Many expressed sympathy for Min-ah and Seon-ah.
When the assailants attacked, they thought she would protect her son and abandon them, but she had sacrificed herself for them instead.
And the only thing she left behind was one thing.
Yu-rin, battered and bound.
What the Expedition Leader said while hurriedly sending them to the Gate was shocking.
Yu-rin, the tragic woman who was the first to return from the Demon World and had lost her husband.
She, who had always claimed she wanted to join the 1st Expedition Team to save her husband.
The truth was that she was the woman who had abused Min-ah's son, Seon-ah, and thrown him into the clutches of the succubi.
It was hard to believe, but based on the testimonies of Min-ah and Seon-ah, it was revealed that her "heroic" facade was a lie.
She was nothing more than a rapist.
The things he described—the shame, the humiliation, the abuse—were hard to even put into words.
Given that most of the expedition members were women, it was difficult to even see Yu-rin as a person after committing such acts against a fellow human.
She looked like a monster, even worse than the demons themselves.
They were carrying out Min-ah's final request: to take Yu-rin outside the Gate.
Seon-ah had said he wanted Yu-rin to face the judgment of the law.
If they had been the ones to suffer, they would have stabbed her on the spot, but it wasn't clear if it was his petty sense of justice or some other reason.
He added that he didn't want Yu-rin to die.
For the sake of Min-ah, who had sacrificed herself for them, the team granted that final wish.
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Yu-ra was eventually ousted from her position as representative of the Hwaryong Guild.
The failure of the super-large Demon World Expedition, combined with the social fallout from Yu-rin's actions, had sealed her fate.
The repercussions reached Yu-ra as well, once the beastly acts no human should commit were brought to light.
Yu-ra had intended to step down anyway once the project failed.
She'd only taken the position to grant Yu-rin and Min-ah's wishes to save Seon-ah.
However, it wasn't a total failure.
Even if the expedition failed, hearing that Min-ah had rescued her son brought hot tears to Yu-ra's eyes.
Unfortunately, it was a story that headed toward a sad conclusion as the Gate closed.
As a parent, she had cried endlessly hearing about the reunion with a child thought to be lost.
To find a child you thought was dead, alive and well—that was a special thing for any parent.
And now, it was Yu-ra's turn to visit her own daughter, Yu-rin.
Unlike Seon-ah, she was a truly wretched girl.
Yu-ra had wanted to beat her to death for being the root cause of everything, but seeing the state Yu-rin was in, tears of pity flowed instead.
Her daughter hadn't just changed; she had turned into the rapist who had destroyed Seon-ah.
Now, Yu-rin was trapped in a psychiatric ward, constantly engaging in self-harm.
She realized she had handed Seon-ah back to the succubus with her own hands and that there was no way to ever see him again.
Yu-rin had initially despaired.
The expedition team wouldn't be formed again for decades.
So many high-ranking hunters had gathered, yet they hadn't managed to occupy a single territory.
Maria, the S-rank expedition leader, had died within a month.
They had realized that the Demon World was a realm humanity couldn't yet pioneer.
Now, no one knew what had happened to Seon-ah and Min-ah.
But for Yu-rin, who could never see him again, that was the greatest pain of all.
If only she had cherished Seon-ah and had a normal relationship, none of this would have happened.
It was her own ruin, brought about by treating a man like an object to leave her mark, only to hand him over to the succubus.
Without someone to treat her mind, Yu-rin would be trapped in her own hell forever.
With those thoughts, Yu-ra went to visit Yu-rin in the hospital again today.
And she kept it in her heart.
The memories of the lives her daughter ruined, and the poor Seon-ah...