Chapter 19: A Sprout Raised on Beatings is Beautiful (3)
"...Kahak?"
The moment an unexpected final blow landed.
Unit 71 of the Triple-Faced Ghosts, who had been rampaging in the state of a Possession Spirit, involuntarily widened all six of his eyes. A jolt struck the back of his head. For just about 0.1 seconds, he regained a sliver of sanity. Within that threadbare shred of reason, he felt danger—and even processed it.
‘Am I… disappearing like this?’
It seemed likely.
The Possession Spirit state, while powerful, was unstable. Like a blade that snapped from the slightest tap. And yet, he had been struck by a surprise attack. Square on the back of the head. On all three of his heads at once.
The damage was massive.
The sense of danger hit him just as hard.
Suddenly, fear crept in.
‘Dying… again… I don’t want that…’
He recalled his death from the distant past—back when he was a Demon who once ruled over the Abandoned Land. It had been painful. And now, to face death once more… to think this was truly the end… he hated it. More than anything, he wanted to avoid that fate.
And then it happened.
‘…Huh?’
Just before his soul’s flame flickered out, right at its very edge, Unit 71 of the Triple-Faced Ghosts flinched. And unexpectedly, he felt a glimmer of hope.
It came from the very object that had just bounced off his head like a three-cushion shot.
‘I sense… life!’
It was faint, barely perceptible.
He had no idea what kind it was.
There wasn’t even time to check.
But one thing was certain—if he latched onto that, he could survive. He could avoid complete erasure.
…Churrrrp!
The moment he sensed that small and only hope, Unit 71 made up his mind to possess the "living being" that had struck the back of his head. And he acted. Instincts as a Possession Spirit kicked in to their fullest.
Roughly and viciously.
With cruelty.
He launched a possession attempt to drain the life force of the target.
Poof!
Unit 71 possessed the potato.
And plopped right off.
‘Got it!’
He cheered internally.
It was a success.
He had managed to possess a living being, no matter what it was. Now, for recovery…
‘Hhhngh! Kahaaack!’
He sucked out the potato’s life force to the fullest.
The potato, whose body(?) was suddenly taken over by a Possession Spirit, underwent a forced and rapid aging process. Thanks to that, Unit 71 recovered a decent amount of life force. He even absorbed a single trait from the potato as his target. Then, without hesitation, he discarded the potato and exited.
Kwaaahk!
With his vitality restored, Unit 71 of the Triple-Faced Ghosts leapt up powerfully from the potato. And exactly one second later, he plummeted pitifully to the floor.
Plop, roll…
That was the end of it.
The trait he had absorbed from the potato.
Because of it, he had become a vegetative ghost—no, a "plant-ghost."
“…”
Frozen and unable to move, Unit 71 panicked. Watching him, Kim Jangcheol panicked even more.
“Eh?”
He was slightly dumbfounded.
‘What the hell.’
Blink, blink. Kim Jangcheol glanced between the lump of potato he had thrown out of desperation, and Unit 71, now lying flat beside it in full-on plant-ghost mode.
He slowly approached.
“Hey?”
“…”
“Oi?”
“…”
“You can’t even talk?”
Smack! Smack!
He crouched beside him and gave a few light slaps to check. But Unit 71 of the Triple-Faced Ghosts, now a sudden plant-ghost, didn’t respond at all.
“Ha. Haha?”
Kim Jangcheol ended up laughing.
He was starting to grasp the situation.
That potato lump he had tossed in a hurry.
This little lump not only landed the finishing blow, but it also seemed to have been judged as a lifeform that Possession Spirits go crazy for. Just like a Pokball trapping a Pokmon, it looked as if it had completely absorbed the spirit.
‘Does this even make sense?’
If someone had told him the story, he never would have believed it.
The more he thought about it, the more he gave a hollow laugh.
“Anyway… you okay?”
“…Yes, my Lord.”
Zephyros also looked flabbergasted. Kim Jangcheol helped him up. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have suffered any major injuries.
Only then did Kim Jangcheol feel relieved.
‘Thank goodness…’
Zephyros had only been moving under his orders. If something had happened to him—if he’d died or been seriously injured—
That would’ve been entirely his responsibility. He was the Demon Lord, and the Demon Lord was the king of the Demons. A king was a leader, and a leader was someone who took responsibility.
‘Really… thank goodness.’
It hadn’t been that way in grad school. The professors he’d experienced generally didn’t take responsibility.
Did they genuinely care for the researchers who trusted and followed them?
Almost never. They treated them as tools. Just workers who helped maintain their reputation. Or slaves who fattened their pockets with blind research funds.
“……”
He knew not all were like that. He knew there were many admirable people worthy of respect. But what could he say—he’d just been unlucky. He hadn’t met anyone like that.
‘I won’t be like those bastards.’
He vowed to always treasure those who followed him. So… he decided not to feel too heartbroken over the fact that he had sacrificed a truly precious potato—one whole chunk of it—to save Zephyros.
‘…Sniff!’
At the edge of that thought and vow, Kim Jangcheol suddenly felt a surge of sorrow. He was glad he’d saved Zephyros, but at the same time, he couldn’t help the sting of regret.
‘Oh, my poor potato!’
A whole chunk, at that.
If he had just added some salt and made steamed potatoes? If he’d sliced it thin and fried it into potato chips? If nothing else, if he’d made chuño and fed it to any old Demon?
‘It would’ve been useful. It would've turned into Happy Points and gotten stored up neatly for me. But now it’s… gone. Far away. To a place where it can never return. Ever.’
It got possessed by a spirit and had its life drained.
It even went through accelerated aging.
It was probably ruined.
Utterly.
Horribly.
So—
‘…Huh?’
Just as he was lamenting the tragic fate of the potato, Kim Jangcheol suddenly froze while inspecting it. Then, without meaning to, he muttered something he never imagined would come out of his mouth in this moment.
“A… sprout?”
At first, he thought he was seeing things.
But he checked again. And again.
The potato he had thrown.
The potato that got consumed by the Possession Spirit.
The potato that had undergone rapid aging…
Had sprouted!
“…What?”
Was this real?
He couldn’t believe it.
‘It should’ve been completely dormant, let alone sprouting?’
Every potato in the storage had been in that state. That’s why he’d been racking his brain over how to break their dormancy even a little earlier.
This potato had been the same. When he’d grabbed it to throw earlier, it had just been smooth to the touch.
But now…
‘In less than a minute… its dormancy ended, and it sprouted?’
The dormancy had been broken.
The potato’s growth cycle had resumed.
No, more than that—it had already sprouted!
It had instantly reached the stage of scattered light sprouting—a method where you allow the potato to grow small sprouts before planting, which helps prevent infection from pathogens like black scurf!
‘This is…’
Insane. Absolutely insane.
But how?
“……”
Amidst the unbelievable situation, the prefrontal cortex of Kim Jangcheol's brain kicked into full gear. He alternated glances between the potato in his hand that had begun to sprout, and Unit 71 of the Triple-Faced Ghosts, still lying on the floor in his vegetative-ghost state.
And just like that, the puzzle pieces clicked together.
‘Most likely.’
It was because of the Triple-Faced Ghost.
That guy, in his Possession Spirit state, had inhabited the potato.
He drained its life force and forcibly aged it.
“……”
Dormancy meant that all physiological activity had stopped.
Aging meant that physiological activity was forcibly accelerated.
And so...
‘The potato, which had been in dormancy, had its physiological processes forcibly accelerated through aging—ending dormancy and reaching the scattered light sprouting stage?’
An absurd hypothesis formed in his mind.
It didn’t make sense.
And yet, it did.
It was ridiculous, but he had to test it.
Kim Jangcheol surveyed the surroundings.
A few of the Triple-Faced Ghosts were still rampaging in Possession Spirit form. The Agricultural Corps Demon Youth Association members were putting in extra effort to beat them down.
Swish.
He approached them.
Scanned the ground.
There were lumps of potatoes scattered all around amidst the chaos.
All of them were smooth, dormant specimens.
Perfect.
Perfect for testing.
“……”
He picked one up.
Aimed carefully.
And wound up with strength!
...Thwack!
Backed by the strength of the Demon Lord’s body, the potato shot forward at a speed of 170 km/h, drawing a tight, beautiful arc like a taut clothesline. It ripped through the air. Had any Major League scouts witnessed it, they would’ve proposed marriage on the spot—the pitch landed with perfect location.
Even on a three-cushion rebound.
Bababak!
“...!”
Another Possession Spirit, Unit 23 of the Triple-Faced Ghosts, who was caught off guard by a sudden blow to the back of the head, sensed a crisis of existence. Fear and desperation welled up within him, and he made his choice. He possessed the potato. He drained its life force. The potato aged.
And then, a sprout budded from it.
Pop!
“Hell yeah—!”
Rushing over and confirming the result, Kim Jangcheol let out a triumphant cheer. He picked up another potato.
There were still five Possession Spirits left.
He hurled potatoes at them.
And then...
Pop! Pop-pop-pop! Pop!
Each spirit that got hit went through the exact same process. As a result, they all turned into plant-ghosts, and without exception, sprouts grew from each potato! Flourishing! Bursting forth!
Shiver...
Kim Jangcheol’s shoulders trembled like a notification buzz from a crush who’d never even been his girl. His ridiculous hypothesis, now repeatedly confirmed, left him overwhelmed with emotion.
‘Dormancy... That damn dormancy…’
He’d wanted to plant the potatoes right away.
That way, he could solve the food crisis here just a bit faster. He could quiet the complaints of the Four Great Demon Generals and the rest of the Demons. He might even prevent an invasion of the human world. Which meant, ultimately, he could protect his own life.
But dormancy had made planting impossible.
It had been frustrating, nerve-wracking.
But now, everything had changed.
They had sprouted.
Physical dormancy-breaking methods?
Chemical dormancy-breaking theories?
What he had just discovered was faster and more reliable than anything he’d ever known. A brand-new secret technique(?).
‘Nice. Super ultimate NICE!’
This was it.
Now, he could do it.
He could plant the potatoes.
If he used this method he’d just uncovered, he could sprout every last potato in the storage by today and get them all planted in the fields!
Which meant...
“…Hey.”
Kim Jangcheol turned his body.
He looked toward the members of the Agricultural Corps Demon Youth Association, who were catching their breath after the battle.
“All of you, right now, go grab every last potato from the storage.”
“...Huh?”
The Agricultural Corps members responded with puzzled looks.
A broad, satisfied, and wicked grin bloomed on Kim Jangcheol’s lips.
“We're taking all of them—straight to that cliff where the First Star Lord is. Not for war… but to sprout 'em.”