Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 114
EP.114 Write More
Duke Pamur, deep in thought, recalled the Pope’s recent proposal.
‘The Church…’
Having been a Duke for a long time, Pamur had experienced all sorts of things, but this was his first time dealing with the Church, and it felt strangely unsettling.
‘This is something that should never have happened, so the feeling is quite odd.’
The demons and the Church were not merely rivals who hated each other—they were enemies to the point of needing to exterminate each other’s kind. Pamur had always thought it was impossible for them to even converse, let alone form any kind of relationship. But this Pope seemed completely unconcerned with such notions, making this proposal all the more bizarre.
‘Wait… isn’t it funny to say they’ve formed a relationship?’
It was hard to even call it a “relationship,” since it was so obvious that both sides would end up betraying each other. Unsure of how to describe the situation, Pamur slowly began to tap his fingers on the desk, his eyes closing in thought.
‘Well, whatever happens, if this deal goes through and I can claim the position of Demon King, I can turn around the twisted situation in the Demon Realm.’
Of course, once he became the Demon King, he would need to spend a long time improving things. But since time didn’t mean much to him, that wasn’t a concern.
‘I’m looking forward to it.’
Just as he was lost in thought about how the Demon Realm would change under his rule, one of his guards entered to inform him, “A guest from the Church has arrived.”
Without hesitation, Pamur ordered them to let the guest in and took a haughty seat as a man in a robe entered.
“Welcome.”
“Have you been well, Duke Pamur?”
The smooth, condescending tone and manner of speech typical of the Church made Pamur’s stomach turn. He motioned with his hand to dismiss the pleasantries and immediately got to the point.
“Hand over what the Pope sent.”
The man nodded, as if this were expected, and slowly began rummaging through his robe. Suddenly, he raised his middle finger and shouted loudly.
“You filthy demons! Accept divine punishment willingly!”
Along with that cry, a blinding white light erupted. Pamur, pulling up all his magical energy in a desperate effort to counter, quickly realized how insignificant his power was in comparison to the overwhelming divine power. The divine power crushed his own magic and slammed his body into the desk.
“Ugh…!”
It had been a long time since he’d experienced such pain, and although he had been caught off guard, the sheer strength of the attack left him in shock. As he struggled to regain his composure, he heard a chilling laugh from the human standing in front of him.
“Well, this one’s tougher than I expected. I like you.”
The man, who had been muttering incomprehensible words, now drew his sword, looking utterly delighted as he gazed at Pamur.
“I wonder how long a Demon Duke like you can hold out.”
Hold out? What was he talking about?
From the beginning to the end, the man had been speaking in a way that made no sense, looking down at Pamur as he pointed his sword at him and continued.
“Well then, shall we begin?”
At the moment the word “begin” reached his ears, Pamur immediately released his magic, quickly retreating and using his curse to distort everything, negating the very source of his being. He cast a curse that would drag the man into torment.
However, the man seemed to enjoy the curse, smiling as he muttered, “This is fun.” He slowly advanced toward Pamur.
“Hey, don’t you have any other curses? If I had a bunch of curses piled on me and trained with them, I think it’d be pretty effective.”
Curses were a kind of magic that dragged a person to the very depths of suffering, ultimately killing them. It was the worst kind of sorcery, and those cursed would die cursing everything in the world until their final breath. Anyone with a life would typically avoid being cursed at all costs…
“Why aren’t you using more? Huh? Don’t be shy, curse me more before I die!”
The man didn’t seem to be affected at all, eagerly demanding more curses, as if it were all a game.
This was a completely new experience for Pamur, and the growing sense of confusion kept taking him by surprise. But he knew that if he let this confusion swallow him up, his death would be certain. So, he continued casting curse after curse as the man requested.
“Is this why adults say you should steam yourself in a hot bath? This warm feeling is actually kind of nice.”
Rather than suffering under the curses, the man seemed to enjoy them, laughing and basking in the sensation.
Pamur couldn’t help but feel as if he were caught in an unprecedented nightmare as he stared blankly, unable to process the situation.
The man finally shook himself off, seemingly bored, and spoke again.
“Alright, enough with the games. Let’s get back to business.”
Games?
Pamur almost shouted in protest, questioning how any of this could be considered a game. But before he could, the man grabbed him by the neck with one hand and, for the first time, showed a serious expression.
“So, what kind of deal did you make with the Pope?”
Didn’t he just mention divine punishment earlier?
Pamur was about to object to this contradictory statement, but the impulse to do so quickly faded as he decided to answer calmly.
***
Jeong-hyeon let out a hollow laugh, the sharp sensations piercing his body.
His opponent was a Duke known for his curses in the Demon Realm. According to Shin Si-ah, the curses he cast were terrifying; those affected would regret being born and die in agony. But Jeong-hyeon felt nothing but confusion, as the curses didn’t hurt at all.
‘I’m not sure why, but it seems like the overwhelming divine power is making me immune to his curses.’
Though he didn’t know the exact reason, Jeong-hyeon decided he’d look into it later. As he looked at Duke Pamur, his mind raced with decisions about what to do with him.
‘Should I kill him? Or should I spare him?’
After a moment of hesitation, a rather amusing idea crossed his mind, and he decided to spare him for now.
‘The Pope has requested the Demon forces to make sacrifices, so if I disguise myself and infiltrate, it could work to my advantage.’
An idea suddenly occurred to him as he considered how much fun it would be to deal with the Church’s figures in reverse.
‘If this goes well…’
The Church would crumble to the point of no recovery. They’d no longer be able to perform their duties.
He believed that with this one move, he could shatter the Church’s deep-rooted faith. He smiled widely, eager to give it a try.
“So when exactly is this?”
“Uh, two days from now.”
“Right? Not long now.”
He decided to make use of teleportation or any method he could find to return to Shin Si-ah as quickly as possible and discuss the matter.
Looking at Pamur, who was bleeding blue blood, he said,
“By the way, you should train. How come you’re so weak?”
“…”
“Take care of yourself in the meantime. I’m just going out for a bit. See you later?”
He gave Pamur’s shoulder a few pats before retracting the divine power he had spread across the area.
As soon as the divine power was withdrawn, the blue blood poured out quickly, spreading across the floor.
It seemed that when he had spread the divine power to take control of the space, he had inadvertently crushed and overwhelmed the nearby guards.
He thought to himself, ‘At least the blood’s blue, so it’s not as grotesque.’ Then he asked Pamur to introduce him to any demon who could use teleportation.
***
Upon his return, he threw Behemoth onto the floor casually and headed for Reltra’s office.
He felt a sense of familiarity with the place and hummed a tune as he walked.
As he approached, he overheard an interesting conversation from inside.
“Ah, My Lord. As I’ve said before, the way to capture a man is very simple.”
“Mm?”
“First, you need to conquer him. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to control his body, and that will make it easy to take control of his mind as well.”
“… Conquer? What do you mean by that?”
Rather than finding it interesting, it was more shocking to him.
He had a strange feeling that if he went in now, he’d be the one shouldering all the problems, so he decided to ignore it and continue walking toward the bedroom where he had rested earlier.
‘Wait a minute, wasn’t Reltra supposed to like Shin Si-ah?’
As he walked, a question popped into his mind.
Usually, if someone liked someone that much, they’d feel possessive, making it hard to speak so openly like that.
It was hard to understand why Reltra would say something like that so casually.
‘Is this a Demon Realm-style thing?’
He wasn’t sure, but as he pondered it, Behemoth suddenly recovered and ran up to him, speaking excitedly.
“Hero! How did it go?”
Clueless fool.
Sighing, he watched as Shin Si-ah and Reltra quickly exited the room at the sound of Behemoth’s loud voice.
‘Well… I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear anything.’
However, as he noticed Shin Si-ah’s face turning an unusually deep red, he had a fleeting thought: ‘Maybe she figured out that I overheard the conversation.’