【Huh? Who’s that?】

【You must have just started watching Kangrim, huh?】

【I’ve been watching since last room.】

【That’s Joo Hyeryung, a member of Zone 4. She had a bit of a scuffle with Seo Kangrim.】

The leader of Zone 4, where the killer Nam Yoojun had belonged.

Back then, Nam Yoojun had framed me as a killer, and Joo Hyeryung had believed him.

I wasn’t sure if she still thought of me that way, but for now, I needed to head here.

“Hello. We meet again.”

I leaped down lightly and surveyed my surroundings.

This place was likely the Suragan—in other words, the kitchen belonging to the Palace.

This Demon Realm consisted of numerous rooms, each equipped with its own specific function.

Because of that, areas where one could eat or rest were highly popular among the trainees for various reasons.

Judging by the looks of it, they had gathered here for a meal right now.

Joo Hyeryung regarded me with wary eyes.

“…I didn’t expect to run into you again.”

“You don’t seem too pleased to see me, so I’ll be on my way shortly. I just have one question.”

“What is it?”

“Do you remember the people from my zone? Have you crossed paths with them?”

There was some uncertainty whether the X mark meant ‘do not come this way’ or ‘I did not go this way.’

Joo Hyeryung glared at me and spoke.

“Why should I tell someone who might be a killer?”

“I am not a killer. Nam Yoojun was the killer.”

“I can’t trust that either. Then why did Yoojun disappear?”

“Maybe he ran because he was a killer.”

Of course, he hadn’t run away.

It was a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune that very few gods had witnessed what happened then.

As Joo Hyeryung and I were locked in a glaring contest, someone awkwardly stepped in to mediate.

“Now, now. Stop it. There’s no clear evidence that this guy is a killer.”

“…”

“Since we’re also meeting someone we haven’t seen in a while, let’s at least hear him out. You haven’t eaten either, right? Wait a little and let’s eat together.”

I had no intention of eating, but I sat down for the time being.

Perhaps a meal was being prepared, as steam was rising from a large pot.

When I took my seat, Joo Hyeryung sat across from me, eyeing me askance.

“Yours appeared on your neck.”

She was looking at the Saw Bone Belt wrapped around my neck.

Joo Hyeryung had the belt fastened around her right wrist.

I turned up my collar to hide my neck and said,

“Are you left-handed?”

“No. Right hand.”

“It would be terrible if your right hand gets sawed off.”

“More terrible than getting your neck sawed off?”

At my response, Joo Hyeryung let out a scoff of disbelief.

“I heard lucky ones get it on their fingers or ears. Neither of us has any luck.”

As she said, the Saw Bone Belt was attached to different body parts for each person.

Some had it around their wrists like Joo Hyeryung, while others had it on their ankles, calves, fingers, or ears.

By the numbers, most people had it on their ears or fingers, followed by hands and feet.

But no one else had it around their neck like me.

“So, you asked if I saw the people from Zone 2?”

“Yes. Have you seen them?”

“No. I haven’t. But if I do run into them, I’ll let you know. In exchange…”

Joo Hyeryung spoke with the eyes of a merchant striking a deal.

“You hand over information too. If you find our zone’s Identification Tag, you tell me its location.”

Finding Shin Sooa was currently my top priority, but the mission of this Demon Realm was to find the Identification Tags.

I feigned ignorance and asked,

“Can’t I just pick it up myself?”

“You haven’t found a tag yet, have you?”

Joo Hyeryung’s tone took on a slightly boastful edge.

She spoke with a face as if she were bestowing a great favor.

“Only the owner can touch an Identification Tag. Destroying it is impossible too. So if you find one, it’s best to record its location.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I had exchanged the necessary information for now, but I couldn’t bring myself to stand up just yet.

While we conversed, I casually scanned the room for the next marker.

However, there were no markers in this room.

It was unlikely that Shin Sooa and the others had simply evaporated from this spot.

That meant the most likely possibility was that they hadn’t had the luxury of leaving a marker behind.

In other words, everyone, including Shin Sooa, was in a dangerous situation.

The blood splattered all over the place seemed to prove it.

They must have fled this place in a desperate evacuation mid-combat.

If it had been a minor skirmish, they would have returned after evacuating to carve a marker.

The fact that there were still no markers meant they were still in a critical situation.

The image of a bloodied Shin Sooa flashed through my mind.

Right then, a peculiar sound began to echo from afar.

-Duung… du-ung…

It was the sound of a drum.

The slow, reverberating beat made it impossible to discern which direction it came from.

As the drumming reached them, the color instantly drained from people’s faces.

“Damn it, already?”

“Can’t even get a single meal in.”

People rose from their seats one by one, weapons in hand.

Joo Hyeryung’s face was also stiff with tension.

“You get up and prepare to fight too.”

I knew all too well what was about to happen.

I drew my sword and took a defensive stance. Moments later, the drumming cut off abruptly, without a trace of echo.

At the same time, black things began to spawn from various corners of the room.

【Wow, it’s finally here!】

【Looking forward to Seo Kangrim’s initiation!】

【Hang in there, Kangrim!】

-Gagaga…!

Emitting bizarre noises, what revealed themselves were human-sized black masses.

At a glance, they resembled human silhouettes, but they lacked any facial features. Instead, red lines were etched across their bodies.

They seemed more like statues cobbled together from shadows.

Unlike the Demon Beasts I had seen so far, these wielded weapons.

-Ga… gagak…!

The Demon Beasts charged at the people, moving like broken dolls.

As the black masses swung rusted, chipped swords, Joo Hyeryung swept her spear to slash a beast down.

“Everyone, flee to the other rooms! We’ll regroup at the gathering spot!”

They seemed to choose retreat over combat.

That was understandable, considering the sheer number of Demon Beasts swarming in.

About twenty of them.

As I was assessing the enemy’s numbers, a shadow clinging to the ceiling dropped down right above my head.

-Gagak!

“Kyareureung!”

Right then, a fist-sized fireball flew in and blew off the beast’s leg.

As the flaming beast fell to the floor, Yorongi pounced on it as if he had been waiting for this very moment, biting into its neck.

-Ga, gagak…

The Demon Beast soon crumbled into ash and scattered.

Yorongi opened his mouth in a satisfied grin, his maw smeared with a black liquid that looked like bloodstains.

“W-What in the world is that? A Demon Beast?”

“A dragon?”

“Its legs are too short for a dragon…”

“Is that guy walking around with a dragon?”

The people showed signs of surprise upon seeing Yorongi.

It was only natural for them to be surprised, as they wouldn’t have had many chances to see a Spirit Beast.

-Gagagak!

Meanwhile, the Demon Beasts didn’t show a single sign of agitation even as their ally perished, pressing their attack relentlessly.

One of them charged at me as well.

-Seogeok!

The Seven-Blade Sword cleaved the Demon Beast’s body in half in a single stroke.

I drove my blade into the crumbling shadow once more, and it disintegrated completely.

I had struggled quite a bit against these things in my past life, but this time, it was a breeze.

They only had numbers; each individual specimen wasn’t particularly strong.

-Chwaak!

Deflecting a beast’s swinging sword, I slashed through their necks.

It felt like cutting through living flesh, but no blood splattered.

While I cleared the front, Yorongi was darting around, biting and tearing into the Demon Beasts as well.

In a flash, the Demon Beasts were wiped out.

“It seems we’re done here.”

There hadn’t been any need to flee.

The fallen Demon Beasts vanished without leaving corpses behind, melting away like ice.

Joo Hyeryung spoke with a shocked expression.

“Were you… always this strong?”

I didn’t answer.

Yorongi was swiping his front paws at the dissipating Demon Beasts, trying to catch them.

Rini was hiding in the corner, wearing a fed-up expression.

Everyone else looked utterly bewildered.

Joo Hyeryung surveyed the people and asked,

“Is anyone hurt?”

“No, everyone’s fine.”

“This is the first time we’ve cleared them this quickly.”

Now that the immediate threat was dealt with, I needed to move on.

As I pondered which direction to take, Joo Hyeryung approached me hesitantly.

“…Hey, thanks. We survived because of you.”

The sharp, hostile expression she wore until moments ago had softened considerably.

She continued with a somewhat peculiar look on her face.

“You’ve helped us a lot. I feel like I should repay you somehow…”

“It’s fine. I was only trying to protect myself anyway.”

“I suppose. Still, we did receive your help. At least let me give you some information about this place.”

I already knew the information about this Demon Realm.

However, there was a chance something might have changed, so I nodded.

Once we sat down, Joo Hyeryung began to speak.

“It seems like all the zones are participating in this Demon Realm. I haven’t seen the people you mentioned, but I’ve run into people from other zones frequently.”

If all the zones had gathered, that was quite a large number of people.

Yet the fact that I hadn’t encountered them yet meant they had either gone deeper, dropped out, or already passed.

“As you saw earlier, when the drum sounds, Demon Beasts appear. For convenience, we call them Shadows.”

Shadows, huh.

I thought it was a rather fitting name they had come up with.

When I remained silent, she continued her explanation.

“The timing of the drumbeat is random. Fortunately, they don’t chase you into other rooms, so you can escape safely by running to the next room.”

“And?”

“Um… that’s about it.”

It would have been quite useful information for a first-timer, but it was nothing I didn’t already know.

More than that, something else was bothering me.

Beyond Joo Hyeryung’s anxious expression, I sensed something.

It felt like she was hiding something.

“At least have a meal. Fortunately, the pot is intact, so…”

One of the Zone 4 members quietly offered me something.

It was an earthen bowl filled with porridge; the contents looked like a gruel boiled with greens and rice.

Rini approached, sniffed at it, and tried to eat it, so I quickly accepted the bowl.

“I’ll enjoy my meal.”

I scooped a spoonful of the porridge and put it in my mouth.

It wasn’t exactly a taste that made me want more, but warm food had its own appeal.

I was about to take another spoonful when I looked up at Joo Hyeryung sitting across from me.

She was watching me with tense eyes.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

“H-Huh? Me? I’ll eat later. I have to serve my benefactor first.”

The word ‘benefactor’ sounded ridiculous to me.

I set the porridge bowl down and spoke quietly.

“Do you serve poisoned food to your benefactors?”