04. Uncomfortable cohabitation (1)

When I opened my eyes, I saw a white ceiling.

Unfamiliar smells of medicine and a somewhat subdued atmosphere.

This is….

“You’ve come to your senses.”

A quiet tone and a familiar voice.

I just turned my head while lying on the bed, and Ji-soo Baek was looking down at me.

A thick book in my hand, probably while I was reading.

The book had just been closed.

“Where are you?”

“You lost consciousness and were brought to the hospital.”

A hospital?

I’ve never been hospitalized in my life.

“Why do I….”

Recalling the last memory before losing consciousness.

A marble pierces my heart, I break it with my new weapon, and…

And then I heard a voice….

I suddenly got up from the bed.

“Voice!”

“… Voice?”

“Yes! What voice is in my head… Uh?”

I realized the moment I got up.

The hilt of the three-man sword was gripped in his right hand.

Why am I holding this?

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Joo Baek saw my confused expression and opened his mouth.

“It was like that when I found you passed out. I couldn’t take it off, so I brought it as is.”

“I said that?”

Three swords still clenched in my hand.

Even now, when I came to my senses, I felt a reluctance to remove this sword for no reason.

It was because of my instinctive intuition that something big would happen if I let go of this.

I remembered. I grabbed the three-person sword because I thought I was going to be taken away by the owner of the voice.

Suddenly, Baek Ji-soo’s outfit caught my eye. She was wearing a school uniform.

“How long have I been here?”

“Three days.”

In three days… Since the fair was the day before school started, wasn’t school already over yesterday?

So Baek Ji-soo came wearing a school uniform.

“Your grandfather was very worried. You were in the hospital room all day yesterday.”

“Grandpa?”

I felt very guilty when I heard that my grandfather had been by my side all day.

You must have been very worried that I was hospitalized and lost consciousness for three days.

It must have been a shock to me that there was such a commotion at the fair and that I was caught up in it.

It wasn’t long before I said I would never go to a dangerous place again.

What bothered me more than anything was that I still had no choice but to lie to my grandfather.

If you knew the truth, you would definitely oppose it.

Anyway, since it was an exhibition, I remembered it belatedly.

“What about Seohee? How was the barrier?”

All I remember is hearing a strange voice after breaking the marble.

I lost consciousness without even knowing what had happened to break the barrier.

Seeing that I’m in the hospital now, it seems like things went well.

“Thanks to you removing the orb, the barrier was safely broken. Cha Soo-hyeok and the Suseong Guild took care of the situation.”

Cha Soo-hyeok. Then I saw that person was there too.

There are many things I wanted to ask, but I don’t know if there will be an opportunity later.

“And Yoon Seo-hee… You will be very busy right now.”

“Busy?”

“Yes.”

Baek Ji-soo closes her mouth as if she has no intention of saying anything more.

Are you asking yourself the rest?

“Um… yes. Thanks for letting me know.”

“Are you done with all your questions?”

She looked at me as if it was her turn to ask.

“Binary. Are you okay?”

“Uh. Are you okay? It made me wonder if I even had to be hospitalized.”

She turned her shoulder lightly, but felt no pain.

On the contrary, my body is lighter than usual. The whole body was full of vitality.

“… Would you believe me if I told you that when I first found you, your whole body was full of burns?”

“What?”

I look around my body. There are no scratches, let alone burns.

“Looking at it that way won’t hurt you. Because the burns were cured right on the spot.”

“What is that….”

I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

I’m not a healer, so it makes sense that burns heal instantly.

If that were the case, my body would never have been full of scars.

Baek Ji-soo frowned and said.

“That basement warehouse is messier than the last time I saw it. The wall collapsed as if something had been hammered into it.”

“Oh, that is.”

It’s a trace of what I was carrying. Come to think of it, my back must have been badly bruised, but it’s nothing.

“And your clothes. There were holes on both sides as if it had been pierced by something, but there were no wounds on your body.”

“Um….”

“Tell me, Lee Jin. What the hell happened there?”

I made a troubled expression as I rubbed the nape of my neck with my left hand.

I am more curious. What the hell happened to my body

“Okay. Can you explain from the beginning?”

“It doesn’t matter. Because I have a lot of time.”

It’s not something I’m going to keep secret anyway, and even if it’s not, I actually thought of consulting Baek Ji-soo.

I explained step by step from the moment Baek Ji-soo left the barrier.

The heart was pierced by the orb’s tentacles.

In that situation, he broke the marbles with his weapon skills.

I had an unknown dream after I fell unconscious.

That I almost lost my body to the voice in my head.

And when he gripped the three-person sword, he suffered tremendous pain, his voice disappeared, and he lost consciousness again.

As my explanation continued, Baek Ji-soo’s expression changed from absurd to astonished, and at the end, he was looking at me with a very serious face.

“Binary. I guess you… I think I was possessed by a demon.”

Is that so….

Actually, I guessed to some extent.

Sudden regeneration and the voice I heard in my head. It was more strange that he wasn’t a devil when he thought of the existence that dealt with demons. That’s why I grabbed the three-person sword.

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Just hearing it directly from Baek Ji-soo’s mouth made me realize it all over again. I think the real devil is right.

I wouldn’t know what to do if I was alone. But right now, next to me was a reliable being called a regressor.

I looked at her with her heart that if it was Baek Ji-soo, she would do something for her.

“Then what should I do now?”

“… I do not know either.”

“Huh?”

I was dumbfounded, like a person whose expectations were betrayed.

You don’t even know if it’s blank? Then, is there no choice but to lose the body to the devil like this?

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Joo Baek quietly shook his head at my attitude as if I had lost the whole world.

“Don’t make that face. Because there is no way at all. But with my current skills, I’m not sure.”

It’s not that there isn’t a way.

I calmed down a bit. It doesn’t mean that there is no hope at all.

“I don’t have enough information right now. I need to know more about demons. Do you want to remove the three-person sword from your hand?”

“What? So, aren’t you going to lose your body to the devil?”

“I don’t know yet. There is a possibility that the three swords could completely banish demons.”

Um. If that’s true, there won’t be any better results than that, but….

I remember the man’s voice that went quiet as he screamed as he grabbed the three-man sword.

Could that be a sign of the ancestral spirit? I don’t think so.

As I was thinking about it with a worried expression, Baek Ji-soo met my gaze with me with more serious eyes than ever before.

“Binary.”

“Huh?”

“Trust me.”

It was a resolute tone that was rare for her, who was indifferent to everything she did.

“Even if I lose my body to the devil, I will do my best. I won’t leave you alone in danger like last time.”

For a moment, silence ensued.

It was because I was at a loss for words at Baek Ji-soo’s serious voice.

It’s embarrassing. How can you say that you don’t believe me when you make a face like that?

I let out a short sigh and raised my right hand holding the three-person sword.

“Okay. I wish you well.”

Baek Ji-soo just nodded without answering.

Honestly, I’m afraid. What would happen if I let the three-person sword out of my hand?

Nothing could happen, and maybe my will would disappear the moment I let go of the sword.

No matter what happens, it’s not strange.

As I calmed down my trembling breath, I slowly let go of the three-person sword.

‘… I don’t really feel anything-‘

Tak! In an instant, my right foot moved by itself and kicked the three-person sword away.

[“Big… hahahahaha!!”]

The sound of maddened laughter echoed throughout the hospital room.

That was my voice.

“Evil-“

[“I’ve been waiting for this moment! Foolish human kid!”]

My mouth goes against my will and puts in someone else’s tone.

[“Did you think you could confine me to a human subject for a thousand years? Now I am free!”]

I jumped up from the bed and looked around… No, the devil in my body.

It’s definitely my body, but it doesn’t move the way I want it to. It felt like being imprisoned.

‘I got stronger… !’

Before, I still had more initiative, but now the devil has the body.

Has your strength been weak since you just woke up? Damn it… !

The devil smiled wickedly as he moved my body freely.

[“Whoa… Is this the human world? Isn’t it bad? It seems that there are a lot of guys who are stronger than I thought. hehehe… Human kid, let me take good care of your body-“]

A high level magic formula.

Bongmajin (封魔陣).

Charleureureuk! Chains of pure white light wrap around my body from all sides.

My arms, legs, neck, and torso are all wrapped around and bound so that I can’t move.

[“Billion, this is… ! What is this chain!!”]

Suddenly, Baek Ji-soo, who quickly pulled out his staff, was aiming at me, the devil, emitting pure white magic power.

“The devil. Get out of that body.”

[“Ha, get out? Does a human or something give me orders? How dare you know who I am!”]

At those words, Baek Ji-soo quietly frowned.

“Who are you?”

The demon let out a low, maniacal laugh as he wrapped himself in chains.

[“If you don’t know me, listen carefully. This body is the most powerful demon in Hell that competed with the Demon God.”]

[“This is Kertatus, demon of struggle.”]