…Boom!
It's like lightning struck his eardrums.
No—lightning really did strike.
Not just anywhere, but on the gates of Magrat Fortress.
On that famously sturdy, solid, impregnable gate.
KWAANG!
A thunderous crash erupted out of nowhere.
The gate exploded.
And so did the mental composure of the gatekeepers.
"...Uwaaah! What is this?!"
"Stop them!"
But they couldn't stop it.
How could they possibly stop that brute's charge?
With a single tackle—or maybe just a shoulder bump?—the Four Heavenly King Baal punched a hole through the fortress gate.
Watching this, the merchant Richmond thought desperately. No, he wished.
'Hey! What are you all doing?! Stop them! Fight! Defeat these demons!'
He cheered on the gatekeepers with all sincerity, encouraging them.
And on the other hand, he truly believed.
The soldiers stationed here were said to be elites even within the kingdom. That they would not lose courage so easily when facing even the strongest and most wicked enemies.
That they would fulfill their duty.
That they would fight to the end.
…His trust was shattered into pieces in less than five seconds. Along with the shouts of the kingdom's supposedly elite soldiers, who lost their courage more easily than expected(?).
"Uwaaaah! The gate's been breached!"
"Hold the line! Fight back!"
"...Huh? Me? Against that?!"
"Then should I do it?!"
"You're the squad captain, you go first!"
"...I'm sorry! Honestly, I don't think I can win!"
"Then just say you're scared!"
"Fine! I'm scared! Very scared!"
"I'm just as scared too!"
"T-then... let's just say we fought valiantly but were overpowered!"
"Can we do that?!"
"When you think about it, they're not invading from the Abandoned Land into our territory—it's the other way around! That means we didn't fail at defense! We just failed at offense!"
"...That makes sense!"
Maybe it was because of the party's overwhelming combat strength. Or maybe it was because of Baal's explosively flashy gate-smashing performance.
But the defenders at the gate had their fighting spirit crushed instantly. Thanks to that, none of them stepped forward to fight.
Facing a Four Heavenly King who had dropped his disguise and was flaunting his full power—this response was probably the most appropriate and wise.
However, Richmond, who was being taken captive by the group, thought differently.
'H-hey? You guys?'
Why aren't they fighting?
Why are they just standing there watching them pass through the gate? Why? How? Seriously? Really? Are you guys actually going to do this? Huh?
'Hey! What kind of nonsense is that?! "We failed at offense"? What even is that?! Why aren't you stopping them?! Fight! Save me!'
He screamed.
He wanted to cry out with all his might.
But all that came out of his mouth were muffled grunts.
Thanks to that, as he was carried on Kim Jangcheol's back through the gap in the gate—achieving the so-called grand entrance into the Abandoned Land—he realized it with his whole body.
'Ah.'
I'm finished.
They actually dragged me past that gate.
So now, I'm being taken away by these demons without any hope.
To the Abandoned Land.
To a place devoid of life.
To the lair of demons where no one survives.
"...."
How will I die?
Will I be sliced up? Boiled?
Or maybe ripped apart while still alive?
No, maybe all the blood will be sucked from my body.
"....."
He didn't know.
He could only pray that the death awaiting him would be less painful. That the world after death, the afterlife, would be a little less terrifying.
And at the same time… he felt a bit of regret.
'I shouldn't have messed with these guys... Shouldn't have gotten greedy over that potato…'
Suddenly, he remembered the moment he realized that the place he'd been dragged to was near the Magrat gate. And the moment he figured out that the ones who had kidnapped him were none other than the demons of the Abandoned Land.
"........"
These guys—did they really say they were going to break through the gate? And they actually fought over who would do it?
Especially that guy named Baal.
And he was completely stunned when that pink alpaca started arguing.
'This battle! Sirgi doesn't need to do anything! Baal will handle it! I'll just smash the gate! I won't hurt the gatekeepers like the Demon King ordered!'
'You? You think you can fight that delicately? Really?'
'All I need is one BAM! to the gate!'
'And then you'll end up blowing away the gatekeepers too. That's why, Lord Demon King? Let Sirgi, the Cold Monarch, handle this.'
'No! Sirgi has a bad attitude!'
'...What did you say?'
'It's obvious! If she fails to cut the gate in one strike, she'll get mad and take it out on the soldiers!'
'You think I can't cut a gate like that in one blow? Want to be the first one sliced up?'
'See?! You've got a terrible attitude!'
"......."
Whether it was smashing the gate or slicing it in one blow…
Sure, the content of the argument was something, but—
'That alpaca… talks? No, uses a sword?'
At first, he thought he was just hallucinating from extreme stress.
But no—it wasn't.
He was completely sober.
When the pink alpaca transformed with a poof into a female demon, he fully realized the truth.
In that moment, his heart dropped straight down.
He thought his eyeballs would pop out.
The shock didn't end there.
Right after, Baal transformed with another poof.
Into a terrifying demon, at least three meters tall—just looking at his face made Richmond's legs tremble. And without a care for what the female demon was saying, he charged toward the gate.
'Baal! BREAK IT!'
…With that shout, he smashed through the outer gate wall of the first checkpoint facing the kingdom. Before the panicked soldiers could destroy the bridge to the second checkpoint, Baal kept his momentum and charged across.
And just now, he rammed straight through the second gate wall with another tackle.
'I'd already guessed they weren't ordinary...'
But who would've thought—they were the infamous demons of the Abandoned Land, said to be the most fearsome in the world.
Not even in his wildest dreams.
And to think—that guy, Kim Jangcheol, was the Demon King? That part, he never saw coming.
"...."
I must be out of my mind.
So just a little, really, just a little…
'Should've been less greedy…'
Should've tormented people less.
Shouldn't have dragged that farm owner in like that. Shouldn't have handed him over to Ruslan for torture.
Shouldn't have deprived him of sleep...
Shouldn't have hung him upside down...
Shouldn't have forced him to sign that ridiculously unfair contract, half-coerced, and taken his farm and business rights without mercy like that.
That was something I shouldn't have done.
Now I...
'If I die, I'll go to hell, won't I?'
That's probably how it'll be. If there is an afterlife, he was certain that's where he'd go.
Regret came, too late.
At the same time, he wondered if maybe this very situation was his punishment.
But just then—
"Oh? Right. I forgot."
Just when he thought he was being dragged into the Abandoned Land, limp and lifeless.
Kim Jangcheol, who had been carrying him all this time, suddenly stopped. And then casually dropped him to the ground as he muttered.
"I forgot and ended up bringing this guy all the way here?"
"...."
Huh?
Uhh... huh?
Forgot?
So you brought me along because you forgot?
What… what does that even mean?
Just as Richmond was becoming seriously confused—
Poke.
The one called Zephyros reached out. And poked the back of his neck.
Thanks to that, the voice that had been blocked all this time finally came out after so long.
"...Huh?"
A completely hoarse voice.
Was that really his voice?
And then—
"Sorry about that. Honestly, I just brought you along thinking you might come in handy as a hostage when breaking through the gate. But I forgot and ended up carrying you all the way here."
"......."
Kim Jangcheol, smiling brightly at him, speaking like he wasn't sorry at all.
Richmond was dumbfounded by the sight. But he couldn't show it. Why? Because right now, the other side had all the power. His life depended on their decision.
So Richmond smiled.
A wide, over-the-top business smile that outshone even Kim Jangcheol's.
"Ah, yes? Ahaha, well, things like that can happen when you're living life, can't they? Isn't that right? Ahahaha."
"Really? Thanks for understanding."
"Oh, no problem at all. These things happen when people work together. So, ahem! When might you be sending me back...?"
"Sending you back? You?"
"...."
"I have no intention of doing that."
"......"
"You really believed I brought you all the way here just because I forgot? You really bought that joke? You think we're the kind of people who tell those kinds of jokes together?"
"....."
A chilling wave of blood drained from his body.
Before he knew it, the smile had completely disappeared from Kim Jangcheol's face.
"Get it together. I brought you here to punish you. Leaving you behind in Daparachia, you'd just weasel your way through the legal system again. Someone like you will only keep committing atrocities there if we don't root you out completely."
It was the truth.
The merchant Richmond.
Using his overflowing capital to disrupt the agricultural market, sucking the lifeblood out of people, and feeding his own greed.
If someone like that stayed in the human world?
Would he really be punished properly?
'...Probably not.'
Kim Jangcheol shook his head inwardly.
He had already seen and felt enough in Daparachia to know.
"No matter how much money he has, something like that isn't possible without the support or protection of someone in power. Most likely, someone like the mayor of Daparachia, or even a central noble was backing him. Maybe they even had a shady financial relationship."
Maybe it was even a member of the royal family.
What did that mean?
It meant that this man couldn't be punished by the kingdom's laws. Even if they tried, it would be the classic lizard's tail-cutting routine, ending in a slap on the wrist.
Just like Kim Jangcheol had seen so many times back in Korea.
"If you're rich, you're innocent. If you're poor, you're guilty."
The wealthy who committed crimes would hire former high-ranking legal officials from elite law firms, pay them tens or hundreds of millions in fees, and spread media narratives to control public opinion—then get away with just a symbolic sentence, frustrating the entire nation.
'Besides, the destroyed storage or mansion today probably amounts to just a small portion of this bastard's assets.'
How much money did he have in the bank?
How much dirty money had he hidden?
And in other forms, how much more enormous wealth was stashed away?
Unless every single bit of that was rooted out, someone like him couldn't be punished properly. At least, not within the bounds of the law.
That's why.
"Uh, um, then… what are you going to... do with me...?"
"What am I going to do with you?"
"....."
Richmond curled up his shoulders tightly.
Kim Jangcheol said to him with a completely emotionless face.
"Relax. I'm not going to kill you. I don't like murder."
"Th-thank you!"
"You're thanking me too soon."
"...Huh?"
"You're coming with us."
"Whaaat?"
Thud.
Richmond's face turned pale the moment he caught a glimpse of hope from hearing he wouldn't be killed.
Then came Kim Jangcheol's firm sentence.
[T/L: I am not getting any support from webnovel platform, so please support me and read ahead chapters on my ko-fi page "RevengerScans" : https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]