"Damn, Damn it!!"
The woman let out aggressive curses.
The name of the woman that had skin as white as snow was Yulia Vilkova.
She was an Apostle that served the Phase of Evil, someone who had an important role within the Demon Cult.
She scrunched her beautiful face and bit her lips.
'He got me.'
She'd prepared a group of politicians in order to weaken Guardian.
The relationships she'd spent years building had been taken in just an instant, and it was done in a non-funny, pathetic way.
"Damn it!"
She'd fallen for an insignificant and trivial trick.
To think that he would give them a poisoned bottle of wine and try to control them using an antidote…
It was a strategy that would most likely appear in a martial arts novel.
'The problem is…'
She clenched her fist.
It didn't matter if it was an old-fashioned or cliche strategy.
'It's quite effective.'
Threatening them with death…
The fear that they might die after suffering huge pain if they didn’t take an antidote within a week was a good method of control.
She couldn't expect the corrupt politicians she'd chosen to have the mental strength to overcome such fear.
They would probably follow his orders, even if it were only to get the antidote.
"Haa…"
She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes.
'I'll have to create an antidote first.'
To use the corrupt politicians that had become slaves of Guardian, she would have to create an antidote first.
"And…"
She touched her stomach.
As for the most important reason why she had to create an antidote…
'I drank it as well.'
She wasn't sure if the poison he'd used would also affect her.
After accepting demonic energy, her body became closer to a demon’s rather than a human’s.
'But still, I can't just not do anything.'
Even if she had the body of a demon, that didn't mean she had poison immunity.
'I must go to Tibet.'
There was one of the top five branches of the Demon Cult within Tibet.
'I must go there and develop an antidote.'
At the same time, she had to get rid of the poison that was left in her body.
"Haa…"
She took a deep breath.
Her boiling emotions calmed down, and her eyes sunk.
"Oh KangWoo, huh?"
He was a distorted man who didn't match the organization called ‘Guardian’.
He remembered the way he had looked at her.
It somehow made her feel chills.
'He's definitely hiding something.'
She started to walk while making an anxious expression.
She walked out of the White House and went to the airport where a private jet she'd used to get there was already prepared.
'I have to go there anyway for the Phase of Fire.'
She took a jet headed for Tibet and calmed her hands, which were trembling in anxiety for a reason she didn’t know yet.
* * *
"Is it okay that we let her go?"
The White House, where the summit was taking place…
KangWoo went out to the balcony for some fresh air, and a woman approached him from behind.
She was a pure and elegant-looking woman, but there was a subtle mischievousness she couldn't hide in her face and in the movements of her body.
'It's okay. I let her go on purpose."
KangWoo stretched his arms at Kurosaki Yurie, no, Lilith's question.
He watched Yulia’s limousine disappear into the horizon.
He turned and entered the room.
It was the private room that the USA had prepared for him. The luxurious pieces of furniture made it resemble a palace.
He sat on a chair made of expensive leather.
Lilith approached him, sat on the elbow, and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"When did you figure out she was a member of the Demon Cult?"
"From the first moment I met her."
"Hmm? But I didn't feel Demonic Energy from her. I checked out all the people participating in today's summit."
Lilith extended her left arm, which transformed into a sticky tentacle.
The tentacle extended and grabbed a cup of coffee that was far away and gave it to KangWoo.
"The Demon Cult members are capable of hiding the demonic energy inside their hearts. Even I can't tell them apart just by looking at them."
"Then, Demon King, how…?"
"I told you not to call me ‘Demon King’."
"Ah, hehe. I'm sorry. Then, Mr. KangWoo, how did you figure it out?"
KangWoo took a sip of coffee.
"Scent."
"Scent?"
"She used a scent that forcibly increases your desires."
* * *
It was a similar sensation to when you first accepted demonic energy in your body and began transforming into a demon.
It had been a long time since that happened, but he hadn't forgotten it.
As for why he could remember it so vividly…
'I'm still holding it back.'
He was holding back the desires that a demon's body craved—the craving for blood and destruction; the nightmarish thirst of constantly wanting to fulfill his cravings.
He was still holding it back.
He had never stopped holding it back for even a single moment.
"The only ones who can create the desires of a demon so perfectly are the members of the Demon Cult."
Considering that the Demon Cult had spread worldwide, he'd already thought of the possibility that they might have already influenced politicians internationally.
He didn't need to feel flustered about the Demon Cult taking part in the summit.
'It's a good chance.'
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that meeting a Demon Cult member at the summit was like winning the lottery.
KangWoo looked at the hand he’d used to exchange a handshake with Yulia.
A drop of black blood dripped from the right index finger.
He was about to take a tissue and clean it when…
"Ah, I'm going to clean it for you."
Lilith grabbed KangWoo's hand.
She licked her lips as if she were a predator looking at prey; then began licking the blood.
The black droops of blood mixed with Lilith's saliva and disappeared through her mouth.
A tickling sensation stimulated his finger.
"Aren't you going to ask me why I’m bleeding…?"
"Fufu. I can more or less imagine why."
KangWoo smirked at her calm answer.
It was comfortable that Lilith understood those sorts of things quickly.
'If it were Balrog, he would've probably made a fuss out of it.'
He thought of Balrog, who he didn't dare to bring into the USA.
"Oh yeah, how should I look over the humans that have taken the poison?"
"Ah, you don't need to do that."
"You don't need to look over them?"
Lilith tilted her head but soon let out a short exclamation.
"Ah. I see. Fufufu. Yes, it seems like we won't need to look over them."
A thick smile appeared on Lilith's face.
She extended her hand and touched KangWoo's cheeks.
"That human Yulia is quite dumb. There's no way beautiful girls will work with the D… No, with Mr. KangWoo."
"Hmm?"
That wasn't true.
After all, when the pretty girls that Yulia had prepared tried to seduce him, he was barely able to get hold of his reason.
Eighteen eyes appeared on Lilith's face.
The hands that were touching his cheeks turned into horrible tentacles.
"Mr. KangWoo's body can't be satisfied unless it's me."
'No.'
"You act as if you don't like it, but your body is honest."
'I told you no, fuck.'
He pushed Lilith away softly.
Disappointed, Lilith stepped back.
KangWoo stood up from the chair.
"We've obtained collaboration from each country, so we should start preparing."
"Yes."
Lilith lifted the hem of the dress and elegantly bent her waist.
"Everything is as the Demon King wishes."
* * *
In the mountains of Tibet…
There was a giant branch of the Demon Cult they'd built using an entire mountain.
It was a branch thousands of Demon Cult members lived in.
The interior was made of such modern facilities that it was hard to believe it was a place where a group of crazy people who believed in a pseudo-religion lived.
An old priest wearing a black robe stood next to an operating table inside one of the rooms that looked like an emergency room in a place with numerous rooms as if it were an ant nest.
He carefully opened his mouth.
"There isn't…"
"What?" Yulia, who was lying on top of the operating table, asked in disbelief while frowning.
The old priest opened his mouth.
"We haven't been able to find poison. We checked Ms. Yulia's body with black magic, normal magic, and even modern medical procedures, but we haven't been able to find anything foreign inside Ms. Yulia's body."
"What…?"
Yulia felt as if she'd been hit from the back.
"There isn't poison?"
"We thought that maybe it was some sort of parasite… but there was nothing like that."
"…"
There was silence.
Her mind went cloudy.
A hard-to-explain anxiety spread through her body.
"Wait…"
Yulia's voice trembled.
The alcohol that human Oh KangWoo had given her and everything that happened next passed through her mind.
"Don't tell me…"
He'd said he had put poison in the wine and that everyone would die if they didn't receive the antidote.
Was there any evidence?
"The evidence…"
Emmanuel Amon.
He'd screamed while struggling in pain.
It was that one case.
He wasn't even a player but a normal human being.
A high-level player should’ve been able to cause such reactions just by using some magic power to apply pressure on him.
Besides that, there was no proof that he'd put poison in the wine.
"Why…?" Yulia mumbled with a trembling voice…
She mumbled in confusion.
That wasn’t the only thing she couldn’t understand.
She'd believed him too easily.
Why had she trusted his words so easily?
She began remembering what had happened that night.
'I don't know.'
She couldn't understand why she'd believed in his words so easily.
Was it because of his overly confident attitude? His intimidating eyes? How cliche it was to put poison in wine?
She thought of many possibilities but couldn't find an answer.
Yulia frowned and put her hand on her forehead.
'Hmm…?"
At that moment, she found something in her hand.
It was a black liquid.
"What's this?"
She frowned and took a closer look at the black liquid.
Sniff. She sniffed it.
It smelled a bit fishy
"Blood…?"
She tilted her head while making a confused expression.
* * *
"Prepare… for war?"
Gaia made a confused expression at KangWoo's words.
KangWoo nodded.
"Yes. Now that we've received confirmation from all countries, it's about time we prepare to engage in war against the Demon Cult."
"B-but…!"
Gaia made a flustered expression.
"We… still don't know where they are."
"I've found one at least."
KangWoo smiled.
"The Chinese branch is located in the mountainous area of Tibet."
