- Right.

At Su-ho’s summons, Grid, who had not shown himself for a long time, finally appeared.

At his distinctive appearance, Jack asked,

- What is this ugly thing?

- ...Ugly?

At the word ugly, Grid’s eyebrow twitched for a moment.

- Ugly? You’re the ugly one here. You don’t even have a shape, and you dare go on about who’s ugly?

- Oh?

At Grid’s sharp retort, Jack raised the corner of his mouth and slowly ran his red tongue over his lips.

- Master, I asked about the special quest, so why are you showing me this ugly toad?

- Wh-what?! Ugly toad?!

“Both of you, stop.”

I didn’t expect them to start bickering the second they saw each other.

Shaking his head, Su-ho said,

“I called him because the fourth special quest happens in the Demon Realm. Say hello. This is Grid, one of the Seven Great Demons of the Demon Realm and the strongest candidate to become the Demon Realm’s next Demon King.”

- A Great Demon? A Demon King candidate? That toad?

- Hmph! So now you finally understand how great I am? My stature is on an entirely different level from some rootless little shadow scrap like you.

- Wow... There was something similar in the Spirit Realm too, but if that side’s Demon Realm is a place where an ugly toad like this is the leading candidate for next Demon King... I can already tell the standard of that world without even seeing it.

- What?

“Ah, both of you, stop. What are you snarling at each other for? You’re not little kids. Do you think I called you out so you could fight? Especially you, keep your mouth shut.”

- Tch.

At the order to shut up, Jack crossed his arms and stuck his lower lip out.

When things finally grew quiet for a moment, Su-ho shifted his gaze and looked at Grid.

“Do you know what kind of situation I’m in right now?”

- Roughly.

“Then this’ll make talking easier. Right now I’m in the middle of carrying out the system’s special quest to become a High-ranked player. But this time, it says I have to go to the Demon Realm for the quest to officially occur, so I called you.”

- I knew from watching that you were growing at a steep pace, but I didn’t expect you to reach this level already. So, you want me to take you to the Demon Realm now?

“Yeah.”

- Fine, that’s not difficult. But how about you finally give me what you owe me too? I’ve been waiting a pretty long time, longer than you might think.

What he owed him.

He meant the remaining runes among the Seven Deadly Sins.

The runes Su-ho still had not handed over to Grid were the Rune of Pride and the Rune of Wrath.

Su-ho smirked and grabbed whichever one came to hand, then tossed it over.

“Here.”

- Uwah!

Grid made a weird sound and caught it.

After handing it over, Su-ho saw that it was Pride.

Didn’t matter.

It wasn’t like they were things I was going to use anyway.

Receiving Pride’s Rune, Grid put on a look of pure ecstasy.

Watching him, Jack said,

- Do I have to keep my mouth shut the whole time?

“Yeah.”

- Even while looking at that?

“No.”

- This is really too much.

After saying that, Jack slipped right into Su-ho’s shadow and vanished.

He meant that if he had to look at that sight, he would rather just go back in.

After savoring Pride’s Rune for a while, Grid finally put it away and cleared his throat.

- Heh heh, good. Since my partner has given me such a splendid gift, I can hardly refuse to open the gate to the Demon Realm for you. I’ll open it right away.

Grid snapped his fingers.

Then beside Su-ho and Grid, a large black portal like a wormhole appeared, but with a strangely violet hue mixed into it.

Seeing it, Su-ho asked,

“But aside from this whole matter, could I originally have gone to the Demon Realm too?”

- If you wanted to, and if the conditions were met.

“I see.”

- Are you hesitating?

“As if.”

And with that, before anyone could stop him or say another word, Su-ho slipped straight into the portal connected to the Demon Realm.

[ Moving. ]

***

His view changed.

The darkened vision returned and regained its original colors.

And what appeared before his eyes was none other than a blue sky and fresh mountains, rivers, trees, and plants.

“...Huh?”

Wearing a blank expression, Su-ho looked around.

No matter how he looked at it, he had not seen wrong.

Blue sky and lush greenery.

Even the soil was the same kind of brown earth he knew, and nameless grass and flowers were growing thickly over it.

If someone told him this was somewhere in Switzerland, he would have believed it.

With a slightly dumbfounded expression, Su-ho asked Grid,

“This is the Demon Realm?”

- Of course it is.

“It’s way too different from the image I had of the Demon Realm.”

- ...?

At Su-ho’s words, Grid made a face asking what kind of nonsense that was supposed to be, then let out a hollow laugh.

- You’ve got to be kidding... Then what kind of place did you think the Demon Realm was?

“No, well... you know. The image that comes to mind when you hear ‘Demon Realm.’ Kind of a purple sky, dead-black ground, things running around that are closer to monstrosities than monsters, and if you turn your head, demonfolk hiding nearby immediately launch a surprise attack...”

- ...?

At Su-ho’s description, Grid narrowed his brow as though utterly dumbfounded.

- Just what kind of nonsense are you imagining? People live here too, you know.

“There are people?”

- Of course there are. Why wouldn’t there be? No, seriously, the more I think about it, the more absurd this is. How can your way of thinking be this narrow-minded?

“......”

He could not argue with that one.

Honestly, he had had a common-sense-level prejudice about it.

Nodding, Su-ho apologized.

“My bad on that one. It’s not like I’d ever had a reason in my life to visit the Demon Realm. But honestly, can you blame me? Just looking at how you look makes it seem like the Demon Realm would be some harsh wasteland.”

- And what the hell is that supposed to mean?

“If not, then forget it.”

- What? You little...!

- Uahahahahahaha!

- Why are you laughing now too?!

Jack’s booming laughter flowed out from Su-ho’s shadow.

Anyway, he had come to the Demon Realm the quest had mentioned, so why wasn’t any event happening?

He checked the special quest window, but it was still the same.

‘Looks like there’s another special condition.’

What a pain in the ass, the way they had twisted this thing up.

Deciding to figure it out slowly, Su-ho started walking for now.

Jack remained in the shadows, and Grid floated along beside Su-ho.

Su-ho asked,

“Grid.”

- What.

“Since I’m here now, it feels like I’ve probably got enough security clearance. How about we finally have a frank talk?”

- What do you mean by frank talk? Why are you suddenly being scary?

- You scared?

- Ah, you just stay quiet for once. Partner, can’t you shut that guy up?

“Wanna make it a deal?”

- Agh!

- Kihihihihihihit!

Seeing Grid lose his temper, Su-ho and Jack laughed.

Grid had always been fun to tease.

Smiling, Su-ho said,

“Jack, hold it in a bit. I’m about to talk seriously from here on.”

- Understood, Master.

The shadows hummed, then soon went completely quiet.

Su-ho raised an eyebrow at Grid, and Grid let out a sigh and nodded.

- So, what are you curious about?

“If I’m starting from the most fundamental thing, then let me hear your reason for wanting to become Demon King first.”

Truthfully, he was not all that curious.

He was just asking it lightly, like loosening up with an icebreaker.

Because wasn’t the reason a Great Demon wanted to become Demon King obvious enough?

Once you had become a Great Demon and raised your head to look at the summit of power, only one last step remained: Demon King.

And Grid, of all things, was the Great Demon of Greed.

How could he not covet that seat?

But at Su-ho’s question, Grid thought for a moment, then gave an unexpected answer.

- Right. I guess I can say it now. Actually, there’s no particular reason I want to become Demon King.

“...What?”

Su-ho’s eyes widened at Grid’s answer.

A reply he had never expected in the slightest.

Honestly, even if there had been some other oddball reason, it would not have shocked him this much.

But hearing that there was no reason at all made it even more startling.

When Su-ho stopped walking and stared at him, Grid asked,

- What?

“No, what do you mean, no reason? Honestly, I’d have taken it in stride no matter what random reason came out, but saying there’s no reason makes it even weirder. Didn’t you want to become Demon King?”

- There really isn’t. I just pretended that I did. And you wouldn’t have known this, but I actually already possess the qualifications of a Constellation.

“......!”

What the hell was that supposed to mean now?

He already possessed the qualifications of a Constellation?

“You already have the qualifications of a Constellation? Aren’t you a Great Demon? How does someone who isn’t even Demon King already have the qualifications of a Constellation? The Constellations I know are...”

- Yeah, with how much you’ve seen and heard, of course it’d make even less sense to you. Usually, a Constellation becomes one either by going from player to Guardian God to Constellation, or from Quasi-Throne to Constellation. Well, there are special cases too, but in my case, I’m one that became a Constellation from a Quasi-Throne.

“What were you before that?”

- What kind of question is that?

“A Quasi-Throne is an existence the system remakes from that world’s native gods with the feel of a game assistant, right? Then what were you before that? Were you a Great Demon back then too?”

- Ah, I thought it was going to be something bigger... Yeah, I was the same back then too, Grid, Great Demon of Greed. I’ve never once become Demon King. Even so, I was able to become a Constellation. What do you think the reason was?

“If you were from a Quasi-Throne... because the player you sponsored became a High-ranked player?”

- Correct.

“......!”

Shock upon shock.

He had never imagined Grid had a story like this.

But Grid spoke indifferently, as though it were no big deal.

- This place is still a world where people live in the end. It’s just that what it’s made up of is different from the world you live in. But this place too was invaded by the system, and the Great Cataclysm happened, and players were born. And there was also a Guardian God representing the Demon Realm I belong to, and a player-born Constellation who had passed through Guardian God. The one I sponsored, that is.

“Where is that guy now?”

- Gone.

“What?”

- Erased.

“What the hell do you mean, erased? You said he became a Constellation.”

- What, did you think Constellations were immortal? He challenged the independent game three times, and even bet on other players, but in the end he failed at everything. Of course, that alone doesn’t erase you. But once all opportunities are stripped away, you have to live forever as the system’s slave. He couldn’t endure that. So he chose erasure himself.

This had been a conversation he had meant to start lightly.

But from the very beginning, the story was anything but light.

- I understand it. He just couldn’t accept his situation, that he could no longer do anything at all. Because just like you, he was someone who struggled like mad to save his world. Maybe even more than you, if anything, not less. But despite all that painstaking effort, in the end he accomplished nothing. That fact drove him mad. Ah, and don’t ask his name. He chose erasure himself, so even mentioning his name has practically become taboo.

“......”

Su-ho lost his words.

Because he did not know what he was supposed to say.

After thinking for a long while, a question suddenly came to him.

“Then why do you want to become Demon King? You said there’s no reason, but you acted like it was something you absolutely had to become.”

- Like I said earlier, I only pretended that I did. Because that’s the role the system assigned to me. In the end, I didn’t choose erasure, and I’m in a position where I have to assist with the system’s game. So if you ask me what I’m going to do after becoming Demon King, I can’t answer. Because I really don’t know. Of course, by then maybe I’ll be given a new mission. That’s the kind of position I’m in. So, does that answer your question a little?

“...Yeah, I think that answers it more than enough. It was supposed to be a light question, and I never imagined there’d be a story this heavy behind it.”

- That’s how life usually is. Comedy from a distance, tragedy up close. So, next question?

It was then.

[ Conditions have been fulfilled. ]

[ The fourth special quest has been generated. ]