The first snow falls.
Seeing that scene, I am pierced by the realization that I have stepped into the world of dreams.
"One, two, three, four, five…"
And then ten.
Snowflakes pile up softly.
The count stacks up in silence.
It was the first time in my life I counted to ten so absentmindedly, without a single worry.
It was the moment when the first snow fell when I was six and still so innocent—
the last moment I ever counted without a care.
And again, ten.
Counting to ten, ten times.
By the time I lifted my head after that rather lengthy count, I had no idea.
When the first snow fell right then and brushed against my forehead, when I unconsciously frowned at the unexpected chill, I couldn't have predicted anything.
So, I grumbled that counting to ten ten times was too long.
I had no idea how many more times I would count that number after, or that I would never reach the end of it—not even the faintest clue.
So naïvely.
Calling for a mother who would never return.
I—
"..."
—dreamed that dream again today.
The moment I opened my eyes, the moment I awoke, I knew.
The now-familiar darkness.
The wet traces across the corner of my eyes.
Thinking how this terrible dream always ends the same way, Kim Jangcheol let out a small laugh.
"Hoo."
No, was that a laugh or a sigh?
I don't know.
'Let's go back to sleep.'
I closed my eyes.
Ten times to the left.
Ten times to the right.
It was only when I tossed and turned that I realized—
'…Guess I'm done sleeping for today.'
It must be because of that awful dream.
The sweet slumber had long since run away.
In the end, Kim Jangcheol threw off the covers and got up. Then he walked out of the shed everyone called the "temporary Demon King's Castle."
Instead of snow, stars rained down.
Faint specks of light, having traveled from far beyond some distant celestial sphere, brushed against his shoulders.
Pat, pat.
As if telling him to forget the dream just now, pat, pat.
But even those pats came precisely ten times, as if deliberately cut off, pat, pat.
"...…"
Let's walk.
To shake off these strange feelings rising up, to empty his head, walking was always the best.
Ten steps.
Another ten steps.
Following the quiet edge of the field slowly, another ten steps.
Watching the swaying corn stalks in the wind, ten more steps.
"...."
Come to think of it, the corn had grown quite a bit.
Roughly thirty centimeters tall, maybe. The soybeans planted around them now clung tightly to the stalks.
'Looks like we can plant pumpkins the day after tomorrow.'
The strange feeling kept creeping in.
So he tried to drown it in other thoughts.
That the Three Sisters farming method was progressing more smoothly than expected.
There had been few successful cases in Korea, and he himself had failed at it before, so he had been worried.
But what a relief. As expected, this place's climate seemed to suit the method well.
Just as he was pressing that makeshift relief into the empty space in his chest—
"Hmm?"
Near the edge of the field.
A large rock deeply rooted into the ground.
From behind it, something stirred.
'What is that? Tbong?'
At first, he thought maybe.
But on closer look, it wasn't. It was much larger than Tbong. About the size of an elementary schooler?
"..."
What is that?
A thief, maybe?
No, that couldn't be.
There's nothing grown yet to even steal.
Kim Jangcheol crept toward the back of the rock. Thanks to that, he ended up face to face with the suspicious figure coming out from behind.
"...Ah!?"
A young demon girl flinched at the sight of him—nearly falling on her butt.
Kim Jangcheol asked,
"Who are you?"
Her face looked strangely familiar.
Like he had seen her somewhere before…
The flustered girl stammered, barely managing to answer,
"I, uh, I'm… Flute…"
"Flute?"
Hmm?
That name sounds familiar.
A young girl of the demon race, standing in the middle of the corn and soybean field in the dead of night—and her name sounded familiar.
Kim Jangcheol rifled through the drawers of his memory for a moment.
And soon, it came to him.
"…Ah? The farming corps guy's daughter?"
That sounded right.
It came back to him vaguely.
One of the farming corps members always boasted about his daughter.
Right. That guy never shut up about our Flute this, our Flute that.
Even while planting potatoes in the field.
Even while mounding up soil around them.
Even on the day they dug up the super potatoes, the same.
"You're that Flute?"
"Y-yes…"
The girl replied in a small voice.
Kim Jangcheol asked,
"So what were you doing here in the middle of the night?"
"Um, well… actually…"
"Actually?"
"I couldn't sleep… so…"
"So?"
"I was playing hide-and-seek with my dad."
"…Hide-and-seek?"
"Yes…"
"In the dead of night?"
"Yes… he said I should get used to being active in the dark…"
"Your dad said that?"
"Y-yes… That way I can become a proper demon who can fight well in the darkness."
"…I see."
"Yes."
"But you've got a problem."
"Huh?"
"Because things like fighting, we won't need that anymore. At least not for kids like you."
Kim Jangcheol let out a small laugh.
The days of invading the human realm and surviving through war are over. He was bringing those days to an end. He would make it so.
Perhaps that response was confusing to her. The young demon girl, Flute, turned bright red, so much so that even under the dim starlight it was obvious.
"Uh, then… um… hmm…"
"Then let's say you'll become a proper demon who can skillfully pull out weeds even in the dark."
"…Huh? You're right! You're the best, Lord Demon King!"
"Is that so…"
His bitter smile deepened without him meaning to.
He had dreamed a painful dream of hide-and-seek from his childhood and lost sleep because of it. The girl, who couldn't sleep, was playing hide-and-seek with her dad.
Suddenly, another reason why this little girl didn't seem unfamiliar came to mind.
"..."
Right.
The game Paladin of Blood.
He'd probably seen her when he was scouring every corner of the Demon King Castle region. A small figure, just like this. The same clothes. The same pleading expression.
Crawling toward him, desperate.
"...."
Back then, he had just thought she was another little demon. He figured she'd at least drop some junk loot, so he killed her on the spot.
Without a second thought.
Just out of habit.
Of course, she didn't even drop anything decent.
Among junk loot, just a completely useless, functionless, pathetic stone necklace—
That was it, right? So he grumbled as he cleared out his inventory?
Without a second thought.
Just out of habit.
"Oh, right. Lord Demon King, guess what. I got this from my dad as a birthday present."
Maybe she felt familiar enough now. Maybe she no longer found him scary.
Flute chirped proudly and held something out.
He had seen it before. Back then, it was stained with the blood of a young demon girl.
A completely useless, functionless, pathetic stone necklace—just like the one in his memory.
"…It's pretty. I'm jealous. You even got a present."
"Then would you like it, Lord Demon King?"
"Huh? No."
"Why not?"
"It's your birthday present, isn't it?"
"But if it's something Lord Demon King wants, I'll gladly give it to you."
"....."
"Um, Lord Demon King?"
"..."
"Are you… crying?"
"…No. Go on now."
Today was a truly strange day.
The back of the girl running off after bowing goodbye.
Her father waving from afar. The two running to each other and embracing.
The happy moment when she found her dad at the end of their hide-and-seek game.
Why did all of that look so blurry, like it was smudging?
Could it be jealousy?
Maybe that's why.
That's why he made a quiet, slightly embarrassing and strangely earnest vow to himself.
'…I'll protect them.'
I want to protect it.
This child's joyful end to the game of hide-and-seek I never got to finish in my own childhood.
That family's warmth. Even if it's for the sake of the child I once was.
The task I began just to survive, the responsibility that came from it—I want to carry it through to the end.
"…Tch."
What am I even saying?
So sappy.
"Let's just go to bed."
Scratching his head, Kim Jangcheol headed back to the shed. It was just another night, ordinary enough to feel a little warm.
***
And at the same time.
In the territory of the 4th Star legion, far from the Demon King Castle.
At a ruin on the border of the Abandoned Land, something far from ordinary was happening.
"Today is a day more special than any other for us!"
No moonlight.
Only starlight.
A man standing atop a sealed ruin raised his voice. He stood at the peak of a ten-meter-high step-pyramid structure, shouting down below.
"That is because! Our expedition team, acting under His Majesty's command, has discovered a place long thought uninhabitable by any living creature in the depths of this Abandoned Land—clear evidence of civilization!"
At his shout, 120 expedition members clenched their fists. Some even let out soft cheers.
The declaration of the expedition leader was true.
They were currently exploring the deepest areas of the Abandoned Land,
regions no human had ever stepped foot in.
And today, they had achieved a truly monumental feat.
They had discovered a rather large pyramid-shaped ruin.
The man standing at the top, the expedition leader, continued his proclamation.
"The existence of a structure this large means! That enough labor could be mobilized! That there existed a society and rules to support that! And furthermore, that fertile land capable of sustaining all that must also exist!"
That's right.
Fertile land.
Deep within what was thought to be nothing but barren wilderness—a golden land fertile enough to grow massive potatoes in abundance.
This pyramid they discovered today would serve as powerful evidence that such a golden land truly existed. And it would become a landmark guiding them to that golden land.
"Therefore, to commemorate today's discovery, I now plant His Majesty's banner upon this land, and declare it as part of our great Lord's domain!"
The expedition leader cried out with fervor.
Then he lifted a great banner and drove it down. Pouring into it the vast mana of a high-ranking sword expert.
Kwa-jak!
The steel pole pierced into the pyramid's summit, leaving a hole.
It wasn't a large hole.
At most, about five centimeters in diameter.
Not even three spans deep.
But that small damage to the sealed ruin triggered an irreversible catastrophe.
Cracks spread into the interior of the sealed ruin.
Uncontrollably.
Irreversibly.
They agitated and awakened a being imprisoned within forgotten time.
The Demon King before the last one—the one who had been trapped here by the despicable schemes of the previous Demon King. The strongest demon in the history of the Abandoned Land.
A woman who once nearly conquered half the human realm.
The Witch of Melody, Artanis, opened her eyes.
And in that moment, she thought—
That she must reclaim the throne unjustly stolen from her through vile schemes.
Unaware that the usurper who took her throne had already been defeated by another successor, the current Demon King—Credos.
[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 ]