Chapter 223
Lets get out of here, Mr. Shamath. We dont have much time. Oh, I guess youre not a manager anymore?
I dont really care about that title anymore.
Then thats good.
Shamath still couldnt grasp what was going on, but he quickly assessed the situation.
He didnt know who the person in front of him was, but he was sure that he came to rescue him.
He still had no clue how the other person got in here, and what method he used.
But now was not the time to worry about that.
Move.
Yes.
***
Utata finished sorting out the documents in his office and headed to the disposal room where he had locked up Shamath.
He had already gone through a lot of trouble to get the approval for the disposal operation, which was finally done a while ago.
Now he only had to dismantle Shamath thoroughly, reassemble the text that composed him, and find out what he had done to try to destroy the headquarters.
Hm?
Utata, who was leading his agents, spotted two tellers coming from the opposite side of the corridor.
Whats this? Whats going on? Werent you two supposed to guard the entrance of the disposal room?
Huh? Chief?
The other tellers also noticed Utata, and looked puzzled.
Chief. Why are you here?
What?
Utata was baffled by the unexpected question.
And why are you two coming this way instead of guarding the disposal room entrance?
Huh? Didnt you tell us to leave our posts for a while?
What? I did?
Yes. But why are you here
!
Utata didnt listen to the rest of his subordinates words.
He felt something was wrong and ran towards the disposal room.
His confused agents followed him.
Utata arrived at the disposal room in a hurry and scanned the inside.
The floor was marked with traces of battle, and the two agents who were guarding the inside were gone.
And.
The disposal bin was empty.
The surveillance agents who arrived late behind him gasped at the sight.
What, what is this
Where is the guy we locked up in the disposal bin? Where did he go?
Everyones eyes turned to Utatas back.
Find him.
Utatas figure was motionless as if time had stopped.
But everyone in this place knew.
Utata was more furious than ever.
His white hair began to emit a bloody red glow like fire.
Maybe it was the flame of anger that had been condensed to the limit.
Find him right now!!!
Utatas thunderous roar echoed in the disposal room.
***
Icebergs floating in space.
Shamath arrived at the place full of countless rock fragments and barely breathed a sigh of relief.
Phew. Thank you for saving me. Who are you?
Are you that curious?
Well, you saved me. Did the Chief send you?
Maybe, maybe not.
Shamath narrowed his eyes slightly at the intruders words.
It was a strangely annoying attitude, but he was still the benefactor who saved him and killed the two tellers in the surveillance room in an instant.
Even if he was saved out of necessity, it was not wise to offend him.
If the Chief sent you, what should I do now?
He felt like his heart would burst while running away, but he thought he could relax a bit about the pursuers now that he came here.
The hooded man did not answer Shamaths question. Instead, he threw back the hood he was wearing with both hands.
Shamaths eyes widened.
Di, Chief?!
Shamaths eyes grew as big as saucers when he saw the Chief, Demiarios, with his disgusting two-legged head.
No way, he never thought that the one who saved him was the Chief. Considering his personality, it would have been nothing strange if he had secretly killed him instead of taking the risk of saving him.
No, more strange than that was that he did not notice that he was Demiarios until he revealed his identity.
How did he do that? I cant possibly not recognize the Chief.
No matter how much Demiarios hid his identity, Shamath was not someone who would not recognize him.
Even now, he looked like the Chief and revealed himself like that, but he did not feel like he was the Chief at all.
No. Come to think of it, it was the same when he first appeared.
He imitated the appearance of Chief Utata.
It would not have been difficult to imitate Demiarios appearance either.
Are you really the Chief?
Shamath former manager. Dont you have something to say to me? You almost died. And I personally intervened and prevented you from exposing any fatal weaknesses of our department.
That is
Rather, Im curious. Are you so curious about my real identity in this situation? Then I guess I have to show you how strong our bond has been since the past.
No, no!
As soon as he mentioned the past, Shamaths face turned pale as death.
There was no one else who knew this fact except for the real Chief. Shamath had no choice but to admit that he was real.
Thats right. Shamath former manager. Show me your loyalty. What happened on Earth back then?
Yes, yes! Well, that is
Shamath told Demiarios everything that had happened to him on Earth without missing anything.
I wondered how he had devised a way to kill Kang Yu-hyun, and how it had failed.
How the inferior paradise of Chulapantaka intervened, and how the library was destroyed because of it.
Demiarios, who had been quietly listening to the story, stroked his octopus beard with his tentacle fingers.
So, thats how it was. Anything else?
T-this is all. I thought something was wrong with the situation and tried to run away, but then I ran into the head of the Celestial Ice department there
Celestina.
Yes! Thats right. That wicked woman. How did she know and wait for me
Hmm. Now that you mention it, it is strange indeed. The Celestial Bing department had no interest in Earth at all.
It must be that Kang Yu-hyun tellers doing. He is the only one who can be related.
Maybe there is something else. Well, good job, Shamath. You did a great service for our faction.
Demiarios called him a manager again, not a former manager. Shamath bowed his head again in embarrassment.
T-thank you!
Yeah. Everything is unexpected. Who would have thought that the Holy Spirit would suddenly do such a thing?
Thats exactly what Im saying!
Shamath felt hopeful that he could survive.
He might not be able to work at Celestial Corporation again, but it wouldnt be bad to live as a freelancer in the hybrid world.
No, now that it came to this, he could ask Exodus for help
Puff!
Huh?
So, you see.
Manager?
Shamath looked at his lower abdomen and Demiarios face alternately with disbelief.
A tentacle hand stretched out from Demiarios had pierced through his torso.
W-why?
What do you think?
Demiarios smiled with a smirk as he looked at Shamath.
It was a smile that only used his eyes without a mouth.
The trembling octopus tentacles showed that Demiarios was really happy.
Shamath looked at Demiarios with trembling eyes.
The terrible pain from his abdomen began to spread throughout his body.
Shamath felt death at this moment, the death he had been so afraid of.
N-no I, I
Splat.
His words did not continue to the end.
The tentacle that pierced Shamaths abdomen burst out from the inside, tearing him apart.
Shamath was torn to pieces without even having time to scream in agony, and then turned into text and scattered.
Demiarios did not stop at just killing Shamath.
The countless tentacles that came out of his hand wrapped around the text that Shamath had and gathered it together and absorbed it.
Shamath. Your sacrifice will be a great help to our faction.
Shamath, who could hear his words, was already dead, but Demiarios absorbed the story he left behind.
He could not absorb all the stories that Shamath had, but Demiarios was able to get all the information he needed.
It would take some more time to analyze it because it was not fully organized yet, but that was just a matter of time.
The important thing was not that, but something else.
Demiarios looked at the distant space.
Beyond the fragments of countless planets, he saw the darkness of the endless universe and the twinkling stars.
What Demiarios saw was much farther away.
It was Earth.
He couldnt see it, but he felt that Earth was there.
Because all the stories were converging there.
Is it finally changing?
The plan was to lower the level of Earths fire by causing a severe drought and make it lose the interest of other spirits.
And then sell the downgraded Earth to Exodus.
But what was the result now?
Earth had started to enjoy an unprecedented boom.
The important thing was that it was still growing at a frightening rate.
In fact, their groundwork had failed.
But that didnt mean everything was ruined.
They were still intact.
But it wont be as easy as before.
Earth had already attracted the attention of many spirits.
It was impossible to act secretly as before.
But Demiarios didnt regret it.
If Earth changed, he just had to take a different approach that suited the changed world.
If this world was a wide-open sky, then Earth was a metal bead that fell on it.
The metal bead pressed down on the sky because of its weight and settled down. That was Earth now.
The stories that flowed over the sky naturally gravitated toward Earth.
The world that became heavy with too much attention would bring more attention and stories, even if it didnt intend to.
Demiarios decided to find a new way there.
He put his hood back on and disappeared from his seat, blending in with the darkness.
The death of a teller went unnoticed in a remote corner of the universe.
Very quietly.
***
Luoyang, Henan Province, China.
This administrative region with a population of over 100 million was always bustling with people.
There was a moment when the number of people going out decreased drastically due to the news that the world was changing, but that was only for a moment.
People who realized that the world was still the same returned to their original lives.
In the downtown of Luoyang, there was a world of thought.
This place, which had only a few lines drawn as guidelines, was an abandoned world of thought that even collectors didnt visit.
It started to shine suddenly.
Huh?
What is it?
Passers-by stopped in curiosity and looked at the scene.
No one felt a sense of crisis at the abnormal phenomenon in the world of thought.
The entrance of the world of thought gradually brightened and suddenly expanded.
The entrance, which had been only 2m wide and long, grew to 10m wide in no time.
And something started to show up from inside.
Uh, uh?
What is it?
Skeleton soldiers in armor poured out with spears in their hands, forming rows.
The citizens still looked bewildered and watched the scene blankly.
Their expressions changed when a woman who was filming with her phone near them had her neck cut off.
Aaaah!
Ru, run!
Countless skeleton soldiers chased after the fleeing citizens.
Thats how the massacre began.
Screams echoed over each other, and screams gave birth to more screams.
The change in the world did not come at once.
It came slowly, like strangling their necks.