~Chapter 1~
Kugugugu-!
I was the last Demon King, the strongest and greatest creature in the demon world when the human and demon worlds were one.
I was super strong.
When I snapped my fingers once, the earth shook, and humans and demons alike bowed their heads.
But when the heavenly realm broke the rules and invaded the demon world, chaos came to the human world.
I was protecting humans who begged for their lives by offering sacrifices, but at the last moment, I was betrayed and killed.
Maybe it was because I fully completed my duty as the great Demon King?
For some reason, after that death, I couldn’t enter the cycle of reincarnation and wandered the spirit world for a thousand years.
Even now, I’m still drifting around without being reborn.
‘I’m bored.’
My soul drifted aimlessly today, just like any other day, feeling bored.
Suddenly, a voice came from somewhere.
“Please help me, god.”
‘…Is that a spirit message?’
No, it can’t be.
Spirit messages only happen when you have a body, and I’m just a soul.
Besides, the voice wasn’t calling me—it sounded like an unlucky god.
“I don’t want to be hated. God, why only me…? Why was I born a monster? Am I a bad child? I just… was born.”
A faint blue light surrounded my soul, carrying sobbing words.
“It’s hard, it hurts, God. Please help me. All I want is…”
This place was the spirit world. Living voices couldn’t be heard here.
If this voice belongs to someone alive, then there was only one conclusion.
The voice’s owner was standing at the edge between life and death.
‘Such a pitiful life.’
Not strong enough to live, but not willing to give up life either.
“I will give you everything. God, god, no, even a demon is fine, anyone is fine… please help me. I want to be happy too.”
At that moment,
My soul suddenly felt like it was being sucked into somewhere.
It felt like being pulled helplessly by a powerful tornado.
‘What is this?!’
For the first time in a thousand years, I lost my clear mind.
A cold chill crept in.
‘Cold…’
I shivered and curled up, then couldn’t hold back and opened my eyes, freezing on the spot.
‘Cold? I’m already dead, so how can I be cold?’
As this question struck me, my blurry vision slowly cleared.
What I saw was a tall, dark, pitch-black sky and a body that couldn’t move.
And small, stubby hands.
My cheeks felt numb as if frozen, and my whole body trembled like a leaf.
“Ugh…”
My mouth was frozen and barely opened, and a cheap, smelly blanket was loosely wrapped around me.
I struggled to sit up.
‘Where am I?’
The place looked empty like a storage room.
It seemed like a room but had no furniture at all.
The roughly closed window let cold wind in, and an old, shabby chandelier creaked from the drafts.
My blue, cold hands felt as cold as a reptile’s skin.
It felt strange, like blood was flowing in a body that had just died.
Looking down, I saw unfamiliar hands and feet.
“Ugh, ah…?”
I tried to speak, but only strange sounds came out.
My pronunciation was clumsy as if I hadn’t used my mouth in a long time.
Maybe I had never really spoken before.
Also, in the spirit world, I only thought in my head and communicated mentally, so making sounds with my mouth felt very strange.
I looked at my wrist.
A black, thorn-like tattoo covered my left arm.
‘A contract mark with demons…?’
My throat tightened.
‘Did I make a contract with this?’
Me, the great Demon King, with this small, weak thing?!
How much hatred must have piled up for me, the most evil and cruel Demon King ever, to be summoned by it?
“Ugh…”
Looking down, I noticed my whole body was covered in goosebumps.
Then I realized something else.
‘No wonder this body moves pretty naturally despite being unfamiliar.’
I exhaled cold breath and wrapped myself with the smelly blanket.
‘I’ve become human again…’
Probably one of the Demon tribe weakened long ago.
‘I heard recently from souls that the Demon tribe is being persecuted…’
The Demon tribe was one of the demon races.
They looked human and had the most contact with humans, so even after the war, many survived in the human world.
Since they could look human, hiding was easier.
I also heard there were inquisitors to identify demons.
‘So, this must be the one who summoned me.’
I understood that I made a contract with the Demon tribe who summoned me and entered this body.
But there was a problem.
Even with a body, I couldn’t feel any of my Demon King power.
While thinking about it,
‘Wait… I think I was cursed before.’
A very old memory suddenly came back.
‘A curse…’
When I thought about it, a sharp pain hit the back of my head.
I felt weak and my body drooped.
No matter how great I was before, it was frustrating to have no power now.
Back then, when I was the Demon King, I played a prank on a sacred temple protected by the gods of the heavenly realm.
‘That was the problem—they didn’t like it.’
One of the gods cursed me.
“If you die and are reborn, you must do enough good deeds to erase your sins.”
“What? Are you crazy? Why should I do that?”
“If you don’t, you’ll live worse than a small creature.”
“Wow, that’s crazy. Using me for promotion and cursing me narrowly like that? Well, good deeds aren’t impossible.”
I mocked the god.
They didn’t like it and cursed me again just before I died.
“You’re still arrogant even in this state. Although you are a Demon King with many achievements, you have a chance to be reborn. But if after rebirth you don’t understand true care and sacrifice, everything you do will be useless.”
“You’re mistaken. I’m not arrogant, I’m just a genius and great. I could bring down a coward like you even if I’m reborn as a weak creature.”
“I’ll praise you for being calm before death, Agreas.”
After that, because I couldn’t reincarnate, I forgot the useless curse.
The curse only works if you have a body.
Since I was originally a powerful and even beautiful Demon King, the curse only reached me now that I was reborn weak.
My magic power was fully sealed by the curse.
If I had been born a pure demon, the seal wouldn’t have mattered.
Usually, when a new Demon King is born, the demon tribe raises it until it grows.
But…
‘They’re all gone.’
The demons lost the war, the demon world was locked, and no pure demons were left.
‘How could the Demon King make a contract with something like this?’
Seeing the clear proof of the contract, I collapsed onto the floor.
The empty room had only a full-length mirror.
In the darkness, my ugly reflection faintly appeared.
‘I should close the window first.’
Who left the child’s window open in this cold winter?
‘Even cruel demons wouldn’t do this!’
I struggled to stand but stiffened in place.
‘How do I walk again?’
I forgot how to walk after living without a body. This body had no strength.
I stumbled and grabbed the window.
I barely closed it, and just as I was about to go back, my legs gave out and I fell forward.
‘What the…’
The cold hit me worse than before, like I was naked.
My vision blurred.
Damn it.
‘The great me fainting, unbelievable…’
That was my first and last memory after rebirth.
I woke up again when loud voices hit my ears.
“…Hey! Is this a good time to be sleeping peacefully?”
“Ugh…”
“Don’t just waste food! Get up quickly!”
Who dared talk to me like that?
I slowly opened my heavy eyelids and saw people around me.
They looked like maids.
Hearing their scolding, I got up from the floor.
Because of my small body, my view was low and their eyes were high.
I didn’t even realize I was naked.
“How dare these worthless humans talk to my great self?”
I wanted to say that, but…
“Waa! Waa! Waaa…!”
A strange sound came out, like someone who couldn’t speak properly or hadn’t used their mouth in a long time.
‘No way.’
I almost lost my mind and my small body staggered.
