The Modern Founding Chronicles of the Returned Demon King

Episode 50: The Demon King of Pride (1)

‘Relative perception.’

In the slowed world, I reflected on the situation.

A few days ago, I used the monocle on the floating island to confirm that Jeong Ye-rin was not a doppelganger.

Given that the monocle’s ability had been thoroughly proven by then, she certainly wasn’t a doppelganger that day.

But the one bleeding before my eyes now was a doppelganger.

‘Why did Jeong Ye-rin become a doppelganger?’

The condition for becoming a doppelganger is being ‘prideful’.

In fact, most of the doppelgangers’ original bodies that Shayen and Quel caught over the week were politicians or magicians.

But as far as I knew, Jeong Ye-rin was never prideful.

She was rather timid, knew how to humble herself, and never looked down on others. And that didn’t change even after her continued success.

Even if she harbored pride inside, she never once showed it outwardly.

Even if one holds a demon in their heart, if it doesn’t lead to action, then that demon essentially doesn’t exist for that person.

‘Sin’ is established only when that desire leads to action.

‘But why….’

There is one thing that comes to mind.

It’s one of the types of pride mentioned even in the Bible, the ‘pride of scrupulosity’.

An emotional pride stemming from guilt and self-reflection, usually applicable to humans with excessive trauma or self-loathing from the past.

‘If we consider that as pride, I can somewhat understand why Jeong Ye-rin became a doppelganger.’

Because of that pride, Jeong Ye-rin had always worn ‘leather gloves’.

Having organized my thoughts, I returned the world to its normal state.

“Kyaaaaaah!!”

“M-Murder!!”

At that moment, the people around screamed as they looked this way.

Among them, there were naturally those who recognized me.

“I-Isn’t that Lee Seo-jun…?”

“Why is he committing murder…?”

“D-Don’t tell me he’s finally showing his true colors?”

My eyebrow twitched at their reactions.

With my gaze fixed on Jeong Ye-rin’s contorted face, I muttered as if grinding my teeth.

“All of you, shut up and stay still. I’m not in a good enough mood to explain myself to you right now.”

The crowd retreated hesitantly.

They’ll understand why I acted this way once they see what’s about to unfold anyway.

The creature desperately grasped my arm that had pierced its heart.

“Seo-jun… Why on earth…?”

I closed one eye at the voice identical to hers.

“Return to your true form. Before I kill you as painfully as possible.”

I spoke while looking at the creature only through the monocle.

“…Kuhahaha! Quite an impressive reaction, Solomon Demon King!”

Soon after, a dark red form began to grow, bursting through the human shell.

“Whoa! Its appearance is changing!”

“Th-That form is a demon…?”

“S-So Lee Seo-jun knew she was a demon…?”

Not just that, but I could tell what was happening through the reactions of the bystanders. The doppelganger was returning to its original form.

As the form’s movement ceased, a grotesque voice was heard.

“To think you’d find all our doppelgangers! It’ll take quite a while for Lord Lucifer to regain his original power!”

I opened my closed eye and stared at the creature.

The hideous dark red mass impaled on my hand.

“Where is the real Jeong Ye-rin?”

“Who knows, maybe she’s already dead?”

The demon sneered, revealing its blue fangs.

“There’s nothing you can do for her now. You’ll just suffer eternally, not knowing whether she’s dead or alive.”

A voice like scraping metal echoed through the street.

“You know nothing about her! You didn’t even know she was a doppelganger! Accept the punishment for your pride, Lee Seo-jun!”

Indeed, I still know nothing about Jeong Ye-rin.

Even after looking into her with [Lezie’s Insight], even after glimpsing her trauma, there’s still so much I don’t know.

But I’ve never been prideful enough to claim I knew everything about her. I’ve only tried to get to know her.

I stared at the creature intently for a moment before breaking into a pale smile.

“…You’re smiling?”

The creature was puzzled by this unexpected reaction.

I probably couldn’t maintain a calm appearance until just now. But thanks to the creature’s ramblings after transforming into a demon, I was able to keep smiling.

“Don’t try to outsmart me with that pitiful brain of yours, you lowly thing.”

“…What?”

“The prideful one is you. You returned to your true form out of the arrogance of wanting to brag about what you know. That’s your downfall.”

The creature furrowed its brow, not understanding my words.

And after a moment, as if realizing something, its elongated pupils widened.

“Don’t tell me… you have insight abilities…? There was nothing like that in her memories…?”

“Well, who knows.”

“D-Don’t bullshit me! Y-You think I’d fall for such a bluff?”

Indeed, a perfect example of pride. Such creatures always have such a narrow view.

Did it think I would have told her everything? Just as I don’t know much about her, there’s a lot she doesn’t know about me.

I recited to the creature with its dumbfounded expression.

“The fruit of knowledge. Eve. Hubris.”

“……!!”

A violent ripple passed through the creature’s eyes.

It must have realized what those three words meant.

“The prideful always make big mistakes. Just like a worm like you.”

“Y-You…!”

“Thank you for telling me all the information I was curious about. It seems your plans will be shattered because of you alone.”

The growling creature couldn’t contain its anger and stretched out its sharp hands.

I threw it to the ground and pressed my foot on its chest. I spoke while looking down at the instantly subdued creature.

“And you shouldn’t have taken Jeong Ye-rin.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“Think about it. If you have her memories, you should know what I’m talking about.”

The creature rolled its eyes, searching for Jeong Ye-rin’s memories that matched my words.

Then, looking up at me, it uttered in a dazed voice.

“You don’t mean…”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

I sneered as I gathered magi in my fingers. Then, I slashed at the air.

A black crack formed with an intense bursting sound.

“I wonder what lies beyond this?”

When I experimented with [Magic Path] before, I used it not only on Lee Seo-yeon and Hyude, but also on the Solomon demon clan, and Kim Eun-ha and Jeong Ye-rin.

And as a result, I could ‘directly’ go to all of those targets.

“N-No, you can’t!!”

I stepped on the head of the creature struggling to get up.

It tried to cut my ankle with its nails, but couldn’t even scratch my clothes, let alone my body.

It was a creature with negligible power, just like the previous doppelganger.

“Do you understand now? Knowing something comes with a corresponding responsibility.”

“Lee Seo-jun!!!”

“You’ll have to pay the price for knowing that name too.”

No demon of Adoniya knows my name. They all just call me ‘the Solomon Demon King’.

And that will still be the case now.

Crack─!

I applied force to my foot, ending the life of the last demon who knew my name.

“I-Is it dead…?”

“H-Hey! The number of remaining doppelgangers on the black window has disappeared!”

“Th-That means….”

The gazes of the nearby citizens turned towards me.

“Lee Seo-jun! Lee Seo-jun killed the last doppelganger!”

With that, cheers spread through the street. It’s a good reaction, and things are going in the right direction.

But they won’t have time to rejoice. All the doppelgangers being dead means….

I’ve killed all the doppelgangers. But it doesn’t matter.

Now it’s time for ‘the Demon King of Pride’, Lucifer, to make his appearance.

Come, it’s time for you to be my stepping stone, you prideful humans.

Kugugugu──

Dark red clouds gathering in the sky swallowed up the sunlight.

“Uwaaaaah!!”

“Ah, the demons are coming!!”

The humans who witnessed this calamity were afraid and confused.

But nothing more happened. Which means, no demons appeared in Korea.

I shifted my gaze to the black crack beside me.

‘I should hurry with this first.’

Swish─

Without hesitation, I plunged my body into the crack.

===

**

===

The underground cave ‘Hubris’ somewhere on Earth.

In the middle of the gloomy and massive cave, an egg was emitting a bright yellow light.

Duke Berche gazed at the woman curled up inside the thin membrane of the egg.

“To think that a descendant of ‘Eve’ who ate the fruit of knowledge actually exists.”

The ‘fruit of knowledge’ from the Garden of Eden, said to grant supreme power to whoever eats it. And ‘Eve’ who coveted it.

Even for someone who had lived as long as he had, this was a story he had only heard as legend through Lord Lucifer.

“Although those doppelganger fellows failed to complete their mission, if Lord Lucifer takes this, he will gain even greater power than before.”

When Lord Lucifer was still an angel, he had tried to tempt Eve to covet the ‘fruit of knowledge’. However, it went to Eve, and that plan failed.

But this time, his plan will surely succeed. For there is no one here to interfere with this plan.

“Tsk, if only those guys had held out a bit longer.”

The only problem is that it takes time to extract the fruit of knowledge from that body.

For the past 10 days, ‘Hubris’ had been on Earth, but due to restrictions, they couldn’t go out, and no one from outside could come in.

The only ones who could come and go were the doppelgangers who had switched bodies with humans.

But if all the doppelgangers died and the restrictions were lifted, that Solomon Demon King could interfere with the plan.

“Well, I should be satisfied with this. Originally, we were planning to find it after the invasion anyway.”

It was fortunate that she was prideful, befitting a descendant of Eve. If she hadn’t been prideful, they wouldn’t have been able to bring her here before the restrictions were lifted.

Kugugugugu─

At that moment, the entire cave began to vibrate.

It meant that the restrictions were beginning to lift.

“…Damn, are they all dead already?”

Berche frowned, earlier than expected.

The one who killed the doppelgangers must be the Solomon Demon King again. He wasn’t sure how they were found, but the humans here couldn’t have discovered the doppelgangers.

‘It’s time to leave for now.’

However, what needed to be done hadn’t changed. Now it was time to leave this underground cave and slaughter the humans on Earth.

Berche left the space where the egg was and ran towards the exit.

It wasn’t long before he saw an unfamiliar black crack in the passage.

“…A crack?”

Berche stopped briefly at the alien crack.

…This was clearly a crack that didn’t exist before. He was certain of that, knowing the geography of this place inside out.

Then is it Lord Lucifer’s ability? No, He doesn’t possess such an ability.

And above all, this demonic energy…

‘Solomon’s demonic energy?’

Wait, that means….

Thud─

No sooner had the thought occurred to him than a long leg emerged from the crack.

A lightly fluttering black cloak. An impeccable, neat uniform. And even the peach-colored skin.

“…It seems the space has been somewhat distorted.”

The description from the apocalypse he had once seen was there.

The moment he saw that figure, he involuntarily drew in a breath.

“The Solomon Demon King…!”

As if hearing that, the man’s calm gaze turned this way. As their eyes met briefly, Berche took a step back.

“I’ll ask just once.”

In the eyes of the man who leisurely drew his sword from the golden snake, there was an indescribable anger.

“Where is Jeong Ye-rin?”

(To be continued in the next episode)