NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 206.1
* * *
Baal was a demon.
Normally, humans were seen as mere insects to demons. However, from the moment of his birth, Baal had a strange experience.
He had come to love a child with black hair and red eyes.
He watched for a long time as the child was abused, and Baal empathized with the child’s emotions.
‘Collen.’
That was the child’s name.
The contract between the Dukes and the demons was ancient.
Lower-ranking demons than Baal occasionally went to the human world, becoming the demons for the Duke’s family, and feasted on their magical power.
Baal wasn’t interested in such inferior magic, but for some reason, he was summoned this time.
Baal possessed many talents, including the ability to see the future.
Baal knew Collen’s fate.
In the future, Collen kills many people. Eventually, he is avenged by the daughter of an unknown serial killer he had killed, underestimating her because she’s a child.
Thus, alone, without anyone by his side, Collen dies.
Even for Baal, a demon, it was a tragic life he was seeing for the first time.
Baal foresaw numerous futures, looking for one where Collen doesn’t die.
He then found a future where Collen didn’t die. It was a future that even the all-knowing Baal couldn’t understand.
So, he sought help from the goddess Whiana.
Whiana granted his request.
The future Baal saw was simple: He just had to be somewhere in another world.
“Mom, I keep seeing monsters.”
The name of Leticia’s past life.
Han Yuna stared blankly, murmuring:
“Maybe it’s time for me to die. I keep seeing black snakes.”
Every time Yuna said that, her parents wept.
* * *
Jade was looking down at a small jar made of crystal. Inside was the corpse of a chimera cat.
“No matter how hard I try, Popo doesn’t come back to life.”
Father had said that if Popo dies, you’ll get hurt too, maybe even die.
“I’ve never wanted to live or tried hard at anything, so why does Popo have to die?”
Popo had tried hard to live because he was a small cat and a naturally imperfect creature born as a chimera.
He ate with effort, wandered around, and clung to humans to survive. But this-
‘This is unfair.’
The doctor told Jade it’s a hereditary disease of the Duke’s family.
A lack of motivation, desire, and interest in others. A common apathy found in the Duke’s family.
‘Maybe I’ll live like this forever?’
Jade sat blankly in the corridor, watching Collen’s demons wander around.
When making eye contact with the demons near Collen’s room, he felt they might devour him.
‘I miss you.’
He wished there was something to replace Popo.
So, Jade decided to risk his life to revive Popo.
‘How to summon a soul.’
He hadn’t made a contract with a demon yet.
However, using this magic book he found in the house, he believed he could borrow the power of a demon.
Of course, there are side effects. If you borrow power from a demon you haven’t contracted with, they will drain your magic to the point of death.
Painful enough to feel like dying, but not quite death?
‘Popo’s soul must be in another world.’
Perhaps the afterlife is another world?
‘Let’s summon Popo from there.’
Jade thought.
It was a reckless and naive idea, but surprisingly, it was the first ‘desire’ Jade had ever felt.
Always smiling, Marianne nodded to Jade’s question. Marianne bowed to Jade.
It had been more than a month since Jade had spoken to Collen. Nothing felt unusual, but the realization that nothing would change even when they grew up was shocking.
You’re wrong. I feel 100% like I will. An unhappy adult.
Jade began the demon summoning magic as written in the magic book, a life-threatening gamble.
…
The girl eventually died. Baal was watching the soul of a girl named Han Yuna.
Then, it happened.
Something approached. A summoning circle opened, and Baal was pulled in.
Baal resisted, but soon realized he was being returned to his own world and stopped. But there was one strange thing…
Something was dragged along.
Small, very small. The soul of a fifteen-year-old girl who had just died. It was Han Yuna’s soul.