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“The public is extremely uneasy and in disarray. They’ll take your every word and action and blow it out of proportion. Please wait until things settle a little.” In other words, Chi-Woo should stay low for the moment since he might earn people’s anger and distrust for no good reason. Because of that, Chi-Woo could only watch as members of the former Demon Empire withdrew.

“Everyone has their own circumstances. Depending on their circumstances, their perspective also changes.” When Chi-Woo returned to the Seven Stars and said nothing for a while, Eval Sevaru carefully gave his advice. “The reason why the Liber natives, the Celestial Realm heroes, and the League members are so angry and hostile towards the Demon Empire is clear.” He continued, “Sir, with all due respect, let’s say that you lost your brother, the legend, to the Demon Empire. Or he came back alive but in a terrible state. Will you still accept the Demon Empire then?”

Chi-Woo groaned quietly because that brought back the trauma he had shoved into an unseen part of his mind. When he went to the future, how had he reacted when he saw his brother’s headless corpse? He had immediately gone berserk and blown everything away. As much as he tried to, he couldn’t even say yes as a lie.

“They’ve lost their parents, siblings, friends, comrades, and spouses.” As the weaker victim, they had only lived because they couldn’t die, in a gloomy and melancholy state in which they had no choice but to wait without an end in sight; they had endured and endured further with only the hope of seeing their loved ones again, but—

“Everyone will understand and sympathize with those who rage and lament as a result of what happened today. Even though that kid was telling the truth.” Eval continued, “Anyone who opposes this extremely reasonable reaction and natural progression will be branded a traitor. The only difference is the level of hostility. Boss, you and even the legend are no exceptions.”

Chi-Woo closed his eyes. Eval Sevaru was right.

“Nevertheless,” Eval Sevaru said as the muscles of his neck tensed up, “Why do you want to accept the Demon Empire even at the price of living with those repercussions?”

“…”

“Is there a reason other than what that child said?”

Chi-Woo organized his thoughts briefly and said, “I promised that I’ll save them in exchange for helping me out.”

“It’s an oral promise without a witness. No one will acknowledge it.”

“We also lost too much blood in this war. There are still two strong enemies left. The situation calls for us to partner up with even our enemies.”

“Considering the current atmosphere, forcing an alliance out of necessity will only lead to a rebellion.”

“…I need to rise to Master tier.” Chi-Woo let out a long sigh. “It’s the condition that God Mamiya gave me. I can only reach Master tier after accepting the Demon Empire.” Embrace the darkness was Mamiya’s condition. He hadn’t understood what the god meant at the beginning, but he realized it after the Demon Empire came.

“It’s an extremely personal reason.” However, Eval Sevaru shot him down relentlessly, and Chi-Woo clicked his tongue, having expected Eval’s rebuttal.

“Boss, I’m not trying to discuss whether the reasons you listed are right or wrong. For those who trust and follow you, those reasons are more than enough. But…” Evan Sevaru trailed off. Chi-Woo didn’t need him spelling things out to know that in order to gain both humanity’s and the League’s support, he needed a clearer and better justification.

“…I don’t know…” Feeling conflicted, Chi-Woo wiped his face. “I see their points…I think I can understand what they’re feeling…but if I don’t accept the Demon Empire now…I’m…I’m sure I’ll regret it later…” Since the public sentiment was in such stark contrast with what he wanted, Chi-Woo considered visiting Shersha and suggesting they return to the devildom.

However, as soon as the thought crossed his mind, an ominous feeling reared its ugly head; he got a strong feeling that he should never let them go like this. This meant only one thing; he needed to accept the Demon Empire at all costs. “We have to, we have to accept them…but I have no idea in the least how to persuade the others…”

“Boss.” Eval Sevaru’s face darkened. “You said this was related to you rising to Master tier, right?”

Chi-Woo nodded silently.

“A master is not someone that persuades and makes others understand their decisions; rather, they make people obey and follow them. It’s the same for justification.” Eval Sevaru softly continued, “It’s an excuse or reason to carry out an action, but it’s not just limited to moral principles that one must follow. Name or status can be justifications themselves, making it so that others have no choice but to understand and accept your points; a justification can be something people have to accept even if they don’t like it.”

Chi-Woo fell into thought. Eval Sevaru waited for a long time and bit on his lower lip. “…I apologize if I have crossed the line. Boss, I hope you make a decision you won’t regret.” With this, Eval Sevaru bowed and left the office. ‘A decision I won’t regret.’ Chi-Woo repeated Eval’s words in his mind and leaned into the chair; the breath he had been holding rushed out of his mouth.

‘It’s hard. So hard—’ When he faced the enemy coalition, he had thought there wasn’t ever going to be anything more difficult than that, but now he believed he should rectify this thought. Frankly, it was much better when everyone gathered their strength and only focused on fighting. It felt like he was walking on thin ice now; with one misstep, everything would crack and burst. Chi-Woo looked up into the air with hazy eyes. He needed to accept the Demon Empire. His intuition was shouting this, and he needed to do this to rise to Master tier. The problem was the method. Every time he thought about the how, a murky and foggy cloud filled his mind.

It was at that moment, Chi-Woo, who had his head tilted back and was knocking his forehead with his fist, noticed a spirit.

‘Mr. Philip.’

Philip blinked.

—What?

‘Mr. Philp, do you know what to do at times like this?’

—At times like this? Uh…well…roughly?

Chi-Woo’s eyes widened. He had just thrown a question with the intention of grasping at straws, but Philip knew of a way? Ah, come to think of it—

‘Mr. Philip, you were Salem’s King, right?’

Although more famous as a demon hunter, Philip had been the king of a country. He must have experienced pushing ahead with an agenda that his subordinates and the public were fiercely opposed to.

‘What should I do? If it were you, what would you have done?’

—Hmm…

Chi-Woo looked at him like a lifeline, but Philip’s reaction was lukewarm.

—I don’t really want to tell you.

And he rejected Chi-Woo.

‘Seriously, why?’

—Because I feel like there’s no point, and there’s no clear-cut answer for this. You should do what you want, so both the process and results are meaningful.

‘But I can still use your method as a reference.’

—No. You can’t. Even if I tell you, you can’t do it. Never.

Philip said with certainty. Chi-Woo gnawed at his lips when it seemed like Philip wouldn’t help him, but then he suddenly exclaimed, ‘Wait a minute. Then what if you do it?’

—?

‘If you don’t think I can do it, then Mr. Philip, you can give me a direct demonstration.’

What the heck was he talking about? Philip pondered and was left aghast when realization hit.

—You…you’re telling me to possess you?

‘Yes.’

—Hey, come on, that makes no sense. What the?

‘What do you mean it makes no sense. Last time, with Ru Amuh—’

—That’s different from this! Do you think a trivial personal event like that could be equated to something that will affect the entire humanity and the League?

Philip said in a slightly angry tone.

—And your brother told you to prove yourself to him. It’s no simple homework, but a test. You want me to take the test for you?

‘No, what kind of metaphor is that? When did I tell you to do everything? I’m just asking for a little help. An opportunity for me to learn from watching you.’

—No. It’s none of my business. You figure it out on your own.

‘Come on, Mr. Philip!’ Chi-Woo called out to Philip a couple more times, but he didn’t budge. ‘You’re really going to be like this?’

—Stop asking me. I already told you no.

‘Mr. Philip, have I ever made a request like this to you before? No, right?’

—Well, yeah. You never did. I admit that.

‘On the other hand, I listened to several of your requests, Mr. Philip.’

Philip paused.

—Hey, that’s…

He was about to protest but found himself at a loss for words; it was true that Chi-Woo had listened to him relatively well so far. Of course, most of them were generally advice for Chi-Woo, but technically, there were requests as well. For example, the matter with Eshnunna…

‘Even the matter with the Armed with the Sixth Element.’

—Hey!

Philip jumped up and down.

—Geez, I told you I was sorry back then. And it’s been useful for you, right?

‘That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just talking about how there was a situation when you pushed ahead with a matter I said I didn’t like. And it’s not like I’m forcing my decision on you right now.’

—…

Since Philip was clearly wrong in that matter, he had nothing to say in protest.

‘You’re right. Even if you tell me, I might not understand or be able to do it, but as they say, learning through experience can be a hundred times better than just hearing about it. I’m only asking for one demonstration. Please just let me get a rough idea. I won’t ask for more help, and I’ll do the rest myself.’ Chi-Woo pleaded, ‘I’m really at a complete loss, Mr. Philip.’

That was true as well. How can a guy who was just starting to lead about 20 people face a crowd of thousands in the worst and most extreme condition? It wasn’t that Philip didn’t understand how he felt, but…

—Sigh…

Philip sighed repeatedly. Since Chi-Woo, who usually never made a request like this, was asking so earnestly, his stone-like heart began to waver.

—Fuck, yeah it’s my fault. I guess it’s all karma.

Philip agonized for a while and reluctantly made a decision.

—Just this once, and as I said, I’m not going to help you with everything.

Chi-Woo’s expression brightened; he felt like he had suddenly earned a thousand troops when he was surrounded by enemies on all sides.

—And one more thing.

Philip said flatly.

—Don’t regret it.

‘What?’

—Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I’m going to do a half-ass job. I’m going to do it properly. I’m really going to do it, but—

Philip smacked his lips.

—I’m only going to give you a demonstration as you said, and how you see and accept it will all depend on you. So don’t blame me whatever the consequences of that may be.

Chi-Woo immediately agreed as it was a given.

—I warned you.

Philip said in a threatening tone and crossed his arms. Chi-Woo saw Philip fall into thought and asked, ‘So how about it? Do I pass over my body now?’

—No.

Philip shook his head.

—Not now but later. Since the matter is so serious, I think I need to think about it more. And there’s something I need to look into…

* * *

The next morning, Eval Sevaru woke up to Chi-Woo’s call and immediately headed to the office.

“Did you call for me, Boss?”

“Hm.”

Standing respectfully, Eval Saveru tilted his head slightly because for some reason, the air around Chi-Woo had suddenly changed. Chi-Woo usually seemed like a noble scholar or a saint, but today…how should he describe it? Today, he felt the majesty and dignity of a king radiating from the man.

“What is the public opinion like?”

“It’s the same as before,” Eval Sevaru said clearly. “They’re ready to fire at the slightest provocation.”

“As expected.” Chi-Woo nodded.

“Boss, why don’t we first wait a bit to see…”

“Although they say time is the best medicine, it doesn’t always apply. Even a beast can never forget the grudge of losing its baby until its death. How can they calm down easily?”

Eval Sevaru blinked. “Well, y-yes.” Taken aback, he agreed and asked just in case, “Perhaps you have made your decision?”

“I made my decision a while ago. To accept the demons and demonic creatures.”

“There will be fierce opposition.”

“It can’t be helped. If we leave the situation like this, the dissent and resentment will only grow deeper. I should at least alleviate it before it festers.”

“By alleviate…”

“First, it’s safe to say that there’s no public opinion favorable towards accepting the Demon Empire at this moment, right?”

“There’s of course—”

“Excluding the Demon Empire,” Chi-Woo cut him off. “When we declared to accept the Demon Empire.”

‘Ah’. Eval Sevaru gaped, and a glint flashed through his eyes. Soon, he straightened his posture and said, “Yes, that’s generally the case, but there are still some in support.”

An example would be the Kobalos tribe among the Cassiubia League. After receiving a life-changing favor from Chi-Woo, they unconditionally supported whatever decision Seven Stars made. The same could be said about the Celestial Realm heroes; their support wasn’t as fervent as the Kobalos tribe, but there were quite a few influential groups that could voice their support.

“Well, let’s put aside the League for now…that means there are quite a few heroes who can support us.”

“Since the legend declared a neutral stance, they’ll try to remain in our good graces as much as possible.”

“Then we can say that we have at least one friendly organization among both the League and the heroes. Then the natives…” When Chi-Woo stared at him, Eval Sevaru answered with a wry smile instead. “Hm, how is our image in the eyes of the natives?”

“Needless to say, it’s the best right now.”

“Even before the war?”

“Boss, your achievements played a great part in that, but Evelyn and Aida’s contributions are also significant. Both of them regularly visited the natives and helped them out, treating people with holy energy in the name of volunteer work.”

Chi-Woo looked surprised.

“And…I’ve been doing relief activities as much as I can. Of course, it’s done in the name of Seven Stars as well.”

“This is good. Not bad.” A soft smile tugged at Chi-Woo’s lips. “If we suddenly start to carry out volunteer work after yesterday’s incident, our intentions would look too obvious. But the story changes if we’ve been doing it consistently. I won’t even need to make preliminary preparations.”

“Yes, sir. You can move straight to the main objective at hand.” Eval Sevaru spoke with a much brighter expression.

“Okay, even if the natives all share the same will, there must be people leading them. Let’s first find them first and—”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’ve already found them.”

“What? Already?”

“Because I had a feeling you wouldn’t change your mind.”

The two men shared a smile, and Chi-Woo, or to be more precise, Chi-Woo who had handed over his body to Philip, was left the only one confused. Philip had talked about preliminary preparations and whatnot, but he couldn’t really understand what they were talking about. However, the conversation seemed to be going smoothly. Unlike when Eval talked to him, they were getting along perfectly well.

“This morning, Evelyn told me she was going to go take care of the refugees. Boss, would you like to go and meet them?”

“Not at all.” Philip, who had borrowed Chi-Woo’s body, smiled. “Choose a few important people and bring them to me instead. Tell them I’d like a word.”

“And by bringing them, you mean…”

“Of course, bring them to me politely without any breach of courtesy.”

Eval Sevaru’s gaze changed. Chi-Woo had been so indecisive yesterday that Eval found it a waste of his great last name, but he had completely changed in one night. “Yes, sir! I’ll do my best!” Eval Sevaru answered louder than ever and turned to leave the office excitedly, wondering, ‘What’s suddenly up with him?’