Chapter 231

EP.231 Collapse, Poisoning

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Marcella took out a small remote control from her coat pocket.

When she pressed the top button, a mechanical sound whirred, and a screen descended from the wall, covering one side completely.

While Marcella, still trembling with excitement, fumbled with the remote, Sehwa called out to the doctor.

“Doctor.”

“….?”

To the doctor, who looked tense, Sehwa continued.

“I’ll give you a chance. If you make the right choices and listen well, Yuria will be safe.”

The doctor clenched her eyes shut.

So, she’s been captured after all. I shouldn’t have told her to go into the park…

Overwhelmed with guilt, she didn’t know what to do. She felt so sorry.

Soon, the screen turned on.

A split screen. On the left, a large group of people of various races were crammed into a massive prison.

On the right, Yuria was sound asleep in a place resembling a hospital private room, without even a blanket.

Bound, no less.

The doctor’s heart sank as she looked at the right screen.

“Is Yuria… okay…?”

“She’s fine. Just sleeping. Do you know who the people on the left are?”

The left screen zoomed in at the perfect moment.

The doctor shook her head after glancing at the faces.

“I… I don’t know… I don’t know them…”

“Really? They’d be disappointed to hear that.”

“Who are they…?”

Sehwa giggled and explained.

“The people tied up on the left are humans who know you. They’re connected to you in various ways. Some plagiarized your research and papers when you used the name Isabel Parsons. Others slandered you behind your back. Truly despicable people.”

“…..”

“The ones we brought here are just tools to help you adjust. They’re negative, fleeting connections to you. But the next humans we bring won’t be guilty. They’ll have positive ties to you.”

Sehwa said there would be two punishments.

Given the mention of “choices,” it was clear that what was coming would be horrifying.

Moreover, the next humans to be brought would be those close to her… The doctor gritted her teeth in disgust at the cruelty.

“What do you want from me…?”

“You can probably guess, right? I’ll let Marcella explain the rest.”

Sehwa tapped Marcella’s hip with her palm, snapping her out of her daze. Marcella began to speak, her words shocking the doctor.

“For every mistake you’ve made, we’ll turn Yuria Elenard into a demon. But you have a choice… If you don’t want Yuria to become a demon, kill the humans on the left screen… Since you’ve made two mistakes, you’ll need to kill twenty people, ten at a time…”

The choice to kill humans instead of subjecting Yuria to pain was expected.

But she never imagined it would be ten at a time.

The demon transformation was equally harsh. It was unbelievably cruel.

Whether or not she knew the doctor was panicking, Marcella continued.

“Most humans lose their minds and become demons after just one or two transformations. But Yuria has endured so much hardship that her mental strength is strong… She’ll probably withstand twenty… maybe even thirty transformations…”

As Marcella finished, Sehwa pulled out two small switches from her pocket.

She handed the red switch to the doctor’s left hand and the green one to her right.

“You choose.”

“Ah…”

The doctor’s body swayed as she teetered on the edge of losing consciousness.

Sehwa quickly supported her and spoke in a cold voice.

“You can’t break down already… Hang in there. I’ll give you one minute. If you don’t choose, I’ll punish both Yuria and those humans.”

“Sehwa… how far have you fallen…?”

How far had Sehwa fallen?

That evil appearance was pure malice.

It seemed like she had no sense of justice to protect humans.

The doctor wanted to know what method Tairat had used.

“Time is ticking.”

“…..”

She thought of the trolley problem, an ethical thought experiment where you choose to kill one person or five by pulling a switch.

How should this dilemma be resolved? In truth, the doctor’s answer was already decided.

The doctor liked numbers and value calculations.

So, she assigned value to life.

Yuria’s value was incomparably greater than those people.

She thought of Yuria as family, so of course, she had to choose the left.

But the thought of people dying because of her choice made her instinctively recoil.

She had grown to hate humans because of Jihyuk’s experiences and words, but this was falling into Tairat’s trap.

Her true nature hadn’t crumbled yet. The fact that she didn’t want to kill was proof.

Her mind was in chaos. She wanted to let go of consciousness.

But if she didn’t choose, both Yuria and the humans would be punished.

It wasn’t an empty threat. She had to press the switch.

“30 seconds left. If it’s too hard to choose, tell me. I’ll help you. Just this once.”

Please… Please let Jihyuk notice my disappearance and send Silvia and Adeline.

She hoped they’d burst through the ceiling like superheroes, purify Sehwa, rescue Yuria and herself, and escape this place.

If there was a god, she hoped for salvation.

But… such vain hopes wouldn’t come true.

“10 seconds left.”

“…..”

“9, 8, 7, 6…”

Sehwa counted down like a child playing a fun game.

Tears streaming down her face, the doctor finally forced out her voice.

“Left… the left…”

At her words, Sehwa smiled beautifully and bent the doctor’s left hand.

“I knew you’d say that. Good job.”

Then, without hesitation, she applied force.

Two clicks echoed in the silent room,

Bang! Boom!

A series of explosions followed, and the screen turned off.

At the same time, the doctor lost her sanity.

The prison turned into a scene of chaos as twenty people’s heads exploded simultaneously.

The despair and terrified screams of the survivors seemed to echo in her ears.

Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

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-Aaaaah!!

-It exploded…! Their heads exploded!

-Save me! Let me out! I was wrong!

“Gasp!”

The doctor, having dreamed of people dying, shot up in bed.

Then a headache hit, and she clutched her forehead.

“Ah…”

“Are you okay?”

Hearing a clear voice beside her, the doctor turned her head. Seeing Sehwa smiling faintly at her, she gritted her teeth.

She wanted to curse and slap her, but if she did, Sehwa might hand her the switch again.

Forcing her expression to soften, the doctor asked in a trembling voice.

“It wasn’t a dream…?”

“No. You killed twenty people at once.”

“…. Ugh…!”

At Sehwa’s confirmation, the doctor retched and ran to the bathroom.

Leaning over the toilet, she vomited violently, then leaned against the bathroom wall, exhausted.

Sehwa approached and handed her a wet towel.

The doctor silently took the towel, wiped her mouth, and spoke.

“Thank you…”

“Thank you? Our doctor has become so kind? The shock therapy must’ve been strong, huh?”

“What else could I do…”

“Right. What else could you do? Just keep doing this. Then Yuria will be safe, and your hands won’t be stained with blood.”

“…..”

“Eat up. I left it on the table.”

How could she eat in this situation?

“I can’t think… Can I have some time alone?”

“You won’t eat?”

Sehwa stared at the doctor with a meaningful expression.

The doctor sensed that if she didn’t eat, what happened earlier would repeat.

It was so cruel. She wondered if a demon had taken Sehwa’s form.

Fine, I’ll eat. If eating can prevent tragedy, what can’t I do?

Trembling, the doctor got up and went to the table.

Then, without realizing it, she touched her stomach.

She wasn’t hungry; she was worried about the baby.

“The baby is fine. We ran tests on the medical device while you were unconscious.”

Sehwa, now sitting across from her, spoke.

The doctor felt relieved but suddenly grew curious.

Sehwa, now Tairat’s subordinate, was cruel.

So, using the baby as leverage should’ve been a given. Why was she being so caring without any threats?

Seeing Sehwa’s gentle expression, the doctor gathered the courage to ask.

“Why… are you looking after my baby?”

“Your baby will serve my master… the Demon King.”

What…? How dare she plan to make her baby serve Tairat?

It was unthinkable.

Hearing the absurd answer, the doctor shouted.

“Nonsense! That won’t happen!”

“I’ll show you. Calm down now.”

She was so angry she felt like exploding.

But she had to calm down, as Sehwa said.

She couldn’t face another dilemma.

Taking a deep breath, the doctor apologized meekly.

“Sorry…”

“I understand how you feel. It must be daunting to offer your child to the enemy’s leader. But what if you’re wrong?”

Wrong? What nonsense was this…?

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Eat up.”

Seeing that Sehwa wouldn’t explain, the doctor resigned herself and looked at the Korean-style porridge and water on the table.

They must’ve anticipated her stomach would be upset, hence this meal… It felt like a carrot-and-stick tactic, which was absurd.

Taking a spoonful of porridge, she tasted its sticky, smooth texture.

Unconsciously, her expression softened, and she began to eat slowly.

Sehwa, leaning on the table, watched her eat and asked.

“How does it taste?”

“It’s good…”

It wasn’t a lie. The porridge was delicious.

She could eat it every day.

“I made it. Eat up.”

“…. Okay, I will.”

The doctor moved her hand steadily, scraping the bowl clean.

Despite the tension and her churning stomach, she devoured the porridge like a man possessed.

She must’ve been really hungry.

After finishing the porridge and downing the water in one go, she licked her lips.

Then she flinched and glanced at Sehwa.

Had she just embarrassingly licked her lips? She felt pathetic and ridiculous.

“You eat well. Want more?”

“…..”

Honestly, she did.

But pride and defiance kept her from speaking.

Sehwa just smiled, waiting for her answer.

After a brief but intense internal struggle, the doctor gave in to temptation.

“Can I… have more?”

At her words, Sehwa smiled brightly and stood up.

“Of course. I’ll bring it. Wait a moment.”

Humming a tune, Sehwa left.

For some reason, the doctor felt Sehwa was being kind. Staring at the bowl, she agonized for a while, then turned her back to the surveillance camera.

She picked up the bowl and began licking the remaining bits stuck to it.

She didn’t even realize what she was doing.

She was just following her instincts, eating the delicious porridge as her heart desired.

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