In the darkness, the demon tribes were gathering.

Though demons were known not to form groups, there were three exceptions.

Representatives from two of those groups had come together at this meeting.

The priests who worshipped the Demon God.

And the group deeply engrossed in demonic magic research.

The one presiding over this meeting, the high priest serving Superbia, the head of the Seven Deadly Sins Demon Gods—Pride—spoke in a commanding tone.

“Did the followers of the Demon King not answer the call?”

“Give up. The worshippers only follow the Demon King they believe in.”

The high priest serving Luxrium, the Demon God of Lust, replied lazily.

This high priest handled negotiations and seduction; just hearing his voice felt like swallowing sticky honey—sweet and intoxicating.

Though the demons present were not of high priest rank and could have been easily mesmerized by that voice and gaze, Superbia’s high priest, standing closest, remained unmoved.

“Foolish. Don’t you understand that if we succeed in demonizing the Korean Peninsula, which holds such strong intelligence, the authority of the Demon King they serve will also rise?”

“On the contrary, it’s better. If there are fewer to share the credit, our share grows.”

The high priest serving Gulis, the Demon God of Gluttony, answered with a slurred voice.

He had candy in his mouth, which no one pointed out.

That priest had a bad habit: if his mouth was empty, he would try to chew on the flesh or souls of those in front of him.

“Besides, rather than drawing in the Demon King’s worshippers, we should take care of the alliance we have now. There are eight Demon Gods in the alliance of sins, but only the three of us high priests are standing here!”

When Gulis’s high priest stretched his hand toward the dark round table, the bowed demons flinched.

Only the high priests serving the Demon Gods and the representative of the demonic magic research group were entitled to raise their heads at this meeting.

In other words, there were nine qualified people: eight high priests of the Seven Deadly Sins Demon Gods and the Death Demon God, plus one research group representative.

Excluding the magic research group leader, only three were currently standing.

“The seats for Greed, Envy, and Wrath will soon be filled. Sloth... will act when the time comes.”

Superbia’s high priest spoke, glancing at the empty seats.

The Demon Gods listed in the alliance of sins were eight in total.

Superbia of Pride.

Avaritia of Greed.

Invidius of Envy.

Iraonus of Wrath.

Luxrium of Lust.

Gulis of Gluttony.

Pigredo of Sloth.

And Morces of Death.

Among these, the high priests of Greed, Envy, and Wrath had been captured by noble or dragon clans or suffered great defeats, severely weakening their forces.

The high priests of Sloth and Death had not suffered such losses but were absent.

The leader of the demonic magic research group sitting here was displeased by this.

‘Sloth probably didn’t come to uphold that name. But Death—what about it? They held back their strength in Hongcheon and missed a precious chance. It was an opportunity to isolate the Black Demon in the human world!’

Gangwon Province in the Korean Peninsula was the most suitable terrain for demonization.

It had abundant and quality intelligence, rugged mountain ranges, a deep sea nearby, and a low population density.

Right after the otherworldly collision, demons aimed to demonize this land at the instigation of that one.

However, things became difficult when the horses centered on the Black Demon settled there, so the demons used tricks.

To hide their true purpose, they launched large and small attacks under the excuse that they disliked the name being the same in the Korean language.

They incited demons uninterested or unaware of demonization to attack the Black Demon for fun, as a game.

But the Black Demon endured longer and stronger than expected and even counterattacked, weakening the priests’ forces.

They tried planting the Demon God’s altar and schemed again, but that failed.

“Are you dissatisfied with the absent high priest? Speak.”

Superbia’s high priest immediately noticed a disrespectful look and called it out.

Though not hiding personal feelings much, reading one’s gaze in this darkness was difficult, so the magic research leader secretly admired that.

The magic research leader answered.

“The one serving the Death Demon God failed once in Hongcheon and owes us.

Do you know how much effort we put into deceiving the Black Demon’s eyes?

Though the one who failed then wasn’t a high priest, they should at least have shown up here as a sign of respect.”

Hearing this, Luxrium’s high priest smiled slyly, and Gulis’s high priest took out a new candy and popped it into his mouth.

Neither seemed inclined to criticize the current complaints.

Superbia’s high priest showed little reaction but answered as the leader of the alliance of sins.

“Are you displeased that the high priest of Morces, the Death Demon God, is absent?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you know how fickle Death is?”

Though the words sounded mocking, the tone was dry and emotionless.

He continued calmly.

“Where Morces’s high priest resides, Death is needed.

It means there’s no one here worth killing, so it’s a kind of loyalty shown.

But hearing your words, I might change my mind.”

The magic research leader’s insides, burning with anger until then, cooled at those words.

With the immense power granted to the Demon God’s high priest came equally great restrictions.

Morces seemed to have imposed the constraint of death on his strongest follower.

Wherever they stay, death must remain.

Of course, the magic research leader had no intention of dying quietly but had no confidence to survive a direct clash with the Death high priest.

“If you have nothing more to say, let your group speak about what your ‘Third Eye’ saw.”

Superbia’s high priest, apparently unwilling to press further, changed the topic.

Feeling relieved and oddly grateful, the magic research leader felt humiliated.

Though Superbia’s high priest was the representative, all had joined the alliance as equals, but he was losing confidence against those priests.

Focusing on hiding his feelings, the magic research leader reported what their special eyes had seen.

Among many topics was Jo Yi-shin, the human near the noble clans.

“There was also that unknown supernova closely watching the silent Black Wind Forest.

They acted alongside the nobles.”

“He said there was no name on the hit list.”

“That’s expected.

Only ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) those with strength, wisdom, and will who remain uncorrupted are recorded on the hit list.

The unknown supernova seems likely to betray at any time.”

At that moment, the magic research leader saw Jo Yi-shin and the nobles arguing.

Jo Yi-shin seemed arrogant about defeating the heir of the Joo Group in martial arts.

He appeared to have tried foolish rebellion against the nobles without fear and failed, so the argument was pathetic.

The leader relayed their conversation without omission.

He did not consider Jo Yi-shin’s words important but judged the nobles’ remarks valuable.

Superbia’s high priest asked.

“You explain in such detail.

Do you think that human is worth using?”

“Yes.

Since he is close to the nobles, he is naturally worth using.

However, the unknown supernova once responded to a fox from Japan and tried to attack the nobles but failed and was caught.

The nobles are cautious, so contact would be difficult.”

The magic research leader was merely reporting the situation, seemingly not intending to use Jo Yi-shin.

But the high priests exchanged looks.

Tempting humans with sins, corrupting and exposing their true nature was their instinct and purpose.

Unfortunately, those named on the Black Curtain’s hit list were impossible to corrupt; otherwise, it would be a different story.

“What sins suit a nameless star?”

“Maybe more than one.”

Luxrium’s and Gulis’s high priests chatted cheerfully, as if discussing toys.

The topic about Jo Yi-shin quickly faded among many other reports and was not pondered deeply.

They trusted the information they gathered with their ‘eyes’ deeply.

Hence, they overlooked that important things existed beyond what was visible.

On the day of the autumn picnic.

The weather was clear, but my mood was not.

Meanwhile, on the Eungwang High comprehensive bulletin board, many words and ridiculous rumors spread about photos of Joo Suhyuk and me.

Throughout the trip, Joo Suhyuk had his hand comfortably on my shoulder, and my expression looked very happy, which left room for varied interpretations.

Since Suhyuk was in the photos, I saved all and examined them carefully but found it hard to refute the interpretations by people claiming to be fans of the Supernova and Narae.

‘No matter how close we look, considering Suhyuk’s face when he looks at Andain, no one could say such things!’

Thinking that, I felt pained again.

Even though it was a rare good day, gloom crept over me.

“Yi-shin is struggling again. What should we do?”

“Leave him be.

Later, make sure he eats well for lunch.”

Sawol Seyum and Hwang Ji-ho seemed to be talking about me, but I had no strength to argue.

I needed to gather myself and be strong when we arrived at Hongcheon.

“Why does that guy’s shirt have that on it? ‘Nima......!’ What does that mean?”

“Oh, Saeron wrote that.

We’re thinking of the class T-shirt slogan, and Saeron recommended it.

Its origin is......”

Kim Yuri answered Dokgo Miro’s question, who had been away from school recently and didn’t know the situation well.

My class slogan, ‘Nima......!’, was assigned to Kim Yuri, chosen based on Mun Saeron’s recommendation.

Kim Yuri gave a vague explanation about the origin, but quick-witted Dokgo Miro understood and grew even more distressed.

Meanwhile, the airbus chartered by our class was approaching the destination, Hongcheon.

“......!”

Just before arriving, Cheongho and Hwang Ji-ho suddenly turned their eyes out the window.

Cheongho cast a sharp gaze but showed no tension because he had a stick snack in his mouth.

Outside the window, on the ground, three white horses were looking up at us.

‘Those are the same white horses I saw before.’

I recalled when the air taxi stopped because of white horses during a previous visit to Hongcheon.

Unlike then, these horses didn’t occupy the roads or emit supernatural energy, so the airbus passed them by.

But the three white horses kept watching us.

‘I don’t think it’s because of the nobles...’

Even thinking it over, I couldn’t solve the mystery.

Soon after, our class arrived at the destination.