Chapter 9: Escape (2)

Narrator's POV

"I advise you to calm down quickly, we need you to call your boyfriend from the 2nd floor."

Andrew spoke in a neutral tone, looking at the woman coughing on the floor.

He was going to take this woman's soul anyway, so he didn't really care about his manners towards her.

Andrew forcibly lifted the woman, despite her groans of pain, and took the walkie-talkie before handing it to her.

"You're going to ask your boyfriend to come here to have fun with you, and if you play the hero..." Andrew simply placed the revolver in the middle of the woman's forehead.

"Please... s..stop, I'll obey," she said with difficulty due to the injuries in her mouth and the terror.

It seems that Leyley hit a bit too hard. I'll have to have a discussion about this with her later.

Things went as planned.

She played the act perfectly despite her injuries to her mouth and face.

"Leyley, go hide, I'll take care of the rest," Andrew wanted to send Leyley away to avoid taking unnecessary risks.

"Hey? We're both in the same boat now, I can't let you bear this burden alone," although Leyley spoke these words casually.

Andrew can feel that she's sincere. He couldn't help but smile slightly at her before shaking his head to refuse her proposal.

"I'm not sidelining you, Leyley, it's just that you won't be very useful in this part of the plan but I promise you that soon you'll be an essential element."

Andrew was sincere. He doesn't know if he'll be pursued by the hitman as in the original. So, he might potentially need Leyley in the future.

After a moment of hesitation, Leyley lets out a small sigh of resignation and nods to Andrew.

"I'll hide but next time I want to join the party~" she headed towards a hiding spot big enough to accommodate her not far away.

After Leyley's departure, Andrew took a few breaths before turning his gaze back to the door.

He could already hear noises coming from the hallway. He immediately started the music to attract the demon and pointed his weapon at the door.

'I need to execute this with perfect timing or I might get in trouble,' Andrew thought as he heard the sound of the lock slowly opening. He immediately called the demon he had contracted to appear.

'I hope they turn on this light, I don't want to accidentally fuck Dave haha' Malcolm thought.

As the 2nd floor guard entered without suspecting the trap, he came face to face with a dark sphere floating in the air.

"Is He PaRt Of ThE PrOmIsEd SoUlS?" Andrew nodded to the creature who surprisingly could respond to him with its three eyes displaying a feeling of satisfaction.

"Damn, what's this thing?" Malcolm tried to pull out his weapon, but he fainted — or more precisely, he lost his soul while trying to retaliate.

"PlEaSeD tO hAvE aNoThEr SoUl ThE NExT TiME" The demon disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

A heavy silence quickly replaced the eerie music. There were only the sounds of fearful trembling coming from the woman brought by Leyley.

"It's your turn too," Andrew raised his hand towards her.

She tried to move away and create distance between him and Andrew but in vain. She had been tied up with tape and beaten by Leyley before arriving here.

The woman's attempts to move away just looked pitiful to see.

"Pp please..." her words momentarily stopped Andrew's hand.

"Sorry... but it's necessary, if it reassures you then know that I'll do my best so that your death isn't a waste," after his little speech to motivate and reassure the woman, Andrew finally touched her head.

[Activation of Soul Devourer skill (rank A).]

Immediately after activating his skill, the woman slowly began to stop moving before falling to the ground with an empty look.

She now resembles the Former Guardian Malcolm: a body that seems normal, but without a soul.

'System, why hasn't my mana increased much?' observing his status, Andrew noticed that his mana just went from B- to B.

He had literally just absorbed a soul so he thought he would get a more impressive boost in mana.

[You need to understand that mana isn't an easy statistic to increase and it's greatly influenced by potential unlike other statistics which depend enormously on hard work]

Andrew sighed with fatigue at the situation before going to Leyley's hiding spot. He wanted her to help him gather important things before they leave this place.

"Andrew... that thing really took that guy's soul and what did you do to that bitch?" Leyley had observed the scene. She could see the demon and her brother devouring souls.

She wasn't scared, just surprised to observe such a supernatural phenomenon with her own eyes.

"I executed my part of the contract with the demon. That's all, so stop being surprised since I already told you, right? Your brother deals with the devil~" Andrew teased her a little with a clumsy imitation of a devil.

Andrew doesn't plan to talk about skills to Leyley or about the system. He'll do it in the form of lies different from reality.

He appreciates his sister, but the system and his past life are things he won't reveal to anyone.

'When I go to other realities, I'll simply say it's a mission from the demon,' Andrew sketches a satisfied smile at his idea.

....

Andrew's POV

"We should erase all evidence of our past here."

Leyley seemed confused hearing my words, so I start explaining my plan, which aims to cause a fire in the building to erase our traces.

"Isn't that going to, on the contrary, attract attention?" She seems skeptical, but it's normal.

Who would want to cause a fire for run under the radar?

"Yes and no. The media will be interested in this place, but that's good for us, since those who did this to us will want to hush up the affair." I smile seeing the expression of realization on Leyley's face.

"I'm going to start soaking the hallway with alcohol and all the flammable things I see, and you, gather our things."

I really don't want to kill so many people, but anyway, they're doomed from the start.

"Okay, but I'm going to light the fire myself." Before I could express myself further, Leyley had already run to our apartment.

It seems she really wants to burn this place.

….

In the end, the escape went down almost like in the original story, after me and the demon devoured the souls of the woman and the guard.

The only difference is the fire Leyley started behind us.

Yeah, Leyley. She refused to let me start the fire and insisted on doing it herself.

I think it's just another form of twisted pleasure she's buried deep inside, kind of like that time she devoured her parents in the original game.

"Finally, we found a shelter." Leyley immediately flopped onto the bed.

"Yeah, but I don't get why you insisted on a room with just one bed," I smiled, pretending not to understand.

"You'll see, but first I need to take a shower ~." She quickly got off the bed and dashed to the motel bathroom.

'I heard notifications during the fire. Why's that?'

[Your alignment has slightly improved. You need to keep up your bad actions for your alignment to strengthen.]

'From what you're saying, it sounds like you're an evil system, not a mercenary system, hehe'. I couldn't help but smile at my own joke.

[Your alignment heavily influences your quests and the shop. The stronger it gets, the more "evil" things you'll get at a lower price.]

' Iremember you mentioned something about that, factions, and karma'.

I really need to lean into the dark side right now or balance things out a bit to avoid being an enemy to some factions in the agency.

'I'll check the shop later. For now, I gotta release all this adrenaline from my morally questionable actions.'

Thank goodness Leyley seems to be in the mood, but should I use those herbs from the Pornohwa again?