The moment the black fog covered my body, my vision went dark with a ‘click’ as if a fluorescent light had been turned off. Just like the lights going out in a theater before a movie starts. My lips parted slightly at the suddenly reversed vision.
‘What is this?’
Surprised by the unexpected development for only a moment, I slowly looked around. The growling Deus from just now and the damp, humid cave were nowhere to be seen. It was literally a dark space with nothing in it.
‘Could this be…… the Void?’
The Void—in the original work, it was the space where Kiss and Death had fought bloody battles over dozens of chapters. I was about to get up with a dazed expression when I grimaced. My injured leg hurt so much tears welled up.
“……A door?”
A door shining incongruously at the end of the darkness caught my eye. Seeing a door standing alone in a backrooms-like space, I thought there was a high possibility that was the exit. I slowly moved forward, dragging my injured leg. The closer I got to the door, the stronger the whitish light became.
“In many ways, this is like a near-death experience.”
I opened the door, and that place was a host club. I hope it’s not this kind of development. I laughed self-deprecatingly and turned the doorknob.
To be honest, having just desperately experienced a survival crisis, I was confident I wouldn’t be too surprised by whatever came out. Right? I just saw a house-sized tiger. What in this world could be more bizarre and terrifying than a man-eating tiger?
Click.
What entered my eyes as I opened the door with a confident expression was a middle-aged man wearing an April maid outfit with exposed thighs, climbing a ladder and dusting a bookshelf.
My breath stopped at the jet-black leg hair covering his muscular calves and the blue stubble around his mouth. It was even more grotesque because there were strange lop-eared rabbit ears drooping on his bald head.
Of course, it wasn’t from excitement, but rather what I’d call pure existential shock. Since the angle was what it was, I had no choice but to make eye contact with this muscular middle-aged man’s pumpkin pants as he stood on the ladder. If I closed my eyes, it felt rude as if I was being considerate, but if I kept my eyes open, I had to see that crazy sight, which made me even more annoyed.
Just as I was feeling awkward, unable to do either, a shy voice that didn’t match his magnificent physique pierced my frozen ears.
“Ah…… how embarrassing……”
SLAM!
Without realizing it, I closed the door again and breathed roughly. It was such a creepy scene that I thought a man-eating tiger would be better. A middle-aged man in a maid outfit wearing pumpkin pants as underwear—anyone could see that was dangerous. Just as I decided I’d rather starve to death here and was about to turn around……
Click.
Like a scene from a horror movie, the door opened smoothly. The middle-aged maid peeking his face out the door opened his mouth in a flushed voice.
“After finally opening it, why are you closing the door again……”
“What is that outfit?”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m a first-class butler serving Lord Deus……”
“I asked what that outfit is!”
Forget Deus or whatever, what the hell is that costume? At the very least, if you’re going to wear something like that, you should consider your date of birth and legal gender—that’s common sense! Unlike me, who was jumping up and down, the middle-aged maid who had maintained a gentle expression throughout placed one hand on his chest and bowed briefly.
“Please come in for now. I’ll treat your wound and then explain slowly.”
I entered inside with a dubious expression. Before I could demand to know what this bizarre backroom was and how he ended up looking like that, the door closed with a slam. Looking around, the inside of the door was a study with quite a peaceful atmosphere compared to what I’d been wary of. The middle-aged maid fluttered his rabbit ears and added.
“This is a place where all the knowledge that exists in this world is gathered. From knowledge everyone knows, to knowledge everyone once knew but has been forgotten, to knowledge no one knows—it all exists here.”
After finishing speaking, the middle-aged maid brought his hand to my injured leg. Strangely, as a faint light spread, both the pain and the wound completely disappeared. I looked over the study and asked calmly.
“Did Deus create all of this?”
“That’s correct.”
“How is such a thing possible?”
“Because Lord Deus wished for it.”
To be able to create such a massive library just because he wanted to—does that mean he’s an existence no different from a god here? As the middle-aged maid approached the window and pulled the curtain aside, an even more peculiar space was revealed.
At first glance, it looked like a wide garden with bright light shining down, but there was definitely an undeniable sense of incongruity. An excessively quiet and orderly feeling, I suppose. Not even a single ant to be seen.
The ability Deus possessed was literally the power to control the Void, and lives affected by Deus’s power would corrode and eventually their very existence would be annihilated—a terrifying ability.
In the original work too, he threatened Kiss using that ability, but because of the powerful divine power Kiss’s ability possessed, a devastating fight continued. Death and divinity. The two were truly like spear and shield. Dog and cat, ruling party and opposition party. Anyway, it was surprising that the Void ability, which I thought could only destroy everything, also had the power to create, but there was still something that needed to be clarified.
“So…… why are you wearing clothes like that?”
“Ash-nim.”
The middle-aged maid who had stopped abruptly turned around with a cold face. The atmosphere was too serious for me to question how he knew my name. He let out a deep sigh toward me as I hesitated, then spoke in a troubled voice.
“I am clearly the person in charge of managing this Void.”
“……”
“I would appreciate it if you would stop looking at me with sexual eyes.”
“I haven’t!”
My head throbbed. What the hell is this nonsensical place?
* * *
Through various conversations, I learned a few pieces of information. First, the middle-aged maid who had plunged me into existential terror was named Melody, and surprisingly, he was a rabbit beastman.
When I asked for the third time, ‘But why are you wearing a maid outfit?’, he stomped his feet on the floor like an angry rabbit, so I decided not to express any more questions about his attire.
Anyway, the important thing was that while this space was indeed created by Deus, it was made with such a complex structure that normally it should be impossible to enter from outside or leave from inside.
Thinking about it, I remember that in the original work, Kiss went through hell to enter this Void. As I made an expression asking how I got in then, Melody answered hesitantly.
“That…… I’m not sure either. But Lord Deus might know. Since he’s the one who created this Void.”
“How long has Deus been here?”
“He was sealed here quite a long time ago. Through a holy sword condensed with the power of light. After all, what weakens the power of the Void is ultimately the power of light.”
Melody, who had been continuing his explanation, fumbled in his apron pocket and took out a handkerchief to wipe his tears.
“At least because I was by his side, he spent an ordinary childhood here like other children, but having grown up without any friends his own age, how must he have felt inside……”
“……”
“Would you like to meet Lord Deus?”
I swallowed the words ‘It seems like it wouldn’t have been an ordinary childhood precisely because you were by his side……’ and nodded. In the original work, it said you had to defeat Deus to escape from the Void, but since I needed to make Deus my ally, I had to find another way.
“Where is Deus now?”
“If it’s Lord Deus, he’s probably right now……”
I gulped down dry saliva. In the original work, Deus was regarded as a terrifying transcendent being. The fact that I could have a conversation with such a Deus itself was deeply moving, but the problem was also how I could make that violent and unpredictable Deus my ally.
Just as I was waiting for an answer with a tense expression, an unexpected response came back.
“I think he’s at the barn?”
“The barn? You can raise animals here too?”
“Of course, Lord Deus deeply loves animals. He even personally takes care of their meals and takes them for walks.”
It was welcome news. To think Deus had such a human side remaining. Isn’t there a saying that there are no bad people among those who like animals? I let out a sigh of relief and said.
“That’s a relief. I was nervous wondering what if he was a psychopath.”
“Haha, you worried for nothing. He’s a person of excellent character. Lord Deus is also the one who gifted me these clothes.”
“……Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that last part.”
How can two elements—animal lover and sexual deviant—simultaneously describe one person? As I looked puzzled, Melody, who was looking at me as if wondering about my suddenly worsened expression, added.
“I’d like to guide you to the barn, but…… I haven’t finished organizing the study yet. Instead, I’ll create a guide spirit for you.”
When Melody snapped his fingers, with a pop! sound, a baby lop-eared rabbit of unknown origin fell onto my palm.
“This child knows the location of every being that exists in the Void. If you name a target, you can find them without memorizing the path, so I often use it when looking for Lord Deus too.”
Just as I was feeling thrilled by the utterly adorable appearance, it jumped off my palm and ran busily somewhere, and my heart grew urgent along with it. Thinking I should follow it, I was about to move when I bowed my head toward Melody.
“Then I’ll go look for Deus, Melody-ssi. Thank you for treating my wound.”
The rabbit that had been crossing straight through the hallway soon quickly descended the stairs. While chasing the rabbit, I sneakily took in the surrounding scenery—a banquet hall where all the chairs were overturned, a corridor where windows densely filled the walls, a reception room packed full of faceless statues, and so on. This mansion was full of spaces that gave an indescribably creepy feeling.
‘He’s been staying alone in a place like this?’
How should I put it—it was like a space where a being that doesn’t know humans imitated humans just by reading books. It was a space that felt bad in many ways. Just as I was trying hard to erase the ominous feeling, the rabbit that had been running for a while stopped at a certain place. I approached with relief at the sight of the rabbit hopping in place.
“What’s wrong? Did you find the barn……”
I stopped mid-step as I entered the room the rabbit had gone into. I heard the sound of a cow mooing in the darkness.
“Moo, mooo……”
My body froze and wouldn’t move. The reason was simple. Middle-aged men with bushy chest hair were lined up on all fours with ball gags in their mouths, imitating sows.
There was even pig face skin crudely sewn onto their faces. Just as I was breaking out in a cold sweat at the nightmarish bizarre atmosphere like having a brief nap on a hot summer day, a shadow fell over my head.
“That’s strange……”
A chillingly low voice pierced my ears. The danger detection survival siren inside me rang busily. The situation unfolding before my eyes was so bizarre that I was too terrified to even turn my head.
I felt someone embrace me from behind as I stood frozen, then buried their face in my nape. And they breathed in deeply to smell me. The large hand that had been briefly kneading my side gradually moved upward and firmly grabbed one of my breasts. My mind, which I had barely been holding onto, grew hazy at the following words.
“I don’t remember making a sow with such small breasts.”
wtf 😭😭
and here i was, going to root for this black tiger