Xiumin snapped his eyes open at the noise that had disturbed him from his meditation. For one moment, he is startled because it had almost become normal for him to have silence every single moment of his life but then a moment later when he had registered the room of the boy, anger coursed through him.

That wretched mother of the boy was yet to leave him alone from the moment he had arrived at their abode.

“Kyungsoo,” She calls out in between her banging of his door, “please come and eat something. You’ll die if you do this! You haven’t had food for almost three days now!”

He gritted his teeth in anger knowing that in this human body, he had absolutely no power. The only thing he can do is harvest some of the soul’s energy and summon his underlings so that he can move forward with his plan.

Meditation was the only option he had but with how weak he was, this meditation had to be done for a long period without disturbance.

And yet it seems absolutely impossible in this case.

He sighs and tried to shut out the noise by putting his hands on his ears but it does little to help him get back to his meditation. He cannot concentrate at all.

Like the boy wanted, he had purchased the so-called ‘Lollies’ for the kid next door. He had left it at the step with a note hoping that the kid will find it. He was not in the mood to indulge in contact with other humans. They make him sick.

Aside from that, he was a demon of his word and so he had apologized to the parents for the sake of the boy but that seems to have put into their minds that he was going to interact with them which was absolutely wrong.

One good thing was that he had more or less retain the information the boy already had in his brain which was definitely not much but it gave him enough information such as the world they were leading, the concept of time, and the knowledge that had been passed down from generations to generations.

This boy was clueless on almost every single thing on earth and it annoyed him to no end but he thinks this is what he had to put up with.

Besides, thinking about it, the boy was just 15 or 16 years old. It was simply just too young to be knowing anything.

The incessant banging on the door by the mother finally stops and he lowers his hand. Thank goodness. At this rate, he was missing the quietness of the abyss that he was in.

“Kyungsoo. Please eat. I’m leaving the food here.”

Food. He winces at that, unable to help it. Demons did not eat. The first time he had come home, they had made him sit at a table and fed him food which was extremely excruciating.

He notes that it tasted pleasant enough to the human tongue but it felt foreign to be passing anything down his throat and letting it all out again later. He rather starve and deal with the pangs of hunger than actually eat.

So now that silence had returned, he quietened down and began where he was last at.

The spell to summon his underlings was a long complicated one known only to him. When he had his powers, he did not need the spells since they were all connected to him but now he had to go through each word precisely to make it work.

Besides if he were in hell, it would be a piece of cake but Earth is tricky. It is always tricky here.

Earth, the realm inhabited by beings created by the same creator was a place between dead and life in its true sense. It was where they tread in a thin thread between both not knowing where they fall next second… and it was also a place for pure souls.

This was the realm where both demons and angels walked freely but for many reasons, human beings seemed to have the Almighty’s favor giving them absolute freedom to do whatever they wanted, to choose whatever they wanted, and most importantly, taking away their sight for souls and concrete knowledge of the spiritual realm.

Earth was a tricky place for another reason: it was the only place on this universe that had a portal to heaven as well as hell. Hell was easily accessible from anywhere but heaven was exclusive and yet as God’s favorites, the portal to heaven was also here.

He hated humans for this very reason as well. They were all blind as night, spoiled to the core, and did nothing that reflected their obvious favor.

So he was going to carry out an elaborate plan to do something for these heaven’s favorite. He was going to destroy each and every one of them and drag their souls to hell, torturing them and mock the creator... It was better than to go against them directly, after all, all the angels ever do is hover around these creations like some sick hounds wanting attention.

It was their fault after all, for caging him for goodness know how long. He was yet to figure out how long he had been gone because the world had changed too much and the timing was… different.

Humans were just so different now as compared to when he was forced into the abyss.

Nevertheless, he cracked his bones and went back to meditation knowing that these idle thoughts would lead him nowhere. He had a lot to do.

* * *

His head felt heavy and even though he was lying down, it seem to pound making him groan out loud. Humans and their complicated bodies… He hated every moment of it.

“My Lord,” A low voice murmurs somewhere close to him and he wonders who it was. It sounded familiar yet so foreign.

“My Lord.” It calls out again making him frown and crack open his eyes. “Your human body is weak. The mother of the body left this nutrition outside. Wake and consume it to regain your health.”

Baek? That sounded like Baek.

He sits up suddenly making him hiss in pain at the movement. He shouldn’t have done that.

“Baek? Is that you?” He calls out with his eyes shut to at least reduce his throbbing head.

“It is I, my Lord. At your service.”

His vision clears and he looks up to see Baek in flesh kneeling before him. Relief flooded over to him as he watched his servant before him. It wasn’t a dream. He can see his chief advisor, the white-haired demon of lust.

His sharp eyes remained the same, his lips forever in a frown. The only new thing was the chain that sat across his face. Why was he wearing a chain?

He frowns at that but decided to ignore it for now.

Finally.

He finally did it after five days of suffering.

“You’re weak.” He frowns massaging the sides of his head, “What happened?”

As the main advisor, Baek had been one of the highest-ranked mid-level demon to exist. His aura was almost the same as a demon lord and yet right now, he seemed to have lessened so terribly making it seem like an ordinary demon. Even in his human form, Xiumin could feel his weakness.

 “Ever since your disappearance, all of your servants have lost a considerable amount of power since we draw our powers from you. It seems as though it weakens the longer we stay away from you unless we draw alliance with a different Demon Lord.”

He hums at that and pulls the food closer to him. He sighs but takes the lukewarm bowl and sniffed it.

This was what they call ‘noodles’ and it comes in quite a lot of varieties but this boy seemingly liked the ‘Ramen’. Xiumin, on the other hand, abhorred it. There was just too much going on in this ‘ramen’. He preferred some simple soup that sometimes accompanied these noodles or ‘broth’ as they call it. Those did not taste so over