At the End of Revenge, There You Are ~The Scum Who Killed My Beloved, Prepare Yourselves! I Will Drag You All to Hell... Wait, What? Why Are the Heroine and the Demoness Coming After Me, a Woman!?(GL) - Chapter 1

“Ahh… this is brutal.”

My superior muttered those insensitive words as he looked down at the corpse lying before us. His remark stabbed into my chest like a blade. I wanted to punch him.

But I swallowed those emotions whole. I had to.
I was here as a guild officer, tasked with managing the dungeon and investigating the death of an explorer.

No one knew that the deceased was someone I knew.

Yet, I was devastated.

Why did it have to end like this?

The body before me lay twisted in an unnatural position, as if something had ensnared her legs. A massive gash tore through the front of her torso.
It was too gruesome to look at directly.
I fought back the bile rising in my throat.

“What’s wrong, Shinomiya? It’s not like this is your first time seeing a corpse in a dungeon. The so-called ‘coldhearted woman’ is actually shaken? That’s a first.”

My superior turned toward me, peering into my face.
Don’t look at me like that… and that’s just slander.

“You know what? Just go home. I’ll take care of the rest.”

If it were any other time, he wouldn’t have let me off the hook.
Even when I was sick, even when it was late, he always insisted, ‘The job isn’t done until it’s done.’
But why was today different?

“No. I’m fine. I’ll finish my work properly.”

“But—”

“Please.”

The moment I arrived here, a single tear had slipped down my cheek.

Despite his usual insensitivity and arrogance, my superior had noticed something.

He was trying to be considerate.
But I rejected his kindness.

I would have appreciated this sort of concern on my birthday.

Or better yet, that time long ago—when I had a date planned, only to be forced to pull an all-nighter writing a report about some minor dungeon accident.
I still haven’t forgiven him for that.

I wrapped the cold, lifeless body in a specialized cover, completing my task with detached precision.
Then, I forced myself to stand and began recording the surrounding environment to conclude the investigation.

But the tears wouldn’t stop.
The trembling, the headache, the nausea—none of it stopped.
A dull, piercing pain throbbed in my chest.

Something inside me was crumbling.

I didn’t even remember how I made it back to the guild.

I left the body with the personnel responsible for informing her next of kin.

I wrote the investigation report, submitted it to my superior, cleaned up the office, and even did some extra tidying—something I never did—before leaving.

By then, night had fallen.

That day, a death report for an incident inside a dungeon was submitted.

The incident occurred on October 10, 2027, at approximately 7:00 PM. The deceased was identified as Hanashiro Yuzuha. Her body was found in the lower floors of the Musashi Dungeon, just before the boss room. The cause of death was determined to be an attack by a high-ranking rogue monster, suspected to be of the demon species.

The party leader, who provided testimony, stated that they encountered the monster together as a party. Yuzuha was unable to escape in time and sacrificed herself to protect the team. The leader expressed regret over her death.

The rest of the report was filled with standard procedural statements.

I didn’t want to look at it.

But ignoring it wasn’t an option.

Shinomiya, my normally composed subordinate, had submitted this while crying—her mind clearly somewhere else.

It was obvious.
The deceased was either someone she knew… or someone she considered a friend.
But she held herself together and did her job.

“Chief, got a moment?”

I looked up at the voice.

Standing before me was a large man, one of my subordinates.
He was the one who had gathered the testimony from the party leader.

Shinomiya had compiled the report, but this guy had spoken to the witnesses.

“Ogino’s testimony… it’s a lie.”

He was a former explorer, one who had relied on his brute strength since his youth.
His speech was rough, but he had a knack for extracting information.

That’s why, after losing a leg, he found work at the guild.

“And?”

Even if the testimony was false, the case had already been processed.
It would simply be recorded as another tragic dungeon incident.
Nothing would change.

Why bring this up now?

“This is the sixth death linked to Ogino.”

“Sixth?”

“Yeah. Think about it, Chief. Isn’t that too many?”

“But there’s no proof. All of these happened inside a dungeon.”

That was an unshakable fact.

And demons were involved.

Their combat power was overwhelming.
Their mysterious abilities defied logic.

No matter how impossible something seemed, if demons were involved, anything was plausible.

They existed beyond human reasoning.

“The final moments captured on the dungeon stream show a monster—likely a demon—appearing out of nowhere. The footage cuts off as the party scrambles to escape. Even if Ogino wanted to summon a demon, would he?”

The deceased, Hanashiro Yuzuha, was a promising young explorer.

Already ranked B.

At this rate, she could have reached A-rank while still in her twenties.

If she had lived.

“There’s no evidence? The dungeon’s surveillance system didn’t capture anything this time either?”

“Access is restricted…”

“Damn it!”

That shouldn’t be possible. When an incident occurs, reviewing the footage is standard procedure. Yet, if we can’t access it, it’s as if someone doesn’t want us to investigate.
At least no one else is around to witness this frustration.

“There were rumors that Ogino had been pursuing Hanashiro romantically.”

“And because she rejected him, he fed her to the demon? That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?”

“Maybe not as food, but as bait? It’s possible. After all, his party is—”

“Let’s stop there, Gen.”

Gen, or Gonda Genta, is usually hot-headed, but he’s far from foolish.
If anything, he’s sharp. That’s how he survived as an explorer for so many years and why he was able to work here after retiring.

For him to bring up rumors like this is unusual.
But it’s no use. Even if we wanted to dig deeper, we don’t have the authority or the time.

“You’ve done well today, Gen. Go home and rest.”

I tried to end the conversation there. But…

“Seeing Shinomiya cry was hard to watch. Could she and Hanashiro have been…?”

“Maybe they were friends. She handled her work, so they could have just been acquaintances. Either way, this conversation ends here.”

“Kimura…”

I sent the report to the designated recipient and left the guild office for the night.

“Why did this have to happen…?”

Wrapped in a blanket that still carried her scent, I sat alone in the pitch-black room, my body trembling.

Are they really expecting me to believe that she was simply attacked by a demon?
In that overgrown dungeon filled with plants?
Why did a demon appear there?

Something isn’t right.

That expression she had, clenching her back teeth…

She suffered, didn’t she?
She was in pain.
She was afraid.
She was devastated.

Why were her legs twisted like that?
Why was a healer—someone who specialized in support magic—slashed from the front?
Why did her party leader abandon her without a second thought?

Why?

Why?

Why?

I won’t forgive them.
Never.

Something is going on.

Everything that was taken from me—I will take it back, no matter what it takes.

And the ones who stole from me…

Tell me… are you ready to fall into hell?