MY TRUE DEMON: BECOMING A DEMON BRIDE

CHAPTER 3: THE THOUSANDTH BRIDE

“The morning after I accepted a deal with a demon… I stopped crying.”

Morning light creeps into my apartment like it is unsure whether it should stay or leave. The room feels different now. Not peaceful—just empty in a sharper way. I sit on the floor, back against the wall, staring at the photos scattered in front of me: Min-Jae smiling and Ha-Rin laughing beside him.

The life that was supposed to be mine… standing there like it was never waiting for me at all.

Yesterday I would have cried.

But today I don’t.

Something inside me refuses tears now. It has changed shape. It has hardened.

Anger sits where sadness used to be.

Suddenly, Behind me, I hear movement. I don’t need to turn my head to know he is there. It is Si-Hwan.

He is already inside my apartment like it belongs to him. Sitting on my sofa, relaxed, one arm resting casually as if nothing in this world can threaten him. His presence is calm—but not human calm. Something older. Something heavier.

He studies me for a moment before speaking.

“Most humans hesitate after accepting my offer.”

I finally speak without looking at him, that prove that I have learnt to grow intimately close enough with him. Seems the marriage contract is working afterall.

“…Most humans weren’t humiliated on their wedding day.”

There is a pause. Just a small one.

But I feel it.

Like he wasn’t expecting that answer.

For the first time, I sense something like interest in him, not pity, not comfort and recognition.

He leans back slightly.

“Are you ready for this, Lee Seo-Yeon?”

I close my eyes for a second, then open them again.

“…I am willing.”

My voice is steady. Too steady.

Si-Hwan watches me carefully, like he is checking if I will break at any moment. Then he begins to explain, voice calm and precise.

“Becoming my bride is a contract. It is not symbolic.”

His fingers move slightly, dark energy flickering between them like smoke that remembers fire.

“The marriage must be accepted willingly. Once completed, your soul will belong to me after death. In return, I give you what humans always desire—wealth, influence, protection… and revenge.”

I listen without flinching not because I am strong, but because I already broke yesterday. Now there is nothing left to break again.

“…What happens if I change my mind?” I ask.

His answer is immediate.

“Then the contract disappears.”

A simple truth. No threat. No force. Just rules.

I nod once.

“…And if you betray me?”

A faint smile appears on his lips.

“Demons don’t break contracts.”

I exhale slowly, folding my arms.

“…Humans said the same thing about marriage.”

For a moment, silence fills the room. Si-Hwan doesn’t respond, at least, not immediately. Like he has no counter for that.

…

The Penthouse Celebration

Far above the city, life continues like nothing has changed.

Min-Jae sits at a long table in a luxury penthouse, scrolling through business updates while eating breakfast as if the world is normal. Ha-Rin sits beside him, smiling softly while reading articles about their wedding scandal spreading online.

“They’re still talking about her,” Ha-Rin says lightly, almost amused. “Seo-Yeon is everywhere.”

Min-Jae doesn’t even look up.

“Let them talk,” he replies.

But his voice is tighter than it should be. Ha-Rin leans closer, her tone playful.

“She’ll disappear soon.”

Min-Jae finally smirks.

“She already did.”

But later, when Ha-Rin leaves the room for a moment, Min-Jae opens a hidden folder on his device.

My photos appear, old one, work one, smiling ones.

His fingers stop for a second. A flicker crosses his face, something uncomfortable, something he doesn’t want to name.

Then it disappears again. He closes the folder after, like it never mattered.

…

Back At The Apartment

Si-Hwan stands now, preparing something in the center of my living room.

A circle forms beneath his feet. Symbols I don’t understand begin to glow faintly, like they are waking up.

The air feels heavier with every second.

Then suddenly, he stops drawing. His expression changes slightly, not outwardly dramatic, but something inside him shifts.

A memory surfaces.

…

A cherry blossom tree, soft wind, a young woman sitting beside him, her hand in his dragging him to dance beneath the tree. It must have felt warmth.

Her voice gentle.

“You’ll remember me forever, right?”

Her face is blurred. Unclear. Like something the mind is not allowed to fully see.

…

The memory breaks.

Si-Hwan’s eyes open sharply.

“…What was that?”

He places a hand briefly on his chest, like something hit him. One of his ghostly wives appears beside him, Wife Number 187.

She smiles faintly.

“You’re thinking about her again,” she says.

Si-Hwan doesn’t answer. She continues softly, almost teasing.

“The only one who ever left an impression on the future Demon Lord.”

Si-Hwan stood in the silence.

Then she adds:

“Don’t you think Seo-Yeon looks like her?”

That question lands differently. Si-Hwan’s eyes narrow for a moment. Then the wife fades away, leaving him alone with the thought.

…

Night falls.

We are no longer in my apartment. We are in a mountain shrine hidden far from the city, from Seoul.

I don’t remember how I got here properly. One moment I was standing in my room… the next, I was inside a place that feels like it existed long before humans learned fear.

Candles ignite on their own as we enter. Symbols glow across the floor. And the walls, they are covered in portraits, hundreds of women, watching silently, some smiling softly, some expressionless, some… like they are waiting.

My chest tightens.

“…What is this place?” I whisper.

Si-Hwan doesn’t answer immediately.

He only extends his hand.

“If you step into that circle,” he says quietly, “there is no turning back.”

I look at him, then the circle, then I thought of everything I’ve lost, Min-Jae, Ha-Rin, my dignity, my life, and my future.

I breathe in slowly.

“…I’ve already lost everything.”

My voice steadies.

“What else is there to hold onto?”

And I step forward.

…

The moment I enter the circle, The world react around me that moment. Crimson light explodes outward. The ground trembles violently like a quake. The air itself screams like whirlwind. “This is a demon marriage, isn’t it?” I asks myself.

…

Far away, something in Seoul shifts like a sleeping beast waking up.

Si-Hwan’s expression sharpens instantly.

“…It’s starting.”

…

A laugh echoes through the shrine, then another presence enters, Jin-Woo.

He steps into the glowing ritual space with several demons behind him, his grin wide and dangerous.

“So this is it,” he says. “The Bride Collector finally reaches his last piece.”

His eyes lock onto me immediately, hungry, curious and wrong.

Si-Hwan steps in front of me without hesitation.

“Jin-Woo,” he says coldly.

The demon laughs.

“You really found her.”

I could have sworn that I was terrified.

Then everything explodes into battle. Dark energy collides across the shrine. Stone cracks, pillars collapse, and shadows twist violently.

Si-Hwan doesn’t fight like a man. He fights like the shrine belongs to him because it actually does.

The spirits of his wives appear behind him, not passive, not silent but active. One forms a shield. One creates chains of spiritual binding. One distorts illusions across the battlefield.

I stare in shock because I understand something I didn’t want to understand. His power is not his alone. It is built from them, from every bride he has ever taken.

Jin-Woo transforms, claws tearing through space itself. He laughs even while being pushed back.

“Love won’t save you!” he shouts.

Si-Hwan doesn’t respond. He ends it. A single overwhelming force sends Jin-Woo crashing through stone. The demon retreats into darkness, wounded.

But before disappearing, he speaks finally acknowledging one thing.

“…Something about her soul is wrong.”

Then he vanishes, and silence returns to the shrine.

…

Si-Hwan kneels slightly, breathing heavier than before. I rush forward instinctively to help him. “Are you okay?”

He looks at me briefly.

“…It will heal once the ritual is complete.”

Then he stands again.

“The process cannot stop now.”

…

Crimson light rises again. The ghosts returned as the guest to this marriage occasion, hundreds of them now, watching, and waiting.

Some curious. Some jealous. Some quietly broken.

Si-Hwan begins the final vow.

Ancient words fill the shrine like a command written into reality itself. Then he reaches toward me, not physically, but something deeper reacts, like my soul itself is being touched.

…

My pendant glowed bright suddenly out of the blue. Golden light erupts violently. Everything freezes even the ghosts, even Si-Hwan.

His eyes widen. For the first time, I saw fear in him.

“…No,” he whispers.

The shrine cracks apart. The ritual collapses, and then, a voice speaks from inside my pendant.

Not mine, not his, not mine but something older.

“You cannot claim this soul, demon.”

The golden light explodes. Si-Hwan is thrown backward as everything is swallowed in blinding energy.