Why are there so many gods here???

Impractical Castle

Cale sighed. "There are probably enough demons to allow at least a few hundred of Seoul's survivors to move up in the castle. The crueler constellations will want to see people let their guards down after the first floor only to be slaughtered on the second."

[The constellation that shadows the sun says that you're being pessimistic.]

[The constellations of absolute evil are grinning at the thought.]

[The constellation that shadows the sun takes back their previous message and declares that the absolute evil constellations are such killjoys.]

"Literally killjoys," Min Jung agreed. "You know, cause they're evil? And they want to kill people?" When nobody laughed, she pouted, then turned to look at Igneel. "Can we share the Demon's Proof? I don't want the twins risking themselves to kill nine demons each if they don't have to."

Igneel took the Demon's Proof out of his pocket and threw it at her. She caught it with stat-enhanced reflexes, sticking her tongue out at him, before smiling like a shark.

"It worked! It's mine now, this is great--"

"Yeah, can I have it back now?" Igneel asked, looking perturbed that the evidence of his kill now belonged to someone else.

Min Jung sighed, but she threw it back, and Igneel tucked the scroll back in his pocket happily.

Everyone stood there awkwardly as demon blood dried on the floor. Cale could hear distant snarls, howls, and screams if he concentrated, but there was nothing near them. At all.

Unless it was hiding.

Damn it, Cale hated monster hunting. It was one thing to fight an enemy when he knew where it was, which was already a pain, but when he had to do the work to look for a monster? He just wanted to sleep.

Raon squinted at him. "I'll scout ahead for you, Human! Don't die while I'm gone, okay? Or I'll blow up the castle."

As the little dragon flew ahead, Cale resolutely ignored the teasing stares from his group. They clearly didn't know that Raon could explode mountains in a heartbeat if he wanted to.

The group sat down on clean parts of the floor, On and Hong entertaining U-Jin and Min Joon so the twins didn't burn away all of their energy. Slight goosebumps ran up Cale's arms as the sound of giggling children filled the ominous space. Soo Hyuk and Jung Soo had forced him to watch too many horror movies, and he couldn't help but glance over at the four every few seconds to make sure it was still them.

Si-Woo groaned, twirling his knife. "You'd think there would be more monsters in the castle. This is weird, right?"

"Do you think they're attracted to noise?" Shik asked. He was sitting in the stereotypical thinking pose for some reason, but his idea had merit.

Ji-an frowned. "Should we try yelling to see what happens?"

Ha Eun cut in, gesturing to Hana, who was babbling softly at Chung-Hee from within the man's arms. "Yelling would make her cry."

"I have a great idea," Si-Woo said. "What if we sing?"

[The constellation that shadows the sun loves that idea.]

Cale crept backward and hoped that he faded into the wall. If they were really going to sing, he wanted no part in it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ha-Joon turn off his hearing aid.

"That—" Ha Eun started, then paused. "Would be... better..."

She clearly hated the idea.

"That's a fantastic idea!" Min Jung laughed. She draped her arm over Si-Woo's shoulders. "I knew I loved you for a reason. What are we singing?"