WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 14: The Mad Monarch
──────
“Our house.”
A faint smile appeared on Kim Junyong’s face.
Memories slowly came back to him.
A two-story Western-style house.
His family had lived on the first floor and rented out the second.
He could almost remember the unemployed older guy who’d lived in the rooftop room, too.
It had been turned into a restaurant, but it wasn’t beyond recognition.
“You’re right. It’s our house.”
“Now it’s your building.”
“Nice!”
Kim Junyong smiled.
He’d been thinking it was about time to make a dungeon. This place would be perfect.
“I’ll take care of the registration, so you can start managing it yourself tomorrow.”
Her younger brother needed some way to support himself.
Managing a building would be just right.
“No, I’m going to use it.”
“Huh?”
Kim Jangmi looked startled.
He was going to use it himself?
“Are you planning to run a restaurant?”
“A restaurant? Sure, that sounds good too.”
Kim Junyong chuckled.
He looked at the building with complete satisfaction.
“Well, I... Haah. Never mind. Give something a try.”
She’d already said she was giving it to him. Telling him what to do with it now seemed too controlling, so she held her tongue.
Men never liked being questioned about every little thing anyway.
Whatever the case, she’d passed their parents’ inheritance on to her younger brother. He could decide what to do with it.
“Let’s get something to eat.”
“Sure.”
They found a suitable restaurant, went inside, and ordered.
<The scales settle your karma.>
<Please claim your reward.>
The sun set while they were waiting for their food.
He could claim the reward later, so he dismissed the golden scales that had appeared before him.
“So, what happened with the Bureau?”
“We just agreed to get along.”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah.”
What else did there need to be?
Kim Jangmi still looked uneasy.
“I mean, didn’t they reduce your charges in exchange for your cooperation or something?”
“No. Why?”
“Well, I just can’t stop worrying...”
“Hmm.”
Kim Junyong nodded slowly.
Looking after himself was easy. This must be why looking after family was so difficult.
“Hang on.”
“Huh?”
“Remi.”
Pop, pop.
The moment Remi was summoned, Remi glanced around.
Who did Master want killed?
“Bring me one of the guys who followed us around today.”
“Yes.”
As Remi went outside, Kim Jangmi asked in alarm.
“Are you being followed?”
“Yeah. I told them to leave, but they’re probably still around.”
“Oh, goodness. What are we going to do?”
Kim Jangmi grew even more worried.
If someone was following him, didn’t that mean he was under surveillance?
Soon, Remi returned with a man in a suit.
His face was deathly pale.
“Where’s your team leader?”
“M-My team leader?”
“Yeah. Cheon Yubeom, was it?”
“Oh, the temporary team leader has gone home.”
“Well, look at that.”
Kim Junyong chuckled.
“Tell Cheon Yubeom to come here.”
“B-But...”
The man was only a field surveillance agent. He had no idea what to do.
Kim Jangmi was flustered by her brother’s rudeness too.
“He said the team leader’s gone home.”
“Then the team leader can come back.”
“You shouldn’t bother a civil servant after work.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll go outside and talk.”
“Yes, do that. I’d only get in the way.”
Kim Junyong, Remi, and the Bureau agent filed out of the restaurant.
“You’ve made my sister even more uncomfortable.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Why did Cheon Yubeom go home?”
“...The team leader had already been working overtime for two days...”
“Oh. Then just call whoever’s highest up.”
“Pardon?”
Perhaps annoyed by the man’s question, Kim Remi stroked the hilt of the sword.
“Eek! I-I’ll put you through right away.”
“Good.”
Kim Junyong took the phone.
“Hello. It’s me, Junyong.”
[Hmm? Ah! Pardon?]
“Who are you?”
[J-Jin Hojin, commander of the Special Unit.]
“Have we met?”
[Y-Yes, we have.]
Kim Junyong nodded.
Apparently, the surveillance agents belonged to the Special Unit.
“How’s the director doing?”
[...In critical condition.]
“Good. I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
[...I’ll hear you out.]
“My sister’s worried because I still haven’t been arrested after killing one petty criminal. Take care of it.”
[...]
Hadn’t he called this a deal?
It sounded more like a demand.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
[...Could you heal the director?]
“Then I’d lose my hostage.”
[If you do that, the Bureau will remove you from the villain list, Mr. Kim Junyong.]
“What? I’m a villain?”
[...You did that to the headquarters of the Special Investigation Unit, a government agency. Isn’t that only natural?]
“You started it, didn’t you?”
[...]
“Whatever. Let’s just make up.”
[Please heal the director.]
“Sure, fine.”
He could always take another hostage.
Junyong immediately unsummoned the Mind Slime.
Pop, pop.
He felt the devil’s soul return to him from its trip away.
“Done.”
[I’ll take care of things immediately as well.]
“You have paperwork or something, right? My sister likes that stuff. You know, something she can look at and be convinced.”
[I understand.]
“Great. Good deal.”
Kim Junyong handed the phone back.
“Off you go. Thanks for your work.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
He unsummoned Remi and went back inside.
The food had arrived, but Kim Jangmi hadn’t touched it. She sat waiting with a gloomy expression.
She looked as though she carried every worry in the world.
“It’s all sorted out.”
“Junyong.”
“Yeah?”
“Why are men like this?”
Her son and her younger brother were exactly the same. Neither would tell her any details.
Whenever she asked her son how school had been, all she got was “Nothing much.”
Was her younger brother any different?
“Come on. We made up.”
“...”
“Eat. It’s getting cold.”
“Oh, honestly.”
Kim Jangmi reluctantly picked up her chopsticks.
“Wow, it’s been ages since I had army stew.”
That one remark brought another lump to her throat. She served some stew into his bowl.
“Eat slowly. It’s hot.”
“Hehe, okay. Now this is what ham should taste like.”
He’d eaten plenty of good army stew in Belheim too. But only South Korea had the authentic local flavor.
Wasn’t food the very essence of world peace?
There were limits to the flavors you could create using ingredients from just one country. Only Earth, with its global trade, could produce something like this.
Kim Junyong was just finishing his second bowl of rice when someone spoke.
“Sorry to interrupt your meal.”
The Bureau agent who’d gone outside with him earlier had returned with someone.
It was a woman with orange hair who looked to be in her thirties.
“Hello. I’m from the Hunter Bureau.”
“M-Ms. Choi Hyunju?”
Surprise and confusion spread across Kim Jangmi’s face. Apparently, she knew Choi Hyunju.
“You know who I am.”
“Oh, yes. Of course. Is there anyone in South Korea who doesn’t know you?”
Kim Jangmi was beside herself with excitement.
South Korea’s top-ranked hunter.
A patriot who had chosen the Bureau over a private guild.
The story of how she’d turned down an annual salary of one trillion won from Saudi Arabia to stay in South Korea was famous.
“Do you know her?”
“O-Of course. She’s incredibly famous.”
“Hmm, really?”
Kim Junyong looked at Choi Hyunju.
“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere...”
As he tilted his head, Choi Hyunju gave an awkward smile.
“I came to deliver this.”
At her signal, the man in the suit held out several documents.
“C-Can I have a look?”
“Sure.”
He passed the papers to his sister.
Kim Jangmi read them, then her eyes widened.
“Y-You’re becoming a Bureau agent?”
“Hmm?”
When Kim Junyong looked puzzled, Choi Hyunju explained with a smile.
“With your permission, Mr. Kim Junyong, we’d like to appoint you as a special adviser to the Bureau.”
“O-Our Junyong?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. I do a little torture, and you make me an adviser?”
“Be quiet. Don’t make bad jokes.”
“Tch.”
Kim Junyong grumbled at his sister’s words, but closed his mouth. Choi Hyunju’s eyes briefly lit up at the sight without anyone noticing.
“There are no set hours, duties, or missions. All we ask is that you offer us some advice from time to time when the Bureau needs help.”
“Wow. Trying to put me on a leash, are you?”
“I told you to be quiet.”
Kim Jangmi’s expression turned stern.
Her initial shock had already faded.
Suspicion came next.
She’d never heard of conditions like these.
They were so good that she naturally wondered if it was a scam. But this was Choi Hyunju.
Officially, South Korea’s best hunter.
Her face alone was proof of who she was. With someone like that coming in person to say all this, Kim Jangmi could hardly refuse to believe it.
There was only one question.
“But why my younger brother, of all people?”
“We think very highly of his record in Belheim.”
“...”
Kim Jangmi looked at her younger brother in a new light.
Had he really done such impressive things?
“You must have earned a lot of military honors in Belheim.”
“My military record is pretty impressive.”
Choi Hyunju’s face darkened at Kim Junyong’s boast, but only for an instant.
At last, everything made sense to Kim Jangmi.
‘So the murder charge isn’t the issue.’
Those old sayings were never wrong.
Even killing someone became an achievement on a battlefield.
And apparently, the person he’d killed had been a criminal...
‘My brother must have been an incredible soldier.’
He must have accomplished great things in Belheim.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t have any strong feelings about it.”
All Junyong needed was for his sister to accept the situation.
As long as she stopped worrying about when her younger brother might be arrested, that was enough.
“All right. We’ll accept.”
“His own consent is important here.”
“Hurry up and say yes.”
“Sure, fine. I’ll do it.”
“Is Ms. Choi Hyunju a friend of yours?”
“Tch. Yes, I’d be happy to.”
Choi Hyunju smiled softly and bowed her head.
“Thank you.”
The man in the suit set down a small hard case.
Click.
“This is your employee ID, and this is a card for your expenses.”
“I already have my sister’s card.”
“Junyong. Just take it.”
“Okay.”
The case contained only an employee ID and a credit card.
Choi Hyunju looked relieved when Kim Junyong took them.
“Please enjoy the rest of your meal.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.”
Once the two visitors had bowed and left, Kim Jangmi burst into excited chatter.
“Oh, my goodness! Can you believe it? Choi Hyunju came in person to recruit you!”
“Does that make you so happy?”
Every emotion on Kim Jangmi’s face was positive now: joy, delight, and relief.
“My younger brother’s talents are going to be put to good use for our country. Of course I’m happy! And South Korea’s best hunter came to recruit you herself!”
“Is it that big a deal?”
“Hehe. Now I can finally stop worrying. Goodness, when I got that call and went to the police station, I thought my whole world was falling apart.”
Kim Jangmi was truly happy.
Watching those joyful emotions, Kim Junyong couldn’t help but smile too.
‘This feels oddly satisfying.’
Was this what being recognized felt like?
Perhaps it was because he’d lived a life closer to infamy than fame, but the feeling was unfamiliar.
* * *
The moment Choi Hyunju climbed into the heavily tinted car outside, she let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Haaah.”
“Did something happen?”
“Just drive.”
“Yes.”
Two people were waiting in the car.
Her driver and her personal assistant.
Both were Grade 2 hunters. The three of them were practically a team.
“How did it go, Hyunju? Recruit him? Or eliminate him?”
There was a simple reason Choi Hyunju, the treasure of South Korea’s hunter community, had come in person.
The commander of the Special Investigation Unit had made an urgent request.
‘There’s a potential villain. Meet him in person, and if you think you can eliminate him, do it. If you expect harm, just recruit him for the special adviser position we’ve prepared.’
South Korea’s best hunter had come to assess his strength herself and take immediate action.
Would she eliminate the villain Kim Junyong?
Or actively recruit him?
“Somi. Hold my hand for a moment.”
“Huh? Why are you sweating so much?”
Park Somi looked at her in alarm. Choi Hyunju’s face was deathly pale.
“Somi. What year did you return?”
“I-I came back in my twenty-first year.”
That was just under two years and one month in Earth time.
“Then you wouldn’t know him.”
“Hmm? Who?”
“The person I just met.”
“Huh? You knew him?”
“...Yes.”
“Who on earth is he? Goodness, look at all that sweat.”
Choi Hyunju had returned in her ninety-first year in Belheim.
Of all the South Korean returnees, she had returned the latest.
The moment she’d seen Kim Junyong’s face, the shock had nearly stopped her heart.
“The Mad Sovereign (狂君主).”
Eliminate him?
That was nonsense.
Just standing in front of him and speaking calmly had drained her completely.
Even recalling his existence was enough to keep her hands trembling.
Footnotes:
Junyong’s joke plays on gomun, which means both “torture” and “adviser” in Korean.
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