WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 2: Bel's Scales
──────
Floating.
Sinking.
His grasping hands caught nothing, and nothing touched his struggling body. Unable to tell where he was or ask what was happening, Kim Junyong turned his attention away from his five senses.
Instead, he tried to draw on the mana that had become so familiar to him, but he couldn’t feel even a trace.
Nothing I can do about that.
His mana core had hardened solid.
It was like a water dispenser with a full tank but a blocked outlet.
But water didn’t exist only inside the tank.
I only need a little.
The foundation of a dark mage’s power was chaos mana.
The easiest source of chaos was the energy that arose from emotions, so he quietly looked within himself.
Curiosity, excitement, anticipation...
I’m really excited about going back to Earth, huh?
But he couldn’t turn those feelings into dark mana.
He made an effort to find some negative emotions.
Confusion, worry...
Yeah, that should be enough.
The dark mana that bloomed served as his eyes, letting him see his surroundings.
He could feel it.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The vast universe.
Planets and suns swept past him.
Wow.
It was breathtaking.
A thrill ran through him as he drifted through space.
The power of a god.
So this was the essence of a god that formed a planet.
As he traveled through space, he sensed different divine powers from each planet that rushed past.
There were as many varieties as there were stars.
Divine power wasn’t just one kind of power.
There were as many kinds as there were gods.
He had thought he’d reached the peak through magic, only to discover another sky above him.
What an eye-opening day.
Ah.
Unfortunately, that wondrous journey soon came to an end.
An instant that had felt like an eternity passed.
Whoosh. A blue planet drew near.
Huh?
Isn’t it getting too close?
Uh? Uh?
Boooom!
As his body hurtled toward the planet at tremendous speed, a golden radiance gently caught him.
Ah!
Was this the power of Earth’s god?
His home planet.
So this was what Earth’s god felt like.
...I’m sleepy.
The warm, comforting energy made all his tension fall away at once.
His body went limp, and his eyes began to droop.
I really went through a lot, didn’t I?
He closed his eyes, overwhelmed by the dizzying sense of comfort and peace.
It felt as though Earth was stroking him in comfort.
Fzzzt.
The moment he entered Earth’s gravitational field, the golden radiance vanished.
Whoooooosh.
A human without wings was now in free fall.
<...>
Even in the fierce wind, Kim Junyong was barely conscious.
<...The scales have detected that their guardian is in danger.>
Whoooosh.
The ground drew closer and closer.
<...Synchronization rate: 37%>
<The scales are intervening to protect their guardian.>
Fzzzt.
A faint golden glow wrapped around Kim Junyong’s body.
It was different from the divine power of Earth’s god.
That power, which resembled the power of Belheim’s goddess, protected his body.
At last, he neared the ground.
Craaaash!
He broke through the roof of a large building and landed on the ground, but the guardian’s body suffered not so much as a scratch.
<Synchronization rate: 38%... Guardian recovering...>
* * *
May 29, 2016.
Known as the Day of Beginning, Thanos Day, or the Day of the End, it had marked a great turning point for humanity. No, for Earth itself.
Ten million people suddenly vanished as though they had evaporated, and devils and monsters began appearing on Earth.
As time passed, the missing people gradually returned. Their accounts were all the same.
“Earth will soon be invaded by the Demon King, too.”
“We were chosen to experience it in advance so we could prepare.”
Returnees.
As more and more of them returned to Earth, the devils were driven off the planet, and the world regained its stability.
But not every returnee was good.
Some possessed superhuman powers yet used them to torment humans rather than devils.
The rapidly growing number of villains created a new social problem.
The Special Investigation Unit under South Korea’s Hunter Management Bureau had been established to investigate those villain crimes.
“Phewww.”
Section Chief Lee Mina, a Grade 5 hunter with the Special Investigation Unit, let out a long stream of cigarette smoke as she watched the abandoned factory at the bottom of the hill.
Just then, the radio on her shoulder crackled.
[Krrk. Section Chief Lee Mina. Where are you?]
“On the hill behind the factory.”
[Move in when we give the signal.]
“Okay.”
After ending the call, she looked at the factory without much interest.
She didn’t even know who the target was this time.
The Police Agency was in charge of this investigation.
Whenever they found signs that a hunter was involved in a crime, they requested support from the bureau.
Unless it was a case the Special Investigation Unit handled itself, an agent sent to assist the Police Agency wasn’t there to investigate, but to provide force.
Combat strength was what mattered for an agent on assignment.
Hunter grades started at Grade 9.
At Grade 5, Lee Mina was on par with a team leader in a decent guild.
Unless someone was powerful enough to qualify as a villain, there was nothing a Grade 5 hunter couldn’t handle at a crime scene.
Most hunters involved in crime were small fry, after all.
“They said something about a drug deal...”
She hadn’t bothered looking through the case files. From what she’d overheard, it involved drugs. Section Chief Lee Mina couldn’t understand why a hunter would get involved in crimes like this.
“Why not just hunt and earn an honest living?”
Even a Grade 9 hunter was better off than most office workers.
Most of those who turned to crime lacked the courage to face evil.
That was why Lee Mina despised criminals.
They were cowards and losers who had received the blessing of awakening, only to abandon their duty.
“Huh?”
Sensing something strange, Lee Mina looked up at the sky. Her eyes widened.
“A meteor?”
Something glittering gold was falling from the sky.
“Huh? It’s a person!”
An ordinary person would have seen nothing more than a tiny black dot, but a hunter’s almost superhuman eyes could make out what it was.
Crash!
The person soon fell into the warehouse, and a commotion followed.
[Section Chief Lee! Did you just go in?]
“No. Someone fell out of the sky.”
[What?]
The radio went silent for a while before Team Leader Kang Dusik’s voice came through again.
[Did the bureau send someone else?]
“No. I haven’t heard anything.”
[Well, this is... Huh? It’s Park Gusik! Catch that bastard! Stop them! Hey!]
A commotion broke out, followed by an urgent radio call.
[Please move in right now!]
“Will do.”
She was curious about the person who had fallen through the roof, too.
Woooooo!
Taking the siren as their signal, the police officers lying in wait around the factory rushed in. Lee Mina also headed down the hill and entered the factory.
“Aaaargh!”
“Catch that bastard!”
“Aaagh!”
Stepping into the chaotic scene, she drew a telescopic baton made for hunters and began taking people down without distinction.
Thwack, crunch!
“Gaaagh!”
With the arrival of a hunter whose abilities were almost superhuman, the scene was quickly brought under control.
Two groups had met to make a drug deal.
She subdued the gangsters who handled distribution and the three hunters who had come to supply Demon Realm narcotics.
They were all small fry, around Grade 8 or 9.
“Stay still!”
“Ugh.”
After restraining them with mana-suppressing handcuffs made for hunters, Lee Mina looked up.
There was a gaping hole in the roof.
If someone had fallen from there...
A pile of grain sacks on one side of the factory had a deep hollow in its middle.
Two police officers were searching it.
“Oh! There’s a person here!”
“I’ll get him out.”
Lee Mina stepped forward and pulled on the arm sticking out of the sacks.
The person slid free. His clothes weren’t modern.
She laid the person on the floor and checked. There was a pulse, but he was unconscious.
“...What’s going on?”
Was this really the person who had fallen from the sky?
As Lee Mina tilted her head, Team Leader Kang Dusik, who was commanding the operation, approached her.
“Thank you for your hard work, Section Chief Lee.”
“Oh, yes. This person fell from the sky.”
“Ah, right. We’ll take him to the hospital first, then look into whether he is connected to the case.”
Lee Mina considered it for a moment before nodding.
“Do that. Contact the Special Investigation Unit as soon as he regains consciousness.”
“Yes, understood.”
* * *
The Narcotics Investigation Team, Incheon Police Agency.
“Haaah.”
Kang Dusik stretched as they let out a long stream of cigarette smoke.
“Well, Team Leader Kang, you still haven’t gone home?”
“Oh, no. I’m almost done.”
“Hahaha! You really do keep our narcotics team going.”
“Haha, well.”
“All right. Let’s finish on a high note. Keep up the good work until it’s all wrapped up.”
“Yes. Have a good night.”
After saying goodbye, Kang Dusik sat back down.
“Haah.”
After months of tracking suspects and lying in wait, they had finally raided the drug deal.
They had arrested all the suppliers and distributors, but Detective Kang Dusik was still hungry for more.
“There’s definitely more to this.”
Demon Realm narcotics.
Grade 8 and 9 hunters couldn’t supply that kind of quantity.
Someone had to be backing them, but they couldn’t find a connection.
“Fuck. I’m getting nowhere. Nowhere.”
They had the nagging feeling that they were popping champagne after catching nothing but errand runners.
They leaned their head back and closed their eyes for a moment, but a junior detective called to them.
“Oh, Team Leader. They say that guy’s awake.”
“What? Who?”
“You know, the guy at the scene three days ago.”
“Kim Junyong?”
Team Leader Kang Dusik sprang to their feet.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
The man had remained unconscious for three days after being found at the scene.
They had already identified him through his fingerprints.
He didn’t seem connected to the case at all, but they still had to investigate.
Vroooom.
With the junior detective, Detective Kim, at the wheel, Kang Dusik opened the man’s profile again.
“Kim Junyong. Forty years old this year...”
“Wow. He’s forty with that face?”
“Slower aging. It’s a returnee trait.”
“What do you think this guy really is?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
The man was a walking mystery.
He had been reported missing twenty years ago, around the famous Day of Beginning.
“Team Leader, wasn’t the last returnee ten years ago?”
“That’s right.”
Officially, the last returnees had come back ten years earlier.
The Seven Final Heroes.
No returnees had come from Belheim since then.
The seven heroes had defeated the Demon King and risen to the very peak of humanity.
They had since become national-authority-class hunters, each considered to have as much influence as an entire nation.
Did that mean no one had awakened since those last returnees?
No.
Even ordinary people who weren’t returnees had a chance of awakening if their potential was high enough.
Whether someone was a returnee or an ordinary person, there was only one way to awaken.
They had to hunt minions of evil.
“Man, isn’t something a little off about this guy?”
“What?”
“With that young face and when he was reported missing, he’s obviously a returnee. But it’s strange that he hasn’t awakened yet...”
There was a device that could test whether someone had awakened, meaning whether their status window had opened.
“You’re sure the test was negative?”
“Come on, we tested him five times. This guy doesn’t even have a status window yet.”
“Then are you saying he really did just return?”
“No way. The final heroes were the last returnees.”
“Hmm.”
There were no official records after them.
If they had to piece together a possible explanation...
“He must’ve returned more than ten years ago and stayed hidden without hunting anything.”
“That makes the most sense, doesn’t it? But the guy’s got a family, too. What was he doing, disappearing on them for ten years?”
“Who knows?”
“Ah, shit. Why’re we giving ourselves a headache over this? We can just go ask him.”
“If you know that, step on it.”
“Hehe, yes.”
At the destination of the car carrying the two detectives, Kim Junyong lay awake in a private hospital room, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Your blood pressure is normal.”
“...”
“I’ll get the doctor. Please rest here for a moment.”
Left alone in the hospital room, Kim Junyong stared into empty space.
<Synchronization complete.>
<Bel's Scales have finished binding to your soul.>
Footnotes:
“Thanos Day” refers to the Marvel villain Thanos, who makes half the universe’s population vanish with a snap.
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