WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 3: Remi
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Kim Junyong smirked.
That damn goddess Belheim.
“She went on about quests and leveling up, and now her holy relic acts just like her.”
Flash, flash.
As if responding to him, a set of golden scales appeared before his eyes.
Two pans hung from the upright stand. One was engraved with a golden turtle, the other with a dragon with folded wings.
<The Scales measure the weight of good and evil karma.>
<An accounting is made once a day, and you will receive what you are due.>
“So what?”
<...>
Kim Junyong smirked.
“Just unseal my black mana.”
Anyone who began studying black magic acquired a chaos mana core.
His had now hardened and stopped working.
<Once an order mana core forms, the chaos mana core will gradually be released as well.>
“Dual cores? That's possible?”
He had never heard of such a thing.
At least, in his 200 years roaming every corner of Belheim, he had never once seen anyone possess both black mana and white mana.
<It is possible because you are the Guardian of the Scales.>
The holy relic sounded as if it were boasting about its usefulness. Kim Junyong chuckled.
“Interesting. White mana, huh...?”
He was intrigued.
Curiosity and impulse, research and observation had driven him to become the strongest black mage.
It was worth studying.
“Fine. Then I'll just have to draw in black mana whenever I need it for now.”
A mana core was, quite literally, a pouch that stored mana, the resource used for magic.
It served the same purpose as the tank in a water dispenser.
“It's not like water only exists in dispensers.”
As for chaos mana, it could be extracted from the vengeful souls left behind after death, or stolen from the negative emotions of the living and used as energy.
He could read the emotions of the police officers waiting outside his hospital room as clearly as day.
'Boredom. Irritation.'
Enough.
He used only a tiny fraction of the handful of black mana he had gathered.
Click.
He freed himself from the handcuffs, stood up, and stretched.
“Nnngh, now this is civilization.”
The hospital's hard mattress was far softer and cleaner than the beds in the castles of Belheim's nobles.
“Just feel how soft this cloth is.”
On Belheim, clothes like the hospital gown he was wearing would cost a fortune.
“Earth really is the best.”
He couldn't have been more pleased.
Long live modern civilization.
Precious Earth.
He would treasure it and keep it safe,
so he could enjoy it for a long, long time.
He couldn't let it be destroyed.
“Oh, do I just need to watch myself?”
He chuckled.
He would pass on anything as grand as conquering the world.
He had already done that on Belheim, and he knew how miserable and terrible the outcome was.
Solitude. Loneliness.
To avoid falling into that endless mire,
Kim Junyong the Earthling needed to adjust to modern society first.
<The Scales think that is a very proper attitude.>
“Don't get smart with me.”
<...Dejected.>
Kim Junyong chuckled and opened the window.
“Wow.”
Twinkling stars, and a city nightscape that shone even brighter.
He really was back.
“One, two, three... Seventh floor.”
He counted the windows and nodded.
His body had transcended its limits several times. A jump from this height was well within its abilities.
Whoosh.
He jumped without hesitation, but the sound of his landing would be a problem.
He used the black mana still gathered in his hand to muffle it.
Tap, tap.
Kim Junyong landed and smiled at the street.
The city was better maintained than an imperial palace.
“Earth is welcoming me home.”
The night air was clear.
What should he do first?
He could take his time thawing his hardened chaos mana core.
There were so many humans in the modern world, and they were always caught up in negative thoughts.
First, he would enjoy Earth.
Maybe he should show off Earth to that wooden block of a bodyguard.
“Remi.”
No response.
“Hm? Remi. What's going on? Why aren't you coming out?”
Their soul connection was still intact, but for some reason, Remi's physical form had vanished. Not just Remi, either. All his summoned retainers had taken on spirit form and gone into the void pouch.
“Hah. This is ridiculous.”
Before he could study what had happened, he would have to gather enough mana to summon Remi.
“Let's get going.”
Barefoot and dressed in a hospital gown, Kim Junyong walked lightly down the street.
* * *
Kang Dusik arrived at hospital room 701 with Detective Kim.
The police officers standing guard at the door hurriedly saluted.
“Sir!”
“Yeah. Everything all right?”
“Yes, sir.”
Creeeak.
Kang Dusik opened the door, stepped inside, and froze.
“What the hell?”
Gone.
Kim Junyong, who should have been lying there in handcuffs, had disappeared.
“Whoa! Boss, the bastard cut through his cuffs!”
Kang Dusik hurriedly snatched the handcuffs from Detective Kim. They had indeed been cut.
The cut edges were ragged, like welding marks.
“Damn it.”
Kang Dusik leaned out of the open window.
Had he jumped from here?
From the seventh floor?
“Didn't his awakening test come back negative?”
“How many times do I have to tell you? His status window hasn't opened yet. Right now, he's just an ordinary person.”
“Bullshit. Ordinary person, my ass.”
Kang Dusik punched the windowsill in frustration.
“Boss, what do we do now?”
As if being Team Leader Kang Dusik meant having some brilliant solution.
Kang Dusik was ready to blow a gasket.
“Whew. Call Section Chief Lee in the Special Unit. Tell them the guy who fell out of the sky has escaped.”
“Ah, yes, boss.”
The investigation felt as if it had lost all direction.
But a hunch was taking shape.
'Kim Junyong.'
It was an instinct built over 15 years as a detective.
There was something about that bastard.
An ordinary person? Absolutely not.
Yet the test results said he was unawakened.
And if he hadn't done anything wrong, he could simply explain himself.
Instead, he had gone out of his way to escape.
'Suspicious as fuck.'
Vroooom.
The car carrying the two detectives headed back to police headquarters.
* * *
A man in a hospital gown walked down the street with a broad smile.
“Wow. It's been 200 years, but not much has changed.”
He had been a little worried.
Two hundred whole years.
He had wondered whether Earth's civilization would have advanced so far that it would feel unfamiliar, but there hadn't been much progress.
Cars still traveled on roads instead of through the sky, and people still kept real dogs instead of robot dogs.
“Woof! Woof! Grrrr!”
“Oh my, what's gotten into you? I-I'm sorry.”
“Heh heh, your little mutt's cute.”
“L-let's go, Jawami!”
The owner hurriedly dragged the dog away, and Junyong smiled.
He stole the wariness, tension, and anxiety pouring out of the mutt, then took some fluster, embarrassment, and irritation from the owner tugging on its leash.
Fzzzt.
“Man, how long is this going to take?”
They said tiny specks could pile up into a mountain, but these specks were far too tiny.
There was a reason black mages would drag off an innocent person or two and kill them to spread fear.
There was a reason a black mage would suddenly appear in a peaceful village, terrify everyone, create an ominous mood, and then slip away.
It was the standard way for black mages to collect black mana.
Not all emotions were equal. Fear, pain, and despair produced purer black mana.
“At this rate, I'll be at it for ages.”
He needed stronger energy.
Darker, heavier negative emotions...
Should he torture someone?
<The Scales detect an improper thought.>
“All right, you brat. It's a habit, just a habit.”
Kim Junyong had no intention of killing random people, either.
Kill one or two people for convenience, and soon hundreds or tens of thousands would be dead.
Grudges were like snowballs. They only grew, never shrank.
“I'll just take my time gathering it.”
Well, there was no rush.
Following more primal emotions brought him to a nightlife district full of bars and karaoke rooms.
“Wow, this place is a gold mine.”
He walked along the sidewalk, grinning.
Bare feet, hospital gown, shaggy hair.
People hurriedly cleared a path.
“People on Earth really are kind.”
On Belheim, they would have bumped shoulders with him and made a huge fuss. He would have been lucky not to get dragged into a back alley, beaten up, and robbed.
“Huh?”
Had he just heard something?
Junyong's sharp hearing began separating the city's noises. Cars, drunken chatter, a cat meowing, a woman screaming.
Aaaah!
“Oh!”
That was it. A scream!
Something had happened.
He couldn't help getting excited.
“Heh heh heh.”
With any luck, he might gather all the energy he needed to summon Remi in one go.
Tap, tap.
He quickly ran toward the sound.
Beyond the nightlife district was an ordinary alley lined with small apartment buildings.
Something was happening in a dark corner of a ground-floor parking area beneath one of the buildings.
“Mmph, mmph!”
“Hey! Stay still!”
Her mouth had already been taped shut.
This bastard had come well prepared.
If Junyong had arrived even a little later, he might not have found them.
The apartment buildings were packed tightly along a hillside. Crouching in the parking area of the building above, he had a clear view of the scene below.
“Fuck! Will you stay still? Do you really want to die?”
The man pulled out a knife and threatened her.
The girl he had caught was a high school student in uniform. Her body had gone rigid with terror.
'Such pure emotions.'
Terror. Fear!
The most powerful energy among negative emotions.
Kim Junyong drew out those thick, heavy emotions and converted them into mana. His black mana grew in great chunks.
Just a little more! If he gathered a little more...
Resignation, humiliation, shame.
Still a little short?
Surprise, joy, hope, desperation.
Huh? Positive emotions had slipped in among the negative ones.
Kim Junyong's eyes widened.
He had met her gaze.
Reading the desperate wish in her eyes, Kim Junyong smirked and shrugged.
“Well, I've pretty much gathered enough.”
“Gah! Who the fuck are you?”
The rapist-to-be whipped his head around and spotted Junyong on top of the wall.
“Oh, don't mind me.”
“Who the fuck is this bastard?”
There was nothing normal about that outfit.
A hospital gown? And bare feet?
What was with that hair, which looked as if it hadn't been washed in days?
He looked like he had escaped from a psychiatric hospital.
“What? Are you some crazy bastard?”
“No, I'm Junyong.”
“Fuck, you're pissing me off.”
Even as the pot called the kettle black, Kim Junyong smiled.
“Oh, that's it. Get a little angrier.”
He eagerly gulped down the rapist's anger, irritation, and uncontrollable rage.
The perpetrator was teeming with negative emotions, no less than the victim.
This should be enough for 'Demon Summoning,' at least.
“Hey! Hey, you! Get down here.”
Well, since he was being invited, he might as well go.
“W-whoa! Sh-shit. Piss off!”
“You told me to come down.”
“D-don't come any closer!”
The man hooked his forearm around the girl's throat from behind and raised his knife threateningly.
“I-I'll stab her if you come closer!”
“Go ahead.”
Kim Junyong was so confident that the rapist was thrown badly off balance.
He wasn't the only one.
<The Scales think it is wrong to stand by and watch an evil deed.>
“Heh heh. Just wait.”
There was no one better to torment and torture than a villain.
Kim Junyong poured all the mana he had gathered into a single spell.
“Demon Summoning.”
Now then, Remi, my guardian knight.
Our soul pact is still intact,
so why did you refuse my summons?
Fzzzt.
The black mass that appeared in midair looked like a lump of oil. The liquid-like substance writhed and rippled in the air.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and take physical form.”
It squirmed and wriggled.
The summoned demon's soul was struggling to find its way.
To reconstruct a demon's body, it needed a sample to copy.
The summoned demon's soul scanned the surroundings.
It found humans from Earth, different from those of Belheim.
There happened to be a man and a woman right there.
The liquid had been rippling for some time when it suddenly approached the rapist. Startled, he instinctively shoved his hostage away.
“Urk!”
Pushed forward, the hostage came into contact with the black liquid.
Fzzzt.
The black mass immediately began changing into a human shape.
Fzzt.
The plaid school uniform skirt, dress shirt, and sneakers were identical to the hostage's.
The only differences were hair that fell all the way to the waist and a face so beautiful it hardly seemed human.
If not for the demon sword in the figure's hand, he would never have thought this high school girl with long, straight hair was Remi.
“...Remi?”
“...”
“...”
“...Shall I cut him down?”
“Uh, suuure.”
At the voice, which somehow sounded angry, he gave an awkward nod.
He had summoned Remi instead of subduing the rapist himself because, having run into a villain, there was something he wanted to test.
Shhk!
The rapist's head flew into the air.
'Now, what will you do?'
Would the karma my servant earned go on the scales too?
Answer me, Scales.
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