WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 41: Murder and Execution
──────
Kang Mujin, chairman of Daesan Group.
He was the captain who had steered Daesan into becoming South Korea's leading company and a global competitor.
He had stepped back from day-to-day management for health reasons, but in truth, he had only entrusted the group to others for a while to choose his successor.
He had divided control of Daesan Group's subsidiaries among his three sons and one daughter. Since he was testing their management skills, he required only basic reports and kept his interference to a minimum.
But had it been about ten days ago?
After receiving a call from the president, Chairman Kang Mujin had issued an order to the entire group.
‘Don't clash with the Bureau.’
A grandson of the powerful business family had lost an arm.
The rumor spread far and wide, but Daesan remained quiet on the surface. That wasn't just because of the incentives the president had offered, including various benefits and guarantees for the group.
‘The special adviser? Find out everything you can about him.’
Know your enemy and yourself, and you need not fear a hundred battles.
First, he needed time to learn about his enemy.
But his impatient eldest son had acted first.
His son's usual fiery spirit sometimes worked in his favor, giving him the drive to get things done. At other times, it became a weakness that made him act too hastily.
By the time his son reported to him, though, he had already won over Tianluo and Hardbank and brought Ryu Jai into the affair.
‘Father, please trust me just this once.’
It was already too late to stop the wheels from turning. Thinking they might be able to gain something from the government, he had given his permission.
But today...
Looking around the wrecked room, Chairman Kang Mujin regretted not stopping him then.
In truth, when that man had defeated an A-rank devil and become South Korea's hero, he should have given up any thought of revenge for his grandson.
“...”
The room was a complete mess.
Im Dongsu, Daesan's strongest hunter, lay covered in blood.
His eldest son and eldest grandson hung helplessly in the grip of black tentacles.
“...”
When he had left his Pyeongchang-dong mansion at the Bureau's request, he had never imagined anything like this.
Wasn't this man a villain by anyone's standards?
How could anyone be this reckless?
Openly defying the authorities was a terrible move.
As for the Bureau...
“Adviser, please stop.”
Its representative was bowing deeply and begging.
Was this how a normal hunter and the Bureau behaved?
Anyone could see that they had no control over him.
“Me?”
Thud.
“Please.”
“Ugh.”
Choi Hyunju had dropped to her knees.
Kang Mujin was so shocked that he couldn't hold back a groan.
“Who's that old man?”
“Chairman Kang Mujin of Daesan.”
“Oh! Here comes Grandpa!”
Kim Junyong grinned and pulled Kang Hyeonsik toward him.
Whoosh.
Like an octopus pulling its arms out of the mud, the tentacles rose out of the floor and rushed forward with Kang Hyeonsik in their grip.
“Wow, you already ran crying to your grandpa too?”
“N-no, I didn't.”
Kang Hyeonsik's face had gone white with terror.
Kim Junyong grinned at Kang Mujin.
“Now, let's see how well the king of Daesan has prepared.”
“...”
Kim Junyong looked over the people behind Kang Mujin.
Twenty men in suits.
Half were ordinary people, perhaps secretaries, while the other half were hunters.
Disappointingly, though, their auras were only around Grade 1 to Grade 5.
“What? You brought these guys as backup?”
“...”
Chairman Kang Mujin stared at Kim Junyong.
That expression and those eyes belonged to someone who could destroy things simply for amusement.
His eyes held a mixture of madness, interest, and boredom. Ironically, they sparkled beautifully.
‘The king of Daesan. Backup...’
He seemed less like an Earthling and more like someone from Belheim who had crossed over.
No, that was the right way to see him.
‘A returnee who spent two hundred years away. Estimated time since returning to Earth: about ten days.’
He had only been back on Earth for about ten days.
He had returned after spending two hundred years in Belheim, where feudalism was firmly established.
A hunter who had yet to adjust to society on Earth.
Chairman Kang Mujin made his decision.
Thud.
“...!”
Everyone was stunned.
“C-Chairman!”
The secretaries and bodyguards who had followed Chairman Kang Mujin rushed to help him up.
“Stand back!”
At his barked order, they froze awkwardly, unsure what to do.
Still on his knees, Chairman Kang Mujin placed his hands on the floor and lowered his head. Bowing before the young man, he spoke in a solemn voice.
“This old man offers his sincere apology.”
“Ugh, Father...”
“Chairman...”
The mood grew so gloomy that it felt like a funeral.
Kim Junyong grinned.
“How interesting.”
Belheim and Earth had different cultures and entirely different systems at the foundations of their societies. So why did people act so much alike?
The king of Daesan.
That king had gone down on his knees.
To them, it was a crushing declaration of defeat. To Kim Junyong, it was just an old man bowing down.
Steeped in their own authority, they thought this was some great sacrifice. That delusion was hilarious.
King or commoner, he was simply an old man bowing down to ask forgiveness.
“Fine. I accept your apology.”
“Y-you do?”
“An old man's apologizing. Of course I'll accept it.”
Kang Mujin's eyes lit up.
He sprang to his feet with a bright smile.
“You're a refreshingly straightforward fellow. Tell me what you want.”
Kim Junyong snorted.
What a kingly way of thinking.
Was he offering a reward because Junyong had let him save face?
It was funny how quickly his confidence had returned.
“What can you give me?”
“Anything you want.”
Kim Junyong grinned.
“You don't mean that.”
He was putting on a bold front, but his face said he didn't want to give up a single thing.
“How could I begrudge money when my own flesh and blood are at stake? Name anything.”
This sort of pretense was fun.
Why not peel off that mask?
“Fine. I want that one's life, and that one's too.”
“...? Isn't that different from what you just said?”
“How?”
“Didn't you just accept my apology?”
“I did.”
“...?”
Chairman Kang Mujin's face flushed red.
Was he playing word games now?
“Listen here! How dare you speak like that in front of the chairman...”
A sharp-featured man behind Kang Mujin stepped forward.
Wham!
His head burst apart.
<“Murder” is added to the Scales of Chaos.>
<Bel's Scales tip toward chaos.>
“Shut up.”
<...>
Chaos points didn't matter.
Neither did whether it was self-defense.
He simply didn't appreciate having his fun with the old man interrupted.
Should he summon Remi?
The others finally reacted to their colleague's death.
“Gasp!”
“C-Chief!”
“Aaargh!”
The situation was that unreal.
They scattered in confusion, turning the room into chaos in an instant.
Tiny blood vessels burst in Chairman Kang Mujin's wide eyes.
He couldn't bring himself to look back.
‘...This isn't someone I can negotiate with.’
The extraordinary instincts and judgment that had made Daesan number one were now sounding a powerful alarm.
He glanced at Choi Hyunju. Her face showed complete resignation.
The Bureau's deputy director was turning a blind eye to murder.
‘...Has one individual been placed beyond the law?’
The government had given this villainous man an absurd amount of power.
An individual above the law...
Chairman Kang Mujin's knees touched the floor again.
The first time was hard. What did a second time matter?
“I'll do anything. Tell me what I must do.”
“Oh?”
The old man's pretty quick on the uptake.
Kim Junyong crouched in front of him.
“Fine. I don't normally enjoy murder.”
“...”
Everyone fell silent, their eyes turning toward the headless body.
Kim Junyong continued without a care.
“You said you wouldn't begrudge your money, right? Fine. I'll give you a chance.”
Kim Junyong looked at the terrified Kang Changseong and Kang Hyeonsik.
“I have a skill called Judgment. It weighs your sins on a set of scales. If your good karma is greater, it rewards you. If your sins are greater, it gives you pain. If those sins are beyond forgiveness, it gives you death.”
“...”
Kim Junyong grinned, meeting the kneeling Kang Mujin's eyes.
“Hand over all your wealth, and I'll let those two live.”
“...And if I refuse?”
“That depends on the results of Judgment.”
“...”
If he gave up all his wealth, his son and grandson would live.
Their salvation would be guaranteed.
‘Does this man have any idea how much wealth I have?’
It was an outrageous demand.
If he wanted to keep his wealth...
There was a chance his son and grandson would die.
He had only heard an explanation of the skill called Judgment, so it was hard to judge.
His eldest son, Kang Changseong, and eldest grandson, Kang Hyeonsik, looked at him with fear and desperate hope in their eyes.
“...”
Chairman Kang Mujin's eyes grew bloodshot as he looked back at them.
Moisture filled his reddened eyes.
“What is this, a TV drama? Hurry up and choose.”
Rustle.
Chairman Kang Mujin pressed his hands against the floor and stood again.
“Hmm?”
“Judge them.”
“...Oh? You want them dead?”
“I trust my children. If they die, it'll be because they did something worthy of death.”
Kim Junyong grinned.
A greedy old man, just as he'd thought.
“Father!”
“Grandfather!”
Kang Changseong and Kang Hyeonsik cried out to the chairman in alarm, but he wiped away his tears.
“I raised you to be good people.”
“Wow.”
Kim Junyong clapped.
Why watch TV dramas?
Real life was this much fun.
Daesan's chairman was an extremely practical man.
Practical enough to abandon his own flesh and blood...
“Fine. Shall we roll the dice? Judgment.”
Fwaaash!
As Kim Junyong activated the skill, a set of golden scales appeared before each of the two men bound by black tentacles.
Then the sins they had committed began pouring out.
Kang Changseong
<Assault, Solicitation of Assault, Rape of an Incapacitated Person...>
Kang Hyeonsik
<Drugs, Rape, Murder, Torture, Solicitation of Murder, Lies...>
Wow. What a pair this father and son were.
Sheets of paper like large public notices slapped onto their chests, and lists of crimes began filling them.
The father had at least done plenty of good deeds too, so he seemed to have a chance of surviving...
“H-Hyeonsik! N-no!”
“No! It was an accident! I said it was an accident!”
The two struggled, tears and snot running down their faces, but the scales were merciless.
<Please sentence Kang Changseong to punishment and Kang Hyeonsik to death by hanging.>
“Do it.”
Whoosh.
Golden lightning struck, and Kang Changseong shook violently.
“Aaaaaaargh!”
A scream so terrible it hardly seemed human burst from him as he writhed in pain.
Meanwhile, something like a golden rope descended above Kang Hyeonsik and wound around his neck.
“Ghh!”
When the black tentacles released him, Kang Hyeonsik's body hung limply.
“H-Hyeonsik!”
Chairman Kang Mujin rushed toward his grandson in a panic, but the golden light threw him back.
Crash!
“Chairman!”
While the bodyguards helped the fallen chairman, the sentences were carried out in moments.
Thud.
Kang Changseong collapsed to the floor as though his legs had given way. Kang Hyeonsik hung motionless with his neck bent.
<The execution for evil karma has been carried out.>
<The world has become more just.>
<“Judgment” is added to the Scales of Order.>
<“Execution” is added to the Scales of Order.>
<The Scales of Chaos and Order find their balance.>
Executing a criminal whom modern society's system had failed to weed out had more than offset the chaos gained from killing the bodyguard.
“...Ughhh.”
Kang Changseong rose, trembling.
The lightning had burned him for only a moment, but the mental suffering he had endured was immense. Divine punishment was never light. To him, it had felt as though he had spent many decades burning.
But perhaps even an evil man could feel love and affection for his child.
“Hyeonsik! Ughhhh, Hyeonsik!”
He clutched his dead son and wailed.
Regret, sorrow, despair, rage, hostility.
The usual emotions of a parent who had lost a child raged through him.
What was interesting was that his anger and hatred were directed not at Kim Junyong, but at his own father, Kang Mujin.
“...”
Kang Mujin was also looking at his son with a hollow expression.
Should he be relieved that at least his son had survived?
Or should he be distraught that his grandson had died?
Kim Junyong quietly stepped back and whispered to Lee Mina.
“Hey, this is so damn entertaining.”
“Pardon?”
“Looks like this father and son are about to go to war.”
“...”
Lee Mina trembled as she looked at the man responsible for all this.
‘Is the adviser really a devil?’
“Father! How could you do this!”
“...”
“Ughhhh, Hyeonsik! He's your eldest grandson! Hyeonsik!”
“...”
“How could you kill your own grandson!”
Kim Junyong watched the father and son's quarrel with interest, then beckoned to Choi Hyunju.
“Hey, let's get out of here.”
“What?”
“Hehe. If we slip away quietly now, they'll really get into it.”
“...!”
Staying here would only get them caught in the crossfire.
“Get your phones out.”
Kim Junyong opened the Demon Realm Conquest app, formed a party with the two women, and teleported.
Pop-pop.
With the three of them gone, the emotional rift between Daesan's king and prince only grew deeper.
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