WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 43: The Spirit of Sacrifice
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Guardian Club.
The secret chat room for heroes working to keep the world at peace was buzzing.
- What? I heard Ryu Jai died?
- What did you hear? She's still alive.
- But she's gone from the rankings?
- She's way down the list.
- What? 833? What happened?
- Don't tell me the demon sword's owner got her?
- Shouldn't we all stop what we're doing and head to Korea?
Ryu Jai had gone to Korea.
She had been there to check whether the demon sword was real, but an unidentified hunter had unexpectedly crushed her.
- More information. The one who did it was the guy with the demon sword's owner.
- Kim Junyong? We're keeping a close eye on him in France too.
- Who the hell is this bastard? Did he really receive another blessing like us?
The chat room brought together seven national-authority-class hunters.
Each had close ties to their respective countries, giving them ready access to sensitive, secret information from around the world.
The information intelligence agencies provided was highly reliable, but it couldn't deliver immediate updates in a situation like this.
Even the guardians were gathering information by reading the flood of posts going up on the Demon Realm Forum.
Right now, the Demon Realm Forum was the fastest source of news.
“Fuck, what the hell is going on?”
Logan Hayes, leader of the Guardian Club, the strongest human alive, and the world's top-ranked hunter, swore in frustration.
“Ellis!”
“Yes, Logan?”
“Any updates on that Kim Junyong guy?”
“There's been nothing new since yesterday.”
“Fuck!”
Logan was irritated.
The reports from American intelligence agencies were certainly reliable and detailed, but they weren't actually helping.
They only gathered information from an “Earthling's” perspective. What Logan really wanted to know about was the demon sword.
More specifically, they wanted information on “Kim Remi,” who carried it.
‘Kim Remi.’
The nineteen-year-old high school swordswoman, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, was especially confusing.
Was she a returnee like Kim Junyong?
Why did she have the demon sword?
Logan's hands trembled.
This was closer to fear than irritation.
“Damn it!”
Ding.
At last, the message they'd been waiting for appeared in the guardians' group chat.
- The goddess's apostle has descended.
- We must atone. He will punish us.
- ???? What? Is that really you, Ryu Jai? Did you lose your phone?
What?
Was that really Ryu Jai?
- What about the demon sword? Did you check?
- Logan, a mere demon sword isn't important.
“...?”
Logan Hayes frowned.
“What is she talking about?”
What could possibly be more important than the demon sword right now?
- The goddess has sent her apostle. All of you must hurry and ask him to punish you for your sins. That's how we can atone.
“Fucking crazy!”
Had she lost her mind?
What had they done to leave her in this state?
What on earth had happened?
Crash! Crash!
Unable to contain their anger, Logan lashed out, smashing the furnishings around them.
“Whew. Hah.”
Trying to regain their calm, they picked up their hunter phone again.
- I think Ryu Jai's gone crazy?
- She's lost it. Is it the demon sword's influence?
- According to the intelligence reports, the demon sword's owner never even showed up at the event.
The other guardians were talking.
Logan steadied their pounding heart and typed.
- Everyone, get ready to go to Korea.
- Hmm.
- I can't right now. My schedule's full.
“What the...!”
The same people who had dragged their feet over checking whether the demon sword was real were being reluctant again.
- This can't wait.
- But I have commitments I can't cancel either.
- Sophie! It's the demon sword!
- It could be a fake.
“Fucking hell!”
Wasn't that exactly why they needed to check?
- Then why don't you go?
- Right. You're the one who killed the Demon King anyway, Logan.
- I still don't understand why the dead Demon King's sword is on Earth.
- Honestly, even if it's real, why should I care? The Demon King's dead, right?
“...”
Logan trembled as they gripped their hunter phone.
“Damn it!”
These people didn't care whether the demon sword was real.
“Stupid bastards!”
Furious, Logan kicked the desk in front of them.
Craaaash!
The desk flew across the room and shattered against the wall.
“You fucking idiots!”
Crash! Crash!
Still not satisfied, Logan wrecked the office before standing there, breathing hard.
“You don't know anything.”
This was so much more serious than they realized...
Once their anger had settled, Logan picked up their phone again.
Not every G-rank hunter was devoted to the cause.
They couldn't expect their other colleagues to show the same dedication as Ryu Jai, who had acted at once on the mere possibility that the demon sword existed.
France's Sophie had influence on par with a head of state and went on overseas tours more often than dungeon raids.
Jabari, based in Africa, lived almost like the king of the continent.
‘Vikram's out.’
America's other G-rank hunter.
Under their contract with the American government, either Logan or Vikram always had to remain in North America.
It was a secret agreement known only to Logan, Vikram, and officials in the American government.
That left India's Arjun and South America's Jose.
Arjun was deeply religious and would need a worthy cause. Jose, who lived a life of excess in a lavish palace, only needed money.
“Damn it.”
If they'd known things would turn out like this, they would have gone with Ryu Jai when they sent her to Korea. They felt the absence of the most devoted and diligent protector of humanity all the more keenly now.
- It's still not too late for any of you. If you repent and beg forgiveness, you can at least keep your lives.
“She's completely lost her mind.”
Ryu Jai had gone off the deep end.
She was so religious now that she made Arjun look normal.
There was no other choice.
‘Jabari, Arjun, Jose.’
They had to take two of the three.
Wouldn't that be enough to recover the demon sword?
“Whew, damn it. They've all gotten too full of themselves.”
What had happened to the spirit that had brought them together for world peace? Had they reached the point where even G-rank hunters would only act after weighing their own interests?
Ten years had passed since their return.
They had joined forces, vowing to protect Earth.
Now, they had become powers on par with nations.
* * *
South Korea's Hunter Management Bureau.
Special Adviser Support Headquarters.
“Deputy Director! The press is going wild!”
“Leave them alone.”
“But shouldn't we at least try to draw some domestic attention away from this?”
Deputy Director Choi Hyunju shook her head.
“They'll just pick up reports from overseas anyway.”
This was too big to contain by blocking the domestic press.
News of the incident involving the Asian Hunter Alliance had spread from the Demon Realm Forum to the entire world.
There was no stopping the attention.
It was like a typhoon. They had to wait for it to die down.
Anything they said now would only add fuel to the fire.
What had caught Choi Hyunju's attention wasn't the news of Ryu Jai's fall in the rankings.
‘There aren't any articles about the Daesan Hotel explosion.’
The reports only covered Ryu Jai and the unidentified Korean hunter. There wasn't a single line about the blast at Daesan Hotel or Kang Hyeonsik's death.
‘It looks like Daesan is backing down for now.’
That was a relief.
A third-generation heir to a conglomerate had died.
She'd worried that they might use public opinion or other means to go after Kim Junyong, but they seemed to be proceeding cautiously for now.
‘Daesan gets to live.’
That was one worry off her mind.
The Mad Sovereign, Kim Junyong.
A merciful man who would leave a dog alone, at least as long as it didn't bark.
“Deputy Director! What do we do about the restaurant? Shouldn't we block access?”
“...That's...”
She wanted to close it.
She wanted to eliminate the very place where outsiders could come into contact with the adviser. If she could, she would build him a huge mansion, post guards, and keep all outsiders away.
“...Leave it alone for now.”
It was the adviser's hobby.
Besides, Choi Hyunju now knew the secret of Kim Junyong's home.
‘For now, it's the one and only base.’
The Demon Realm Conquest app had received several version updates recently. There was no doubt that Special Adviser Kim Junyong was involved.
“Jun Dragon Kitchen has four tables available. Let's arrange customers from our side and send them in!”
“That's a good idea!”
Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina were already handling all the customers anyway. Rather than let people with suspicious motives approach him, they could send their own people in disguised as customers.
“All right, set up a separate restaurant response team. What's the reaction in Taiwan?”
At the deputy director's question, the overseas monitoring team looked troubled.
“There's a flood of vicious criticism.”
“The mood is almost like they want to go to war right now.”
“...”
She could understand why.
To them, Ryu Jai was national pride itself.
Thanks to her, Taiwan had all but led international affairs in East Asia.
And now Ryu Jai had been invited to an event in Korea, only to return a wreck...
“The press is being far too provocative.”
“The Taiwanese government has expressed regret as well, but public opinion is extremely hostile.”
It was only human to want to hit back after being struck, but they needed to calm down.
Taiwan had lost its sharpest blade. What did they intend to strike back with?
Korea had the advantage not only in hunters, but in military strength too.
“All right. For now, make sure the adviser doesn't hear anything about the situation in Taiwan. This is extremely important.”
With the Mad Sovereign's personality, there was no way he would leave a dog alone if it barked hostile criticism and tried to attack him.
“Come on, everyone. Let's do our best to save Taiwan!”
“Yes, Deputy Director!”
The adviser absolutely could not hear about this.
They would need some kind of incentive to calm public opinion in Taiwan...
She would have to discuss that with the Korean government.
As always, matters like this were best left to Director Park Taejun.
‘Team Leader Cheon, Deputy Chief Lee. Please hang in there a little longer.’
She prayed that Kim Junyong would stay in the Demon Realm for as long as possible.
* * *
The metaverse world created by Earth's god.
In this place, which Earthlings firmly believed was the Demon Realm, a man and a woman were being put through their paces.
Grade 3 paladin Cheon Yubeom.
Grade 5 ranger Lee Mina.
“Wow, you two really suck.”
At Kim Junyong's assessment, neither had the strength left to feel sad.
They had already killed dozens of monsters since entering the Demon Realm.
‘I get how it works.’
Kim Junyong had the two of them hunt while he watched the flow of mana. Hunters absorbed the residual energy left by dead monsters and used it as experience points.
‘It drops every time they kill the same kind.’
Minions of evil were different from devils.
They were artificially created, monster-like beings.
He could see the experience points they gained decreasing each time they hunted the same kind in a row.
Even after dozens of kills, the experience points didn't approach zero, but the loss in efficiency was unavoidable.
‘They need to hunt a variety.’
Or they could hunt as many devils as possible, since each devil was a distinct individual. But anyone capable of hunting devils was already a high-level hunter.
Low-level hunters couldn't recklessly take them on, so in a way, it was only natural that they leveled up slowly.
The standard approach was to accept the inefficiency and hunt steadily until their rank rose, then start hunting devils once they were stronger.
Thwuck!
“W-we got them all.”
“Hah, hah.”
“Seriously. All that over seven monsters...”
He looked at the exhausted pair and spoke.
“Let's stop and head back.”
“!”
“We can't!”
Cheon Yubeom started in shock, and Lee Mina shouted on reflex.
“Oh? You can keep going?”
“Of course!”
“I can too!”
“Would you look at that.”
Kim Junyong grinned.
They had some grit after all.
“Good. Remi, bring some more over.”
“Yes.”
As if used to the task, Remi went over the hill and lured back a group of minions of evil.
Kieeee!
“...!”
Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina were close to tears as they watched the minions of evil charge toward them.
They wanted to give up right then, but the text from the deputy director wouldn't let them.
[Please keep the adviser in the Demon Realm as long as possible. The lives of 23 million Taiwanese people are in your hands. I'll text you again once public opinion in Taiwan has calmed down.]
“Deputy Chief Lee. Let's keep going.”
“You too, Team Leader.”
Their bodies felt like lead, but the two of them fought with everything they had.
For the sake of world peace, they couldn't let this hellish training end so easily.
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