WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 45: WWE
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Luciel left Kim Junyong quite satisfied.
He didn't even have to consider the “taming” ritual he went through whenever he summoned a new devil.
Unlike most devils, Luciel was obedient, quick on the uptake, and good at getting things done.
“Sluuurp. So you were in charge of the Demon King’s Castle?”
“Yes, indeed.”
Luciel elegantly slurped up some cold noodles, the first Earth food the devil had ever tasted, then chewed carefully and gave an answer that pleased Kim Junyong immensely.
“Earth's noodle dishes are excellent too.”
“Hehe, aren't they?”
“Belheim has no noodles this chewy. I wonder how they're made.”
“Heh, you know how to appreciate good food, don't you?”
Watching the two devils(?), Lee Mina and Cheon Yubeom whispered to each other as they inhaled their third bowls of cold noodles.
“That guy's workplace survival skills are maxed out.”
“Are our positions in danger?”
“Hurry up and eat. We'll be working ourselves to death again later.”
“Hah, we'd better. Think Luciel can fight, too?”
“Luciel's a butler, right? Probably not much of a fighter.”
“Whew. Let's eat up and get stronger.”
“Right.”
Leaving his human subordinates to themselves, Kim Junyong chatted happily with Luciel.
“So you managed the whole Demon King’s Castle?”
“That's correct.”
“Wow, I've picked up some real talent.”
“It's an honor for me to serve you as well.”
The Demon King's banquet.
Kim Junyong had crashed that gathering of every demon realm lord in Belheim and killed every last person there.
Since he'd collected all their souls, he'd naturally assumed Luciel was a demon realm lord too. Instead, Luciel had been the castle's butler.
While the demon realm lords had balked out of pride, Luciel had readily accepted his offer. There had been no reason not to.
Luciel had served someone else from the start.
The master had simply changed from the Demon King to Kim Junyong.
‘There doesn't seem to be much difference, anyway...’
Whether it was the Demon King or Kim Junyong...
“When we get back to Earth, I'll take you to some good restaurants.”
“I would be most honored.”
After Remi's constantly stingy reactions, seeing Luciel's sincere enthusiasm felt soothing.
“Great! Let's pack up and go.”
“Of course.”
Luciel began putting away the camping equipment.
These were unfamiliar objects that Luciel had never seen in Belheim, so the butler watched Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina and followed their lead.
“Hmm.”
Kim Junyong stroked his chin.
‘Ed's telekinesis really is unfair.’
Ed could do the work of more than ten people alone, making the cat surprisingly useful.
‘Ed's suited for fieldwork, but I can't let Luck Extortion go to waste.’
Having too many talents could be a problem too.
It made no sense to close the restaurant when Ed could bring in luck stones.
Judging by their abilities alone, the right choice would be to make Luciel his dungeon keeper and bring Ed out into the field...
“We're ready.”
“Good. Let's go.”
Kim Junyong tossed all the roughly packed camping equipment into his subspace and finished getting ready to leave.
“Wow, having a subspace really is convenient.”
“I'm jealous.”
“I told you I'd give you one if you did well.”
“Oh! I'll do my best!”
With their morale fully restored, Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina set off again.
“The devil in this direction is the closest.”
“Let's head that way.”
The dungeon map showed the Demon Realm's terrain, with the devils' locations marked in red. It didn't show their ranks, however, so the usual method was to send scouts to assess them first. That didn't apply to Kim Junyong's party.
Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina were nervous, but they weren't worried.
“Whew. My heart's pounding.”
“My mana has increased more today than it did over several months of hunting.”
Filling their stomachs and taking a short break had restored their energy. Earlier, they'd felt as though they were dying, but checking their gains while they rested had filled them with anticipation.
‘Who knew we could hunt monsters with our safety guaranteed like this?’
When they thought about it, the whole thing was absurd.
A rare G-rank hunter was carrying a mere Grade 3 hunter and a Grade 5 hunter through hunts.
Each dungeon contained three to five types of monsters.
Hunting the same species over and over reduced the experience points they earned.
That was why hunters from Grade 9 to Grade 1 leveled up more slowly than people might expect. No matter how well trained they were, hunters were still human and needed to recover from mental fatigue. They couldn't hunt like machines.
But here, every one of those problems had been solved.
‘Why go into dungeons when the Demon Realm is crawling with devils?’
They'd already defeated seven devils.
And what about the monsters those devils commanded?
Many were species they'd never seen before, so the experience points were on another level.
Mental fatigue?
If they left the Demon Realm now, news of “Taiwan” would reach the Adviser. To save Taiwan, they had to keep him here.
Their sense of duty and hunger for levels helped them endure.
“Monsters.”
“Hunt them.”
“Yes!”
Now quite used to it, Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina darted forward to hunt the monsters. Their appearance suggested that the group had entered a devil's territory.
Unless they killed the monsters quickly, more would swarm in like mad and surround them.
And then...
“A-Adviser! Please save us!”
“Urgh! W-we can't handle this!”
Soon, Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina were surrounded by monsters and on the verge of death.
“Ugh. That's why I told you not to waste time trading blows. One hit, one kill.”
“Aaagh! Save us!”
“You won't die.”
“More are coming!”
There were so many monsters crawling toward them.
Was this devil's territory a little larger than the others?
“Luciel.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Flattery isn't all you're good for, is it?”
“Of course not.”
“Deal with them.”
“As you command.”
Luciel strode forward, and a long black strand extended from one hand.
Whoooosh, crack!
“Gweeeeh!”
The long whip of mana swept through the monsters, bursting them apart in an instant.
“Gasp!”
“Y-you said you were a butler!”
“Th-that's insane.”
Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina stared in shock as just a few passes of the black whip made the monsters around them burst apart.
Without showing the slightest strain, Luciel eliminated every monster.
“May I order them to collect the spoils?”
“Oh, they're not slaves.”
Luciel flinched, then bowed to the pair.
“Forgive my rudeness.”
Since they were humans accompanying someone so exalted, Luciel had naturally assumed they were slaves.
‘Are they pet humans?’
Perhaps they were.
The Demon King had no particular reason to bring humans along.
‘I'd better take good care of them.’
After all, a butler's role was to spare the master troublesome tasks.
“I'll gather the monsters in suitable numbers to train these two.”
“Oh, excellent. You know exactly what to do without me even telling you.”
Was it because Luciel had been the Demon King's butler?
The devil was remarkably quick on the uptake.
And now Luciel was even offering to train his subordinates for him.
“Let's go.”
“Of course. Please lead the way, both of you. I'll intervene if it seems too much for you.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Whew. Let me heal us first.”
Cheon Yubeom was a paladin.
His divine power was quite useful in battle, but it was especially effective at keeping people fit to fight.
The wounds scattered across his and Lee Mina's bodies closed and quickly healed. He couldn't do anything about their spent stamina and energy, but at least all their external injuries were gone.
“How far should I take their training?”
“Just to about A-rank.”
“Hmm. This lowly servant is unfamiliar with Earth's standards, so I'm afraid I can't judge how strong A-rank is.”
“About as strong as the boss here.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina were stunned by Kim Junyong and Luciel's exchange.
‘We just entered an A-rank devil's territory?’
‘You'd have to be practically G-rank to fight that!’
Whether the pair were screaming inside or not, Luciel took out the whip.
“They're swarming in again. Please get ready, both of you.”
“Urk.”
“Tch.”
Almost resigned to their fate, the pair raised their weapons to face the charging monsters.
* * *
After visiting South Korea at Daesan's invitation, Ryu Jai had gone into seclusion.
Taiwan was naturally in an uproar, and both the public and the government wanted someone to hold responsible.
Taiwanese news articles riding the wave of anti-Korean sentiment set new records for views day after day, fueling even greater hatred and resentment.
[Taiwan's hero returns wounded.]
[Korea's wicked schemes: Taiwan's hero brought down by their trap.]
[Worse than North Korea. South Korea's selfish, barbaric actions threaten world peace.]
[Daesan electronics stores in Taiwan looted and set ablaze.]
[Boycott of Daesan smartphones spreads.]
Broadly speaking, South Korea was the target of that anger. Looking a little deeper, the target was Daesan Group, which had lured Ryu Jai over with the “Asian Hunter Alliance” as bait.
Occasionally, criticism of South Korea's newly awakened hunter appeared as well.
Both the South Korean government and the Hunter Management Bureau were extremely sensitive to this.
“Director! Did you give the president a proper report?”
Director Park Taejun nodded at Deputy Director Choi Hyunju's shrill question.
“I did.”
“Then why are articles attacking the Adviser appearing?”
“Ah, the Taiwanese government is having trouble controlling the public right now. The articles will be taken down soon.”
“Hah. Their anger mustn't be directed at the Adviser.”
“I know that very well.”
Were they worried about Special Adviser Kim Junyong's feelings getting hurt?
Not a chance.
They were simply afraid that the Mad Sovereign's brutality, lurking inside the Earthling Kim Junyong, might awaken again.
He could destroy a country or two with a smile.
“The Taiwanese president called our president. They apologized repeatedly, so don't worry.”
“Haah. If they're sorry, they should keep things under control.”
“You know it isn't that easy. Whatever they do right now will only feed the flames. We have to wait for things to settle down a little.”
Outwardly, the Taiwanese government was protesting to South Korea and talking about war. In reality, however, they had called the South Korean government directly to apologize.
It was a gesture asking for understanding, given the heated public mood.
Unlike the angry citizens, who were led by their emotions, the government had already finished its calculations.
With Ryu Jai's defeat, South Korea would come to control East Asia's hunter community. On top of that, South Korea had the stronger military to begin with.
It wouldn't even be a fight.
They were only acting angry because they couldn't go against public sentiment. Their message was that they didn't mean it, so please bear with them.
“Come on. Even if they're putting on a WWE show, there have to be limits. If they provoke the Adviser, how are we supposed to clean up the mess?”
“I made that very clear. They'll do their best to curb articles and public sentiment targeting the Adviser.”
“Whew.”
Even so, Deputy Director Choi Hyunju kept anxiously shaking her leg.
“How's Daesan doing?”
“It's like a funeral over there.”
Someone really had died.
A third-generation chaebol heir.
Kang Hyeonsik, the chairman's eldest grandson, was dead.
Alongside the highly publicized collapse of the Asian Hunter Alliance, it should have been a major topic of conversation. Yet everything was very quiet.
Daesan was doing everything it could to control the information.
With both the government and Daesan suppressing the news, the funeral was being held quietly, known only to those already in the loop.
Kang Hyeonsik's death hadn't earned so much as a single online news article...
“What do you think Daesan will do next?”
“How would I know?”
“There's that informant the National Intelligence Service planted.”
“Oh, come on.”
“There's no one here to overhear us.”
Despite the deputy director's calm response, the director glanced around before speaking cautiously.
“I don't think they'll come anywhere near us for a while, revenge or otherwise. Chairman Kang Mujin has practically shut himself away, and President Kang Changseong is pushing to succeed him as head of the group, ahead of all his siblings.”
“A son's rebellion...”
The deputy director nodded.
“Not bad.”
“You really are cold, aren't you?”
“As long as the Adviser doesn't get hurt. No, as long as they don't get hurt.”
It was still South Korea's biggest company.
She could only hope they wouldn't needlessly stir up a hornet's nest.
“Deputy Directoooor!”
Just then, a member of the overseas monitoring team shouted.
“A-an article attacking the Mad Sovereign just went up!”
“...!”
Had they heard that wrong?
They'd just heard a term that shouldn't have come up.
“Where?”
“Japan!”
The director and deputy director hurriedly turned their eyes to the staff member's monitor.
Footnotes:
WWE is a professional wrestling promotion known for scripted rivalries. Here, it refers to the governments publicly acting hostile while privately cooperating.
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