WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 51: Mad Sovereign Alert
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“Ahh, whiskey's good, but since we're in Japan, let's go try some sake.”
“Jose. We're not here on vacation.”
“Whoa, whoa. I know. But a warrior knows when to fight and when to rest.”
Logan found Jose's complete lack of seriousness irritating, but he didn't blame him.
As the world's best hunters, they each had their own routines before a battle.
“Are the three of us all there is?”
“That's right. Jabari Okoye turned me down.”
“The King of Africa really doesn't like getting off his ass.”
Arjun sneered.
“Never mind Sophie. What about Vikram?”
Sophie, who had let her celebrity status go to her head, had refused to visit Korea, citing a series of meetings with European leaders.
“Vikram has commitments with the US Army too.”
The real reason was an agreement with the US government that required at least one of them to remain on the American mainland, but Logan glossed over that.
“Hmm.”
“Hey, Buddha. There's nothing to worry about.”
“The wench with the demon sword isn't our only opponent. And I'm Hindu.”
Arjun scowled, but Jose paid him no mind.
“Sure, sure. I've heard about that guy too. They say he's the Mad Sovereign?”
Jose looked at Logan for confirmation.
“All right. Let's go over what we know about the enemy.”
Logan poured himself a glass of whiskey, drank it, and took out his tablet.
“An SR ranker named Takahashi Kenchi identified him as the Mad Sovereign.”
“Whew. To think the Mad Sovereign was an Earthling like us.”
“Listen, Jose. Ryu Jai denied it immediately afterward.”
“But Ryu Jai's crazy now.”
“Still, we can't just dismiss what she said.”
Was Kim Junyong really the Mad Sovereign?
“Isn't there another way to confirm it?”
“All we have are a few people's suspicions based on circumstantial evidence.”
Arjun, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
“Why does it matter whether it's true?”
He grinned.
“The Mad Sovereign is nothing but a cunning opportunist.”
Jose agreed.
“Exactly. He only survived long enough to make a name for himself because he never ran into us.”
“He only goes after the Allied Forces' weak points. Like a sly devil.”
As Arjun and Jose talked, Logan steered the conversation back on track.
Getting scared and losing morale before a fight was a problem, but so was underestimating the enemy and letting their guard down.
“The Mad Sovereign is no pushover.”
“He's a slippery bastard! Korea's being fooled. They're trying to turn a traitor into a hero.”
“The South American womanizer has a point.”
Logan nodded.
“All right. Let's call the scenario where he is the Mad Sovereign Plan A. The problem is Plan B.”
“When he isn't the Mad Sovereign? Why would that be a problem?”
“Ryu Jai called him an apostle of God.”
“Whoa, so what?”
Logan's expression grew more serious.
“According to some information I had a hard time getting, Ryu Jai was struck by a pillar of golden light.”
“Golden light?”
Arjun's and Jose's faces darkened.
“The fact is, that guy can steal or absorb the goddess's power.”
“So that's what happened to Ryu Jai.”
There was clear evidence.
Ryu Jai, a G-rank hunter, had become an ordinary ranker in 833rd place.
Without the goddess's blessed power, that was all the combat strength she had.
“Damn! I'm not like that weak bitch. Even without God's power, I'd still rank around eighth.”
No one responded to Jose's excessive confidence.
“What kind of power could it be?”
“Who knows? But even if one of us goes down, the other two can attack together.”
“Arjun has a point. I don't think he can handle all three of us.”
“Why don't we ask Ryu Jai?”
“Ryu Jai's crazy, remember?”
“I don't know if she's crazy, but she's certainly not normal.”
Worse still, Ryu Jai was acting like a follower of Kim Junyong.
“There's a risk of our information leaking. We're not meeting Ryu Jai.”
“What? Then Plan A and Plan B are the same.”
Whether Kim Junyong was the Mad Sovereign or not, what trouble could there possibly be with three G-rank hunters after him?
Ryu Jai had only lost because she was alone.
“Even so, we'll target these two when they're apart.”
The mysterious woman who owned the demon sword.
And the man suspected of being the Mad Sovereign.
“Simple enough.”
“How are we getting to Korea?”
All three had entered Japan in secret.
They had each prepared an alibi before coming.
Naturally, only a few of their closest aides knew they were in Japan. All three had left behind the staff who usually acted as their hands and feet.
“We'll use these.”
Logan took out some false IDs.
They were fake identities, but the IDs and passports had been officially issued.
“We'll be tourists heading to Korea after sightseeing in Japan.”
“America really is something.”
“Once we sneak into Korea, we'll wait for those two to separate and take them down one at a time. Then we'll recover the demon sword.”
Logan took out three more passports.
“On the way back, we'll use these identities to cross over to Japan, then go our separate ways.”
“Good. I like it.”
“Not a bad plan.”
It was simple.
Since no one would ever know who had carried out the assassinations, they could ignore whatever response Korea might make.
Once Korea lost Kim Junyong, it would simply go back to being an unremarkable hedgehog caught between great powers.
Kim Junyong was for Arjun's personal revenge.
Kim Remi was to verify the demon sword's authenticity.
They would sneak into the country, kill them, and flee under new identities.
“Even if there's a commotion, the mission has to succeed.”
“Of course.”
They didn't expect every secret to stay hidden forever anyway. What mattered was the effort to remain secret, a justification, and the power to make it stick.
Without Kim Junyong, Korea wouldn't be able to hold the American Logan accountable.
Even if they brought evidence, it would be denied and branded false.
America didn't judge what was true.
It was a country with the power to create the truth.
“Good. Then shall we have a little fun tonight?”
“No going out. Drink quietly here. We're flying to Korea tomorrow morning.”
“Whoa, you're strict.”
Jose knew how things worked.
He had prepared all sorts of alibis himself before coming to Japan.
They were going to assassinate the hero Korea was currently honoring as its “special adviser.” A dirty job simply required anonymity.
The private club.
Frequented by figures from Japan's political and business circles, the club never leaked information to the outside world. Reports, however, always made their way up the chain.
Saiga Kazuma, the club's actual owner and the boss of Japan's largest yakuza organization, Orochigumi, pressed a hand to their head over two urgent reports.
“Mr. Logan is in Japan right now?”
“Yes. It appears he entered the country under the name James.”
“He sneaked into the country under a false identity...”
A man who normally refused to fly on anything but a private jet had come to Japan on a national carrier under a false name.
“We've also identified the two people meeting with him. They entered under the names Rohan and Joseph, but they're actually Arjun and Jose.”
“Well, well. A gathering of G-rank hunters?”
Three G-rank hunters had held a secret meeting at a private club in Japan. They couldn't have come just to drink, so they had to have some purpose...
The biggest recent stir in Japan had, of course, been Takahashi Kenchi's call to defeat the Mad Sovereign.
“C-could it be? Have the G-rank hunters answered Mr. Kenchi's appeal?”
“That's what our organization's strategists suspect.”
“Oh! Will world peace be achieved here in Japan?”
Saiga Kazuma was deeply moved.
The world had answered Japan's call for peace.
Their body trembled.
“Is Mr. Kenchi still in seclusion?”
“Yes. Shall I contact him?”
“Yes. Tell him this wonderful news.”
“Yes!”
The Japanese government had turned its back on Takahashi Kenchi's noble resolve.
How desperate must he have been to come to a yakuza organization like Orochigumi for help?
Branded a liar, Takahashi Kenchi had asked again and again.
He wanted them to recruit a death squad to defeat the Mad Sovereign.
Even if they couldn't act openly, he wanted them to gather people willing to give their lives for world peace, quickly and in secret.
There was no time to waste while the Mad Sovereign was regaining his strength by the moment.
‘Once this is over, Orochigumi will have that SR-rank superhuman in its ranks.’
Takahashi Kenchi had promised to join Orochigumi.
“Boss! What should we do about those ruffians spotted in Ginza?”
“Give them the finest treatment. Once they've eaten their fill, lure them into a trap.”
“Yes!”
Saiga Kazuma's eyes shone fiercely.
Though in their seventies, they felt the heat in their heart carry them back to their vigorous twenties.
“That arrogant Korean brat. Sightseeing without even knowing this place will be his grave...”
A figure who had caused a stir not just in East Asia, but around the world.
The hunter who had surpassed Ryu Jai to become the tiger of East Asia had appeared on a Japanese street.
“You still haven't found out when he entered or what identity he used?”
“No. We're checking yesterday's and today's security footage from every airport, but we haven't found him anywhere.”
“Hah. What a scheming bastard.”
That meant he had already been in Japan for several days.
It was a tremendous stroke of luck that they had finally spotted him.
“Let's begin our tiger hunt.”
Once things started going well, everything seemed to fall into place.
The hunters and their prey were all in Japan.
Now all they needed was a trap.
* * *
Ginza, Tokyo.
Two people and a cat walked down a street lined with signs in Japanese.
The white cat walking without a leash was outrageously cute.
“S-so cute!”
“How is it so smart?”
“A cat out for a walk! That's amazing!”
Most people whispered among themselves, while some stopped and stared blankly, as though their hearts had stopped.
“Wh-what? Hifumi?”
“How can anyone be that beautiful?”
The man, the woman, and the cat drew everyone's attention as they walked, but none of them cared about the petty interest of humans.
“Meow, there are lots of people here.”
“Yeah.”
“Is this somewhere you don't know well either, Master, meow?”
“It's my first time here too.”
“Meow? Then what about finding a good restaurant?”
“We'll have to look.”
“Meow?”
Ed tilted his head at his master's complete lack of a plan.
“Y-you don't have a destination, meow?”
“Of course we do. A good restaurant.”
“...”
In other words, he hadn't even decided what kind of restaurant.
Looking at Kim Junyong's confident face and Remi's completely blank one, Ed was flustered.
How could they be so relaxed without any plan at all?
“I'll look for one, meow.”
“We can just walk and go wherever feels right.”
“B-but the food might be bad, meow.”
“That would be reason enough to kill them.”
“M-meow!”
These people! No, these devils!
“I-I'll look for one, meow.”
“Sure. I was thinking of having sushi, but I don't see anywhere.”
Did they need to walk farther?
Leaving his human subordinate behind was proving surprisingly inconvenient.
‘Should I give them a little training?’
Should he pull them over here now and make them act as their guide?
“Meow! There's a sushi restaurant. It's in the Michelin Guide, meow!”
“Oh, really?”
“Meow, we only have to walk another 900 meters.”
“Good. Let's go there.”
With their destination decided, the man, the woman, and the cat set off again.
At the sight of a cat walking on two legs while using a phone, everyone around them pulled out their own phones to take pictures.
“Th-that's amazing!”
“Is it a doll?”
“You idiot. There's no way it's real. It's been speaking Korean this whole time.”
Ignoring the onlookers, they continued to their destination, the sushi restaurant.
“Welcome. May I have the name on your reservation?” the host asked in Japanese.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, are you Korean?”
The host was fluent in foreign languages too.
“Excuse me, may I check your reservation?”
“We don't have one.”
“Oh, then I'm afraid we can't accommodate you.”
Kim Remi stepped forward.
“I'll handle this.”
“Hold on. We came to eat sashimi, not turn someone into sashimi.”
“Tsk.”
“We can just hypnotize them. Wait a second.”
Kim Junyong summoned a mind slime.
The host was badly startled by the black thing wriggling like a bug.
“Wh-what!?”
Just then, a middle-aged man hurried out at the commotion and bowed deeply.
“There's been a misunderstanding. Please, come inside.”
“Hmm?”
Huh. It had worked without him even using the mind slime.
“See?”
“Tsk.”
“It seems Master's fame has spread even to this shabby little restaurant, meow.”
Kim Junyong shrugged and went inside.
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