WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 55: Kim Dokdo
──────
“Uuugh.”
The pressure grew even stronger as Kim Junyong stood and came closer.
Ryu Jai hadn’t been wrong.
‘An apostle of God!’
This was the goddess’s power.
They felt a mysterious majesty beyond words, an overwhelming force that made both body and mind submit.
It was as impossible to resist as gravity.
These three had received a god’s blessing and enjoyed its benefits.
With every step Kim Junyong took, they sank lower.
Tap.
He passed the table and reached the end of the long room.
By the time he arrived at the entrance where they stood, all three were bowing with their foreheads pressed to the floor.
“Let’s put you on the scales. Judgment.”
Flash, flash.
“Huuugh!”
Shiiiiing!
A mass of golden light struck them.
Three pillars of light appeared.
The three Guardians trembled, trapped inside.
<I shall judge the Divine Warriors. They wandered for a long time while they could not hear their god’s voice.>
<Jose Ramira>
<Murder, Kidnapping, Infanticide, Rape...>
A large notice appeared on his chest.
Countless crimes filled it in tiny letters. It looked like an encyclopedia of every offense a person without morals could commit.
<He is utterly unworthy of being a warrior sworn to divine commands. I ask that you sentence this corrupt man to death.>
“What about the orb?”
<The chaos caused by his sins will be settled by his death. The divine blessing will be recovered in full.>
Killing him really was the cleanest solution.
“Carry it out.”
<Jose Ramira’s “Divine Warrior” status is revoked.>
Flash, flash.
Bel’s Scales filled with 1,000 order points.
Junyong considered upgrading the Scales, but first he needed to make divine orbs, if only for Earth’s god, who was working hard to protect the planet.
<Acquire Divinity>
Flash, flash.
“That’s the second one.”
After the divine orb he’d squeezed out of Ryu Jai, he’d now picked up his second.
Meanwhile, Judgment had finished weighing Arjun’s crimes, which were fewer than Jose’s.
<Arjun Mehra>
<Massacre of Civilians, Assault, Torture...>
Even with fewer crimes, this bastard wasn’t someone Junyong wanted to recycle.
A massacre?
Ordinary murders didn’t earn that label.
<Only pain and death befit a corrupt warrior sworn to divine commands. I ask that you carry out his sentence so that he dies in agony.>
“Carry it out.”
Fwoooosh.
The golden light rippled, and Arjun let out a terrible scream.
<Arjun Mehra’s “Divine Warrior” status is revoked.>
<Acquire Divinity>
His third orb.
Earth’s god would be pleased.
Kim Junyong turned to the sacrifice who would become his fourth orb.
<Logan Hayes>
<Incitement, Assault, Gaslighting, Adultery...>
“Hmm?”
What was with this mild little list?
Kim Junyong looked through Logan’s minor offenses.
Unlike the other two, whom he’d executed without even bothering to weigh their good karma, the Scales calculated Logan’s good karma as well.
<Slaying Devils, Hunting Minions of Evil, Rescuing Citizens, Rebuilding Cities, Contributing to World Peace, Donations...>
His good deeds were similar to Ryu Jai’s.
Had he hunted fairly hard, but never really put his life on the line?
<A warrior sworn to divine commands briefly lost his way because he could not hear his god’s voice, but he did not fall into corruption. I ask that you offer this lost soul a chance.>
The Scales suggested giving Logan a chance.
“Well, it’s not like I have a grudge against him.”
Two members of G7 had died.
Turning every one of them into orbs would be stupid.
‘If I kill them all, who’s going to protect Earth?’
Logan seemed to have a sense of responsibility, just like Ryu Jai, so Junyong decided to give him a chance.
<Logan Hayes’s “Divine Warrior” status is revoked.>
<Logan Hayes is appointed as a “Guardian’s Knight.”>
<Please allocate the power of order to your knight so that he may oppose chaos.>
<You have 810 order points remaining.>
“...”
Kim Junyong’s face twisted.
“This bastard was slacking off?”
He should’ve hunted hard and earned order points like Ryu Jai.
The goddess must have given him 1,000 points, but his sins had eaten up more than he’d earned.
“Maybe I should just kill him...”
<Even an allocation of 1 point will allow him to perform his duties as a guardian’s knight.>
“Fine. I’ll give him ten.”
<Congratulations on gaining an assistant to help with the heavy duties of the guardian of the Scales.>
Flash, flash.
<Order: 800 - 0: Chaos>
Kim Junyong scowled at the golden scales, now tipped far to one side.
“What am I supposed to do with these?”
Would he have to go catch the villains he’d been saving for a time like this?
Now he was annoyed for no good reason.
“Hey.”
Tap, tap.
Even when Kim Junyong kicked him, the unconscious Logan Hayes showed no sign of waking.
“Master, let me try, meow.”
Ed hopped down from the table and staggered over.
For a devil, he couldn’t seem to hold his liquor. He was already tipsy.
“A chef’s job is to give people energy!”
A cat’s paw touched Logan’s forehead.
Flash, flash, flash.
A purple glow sank into Logan’s forehead.
“What did you give him?”
“I shared some energy with him, meow.”
“What kind of devil gives things away so freely?”
“Meow-meow-meow! Isn’t he your subordinate now, Master? Heehee!”
“...”
The little rascal was drunk.
Still, Logan Hayes stirred as his strength returned.
“Uugh.”
After blacking out and regaining consciousness, Logan sat there in a daze. Then he started.
‘I-it wasn’t a dream.’
He had met the goddess of Belheim.
Her beauty seemed impossible in the mortal world.
He had looked upon the goddess’s expressionless face.
The look she gave him, so deeply disappointed, had driven itself into his heart like a large nail.
She hadn’t scolded or questioned him. She had simply looked at him.
That had hurt terribly.
When he woke, Kim Junyong was crouching in front of him.
“Why are you so lazy?”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t you hunt?”
“...”
Logan Hayes quickly threw himself flat on the floor and trembled.
‘So this is what she meant.’
He understood everything Ryu Jai had said.
She had been right.
Unless he intended to avoid this man for the rest of his life, he should have come to him at once and asked to be punished.
He should have begged for a chance.
“Th-thank you for giving me a chance.”
He didn’t dare look straight up at him.
It felt as though they were different species.
The gap between them was like that between an elephant and an ant!
“Work hard at hunting.”
“I-I will.”
“Not just hard. You need to work your fucking ass off.”
How else would he bring in a steady stream of points as a guardian’s knight?
“I-I’ll follow the divine commands with all my heart.”
“Funny guy.”
After ignoring those commands all this time.
Or had he forgotten because he couldn’t hear them?
Still trembling, Logan Hayes looked at Jose and Arjun, who were now corpses.
‘It was a ridiculous plan.’
Two against one would be enough?
He had a skill that was especially effective against Guardians?
That wasn’t it at all.
No, this man wasn’t even an enemy.
Now Logan felt certain.
‘He’s an apostle sent by God.’
The Mad Sovereign? What nonsense.
He might not even be from Earth.
He was the Messiah God had prepared for them.
‘Ah.’
Not a single thing Ryu Jai had said was wrong.
‘Those Japanese bastards tricked me.’
Thinking about it now, he should never have listened to some yakuza.
Meanwhile, the noisy fight between Sasaki and Takahashi had also ended.
“All right! Justice wins!”
“Y-you lunatic. I’m the one who won!”
Takahashi had hurriedly tied Sasaki up and was holding a sword to his neck. He shouted in disbelief.
“Hmph! Being taken hostage means nothing to me. Saving a woman in danger and dying in her place would be a life well spent.”
“...I was the one in danger!”
Takahashi Kenchi hadn’t expected to run into this blockhead here. R-rank hunters weren’t as valuable as SR-rank hunters, but they were still rare talents.
The rank extended down to 1,000th place. That meant there were only a thousand hunters in the world ranked that high.
Sasaki Yoichi had barely made the cut at 999th, but that was no reason to look down on him.
Sasaki was a capable hunter, but he had a few defects.
“Why are you siding with the Mad Sovereign?”
“That man is not the Mad Sovereign.”
“Yes, he is!”
“Hmph. You can’t turn me against him.”
“Argh, you stubborn bastard!”
He was so hardheaded that he never listened to anyone.
There was something seriously wrong with both his intelligence and his stubbornness.
How bad did it have to be for the guilds to quietly avoid recruiting him, leaving him with the Superhuman Awakening Agency? An R-rank talent, no less.
There were even rumors that he’d only gotten that position because his father, Assemblyman Sasaki, had pulled strings.
“What nonsense! If a man who swings a sword at an innocent woman isn’t evil, who is?”
“...I’m the one who got hurt!”
“Such minor details don’t matter!”
This crazy bastard.
Keeping his sword against the neck of the now-subdued Sasaki Yoichi, Takahashi Kenchi looked around.
Everything was already over.
G-rank hunters?
An empty title.
They had dropped to their knees before the Mad Sovereign and lost in an instant.
‘Just like Ryu Jai.’
There had to be some kind of bad matchup involved.
In the end, would defeating the Mad Sovereign require a team of SR-rank hunters or the power of modern weapons?
They had to kill him, even if it took a nuclear bomb.
But first, Takahashi had to get out of here.
“What are you two doing?”
“D-don’t come any closer! Take one more step and I’ll stab him!”
Kim Junyong chuckled at Takahashi and Sasaki.
A Japanese man was holding another Japanese man hostage and trying to threaten him with it.
And the hostage was someone Junyong had never even met before.
“What a fucking mess. Why should I care if he dies?”
<The Scales request that you rescue the citizen who has been taken hostage.>
“...”
Now he had a reason to care.
“You’ll only give me a few order points for saving him, right?”
<I shall give you 10.>
“Let’s just kill him.”
<I shall give you 50.>
“Now that’s worth doing.”
Kim Junyong smiled and stepped forward.
“H-hey! Stay back! I really will stab him!”
Takahashi threatened him, while Sasaki Yoichi shouted with a firm expression.
“Korean hunter! Don’t worry about my life! Strike down the evildoer!”
Resolve, fear, courage, justice.
“Oho.”
For a while now, Kim Junyong had found this human named Sasaki Yoichi terribly tempting.
Such a clear soul.
It was so healthy that it made him want to corrupt it.
‘I have to hold back.’
If he corrupted a soul like that, he might earn chaos points by the thousand.
Anyway.
“You really mean it.”
“I am Sasaki Yoichi! A man who has never spoken a lie!”
“Heh heh. I like you.”
Takahashi Kenchi immediately seized on Kim Junyong’s words.
“If you want this man you like to live, back off!”
“You’re a real piece of work too. Huh?”
Kim Junyong narrowed his eyes.
Hadn’t he seen that face somewhere?
“What’s your name?”
“...”
At Kim Junyong’s question, Takahashi Kenchi’s face turned red and his body shook.
“I’ve never forgotten my hatred for you, yet you’ve already forgotten me?”
“Hmm?”
Kim Junyong’s eyes widened.
So they had met!
No wonder that face had seemed vaguely familiar...
“Huh? Kim Dokdo?”
“Damn it! Don’t call me by that name you forced on me! I’m Takahashi Kenchi!”
“Right, Takeshima. Hey, Dokdo, good to see you.”
“Grrrrgh!”
The terrible memories of being captured and tortured by the Mad Sovereign came flooding back, and Takahashi Kenchi let out an agonized groan.
“Dokdo is?”
“Korean territory! Grrrrgh! Daaaamn it!”
Shit. He’d shouted it out on reflex.
Had the repeated torture carved it into his soul?
Sasaki Yoichi didn’t miss the opening as Takahashi Kenchi’s resolve faltered.
“Hah!”
He quickly drove an elbow into Takahashi’s stomach and rolled across the floor, escaping his clutches.
“Big Bro! Hurry and strike him down!”
“Huh?”
Kim Junyong had no idea why the man was calling him Big Bro, but he seized the chance and stirred up his mana.
Shrrrrrk.
Black tentacles shot out of the floor and bound Takahashi Kenchi.
Footnotes:
Dokdo is a group of islets controlled by South Korea and claimed by Japan, which calls them Takeshima. “Dokdo is Korean territory” is a familiar Korean slogan.
Kenchi’s complaint about his forced name change echoes Japan’s colonial-era policy of pressuring Koreans to adopt Japanese names.
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