WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 56: Disaster Stone
──────
Takahashi Kenchi trembled in fear, bound by the black tentacles.
That horrible touch, that feeling, that smell...
Everything threatened to drag him back to the past.
Like evil spirits pulling him into a mire he had barely escaped, his imagination and memories dragged him back to those days of pain.
“Uuuugh.”
His jaw chattered.
This fear and terror came from memories carved into his soul.
They weren’t memories he could easily forget.
‘Am I never going to overcome this?’
Takahashi had reached his limit, both in body and mind.
Even the spark of courage that had driven him to fight back had almost died out.
“K-kill me.”
“Oh dear. You’ve already wilted.”
Kim Junyong looked regretfully at Takahashi Kenchi’s soul. What a shame to see it shriveled up like a deflated balloon.
By contrast, Sasaki Yoichi’s soul was so clear, pure, and beautiful.
‘How long would he hold out before he fell?’
He barely suppressed the sudden urge.
It was torture to resist the fun little games he had always enjoyed.
“I have to hold back! I’m Kim Junyong of Hansan 2-dong, Seoul!”
A civilized citizen of the modern world didn’t torture people!
Scolding himself, Kim Junyong looked at Takahashi Kenchi.
‘He took a hostage, so I can kill him, right?’
<There appears to be a chance of reform if appropriate corporal punishment is combined with education.>
The Scales were still spouting the same frustrating nonsense.
‘What kind of corporal punishment?’
<About 100 lashes should be appropriate.>
Good grief, these Scales.
Just because they weren’t human, did they have to be so inhumane?
‘A person would die before they could take half that.’
<There have been occasional cases of people surviving and successfully repenting.>
‘...’
The Scales seemed to know that the vague word “occasional” meant the odds were terrible.
“Forget it.”
A wilted flower wasn’t worth plucking anyway.
“Kim Dokdo. Sing ‘Dokdo Is Our Land’ ten times, then go.”
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
“That’ll make up for you picking a fight with me.”
“...!”
<The Scales are greatly surprised by your mercy.>
<“Forgiveness” is added to the Scales of Order.>
<“Hostage Rescue” is added to the Scales of Order.>
Good.
With just a little more, he might be able to upgrade the Scales.
While Kim Junyong happily gathered 1,000 points, Takahashi Kenchi trembled with humiliation.
‘Damn it!’
The Mad Sovereign was as outrageous as ever.
Swish.
At that moment, the black tentacles slipped loose.
Being released without a single precaution hurt him even more.
‘Does he think someone like me isn’t a threat at all?’
He really wasn’t.
The beautiful woman stood beside Kim Junyong, sword in hand.
Looking at her again, Takahashi realized that “a peerless beauty” really was the right way to describe her stunning looks.
‘The gap in our abilities is too great.’
If that beautiful swordfighter hadn’t been toying with him, he probably wouldn’t have lasted a single exchange.
‘As long as she’s guarding him, I can’t even get close to the Mad Sovereign.’
The moment Takahashi Kenchi reached that conclusion, the Mad Sovereign gave an order as though he could read his thoughts.
“Remi.”
“Yes.”
“Go clean up all the trash around here.”
Kim Remi’s ears perked up.
Now that was something she liked hearing.
“The ones underground too?”
“No, we’ll deal with them last.”
“Tsk.”
So she was stuck dealing with the small fry again.
“Forget it if you don’t want to.”
“Who said I didn’t?”
Why would she turn down a chance to spill fresh blood?
As soon as Remi hurried outside, Takahashi Kenchi’s eyes began darting around, just as expected.
“Hurry up and sing. Or should I kill you?”
“T-two hundred ri by boat, southeast of Ulleungdo...”
Takahashi Kenchi showed off the Korean song that sophisticated torture had drilled into him. Sasaki Yoichi, whose Korean was limited to “hello” and “you’re pretty,” began singing along.
“One lonely island, home to the birds!”
“Won lonely eye-land, home to da burrs!”
Singing with his face bright red, Takahashi Kenchi glared at Sasaki.
[You moron! Why are you singing along when you don’t even know Korean?]
[Music is universal! It’s a lively tune.]
[Don’t sing along if you don’t know the lyrics!]
[Hmph! Don’t show off just because you know a little Korean!]
[Idiot! This song is humiliating for a Japanese person to sing!]
[Then why are you singing it?]
[Because he told me to!]
[Are you Big Bro’s lackey? Do you do everything he tells you to?]
[You little bastard!]
Takahashi Kenchi finally lost his temper and charged.
“You’re a disgrace to Japan!”
“Hmph! You’re the bigger disgrace!”
All talk.
How dare a mere R-rank hunter challenge the great SR-rank Takahashi Kenchi?
Whoooosh.
As he charged at Sasaki, Takahashi Kenchi abruptly changed direction before taking another step.
He swung his fist at the Mad Sovereign.
‘Got him!’
This was his chance to take down the Mad Sovereign while his guard was down!
What an idiot!
He had released the binding spell and even sent his swordfighter bodyguard away.
What a stupid mistake!
Whoooosh, bam!
The fist flying toward the Mad Sovereign’s face stopped in midair. It felt as though his fist was about to split open.
“Guh.”
It hurt as much as punching a steel plate, but there was nothing there.
Worse, he couldn’t move. It felt as though the air itself was pressing down on his entire body.
“Meow. That’s rude to Master.”
His neck was so stiff that he couldn’t turn it.
Moving only his eyes, he saw a cat with half-lidded eyes standing on its hind legs, front paws on its hips.
“You won’t get an easy death now, meow.”
Kim Junyong chuckled and walked up to Takahashi Kenchi.
“You bounce back pretty well.”
“...Kill me.”
“See? Singing the Dokdo song brought your fighting spirit back. Isn’t that nice?”
Kim Junyong smiled smugly as he watched anger stir once more in the soul of the man who had all but given up on life.
As expected, shame and mockery could restore the will to live even in someone who had lost it.
“This should qualify as self-defense.”
<I give up arguing...>
Kim Junyong was about to summon his dark mana and finish Takahashi off when Ed, the cat holding him firmly in place with telekinesis, spoke up.
“I have an earnest request, Master, meow.”
“Hmm?”
“Heaven-sent luck is the most precious luck of all! Could you give me this fool who threw away his chance to live, meow?”
“What would you do with him?”
“Good luck and bad luck are two sides of the same coin, meow. With the unlucky life this man has led, I can create a calamity stone, meow.”
Kim Junyong looked intrigued.
“Something like that exists?”
“It does, meow.”
Even if Kim Junyong had lived in Belheim for 200 years, that was still a very short life from a devil’s perspective.
Countless devils lived a thousand years without thinking much of it. There were even monsters that occasionally spoke of ten thousand years. As for the gods, their lives were close to eternal.
His 200 years of knowledge and experience amounted to very little. This was the first he had ever heard of a calamity stone.
“Fine. Take him.”
“Meooow! Following you was the greatest stroke of luck in my life, Master!”
With those silly words, Ed twitched a paw. Completely controlled by telekinesis, Takahashi walked over in the stiff, unnatural manner of a puppet and knelt before him.
Ed raised a feline paw and placed it on top of his head.
“O soul whose misfortunes piled up and turned foul, until calamity finally befell you.”
“Aaaaagh!”
Fsssssh.
Takahashi Kenchi’s body trembled and shriveled.
Soon, he was as dried out as a mummy and collapsed to the floor.
“You shall suffer no more misfortune. Give thanks for my salvation, meow.”
Life was suffering.
Now rejoice in death.
Edmond de Lafleur smiled.
Pop-pop.
A very deep-purple bead formed before him, different in shape from the green ones.
A flash of greed crossed Ed’s face as he took hold of it.
“Hand it over.”
“Meow! Here you are!”
His greed quickly faded.
Even if he had a calamity stone, it would do more harm than good if he couldn’t control it.
“Wow, this is something else.”
The sinister energy coming from the purple gem in Kim Junyong’s hand was astonishing. This wasn’t something that merely felt “unlucky.”
It was calamity, just as its name suggested.
It carried the strong scent of a curse that would leave bloodshed in its wake.
“Is that a present for me?”
“When did you get back?”
“Just now.”
Remi’s clothes were clean, and she wasn’t the slightest bit out of breath.
“How many did you cut down?”
“581.”
“Wow, they had quite a few people out there.”
“They were small fry.”
Remi shrugged.
Kim Junyong looked at the Scales.
The yakuza Remi had wiped out apparently hadn’t been very good people. He had collected quite a few order points.
<Order: 911 - 0: Chaos>
“Tsk. This is going to be close.”
He doubted that taking down the yakuza boss hiding underground would earn him more than 90 points.
Kim Junyong looked at Logan, who was still lying flat on the floor.
“Go back and work hard at hunting.”
“Gasp! Yes, sir!”
“I’ll be checking everything, you know.”
“I-I’ll give it my all!”
“Good. Get going.”
With that, Kim Junyong looked at Sasaki Yoichi, the only outsider left alive at the scene. Sasaki grinned when their eyes met.
“I’ll come with you, Big Bro.”
“Seriously?”
Having such a clear soul hanging around would keep tempting him to corrupt it...
“Fine. Come along.”
“Yes, sir!”
Though this was his first visit to the private club, Kim Junyong knew his way around as though he had been here several times.
He headed underground through passages disguised as walls and cleaning cupboards.
After following the winding route, they came to a fairly large steel door.
“All right! I’ll break it down!”
Apparently eager to do something useful, Sasaki Yoichi stepped in front of the steel door, took a stance, and drove a straight punch into it.
Baaang!
To an R-rank hunter, a steel door was simply an obstacle that took a little longer to dismantle.
Bang, bang!
After a few more punches, the door’s fittings twisted, opening a gap.
“Hrrrgh!”
He shoved his hands into the opening and strained with all his might until the gap was wide enough for a person to pass through.
“Phew. I’ll go in first, Big Bro.”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
Though they had only met that day, Sasaki Yoichi had appointed himself Junyong’s loyal little brother. He squeezed through the steel door.
Kim Junyong followed him inside and found Orochigumi’s boss surrounded by bodyguards.
Visibly shaken, the boss asked, “H-how did you find this place?”
Kim Junyong pointed.
Among them was a watcher rat he had created, which had slipped in with the group, but...
“Damn it! So there was a traitor among us!”
Orochigumi’s boss interpreted it in true yakuza fashion.
‘That’s the Mad Sovereign... My calculations were completely wrong.’
Even more surprising was the presence of Sasaki Yoichi, who had gone to the trouble of breaking down a door that wasn’t even locked.
‘The Japanese government’s faithful hunting dog is with him.’
As an R-rank hunter, he was weaker than Japan’s most prominent hunters, but he was still the Superhuman Awakening Agency’s representative hunter.
For him to appear alongside Kim Junyong, the Mad Sovereign, could only mean...
‘The Korean and Japanese governments have already joined forces. Is Japan trying to dismantle Hardbank?’
There was already a precedent.
Korea’s Daesan Group.
What had become of that huge corporation after it defied the nation?
What the boss had dismissed as someone else’s problem was now happening in Japan.
‘I’ve been caught in a nasty web.’
Had the Japanese government been after Hardbank from the start?
So that was why they had brought in the Mad Sovereign.
To think the Superhuman Awakening Agency had someone capable of such schemes!
“Big Bro. Let’s hurry up and finish them off.”
At Sasaki Yoichi’s words, Orochigumi’s boss, Saiga Kazuma, admitted defeat.
If they were close enough to call each other brothers, their relationship couldn’t have formed in just a day or two. The Korean and Japanese governments must be trying to rein in private companies that had grown too powerful.
After all, guilds were practically private armies owned by corporations...
“I failed to read the changing times and boarded a sinking ship.”
It was greed.
Blinded by the prospect of gaining a new SR-rank member, the boss had failed to see the calamity that man would bring.
“A life that comes like the wind and leaves like the wind. It was fun.”
Saiga Kazuma drew a sashimi knife from inside their clothes and was about to cut open their own belly when...
“Hey, now. I won’t get the right number of points if you do that.”
“...?”
“Judgment.”
Bzzzzzt.
“Guuuurgh.”
The golden scales began passing Judgment on them one after another, starting with the yakuza boss Saiga Kazuma and continuing through the bodyguards.
Saiga Kazuma was an ordinary person, but all the bodyguards were hunters.
Hunters who had done plenty of bad things, at that.
“Wow, what a gold mine.”
The villains were subjected to Judgment one after another, yielding points.
Footnotes:
“Dokdo Is Our Land” is a well-known Korean song asserting Korean sovereignty over Dokdo, which Japan claims as Takeshima. Its opening describes the island as two hundred ri southeast of Ulleungdo. A ri is a traditional unit of distance.
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