WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 57: Come at Me If You Dare
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For the past ten years, Saiga Kazuma, the boss of Orochigumi, had focused his search for talent on hunters.
He had recruited thirty of them, one by one.
Some were high-ranking hunters who had reached Grade 1.
A superhuman squad made up of hunters.
‘Once I recruit Takahashi Kenchi as their leader, no one will be able to stand against Orochigumi.’
A yakuza organization even the Japanese government couldn't touch!
Built through Chairman Saiga Kazuma's ambition and careful efforts, that superhuman squad had now become a fine source of points for Kim Junyong.
[Regional Announcement (Japan)]
[The villain “BloodyAdmissions” has been defeated.]
[The villain “AttackOnHomeroomTeacher” has been defeated.]
[The villain “StormyNeoWind” has been defeated.]
“Wow, three registered villains.”
Just how many bad things did someone have to do to be listed as a villain by the system?
The only disappointment was that their crimes weren't international. They were small fry who only earned regional announcements.
Still, they were enough to fill the pan of the Scales of Order.
<The pans of the Scales cannot hold any more beads.>
<Guardian, please choose how the Scales will grow.>
<Reinforce Beam>
<Expand Pans>
<Acquire Divinity>
The pans were too small right now. Once beads worth 1,000 points piled up, they would collapse.
The beam could withstand the weight, but the pans couldn't handle it.
“I have enough divine orbs.”
He already had three.
Getting another one to buy divine magic from Earth's god wouldn't be a bad idea, but...
‘I do need to develop the sacred relic.’
It had the power to shock Earth's god and make the Goddess's Warriors bow in obedience.
The sacred relic seemed to be worth even more than Kim Junyong had imagined. Of course, he was also looking forward to seeing how it would change as he continued to develop it.
<Expand Pans>
Flash!
The pans on either side of the sturdy beam, which had already been upgraded once, shone brightly.
The turtle-shaped Scales of Order grew larger and more detailed.
The Scales of Chaos, shaped like a dragon with its wings folded, also grew larger. Its claws and tail lengthened.
Now they should easily hold beads worth 2,000 points, right?
‘How many villains would I have to catch to do 2,000 points' worth of good deeds?’
Or he could save millions of people from some terrible danger again.
“All right. Let's head back.”
“Oh, Big Bro! Since we've met like this, please let me treat you to a meal!”
“Hmm.”
Kim Junyong looked at Sasaki Yoichi and his pure soul.
It was like having a breathtaking beauty keep flirting with him while he had to hold himself back...
Painful as it was, regret and lingering desire made it impossible to let go.
Kim Yusin must have been one ruthless bastard to cut off his horse's head.
“Let's go to my place. I'll treat you.”
“Oh! It's an honor, Big Bro! I'll call a taxi.”
“Oh, come on. Who takes a taxi?”
Kim Junyong chuckled and took out his phone.
“Take yours out too. Open the Demon Realm Conquest app.”
“Huh? Big Bro, do you live in the Demon Realm?”
This little bastard didn't have a prejudiced bone in his body.
What a pure soul.
“No, that's not it. Never mind. Party up. Here we go.”
Flash!
Three people and one cat vanished on the spot.
Only the bodies of Orochigumi's boss, Saiga Kazuma, and the yakuza's elite squad remained in the underground bunker.
Thirty minutes later, the silence broke.
Thud, thud.
With the sound of many footsteps, lights mounted on gun barrels shone through the gap in the broken door.
“Multiple bodies!”
“Move in.”
“No survivors!”
The special forces soldiers searched every blind spot for anyone who might still be alive, but there was no one.
“Hmm.”
A middle-aged person had entered among them.
Kuroda Yunosuke.
The head of Japan's Superhuman Awakening Agency covered their nose against the foul smell of death.
“Connecting the power!”
“Turning on the lights.”
Flash!
The lights came on inside the underground bunker, revealing the scene.
“...What a mess.”
The agency chief's expression hardened at the sight of the pile of bodies.
Grade 1 or Grade 2, it made no difference. Every hunter lay dead with their limbs bent at strange angles.
Among them was an elderly person's body. An identity check revealed it to be Saiga Kazuma, the boss of Japan's largest yakuza organization, Orochigumi.
‘There's going to be bloodshed.’
A great star had fallen. Now the smaller stars left behind would fight to become king.
Japan's underworld would be full of violent incidents for a while.
Well, that was for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to handle.
“Chief! Would you like to look around some more?”
What else was there to see in a place full of corpses?
Squeak.
Meeting the eyes of a red-eyed rat left Kuroda feeling filthy.
“No, this is enough. Where's Sasaki?”
“His phone is currently roaming in Seoul, South Korea.”
“...Understood.”
Kuroda Yunosuke left the scene with a grim expression and went to report to the prime minister.
At the Japanese prime minister's official residence.
“Orochigumi's boss, Saiga Kazuma, and all thirty members of the hunter squad they were secretly training have been killed. Another 581 members of three yakuza organizations under Orochigumi are dead.”
“...”
More than six hundred deaths in all.
“We found a body that had turned into something like a mummy and identified it as Takahashi Kenchi. We're still identifying two burned bodies.”
“Hmm. Were there any survivors?”
“A Westerner named James escaped alive. We believe that was Logan Hayes.”
“...Logan Hayes? Then the other bodies...”
“We believe they are Jose Ramira and Arjun Mehra.”
The agency chief presented it as an estimate, but it was almost certainly true. Prime Minister Mishima Masanobu's head began to throb.
“Did Logan kill them?”
“No.”
Kuroda Yunosuke explained what they had learned from the messages Sasaki Yoichi had sent.
“According to the report, South Korea's special adviser, Kim Junyong, killed Jose and Arjun. He brought Logan to his knees, then spared him and sent him away.”
“...”
“Also, all the yakuza members surrounding the building were beheaded by Kim Junyong's companion, Kim Remi.”
“...Did you say beheaded?”
“Yes. Every body had its head cut off.”
It was horrifying.
“As for Takahashi Kenchi, it seems Kim Ed, who was with them, killed him by absorbing some sort of life force.”
“What? There was another person? Didn't you say there were two?”
“Yes. Kim Ed is a cat.”
“...”
A cat that absorbed people's life force and turned them into mummies.
How could anything be so terrifying?
“...”
The shocking report left Prime Minister Mishima Masanobu speechless for a moment.
The minister of defense broke that silence in outrage.
“Prime Minister! Koreans have killed some six hundred Japanese citizens. We must demand that the Korean government arrest him immediately and bring him before a Japanese court!”
The alarmed agency chief tried to stop the minister.
“N-no, we can't!”
“What? Are you suggesting we cover up murders committed in the middle of our capital? Because the perpetrator is a hunter?”
“He isn't just any hunter!”
“Hah! G-rank or whatever, are bullets supposed to just miss them? Even those bastards couldn't survive a few missiles.”
The defense minister's confidence worried the agency chief.
The minister tended to look down on hunters' skills and place greater faith in modern weapons.
They needed a reality check.
“South Korea's special adviser can use teleportation.”
“Wh-what? No superhuman has some ridiculous comic-book power like that.”
“None did until now! Our agent Sasaki Yoichi is in Seoul at this very moment. He teleported there with them.”
Kuroda Yunosuke hurriedly held up a tablet.
“This photo reached me before I even arrived at the scene.”
It showed Sasaki Yoichi on a street lined with Korean signs.
“We have more than enough evidence. South Korea's Hunter Management Bureau has also provided this information.”
“Hah, be reasonable. Don't you find it suspicious that a Korean agency is cooperating with us?”
“There's nothing suspicious about it. They can't control him either, so they told us everything.”
The agency chief turned to the prime minister.
“Prime Minister, if he wanted to, he could appear right here, right now. Who could possibly stop him?”
“...”
“He isn't someone we can stop. If he decided to assassinate someone, no one could survive.”
“...”
Perhaps the agency chief's threat had worked. The room fell silent.
“Why does the Korean government leave a loose cannon like that alone?”
“That's precisely why we're so fortunate.”
“What?”
“Imagine what the world would look like if the Korean government could control him.”
“What are you saying?”
Kuroda Yunosuke continued.
“A kill switch that can kill anyone in the world... What would happen if they had a Death Note?”
“...”
“Thankfully, no one can become his master.”
What if South Korea could control Kim Junyong?
Its military would immediately become the strongest in the world.
Any war would begin only after the enemy nation's leader and key commanders were all dead.
“...That's horrifying.”
“Prime Minister! Even so, we can't simply cover this up!”
“That's right. The identities and deaths of the G-ranks are one thing... but there's far too much evidence of the yakuza deaths.”
Street CCTV footage, witnesses, and more.
There was already far too much evidence of Remi killing the yakuza. With the government making no announcements and the media keeping quiet, accounts resembling horror stories were quietly spreading through online communities and social media alone.
They could neither cover up the incident nor hold him responsible.
The moment they tried the latter, they would die.
“...Let's do this.”
* * *
At South Korea's presidential office.
Kim Seungtae received a very serious report during a meeting with Bureau Director Park Taejun.
“...Whew. So our adviser killed two G-ranks, spared one, and killed about thirty Japanese hunters? Three of those were villains, and he also killed about six hundred civilians, but they were all yakuza?”
“...That's correct.”
“...”
Kim Seungtae squeezed his eyes shut.
They were screwed.
“...This means war.”
“Pardon?”
“If two Japanese bastards came to Seoul, killed six hundred civilians, and left, I'd take that as a declaration of war too.”
Bam!
President Kim Seungtae slammed a hand on the table.
“Minister of the Ministry of National Defense!”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you think?”
“...I don't believe it will go as far as war.”
“Huh?”
Despite the president's slightly disappointed expression, the minister of the Ministry of National Defense gave an honest assessment.
“They'll probably make a military provocation, but I doubt it'll be a move toward war. It'll likely be an attempt to appease the public and stop anti-Korean sentiment from spreading in Japan.”
“Hah, so we're playing tit for tat again?”
“That's highly likely.”
“Mr. President.”
“Yes, Prime Minister. Go ahead.”
The prime minister, who had been listening quietly, also spoke.
“We should consider the possibility of trade sanctions aimed at retaliating against the Korean economy.”
“They're also likely to withdraw visa-free entry for Koreans.”
As opinions poured in from every direction, as if everyone had been waiting for their chance, Hunter Management Bureau Director Park Taejun felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles.
The Bureau's special adviser had caused the trouble, and now the entire country had to clean it up...
Some ministers were openly giving him disapproving looks.
“Mr. President! Prime Minister Mishima of Japan is on the hotline.”
“What?”
Japanese Prime Minister Mishima Masanobu was trying to speak directly with President Kim Seungtae.
“Everyone, quiet!”
Kim Seungtae answered the phone with a slightly excited expression.
They'd be angry, right?
They'd start making all sorts of threats about going to war, right?
“Moshi moshi.”
Having used up 33% of all the Japanese he knew, he soon heard the reply translated from Japanese into Korean through the receiver.
Footnotes:
“BloodyAdmissions” echoes Jinhaksa, a Korean college-admissions service. “AttackOnHomeroomTeacher” parodies Attack on Titan.
According to legend, Kim Yusin killed his horse after it carried him to a former lover's home out of habit, despite his resolve to stop visiting her.
Death Note features a notebook that can kill people whose names are written in it.
“Moshi moshi” is a Japanese telephone greeting.
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