WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 63: Equivalent Exchange
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Kim Sangsu greeted Kim Junyong when he returned to the base.
"Hello, sir!"
"Hm? Sangsu, is that you?"
"Yes, sir! The team leader and deputy team leader are away, so I'm here again."
"Really?"
"Just let me know if there's anything you need!"
"All right. Help Ed out later."
"Gah. Yes, sir."
Kim Sangsu had been rushed over to attend to Kim Junyong after he left the Demon Realm, but it looked like he'd end up on dishwashing duty.
"Now, which dungeon should I connect?"
Kim Junyong took out the golden ticket.
[Belheim Dungeon Link Ticket]
Fwoosh.
When he used the ticket, he sensed several spaces linked to his consciousness as a dark mage. They had been cut off because they were in another dimension.
Kim Junyong had nine dungeons in Belheim.
He had to choose one.
Some held summoning materials, while others had served as laboratories. Some were simple warehouses, and others held valuables such as equipment.
There were even small shelters he'd dug out at strategic locations.
'Should I bring over the undead army?'
'Hmm, or connect the treasure vault?'
He could connect every dungeon once he obtained more tickets, but since this was the first, he wanted to choose whichever would be most useful right now.
'I can't go there myself. I can only take things out.'
After a moment's thought, Kim Junyong made his decision.
'The tribute storehouse it is.'
Of the Mad Sovereign's nine dungeons, it was the only one whose location was publicly known.
It was near the imperial palace, and people from the Empire, the kingdom, and elsewhere came there to offer tribute.
Their offerings, paid as friendship fees to keep the peace, should still be piling up in the storehouse.
'They're still paying, right?'
Besides the imperial palace, followers of the Mad Sovereign also voluntarily offered a considerable amount of tribute.
Fwoosh.
Kim Junyong connected the inactive dungeon.
'That makes three.'
He examined the spaces within his consciousness.
He could sense the dungeon on Earth, the tribute dungeon in Belheim, and his void pouch.
The tribute dungeon had both an aboveground and an underground section.
He'd set up a system that automatically transported offerings from an altar aboveground into the dungeon below.
'The dungeon keeper here was... Gram, right?'
A look inside confirmed that Gram was still looking after it.
The food storehouse was still full of sacks of all kinds of grain, along with various fruits and meats. There were also accessories and handicrafts, as well as weapons and armor, perhaps offered by blacksmiths.
"Loyal even with your master gone."
Gram was still keeping the dungeon neat and tidy.
"...But it doesn't look like there's much more here."
Kim Junyong frowned.
Should he summon Gram and ask?
No, there was no need.
Earth and Belheim existed in different spacetime.
Twenty days on Earth equaled two hundred days in Belheim.
From their perspective, enough time had passed for them to think the Mad Sovereign had vanished. Hadn't he even disposed of the Demon King before disappearing?
The humans of Belheim were probably rebuilding their power rapidly, rallying around the emperor once again.
"Remi. You'll have to go pay the emperor a visit."
"Should I cut him down?"
"No. He's as obedient as they come."
Kim Junyong wouldn't be appearing in Belheim himself anytime soon. Installing a new emperor would only weaken his control.
The current emperor knew exactly how frightening and dangerous the Mad Sovereign was. All Remi needed to do was remind him that Kim Junyong was still alive and well.
"Just go scare him."
If they were neglecting their friendship fees, he only had to let them know they weren't friends anymore.
"I'll cut down a few people while I'm there."
"No more than five."
"Tsk."
Worried, Kim Junyong set a limit.
Without the restraints, there might be a massacre at the imperial palace.
"Oh, bring back a spatial pouch too. There's only one in the tribute storehouse."
"Yes, I will."
He needed two if he wanted to give gifts to Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina.
"I'll go now."
"Sure. Take your time while you're there. Think of it as a vacation."
"Then can I cut down five more?"
"...Fine."
Five or ten, what difference did it make?
At his permission, Remi's lips curled into a grin.
"Then I'll see you later."
Fwoosh.
Remi vanished.
He immediately sensed her presence in the tribute storehouse.
Kim Junyong grinned at the pale-looking man.
'Two avatars.'
His theory had been right.
Time passed ten times faster in Belheim than on Earth.
They existed in different spacetime, which meant they were different dimensions.
Only souls could pass between them. That was why the first thing all his retainers did after being summoned to Earth was create new vessels.
A high school girl on Earth.
A cold, distant man in Belheim.
Remi had one soul, but now she had two avatars operating in two different worlds.
And was that only true of devils?
'Earthlings must've worked the same way, right?'
When ten million Earthlings were summoned to Belheim, only their souls would have gone.
'Belheim must've made their avatars for them.'
It had made them into special beings called heroes, who could see status windows.
Just like creating player characters in an online game.
When their bodies died there, their souls returned to Earth and entered their original bodies. Those people were now known as hunters.
"Hmm. Then where's my avatar?"
Kim Junyong hadn't returned as just a soul.
He'd flown through space and crossed spacetime in his Belheim body, which had evolved over and over.
That meant the body of twenty-year-old Kim Junyong, who'd lived on Earth, should still be somewhere...
'I'll have to ask Earth's god later.'
If anyone knew the answer, that fellow was the most likely candidate.
"Um, where did Lady Remi just go?"
Sangsu gathered his courage and asked.
Where had Lady Remi gone? Just having her around was an employee perk.
"Oh, Belheim."
"What? Whaaat?"
"What? Why are you so surprised?"
"Y-you can go to Belheim?"
"I can't. Just Remi. Well, Ed can go too."
Only his retainers could travel back and forth.
More precisely, only their souls could.
Remi had two avatars, so she could simply move her soul between them. Ed, however, had no body in Belheim to hold his soul.
As soon as he arrived, he'd first have to create a devil's body through modeling.
In any case, Kim Junyong couldn't go there right now, but his retainers could travel back and forth as much as they liked.
'I have to report this.'
This was top-level intelligence.
Kim Sangsu's heart raced with excitement. For the first time in a while, he felt like he was doing his actual job.
He opened the Teukgoji group chat and began typing a report, just as Team Leader Cheon had done. Then his phone rang.
"Huh?"
His finger hit the answer button before he knew it, and he hurriedly took the call.
"Ah, yes, ma'am. Yes, I'm with him now. Pardon? Oh, yes."
"What is it? Who's calling?"
"Oh, it's Deputy Director Choi Hyunju."
"Give it here."
"Yes, sir."
Kim Junyong took the phone.
"Speak."
[Gah! Ah. Hhhh!]
"...?"
Why did this woman keep doing this?
"If you've got nothing to say, should I hang up?"
[Gasp! No, sir. I-I called to ask a favor.]
"You mean a deal."
[Ah, yes! That's right!]
For some reason, Choi Hyunju seemed far happier to call it a deal than a favor.
"What is it?"
[The time limit for the B-97 Dungeon in Busan is far too short.]
"Oh!"
Kim Junyong's brow furrowed.
That Earth's god.
Putting on a pointless show with waves and dolphins. Just how many resources had that fellow wasted?
The shortened dungeon time limits probably weren't limited to Korea. On a global scale, the resources spent on that briefly constructed space must have been considerable.
"All right. But it's B-rank?"
[Yes, sir. There are only five hours left until the break.]
"...?"
Kim Junyong tilted his head.
"Isn't that plenty?"
[Even with a thoroughly explored dungeon, we usually allow around ten hours to clear it.]
"..."
Seriously, these Earthlings.
How had they been hunting devils all this time?
All they had to do was kill the boss.
"Well, fine. I'll take care of the Busan dungeon."
[Oh, thank you! As compensation for this deal...]
Kim Junyong cut her off.
"Forget it. I get a salary too. I should earn my keep."
[Pardon? No, sir. We'd really like to compensate you.]
"Hmm."
Kim Junyong frowned.
The basic principle of a deal was equivalent exchange.
A dungeon in Busan was little more than a stroll around the neighborhood to him.
With teleportation, travel time wasn't an issue. If it was B-rank, he could just go in, kill whatever was there without much effort, and come back.
He didn't want an excessive reward for so little work.
Most people wanted to gain a lot with little effort, but that only happened when luck was on their side.
Nothing in the world was exempt from balance.
Unearned good luck would eventually return as bad luck.
Luck stones were valuable precisely because they ignored that rule and granted good luck anyway.
In any case, Kim Junyong didn't want to spend his luck on something so trivial.
A reward that matched his work.
That was all he wanted.
[We'd like to buy the house next to yours and help your older sister's family move in.]
"Hm?"
At the unexpected offer, Kim Junyong's heart began to race.
A strange excitement rose within him.
The adorable face of his sister's child, whom he'd seen earlier, came vividly to mind again.
"My sister said she'd move?"
[We're asking you first, Adviser.]
"Hmm."
That wasn't bad.
The closer family lived, the better.
He did have a Base Expansion Ticket too.
Even without it, the house right next door would be within Kim Junyong's safe zone anyway...
"Well, all right. I can't just take it for nothing... I'll clear a few more dungeons for you."
[Ah, yes, sir. Understood.]
Kim Sangsu respectfully took back the phone and asked, "Should I get the car ready?"
"What car?"
All he needed to travel to a dungeon was a phone. How long would it take if he went by car?
"Ah, I shouldn't have sent Remi away."
Should he call her back?
No.
She'd get angry.
"I'll just do it myself."
Somehow, he'd ended up cleaning up the mess Earth's god had made.
Wasting energy on pointless things like waves and beaches.
No wonder the dungeon time limits had shortened.
'That bastard definitely gave me teleportation so I'd do this.'
What a sneaky fellow.
Still, it was exactly the ability Kim Junyong needed, so he couldn't hate that god too much.
Just as the fellow had claimed, the planning really was brilliant.
Now then, shall we get through this crisis?
Hm? Scales?
Looks like a lot of people will die if I don't step in.
<...No one has suffered harm yet, but people are trembling with fear. Rescuing them is a guardian's rightful duty.>
Kim Junyong grinned and opened the dungeon map.
He found the highest rank among the dungeons in Korea and tapped one.
The location didn't matter.
"Three B-ranks."
He could earn some points and level up for the first time in a while.
Fwoosh.
Kim Junyong vanished in an instant.
"Gah."
Kim Sangsu hurriedly reported it in the Teukgoji group chat.
As an ordinary person, he still struggled to attend to the Adviser the way Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina did.
Their absence felt greater than ever.
"Meow, why are you just standing there like an idiot, playing with your phone?"
"Pardon?"
"Come downstairs and help get ready to open, meow."
"Ah, yes!"
It was almost lunchtime.
Whether the world was in chaos or not, people were still standing in the alley, unwilling to give up after lining up since dawn.
Even today, delicious food had to be prepared for those unlucky customers who, even if the world ended tomorrow, needed to make one more social media post rather than plant a single tree.
"Meow, what a lucky day."
The devil Edmond de Lafleur.
It was a lucky day that made him miss his home in the hell of the Demon Realm.
Footnotes:
The closing passage twists the saying, "Even if the world ends tomorrow, I will plant an apple tree today," replacing the tree with a social media post.
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