WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 82: The Empress of Hell
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Doppelgangers.
They were a tricky type of devil to deal with.
They copied everything about their targets, from their appearance and behavior to the way they spoke.
They took pleasure in mixing truth and lies until everything became a mess.
A happy Korean family was playing in the playground.
The middle-aged woman smiled brightly.
“Oh, I haven't seen you around before. Did you just move here?”
“...”
“Which apartment complex are you in? Central Jjai?”
Shing.
Remi drew her sword without a word, and the woman frowned.
“Hah, are you from those rentals over there? Yeongsu, Cheolsu, come here. Don't play with people from the rentals.”
Seeing the woman's spiteful expression, Remi smiled faintly.
A sword forged to kill.
A devil's sword that existed for that purpose alone.
Reminox.
Slash!
“Kieeeee!”
Making horrible noises both before it died
and as it died,
the mimic monster lost its head.
“How dare you hurt my wife!”
Slash!
“Kieeee!”
“M-Mom! Dad!”
The monster children, Yeongsu and Cheolsu, twitched, then turned into Kim Junyong and Kim Remi.
“Remi, it's me.”
Slash!
“Kieeee!”
As she took its head off with a single stroke, Kim Junyong complained from behind her.
“Wow. That hurts my feelings.”
“If it had been you, Master, you would've blocked it.”
“Well, yeah.”
Remi thrust her sword at the monster that looked exactly like her.
Clang!
It blocked her.
It had actually blocked a strike from the demon sword Reminox.
Remi smiled faintly.
Doppelgangers.
These creatures copied appearances like reflections in a mirror, but their true worth showed when they took on the same form as their opponents.
Clang! Clang!
Mirror images.
They copied their opponents' appearance, habits, techniques, personalities...
Everything.
And those copies grew more and more accurate.
The standard way to deal with a doppelganger was to kill it before it copied you, or finish it as quickly as possible after it transformed, before it grew any stronger.
“What are you playing around for? We're busy. Let's hurry.”
“Tsk.”
But even their copying had limits.
You couldn't fit a hundred-gigabyte file onto a one-gigabyte storage device.
“Kieeee.”
A head that looked just like hers rolled across the ground.
The creatures died with shrieks that didn't suit their beautiful appearances, then returned to their true forms.
Every last one was hideous.
Blunt heads, uneven skin that looked burned, a single eye, a small mouth, and a long tongue.
“These things really do look like aliens.”
“Let's go. Wherever the fun ones are.”
“Yeah, all right.”
He needed to finish this quickly and get back to his family.
“Why did it have to be a doppelganger dungeon?”
“If we're lucky, it'll be over quickly.”
She was right.
This was like trying to open a combination lock when you'd forgotten the code.
If they were lucky, it would be 0001. If they weren't, they might not finish until they reached 9999.
“Should I use a luck stone?”
“Hah! Why not give it to me instead? I'll finish this in no time.”
Kim Junyong chuckled.
Sure. Whether he used it himself or handed it over as a reward, it was fine as long as the result was the same.
Ting.
He took out a green jewel and tossed it to her.
“Yes! I'll make this quick.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Where did she learn to say things like that?
Ever since she'd started going to high school with Jia...
She really did feel like a high-school girl with a sword now.
What had happened to that dependable man from Belheim...?
“Whew.”
Whoosh! Clang!
“Kieeee!”
Meanwhile, Remi began killing every monster in sight with a single stroke.
* * *
If asked to name France's most famous hunter, anyone would say “Sophie Giro.”
But if asked to name the hunter who had served France with the greatest dedication, anyone would choose Leon Febvre.
An SR-rank hunter, Leon Febvre followed a path similar to Choi Hyunju's.
A member of France's Special Security Bureau, Leon never shied away from difficult work and was always the first to charge in.
Choi Hyunju was like a general who directed operations and served as the last line of defense. Leon was more like a frontline commander, personally leading the troops into battle.
An A-rank dungeon in France.
Assigned to scout the dungeon with fifteen days remaining, Leon immediately gathered a team and entered with confidence.
Then came hell.
“Huff, huff.”
These were the worst kind of devils.
Bandages covered hastily treated wounds all over Leon's body, but blood kept welling through them.
Clang! Clang!
Amid all that, sounds of fighting came from outside.
Was it the others?
Were there still survivors?
Leon peeked outside.
A dazzlingly beautiful swordfighter, utterly out of place on a battlefield, was slaughtering people.
Slash!
“Kieee!”
Every time her sword swept past, a head flew into the air.
Its path was truly beautiful.
Shing.
She shook the blood off her blade, sheathed it, and looked around.
'She saw me!'
She had looked straight at an SR-rank hunter who was making every effort to stay hidden.
“I-I'm a hunter!”
Leon emerged, dragging their injured body along.
The beautiful woman's gaze was cold and heartless as she looked them over.
“Leon Febvre, a hunter with France's Special Security Bureau!”
Shing.
“W-Wait! I'm an SR-rank hunter!”
“...”
Tap-tap. The beautiful swordfighter took a running step, then closed in with a whoosh, suddenly filling Leon's vision.
Her sword, drawn before they even noticed, went straight for their neck.
Claaang.
Leon barely blocked it.
“Ugh.”
Clang, clang! Clang!
A series of sword strikes drove them steadily backward.
“W-Wait! Stop! I'm a hunter!”
“So?”
“Huh? All my teammates have been scattered!”
“And?”
“I-I'm human! Not a devil!”
Remi's lips stretched into a thin grin.
Leon thought her smile was fatally beautiful.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“...!”
Slash!
Remi's sword cut across Leon's neck, but they barely managed to pull away. Clamping a hand over the blood gushing from the wound, they stumbled backward and shouted.
“Damn it! You're a sharp one!”
“...?”
Shhh.
Leon's body changed.
The hideous, bizarre creature was a doppelganger.
Shhh.
It didn't take long for that body to turn into a high-school girl with a beautiful smile.
There were no wounds.
Now perfectly unharmed, the monster spoke in the same lovely voice as Remi.
“How did you know?”
“...”
Remi's eyes filled with disappointment.
So it wasn't human.
She'd thought she could finally cut down a person instead of a monster.
She'd been planning to do it quickly while Master wasn't looking, then claim she'd thought it was a monster!
“Are you an idiot?”
Master appeared, his voice mocking.
“A French person speaking fluent Korean? Anyone who isn't an idiot could tell.”
“Who are y-you...!”
The doppelganger Remi's face filled with horror.
“Oh, you know me?”
Kim Junyong grinned.
“So you're Yarun.”
“M-Mad Sovereign!”
“Heh heh.”
Kim Junyong laughed at the nickname he hadn't heard in so long.
“That's right. It's me.”
“Fuck! Why the hell are you here?”
“Old friends really are the best. Good to see you, buddy.”
“...!”
The fake Remi, the doppelganger Yarun, trembled all over.
Why had that bastard shown up?
“You don't look happy to see me.”
“...”
Fuck, as if this was a happy reunion.
Even in the Demon Realm, where the strong ate the weak, bastards like the Mad Sovereign were rare. And Yarun had run into him on Earth, of all places.
“I-I didn't recognize you. If I'd known Earth was your territory, my lord, I would never have trespassed.”
“Hmm?”
Kim Junyong felt his excitement drain away.
Remi frowned at the doppelganger, who seemed to have no will to fight.
Doppelgangers made good training partners for reviewing and refining her techniques. A boss could copy her to an even higher level, so she'd secretly been looking forward to this.
“Well, fine.”
Kim Junyong approached the fake Remi.
They were beside a four-lane road.
As it happened, there was a bus stop bench on the sidewalk. Kim Junyong sat down and beckoned with a finger.
“You called, my lord?”
There was something rather unpleasant about seeing Yarun approach in Remi's form with a servile smile.
“Transform before I just blow you up.”
“Ah! Of course.”
Shhh.
The doppelganger Yarun revealed their true form.
No one frowned at the disgusting appearance.
“I've got a lot of questions.”
“I'll answer anything.”
“Why aren't you dead?”
Kim Junyong and Yarun had met before.
That meant one of them had died.
“Since when do devils die?”
“...?”
“Weren't you born in the Demon Realm, my lord?”
“No.”
“Ah!”
Yarun's ugly face grew even uglier.
“What's with that look?”
“I naturally assumed you were a native...”
“Want to die?”
“Eek.”
Yarun shielded their face with both hands.
Remi leaned crookedly against the bus stop sign, watching the threatening scene: Kim Junyong seated on the bench, Yarun kneeling on the road in front of him.
“Fine. So it's some kind of resurrection?”
“Where else would a devil's soul go? It returns to the Demon Realm. Then we build up our strength again.”
“Hah. So killing you is pointless.”
“For a devil, the only true death is annihilation.”
“How do you do that?”
“Pardon? Only a god can do that. That's why the Demon Realm is such a mess.”
The strong ate the weak.
The Demon Realm was a battleground for dead devils.
They killed one another over and over.
Only the strong survived and rose to its peak.
Yarun proudly told the story of all the hardships they'd endured in the Demon Realm after dying, before finally returning to the mortal world.
“Wow, you've had it rough too.”
“Oh, you have no idea. Ah, a crazy bitch appeared in the Demon Realm recently. I think she'll probably be the next Demon King.”
“Huh? Modeus?”
“Oh, but Demon King Modeus descended to Belheim, didn't they?”
“...?”
Kim Junyong tilted his head.
“I killed them.”
“Ah!”
Yarun was genuinely shocked.
Belheim was a planet occupied by Demon King Modeus.
A successful descent.
It would soon be the planet where they evolved, so naturally, Yarun had chosen somewhere new to descend.
That place was Earth.
'The Mad Sovereign killed Modeus after I descended to Earth.'
Yarun thought quickly.
The plan to become number one on Earth had gone up in smoke.
This was a planet with the Mad Sovereign on it.
There was no getting past that bastard.
To think even Modeus had died at his hands in the end...
“Wow, look at that eye darting around.”
“Hehe, it's nothing. I-If you defeated Demon King Modeus, why didn't you take Belheim for yourself?”
“...Why would I?”
“W-What do you mean, why? Isn't godslaying the ultimate evolution a devil can achieve?”
“How would I know? I'm not a devil.”
“What?”
Yarun started in surprise.
Then their expression turned strange.
“Oh, you do love your jokes.”
The Mad Sovereign wasn't a devil?
Who would fall for such a cheap joke?
“...”
“...?”
Yarun recoiled in horror.
“A-Aren't you Reminox's master?”
“I am.”
“But you're not a devil?”
“Nope.”
“N-Not even an outborn?”
“What's an outborn?”
“A devil born outside the Demon Realm!”
“No.”
“Ah! No wonder you didn't know anything about the Demon Realm!”
Yarun looked as though they'd suffered some great betrayal.
“Then what are you?”
“What else? I'm human.”
“...!”
Yarun was horrified.
Everything made sense now.
Why he hadn't destroyed Belheim after killing Demon King Modeus.
Why the Mad Sovereign was on Earth.
“Y-You're an Earthling!”
“Is that really so surprising?”
Of course it was.
Yarun thought quickly.
'An Earthling Mad Sovereign?'
Wasn't that like saying a devil did volunteer work?
Fuck. What a shitty world.
“Let's just cut them down.”
“Eek.”
Remi had been standing quietly, but that single remark made Yarun recoil in terror.
“Well, I've learned everything I need to know.”
“Eek! No!”
Yarun panicked, but Kim Junyong's dark mana had already bound them.
'Should I use Judgment?'
Hadn't Yarun said that only a god's power could annihilate a devil?
'Nah, that'd be too mean.'
It wasn't as if they were strangers.
He should at least give them a chance to come back.
Crrrunch.
The tentacles binding Yarun tightened.
“Aaargh!”
“See you next time, buddy.”
As the pressure crushed their body, Yarun sensed danger.
They couldn't go back like this.
Right now, a crazy bitch called the “Empress of Hell” was killing devils indiscriminately in the Demon Realm.
That crazy bitch...
Huh?
There was a rumor that the Empress of Hell came from Earth...
“Y-You! Hell's...”
Crunch.
'...Empress! What's your connection to her?'
Bang!
Looking at Yarun, now dead and compressed like a crushed can, Kim Junyong chuckled.
“Hell, my ass.”
Footnotes:
“Central Jjai” echoes Xi, a Korean apartment brand. The woman's remarks reflect prejudice against residents of rental housing.
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