WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Our Precious Demon King ◈
Chapter 92: Credit Welcome!
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Flash, flash.
Kim Jangmi and Ed appeared in the yard of Kim Junyong's mansion, his base.
“Oh my, that really was instant!”
“Meow, did you enjoy the trip?”
“Do you even need to ask?”
Having spent the whole trip together, Ed and Kim Jangmi had grown very close.
“Wasn't the breakfast amazing too?”
“It was, meow. It's a shame I didn't get to use the sauna one more time.”
“Hehe, we can always go again.”
They had finished their trip with breakfast at the hotel.
After saying goodbye to Lorenzo, they returned to Korea to find that it was already four in the afternoon.
It had been morning just a moment ago. Suddenly finding themselves in the afternoon felt like time travel.
“Ugh, I don't want to go to work.”
“Couldn't you just quit, meow?”
Kim Jangmi chuckled at Ed's suggestion.
“Breaking out of your routine is only fun when you have a job.”
“...?”
She laughed at his puzzled face.
“Right! Time to get ready for tomorrow! Let's ask Junyong to take us again sometime.”
“Sounds good, meow! You're welcome anytime!”
She stretched, ready to prepare for another ordinary day tomorrow.
“Hmm? Where did Junyong go, anyway?”
“Hmm? I don't know, meow. Huh?”
Ed was a dungeon keeper.
A dark mage's retainer with full authority over the space.
And his awareness had picked up another being with the same presence.
‘There's another dungeon keeper?’
They were inside the first-floor building.
Ed glared toward it, puffed up his fur, and went inside.
“Huh? You?”
“Hmmm.”
Luciel groaned at the sight of Ed the cat.
“Now I'm certain. Edmond de Lafleur.”
“That's right. It's me!”
“Why do you all look like that?”
The corps commander looked like a high school girl, and the cook wasn't even human. He was a cat.
“W-what's wrong with how I look?”
“...”
“Never mind that! Why are you a dungeon keeper?”
“Master's orders.”
“Hah!”
Ed felt as though his authority had been invaded, but he didn't dare argue with Kim Junyong's orders.
Quick to catch on, Luciel humbled himself.
“I'm nothing more than a watchdog.”
“Hmm?”
“I cannot leave this dungeon.”
“Oh.”
So this one was a dungeon keeper for domestic use only.
Ed's whiskers twitched as his mood improved a little.
‘Well, I do go on a lot of business trips.’
He grinned and held out a paw.
“Let's work well together, meow.”
“Of course.”
After all, the two already knew each other from their days in the Demon King’s Army under Modeus.
Their strange fate had even led them to die together.
“Why did you choose to serve Master instead of going to the Demon Realm, meow?”
“Surely you know?”
“Hmm.”
Ed nodded.
Luciel was Modeus's son by birth, but Modeus had thousands of sons. How many of them had survived was another matter, but to Demon King Modeus, Luciel had been nothing more than an ordinary servant.
“Master is a good person, meow.”
“Indeed.”
The two devils quickly found common ground.
“This is Master's older sister, meow.”
“Oh!”
Luciel immediately knelt before Kim Jangmi.
“I am honored to meet someone so esteemed.”
“Oh, please don't do that. Are you also... Well, are you a devil?”
“Yes, I am.”
Kim Jangmi still felt a little dazed, but she now knew that devils weren't simply evil beings.
“I hope we'll get along.”
“The pleasure is entirely mine.”
She rather liked Luciel's polite greeting.
A neat suit, slicked-back hair, and an appearance that wasn't too young.
He looked like an elite employee in his early thirties working at a major company.
“Meow, you can think of him as the mansion's butler from now on.”
“Butler?”
“The caretaker, meow. He was a head butler at his last job too.”
“Oh!”
If he had been a head butler, that really was something like being a chief secretary.
She had imagined all devils as vicious monsters, but Ed, Remi, and now Luciel didn't seem all that different from people.
“Please take good care of our Junyong.”
“Oh, I shall serve him with nothing but loyalty.”
“Thank you.”
Kim Jangmi said she would see them again at dinner and headed back toward her own house.
He didn't just look like an elite employee. He really had experience.
‘So he really was a chief secretary.’
Ed offered his former coworker a little advice.
‘She's the real power in this family, meow.’
‘Oh! Thank you.’
“But where did Junyong and the kids go?”
“They went to the Demon Realm.”
“Hmm?”
“...?”
“Meow?”
Ed's fur stood on end.
“Don't tell me he took Jia and Jihun with him?”
“...”
Luciel glanced over to gauge the situation and found Ed desperately shaking his head.
Rattle.
Just then, the door opened and Remi appeared.
She had a chocolate ice pop in her mouth.
The way she simply dipped her head in greeting when she saw Kim Jangmi made her look exactly like a high school girl.
“Remi. Are Jihun and Jia in the Demon Realm right now?”
“Yes.”
“...”
Kim Jangmi was boiling inside.
“Can you bring them back right now?”
Kim Remi shrugged and held up her phone.
“Hunter phone.”
“Oh!”
Hunter phones connected through something other than radio waves.
Humanity had yet to discover what that something was, but hunter phones had internet access wherever they went.
The Demon Realm Forum's messaging and community features meant they could contact each other anytime.
- Mom's home. Get here right now.
How long had she waited anxiously?
A light flashed in the yard, and Yu Jihun appeared.
“Oh, Mom.”
“You! Yu Jihun!”
Kim Jangmi grabbed him, her face full of anger.
“I know you're immature, but this is too much! Is this really the time for you to become a hunter?”
“No, it wasn't me.”
“If it wasn't you, who was it? You never stop talking about becoming a hunter, and the moment you awaken, you run off to that dangerous place?”
“No, Mooom.”
Flash, flash.
Soon Kim Junyong, Cheon Yubeom, Lee Mina, and Sasaki appeared too.
“Junyong! You're an adult. How could you...”
Flash, flash.
The last to appear was her daughter.
“...What happened to you?”
“Uh, Mom.”
Fully equipped, Yu Jia had monster blood splattered all over her.
“Jia, wash that blood off first! You're scaring Mom!”
When Kim Jangmi grabbed the back of her neck, Yu Jihun quickly summoned his water spirit and washed Yu Jia clean.
“Y-you! Both of you!”
Kim Jangmi finally collapsed.
* * *
An unfamiliar ceiling.
When Kim Jangmi opened her eyes, she saw her younger brother's face.
As her vision gradually cleared, her senses returned.
“Junyong.”
“Yeah.”
“Where am I?”
“My room.”
“The kids?”
“Over there.”
She looked where he pointed and saw Yu Jia and Yu Jihun standing with their arms raised.
“...Come here.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Mooom.”
His niece and nephew quickly lowered their arms and approached the bed.
“Should I leave?”
“Why would you leave?”
Kim Jangmi looked at her younger brother and scolded him.
“How could you take them there just because they begged you?”
“I was going to sneak them back before you got home.”
“That's not the point!”
The back of her neck tightened again.
“Uncle, come on.”
“What, you brat?”
Kim Junyong grinned at Yu Jihun.
“I understand why you're worried.”
“Phew. I'm not worrying too much, am I?”
“Of course not.”
The thought of her children having been to that dangerous Demon Realm made her dizzy.
“Mom.”
“Be quiet.”
Her dutiful daughter's perfect record of listening to Mom had gone off the rails.
“I'm going to be a hunter.”
“Yu Jia!”
“I've already decided. This is my path.”
“Do you think it's that easy?”
“She's got talent.”
“Junyong!”
Her brother kept butting in with his teasing comments, and it was getting on her nerves.
He chuckled and continued in a tone that wasn't nearly serious enough.
“If she's got talent, we should teach her.”
“Do you hear yourself right now?”
“Then we shouldn't teach her?”
“Of course not! There are so many jobs in the world. Why would she do something as dangerous as being a hunter?”
“Hahaha.”
“...? Why are you laughing?”
“Jangmi.”
Kim Junyong was still smiling, but his eyes looked more serious than ever.
“Who'll protect them if I'm not here?”
“What?”
“We should at least give them a chance to protect themselves.”
“...?”
“How long do you think Earth will stay in one piece?”
“...”
“Of course I'll protect it. But there's no reason to turn someone who's capable into a fool who can't do anything.”
Yu Jia quickly backed up her uncle.
“Exactly, Mom. It's like telling me not to get a driver's license because you're afraid of car accidents.”
“...”
Kim Jangmi pressed her lips together.
Worry and fear came first, but she held back, wondering whether this was just her own selfish wish as a mother. She wondered when her children had grown up so much, yet she also felt strangely betrayed. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Let them learn while they can.”
“He's right, Mom. I should learn while Uncle's here with me.”
“...”
Kim Jangmi finally sighed.
She couldn't think clearly because it involved her children, but they were right.
From what her brother said, the situation was serious.
This was the age of dimensional invasion.
In this world, a dungeon could break open at any moment.
They had the chance to learn survival skills. Not learning would be a waste.
“All right. I understand. You have my permission.”
“Mom!”
Yu Jia threw her arms around her.
Kim Jangmi stroked her daughter's back, then looked at her son, who stood there awkwardly.
“Then is Jihun becoming a hunter too?”
“Oh, he doesn't have any talent.”
“Urgh.”
Yu Jihun clutched his chest at his uncle's brutal statement of fact.
“We'll just raise his mana for self-defense, I guess.”
For the untalented Yu Jihun, it was like learning a little self-defense.
For the talented Yu Jia, it was like training to become a professional athlete.
“Can I do it too?”
“Huh?”
Kim Junyong brightened at his sister's unexpected suggestion.
“Of course! The longer you live, the happier I'll be!”
“...”
Sensing the many emotions missing from her brother's innocent joy, Kim Jangmi felt a weight settle in her chest.
“All right. Thank you.”
“Wow, you're a Healer, so it should be pretty hard for you to die.”
As long as she held on in a crisis, my retainers or I could hurry over and save her.
This would greatly improve the whole family's chances of survival.
“Wow, why didn't I think of this sooner?”
Kim Junyong felt like an idiot for thinking of “hunter awakening” as nothing more than a ticket for overseas trips.
Because they were his family, he had been stuck thinking of them as ordinary people.
He felt relieved, as if a blockage inside him had finally cleared.
“Does it make you that happy?”
“Of course! Not dying is better than getting revenge after someone dies, isn't it?”
“...”
Sadness filled Kim Jangmi's face, while shock spread across her children's.
But looking at her younger brother's, their uncle's, utterly innocent smile, none of them could find a reply.
He was truly happy.
* * *
[Teukgoji Group Chat]
Team Leader Lee - I think we'll be staying in the Demon Realm for a few days!
Deputy Director - Please keep sending regular reports.
Team Leader Lee - Yessir.
With Cheon Yubeom having left the Bureau entirely, Headquarters Director Lee Mina had taken over as team leader.
There were two agents assigned to the field: Lee Mina and Kim Sangsu.
The Bureau wanted to send more agents, but they couldn't place anyone unverified beside the Adviser.
“For now, let's finish as much of the construction as we can!”
“Let's get it done quickly!”
With the Adviser's family away, they quickly stepped up the construction work.
The restaurant stood on a site made by combining three blocks.
The two existing houses, a security building, and a multipurpose building occupied another site made up of six blocks.
The restaurant was open for everyone to see, but Kim Junyong's house was surrounded by a massive wall. Passersby couldn't see inside.
“Wow, it's practically a fortress.”
“It's hard to fly drones these days too. This is a real problem.”
The Hansan 2-dong Merchants' Association was, for the most part, an unofficial alliance of intelligence agents from around the world, cooperating under an unspoken nonaggression agreement.
“Oh, let's all just focus on our businesses.”
“Right. Special Two's a regular at my place these days.”
“Hah! She ate three hot dogs at mine yesterday! Don't get ahead of yourself!”
“Oh? Here she comes.”
Unlike Special One, who hardly ever came outside, Special Two had been appearing in the food alley fairly often lately.
[Credit Welcome! (Residents Only)]
Kim Remi glanced at the note beside the counter and ordered casually.
“Six mango juices.”
“Yes! I'll have them ready right away.”
Once again, she was perfectly confident without a wallet.
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