WeTried Translations

Translator: Yasi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Precious Demon King

Chapter 24: A Walk in the Demon Realm

Kim Junyong began his day at a dakgalbi restaurant in Uijeongbu. Now, he was sitting at a shellfish grill on the west coast of South Korea, watching the sunset.

"Let's have some soju too."

"Alcohol?"

When Remi showed interest, Kim Junyong chuckled.

"Hey, in Korea, nineteen-year-olds can't drink."

"..."

Remi pouted. Lee Mina and Cheon Yubeom tensed at the sudden change in mood.

"W-We'll get your ID changed right away."

"..."

"Pfft."

Kim Junyong held his soju glass and laughed with delight. Remi had lived far longer than he had, yet she was being treated like a nineteen-year-old.

"Ah, this is the taste."

"...?"

Soju after two hundred years tasted sweet. The assorted sashimi and grilled shellfish were also satisfying.

"Don't you two find this annoying?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It doesn't seem right to have you run around constantly without a break."

"Ah!"

Their dear Special Advisor having such normal, considerate thoughts?!

"Maybe I should buy a car."

Upon hearing this, Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina stiffened.

Kim Junyong driving? With his temper over parking disputes, one or two people might die every day.

What if traffic piled up in front of him? A miracle like Moses parting the Red Sea would unfold. Unless Seoul planned to scrap every car, Kim Junyong had to remain a pedestrian.

"N-No, absolutely not!"

"Exactly! We're a team, aren't we? We'll serve Special Advisor to our dying breath."

"Yes! Who needs weekends? It's more fun to be with Special Advisor."

"Ordering people around like servants feels too much like playing noble."

"Oh no, not at all. Even celebrities have managers, bodyguards, and stylists with them every day. We're all just team members supporting Special Advisor."

Kim Junyong smiled faintly at their insistence on being servants.

"Team members, huh...well, fine."

He took another shot of soju. He was in a good mood.

"For the first time, I've gained subordinates who aren't demons."

"Woah! Let's toast to that!"

"An honor!"

After a few more rounds, Kim Junyong was feeling great. All right, maybe he should earn his keep as a "special advisor."

"Are there any dungeons about to burst right now?"

"Uh...none left in Korea."

Since guilds bought the conquest rights for most B- to D-rank dungeons, the Hunter Management Bureau mainly handled A-rank dungeons and lower-value E- and F-rank ones.

"Really?"

Seeing that Kim Junyong looked disappointed, Lee Mina jumped in.

"If you're bored, how about villains?"

"Villains?"

He chuckled faintly at the anticipation on their faces.

"You have to save the best candy for last."

"Huh?"

"There's a reason."

To earn more Divine Fragments, he needed to perform "salvation" acts. Handling dungeons in crisis or subduing villains who had caused great harm to society was perfect for that.

When he was narrowly short on order points, taking down a villain was just right.

"What if I wipe them all out now and later the kids don't become villains because they're scared?"

"W-Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

"Hahh. You don't get it."

Heroes only shine when villains exist.

"Gotta nurture them while they're small. Let them grow into proper villains. If I wipe them out now and they reform, it'll be a waste."

"..."

Lee Mina and Cheon Yubeom were at a loss for words regarding Kim Junyong's bizarre philosophy. Their buzz was fading.

"S-Should we go grab dessert then?"

"Hmm."

Eat until full, then drink coffee. Repeat until evening. It was getting old.

"Oh, right! Let's go to the Demon Realm."

"The Demon Realm? All of a sudden?"

"Ah, perfect for sobering up too."

Dungeons and villains had to be found in person. However, the Demon Realm could be accessed instantly through a phone app, which made it perfect for post-meal exercise.

"Oh! I'll be your guide!"

"Hm? Deputy Director Lee, wouldn't our presence raise the average level?"

Dungeons placed parties in sectors based on their average level. It was basically an automatic difficulty adjustment.

"Come on, Team Leader. Who's worrying about who here? Read the room."

"Uh, right."

Hunters' ranks were usually determined by the amount of mana they possessed. Kim Junyong's mana was so insignificant that he would test as a Rank 9 hunter.

But that was only by the system standards. Realistically, he could handle A-grade dungeons with ease.

"Let's go now."

"Ah, yes!"

Kim Junyong took out his phone and tapped "Enter Demon Realm."

[ Entry Queue ]

Kim Junyong

Cheon Yubeom

Lee Mina

Kim Remi

"Ready?"

"Ready."

With all four of them in the party, Kim Junyong pressed the glowing Enter button.

Flash.

The four of them logged into a world turned upside down. Kim Junyong looked around.

"Oh, it's a lot like a dungeon."

"Haha, yeah. Dungeons are part of the Demon Realm too."

Thanks to God Earth's nonstop gaslighting, people actually believed this was the Demon Realm and not the Metaverse.

"Oh, monsters right away."

"Shall I cut them down?"

"Yeah."

Slash!

Remi instantly cut down the approaching monsters.

"Huh?"

She had taken down half a dozen, but his order points hadn't increased.

"Remi, hold up."

Kim Junyong stepped forward.

"Graaah!"

He lazily waved his hand at the charging monsters.

Shaaak.

A lump of black mana, no bigger than a bean, flew toward them and exploded the instant it hit their heads.

Boom–

A highly efficient attack with minimal mana.

Ssssh–

As he defeated the monsters, his mana rose as expected. The more monsters he defeated, the more his mana surged. However, the scale gave no response.

He was gaining experience, yet he received no reward from the scale for eliminating evil.

< Because this virtual world is an illusion, there are no good or evil deeds. >

"Wow, what a load of crap."

Virtual world. Metaverse. Demon Realm.

God Earth acknowledged activity here, but Goddess Belhaim didn't.

"How petty. That goddess looked like a sneaky one from the start."

< Bel's Scale detects offensive speech. >

"Ugh, whatever."

Complaining wouldn't earn him any rewards anyway.

"This is a half-assed hunting ground."

He could only gain mana here, not order points.

Only dungeons gave both. The Demon Realm only gave experience. Earth's villains only gave order points.

Oddly enough, it kind of feels balanced.

After all, dungeons bridged Earth and the Demon Realm.

"Let's try heading that way."

"Oh, let's check the map first."

"Map?"

"It's on the app."

When he opened the dungeon map, the familiar map of Earth had vanished. In its place was a map of unfamiliar terrain with labeled regions.

"Sector 89?"

"Yes. The Demon Realm has 256 sectors. This is Sector 89."

"What are these red dots?"

"They mark the locations of the demons. Just avoid those and hunt the monsters."

"...?"

Kim Junyong asked, puzzled.

"Why avoid the demons?"

"Huh? Isn't it hard to assess their danger level? You need an explorer class for demon raids."

"..."

Kim Junyong gave Cheon Yubeom a displeased look.

"Even when it's handed to you, you won't hunt a demon?"

"B-But without knowing its level, it's too risky."

"Ugh."

There was a reason God Earth sighed and threw a huge welcome party when Kim Junyong returned.

Earthlings had grown weak. Scouting, reconnaissance, and gathering information were important, of course. But it had been eroding their courage.

"Follow me. My subordinates need training."

Kim Junyong headed straight toward the nearest demon, bringing his first non-demon subordinates with him.

"This is its territory."

"Ah! That's right. The number of monsters is increasing."

If a demon tried to summon its territory to Earth as is, it would become a dungeon.

"If we take care of it early on in the Demon Realm, no dungeons will form. Wouldn't that be good?"

"...Isn't that a bit idealistic? Hmm."

A sharp jab in the ribs made Cheon Yubeom stop. Lee Mina shot him a glare and mouthed something at him.

Please, read the room.

What? What did I even do wrong?

Just stop talking.

Smiling brightly, Lee Mina chimed in.

"Special Advisor is absolutely right! It would be great to clean up the Demon Realm together."

"Exactly. So when do we reclaim it?"

"Huh? Reclaim it?"

"...?"

Kim Junyong held up his phone to show Lee Mina.

"What's this app called?"

"Demon Realm Subjugation."

"Do you feel anything from that?"

"..."

"Hahh. We've got a long way to go. A long way."

That damn God Earth. Apparently, he had completely botched the gaslighting. How were they supposed to reclaim the Metaverse from the Demon King's army at this rate?

These hunters were too passive. The best defense was offense, yet everyone was focused solely on defending Earth.

"Remi, start letting a few monsters through. Don't kill everything."

"I didn't kill those."

"Huh?"

Kim Junyong tilted his head and looked at the monster corpses.

"Then who did?"

"There's a group of humans ahead."

"Ah, we have company."

The Demon Realm was vast, but with ten million hunters, encounters were common.

"Shall I cut them down?"

"Whoa, don't slash randomly...Oh!"

Kim Junyong clapped.

"It's a virtual world, so there's no such thing as good or evil!"

< Bel's Scale is flustered... >

He grinned mischievously.

"Scared, are you?"

Kim Junyong was living a new life. As a respectable, law-abiding citizen, he couldn't just go around killing the wrong people. He would live modestly.

"There's no reason to kill them if they're not picking a fight."

"Phew."

"Whew."

"Tch."

He continued onward with two relieved humans and one disappointed demon in tow.

They soon came across a group of hunters who had just finished hunting and were harvesting byproducts from a monster corpse.

The hunters had just finished a battle, so when outsiders suddenly approached, their wariness spiked and they reacted defensively.

"Get lost."

"Shall I cut them?"

Remi was excited.

"Ugh, move aside."

The true leader, Kim Junyong, stepped forward and introduced himself.

"We're hunters from Korea. Let's hunt demons together."

In response to Kim Junyong's polite request, a man who appeared to be the leader of the group stepped forward. His teammates instinctively tensed up, ready to attack if anything went wrong.

"I don't care who you are. We claimed this demon first. Back off."

"How rude. Shall I cut them?"

"Ugh, Remi, move aside."

He pulled Remi back as she kept stepping forward. Cheon Yubeom and Lee Mina watched the scene nervously, uneasy at the ridiculous display.

"Well, fine. Let's just hunt separately."

Kim Junyong conceded with surprising grace.

"Whoever catches it first gets it. Remi, let's go."

"Yes."

He headed toward the red dot on the map with a very disappointed-looking Remi.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? We already claimed this demon."

Ten hunters crept closer.

"So that's it. You bastards were picking a fight on purpose."

"What bullshit is that? I said we would hunt separately."

"Hmph. We spent three days preparing for this raid."

"I prepped for 5 minutes."

The other party took Kim Junyong's honesty as sarcasm and shook their head.

"So the bounty was your goal all along."

"Huh? You guys have a bounty?"

"Don't play dumb. Did you say you're from Korea?"

"Yeah."

The leader let out a sigh. Was even a Korean hunter looking down on them? No, had their infamy spread as far as South Korea?

"Hey, do you know these guys? They say they're villains."

"I'm not sure. I don't follow foreign villains..."

"Hmm, they seem weak."

Apparently, they weren't famous.

"Hmph, enough talk. Bring it on."

To them, it was obvious Kim Junyong's group had come looking for a fight. Otherwise, why would they trespass into a demon sector that was already being hunted and pick such a ridiculous fight?

"This is just piling on the misunderstanding."

"Shall I cut them?"

Remi grinned from ear to ear.

"You're a damn fine-looking bitch. I'll kill you last."

And so, it really turned into a fight. Kim Junyong shrugged.

"I guess we have no choice."

Schwing.

Remi drew her sword with a radiant smile and stepped forward.

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