Chapter 38 ….
“…So you knew about Ego Sword?”
“Yeah.”
“Since when?”
“From the start.”
What is this, why do I feel possessed.
I gripped the whining sword tightly as if to subdue it.
“This thing keeps buzzing and mumbling.”
“Do you not know what it’s saying?”
“Nope.”
I nodded.
“Feels like it’s cussing me out — calling me a Demon King and saying I’m using it as a servant.”
“……”
No reply — so I must’ve hit the mark!
I’d read the original, so I already knew the Ego Sword talked in a rough, hoarse voice. I also knew it hummed and buzzed whenever it got angry and started ranting.
And somehow, from the feeling of it, this thing was… cursing me right now!
“I’ll bite right through and leave teeth marks!”
I shook the sword hanging at Han Hyunjin’s waist and bared my teeth; the blade thrashed in my hand like a live fish.
But a sword is just a sword.
I pretended to bite the leather scabbard and Han Hyunjin sighed, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“All right… first, drink some water and lie down. Don’t worry about this.”
He eased me down onto the bed and returned to his seat.
Of course, I couldn’t fall asleep easily. Han Hyunjin by the window was on my mind.
Having someone keep watch at my side while I was sick felt strange.
My mother had died as soon as I finished the college entrance exam and became an adult, and the cat we’d raised together died not long after. Ever since then, I’d always been alone.
Whether I’d been treated unfairly at work or I was feeling sick and groaning, I’d cook my own porridge and fall asleep alone — that was my default life.
So having Han Hyunjin beside me felt odd and wondrous at the same time.
‘Well, even if it’s because he feels guilty, that’s not so bad.’
I moved my fingers under the blanket and looked at Han Hyunjin.
“Can’t sleep?”
“No.”
He studied me intently.
“What are you thinking about?”
“…Just.”
I looked at him with a wistful air.
“There’s something I loved so much in the past, but I can’t see it anymore.”
“…What’s that?”
He seemed bothered by my answer and leaned in.
I motioned for him to come closer.
He approached with suspicion but climbed onto the bed and leaned in so close I could feel his breath. At that instant I made up my mind.
I would tell him, plainly, the object of my longing — the unforgettable nostalgia I’d missed since the day I opened my eyes as a Demon King.
“Honey, sweet combo with wedge fries added. Add Cheongyang mayo sauce, add spicy red dipping.”
“…You want to add what?”
I lowered my voice to sound even more wistful.
“I want late-night fried chicken…”
“……”
“If I grease my stomach a little, I think I’d fall asleep right away…”
Han Hyunjin stared at me in disbelief and grabbed the sword at his waist hard.
The scabbard started buzzing again — apparently it was spouting obscenities.
I glanced at the sight and turned over.
“Oh my fate. What did I do to deserve late-night food? Sigh, just fall asleep. If I sleep I’ll forget I’m hungry, surely. My fate. Ouch, my bones ache…”
Han Hyunjin let out a sigh that only I could hear.
“Go buy it right away.”
While Griffiths and teary-eyed Orc No. 3 stood night watch, Han Hyunjin darted down to Earth and came back with fried chicken.
Steam of grease and the sweet, savory smell of soy-garlic wafted out of the white paper box.
I opened the box on the bed and grabbed a plump drumstick first.
The instant I bit into it, the crack of the crispy skin and the tingling sensation hit my tongue that had been used to bland food.
Indeed, people need MSG to live. The melancholic mood blew away.
Of course — the brief gloom had just been because I was hungry!
If you feel more down or irritable than usual, check whether you’re just hungry.
Han Hyunjin watched me eat the chicken happily.
After a moment’s thought I motioned him over.
“You should have some too.”
“…Me?”
“You bought it, didn’t you? Of course you eat it too.”
Besides, eating a late-night snack alone is boring. It’s heartless to keep something this tasty all to myself.
I patted the space beside me; Han Hyunjin hesitated, climbed up, and sat on the edge of the bed.
Ah — this made me remember ordering late-night food with my mother so often.
I handed him the fresh drumstick.
“Actually, it’s been a long time since I ate chicken as a late-night snack with someone.”
“…Is that so.”
He bit into the drumstick with shy reluctance, then murmured softly.
“Same here.”
I looked at him, a little surprised, and then smiled.
Huff, huff, huff.
AJ ran through a cruel, grotesque hell and then woke up.
It felt as if he’d been running through hell for ten thousand years.
An unspeakably terrifying, bizarre hell. AJ had been enduring indescribably painful torture and a hair-raising chase there.
When he opened his eyes, he was collapsed in a subway station.
“Hu, huff… they’re coming to catch me, they’re coming to catch me…!”
“Is he insane?”
“I have to run, I have to run, I have to run, I have to run, they’re coming to catch me, they’re coming to catch me…!”
“Eek! What the—!”
On the morning commuter train hour, people murmured and stared at AJ as if he were a madman. AJ shoved past people and fled.
“Ugh, why is there a homeless person at this hour…? Shouldn’t we call the station staff?”
“Wait, that guy looks familiar… Isn’t he a Hunter Association member?”
Panic-stricken, AJ wandered the station.
People who recognized his face began taking pictures and uploading them to online communities.
[Isn’t this an S-rank Hunter from the Association?]
[It must be someone who looks like him. Why would an S-rank Hunter become homeless?]
[From his behavior he seems mentally unstable. I know because I’m a mental-type hunter, though C-rank.]
Fearful, AJ bolted out of the station and ran into the city.
“Eek!”
“Crazy person… no, a crazy hunter!”
As AJ sprinted barefoot like a wild boar through the city, the Association chief watched him through the office building window.
“AJ — should we catch him and treat him? I’ve removed the eyewitness posts from the internet for now.”
Behind the chief, Dohwa — who had appeared from the shadows — asked.
After receiving the report that AJ had gone insane, she was worried.
‘To have AJ’s mind collapse in such a short time… what could possibly be in that dungeon?’
Could there be some unknown entity inside? If there were a monster that outmatched even the power of S-rank hunters…
‘Is it really right to meddle with something like that?’
For the first time, she felt fear.
“Heh.”
At that moment, the chief watching from the window quietly chuckled.
“…?”
Chuckles, then a stifled giggle.
He laughed until his body trembled; after a while he muttered,
“This is interesting.”
The rarer and stronger the animal, the harder it is to capture it. Rarity increases its value. The chief couldn’t resist owning such a creature. It’d been his hobby for over a century.
Collecting his laughter, the chief said:
“Bring AJ here and treat him.”
“Yes.”
“And keep an eye on the Demon King dungeon for now.”
“Understood, Chief.”
Dohwa looked unsettled as she left the meeting room.
Han Hyunjin had stayed in that dungeon for about a week after that.
Saying it nonchalantly didn’t capture how surprising it was.
Originally he used to leave the dungeon without fail as soon as night fell, but now he stayed by my side like a pet dog.
‘Did he actually worry about me?’
He stayed there until my and Orc No. 2’s wounds healed completely without a scar. Occasionally he would leave to go get information or when he threw the crazed AJ out, but mostly he stayed.
Because of that, I saw Han Hyunjin in a new light.
‘At first I just thought he was a lunatic who was only focused on closing gates.’
More than anything, whenever I whined about wanting something to eat he’d buy it for me without complaint.
That was real proof he was a kind person. Someone who buys you delicious food is an angel; and he’d save money by eating kimbap three times a day himself but still spoil me with tasty things every day.
If you asked who Han Hyunjin was, I could say, “He always bought me good food.”
Definitely, the fact he kept watch by me all night earned him my favor.
So I called Han Hyunjin into the bedroom.
I decided I should tell him the truth now.
