Chapter 123 – Pursuit (2)

I began to track Im Jae-joon.

“Turn left at the end of the road. It’s a school zone, so please be careful.”

How convenient, this Elder Succubus Navigation!

With Olivier’s support, I chased after Im Jae-joon’s location.

He was heading to a residential area during his lunch break.

He’s coming to a remote residential area like this for lunch, not a restaurant district?

And for several weeks at that?

Olivier knew him down to the number of hairs on his head, yet she didn’t know what he was up to. Isn’t that a little strange?

Ah, of course, I’m talking about the number of hairs on the old Im Jae-joon’s head.

It was incredibly easy to count back then.

Or rather, there was no need to count at all.

“It’s that house!”

It was a detached house with a yard.

A newly constructed building, it boasted a clean interior and exuded a modern atmosphere.

Looking at it, the garden was magnificent, and the whole place looked quite luxurious.

“Hey, is this maybe his house?”

“No, the Chairman’s home is in Gangnam.”

This wasn’t Gangnam.

Then could it be… a lover?

“A-a lover? The Chairman?”

“He’s in his prime, it’s about time he’d want a girlfriend. He used to be a pathetic Demon King with a bad case of eighth-grade syndrome, but here, he’s a second-generation chaebol, more or less.”

“I don’t mind him seeing women, it’s just…”

Olivier’s voice trailed off anxiously.

Ah, right. That guy Im Jae-joon has a thing for older women.

It wouldn’t be a problem if they were just a little older, but ten, twenty years older was his baseline.

“He’s doing well for himself as the Hanul Guild Master, right? He’s recognized within his family’s company, too. They call it the ‘rebellion of the illegitimate son’ or something. You really think he’d create unnecessary drama?”

“That’s true, but…”

Even the Demon King’s most trusted subordinate, Olivier, was on edge.

There was no need to wait. I took a step forward to ring the doorbell.

Just then, a car pulled up.

“…”

A middle-aged woman in a lavish outfit and sunglasses got out of the car, glancing around.

“…”

The bell was rung, and the gate opened.

“Hey.”

“…Don’t ask.”

“You’re sure Im Jae-joon is in there, right?”

“……”

Olivier covered her face and began to sob.

Truthfully, the Demon King was a rather respectable boss.

He had a good grasp of his subordinates’ abilities and exercised his authority to place them in the right positions. And he never said a word about his subordinates’ work, whether they succeeded or failed.

While the Undead Demon Army’s members had a tendency to lose their minds a bit after dying and coming back to life, the Shadow Demon Army was characterized by its exceptional loyalty to the Demon King.

That was why Olivier was tormented by the sight of her superior’s private life, which she never wanted to witness.

Wait, is she running away?

Is this denial?

Can’t be helped.

Whatever the Demon King does is none of my business.

He’s a grown adult, after all. It’s an age where you want to do whatever you please.

An age where it’s okay to choose not to eat the carrots in your food.

*Ding-dong.*

I pressed the doorbell of the mansion.

-Who is it?

It was the voice of the middle-aged woman who had just gone inside.

“Hello. I have a delivery.”

-A delivery? Just a moment.

The main gate opened with a click.

As I entered the property, I flexed my fist. Delivering the iron fist of retribution to a corrupt Demon King is the duty of a Hero. Damn right it is.

The front door opened, as if to receive the package.

The person who came out was not the middle-aged woman, but Im Jae-joon.

“…?”

“…”

“…!”

“!”

Im Jae-joon flinched as reality finally seemed to dawn on him.

He was a sight to behold.

He usually pretended to be a gentleman, wearing high-end suits with his hair neatly styled back with pomade, but here, he was in shorts and a t-shirt.

And that t-shirt was truly something else.

It had a character that looked like a yellow sponge printed on it. You were into that kind of thing?

“Hey.”

“You have the wrong person.”

“I haven’t even said your name yet.”

“Would you please leave?”

“You still haven’t learned your lesson.”

I mean, he’s a decent-looking guy, though not as good as me. Why is he meeting women his mother’s age instead of someone his own?

As I entered the mansion without stopping, Im Jae-joon grew frantic, took off his glasses, and glared intently.

Ocular arts?

The moment I made eye contact with him, I felt a brief sense of paralysis.

-The curse has been lifted.

Yeah, no.

-Resisted Brainwashing Beam.

Brainwashing beam? Is he out of his mind?

Infuriated, I charged toward Im Jae-joon.

Startled, Im Jae-joon slammed the door shut and engaged several locks.

Oh my, you’ve locked the door. I guess I can’t get in now, huh?

Do you think I work out for no reason?

It’s for moments exactly like this.

I ripped the door open.

*Thud, creak.*

The bolts in the hinges clung on desperately before crashing to the floor, sensing their duty was done.

“Why’d you lock the door? It’s going to be a pain to open and close the front door for a while. Because of you.”

I stepped inside and roughly put the door back in place.

“Did someone come, Jae-joon?”

“Ah, uh. Yes.”

I could see Im Jae-joon fluster at the middle-aged woman’s voice from behind him.

Wow, so they’re living together?

“Hey, Im Jae-joon.”

“How did you suddenly show up here?”

“I don’t care what your taste in women is. I have no reason to say anything. But now that we’re in the same boat, you shouldn’t be doing things that could cause trouble, right? Huh?”

“Me? What’s wrong with my taste?”

Unbelievable.

“Hey, remember that one time in some kingdom when they sent a princess as a bride along with an envoy to sue for peace, and you were more interested in the king’s mother?”

“Sh-she was a virtuous woman, so I simply wished to have a leisurely conversation with her over tea…”

Virtuous, my ass.

“Hey, no matter what, a wrinkly old grandm—”

“She’s my mother.”

“No one would mistake you two. She looks so young. I thought she was your older sister. What did you just say?”

“My biological mother.”

Uh, what, all of a sudden?

“Oh my, are you Jae-joon’s friend? My, what a surprise!”

Soon, the middle-aged woman came toward the entrance.

Huh?

She looks really familiar.

“Oh my, this man. Isn’t he the one… what was it. The one who took down the dragon? Oh my goodness, what is happening.”

The middle-aged woman was wearing an apron.

It was the veteran actress, Ms. Oh Mi-ja.

I looked at Im Jae-joon.

Im Jae-joon glared at me.

I looked somewhere else.

* * *

“This is the first time Jae-joon has brought a friend home. I was just preparing lunch, so this is perfect. Go on upstairs and wait.”

Ms. Oh Mi-ja, mistaking me for her son’s friend, greeted me warmly.

Leaving Ms. Oh Mi-ja to her stew, Im Jae-joon and I went up to a room on the upper floor.

“Um. So, that thing.”

“…”

“You should have told me Ms. Oh Mi-ja was your mother.”

“It’s not exactly something I’d go around happily announcing.”

No matter how tolerant the world had become, the public perception of a child born from an affair was hardly favorable.

As far as I knew, Im Jae-joon hadn’t been able to live with his biological mother.

He was always treated like an outcast at home, tormented by his older brother and sister.

Of course, now he was in control of everything in the conglomerate thanks to his exceptional abilities.

“In fact, it hasn’t been long since I started visiting her. There were too many watchful eyes.”

“Oh, right.”

“It’s truly strange. To think the Demon King who once set the entire continent ablaze would be drawn to his own mother’s affection.”

This guy’s preference for older women might have stemmed from his starvation for affection.

I wouldn’t know.

From the looks of it, the Goddess had said she and I were family, but she never stated it clearly.

No, anyone who wasn’t an idiot could figure it out.

I just hadn’t admitted it to myself.

“But was there something so urgent that you had to barge into someone else’s house?”

Im Jae-joon sat on the bed, crossed his legs, and looked at me.

“By the way, that t-shirt is really throwing me off. Could you change into something else?”

The kid was talking sharply with the full aura of a Demon King, but the character on his shirt kept catching my eye, and it was incredibly distracting. So distracting.

“My mother… bought it for me…”

“Ah…”

I guess you have no choice then…

It seemed they had lived apart for a long time and were only now starting to live together.

Anyway, it’s hilarious that the great Demon King of all people was so eager to have a meal with his mom that he’d sneak out of work during lunch, only to go back afterward.

It’s absurd.

Seeing this pathetic side of him made my earlier concerns feel foolish.

“There’s something I wanted to ask.”

“Something you wanted to ask?”

I told Im Jae-joon about the Immortal Demon King.

He had gone from being a mere demonic slave to the Immortal Demon King.

And he had conquered the continent.

“Yes, I heard about it from Olivier. Gamigin underestimated you far too much. Or perhaps, she underestimated me?”

Probably both.

Even though my appearance was not part of her plan, she had confidently initiated a battle instead of running away.

“I am the same as Gamigin. When a suitable candidate for one of the 72 Demon Kings appears, the System naturally awakens them.”

“Yeah, I know that already.”

There was something this guy still hadn’t told me.

Quite a lot, actually.

A smile formed on Im Jae-joon’s lips.

“It seems we can finally have a deep conversation.”

Don’t give me that greasy look when you say that. I might just hit you without thinking.

“Yes, that’s right. There is only one reason why I was reincarnated in the human world and selected as a Demon King once again.”

Im Jae-joon spoke as if he had nothing to hide.

“I was ordered to conquer this dimension.”

I knew it.

There isn’t just one dimension.

Gods are not omnipotent beings.

To make a comparison, there isn’t just one game on the market, and there isn’t just one developer or operator running them.

Just as there are various games, there are various dimensions.

The beings known as Demon Kings are all busy in their own separate dimensions, trying to conquer and rule them.

“Of course, there are many ways to rule.”

The immortal Gamigin and the shadowy Dantalian were very different from each other.

Gamigin sought to completely annihilate her enemies, going far beyond the persecution humans had inflicted on her.

Dantalian moved to shatter unjust situations, and he did not commit unnecessary acts of cruelty in the regions that submitted to him.

The proof was that even after his death, none of the commoners who lived under the Demon Kingdom’s rule resented the Demon King.

“To tell you what you want to know most first.”

Im Jae-joon, a being who had become closer to human than Demon King, laid his cards on the table.

“The worldview of each dimension is completely different. The values of the people living there, their ways of life. But there is one single entity that penetrates all dimensions.”

I know.

“The System.”

Even the miracles shown by the gods were, in the end, dependent on the System.

“The Demon Kings conquer dimensions to create their strongholds, and furthermore, they seek to become the rulers of Fantasia. I thought, just like the other Demon Kings, could I end this endless spiral of war with my own strength and dominance alone?”

You can’t.

It’s like the Warring States period.

“Your existence is a definite irregular.”

A being capable of single-handedly subduing a Demon King, one of the highest-ranking entities in the System.

Before, it ended with just laughing at Dantalian. But the existence of a Hero who defeated Gamigin had become a threat to the Demon Kings.

“In any case, a fight with the Demon Kings will be unavoidable.”

“How about you try to talk them down? Tell them, ‘If you come here, a scary Hero will chop your head right off.’”

Im Jae-joon let out a small laugh at my words.

“It probably won’t be easy. For the Demon Kings, there is an incredibly satisfying prey here.”

“Me? That’s like charging a dinosaur with a stone axe because you want to eat its meat, isn’t it?”

Honestly, I’m not sure what would happen if all 70 Demon Kings attacked at once, but one or two of them wouldn’t stand a chance.

Ah, of course, I’d need to fully recover my strength first.

“Because there is a Goddess candidate here.”

“A Goddess candidate?”

Of course, I knew that the current goddesses’ powers had weakened.

Deterioration? Is that the right word?

For one, they could no longer contain people’s wishes within their bodies.

In truth, I knew even without him telling me.

I had my suspicions, after all.

“Karin.”

That unbelievable amount of holy power.

A power so strong it could move an entire territory across dimensions.

Was that really possible with just an individual’s talent?