Chapter 12: king of the ordinary world

No need for a long explanation, right?

Under Jae-in’s power, the man confessed everything.

From the fact that the Tennouji family was behind everything.

To the traitor within the National Intelligence Service and the corrupt politicians, he revealed it all.

Of course, also the fact that it was the Tennouji who took the original half of the Manpasikjeok.

But.

Splash!

“Even so, there’s nothing we can do.”

Si-ah said with a bitter expression as she threw the dead man’s body into the sea.

“Either way, the Tennouji family is one of the most powerful families in Japan, along with the Seishuin family, and to hold them accountable is to make an enemy of Japan.”

I’m sorry to keep emphasizing this, but that’s how absolute the existence of a Devil King is.

A transcendent being, humanity’s last bastion, and a king of humans.

If it were other Devil Kings whose personalities were at least somewhat known, it might be different.

But in a situation where there is no information at all about the new king, touching a Devil King who is openly cooperating with the Japanese government was close to suicide.

It was not only a question of fairness.

He could openly take Japan’s side.

And even if he didn’t, in the end, blood is thicker than water.

If the King of Japan says to let this matter go, then it’s over.

“The Manpasikjeok will also naturally fall into Japan’s hands.”

“Didn’t you say it would be difficult to retrieve?”

“That’s from our perspective as humans. There’s no way a mere divine beast, not even a god, can stand against a Devil King.”

Turtle Mountain might go on a rampage?

Meaningless.

Then they would just kill it.

No, maybe they’ll try to kill it and take it from the beginning?

Whatever it is, the remaining half will also fall into Japan’s hands, and the Manpasikjeok will be completed.

“It would be better to quickly retrieve the Manpasikjeok on our side and then feign ignorance, that’s the only way to at least keep the half we have.”

One fortunate thing is that if the Tennouji are in their right mind, they won’t carelessly reveal this matter.

Right now, it’s a secret that a Devil King has just been born, but borrowing the king’s authority is a very dangerous thing.

After all, even a Devil King is human, and most humans who are warriors have a strong sense of pride.

Would they take it lightly if someone used their name without permission?

It was likely that after some time, the majority of people speculated that the King of Japan would personally deal with Japan’s current excesses.

And of course, depending on the King of Japan’s choice, there could be quite a bloodbath.

Unless the Tennouji were fools, they wouldn’t leave any openings to be caught at that time.

“A Manpasikjeok is going a bit overboard, even for them.”

“So, normally it should be presented to the king?”

“Almost. The Tennouji only did the work, but the motive, the background, and even the information were all obtained thanks to the King of Japan, right?

A God’s Relic is something that even a king might move for, so it’s an understatement to say that the Tennouji obtained the Manpasikjeok by their own power.”

“Wow, this king is really something, isn’t he?”

“Of course. I told you, didn’t I? In this world, the strong one wins.

The king is the strongest person. Unless you’re a king yourself, you can’t even compare, numbers are meaningless…..”

She spoke as if it were obvious, and in fact, this was common sense in this industry.

But it was still unfamiliar to Jae-in.

He was once the Elden Lord, but he had never held such absolute power.

‘Absolute, my ass. I was always getting pushed around by Melina. And to say that even numbers are meaningless……’

Even excluding demigods and gods, there were still many strong individuals in the Lands Between.

If he had to pick the strongest being he had ever fought, it would undoubtedly be the Elden Beast, the watchdog of the outer god that ruled the Elden.

But aside from that exceptional monster, the strongest was not a god or a demigod, but a Tarnished like him, the first Elden Lord, Godfrey.

‘Honestly, I was lucky. If I hadn’t obtained the Authority from defeating Morgott before fighting that crazy old man, I might have lost.’

In fact, the fight itself was overwhelming, but that was because, as mentioned above, the Authority obtained from defeating Morgott had ‘completed’ Jae-in.

Besides Godfrey, there were also numerous dragons.

The guardian who protects Destined Death, the enemy of the gods, Maliketh.

And his friend, the Tarnished Vyke, who is probably working hard in Jae-in’s place right now.

None of them are divine beings.

Nevertheless, they were monsters who were insanely strong, no less than any demigod.

If he were told to fight them all and win, he would confidently say “don’t talk bullsh*t” and smash the person’s head who told him to do it.

“Sigh, then how strong are these kings?”

Humans at their peak.

Jae-in’s standard for the peak of humanity was set at the level of the Tarnished, which led to this misunderstanding.

Objectively speaking, even if they were Tarnished, they were still human.

Once they accepted the Golden Blessing.

And within it, as a blade prepared by a god for the end of an era, it’s hard to see a Tarnished as a pure human.

In fact, this was proven by the fact that Jae-in became a Godslayer.

The fact that he killed Malenia, the original owner of the [Waterfowl Dance], was not just luck, but his true skill, which he could do again.

He was confident that he could do even better.

“That look, you saw it from the beginning. My sword….”

“Not from the beginning. You showed it many times. And in the first place, if your body was in a slightly better condition, I would have been the one lying on the ground.”

“…I disagree. If that were the case, you would not have challenged me. You have that ‘insight’.

In fact, I think you were pushing yourself even to fight me in my current state.”

“What else could I do? My only friend is going crazy in real-time. Anyway, love is the enemy.

I’m sorry, but I’ll take your brother Miquella’s needle. The dead no longer need it.”

“Ah, the vessel of a king. I’m sorry, brother. I can no longer wait for you here…..”

Of the day the Elden Lord was born.

The conversation between the Unfailing Goddess and the King at the beginning of the journey.

Anyway, it was Jae-in who unintentionally overestimated the Devil Kings.

But thanks to that, he could empathize more deeply with the feelings of the Special Missions Department members, so maybe it wasn’t a bad thing?

Thus, early the next morning, a memorable first mission was completed with the arrival of support from the Special Missions Department.

Is there anything more rewarding than working hard and seeing the money in your bank account?

I was enjoying that feeling in real-time.

The corners of my mouth were twitching uncontrollably.

Moreover, Si-ah, Ha-neul, and Eun-ae must have reported well, because the Special Missions Department sent more than double the originally promised amount under the name of an incentive.

That day, I immediately went to the supermarket and swept up beef, Korean beef at that, put it on a new grill, opened a can of beer, and shouted, ‘This is life! This is the best!’ as I held a celebratory party.

“I got a really good job! It’s fun, the people are nice, and most importantly, I can work when I want to!”

Compared to the time when he was a figurehead king, constantly being nagged and scolded, it was truly heaven.

However, that didn’t mean he had absolutely no worries.

Why are freelancers dangerous?

Because there’s no organization to protect you, and on the other hand, you’re poking around everywhere, making a lot of enemies.

‘Even if I handled it as cleanly as possible, eventually, in time, it will be known that I did this.’

With a beer can at his lips, I thought quietly.

‘Tennouji, was it? Honestly, I doubt that such a family is the most powerful in the country, but they must have some information network.’

It’s only natural since they were the ones who leaked the information about the Manpasikjeok.

Such people would probably hold a grudge against him.

Since he’s a freelancer, they won’t confront him directly.

But they might send assassins, saying he must pay the price for daring to make an enemy of the Tennouji.

“Honestly, I’m not scared, but it’s going to be a pain in the ass.”

He wasn’t worried about the assassination itself.

He was used to such things because he had been in a rough place.

Especially since he completed the Elden Ring and erased it from the world through Ranni, the Golden Order fanatics were a bit, no, very much extreme.

Now, it’s to the point of being familiar and boring.

What’s more, unless it’s a monster specialized in assassination, his senses are too sharp for it to work.

And even if it did work, because of his Authority, unless it’s an incantation used by demigods, he can’t be instantly killed.

But apart from that, he knew better than anyone that being targeted by assassins was a huge pain.

It’s often said in martial arts novels that assassins keep sending assassins until the target is eliminated.

To wear down the target.

Of course, he thought that human lives weren’t like song coins in a karaoke, so that was bull, but when he experienced it, it was true.

It’s not a joke, it really wears a person down.

For real.

So much so that when he was at his most sensitive, even Melina, the nagging queen, was cautious.

‘Usually in this situation, you either uproot the source or crush them so they don’t dare to challenge you, but that damn King of Japan is in the way.’

A Devil King.

Or a Godslayer, was it?

After returning, I asked the Special Missions Department to investigate a bit.

Surprisingly, I found out that they were similar to me.

A being who killed a god and usurped the god’s Authority, becoming something more than human.

Thanks to that, at first, I thought, ‘Then am I also a king?!’

But when I heard that the ‘god’ was like Zeus or Thor from mythology, I was sure that I wasn’t one.

The guys I defeated were monsters who were no less powerful, but in my common sense, no matter what.

There was no way they could compare to Zeus or Thor.

“No, wait. But the Elden Beast might be comparable…….”

I thought about it for a moment, but…..

I concluded that it wasn’t the case.

Fundamentally, the Elden Beast didn’t give me any Authority.

Ironically, even though I defeated the Elden Beast, the one who gave me Authority in the end was Marika, the Eternal Queen.

“She gave me an Authority with obvious strings attached. Damn woman. I should have known she was a b*tch when I saw her make her own children fight.”

Of course, the performance of the Authority itself is overwhelming, but…….

Anyway, let’s explain this later.

So, what’s important now is how to deal with it in the future.

But I soon stopped thinking.

Because I decided that it wasn’t a problem to worry about right now.

“The Tennouji haven’t sent assassins yet, so I can worry about it later.”

What’s more, I confirmed that the Special Missions Department members were more capable than I had imagined.

They were already in the process of recovering the remaining half of the Manpasikjeok that Si-ah and I had discovered.

Furthermore, they had started working to make sure that the story of the Tennouji family secretly trying to steal the God’s Relic would naturally reach the ears of the King of Japan.

“I’m not exactly a king, but I’ve played the role, so I know. If you let that kind of thing slide, you’ll be a pushover.”

Especially since the King of Japan had just become a king.

If he doesn’t make an example now, he’ll be treated like an idiot forever.

Well, this king is a brute force type, so maybe it won’t go that far.

But at least it’s the right timing to make an example.

“They’re not stupid, so they’ll take care of it. The Tennouji, or whatever they’re called, will lie low if they’ve been marked by their own country’s king.

I’ll just stay friendly with the Special Missions Department people. It seems like they have a grip on the situation in Korea anyway.”

So, I decided to maintain the current situation for the time being.

But.

At this point, I didn’t know.

That the king was a real idiot…….

Let’s not go into too much detail, shall we?

As Jae-in predicted, the mood in the Japanese supernatural world was festive.

No, it was more like a runaway horse.

It had reached a point where even they themselves wondered if this was going too far.

:= !!!

However, they couldn’t help but understand, because the presence of the Devil King born in Japan was so absolute.

‘If only the King continues to grow, standing shoulder to shoulder with America won’t be just a dream.’

‘The era of the Great Japanese Empire will dawn again!’

Does it sound far-fetched?

It would be nice if it were, but unfortunately, it’s not far-fetched at all.

On the contrary, it’s a very realistic goal that is quite achievable.

This was because the influence of a Devil King’s existence was that powerful.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Japan is the only country with a Devil King.

As mentioned earlier, even excluding the newly born Devil King in Japan, there were already six Devil Kings ruling the world.

And naturally, since Devil Kings grow stronger with time and battle, all of the existing Devil Kings were far greater monsters than the Japanese Devil King.

As can be seen from the statement about ‘catching up’ to the United States, there was already a Devil King in the US.

The 4th Devil King, John Pluto Smith.

Commonly known as the Nameless King, John, the Faceless Hero, and the Sure-Shot, he was the one.

However, despite being an American Devil King, the Nameless King was one of those who took a very independent path.

That didn’t mean he worked with them, though.

In a way, he was like the heroes in American superhero movies, contributing to the world in his own way, based on his own judgment.

In fact, as can be seen from the title ‘Faceless Hero’, even the US government didn’t know his true identity.

He was essentially an American Devil King in name only.

Also, there was China, representing martial arts, which are a branch of supernatural powers.

China also had a Devil King.

The 2nd Devil King. Luo Cuilian.

The only one who could truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the 1st Devil King, one of the true absolutes.

She, too, lived in seclusion, far from civilization, like a hermit, so like the Nameless King, she was only a Chinese Devil King in name.

In fact, this side had no connection with the government, so no one called her a Chinese Devil King.

In the end, there were only two countries in the world that maintained a smooth relationship with a Devil King and fully borrowed their authority.

They were the symbols of the two-power system, England and Italy.

In fact, this was clearly demonstrated by the fact that the headquarters of the Greenwich Council of Sages, which manages the world’s supernatural powers, was in England.

And although Italy was relatively new to having a Devil King.

They had already climbed to a position right below those two, and were steadily gaining power.

But now Japan was included among these two countries.

Like someone who had just become a Devil King from a human, he was very cooperative with the Japanese government.

And with this one fact alone, Japan was able to gain enormous direct and indirect benefits in just a few short months.

‘This is like playing a game with cheats on.’

‘It’s understandable. After all, when you look into it, the two Devil Kings of England and Italy are troublemakers and stubborn fools who don’t listen to anyone.’

‘In contrast, the Devil King born in Japan is said to be a high school student?’

‘Just the fact that he properly attends school every day shows that he’s different from the other two.’

Well, it seems he also has a history of causing a lot of trouble in Europe.

But that was because he hadn’t yet learned to control his powers, so there was room for leniency.

This was the situation.

The whole world was watching Japan.

And this was no different for Korea.

Unlike China, which had one of the strongest Devil Kings on paper, Korea had nothing of the sort. It was the country closest to Japan.

And because of the history of Japanese colonial rule, the relationship was quite bad.

‘The tide has already turned.’

‘To maintain our position, we need to build connections with Japan.’

‘The Special Missions Department already has all sorts of extrajudicial powers. If we don’t keep them in check now, who knows what will happen.’

Eventually, many Korean politicians switched their allegiance to Japan.

High-ranking officials inevitably learned about the supernatural world.

No matter how much people complain that they could do better, politicians are among the elite of the educated.

And they knew what they had to do to survive.

And it was in this situation that the Manpasikjeok was discovered.

The Special Missions Department knew about the situation, so they tried to keep it a secret.

But one of the National Intelligence Service executives leaked the information to a congressman he was connected with.

And he offered it to the Tennouji family, the most prominent family in Japan.

“The Tennouji family will secure the Manpasikjeok.”

Just then, there was a troublesome extradimensional entity, and a high-risk one at that, so the Special Missions Department’s manpower was focused there.

The Tennouji family took advantage of this and snatched the Manpasikjeok. That’s the whole story of this incident.

However, in the process, a mistake occurred.

They were so focused on the time when the Special Missions Department was away that they overlooked the time when the Manpasikjeok would become one, and only took away a half of it.

“Bring the other half immediately!! What is the value of a God’s Relic that can’t even be used!!”

The head of the Tennouji family, Tennouji Souken, was furious and immediately ordered them to bring the other half of the Manpasikjeok.

Of course, there were warnings from within that it might be dangerous to try to infiltrate Korea again after provoking the Special Missions Department.

But as Jae-in said, ever since he heard the story of the Manpasikjeok, Souken had considered it his own possession, and having only half of it made him feel like he had been robbed.

“If we had retrieved it properly, they wouldn’t have known it was us. We must act quickly before the truth is discovered and bring back the other half.”

Thus, under the orders of the family head, the skilled Jujutsu practitioners and Shinobis, directly under the main family, began to move.

They also knew that the moment the Manpasikjeok disappeared, no one knew what could happen.

So they were fully prepared to bring back the Manpasikjeok no matter what.

“If we encounter the Special Missions Department again, what should we do?”

“Kill them. No one must know that the Manpasikjeok is in our hands. We’ll also eliminate the congressman who brought us the information, soon.”

For Souken, the competitors were no longer the insignificant ones outside the country, but other families in Japan and the Japanese History Compilers who would also benefit from the Devil King’s authority.

“To take the lead, we need power. The Manpasikjeok is a God’s Relic known not only in Korea but also in Japan. It will surely be a great help at a crucial moment.”

“But, sir. We’ve already shed blood with the Special Missions Department.

Considering their nature, they won’t just let it go.

They might not know it was us yet and are delaying their investigation because of the existence of King Kusanagi, but if we shed blood again, they will surely-.”

“Shut up. Who are they to matter? They are just remnants of a bygone era.”

“They are also the heroes who brought back that bygone era.”

“A mere 300 or so. Even including reserves, barely 1,000.”

“You must not forget that with just them, they responded to all supernatural phenomena in Korea and fought on equal footing, even against our main forces.”

In comparison, Japan officially has nearly 10,000 supernatural power users active.

Unofficially, it’s probably double that.

Of course, this must be considered in light of Korea’s environment and the unique nature of the Special Missions Department.

Also the population and the size of the territory that needs to be covered in Japan and Korea.

Even so, the fact remains that the Korean Special Missions Department is an exceptionally capable group, unparalleled in the world.

Even more so considering that this is the result of them recovering after losing most of the foundation of their Jujutsu during the Japanese colonial period.

“Even so, they are nothing to us now. Do you think they can stand against a Devil King?”

“That’s…..true, but.”

“Enough. The Manpasikjeok is worth the risk. Focus only on securing the Manpasikjeok and maintaining secrecy.”

“Yes…….”

A clash with the Special Missions Department.

At a national level, perhaps.

But at the family level, clashing with the Special Missions Department was a crazy act worse than suicide, but there was no further objection.

As Souken said, the existence of a Devil King was just that powerful.

If the Special Missions Department were going to act, they should have acted already.

The fact that they were quiet despite such an act shows just how much power a Devil King has.

Eventually, the operation to secure the Manpasikjeok was carried out.

Seven high-speed boats immediately headed from Tsushima to Geoje Island.

They quickly confirmed arrival at the destination.

At the same time, a report came in from the field to Tennouji that there was one boat and about four Special Missions Department members.

Naturally, the order was given to deal with all of them, secure the Manpasikjeok, and return.

But at that moment.

“What’s going on? Respond.”

“Th…what is that?! Wait-“

“H…help meee!!”

“Damn it!! Team Leader class, no, is that even a Team Leader? Is the Director of the Special Missions Department here himself? Mission impossible! We need support…send support quickly aaaaargh!”

SPLAT!!

The sound of viscous blood splattering could be heard over the still-open radio.

At the Tennouji headquarters, they kept shouting, asking what was going on and to answer quickly.

But soon, only another terrible scream could be heard.

And even that ended in just two or three minutes.

“Didn’t you learn that if you live like sht, you’ll end up like sht?”

With the last faintly heard voice of a Korean, a huge explosion occurred.

And after that, the radio only emitted a cold static sound.

“What….what the hell happened?”

The elite of the most prominent Tennouji family in Japan, and the main family at that?

Souken denied reality.

Because it was unbelievable.

Even if they brought in renowned Great Knights and Great Witches from England and Italy, they wouldn’t be able to annihilate them, let alone with such one-sidedness. At most half of their forces would fall to defeat them.

But to be so unilaterally…

“Did they know we were coming and prepare a large-scale ritual in advance?”

But this time, the people of the main family denied Souken’s idea.
“We only heard the sound of swords over the radio. I don’t want to recall it, but considering the screams…..”

“The enemy was one person.”

“We can only conclude that he slaughtered our Jujutsu practitioners and Shinobis with only a sword.”

“Is that even possible?!! How could our Tennouji family be defeated by just one person?!!”

People closed their eyes at the sound of Souken’s shouting voice.