Hatred for Outsiders
When the ferry docked at the small pier on Bazar Island, exactly two people were waiting to greet us. One was a ridiculously tall orc, the other an elderly orc about half his size. The old one had a beard… From the look of things, he was probably the village chief. But the guy standing next to him? Some kind of militia captain? Just from his shoulders and forearms, it was clear he could fold humans like us in half without breaking a sweat. Everything about his size and features screamed pure menace.
And yet here he was, talking so earnestly with my handler. All three of them wore grim expressions. Sure enough, the operation hadn’t even started and things were already falling apart.
“Huh? Wait… what are you talking about? You can’t just spring this on us…”
“…”
What the hell? He’d been speaking the otherworld language until a second ago… but this bastard was using Korean now? The way he kept glaring at me made it obvious—he’d switched on purpose so I’d understand. At least I didn’t have to worry about communication problems anymore.
I slowly walked toward the two-meter-tall orc.
“Wasn’t the agreement already settled?”
“The agreement was settled with my father, the village chief, human.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“If the agreement was with the chief, then it’s done… What right does some guy who isn’t the chief have to order us around?”
“What?”
“H-Hyungnim…!”
“…”
Fucking prick. Starting shit from the first meeting. I’ll never understand why these otherworld bastards cling to such weird stubbornness. Because of him, my cohabiting girlfriend watching silently from behind now wore an expression that could curdle milk.
“Hey. If we turn around now, do we get any kind of cancellation fee?”
“Huh? No… Hyungnim, why are you suddenly asking that?”
“What do you mean, why? The village chief’s son is telling us to get lost, so we should withdraw. Got a better idea?”
“No… If we leave like this, what happens to me?! Huh?”
“…”
I don’t know, fuck. They’re telling us not to come in—what the hell am I supposed to do? If you wanted to negotiate, you should’ve negotiated with that walking boulder too. I told him we were leaving immediately and grabbed him by the back of the neck.
“Urk…!! Kkeck…! H-Hyungnim, my… neck…”
“Your neck’s only getting squeezed because you’re standing there like an idiot.”
“I’ll hold you up, so relax your legs.”
These goddamn bastards. Just let the island get redeveloped already. I yanked harder on his shirt… but the bastard refused to budge.
“Kkeck… Ack… Hyung… Hyungnim, my neck…”
“…”
His face had gone beet red. I wondered why he was still standing firm even at this point—then I saw an old man clinging desperately to the handler’s pant leg beneath him.
“@#@#$@#...!”
“@###@$#@#$@#^>...!!!”
“…”
The pronunciation was urgent, slurred, and blurry. I was already bad at the otherworld language, so I couldn’t make out a single word. His eyes looked somehow hollow. His frail hands trembled with desperate strength. He was shaking. Whether from excitement or fear, I couldn’t tell. But one thing was certain—he was pleading with everything he had for us not to leave.
“Hu… Huk… Hu… Hu… I almost died… Fuck…”
“Not my fault. Someone was holding onto your pant leg.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Looks like the chief has something to say. Translate it.”
Well… it was obvious. The chief was begging us to please help. When even his own father was asking like this, the son would be the villain if we refused to set foot on the island. So somehow or other, we ended up on this tiny bean-sized island… only to find that someone had left lovely graffiti all over our lodging.
“This is fucking ridiculous…”
“Hey. What does it say? Something about the demon race fucking off?”
“It… seems that way…”
“…”
Fuck. What a warm welcome. I had no idea who did it, but erasing this was going to be a massive pain. With clear irritation on my face, I looked at the chief and his son.
“@#$@#$... @#@#...@#@#%&@#...”
“What’s he saying?”
“He says it was probably done by the children living on the island… and that he’s sorry.”
“…”
When the chief said he would give them a stern warning, I reluctantly nodded. Ha… Fine, let’s look on the bright side. At least we didn’t get pelted with stones on the way here. It’s not my house anyway. How to deal with this was the handler’s problem. I let out a sigh and asked how we were supposed to proceed with the work.
“The work… you mean?”
“That will require coordinating a schedule with Mr. Ode…”
“…”
Ode? That was the big guy’s name? A hulking brute who looked like he was one second away from roaring “Lok’tar Ogar” had such a cute name. As I watched the two of them talk, my handler’s expression told me another problem had cropped up.
“What is it… Speak in Korean. You know Korean, so why are you using the otherworld language?”
“Th-that’s because there’s been a slight complication. We were originally supposed to do it together, but…”
“…”
Short, rude, and delivered like an announcement rather than a conversation. His tone was soaked in displeasure at the idea of a demon setting foot on this land. There was no mistaking it—this was pure, unfiltered hatred. Instead of getting angry, I simply glared back into both of his eyes with an equally unpleasant look.
“Yeah, fuckface. Go ahead and handle it yourselves.”
“H-Hyungnim…!!”
“What’s the problem? We just need to stop it from reaching the critical point, right?”
“We only need to close the dungeon. Isn’t that it?”
“Yes. Closing the dungeon will solve everything… So the two of you can handle it. Humans.”
I’d talked a big game, but the thought of Kim Minhyuk and me trying to close the dungeon by ourselves was honestly worrying. I lay on the sofa in our lodging, idly running my fingers through Elphy’s hair as she sat right in front of me.
“Worried?”
“I want to say no… but honestly, yeah, I’m worried.”
“Can the two of us really pull it off…”
“…Sorry. It’s all because of me…”
“…”
What are you sorry for? The one who should be apologizing is that Oz or Ode or whatever his name is. I patted my slave and told her not to worry, but that was a lie if I ever heard one. Personally, I thought playing a game together might cheer Elphy up a little… but the internet wouldn’t be connected for another three days. Just lying around like this felt wrong too. Ah! That’s right—I’d borrowed some books.
“Hey. I’m bored. Want to read a book together?”
“A book?”
“Yeah. I borrowed a few yesterday.”
“But you’re not good at reading the otherworld language. How…?”
“You can teach me while you read them out loud.”
“…”
Her face was still gloomy. At times like this, the best thing was to focus on something pointless and forget everything else. I told her it was her master’s order and commanded her to bring the books right away.
“Okay, I understand… Which one should we read?”
“How to Accept SM Play Without Discomfort. Want to read this?”
“What? SM… what?”
“It wasn’t me who picked it. It was one of the books you brought yesterday.”
“…”
Fuck. Why was a book like that still around? I could already guess the level of these otherworld bastards who sold garbage like this as valuable literature at ridiculous prices. I shook my head with a sigh.
“No… I’m going to burn that book soon, so just leave it there.”
“Really? Then which one do you want?”
“…”
Right… which one? Honestly, even though the title was a bit much, How to Accept SM Play had looked interesting. But after what happened yesterday, it felt like I’d end up forced into the M role, so I passed. While I was thinking, the dark red book I’d grabbed yesterday suddenly came to mind.
“Hey. Let’s read that red book I brought yesterday together.”
“The red book? You mean this gloomy-looking one?”
“Yeah.”
“…Are you serious?”
“…”
What the hell? Why was she reacting like that? Her expression looked ominous. To think the title was How to Survive the Demon King with Red Horns… I was stunned. It wasn’t aimed at me, I swear. I really just grabbed it without knowing anything!
“No… what kind of book even is this?”
“Bring a different one… Let’s read something else together, okay?”
“…”
(Fuck…)
(Is this why her face has been off since last night…?)
Of all the books I could’ve picked, why did it have to be this one? I told her to just grab any book from the pile I’d brought… Ha. Fuck. What the hell was this? Making a Cock of Steel?
“Bullshit… You’re not lying, right?”
“No? It’s real.”
“Whether in the otherworld or the human world, a rock-hard dick is important.”
“…”
What a load of crap. Sigh… fuck. No matter how randomly I’d grabbed them, if shit like this was preserved as ancient literature, I could already tell how screwed these people’s standards were. This time I told her to bring something that actually looked educational… and what the hell was this?
“What is this? Why is there graffiti on it?”
“It’s because it’s written in cursive. The title is Those Who Follow the Demon King.”
“…”
Those Who Follow the Demon King… My first impression had been bad, but hearing the title made it extremely appealing. Thinking that we’d finally gotten a proper book, I straightened up and spoke to my slave.
“Good. Then let’s go with this one.”
“Shall we read it together? I wonder what the hell this book is even about…”