Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Guild Master Isn't Enough with Just the Game
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I flinched at Kim Je-hyun's words and looked back at the mysterious kid.
"...It's real."
I'd missed it because he was so filthy, but up close, it was obvious.
Kim Je-hyun, who'd been tense as hell, let out a sigh of relief and headed to the kitchen—only to scream at the top of his lungs a moment later.
"Gaaah!!"
Startled, Hellcanon and I rushed over, but all we found was a disaster zone of food scraps.
I sighed in relief and sheathed my sword completely.
"Whew, had me worried."
The kitchen had turned into a food waste dump, but at least there were no monsters.
Kim Je-hyun wailed.
"Hueeeeng! My beautiful kitchen!!"
"Call someone to clean it up. You got the living room I trashed fixed in a day."
"Hueeeeng!"
He must've been hit hard by his prized kitchen turning into a garbage pit, because Kim Je-hyun flopped onto the floor at the entrance and sobbed dramatically.
Not that he was really crying, of course.
The floor didn't look all that clean anyway—why roll around in the filth?
Hellcanon, whose personality had improved lately, gazed down at him with pity, but I dug in my ear to block out the noise and walked out of the kitchen.
"I'll help you."
"You're such a good kid? Nah, it's fine. I'll call someone. *Sniff*. But my heart hurts so much...."
I heard that exchange behind me.
The kid, who looked exactly like Messiah, blinked up at me, covered head to toe in food gunk.
"..."
What the hell was this thing?
Just the fact that he resembled Messiah was enough to make my affection meter skyrocket.
I stared for a moment, then turned away.
"Hey, Kim Je-hyun."
"What, you cold-blooded bastard!"
"Take him to the bathroom and wash him up."
"...Fine."
When the cold-blooded guy asked permission to bathe the kid, Kim Je-hyun replied in a weak voice from the kitchen and turned on the AC.
"If he spoils, it'll be a real headache. He's already borderline smelly."
As Kim Je-hyun muttered worriedly, I went to the shoe cabinet, took off my shoes, grabbed a big towel, and carefully wrapped up the mystery kid.
He was so cute that even the stench didn't bother me.
When I looked down, the mystery kid gazed quietly up at me with golden eyes just like Messiah's.
"..."
Given how much he resembled Messiah, he had to be connected to Midgard somehow.
I was on mental guard just in case, but he didn't seem aggressive at all.
He was small and cute.
*Ding!*
[Affection detected!]
[??? (error code:⑉⑆⑈) recognizes you as its owner.]
[Acquisition permission approved.]
[You have acquired ??? (error code:⑉⑆⑈).]
Notifications popped up one after another.
"...What?"
Hold on. I'd seen that error code somewhere before.
[Please set a name.]
A name?
With a hunch, I glanced down at the kid in my arms. The Messiah lookalike stared back with big, round golden eyes.
Eyes that sparkled like stars.
"...Was that you?"
"Yeah."
"!"
What? He talks?
I was stunned, but the food stench wafting off him was too intense to just stand there.
Bath first.
* * *
Leaving the food-ravaged kitchen and living room behind, I washed the kid clean and brought him to my room.
Now scrubbed, he looked even more identical to Messiah.
No baby clothes in Kim Je-hyun's place, so I bundled him up nicely in a fresh gown and fluffed his hair dry.
"Who are you?"
[Please set a name.]
He could summon system messages at will?
I asked again.
"What's your deal?"
"You're the one who killed the Demon King. I know the humans in Midgard called me that."
"..."
Shocking info, but his cute, slightly lispy toddler speech made it not feel threatening at all.
Far from threatening.
He's so cute...
[Affection detected!]
What was with this notification? Was it actually sensing my feelings?
The kid spoke.
"Give me a name."
"...Why should I?"
"Because I chose you as my owner. You're really lucky. This body doesn't pick owners lightly."
"..."
I clamped my mouth shut to hold back an "Aww, really now?" but...
[Affection detected!]
This was getting kinda awkward.
I glared at the notification exposing my emotions, then turned to the kid claiming to be the Demon King.
It hit me—I'd left the Demon King's fragment on the desk.
I scanned the room, desk included, but the cube labeled [Demon King's Fragment] was nowhere.
Calmly, I said,
"...Okay. I get what you are. Good that we can talk."
"Of course. I'm a cosmic intelligence. I can connect to the info field anytime and download whatever data I want."
No clue what that meant.
"So, what does choosing me as owner mean? What happens if I name you?"
"...I'm a great weapon of the universe, but long isolation drained my energy."
"Weap...on?"
The kid nodded.
I thought I'd misheard "chick" as "weapon," but no, it was definitely weapon.
*Knock knock.*
"Kaisha-nim."
"Yeah, Hellcanon. Come in."
He opened the door cautiously.
He glanced at the now spotless kid.
"I was worried something might've happened..."
"What are you worried about?! You think I'd harm the owner I chose myself?!"
The presumed ex-Demon King kid snapped, and Hellcanon gave me a puzzled look at the "owner" bit.
I relayed what I'd just heard.
"He says he's a weapon."
"...Pardon?"
"Not a chick. A weapon."
Hellcanon's baffled expression mirrored my mood exactly.
Still, I accepted that this chatty, cute little chick—no, weapon—was the Demon King and asked for proof.
"If you're a weapon, give Hellcanon a decent one."
"No way! Why should I?!"
"..."
His tantrum made him even cuter...
Cosmic intelligence or whatever, his pout was pure toddler. Those tiny features, white hair, yellow eyes—what could you do?
[Affection detected!]
Yeah, yeah, I get it. Stop popping up.
"...Why'd you have to look like Messiah?"
No resisting this.
He did snap at Hellcanon, so he wasn't totally harmless.
But like Pavlov's dog, one look at that Messiah face and my affection surged, melting my defenses.
He huffed.
"Your people? That guy looked the easiest."
Then he yelled.
"Anyway, I don't have energy to summon weapons for others! But if you name me, I'll give you one. My energy's low, so it won't be much help..."
His sulky mumble scrambled my brain, but I pulled myself together.
His little mouth kept going.
"So... raise me until I evolve into a stronger adult form..."
He finished and peeked at my reaction.
[Affection detected!]
[Affection detected!]
[Affection detected!]
The self-proclaimed cosmic weapon, the white-haired kid, glanced between the notifications and me.
The alerts kept showing his rising favor, but my blank face confused him.
All that war gaming had drilled a poker face into me.
"A name, huh..."
Chick, peep, POW, Pororo—names flitted through my mind, but no way for a weapon.
"Hmm."
Famous weapons? Mjolnir? Gungnir?
But he was a kid with a human form.
Korean style?
The ex-Demon King tot stared up tensely, Hellcanon watching from the door.
Weapon or person name.
After serious thought, my mouth opened.
"...Yugeon."
The kid's eyes went wide.
"Yugeon?"
"My name's Ga-hyun. Yoo family name plus 'gun' for firearm in English. You're like my weapon kid, in a way."
"..."
The ex-Demon King kid—Yugeon—his starry eyes sparkled.
Gun.
It popped into my head because Lowgard demons mainly used guns.
I said,
"Your name is Yugeon."
[Name set.]
[A name overflowing with affection.]
[Powerful bond established.]
Then the status window appeared.
[Name: Yugeon
Link: 1%
Energy: 0.3%
Description: War weapon abandoned by its owner after the peace treaty]
[Authority recognized]
[Access granted.]
[System window configured.]
[!Warning!]
[This powerful cosmic killing weapon has a dangerous, merciless history, leading to its sealing and abandonment after the peace treaty.]
[Prestige: Top]
[Loyalty: Top]
[War Record: Top]
[Lethality: Top]
[Temperament: Mid-Low]
[Judgment: Low]
[Charge Capacity: Bottom]
[Overall: Constellation Weapon/God of Weapons/The Unbetrayed/Fallen Star/Beggar of Light]
Yugeon, enraptured, murmured his name.
"Yugeon... I like it..."
"Good that you do."
"...Okay."
As the kid—Yugeon—smiled at me, a sensation pierced my body.
An image flashed.
Like when we found Yugeon buried in food scraps, a black, reeking trash heap bloomed with flower-like light.
For a split second, the thing before me wasn't a tiny kid but a colossal something buried under eons of wound-built trash.
[Some starlight restored.]
[The fallen star's emotion reaches the heavens.]
[Luck increases.]
[Yugeon summons a weapon for you using its authority.]
Fwoosh!
A burst of unidentified light exploded before me. Hellcanon flinched at the door, watching us.
But I reached out without hesitation and grabbed the glowing something.
*Shing.*
The white light instantly became a sword.
Yugeon peeked at my reaction.
"This is the best I can do now, but later I can summon tons of better ones at once. For real."
"Yeah. I like it."
It looked familiar, so not thrilling, but I said it politely and examined the sword.
Excalibur.
A legendary sword from the game—below mythic tier but pretty and handy, so I used it often.
Weapon info popped up.
[[Weapon Info]
Name: Flame of the Saintly White
Design Mimic: Excalibur
Type: Sword (Holy Relic)
Trait: Near-perfect restorability
Description: Sword made of special holy metal infused with sacred fire energy. Performance varies with summoner and user levels.
Status: Energy saving. Mimicked familiar design to conserve energy. Sword upgrades to original form as summoner's level rises.
Rating: Summoner's energy too low; performance reduced.]
I'd skimmed without expectations, but paused at the energy-saving mimic and "Holy Relic."
"!"
What was this familiar twist?
A hidden powerhouse sword?
Yugeon, gauging my face timidly, said,
"I'm a weapon too, so in adult form I could fight with my summons, but right now energy's low and summoning one is my limit..."
"..."
"C-Can you wait just a bit?"