Chapter 133
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: The Mayor and the Kingdom
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The air past midnight was cold.
On the rooftop of an abandoned factory, where the lights of Neo Incheon faintly blanketed the distance.
A man in black armor stood alone. The wind savagely clawed at his cape as it passed.
[Cowardly bastard.]
A low voice echoed from within the Black Knight's helmet. A mechanically distorted tone.
[Hiding like a rat.]
Lee Garam.
The media praised him as a hero, and the citizens cried out for him as their savior.
But to the Black Knight, he was nothing more than the enemy who had taken his comrade.
[Then I'll shatter everything you hold so dear, one by one, without mercy.]
The Black Knight's eyes glowed red.
[Once your entire kingdom burns to ashes, you'll have no choice but to crawl out from the ruins.]
His first target was set.
The sweetest part of Lee Garam's kingdom.
The girl who basked in his favor: Sugar Girl.
And her Insimdang.
Two a.m. in the morning.
Streetlights sparsely illuminated the quiet road.
Among them, one building alone emitted a fantastical glow, as if it had leaped straight out of a fairy tale.
Insimdang.
A house made of cookies.
Its walls were biscuits, its roof fresh cream, and its window frames adorned with chocolate.
During the day, it was filled with visitors' laughter and the sweet aroma of bread.
But now, in the dead of night, Insimdang exuded an eerie atmosphere.
A heavier, stickier sweetness hung thick in the air than usual.
The pastel walls looked pale in the darkness, and the gingerbread cookie decorations grinned with twisted smiles.
The cream roof gleamed coldly under the moonlight, and the chocolate window frames glistened a dark crimson.
Swoosh.
A silent shadow stood before the front door.
The Black Knight. His sole objective: eliminate the master of this sweet castle.
Once Sugar Girl was gone, this sugary fortress would crumble too.
Slash—
The Black Knight's greatsword cleaved the chocolate-covered door in half.
The interior was even more grotesque.
Candy decorations on the walls stared at him from the shadows, and the meringue chandelier hanging from the ceiling swayed faintly, casting flickering shadows.
Squelch. Squelch.
The floor was sticky.
Caramel or syrup—whatever it was—made a ripping sound with every step.
He moved to the second floor of the building.
Faint light leaked through a half-open door.
The bakery.
And from within came a repetitive sound.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A dull, squelching impact, like pounding something viscous.
On the stainless steel workbench, a girl was madly slamming a lump of dough.
The owner of Insimdang. Sugar Girl.
Thud!
She put her full body weight into striking the dough.
Not kneading it—just plain assault.
She was abusing the flour lump with rage and resentment.
"Why! Why! Why!"
Flinch—
The Black Knight quietly gripped his sword hilt. Had she noticed his intrusion and grown furious?
But no.
Sugar Girl's eyes were fixed on someone not present here.
"Why did you go to Catopia and leave Insimdang behind!"
Thud—!!
Her menhera meltdown began.
"I'm right here! I could treat you so much better! I could feed you bread every day! Give you shoulder rubs! Even knee pillows!"
Thud—!!!
The dough splattered flat across the workbench.
"And... and above all...! I'm cuter than any cat! Obviously!"
The Black Knight plunged into incomprehensible confusion.
He was a hitman with skills rivaling S-Rank.
The vengeful spirit who had terrorized the city.
The destroyer come to topple Lee Garam's kingdom.
And this girl was ignoring him completely, venting her rage over her love life with the mayor.
What kind of situation was this?
Humiliation made the Black Knight's fists tremble.
"Haa... haa..."
After assaulting the dough for a long while, Sugar Girl lifted her head, panting heavily.
Only then did she spot the man in black armor standing at the door.
"Customer? We're not open."
Her eyes widened round.
Then she noticed the broken door, grasped the situation, and her expression changed.
"Oh, a thief?"
Fear? Caution?
None of that.
She didn't feel the need.
"I was pissed off anyway. Perfect timing."
Instead, a sadistic smile bloomed on the girl's lips.
"I needed something to take my stress out on."
Kaboom!
No sooner had she spoken than sugar, syrup, chocolate, and cream erupted like a volcano behind her.
"Dessert time! Late-night snacks are fine once in a while!"
[A mere C-Rank villain.]
The Black Knight scoffed.
According to his intel, Sugar Girl was your run-of-the-mill C-Rank villain.
One who had been captured by some D-Rank hero—no more than a third-rate who made snacks.
She might have some tricks, but nothing that could threaten him.
That arrogant assessment shattered instantly.
Hundreds of macarons shot toward him.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-bang!
Each one was a tiny bomb.
The Black Knight swung his greatsword. A black arc bisected the macarons.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Shrapnel from the explosions scattered, embedding into walls and ceiling.
"Oh? Not bad?"
Sugar Girl snapped her fingers.
Baguettes sprouted from all directions. Their tips hardened like diamonds.
The Black Knight twisted his body. The first baguette grazed his shoulder, sparking off his armor.
Clang—!
He parried the second with his sword. The impact numbed his arm. It was harder than rebar.
The third aimed for his leg.
He leaped to dodge—but
"Gotcha!"
A caramel whip coiled around the airborne Black Knight's ankle. The sticky, hot noose burrowed into gaps in his armor.
Thud—!
He was slammed to the floor. As he tried to rise, darkness loomed overhead.
[This...!]
A massive lollipop was falling. A two-meter-diameter candy hammer.
He rolled aside to evade.
The lollipop smashed the floor. Tiles cracked like spiderwebs.
"Don't run! That's no fun!"
Cookie shurikens rained down. Jelly nets unfurled. Biscuit swords rampaged.
Under the relentless barrage of desserts, the Black Knight was pushed back helplessly.
[C-Rank?]
The power, precision of each attack, and above all, the endless quantity defied common sense.
The moment he was pushed out of the bakery into the hallway, something anomalous happened.
Rrrrrumble—
Insimdang itself hummed with a low tone.
The walls swelled like dough, then slowly deflated, repeating.
Sticky jam oozed from the floor tiles, trapping the Black Knight's feet.
Insimdang.
Sugar Girl had proven and realized herself by running Insimdang.
Under Lee Garam's recognition and encouragement, she gained fanatical self-confidence.
The belief that 'I can do anything.'
And that belief explosively amplified her abilities.
As a result, she stepped into a realm reached by only a tiny fraction of materialization-type ability users.
The power to project her mental domain onto reality, reshaping the space itself to her will.
Her frustrated dreams bloomed in their most dazzling form.
Insimdang was a nightmarish space where everything moved according to Sugar Girl's will.
A sweet dream world where the laws of physics did not apply.
Atop the now-taller stairs, Sugar Girl looked down at him.
"Now, I'll make you sweet too."
Stepping into Insimdang was akin to walking into the belly of the beast.
Squish.
The Black Knight felt an odd sensation.
The solid steel sole of his boot felt squishy.
Looking down, his gauntlet was losing its smooth sheen.
[My armor...?]
It was changing. Mutating.
The hard, cold metal sensation vanished.
Starting from the shoulder pauldrons, it turned sticky.
Dark chocolate.
Melting dark chocolate.
Drip.
Black, sweet liquid fell to the floor.
"How's it feel? Doesn't it suit you?"
Sugar Girl giggled from atop the stairs.
"Black is the color of chocolate. So I made it sweeter."
He inhaled. A scent flooded deep into his lungs.
Vanilla, caramel, well-baked biscuits, stewed berries.
Fragrant.
But the aroma was so dense it scrambled his brains and numbed his thoughts.
His head spun, and the boundaries of his body blurred.
Any ordinary human would have had their blood turn to syrup upon entry, their brain steeped in sugar, collapsing with a happy smile.
Thanks to his special physique, the Black Knight barely clung to sanity.
"Now, the main dish!"
Rumble-rumble-rumble—!
Sugar Girl snapped her fingers, and something rolled in from the end of the hallway.
A massive roll cake, at least three meters in diameter. Layers of fluffy sponge sheet and sweet cream rolled into a giant wheel.
Shaking the entire building, the roll cake charged at him.
The Black Knight hurled himself sideways to dodge.
When the roll cake hit the wall behind him, the entire wall crumbled like fluffy castella, splattering cream everywhere.
Seizing that moment, new attacks poured from the air.
Dozens of colorful flying donuts swarmed like bees, encircling him.
The flying donuts banked sharply like fighter jets, dove steeply, disrupting his vision.
Clang! Clang! Claaang!
He swung his sword to bat away the donuts, but crescent-shaped croissants flew in like boomerangs.
Block, dodge, slice.
But it never ended.
Sliced donuts splattered jam and stuck to the floor; shattered croissants released buttery scents as their crisp fragments were reabsorbed into the walls.
The desserts kept coming endlessly. Like a nightmare.
The Black Knight's breathing grew ragged. Not from stamina, but mental fatigue.
[No end... Then...]
He regripped his sword and charged forward.
Explosive acceleration.
Yes, slice the girl on the stairs, and it all ends.
Squelch.
The floor grabbed his ankle.
His boot sank deep into the sticky marshmallow-like floor.
"Can't have you running wild in my kitchen."
Sugar Girl's voice rose higher.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the entire building shook.
The stairs, clearly only two stories high, began extending on their own.
Cake stairs proliferated one by one, two by two, rising upward.
3rd floor... 4th... 5th... 10th...
She giggled from the top, looking down at the Black Knight.
"That looks tasty too? Gimme!"
Whoosh!
Black chocolate vines whipped out like lassos, coiling around the greatsword's blade.
[Release it!]
The Black Knight gripped the sword with all his might, holding on.
At that instant, cracks spread across the greatsword he held.
The sword was melting.
"Thanks for the meal~!"
Splat—
Ultimately, the greatsword became a lump of chocolate and dropped to the floor.
A knight stripped of his weapon. A knight whose weapon had turned to dessert.
But more urgent than the humiliation was escaping this place.
[Kieeeek!]
The Black Knight gathered all his remaining strength and roared.
Rip!
Wielding superhuman strength, he barely yanked his foot from the marshmallow bog.
He didn't hesitate.
He threw himself at the nearest wall.
Kaboom!
The biscuit wall shattered, scattering cookie crumbs.
He rolled upon landing and fled into the cold dawn air.
The black shadow raced through the streets at dawn.
Chocolate chunks trailed behind. Sweet marks stamped every footprint.
How far did he run? After a long sprint, he glanced back.
There, far off, was Insimdang.
The living monster that had tried to devour him moments ago.
The Insimdang building rippled, then returned to its original adorable form as if nothing had happened.
A sensation like waking from a horrific nightmare.
His whole body reeked of sugar, as if it had been candied.
Every breath brought a cloying vanilla aftertaste.
The Black Knight looked down at his armor. Melted chocolate stains marred it in spots.
[A monster. Inside that building, she rivals S-Rank.]
Neo Incheon truly was a demon's lair beyond common sense.
Even an ordinary-looking bakery was a gateway to hell.
But he had gained something.
Sugar Girl's yandere outburst echoed in his mind.
'Why! Why go to Catopia and leave Insimdang! I'm cuter than any cat!'
Catopia. Cats.
[Lee Garam. You're hiding there.]
The rat was hiding among cats.
That simplified things.
[Tomorrow morning, it's over for you.]
The Black Knight melted into the darkness.
The city's lights faded into the distance behind him.
"Ah, he got away."
Sugar Girl pouted.
A black dot vanishing beyond the thickening sugar walls.
Fleeing midway through her full-course dessert show—what a rude customer.
"I wanted to catch him and get praised by the mayor."
She had been so looking forward to it!!!
The next morning, at city hall.
"Mayor! Mayor! I caught the Black Knight! All by myself, Sugar Girl!"
"What?! Sugar Girl alone? For me?"
The mayor's office door opens, and Sugar Girl drags in the chocolate-fied Black Knight.
"Ta-da! Caught him for you, Mayor! Special packaging complete!"
"Sugar Girl... incredible! I knew I had an eye for people!"
He approaches.
Closer, even closer.
"Even the Special Task Force Captain couldn't catch the Black Knight alone... Sugar Girl is the best!"
His hand rises.
Strokes the girl's head.
Gently, tenderly.
"With Sugar Girl, I don't need any other woman. Not Seria, not Polaris, no one!"
"Really?"
"Of course! From today, Sugar Girl is my official partner!"
The fox-eared secretary drops her stack of documents. She trembles.
"How could this... My three years of effort..."
"Sorry, Seria. No—now just Secretary Park. Sugar Girl will take your place."
And he kneels. Pulls out a ring box.
"Sugar Girl, marry me!"
The ring is candy diamond. The sweetest gem in the world.
"I want to eat miso soup bread made by Sugar Girl every morning!"
"Mayor! Me too! I only want the Mayor!"
"Sugar Girl!"
"Mayor!"
Hug. Spin.
Cherry blossoms scatter.
No, sugar powder scatters.
"I lost... Total defeat... Can't beat bread... Sob sob..."
Polaris weeps miserably in the corner all day.
"Wow, what a great daughter-in-law!"
The Association President appears, clapping.
Meow—
Nero meows in celebration too.
And the wedding.
The wedding cake is a seven-tier Sugar Tower.
All guests are Insimdang regulars.
"Sugar Girl is now Neo Incheon's First Lady!"
"No, First Sweetie!"
Laughter. Fireworks. Happiness.
The fox-eared secretary chews her handkerchief in the corner, fuming.
"Unbelievable... A middle school dropout baker..."
But it's too late.
Sugar Girl's perfect victory.
And they lived happily ever after.
THE END
"Uhuhu... And then the first night with the Mayor, hehehe..."
A dangerous smile spread across Sugar Girl's lips.
Drool trickled. Her eyes glazed over.
"Wait, but he got away!"
Back to reality.
"Sigh..."
She looked down at the greatsword she had taken from the Black Knight.
Now fully transformed into a black chocolate bar.
She snapped off the tip and popped it into her mouth.
"Mmm..."
Cool, sweet flavor melted smoothly on her tongue.
Bitter cacao notes with velvety sweetness.
"Better than expected? Gotta make a new menu item with this!"
Recipes bubbled up in her mind.
She slung the chocolate sword over her shoulder and headed to the basement R&D room labeled "Development."
"♪ Stab your heart with my sweet sword~ ♪"
Her mood lifted again.
New toy acquired, new menu ideas too.
"Gotta show off the new menu to the Mayor when he visits!"
The next morning.
Catopia's front plaza bustled with crowds early on.
Families holding kids' hands.
Couples with cat-ear headbands.
Cat specialist photographers with cameras.
Lines for limited-edition Nero merch.
Thud.
A heavy footstep.
The murmurs stopped.
Thud.
Another step.
Screams erupted.
"B-Black... Black Knight!"
The man in black armor stood in the plaza's center.
His armor, repaired overnight, was flawless without a single scratch. Yesterday's chocolate traces were wiped clean.
Panic spread.
Parents clutching children ran. Tourists screamed. Merchants abandoned stalls and fled.
The Black Knight strode through the chaos.
Ignoring the crowd's stares, he glared at the statue in the plaza's center.
A calico cat smashing a 15-ton truck with its front paw.
The plaque beneath read:
'Heroic Cat NERO'
[The epitome of tax waste.]
The mayor squandering citizens' blood taxes on his pet cat statue. A rotten symbol of a rotten city.
The Black Knight silently headed toward Catopia's entrance.
That was when it happened.
A beam of light fell from the sky.
Intense starlight blocked the Black Knight's path, crashing into the ground.
As the light faded, a blonde girl stood there.
"A single ray of light cutting through darkness! Your North Star, Polaris, has arrived!"
A familiar face. A familiar line.
The Black Knight scoffed.
[Forgot the last lesson already? Showing up again after that beating.]
His voice echoed coldly from the helmet.
[This time, it'll be a coffin, not a bed.]
Polaris didn't waver.
"I'll protect the Mayor. I won't let you do as you please anymore!"
Flash!
Brilliant starlight energy welled up from her entire body.