Chapter 3 - Princess, It's Time to Change Jobs (3)
Chapter 3 - Princess, It's Time to Change Jobs (3)
Chapter 3 - Princess-nim, It's Time to Change Jobs (3)
A prison located deep inside the Demon King's Castle.
"It's only called a prison in name..."
No, according to the tenant guide's explanation, the fact that this place actually held prisoners seemed to be an ancient story.
Now, its usage had changed so completely that it was embarrassing to even call it a prison.
"Haaam... The facilities here are seriously insane."
A loud yawn unfitting of her royal status.
Princess Eileen, who had gone missing from the empire, was sitting on a plush sofa in a space reminiscent of a hotel suite, looking out the window of the Demon King's Castle.
It was a Demon King's Castle landscape with pitch-black darkness and thunder and lightning crashing in the sky, but down below, brilliant lights were shining like a modern downtown area.
'The magic engineering of the Demon King's Army is like this...?'
A view reminiscent of the night view of modern skyscrapers.
Eileen was looking at the booklet [Demon Realm Adaptation Program for the Corrupted] while gazing at that night view.
'It doesn't seem like it's been long since the Demon King's Castle changed like this.'
The result of the newly enthroned Demon King's reform program.
And what made it possible was the mana engineering of Earthlings from the same place as her—or outlanders in the language of this world.
Eileen murmured while looking far beyond the Demon King's Castle into the dark parts of the Demon Realm.
Except for the Demon King's Castle, most of the Demon Realm's territory was dark.
"So to light up the night view way over there as well, my ability is needed, huh."
Knock knock—
"Yeah. Come in."
From beyond the door entered Erika, neatly dressed in a black Demon King's Army suit uniform.
In her hands was a simple tray instead of a extravagant feast.
"Princess-nim, it's time for today's torture."
"That joke again."
"The official title is new employee training."
"What kind of nonsense is that now? That's even scarier."
The princess tilted her head as if she couldn't believe her ears.
"We haven't adapted to the new names yet either. Um... the official title for the Corruption Team is Human Resources, but everyone complains that it doesn't roll off the tongue and doesn't sound like the Demon King's Army... It's a long-standing practice of the Demon King's Army."
"Do you even plan on changing the names? And why is this room still called a prison?"
"...You should ask Demon King-nim directly about that. It seems to be his personal preference."
What Erika placed down on the table was steaming cup ramen in a round container, and two triangular gimbap wrapped in plastic packaging.
"Here is today's meal."
"I think I know what this is... Ramen? Right?"
Eileen smacked her lips.
"It's instant food from a convenience store in the Demon Realm's new city. Is it too shabby for a late-night torture tool? Should I get fried chicken freshly fried from the kitchen like last time...?"
Eileen didn't answer Erika's question.
With practiced skill, she peeled back the lid of the cup ramen.
"No. I surrender. Can I spill the empire's secrets after eating this first?"
The princess declaring defeat.
"You don't need to answer a single thing. It's torture in name only."
Along with the declaration, dried flakes and red powdered soup base were sprinkled over the noodles.
As Erika poured hot water, a spicy scent that instantly pricked the nose filled the room.
It was something no sumptuous feast of the Imperial Palace could ever imitate—
The ultimate culmination of modern master's and PhD graduates, combining terrifyingly addictive, artificial perfection!
'Wow, it's not cheap stuff. Look at these toppings...'
It was the nostalgic smell of her past life.
"The smell... is cruel. As expected of the head of the Corruption Department."
"It's the masterpiece of an imperial chef I corrupted. Ever since it was commercialized, it's been quite popular in the Demon Realm."
"Is the chef... also an outlander like me?"
"Yes, that's correct. The moment he heard he could use ingredients not mentioned in the imperial scriptures for cooking, he came right over to the Demon King's Army."
Eileen swallowed her dry saliva.
She couldn't resist the smell.
"It's not cooked enough yet. Please put down your chopsticks. Do you know how to eat it?"
"I know."
She couldn't just leave it alone while waiting for the cup ramen noodles to cook.
"Koreans can't just stand by! You expect me to just wait?"
Fearing that the top part of the noodles untouched by water might be undercooked, she flipped the bottom half to the top.
Eileen kept stirring and flipping the noodles back and forth with her chopsticks.
"How nostalgic. This feeling... Back then, I used to think I was so pathetic for eating mere cup ramen."
There was a past life where she ran around logistics warehouses across the world day and night.
Days of matching product codes and inventory quantities, shortening movement paths, calculating pallet loading rates, and rescheduling dispatch charts.
The dense handwriting filling her notebook,
Her laptop and PDA had no rest.
If a single item was picked wrong, the inventory went out of sync.
If a single picking route got twisted, she had to walk back and forth down the same aisle again.
If the pallet loading rate was miscalculated, trucks would drive carrying empty space,
And if a single dispatch chart got delayed, clients would start calling from dawn.
And those mistakes led to financial losses that could threaten her entire career.
A continuous strain under the pressure that she must never make a mistake.
Her day was always a repetition like that.
Receiving, inspecting, picking, packing, shipping.
The task of forcibly meshing together the numbers of people, goods, and vehicles to shave off even a single minute from request to delivery.
Someone called that logistics.
She completed each day by grinding herself down little by little every day.
Returning home exhausted at dawn like that.
The next schedule popped up on her smartphone, and the tasks she had to do from tomorrow morning spun relentlessly inside her head.
The only thing welcoming her at those times was this very cup ramen.
In a cost-effective business hotel room, peeling the lid halfway back, shaking in the soup powder, and pouring hot water from the hotel room's electric kettle.
For that moment alone, there were no clients, no boss, no delays, and no dispatch accidents.
There was only a small, steaming container—a humble yet most absolute comfort.
A three-minute wait.
A break time that felt long to her, who was always chased by time.
Those three minutes waiting in front of the cup ramen were strangely long and warm.
Three minutes of rest were the sole driving force carrying her into the next day.
Those three minutes were the time she endured while calculating upcoming vacation plans and overtime pay.
However,
"Yeah, in the empire... no matter how much I pulled all-nighters to work, there was no period like this. There was always the next work waiting for me..."
Finally, Eileen lifted the noodles with her chopsticks.
She slurped up the al dente, slightly undercooked yet chewy noodles.
The moment the hot, spicy broth traveled down her tongue and esophagus, a single tear she had held back dripped down from Eileen's eyes.
"Life in this world was way too hard..."
The memories of her past life came flooding back.
And beside her lay the contract she had signed with the Demon King this afternoon.
"This ramen is delicious. It's so delicious that it pisses me off."
"I understand. When I was first recruited by Demon King-nim, I burst into tears upon seeing the infinity pool on the balcony here."
Erika continued speaking with a gentle smile.
"At the convent, they used to say hunger is faith too."
Erika smiled, but one side of her lips curled up crookedly.
"Yet it was strange. When you're hungry and exhausted, prayer doesn't deepen; rather, you end up hating humans and God."
After dropping a harsh joke, Erika smiled brightly again and said,
"Demon King-nim told me: 'Relief does not come at the end of hardship; resting as much as you've suffered—that is the law of the Demon King's Army.' That was when I resolved to work for the Demon King's Army."
Listening to her story, Eileen took a sip of the cup ramen broth.
"Please eat the gimbap as well."
"How do you get stuff like this?"
"Because we help talented individuals like Princess-nim freely express their desires in their respective fields."
Erika unwrapped the gimbap for Eileen and placed it neatly beside the ramen container.
"I learned from Demon King-nim that people don't crumble before grand justifications, but before consideration that acknowledges them, recognition of their abilities, and rewards."
Eileen wiped off the broth around her mouth with a napkin placed beside the tray.
"The ideal is nice."
Her gaze was no longer terrified.
The gaze of one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
"Fine. Now that I've succumbed, I feel like giving you information. This is the list of guys entering the Demon Realm's dungeon tomorrow. This is certain."
"You mean the party belonging to the one with the guide Princess-nim mentioned."
"Yeah. They'll enter the dungeon near the border soon. It's the perfect timing to approach them."
Eileen conjured a mana map in the air with her finger.
"How on earth can you be so certain?"
"Because it's an expedition plan I drew up. The supply carriage should have already departed yesterday. Ten days' worth of rations, eight boxes of mana stones. That amount means they plan to go deep into the lower floors. But starting from the 5th floor of that dungeon, it's sealed off, the path splits, and there are traps. Without a guide, they'll be blocked within half a day."
Eileen said while chewing the gimbap in her mouth.
"Don't kill anyone."
"Pardon?"
"I'm not telling you to crush that party. What I want is just to extract the guide. The knights are also being worked to the bone just like I was."
"...Princess-nim, you're already speaking like someone from the Demon King's Army."
"No. I'm speaking like your boss. Useful talent should be retrieved without damage."
The information she was handing out was top-secret information of the Knights Order.
Yet she continued without hesitation.
"Department Head Erika, giving you this classified information isn't submission. It's an investment in my career."
"An investment..."
"I will build 24-hour convenience stores everywhere in this world where the lights never go out."
"Convenience stores?"
"Yeah. A place where someone returning from work doesn't have to fall asleep hungry. A place where they can drink warm broth instead of hard bread. A place where they can receive gifts right on their birthday even at the far edge of the Demon Realm."
"That sounds wonderful."
"I'll construct a logistics network where this ramen is available anywhere across the Demon Realm. I'm sick and tired of wasting my time on things like war. In this Demon King's Army, I will relive my past life."
Erika nodded.
Because she had seen the look in her eyes on the day she brought her here.
The decisive card that made her choose corruption.
The reason why she, who was dead serious about moving goods, defected to the Demon King's Army.
"By using mana portals, you mean."
"Yeah. You showed me the possibilities of that portal. If people can move safely through it, moving goods is easy. As long as we can scale up its size."
Eileen stood up from her seat and stared straight at Erika.
"To make proper use of that portal magic, we need the guide's engineering knowledge. We need that guy in the Empire Hero Party. Tell Demon King-nim. That guy must be corrupted no matter what."
Erika jotted down the information Eileen provided with a satisfied expression.
"I sincerely welcome Eileen-nim's corruption. Demon King-nim will also be pleased with this information. When will you be able to report for work?"
"Starting tomorrow right away. Now that I have a real job to do after so long, why would I want to rest?"
"In that case, another Demon King's Army employee will come to escort you during office hours tomorrow. I'll be going on vacation starting tomorrow."
Eileen nodded and downed the remaining cup ramen broth refreshingly.
The Demon King's Army knew exactly what the princess wanted.
"Kidnapping... Brainwashing... Corruption... Not bad."
After Erika left the room, Eileen stroked the rim of the empty cup ramen container for a long while.
Then, what she had to do naturally came to mind.
"Shall I get ready for work...?"
Eileen rose from her seat.
She opened the closet inside the prison and touched her Demon King's Army uniform.
A suit with a sleek design, elastic fabric, and her name tag attached to it.
[Four Heavenly Kings Eileen]
"Four Heavenly Kings... Hehehe."
The title of Four Heavenly Kings was quite awkward, but it might be better than being called a fake princess.
"Ahahaha! Me, in the Demon King's Army!"
Eileen looked at the name tag and burst into insane, loud laughter.
She had never been able to laugh like that during her days as a princess.
"Something this good! I didn't know until now? Why didn't I know!"
She laughed evilly, just like the Four Heavenly Kings she had read about in books during her time in the empire.
"Why be buried in the empire? It's not like it's a charnel house!"
Her laughter resounded loudly throughout the prison—no, the suite room.
At the same time, she recalled a capable talent she had left behind in the empire.
An Earthling, an outlander, just like herself.
The guide whose information she had just passed to the Demon King's Army executive.
A specialist in mana engineering.
"I need you. You'll have to fall into corruption right along with me."