The Bureau Chief's Headache and a King's Return

"Is that really true?"

"Yes, sir. I could sense a distinct demonic aura whenever she moved."

"Haah..."

Hearing his subordinate's report, the bureau chief buried his face in his hands. What he had just heard was not something he could afford to brush aside. He hoped it was a mistake, but if it wasn't, this would become a matter of the highest national importance.

"A ranker who's a demon incarnate..."

The Gray Witch, Grace. She stood not only on the domestic rankings but on the world rankings as well—a World Ranker. The FBI bureau chief felt nothing but an endless ache spreading through his skull at the report that a woman like her was a demon.

"You... you're certain you didn't misread it?"

"No, sir. I verified it several times."

"Ha... if you say so, then I suppose that's how it is."

The man before him possessed an extraordinary talent for sensing demonic aura. That ability alone had earned him a post in the department dedicated to investigating and dealing with demons—his capabilities were beyond question. And now that man had discovered a demon among the rankers. Not a foreign ranker, but one of their own domestic rankers.

If we were to neutralize her... how much would it cost?

The budget was already stretched thin. Any further spending would push the FBI itself to the brink of collapse.

"Dismissed for now."

"Yes, sir!"

Once his subordinate had left, the bureau chief leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Then a sigh escaped his lips.

"Haah... maybe I should just resign."

Back from the mindscape, I stared down at the wolando, which no longer gave off demonic aura.

That mindscape I had seen must have been the trigger for breaking the curse. I drew the wolando out of the rock, and at the same moment, the hidden piece quest came to an end.

Having checked the weapon's performance, I immediately gave the wolando a few test swings. Its attack power wasn't displayed as a number like lower-tier weapons, but there was no mistaking that it was on an entirely different level.

"With this thing, my footwork won't tear me apart anymore."

The reason I used daggers wasn't that I had a talent for them. Daggers were simply the only weapons that could endure my footwork. But now that another weapon capable of withstanding it existed, there was no reason to stubbornly cling to daggers alone.

"What's the other reward?"

I had received Damdeok's wolando and something called the Stone of Talent as rewards. Yet no stone had actually landed in my hands.

"Inventory."

I opened my inventory and searched through it, but there was nothing to grab. That was when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my eyes fell on the stone Damdeok had given me.

"Why is this here...?"

I had definitely received the stone inside the mindscape. And yet that same stone was now sitting in my inventory.

"Don't tell me this is the Stone of Talent?"

I pulled out my necklace and checked the stone's information.

My eyes went wide as I read the description. The Creator. A mother-like being who had brought forth all manner of existences—humans, demons, angels, gods.

A stone that a being like that made as a joke...

A bitter smile crossed my face. What if a stone like this had fallen into my hands before my regression, too?

In the middle of that thought, something else about the wolando surfaced in my mind.

Could the weapon that guy used have been this very wolando?

Before my regression, among Greed's executives, there had been a demon incarnate who wielded a cursed wolando. And that weapon had looked exactly like Damdeok's.

If I hadn't resolved the curse, I would have ended up becoming him...

I had gained a great deal from this hidden piece. Maybe that was why I felt a little reluctant to leave the place. I crushed the Stone of Talent in my hand, and the moment I did, a system message appeared.

Even after that message appeared, time passed and no talent was granted to me. Deciding that waiting any longer would be a waste of time, I left the cave behind.

I'll be back, Damdeok.

Once out of the cave, I headed straight for the village. First, I needed to know how long I had been gone. When I arrived at its edge, Elder Song Cheong came out to meet me.

"Your Majesty. You have returned."

"How long has it been since I left?"

"By my count, it has been exactly two weeks as of today."

Far more time had passed than I'd thought. I'd figured a week at the very most, but I'd been wrong.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"Yes. My daughter and everyone else in the village intend to relocate to the DMZ as well."

"All of them?"

Frankly, that surprised me. I had expected at least a few to stay behind. No matter how much suffering and how many bad memories the place held, it was still their homeland. I'd assumed that alone would convince some to remain.

"I understand what Your Majesty is thinking, but it is the truth."

"I didn't expect every single one of you to agree to move."

"Neither did I. But when I truly considered it, there wasn't a single good memory to be found in that land."

Homesickness in the name of one's homeland, after all, only takes root if there are at least a few fond memories there. If not a single good memory existed in that place, then perhaps this decision had been inevitable.

"Then I'll make the arrangements. Come to the capital as soon as you're ready."

"Understood."

After that, I explained to the elder where the capital was and how to reach it, then returned to the capital myself.

I really do prefer honorifics to that casual talk.

Thinking that, I passed through the city gate.

"All hail Your Majesty!"

"Keep up the good work."

The moment I reached the castle's entrance, the guards greeted me with a thunderous shout. Their spirits were clearly burning bright, so I gave a few shoulders an approving pat as I walked inside.

I should stop by the office first.

I headed for the office that Baek-hwa and I shared. From the moment I reached the door, I could hear the constant scratch of a pen inside.

Guess he's still working.

I eased the door open and stepped in. There was Baek-hwa, pen still moving without pause.

"Ah, Your Majesty, you've returned."

"Hey! What the hell happened to you!"

He was gaunt, and sleep deprivation went without saying—the dark circles under his eyes stretched all the way down to his jaw. I whipped out a potion and poured it straight into his mouth. He drank it down, and at least the circles lightened a little.

"Medic!"

"Yes, sir!"

At my bellow, the medic flung the office door open and hurried in.

"Take this man away!"

"Yes, sir!"

And just like that, Baek-hwa was hauled off to the infirmary.

"Y-Your Majesty?!"

He called out to me as they carried him off, but I ignored him. Instead, I went straight for the documents he'd been working through.

Water and sewage maintenance. Electrical work. Farmland allocation... And on and on—mountains of paperwork stacked up beyond counting. I'd thought things were more or less stable, but apparently that wasn't the case yet.

You could have just told me.

Then I could have changed it for him. I went straight into the Shop and burned through stat points. It wasn't that I had an overflowing surplus, but hoarding them would only turn them into waste, so I spent freely.

The exterior appearance of the buildings ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doesn't really matter.

The interiors were modern anyway. Using my stats, I swept through and standardized that whole side of things in one go, then installed streetlights the same way. No need for electrical infrastructure at all.

The land is blessed too, so no need to till drainage ditches either.

I tweaked a few other miscellaneous facilities as well, and by the end my stat points were gone entirely.

"Done."

Fixing all of this had taken roughly two hours.

Once everything was fixed, the kingdom's condition settled into something reasonably normal. I hadn't built out the electrical infrastructure myself because I wanted to leave it to the research lab instead. Relying on my stats for everything would keep this nation from ever growing on its own. That was my thinking, at least.

Then I suppose I'll go check on Baek-rim.

With the office work more or less wrapped up, I headed for the training grounds.

"Too soft!"

"A little more to the right there."

"Still too weak!"

What greeted me at the training grounds was Baek-rim sparring against five knights.

Training... I suppose it is.

I said nothing and simply watched the fight between Baek-rim and the five.

"Hanbyeol! Attack with more aggression!"

"Sara! Watch your body positioning!"

"Hansol! You keep swinging between two extremes! Find the middle ground!"

There was something refreshingly new about watching Baek-rim bark out corrections as he coached the others.

"Baram and Jaehyeon are looking good. Keep that pace up!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Understood!"

Those two were listening to the feedback he gave everyone else and applying it to themselves, correcting their movements in real time. The others were impressive too, but those two were on a different plane entirely.

Baek-rim's come a long way. Teaching people now, on top of everything else.

It felt like only yesterday I'd been guiding him through spear techniques, and I never dreamed he would have grown this much already.

If this is what a few months bought him, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what happens next?

A flicker of anticipation stirred in my chest. Before long, the fight drew to a close. From the moment Baek-rim, who had only been defending, started attacking, it stopped being training and became a rout.

"We'll end it here for today! Dismissed!"

"Dismissed by whose authority?"

"Sir?"

No sooner had the word left his mouth than I cut in. Startled, Baek-rim turned to find where I was standing.

"Y-Your Majesty?!"

"You've really grown, Baek-rim. Coaching people now."

"Not at all. I still have far to go."

Baek-rim apparently genuinely believed he fell short; he lowered his head as he said it.

"All of them are in my Royal Guard?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Is that so..."

I deliberated for a moment, then pulled a book from my inventory and held it out to Baek-rim.

"What's this?"

"Teach it to them. Learn it yourself, too."

On the book's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cover, the words Basic Footwork were written.