Then Let's Go
Serca's words ended, and Sihyuk pulled back the mana he had surrounded himself with.
The interrupted bell and murmuring suddenly flooded in.
“What? Why did you suddenly drop to your knees?”
“You two must know each other.”
“What did you say earlier?”
From the outside, nothing had changed before the curtain was raised. What Sihyuk had hidden was only the conversation between the three of them.
The words Serca had spat out before the curtain rose were also an incomprehensible language to the citizens of another world. The conversation that followed was not heard at all.
Thanks to that, the people only knew that Serca had swung her sword and then dropped to her knees in front of Sihyuk.
That alone was a strange enough sight.
The people who had been backing away held their phones even higher.
Sihyuk looked down at Serca.
“Now stand up.”
“Yes.”
Serca rose without the slightest hesitation.
Then she activated the mark she had hidden at the spot where she had first arrived, from a distance.
Found the king.
She could not convey complicated details. But reaching the Demon King's Castle would mean she had found Sihyuk.
“And do not use that title outside.”
“Why is that?”
“It would take too long to explain.”
Serca's face showed she did not understand. She seemed to want to ask what problem there was in calling the king she served by the title of king.
“Just call me Sihyuk here.”
“That is impossible.”
“Then only call me that where there are no people around.”
“... As you command.”
At that moment, a siren sounded from afar.
Two vehicles marked with the Association emblem were rapidly approaching from the end of the road.
At the spot where Serca had first appeared, only a blackened mark and the remnants of a dimensional gate that had already closed remained.
When the vehicles stopped, armed response team members poured out.
Serca's hand moved back toward the hilt of her sword.
“Stay still.”
“... Yes.”
Her hand fell away from the hilt.
The response team leader at the front scanned the surroundings and spotted Riel.
“Riel Hunter?”
“Yeah. It's me.”
The response team leader's gaze turned to Serca. The black armor, the sword at her waist, and the remaining killing intent in her crimson eyes left no corner where caution could be relaxed.
“An entity that came out of the gate?”
“Not an entity. A person. From the same world as me.”
“Is communication possible?”
“Speak our language. I can't understand Korean.”
Riel glanced at Serca.
“I'll interpret for you.”
Even while talking to the response team, Serca did not take her eyes off them.
“Who are they?”
“People who keep order here.”
“They are armed.”
“You appeared with a sword in hand.”
Serca was silent for a moment.
She did not seem to have understood, but at least she did not draw the sword again.
The response team leader exchanged a few more words with Riel.
In principle, Serca should have been taken straight to the Association for protection and identity verification.
But since the being from the gate could communicate and there were no injured people at the scene, and Riel, the injured party, had offered to personally vouch for her identity, the response team judged that forcibly transporting Serca would be far more dangerous.
After a short exchange with headquarters, a conclusion was reached.
Serca followed Sihyuk and Riel to the returning hunter support accommodation, and she would not come out until formal confirmation at the Association tomorrow morning.
Some of the response team stayed in front of the accommodation, allowing minimal monitoring.
“Please come to the Association by nine o'clock tomorrow morning. You must leave your weapons behind before entering the Association.”
Riel addressed Serca.
Serca's eyebrows twitched.
“Are you telling me to throw away my sword?”
“Leave it with me for a bit.”
“I refuse.”
“I knew you'd say that.”
Riel pressed his temple.
Sihyuk turned to Serca.
“Leave it with me before entering the Association tomorrow.”
“But...”
“It'll only be for a bit.”
Serca was silent for a moment, then lowered her head.
“... As you command.”
Sihyuk finally spoke to the response team leader.
“I'll take her tomorrow.”
“Do not let her leave the accommodation until then.”
“Understood.”
While returning to the accommodation, Serca never left Sihyuk's half-step behind even once.
In the eyes that occasionally glanced at Sihyuk's back, there remained a look of disbelief. It seemed she was worried that if she looked away for even a moment, he would vanish without a trace again.
Sihyuk noticed that gaze but did not say anything.
Riel walked on the opposite side, keeping as much distance as possible from Serca.
When they reached the accommodation, Sihyuk picked up the plastic bag he had set down beside the front door.
With the three of them entering, Sihyuk's already narrow room became even more cramped.
Sihyuk set the plastic bag down in one corner of the room.
Serca immediately began slowly scanning the room after crossing the threshold.
Low ceiling, narrow bed. Stacks of instant ramen and untouched snack packages piled against one wall.
Sihyuk, seeing her face gradually harden, spoke first.
“This is a free room I borrowed. It's not bad for the price.”
“Did Your Majesty stay in a place like this?”
“Yeah.”
“The royal chamber in the Demon King's Castle was ten times larger than this room.”
“So it was nothing special.”
“Cleaning was not done by Your Majesty.”
“The room was just unnecessarily large.”
Serca fell silent.
But the gaze that had been inspecting the room soon stopped at Sihyuk's neck.
It was the spot where the Hero's sword had passed.
There was not even a trace left, let alone a scar, but Serca's eyes stayed fixed there for a long time.
“No other wounds remain?”
“None.”
“After leaving the throne, did anything unusual happen to your body?”
“As you see, I'm fine.”
Sihyuk swept his hand over his neck once.
“It looks well attached.”
Serca's expression hardened.
“Do not joke about such things, even in jest.”
“I know.”
Normally he would have added something more, but Serca's face was too serious.
Sihyuk obediently lowered his hand and sat on the edge of the bed. He pushed the chair toward Serca, but she did not sit and stood rigidly in front of him.
Riel leaned against the wall closest to the door. It was a position from which he could leave at any moment.
Serca's gaze turned to Riel.
“Your Majesty. Before reporting, please send that elf away.”
“I don't want to.”
Riel immediately shot back.
His red eyes narrowed.
“I did not ask for your opinion.”
“I vouched for your identity. If anything happens, I will take responsibility.”
“Why should I accept your vouching?”
“That's the rule here.”
“Enough.”
Sihyuk cut in shortly.
Both their gazes turned to him at the same time.
“No need to send her away. Just tell us here.”
“But Your Majesty. What I am about to say is a matter of Demon Realm internal affairs.”
“Riel is already entangled in this matter. I permit it.”
Serca briefly looked at Riel with displeasure, then withdrew her gaze.
“... Understood.”
Serca still had an unsatisfied expression, but she no longer tried to send Riel away.
After a moment of silence, she looked straight at Sihyuk and explained.
“After Your Majesty disappeared, the Second King attempted to succeed to the throne.”
“Did it succeed?”
“No. The throne refused the succession.”
Sihyuk's eyes narrowed slightly.
“Why?”
“The throne still recognizes Your Majesty as the current Demon King.”
This time, Sihyuk could not answer immediately.
He had thought that the moment he surrendered his neck to the Hero's sword, everything had ended. The throne, the contract, even the name Demon King had been left there.
Even after waking up on Earth, he had not thought that the throne would still be holding onto him from another world.
Suddenly, a line left by the demon in the distance came to mind.
Found.
“... So you were looking for me.”
“Yes.”
“If I return and hand over the throne?”
“In the normal course, succession would be possible.”
“Then let's go.”
Serca's eyes widened slightly.
She seemed to have prepared more words, but Sihyuk's answer had come too quickly.
“Right now?”
“It's urgent. Once I hand over the throne and come back, that's it.”
“... Hand it over and come back?”
“Yeah.”
The room fell quiet.
Serca's expression, which had brightened just a little before, hardened again.
“Did Your Majesty not intend to return to the Demon Realm?”
“I'm returning.”
“What I meant was sitting on the throne as the Demon King again.”
“I have no such intention.”
Sihyuk answered casually.
Serca's lips parted slightly, then closed.
“Originally it was the Second King. That guy would manage fine without me.”
“But Your Majesty.”
“I surrendered my neck to the Hero because I wanted to quit.”
There was no answer to that.
Serca's hand slowly clenched.
“Was our support lacking?”
“Why are you bringing that up?”
“If we made Your Majesty so tired that you wanted to leave the Demon King's Castle...”
“Not because of you.”
Sihyuk cut her off.
“I just stayed too long.”
The time spent sitting on the throne was longer than the time spent fighting to survive.
Every time the sun rose, the same report came in. When the war ended, a new conflict began. Solving one problem created two more.
At first, it was thought of as responsibility.
Later, it became a habit.
At some point, he no longer knew why he was still sitting there.
“I did enough.”
It was a light remark, but Serca could not easily lift her head.
Serca believed that once she found Sihyuk, everything would return to normal.
She would bring the missing king back to the Demon King's Castle, revive the extinguished flame of the throne. Then, holding a sword beside Sihyuk on the throne as before.
She had not thought about what came after.
Precisely, she had thought it unnecessary to think about it.
There was no possibility that Sihyuk would not return in Serca's plans.
Riel leaned against the wall, alternating his gaze between the two.
He had already heard that Sihyuk did not covet the throne. But he had not expected that even after the First King, Serca, had personally come to find him, Sihyuk would hand over the throne without the slightest hesitation.
At least it had not been a lie.
Sihyuk asked the hardened Serca.
“So where is the door?”
“... Excuse me?”
“You came by it. Where do we go?”
Serca's gaze dropped briefly.
“Your Majesty.”
“Why?”
“I apologize. There is no door to return to at the moment.”
“Ah.”
Sihyuk nodded shortly.
This time, Riel looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“Is that it?”
“What do you mean, it's gone?”
Serca quickly continued.
“The gate I passed through was a one-way passage created to break the first path following Your Majesty's traces. It closed immediately after I arrived.”
“Can't open it again?”
“No. I left a mark at the arrival spot with my own imprint. If I gather power in the Demon King's Castle and connect it to the mark, I can open a more stable gate than before.”
“How long will it take?”
“I cannot say exactly.”
Serca avoided Sihyuk's gaze this time.
“Since there is no guarantee that time flows at the same rate between the two worlds, it is difficult to give a definite answer as to how long it will take to gather resources in the Demon King's Castle.”
“You sent a signal that you had arrived?”
“Yes. I sent an arrival signal before the gate closed. After finding Your Majesty, I also informed them of that fact through the mark.”
It had not been without countermeasures.
But she simply could not return right now.
Sihyuk said it was no big deal.
“Then we'll just wait until it opens.”
“... Yes.”
Serca's answer came a little late.
She had clearly said she would return to the Demon Realm, but she had no intention of staying there.
But she could not question it now.
After searching through countless dimensions, she had finally met her master again.
Serca stared at Sihyuk for a moment, then knelt on one knee.
“I will guard Your Majesty's side until the door opens.”
Sihyuk did not answer and looked around the room.
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“No way.”
Riel immediately said.
Serca slowly turned her head.
“Why do I need your permission?”
“I vouched for your identity. And this is a single room.”
“Then vacate your room.”
“Are you crazy?”