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The sky of the demon world was, contrary to popular belief, bright. White clouds drifted, and the wind was refreshing. A castle stood tall in the center of the demon world’s capital.
The Devil King composed himself and opened the queen’s door. He approached her, holding a tray of black tea. The queen was sitting at a table by the window, looking out at the garden.
“We received some new black tea. It’s a scent you like.”
“Go away. I want to be alone.”
“That’s harsh.”
The queen turned to look at the Devil King. “Harsh? How dare you say that, after losing our only daughter to a mere human?”
“He wasn’t just any human. I’ve never seen such a powerful being. Something terrible is about to happen at the dimensional boundary.”
“So, you’re saying you did a good job, saving your own neck by giving our daughter to that powerful hero?”
The Devil King poured black tea into a teacup. White steam rose from it.
“I will definitely go and save Satin.”
“You said he’d kill our daughter the moment you set foot in that world!”
“Satin was born to rule the human world. Think of it as sending her on a field trip in advance.”
“Are you crazy!”
The queen raised her head and glared at the Devil King. Her suppressed anger erupted. “Are you out of your mind? A hundred-day-old baby is in the hands of humans!”
“Satin will do well anywhere. Even as a newborn, she is of the Devil King’s bloodline.”
“Ha! That hero was just a seventeen-year-old kid. A Devil King who lost his only daughter, more precious than his own life, to a brat like that? That damn Devil King’s bloodline?”
“I began conquering other worlds when I was ten. Our daughter will undoubtedly reveal her true nature as she grows.”
“Shut up!”
The queen slammed the teacup on the table. It shattered, pieces flying in all directions.
“Listen to me. The day Satin dies, you’re finished. I’ll use every means at my disposal to imprison you in the abyss.”
Her eyes reddened. “My precious daughter will be crying every day. She’ll be living a hellish life, day after day!”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A restaurant in Jongno 3-ga.
The tables were filled with customers. Kang Gyeol sat at the counter and looked around. Most of the customers were dressed as hunters.
Some even had scratches on their faces, as if they had just returned from a dungeon. A little girl bustled between the tables. People shouted at her from all sides.
“One more bowl of rice!”
“Here too!”
The little girl sighed and looked around. “What should I do? We’re all out of rice.”
A customer who had just entered shouted in dismay, “Please, can’t you just give me one bowl? I was beaten up by orcs this morning, and my bones are aching.”
“Then you should go to a hospital. Or find a healer.”
“No, no, I got better yesterday after eating your rice.”
“The restaurant is only open until lunch today. So I only made a little rice.”
“No! I have to go back in the afternoon! Satin, please! I need rice!”
Satin looked at Kang Gyeol at the counter. “Mister, what should I do? The customers are like this.”
The customers also shouted at him. “Hey, boss! You’re going to a dungeon in the afternoon, aren’t you? Stop taking Satin with you. Is a dungeon a place for a ten-year-old girl?”
“That’s right! Anyone can see that Satin and dungeons don’t mix.”
“Leave Satin at the restaurant. We’ll look after her. What if she gets hurt in the dungeon?”
Well, well.
Kang Gyeol checked the time. There were about three hours left before the Yongsan dungeon opened. It was a dungeon where a demon world invasion was suspected, so he couldn’t be late.
“There’s no time to cook rice, but I can fry some eggs for you. If that’s alright, you can eat and go.”
“Who’s making it? If it’s you, I’m not eating.”
This was all because of Satin’s rice. He hadn’t expected this. He had Satin’s demonic energy under control, but the problem was that it seeped into the rice when she cooked. Someone spoke up.
“I’ll eat if Satin makes it.”
This was a crossroads of portals. Hunters and various types of Awakened, and even knights and monsters from other worlds that had escaped from dungeons, appeared here. It was a dangerous area, and people came here knowing the risks.
“When I eat Satin’s food before entering a dungeon, I feel strangely powerful. My injuries heal, and I feel good.”
Satin’s demonic energy also mixed with other food besides rice, but it was less concentrated. He looked at Satin. The child bit her lip and blinked, looking at him. Why did this child love cooking so much?
“Want to fry a pan of eggs?”
“Yes!”
The customers cheered.
“Satin, please!”
“Thank you, pretty girl!”
Ten years after kidnapping the Devil King’s daughter… the child was beginning to live up to the Devil King’s expectations in a different way.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“He took Satin in the end.”
“Telling us to eat and leave after they close, what kind of way is that to treat a customer?”
About twenty customers were eating fried eggs in the restaurant.
“The hunter with the baby. It’s been like that since he first appeared ten years ago. Whenever an irregular dungeon opens, he always rushes out with Satin on his back.”
“It’s strange that he only goes to irregular dungeons. There are many other dangerous dungeons, aren’t there?”
“I know. There must be a reason.”
The customers just looked at each other, unable to answer.
“It also doesn’t make sense that the hunter with the baby suddenly opened a restaurant.”
“What’s the story behind it?”
“At first, the boss cooked himself, right? It was really inedible.”
“Then Satin started cooking.”
“That’s when we became regulars at this restaurant.”
The hunter who had been beaten by the orcs put a fried egg in his mouth and chewed.
“Satin’s food is definitely different. I can feel it with this too.”
“Me too. I feel like the mana in my whole body is heating up.”
“But rice is still the best. I should have eaten it today.”
“The first time I ate Satin’s rice, I saw heaven right there in my seat.”
“Me too.”
“Me as well.”
Someone asked with a serious face, “Is the rumor true?”
“The rumor that Satin is a princess of an otherworld kingdom?”
“That’s right. The boss went to another world through a portal and saved the kingdom. He found Princess Satin there. He brought her back because there was no one to protect her. Makes sense, right?”
“It makes sense, but we can’t ask him.”
“Don’t even think about it. Someone asked about Satin’s past before and got kicked out of the restaurant.”
“It’s a taboo.”
“It’s best to stay out of it. We just need to be able to eat Satin’s rice.”
Everyone nodded and looked at each other.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
An old man and a girl stood in front of the restaurant. The girl, who looked to be about ten, pushed the restaurant door.
“Grandpa. The door is closed.”
“I see. They must have gone to a dungeon.”
On Earth, Ether flowed instead of Mana. It was a paradise of Ether. The human world had no mages, so Ether remained abundant. There was no one to use it. The rumor spread across dimensions.
‘A paradise of inexhaustible Ether exists.’
Ether was a higher-concentration energy than Mana. To beings from other worlds who were worried about their survival due to depleted resources, this rumor was like a gold rush.
“Dungeons are so scary.”
“That’s nothing. At most, you’ll see monsters. Before, the Devil King was after the world.”
Numerous dungeons and portals opened up in the city. Monsters poured out from them. It was an attack by beings from other worlds to plunder the Ether.
Warriors and mages who followed them stuck pipes into the Ether mines. The land from which Ether was extracted turned into a desert. On the brink of ruin, some humans began to awaken. They gained special abilities from being exposed to the Mana that flowed from the dungeons and portals.
A desperate battle ensued between the otherworld invaders and the Awakened humans. An unavoidable war had begun.
And the Devil King came.
“Why did the Devil King come?”
“Both the invaders and the hunters were exhausted. The Devil King waited for that moment. To swallow the world in one gulp.”
“He’s so mean.”
“That’s what the Devil King is. Evil and merciless.”
Upon his arrival, the Devil King killed half of humanity. He enslaved the other half and ordered them to mine Ether. The Awakened stood up against him, but they were powerless.
“It would have been a disaster if there hadn’t been a hero.”
A month after the Devil King’s appearance, humanity’s first Ether Awakened was born. It was Kang Gyeol. He could freely manipulate Ether. All other Awakened used Mana.
When magical power was infused into Ether, Mana was created. In contrast, Kang Gyeol, who could directly manipulate Ether, boasted incredible efficiency. The Devil King had never faced such an enemy. Kang Gyeol won the first battle against the Devil King.
He pushed a translucent Ether blade into the Devil King’s neck. And when he came to his senses, he realized he had regressed to a seven-year-old child. He waited for ten years, and the Devil King came again, and another battle ensued.
He defeated the Devil King twelve times and regressed to a seven-year-old each time.
“When the hero stormed the Devil King’s castle, the whole world cheered for him. He was only seventeen at the time.”
“That’s amazing.”
The Devil King turned back time as he died. Fortunately, he didn’t take his memories with him. He was unaware of the regressions. He couldn’t repeat such a battle forever.
Before the thirteenth battle against the Devil King, Kang Gyeol entered the Devil King’s castle and didn’t return. And with that, the Devil King’s invasion also stopped.
The hero had attacked the Devil King’s castle, defeated the Devil King, and met a heroic end. That was how the world remembered his final moments.
The old man looked at the restaurant sign with a regretful expression. There were no words on the sign, only a drawing of a rice bowl.
“The owner of the restaurant is protecting the world that the hero left behind.”
“But the rice is also delicious.”
“Satin is the one who cooks the rice, isn’t she?”
“She’s the same age as me, but she’s amazing.”
The old man looked at the girl. “You have talent too. Let’s go for today.”
“Yes, Grandpa.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A car drove down the road. It was on its way to the Yongsan dungeon.
“The Devil King is really bad.”
Satin’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Kang Gyeol.
“Mister, what if the Devil King comes again?”
“He won’t.”
“Really? Everyone is worried.”
“Because something bad will happen to the Devil King if he does.”
Kang Gyeol slowly accelerated the car.
