"I Am Hero Veltebray! Demon King! Your Reign Ends Today! Hahaha!"

Haa-!

"Ahahaha! How do you like the taste of my sword? It’s a masterpiece forged from dragon bone!”

Shake shake.

“Hehehe—No, no. I could only defeat the Demon King thanks to the support of the ladies. So..."

That’s enough nonsense.

Smack!

“Argh!”

Park Yeon looked around, bewildered.

“Wake up from your dream.”

“The Demon King?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“That just now….”

“Was a dream.”

“Did you send me a nightmare?”

Seo-jun sighed deeply.

“You drank and had a ridiculous dream.”

“That’s impossible… Ugh.”

Overwhelmed by a sudden hangover, Park Yeon groaned. Seo-jun smirked at the sight.

“Didn’t you say you’d never been drunk before?”

“I… was drunk?”

“A spectacle like no other.”

“No way! I’ve never been drunk in my life! So much so that my wish was to experience being drunk!”

“If you say so.”

“It’s not ‘if I say so’! I’ve been immune to intoxication for ages….”

Park Yeon’s eyes widened.

“Don’t tell me?”

“Enjoyed watching your drunken state.”

“Damn it. But why are you here at the shop? Isn’t it too early to open?”

Since relying on the Seo-jun brothers, Park Yeon had been staying in a small room tucked in the corner of their shop.

Seo-jun silently began organizing the glass bottles filled with Hydra venom on a shelf. Watching this, Park Yeon tilted his head.

“Hydra venom?”

“You recognize it.”

“You keep dismissing me, but you’re the only one I couldn’t defeat. Hydras are nothing for me.”

“Is that so.”

“I didn’t want to brag, but I even took down Deikarant, the dragon known as the Black Terror. A Hydra is nothing. But why did you bring the venom?”

“It makes a fantastic sauce.”

“Venom?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve got to be mistaken. Hydra venom isn’t edible. The moment it touches skin—.”

“I know. Eternal agony that you can never escape.”

“And yet you’re going to eat it?”

“With a little process, it becomes a perfect sauce.”

“Process?”

Removing the toxicity from Hydra venom was surprisingly simple: steam it.

This method wasn’t widely known simply because no one had ever succeeded.

Hydra venom was so potent that even a touch could subject one to eternal torment—a divine toxin.

Even dragons, once affected, couldn’t detoxify the area, which is why no one even attempted it.

In the kitchen, Seo-jun filled a pot with water and turned on the gas. When the water started boiling, he placed a bottle of venom into the pot.

Twenty minutes. That’s all it took. The venom would lose its toxicity, transforming into an excellent sauce.

While the venom was being steamed, Seo-jun retrieved the pork belly of the recently butchered Krekseg from his spatial storage.

Properly slicing Krekseg pork belly along the grain was crucial to enhance its texture when cooked, whether grilled or steamed.

He placed five perfectly sliced portions into a plastic container. Observing him, Park Yeon asked,

“What are you doing?”

“Gochujang pork belly roast.”

“You’re not seriously adding venom, are you?”

“It’d be incomplete without it.”

“...You’re insane.”

“We’ll see. Just don’t beg me for more later.”

“That won’t happen.”

Seo-jun took out a bowl and added seven spoonfuls of gochujang. Then, he mixed in a tablespoon of soy sauce, a pinch of red pepper powder, two spoons of sugar, and minced garlic.

For sweetness, he chose an apple, which would also help counter any potential gamey smell. He added a spoonful of cooking wine and two spoons of plum syrup.

Mixing it thoroughly, the sauce became thick and rich. Finally, he added two spoonfuls of the detoxified venom and stirred it in.

He poured the completed marinade over the pork belly and set it aside to marinate for three hours.

“Where are you going?”

After placing the marinated pork into the fridge, Seo-jun headed out, but Park Yeon stopped him.

“Just running an errand.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Bored?”

“Not bored, exactly... Uh, let’s call it reconnaissance.”

“Reconnaissance?”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be living here. I can’t stay cooped up in this tiny shop forever.”

“Fair enough.”

“Right?”

“Come along.”

Following Seo-jun, Park Yeon looked around constantly. For him, this was practically a second outing.

Ever since circumstances had forced him to rely on the Demon King, he had rarely ventured outside the shop.

The hunger he experienced for the first time in his life had been more than a shock—it was a revelation.

“Where are you going?”

“To make money.”

“Money? Don’t you have plenty already? Even just the treasures plundered from the Celestial Realm would…”

“As I said before, I’ve never plundered the Celestial Realm. And the treasures I did have, I already distributed to my subordinates.”

“All of it? The legends claim the Demon God’s wealth could buy entire continents, and you just gave it all away…”

“I didn’t need it.”

For the Demon God, he sure is peculiar.

Muttering to himself, Park Yeon followed Seo-jun, who headed to the office of Hwang Tae-su.

The guard blocking the entrance frowned deeply.

“What do you want?”

“I’m here to see President Hwang.”

“Crazy bastard. Do you think our boss is your buddy? Who the hell…”

Just then, Hwang Tae-su came running from a distance, panting heavily.

“Hah… hah… Sir! I apologize! This guy hasn’t been here long, so he didn’t recognize you! Please forgive him! What are you doing? Bow and apologize to the boss!”

The guard awkwardly bowed as Seo-jun jumped straight to the point. From his subspace, he pulled out various monster by-products obtained from the dungeon.

When the spatial rift appeared, Hwang Tae-su’s jaw dropped.

“A… a skill? Or maybe an artifact?”

Whatever it was, upsetting this man would mean certain death. And not a peaceful one at that.

In the worst-case scenario, he might end up trapped in that subspace.

“They say that being confined in subspace means spending eternity in an endless void…”

Just the thought of it made his knees weak.

“W-What is all this, sir?”

“Don’t call me ‘sir.’”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmph.”

“Oh… my apologies. I’ll address you as ‘President.’ What is all this, President?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Monster by-products.”

Hwang Tae-su carefully inspected the items Seo-jun had pulled out of the subspace. There wasn’t much to speak of: forty goblin and orc heads, and three tiny magic stones.

“Why are you showing me this…”

“I want you to buy them.”

“You’d get much more if you handed these over to the government for a bounty.”

“I heard you need to register or something. I hate tedious processes.”

“Ah, yes. That’s true.”

“I’m not asking for a high price. Just pay me the going rate from the black market.”

“Well… if you say so. As you might know, goblins go for 100,000 won each.”

“That’s more expensive than I thought. Is that the black market rate?”

Normally, he’d have eagerly taken advantage of such a gullible offer, but this wasn’t just anyone.

This man had effortlessly taken down thugs and wielded a spatial skill—a formidable awakened individual.

“Yes. The government bounty is 150,000 won. After deductions, the usual price on the black market is around 80,000 to 100,000 won.”

“So, they’re currently trading at 100,000 won?”

“Ah… recently, goblin supplies have increased, so they’re down to 80,000 won.”

“Then pay me 80,000.”

Caught off guard by the generous offer, Hwang Tae-su widened his eyes.

This guy… is unexpectedly decent.

“Oh, yes. Thank you, President.”

“How much for the orcs?”

“Orcs go for 500,000 won each. After deductions, they usually trade between 300,000 to 350,000 won. Recently, they’ve been going for about 340,000 won.”

“Then 996,000 won for all of them.”

“Fourteen goblins and twenty-six orcs… yes, that’s correct. 996,000 won.”

“How much for the magic stones?”

“These are… roughly…”

Hwang Tae-su glanced at Seo-jun nervously.

“It’s fine. I’ll take the market rate.”

“Fifty thousand won each is the most they’d fetch.”

“1,146,000 won.”

“Yes.”

“You can pay that immediately, right?”

“Of course.”

Hwang Tae-su opened a nearby safe, stuffed with cash. He pulled out a bundle and ran it through a money counter before handing over 1,146,000 won. Seo-jun deposited the money into his subspace and was about to leave when he paused.

“Oh.”

“Yes?”

“Secrets are best kept to the grave.”

“Of course, of course.”

“I’ll be seeing you again.”

“Yes, please take care!”

Hwang Tae-su stayed bent in a deep bow until Seo-jun’s figure disappeared. Once he was gone, the man let out a heavy sigh of relief and pointed at the guard.

“Who the hell hired this idiot? Get rid of him immediately! How can someone who can’t even tell shit from shinola guard this place?”

“What’s that?”

Park Yeon was unusually curious for a hero. Well… as they say, the more elite someone is in their field, the less they understand about the real world.

Seo-jun figured Park Yeon was no exception.

“Detergent.”

“Detergent?”

“It’s used for washing dishes.”

“Then what about that? It looks like cola… is it soju?”

“Do you think everything in a green bottle is soju? That’s a soda called cider.”

Park Yeon hesitated, sneaking glances at Seo-jun. The latter smirked.

“You can take a few.”

Seo-jun continued grabbing necessary items while noticing a toy car in the corner of his eye. It reminded him of the last time he visited the mart with Seo-woo, who had stared longingly at the toy section.

“Come to think of it, Seo-woo didn’t have a single proper toy.”

There had been a worn-out doll and a broken robot, but he’d never seen Seo-woo play with anything new.

Looking at the price, Seo-jun understood why.

• Fire Truck Toy
• 290,000￦

A toy barely larger than an adult’s hand cost nearly 300,000 won. Still, Seo-jun placed several toys in the cart.

He spent nearly 2 million won in an instant, but he didn’t regret it one bit.

“Can I drink this now?”

“Go ahead.”

Taking a swig of the soda, Park Yeon exclaimed.

“This has a unique charm different from cola. But I think cola is better.”

Seems like he’s completely hooked on cola.

Smiling faintly, Seo-jun spotted a bone soup restaurant nearby. His mouth watered.

He had eaten plenty of dishes like Arutus eggs or Krekseg pork belly in the Demon Realm, but he couldn’t recall the last time he had bone hangover soup.

Seo-jun ordered two bowls. True to the nature of Korean fast food, the soups came out quickly.

Boiling broth, bones peeking through the surface, and a heap of greens piled on top.

The sight alone made his mouth water, but—

“Is this dog food?”

To a man from another world, it looked nothing more than that.

“Just try it. You’ll be surprised.”

“Not exactly convincing.”

Seo-jun prepared his meal with mustard sauce, red chili paste, and a dish for discarded bones. The feast was ready.