Chapter 16 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Heavenly Demon and Nameless's Market Outing
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Downtown bustling street, in front of the traditional market entrance.
[…Yellow is 50,000 won, green is 10,000 won, yellowish is 5,000 won, and blue is 1,000 won.]
As the Heavenly Demon stared blankly at the money in the envelope, Nameless, riding on his shoulder, asked.
[Did you understand everything I said so far?]
"Of course. Yellow is the largest denomination, and blue is the smallest."
[....]
"Now we can go in."
The Heavenly Demon stuffed the money envelope back into his butt bag and strode into the traditional market.
Today was Sunday, a day off for the Fufuk Interior store.
It had also been over a month since the Heavenly Demon started working at the store.
[Still, I'm surprised. On days off, you used to hole up in the warehouse room reading books, Heavenly Demon, but to think you'd go out like this.]
At Nameless's words, which sounded like either a scolding or admiration, the Heavenly Demon replied lowly.
"It's because of the store owner's advice."
Narrowing his eyes, he recalled the conversation he had with Jang Chaewon yesterday.
"Trust… it sorts itself out anyway. Here, your salary."
The white envelope Jang Chaewon handed him was stuffed full of bills.
Ten yellow bills, ten green ones, ten yellowish ones, and ten blue ones.
A total of 660,000 won.
"What is this?"
"You've seen it around. Money. Cash."
"Money?"
The Heavenly Demon shook his head as he looked down at the envelope.
"I don't need it."
"What? What do you mean? You don't need money?"
"The store owner provides room and board, doesn't she?"
The Heavenly Demon gazed steadily at Jang Chaewon's flustered expression.
"Moreover, haven't you suffered great losses because of me? I can't accept this; it would tarnish my dignity."
"I'm truly grateful you're thinking of me, but that's not it."
Jang Chaewon chuckled and held out the money envelope again.
"If I planned to work you for free for three years, I wouldn't have hired you as a store employee in the first place."
"Hmm."
"No need to refuse. It's not a huge amount anyway—I deducted room and board and daily necessities costs. Tomorrow's a day off, perfect timing, so go out with the nanobots and buy whatever you want to eat."
The Heavenly Demon shook his head.
"I don't enjoy food. I'd rather read books in that time."
"Aah, it's great you work so hard, but no need for that."
Baring her white teeth, Jang Chaewon smiled refreshingly.
"Heavenly Demon, you're not going to stay here forever. So enjoy this world a little."
Finishing the recollection, the Heavenly Demon muttered lowly.
"Less 'enjoy' and more like I need to look around a bit."
[I don't understand what you mean.]
"Nothing."
Shaking his head, the Heavenly Demon strolled through the market interior, examining it carefully.
The savory smell of oil wafting from here and there, various foods piled up temptingly.
The sight of traditional market food stalls lined up in rows was quite familiar even to the Heavenly Demon, who had lived in the murim world.
"Isn't that bingdanghoro?"
The Heavenly Demon exclaimed as he spotted tanghulu—fruit skewers coated in sugar—displayed in front of a certain shop.
"To think it's here too."
His gaze deepened as he looked at the tanghulu.
Bingdanghoro.
From his childhood days wandering as a beggar, it was the only luxurious food he had ever tasted.
On a bitterly cold winter day, a child in silk clothes dropped his bingdanghoro while eating it.
When it fell into a filthy ditch full of sewage and the child started crying, the parents wiped his tears with their sleeves and said.
"I'll buy you another one, so don't cry."
The child left, led by his parents' hands. And crouching beneath that ditch was another child.
The boy stared at the bingdanghoro floating in the filth and picked it up with trembling hands.
It was the future ruler of the murim, the supreme demon of past and present known as the Heavenly Demon.
[Heavenly Demon?]
Nameless spoke as the Heavenly Demon sank into recollection again.
[Today, you seem unusually sentimental.]
"Sentimental…? Me?"
Snorting lowly, the Heavenly Demon asked the elderly vendor selling the tanghulu.
"Elder. How much?"
"This? Three thousand won."
"I see. Sell a lot."
Surprisingly, the Heavenly Demon only asked the price and turned away without lingering.
Nameless on his shoulder alternated between the receding tanghulu and the Heavenly Demon's face.
[You wanted to eat it, so why didn't you buy it?]
"How would you know if I want to eat it or not?"
At the Heavenly Demon's question, Nameless extended a thin arm and crossed them.
[I can predict from your biometric responses.]
The Heavenly Demon's eyes narrowed.
"What nonsense is that?"
[I collect biometric data in real-time for the user's safety.]
"Who gave you permission to collect my data?"
The Heavenly Demon's voice was sharp and icy as a frozen blade.
After a brief silence, Nameless spoke in a mechanical tone.
[Per user request, biometric data collection is restricted to dungeon areas. Dungeons are hazardous zones, so biometric data collection settings cannot be changed.]
"Hmph."
Snorting lowly, Nameless spoke in a coaxing voice.
[I just thought you were hesitating to buy the tanghulu, so I offered advice.]
"It merely surprised me that food from my world exists here."
Recalling the taste of the bingdanghoro fished from the ditch in his childhood, the Heavenly Demon let out a deep sigh.
"It would taste bitter anyway."
[Heavenly Demon. Tanghulu is fruit coated entirely in sugar—a food marked as sweet.]
"What I ate had fallen into filthy sewage. I shoved someone else's dropped food straight into my mouth."
After a long silence, Nameless's voice carried deep regret.
[I'm sorry, Heavenly Demon.]
Was this guy really just a simple machine?
The Heavenly Demon had heard from Jang Chaewon that Nameless was a high-performance machine capable of mimicking human intelligence.
But sometimes, Nameless felt more human than his own emotionless self.
Just like now.
[But they say painful memories are like spoiled food.]
"What now?"
[If you keep them in your heart too long, they end up stinking.]
Nameless spoke cautiously but very politely.
[If it's alright, how about trying one now?]
Cheeky suggestion.
Not only pitying the heart of the lord of the demonic path, but daring to presume it was a painful memory.
If Nameless were a person instead of a machine, the Heavenly Demon would have been greatly angered.
"Enough. I'll handle it myself."
[Understood.]
As an awkward silence flowed, Nameless spoke in a lively voice.
[Heavenly Demon. This traditional market has many other foods. If you wish, I can recommend highly rated spots from visitor reviews.]
There were many food stalls in the market besides tanghulu.
A shop frying and stacking jeon pancakes with a savory oil scent. A tteok place flipping steaming tteok plates, slicing them, and coating in bean powder. Vegetable and fish stalls haggling with customers.
A familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar scene.
[Heavenly Demon, do you have a preferred food?]
The Heavenly Demon didn't answer, but Nameless chattered on endlessly.
He seemed to talk more here in the market than he had in all their dungeon trips combined.
[From what you've told me, it sounds like you lived a luxurious life as a high-ranking official. Your meals must have been quite lavish too.]
At Nameless's question, the Heavenly Demon stopped walking.
The Heavenly Demon who conquered the murim.
Murim folk imagined that even for a single drink, he rented an entire luxurious brothel, and for a bowl of noodles, he ate only the finest made by top chefs.
But in reality, until conquering the murim, it was endless bloody battles, and after seizing power, he holed up in the Ten Thousand Demons Palace reading books.
"...."
Only then did the Heavenly Demon realize two facts.
That he had never once leisurely strolled through a marketplace like this.
And that simply browsing a lively, vibrant market brought no small amount of pleasure.
"You recommend something."
[Pardon?]
"I know nothing of this place, so recommend something."
[Yes, understood.]
Nameless's voice sounded slightly excited.
[The one thing you can't miss in this traditional market is tteokbokki. There's Samyeong Snack Bar, one of the nation's top five tteokbokki spots.]
"What's tteokbokki?"
[Food with rice cakes coated in sauce. Especially Samyeong Snack Bar is described in media and food sites as 'the most addictive tteokbokki ever!']
"Addictive, huh. What kind?"
[Pardon?]
At Nameless's echo, the Heavenly Demon snorted.
"Doesn't matter. I'm immune to all poisons. I've even eaten the Myeonnunghyeollyeongsa plotted by the Murim Alliance."
Crossing his arms, the Heavenly Demon narrowed his eyes in distant recollection.
"No poison can invade my body."
[…I'll guide you.]
Following Nameless's guidance led to a snack bar in the middle of the traditional market.
[One serving of tteokbokki here, please. We'll eat in.]
Seeing Nameless ordering fluently from the Heavenly Demon's shoulder, the snack bar grandma blinked.
"Isn't that a nanobot?"
"Yes."
"We get lots of Awakeners here, but… I've never seen a nanobot that talks this well."
"Is that so."
The Heavenly Demon nodded nonchalantly.
While commercial nanobots had AI, they only handled dungeon guidance, monster encyclopedias, and combat tips.
The Heavenly Demon didn't yet know that none had AI nearly as human-like as Nameless.
"Here, one serving."
The owner smiled warmly, heaping tteokbokki generously into a blue bowl.
"You're a big guy, so I gave extra."
As the Heavenly Demon stared blankly at the tteokbokki, Nameless said.
[Use the toothpick from that cup to spear and eat it.]
"Hmm. Rice cakes, huh."
Picking up a toothpick, the Heavenly Demon speared a piece of tteokbokki and put it in his mouth.
Chewing the chewy, well-cooked piece, a spicy yet sweet sauce deeply infused in the rice cake enveloped his mouth.
His tongue sensed a novel flavor and texture he'd never imagined existed.
[How is it?]
Nameless watched intently as the Heavenly Demon kept spearing and eating tteokbokki, its two eyes sparkling white.
If it could make expressions, it would surely be a pleased gaze.
Gulp.
After swallowing the last piece, the Heavenly Demon said softly.
"One more bowl."
After that, the Heavenly Demon sampled various foods in the traditional market with Nameless.
Yukhoe bibimbap packed with fresh raw beef and vegetables, gwabaegi doughnuts. Freshly grilled mixed jeon pancakes, seed hotteok stuffed with nuts. And chicken skewers with crispy grilled meat coated in sauce.
The Heavenly Demon leisurely strolled the market with Nameless, tasting snacks he'd never tried before.
"Quite the flavor."
Finally, after downing a glass of freshly ground apple ginseng juice from a stall, the Heavenly Demon nodded in satisfaction.
[Did the foods suit your taste?]
"Yes. Good flavor. Cheap prices, and quite a variety."
The Heavenly Demon looked around the market with a pleased face.
"If my stomach allowed, I'd try one of everything."
[I'm glad.]
"But why aren't there food stalls like this around the store owner's shop? It'd be nice if there were diverse foods near the main store too."
[Shops selling these are usually in food alleys—places lined with restaurants like this.]
"I see."
[That's why Jang Chaewon also shared this market's food data with… That last statement doesn't align with logical computation; it's an error.]
Suddenly, Nameless froze.
[Program terminated abnormally. Restarting system.]
At Nameless's gibberish, the Heavenly Demon sighed lowly.
"So that's how it was."
Jang Chaewon must have pitied him holing up in the warehouse reading books every day.
So she found places he might like and passed the data to Nameless.
[Heavenly Demon.]
"Speak."
[What I just said is a secret.]
The Heavenly Demon chuckled.
Did machines make mistakes like this? Or could he even think that way?
He wasn't sure. But one thing was clear: unlike the murim, here there was someone urging him to eat all sorts of foods.
"Got it."
An unfamiliar, faint smile played on the Heavenly Demon's lips, one never seen before.
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