At last, Il-gyu had revealed himself as a Devil King.
The fallout was no joke, not even in the slightest.
It was no exaggeration to say that the entire National Intelligence Service had been thrown into chaos.
If it were up to them, they would have liked to say, "How is that even possible?" and snap back, "There's a limit to your jokes."
But they had seen the wave of prana he unleashed when he declared himself a Devil King, and they had seen the unmistakable proof of a god-slayer's exclusive possession: an Authority, [Tyr's Sword].
So there was no room left to deny that Il-gyu was a Devil King.
In the end, a meeting was convened again under the director's orders.
Only a cold silence hung in the air when Cha Ho-jin, the head of Team 6, spoke first.
"First of all! Let's congratulate him. And maybe have a beef dinner together for old times' sake."
""What?""
"Honestly, it's not a bad thing, is it? Setting aside the fact that our workload exploded through the roof, haven't we finally got ourselves a king?"
He was right.
Japan had produced a king, and how much worry had that caused all this time?
Even if Korea was a little late to the party as the eighth, it now had a worthy counterweight of its own.
And once Il-gyu's existence became known, the domestic situation that had been in total uproar would likely stabilize quickly.
"Besides, he's actually quite favorable toward us."
"He smashed Team 4 to pieces."
"If you've got a problem, then stop talking about WWE and try UFC. You don't even know what real smashing looks like?"
"Khm, th-that's..."
"Just look at the situation right now. If he were ordinary, do you think we'd be able to sit here like this?"
Il-gyu was currently killing time quietly in the lounge, waiting.
After revealing that he was a Devil King, he had naturally been guided to National Intelligence Service headquarters by the agents.
There, he had told Director Choi Kang-pil and the other executives, who had rushed out in a panic to meet him, "You'll need time to sort out your position. Whatever the case, this was far too sudden."
"Th-that is true, but..."
"I'll give you enough time. I need a little rest myself, and I have plenty of questions. Let's each decide where we stand, then talk again. Ah, until then, I'd prefer it if only the National Intelligence Service knew I'm a Devil King."
"We'll keep that in mind."
In other words, the time they had now was Il-gyu's consideration.
Who could possibly say he was not favorable?
Compared to the other Devil Kings, his character stood out even more.
"Well, we did get a pretty brutal initiation ourselves."
"Compared to blowing up another country's national treasure, this is mild."
"The ones he killed were all people who should've died long ago anyway."
"Honestly, it's a relief there wasn't a bloodbath. To think the one sacrificed by that bastard Jang Seong-woo's filthy stunt was the king's father..."
"This is what we get for neglecting domestic matters all this time."
Of course, one could not say the National Intelligence Service was at fault for Il-gyu's father's death.
If anything, the root cause of Jang Seong-woo's rampage lay in Japan.
It had been an unfortunate accident: after a king had emerged in Japan, Jang, who had already built ties there, had overstepped his bounds and paid the price.
But what did that matter?
Il-gyu's father was dead.
If the king's wrath had fallen on the National Intelligence Service, and by extension on Korea itself, the result would have been a literal sea of blood.
For Il-gyu to have settled for killing this many was, frankly, a bargain.
In the first place, if Il-gyu had become a king and stabilized Korea, these were the sort of people the National Intelligence Service would have dealt with before he ever had to lift a finger.
"Good. Then let's continue the meeting in a more positive direction."
After all, aside from becoming much busier, there was nothing bad about it.
At the director's words, everyone nodded and resumed a proper exchange of opinions.
"First, I think the important question is whether he intends to reign as Korea's king."
"Ah, yes. That is certainly important."
"Japan is going through hell over that very issue right now."
A god-slayer becoming a Devil King did not necessarily mean he would become the king of that country.
Take the first Devil King, the Balkan Devil King, Sasha Dejanstahl Voban. He used the Balkans as his base, but he was not exactly protecting any particular nation.
"He does keep a whole pile of sorcerous associations under him, but even that feels more formal than anything."
"Well, he's a man who can do almost everything himself."
"He's the Devil King who best fits the phrase 'lone wolf.'"
The second Devil King, the leader of the Five Peaks Sect, Luo Cuilian, was much the same.
As her title of sect leader suggested, she was the head of her own independent organization, the Five Peaks Sect.
She used the Five Sacred Peaks of China as her base, but had no real exchange with the Chinese government.
That said, she did protect the land to some extent.
In fact, whenever a god descended within Chinese territory, she would handle it on her own and vanish, even without a request from the government.
"As for Mrs. Aisha, she's perpetually missing, so let's set her aside."
"There's barely any information on her to begin with, is there? I doubt anyone even knows what country she's from."
"The Black Prince and the Sword King are at least pro-national."
"Uh... can you really call the Black Prince pro-national? That smug little punk who lives for his own ego?"
"He does go when the British government calls, at least."
"Probably because the Greenwich Wise Men's Council calls him."
The Sword King was openly the leader of Italy's sorcerous associations, so no one could deny that he was pro-national.
That said, he too gave the impression of only having the title and little else.
Among the Devil Kings, who wasn't a problem child?
He was one of the most unpredictable and uncontrollable of them all.
Italy's guardian, and at the same time Italy's biggest headache.
"As for America's Champion..."
"Let's just say he's pro-national for now."
"In a different sense from Marquis Voban, he's a lone wolf too, but there's nothing to criticize about him."
"He's the undisputed pride of America and its strongest hero."
"Aside from the fact that his secrecy gimmick makes it impossible to contact him, he's honestly top-tier."
"And when trouble does happen, he shows up on his own anyway."
If you badmouthed the Champion, John Smith, in America, you would not be joking—you would really get stoned to death.
It was no wonder one of his nicknames was the guardian saint of Los Angeles.
The god-slayer envied by every nation in the world was surely talking about him.
Korea was insanely jealous too.
But Japan?
"This may be a little rude to say about a king, but... he's immature."
"I hear he's still denying that he became a Devil King."
"More precisely, he admits he became a Devil King, but says he's just an ordinary, unremarkable person."
"What the hell kind of nonsense is that?"
"Just hearing it makes my head spin."
"He's still a student, so I can understand a little."
"Student? What student? By high school, you're old enough to know everything. He just can't tell right from wrong."
Even if becoming a Devil King had not been by his own will, a Devil King was an existence that could not help but be extraordinary.
His level as a being had already changed. There was no turning back.
From the looks of it, he wanted to live an ordinary daily life.
But he had chosen his position terribly, terribly wrong.
And the worst possible form of it, at that: denial of reality.
"I've heard there's already plenty of conflict because the Japanese king's god-slaying took place in Italy, not Japan."
"And they say the key helper was a young lady from Italy."
"What's more, he went to Italy and was formally recognized under the notarization of Greenwich as a clear fragment of a Devil King."
"Ah... that thing with the Colosseum getting blown up."
"When I heard it, I thought it was a lie too."
"They said it was collateral damage from demonstrating an Authority..."
"Should've taken a trip to Italy first."
Yet the man himself denied being a king while still doing everything a king would do.
No wonder the Japanese government had gone insane.
What's more, the young lady who had supposedly been the key helper in the god-slaying had now crossed over from Italy to Japan and was passionately pursuing him.
By her own account, they were already married or something.
If her family was really as huge as they said, then if that turned out to be true, Japan would be in for a complete disaster.
It was no joke—they might actually end up at war with Italy.
Compared to kings like that...
"Il-gyu is extremely well-mannered."
"And he even graduated top of his class from Korea University's law school."
"By academic pedigree alone, he might be the strongest Devil King in history."
They guessed that Il-gyu was not entirely uninterested in the throne.
If he had been, he would have hidden himself away.
He had the ability to do that too.
And yet he had boldly revealed himself as a Devil King.
That must mean he wanted something as a king himself.
And given his personality, it also meant he intended to shoulder at least some of a king's obligations.
"That 'some' is the key point."
"Honestly, it's up to Il-gyu."
"If he says he wants to goof off with no responsibilities at all, what can we do? We'd have to let him."
"The funny thing is, we'd still come out ahead."
"A king contributes massively to the national interest just by existing."
Even if Il-gyu did absolutely nothing, Japan would no longer be able to run wild in Korea.
Who in their right mind would dare?
If they slipped up and it reached the king's ears, they'd be dead on the spot.
The National Intelligence Service had been grinding itself raw for years and still failed to solve the problem, and then he ended it with a single line: "I'm here."
That was the power of a king.
The only problem was what Il-gyu would demand in return.
Director Choi Kang-pil thought for a while, then seemed to make up his mind and stood up.
"We'll accept everything."
"Are you serious?"
"We should hear him out first and judge after that, but I don't think he'll make any unreasonable demands."
Of course, there were things to brace for.
Just from the way he had acted after avenging his father's death, it was obvious that Il-gyu was deeply dissatisfied with Korea's current supernatural world.
He might even be angry at the entire supernatural society.
"And Devil Kings are people who don't know compromise."
He would try to tear the whole thing down and rebuild it from the ground up.
No matter how much blood flowed in the process.
And yet...
"If that's all it costs, isn't that cheap?"
After all, the way to treat rotten flesh was to cut it out.
Would it hurt more?
Would the wounds from treatment be worse than the disease?
Would a new illness strike while everyone was still worrying and worrying and worrying, unable to act?
The king was saying he would do what they had only fretted over and never managed to do.
Saying, in effect, that no matter how severe the swelling became, he would stay by their side.
"Then you'll just have to endure the pain."
Inwardly, Il-gyu was not the only one hoping this rotten system would be overturned.