Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

“I’ll read out the ingredients list as it’s written here. If you’re curious, take notes on your own.”

“Hey you! Bring me a pen right away!”

Kriksha hastily snatched the writing utensil handed to him by another demon, while Hyun Habin flipped over the Nuclear Spicy Chicken Stir-fry Noodle sauce to glance at the ingredients list.

[What on earth is this scene… tsk tsk. Does this guy even know what he’s so curious about?]

Ahezar muttered, but Habin ignored him and read the text.

“Alright, so the ingredients are… purified water, soy sauce, refined sugar… why is refined sugar listed so early? There’s more sugar in this than I thought?”

It’s almost unnoticeable under all that spiciness!

At that moment, Kriksha asked.

“Excuse me, but what is refined sugar?”

“It’s sugar.”

“What’s sugar?”

“What?”

Hyun Habin frowned.

“You don’t have sugar here?”

That magical ingredient that transforms any dish into something fantastic when added!

An essential item in life that’s absolutely necessary for bread, cakes, and ice cream!

You’re telling me that delicious thing doesn’t exist?

“Then, what did you use to create the sweetness in the food we ate earlier?”

In response to Habin’s question, a chef who had been in the banquet hall scurried over as if he’d been waiting for this moment and answered.

“We use honey collected by the Tsutsudu beast, and solidified chunks made from ground Pahzja fruit.”

After finishing his explanation, the chef asked with an excited expression.

“If I may be so bold, I’m curious about something too. What is ‘soy sauce’?”

“Uh……”

Hyun Habin froze with a frown on her face.

“Well……”

Chae Jiseok, who was standing nearby, tried to answer but seemed to realize there was no good explanation and closed his mouth again.

In a world without sugar, trying to explain the process of fermenting soybeans with salt to make soy sauce would be…

“Hmm, I see. I understand what you mean.”

Habin smiled brightly and stood up.

“Alright, let’s just forget about it!”

Manufacturing Nuclear Spicy Chicken Stir-fry Noodles in the demon realm is impossible. Impossible!

‘In fantasy novels, people who fall into other worlds always succeed with cooking, but this place is hopeless. The ingredients would all be different to begin with, so how could you even mix them? It’s an incredibly troublesome and cumbersome task. If it were me, I would’ve given up long ago!’

“Huh……”

Kriksha wore a disappointed expression.

“So you mean it’s impossible because the raw ingredients are too hard to obtain. I suppose legendary ingredients are needed, right?”

Refined sugar, purified water, soy sauce. To Kriksha, these all sounded like unfamiliar names imbued with tremendous mystery. Habin nodded with a serious expression.

“Yeah, something like that. Sugar and soy sauce are truly legendary. Sweet soy sauce is legendary. Just making braised chicken with it would leave you in awe.”

Habin nodded and dusted off her seat.

“Ah, it’s too complicated. I’ll just buy it for you, buying it would be faster. If I remember next time I come, I’ll bring some Nuclear Spicy Chicken Stir-fry Noodles, alright?”

“Gasp, you’d really do that for us?”

“I should bring some mozzarella cheese too and make it properly. Ah, I should bring popcorn as well. I really regretted not bringing popcorn when we watched the movie earlier. Geez, how could I bring the movie but forget the popcorn? I need to reflect on this!”

“……?”

As she began formulating a full-fledged gourmet plan, Chae Jiseok looked at Habin with a puzzled expression.

“Are you planning to come back here? Weren’t you just grinding your teeth earlier saying you’d go straight home? Don’t you dislike this place?”

“No, I actually like it here. Especially the luxurious staycation I enjoyed in the room Ipsine lent me, and the fancy food. If there weren’t people bothering me, it’d be a great place to hang out in many ways.”

Maybe creating a demon realm tourism package and marketing it wouldn’t be a bad idea?

Habin shook her head with an “Ugh.”

“However…… it’s problematic for me to take on the responsibility for this place. I’m not going to live here permanently, and I’m not even from the demon realm, so how does it make sense for me to be in charge?”

How ridiculous would it be if we brought an alien who knows nothing about our culture and made them the president of our country?

[You’re thinking more rationally than I expected!]

“What? What do you take me for? I’m actually a very conscientious person, you know. Of course, above all, it’s incredibly bothersome, troublesome, cumbersome, and burdensome, which makes me want to give up even more.”

Habin heaved a sigh as she looked at the numerous demons still surrounding them in a large circle, their eyes filled with “Wow, Demon God-nim” adoration. Some demons had even made placards and were waving them around.

‘Demon God-nim has turned the demon realm upside down!’

“Damn it. Can someone tell them to stop waving those things!”

“Yes! I’ll immediately behead that bastard……”

Kriksha, who had quickly stood up, caused Habin to sigh even more.

“Ah, don’t kill them!”

“Then torture?”

“No torture either!”

“Yes, yes!”

Kriksha answered enthusiastically.

In truth, Kriksha was currently at the peak of excitement.

‘This Demon God is finally going home!’

Upon hearing Habin say she was going home, Kriksha’s face broke into a sinister smile.

‘Once this woman goes home, I’ll become the number one in the demon realm!’

Kriksha chuckled while looking down with satisfaction at the other Demon Kings sprawled out in a corner of the banquet hall.

All the Demon Kings except Kriksha were now dead.

They say if you stay still, you’ll at least be in the middle, right?

While the other Demon Kings recklessly charged at Glitch and were wiped out, Kriksha had remained still.

He quietly observed the situation and then dealt with the other unconscious and injured Demon Kings one by one.

‘Hehehe. Now that the other Demon Kings are gone, once this Demon God leaves, I’ll be number one in the demon realm! Finally, my dream is coming true!’

Now, the only strong figure left in this demon realm to keep Kriksha in check was this Demon God. So, once this Demon God went home, Kriksha would immediately seize power and rule over everyone. That was the plan.

However, Habin, who had been watching his smile, frowned.

“……I don’t think Kriksha will do.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“It’s clear that when I leave……”

“When you leave?”

“You’re making a sinister expression like you’re going to stab me in the back.”

“……!”

‘This human, pretending to be clueless while actually knowing everything?’

Sometimes it’s hard to tell just how much she knows when she acts like this.

Kriksha, startled, quickly put on a smile and rubbed his hands together, pretending not to understand.

“Ehehe! No, not at all! Are you doubting my loyalty! Me, Kriksha! Haven’t I done well all this time?”

“You have done well. You’ve been incredibly kind.”

“That’s right! See?”

Kriksha nodded.

‘Now that you understand, just go home quietly!’

Kriksha forced a kind smile while suppressing his contorting face. Habin opened her mouth.

“But, didn’t I tell you to handle the kids gently? Kriksha always jumps straight to thoughts of killing and torturing.”

At this rate, you’ll eliminate all the demons.

At her words, Kriksha hastily waved both hands.

“No, no, that’s not it! Those were all just jokes. Jokes, you know. Hehe. Right?”

He put his arm around the shoulders of a nearby innocent demon and smiled with the kindest expression in the world. Of course, he didn’t forget to whisper in the demon’s ear.

‘Hey, laugh with me. I said laugh.’

“Heeee……”

The demon, trapped in Kriksha’s grasp, trembled.

‘If you don’t act friendly, I’ll have your head right now!’

“O-of course! Kriksha-nim is! Very kind and! He has the makings of a great ruler! Haha! Hahaha! The talk of beheading was just a joke. He often makes such jokes!”

“Hehe, you heard that, right? It’s all jokes, that kind of thing.”

“Hahaha! Just jokes!”

“……Is that so?”

Habin frowned. In truth, whether it was a joke or not didn’t matter to her. She turned her gaze back to the demons still gathered in confusion.

Even though they tried not to show it, their expressions clearly revealed how terrified they were of Kriksha.

And of course, Hyun Habin wasn’t the only one who noticed this.

[Do you believe the words of this Demon King?! No matter how much that guy pretends to be kind, you must not fully trust the essence of an evil Demon King! If you leave the demon realm to him…….]

Thus, Ahezar’s nagging continued incessantly.

Habin leaned back on the throne of the Demon King’s castle, resting her chin on her hand.

“Hmm, Kriksha is quite convenient. He’s quick-witted and adapts fast, so I do value him.”

“That’s right! If you just trust and leave it to me!”

“Still, there’s always the possibility of something going wrong.”

Habin turned her head. Just then, she felt the gaze of a demon who had been quietly observing them for a while.

A pink-haired demon who had remained unshaken by the series of incredible events, neither fleeing rashly nor losing composure as she calmly observed the situation.

It was Ipsine.

“What do you think, Ipsine?”

“What? Me?!”

Ipsine, who had been quiet until now, jumped in surprise. Her expression showed she didn’t understand why she was being dragged into this conversation.

“You wanted to become the family head, right?”

“I did…”

“While we’re at it with appointing leaders, why don’t you try being a Demon King!”

“Whaaat?!”

“Whaaaat?”

Ipsine blinked with her eyes wide open, while Kriksha opened his mouth with an expression that said this was absurd.

“B-but why……”

“Why, you ask? All the Demon Kings except Kriksha are dead. There are six vacant positions. It wouldn’t be a problem for Ipsine to take one of them, right?”

“B-but such a radical personnel decision is unacceptable! There will be opposition!”

“What kind of opposition?”

“Well……”

Grrrr.

Kriksha wore an expression of dismay.

He had thought he’d become the sole leader after getting rid of all the other Demon Kings! And now they’re adding another new Demon King!

This would disrupt his plans.

He desperately searched for a counterargument while hiding his trembling fists.

“Hey, this goes against the principle of survival of the fittest! Demons stronger than Ipsine will oppose this!”

“Oh, let me know if anyone opposes. I won’t let them off easy.”

“……”

Sadly, that ‘opponent’ was Kriksha himself.

‘I can’t even say that I’m the one opposing!’

Habin continued.

“You mentioned survival of the fittest. Doesn’t that mean we should listen to the strongest person?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“Well, I’m the strongest, aren’t I?”

“That’s… right.”

“Then let’s make Ipsine a Demon King as I say!”

“That’s…!”

This can’t be…

Seeing Kriksha’s face refusing to relax, Habin drove the final nail in.

“Hmm, Kriksha, you’re quite thoughtful. Worrying about all these things. But don’t worry. I’ll come check periodically to see if anyone’s messing with Ipsine! That should work, right?”

‘Ah, no! What do you mean you’ll come periodically!’

Kriksha bit his lip and turned to look at Ipsine.

‘Please refuse! Refuse!’

No matter how much this woman pushes, if that guy doesn’t accept, there’s nothing that can be done.

‘Just looking at her, she seems like she’d refuse because it’s too burdensome?’

In Kriksha’s eyes, Ipsine had an image of being timid and delicate. At best, she might wave her hands and say, “How could I take on such a responsibility?”

‘Then I’ll step in and say it’s unfair to force someone to do something they don’t want to do. Hehe.’

But the next moment, Ipsine’s answer followed.

“If the Demon God-nim commands it, of course! I must accomplish it no matter what happens! I’ll dedicate my entire being to fulfilling your order! Just leave it to me!”

Ipsine answered solemnly with eyes full of fighting spirit.

‘Why, why! What makes you so confident to accept it like that!’

Kriksha, his last hope shattered, swallowed his tears inwardly.