Ch.636Chapter 24. Real Estate Never Die (14)

As with all basic economic activities, there’s a particular aspect where Koreans are even more intense.

“Who said you could do business in my territory?!”

Territorial infringement.

While it’s pitiful how difficult and sad making a living can be, I cannot tolerate someone doing business in my territory.

Especially when someone new starts selling the same things I sell in my area—a competitor in the same industry—I want to flip them over with fire in my eyes.

Just like how when a new convenience store opens 100 meters away, you casually scope it out just to see the owner’s face, everyone hates when someone selling the same things appears in their territory.

It seems even demons couldn’t tolerate that.

[You’re saying my method is wrong?]

“That’s right. Wishes shouldn’t be granted that way.”

The demon continued pointing at me accusingly, then kept gesturing toward the sweet boyfriend.

“Red light, green light.”

Crackle.

The demon froze in place.

As if under a time-stopping spell, the demon became paralyzed and completely still.

“Why is your wish-granting wrong? One need only look at these people to understand.”

Whoosh.

The Monkey’s Paw demon descended to the ground amid black mist.

In human form, he was a tall figure nearly 2 meters in height, a pale man wearing a fur coat.

Though a monkey deity, he had a handsome face like the leader trying to escape the Planet of the Apes.

“Wishes aren’t to be granted carelessly. Humans shouldn’t casually ask things of others. They should strive and achieve things themselves.”

[Is wishing itself a wrong action?]

“That’s not wrong. Wishes can be the driving force that pushes humans to move forward progressively.”

He seems to be trying to assert his own philosophy, but thanks to that, I could truly sense it.

This one is a ‘real’ demon.

Just like the demons of Dueoksini and Laplace, this demon with twisted ideology is truly a demon of Pandemonium.

“Humans must always move forward. They should do their best for their goals and fulfill their desires through their own efforts. I cannot forgive those who try to easily achieve their desires through mere ‘wishes.'”

The demon spread his arms and shouted.

“Effoooort!!!”

[…….]

“Ah, how beautiful are humans who make effoooort! How wonderful and lovely is a life where one acts on their own and achieves results to fulfill life’s purpose! That is truly human! The most lovable beings in this universe!”

[Is he insane.]

I’d almost prefer the nationalist Dueoksini.

It’s ridiculous that the closest to normal thinking was the obsessive lover demon Laplace.

“I cannot forgive it! I cannot forgive those who throw away all the effort they should make through ‘wishes,’ and just try to get what they want for nothing!”

[So that’s why you grant wishes in strange ways.]

“No! I don’t grant them strangely! I granted their wishes exactly as they wanted! Just—”

[You bring ruin to those who don’t make effoooort. Is that it?]

“That’s it—!”

Snap.

“Now we’re communicating! Yes, Goblin! Wishes shouldn’t be granted just like that!”

The demon, with somewhat exaggerated movements, pointed both index fingers at me while nodding emphatically.

“There are no free wishes! If you want to fulfill a wish, you must make proportional effoooort! If you want to receive 1 million won right away, you must work enough to earn 1 million won, and if you want to awaken as S+ rank, you must undergo sufficient mental training!”

The demon started stomping his feet in anger.

“Does it make sense to just grant something because someone says ‘give it to me’?! Granting wishes that way only degrades humans! Without autonomy, with their will to act on their own castrated, they’ll only become surplus humans who expect others to do everything for them!”

[I agree with that part.]

“Oh, yes! That’s how a goblin should be! A goblin who killed two demons should naturally have that level of self-awareness!”

It’s three actually.

…Ah.

Including this demon now, three.

“I’ve finally found it…! Finally, I’ve found someone who ‘understands’ me! Now, Goblin! Take it back! Take back your words about granting that man’s wish!”

[I refuse.]

“What…?”

[Your wish, I will not grant it.]

“……!!”

The demon’s mouth fell open as if realizing something.

“Y-yes…! That’s right! That too is my wish! Then I must ‘persuade’ you! Why you shouldn’t just grant that man’s wish!”

The demon clapped his hands and smiled broadly at me.

That smile was so childlike and pure that it sent chills down my spine.

“That man is trash who stole another country’s resources!”

[I acknowledge that.]

“No matter how much he tries for his woman, he’s ultimately a criminal!”

[Whether it’s a crime or not would need legal debate, but if we consider the process and just look at the trial result, it was an illegal act. I acknowledge that.]

“That’s right!!”

The sweet boyfriend clearly did something wrong.

“Unable to resist consuming honey containing mana, he committed an obscene act in a public place, even in a cable car! And it was an act of treason!”

[Treason?]

“If it had been an act that could produce future possibilities, there might have been mitigating circumstances! But they didn’t do that! For the World Cup match… they didn’t do it facing forward!!”

[…….]

Indeed.

Perhaps they chose that method of intimacy to avoid pregnancy, which would force retirement like Baek Seol-hee, Kim Yoon-ji, and Yoon Yi-seon.

[I didn’t know that.]

No wonder the demon appeared so quickly.

No wonder the man so easily became a demon.

[Even from an Italian perspective, acts of treason can’t be tolerated. Globally speaking.]

“Yes! They only had the desire to become stronger! Stealing resources from another country, committing obscene acts in public places, and even those acts couldn’t produce future possibilities! You’d just grant the wishes of those who committed such acts? I cannot allow that!!”

The demon pointed at me with one hand and shouted.

“Therefore I declare! You should not grant wishes in such a way! You shouldn’t grant wishes to those who just ask for them, and especially not to those shameless ones who mock future possibilities and recklessly steal resources from this land—the Korean peninsula!”

[So they’re out on multiple counts, you’re saying.]

In the demon’s view, they don’t deserve to have their wishes granted.

[But let me tell you two things.]

“What…?”

[First. No matter how nicely you package it, what you want is ultimately the ruin of humans who make wishes, isn’t it?]

As I transformed my flute into a goblin club and pointed it at him, the demon’s smiling face began to freeze.

[You don’t refuse to grant their wishes. Rather, you do grant them. Just like with Choi Ho-jung, you pretend to fulfill their wishes without hesitation.]

“…….”

[And then you distort and misinterpret those wishes. Either the degree of ruin varies according to the wish, or the wish is fulfilled but in a completely unexpected way.]

“……heh.”

The demon began to smile with an increasingly grotesque face.

[You’re just a malicious troll who enjoys watching the ruin of those whose wishes weren’t properly fulfilled.]

“Troll…?”

At my words, he began to grin as if having an epiphany.

“Ah, I see. Thank you, Goblin. I have finally found the word to define myself. Through none other than your lips, I shall define myself.”

The demon reached out both hands toward me, kneeling on one knee, asking something of me.

“Call my name, demon!”

[…Demon of Trolling.]

“Woooooah—!”

The demon hugged himself and began spinning around.

“Ah, ahhh…. What I couldn’t understand from searching any stories until now, I can finally prove my own existence through language…!”

He probably didn’t know the word “troll.”

Troll content easily messes with people’s mental state, and such things are naturally censored.

I’ve ended up calling this wish-granting demon the “Demon of Trolling”—

[Rather than calling you Demon of Trolling or whatever, let’s just go with Troll for short.]

“Ahhh…! Such a Korean-style name…! Surname Yu with the given name Yeolchung. How amazing…!”

[…….]

It seems he liked the name “troll” even more than I expected.

While “something-chung” is basically a derogatory term, attacks through such labels don’t work on malicious people who enjoy even that.

But.

To such people, one can clearly express refusal.

[I dislike trolls.]

“…….”

[It’s fine to enjoy them in stories, but I don’t like those who enjoy trolling in reality. Those who play with human expectations and instantly plunge people’s happiness into the abyss.]

A 0/3/2 mid-lane mage who thinks they’re the best is less malicious than a 5/1/2 top-laner who wins lane by full-mining towers but then deliberately throws in team fights.

[And finally.]

I threw the honey container at the frozen man.

[If I’m going to grant that wish anyway, why are you interfering?]

“……!”

[If I’m going to grant the wish, why are you telling me to work hard or whatever?]

“That’s wrong—”

[No. It’s not wrong.]

Bang!

When the honey container exploded, the man was freed from paralysis.

[Troll. Do you believe in humans?]

As the honey-sucker opened his eyes and held the honeycomb in his hand again.

[I don’t believe in humans.]

He.

[Instead, I believe in what I believe in.]

The sweet boyfriend began to fly, holding the honeycomb still full of honey.

[What I believe in is love.]

Toward his queen bee.