The Max Level Hero Has Returned!
chapter-783

Silence hung in the air.

"Can you say that again?"

"Rinne evaluates her durability highly," she repeated, tapping her heel on the support bar of the work shelf she was sitting on, her head tilted with a happy expression.

Rinne was quirky, often choosing to do things that were hard to understand. Because of this temperament, she often got along well with the extremely innocent Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon.

Her condition underwent significant changes after going through sephirothization. First, with the power of the God of Machines, she gained the ability to heal herself by collecting certain materials, regardless of her technological abilities. Davey repaired her miscellaneous parts by hand, but she meticulously handled the details herself.

However, her recovery speed had also slowed down significantly, and Davey figured her power had decreased considerably as well.

“Tell me in detail,” he said while putting down the tool in his hand. He took a step back, sat down across from Rinne, and made eye contact with her.

“Rinne determines that her independent actions can be deleted from the memory data if they interfere with Master Davey’s future. Rinne highly evaluates Master Davey’s plan.”

“That’s something I’ll worry about on my own. Just answer my question”.

Rinne was silent for a moment, but then started talking.

***

Davey had no choice but to leave Rinne to do the detailed repairs herself. He only fixed the distorted parts of her frame and added a few elements to her body that would aid in her recovery.

Considering Rinne had absorbed the power of the Death Lord Rho Aias and made the power of the God of Machines her own, Davey believed that the nanoparticles concentrated in the technology of the Yurgian Continent would be effective.

After thinking through the process and experimenting, the results were a success. When Davey came out from the operating room after implanting the nanoparticles that would help Rinne recover inside her body, Perserque approached him and shoved something into his mouth. A sweet taste spread across his tongue.

“When you’re angry, you usually calm down when you eat something sweet.”

“I believe I’ve always been good at making judgments.”

“Why don’t you change that expression of yours first, then talk?”

It seemed like she already knew what kind of situation Davey was in, as she even showed him a mirror—he didn't know where she had gotten it from. He could see himself smiling, but yet his face had a sense of coldness.

“I heard you went to the demon world.”

“I figured recovering the power of the Absolute Gem was the top priority. While I was there, I also changed the structure of the demon world a little and tried to earn the public’s trust as well.”

“Good job. Thank you.”

Perserque came closer and quietly hugged him.

“I hated the demons, at first.”

Davey had never seen their species before, and there was no reason for him to like them when they had ruined Perserque’s life. Besides, he wasn’t trying to remedy relations or anything. But as time went by, Davey realized that the demons were no different from humans—most of them were just being used without even knowing that they had done something wrong.

“They’re just like humans—laughing, crying, talking, and loving others. I just couldn’t give up on the demons after recognizing that. Thank you, Davey.”

“Of course.”

As the sweetness lingered in his mouth, he felt his mind slowly cooling down.

“Oo, I see things are getting pretty romantic here. Right, Davey?”

“Hmm?”

Davey turned his head at the sudden voice and saw Hyun-Ah holding popcorn in one hand.

‘What in the world is she doing here?’ Davey thought.

“Maybe I should have worn 3D glasses and bought some popcorn to get the best experience watching this.”

“Huh? What are you doing here?”

“Well, as your younger sister, I should be able to talk to my sister-in-law, no?”

Perserque smiled at her response.

“Davey, I heard you got caught red-handed like a fool?” Perserque said with a relaxed, playful expression, teasing him as if she found his awkwardness endearing.

“So, what’s going on?” Hyun-Ah asked.

“Oh, nothing much.”

“Is that so?” Hyun-Ah answered and looked at him suspiciously.

“Stop lying to me with that ugly toad-like face of yours.”

"Huh?”

“How do you still have that habit of yours even after reincarnating?” she said teasingly and tapped his stomach.

“I knew it. You’re telling me nothing when something like this happened to you?”

“Davey, it’s obvious when you lie. At least, it is for some people like me and…” Perserque said while laughing, once again realizing that Hyun-Ah was indeed his younger sister.

Davey wasn't sure how Perserque knew that Hyun-Ah had found out about his identity, but apparently she somehow managed to come across the information.

“When did you know?”

“Right after you left for Tionis. I noticed while she and I were having small talk.”

“Davey, Perserque is really good at noticing things. So instead of doing something stupid and getting scolded later, you should behave yourself from the start,” Hyun-Ah said in a playful tone. Then Davey slowly approached her and made eye contact.

“That’s.”

“...”

“None of your business.”

“...”

“How dare you triceratops-lookin’ ass try to act all cute.”

***

Hyun-Ah seemed to know about the issue that had caused a stir at this time.

“Ji-Hwan and Ji-Ah; the Yun siblings are furious, questioning the heavens about how kids like them could exist in this world. Oh, Davey, I have a favor. Please don’t mercilessly destroy them like you did in Russia before.”

“That’s up to me to decide.”

Davey casually surfed the Internet, checking the public sentiment. There were comments demanding immediate punishment for the offenders, but once a ruling was made, it would never be overturned without the appeal process—-and that only applied to defense, not punishment already meted out. Even more troubling were those who were taking advantage of the situation for their own gain.

“With the presidential election right around the corner, there are a lot of people taking advantage of this case as political fodder.”

“Aren’t you going to do anything?”

"Me? With what authority?”

“Well, you are leading a global company.”

“What does that have to do with this?”

Davey didn't say anything to her question. Just as he expected, all the conspiracy theories about conglomerates and their families seemed like nonsense.

“Hey, ahjussi. You’re a prince, so shouldn’t you know better? I’m just an ordinary citizen like everyone else. I might be able to find out what happened through personal connections, but their final decision is beyond my control. The only thing they can be punished for is theft, and it seems the victim reached an agreement about what happened.”

And even if she could somehow punish them, Davey knew she wouldn’t take action, as no one could predict how such an issue might backfire on the company in the future.

“The company isn’t mine alone. Uncle built it, and that means I can’t use the company’s power as I please.”

Davey figured receiving pocket money and having influence over the company were two entirely different things. He nodded at her statement.

“Can’t you do something?” Hyun-Ah asked.

"Me? Where would I have the authority for something like that?”

“Your nickname is the world’s strongest... Hehe… Wait, sorry.Anyway, your influence is huge, right?” Aren’t you close friends with the oil prince of the Middle East?”

“What does that have to do with this? Each country handles its own crimes. There are some things one should try to take care of with a heroic mentality, and others that they shouldn’t.”

“I’m just joshin’ ya, man.”

Davey shook his head at Hyun-Ah’s answer.

“But actually, it happens to be a little different this time.”

“Different?”

“Well, there wasn’t just one victim,” Davey said as he passed by her. Hyun-Ah turned her head and looked at him.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to go plan things out. Want to join me?”

Davey knew that simply getting them and forcefully bringing them in front of him wouldn't be difficult. Instead, he planned to show those who had attacked Rinne and were walking around as if nothing had happened how hard life was. Even if it was going to be a bit cumbersome, he didn’t care.

Just as God had said, the most cruel punishment was to let beings have hope and then let them fall into despair.

Or maybe it was someone else.

Davey put his hands together and cast an illusion spell, changing his appearance to that of a young man wearing a police uniform. Afterward, he cast an invisibility spell on Perserque and Hyun-Ah. While someone with the right abilities would be able to see through the spell, it was virtually undetectable to the average person.

"Wow... I can’t see you, Perserque!” Hyun-Ah exclaimed.

“Honestly, I contemplated for a bit since they’re kids. But let's go see for ourselves what kind of guys they really are.”

In reality, it was pretty obvious how things were going to turn out.

***

It wasn't difficult to find the six boys and girls who caused the accident. Given that the Korean government let them stay anonymous to protect their privacy and human rights, they had no issues wandering around carefree outside. However, human rights couldn’t stop Davey from tracking them down purely through superior technology and surveillance.

What was shocking was that three of the boys had come to the funeral home. The family looked at the boys with eyes full of hatred, but they all made relaxed faces.

“Well… I suppose it’s not like we’re not at least a little related to all this… so we also came to give our condolences.”

“You… You! Get lost! How dare you even think of stepping foot here?”

The dead man's young children glared at them with tears streaming down their faces as they hugged each other, and the crippled grandfather was the one to lash out at the boys for their extra disrespect toward his son.

“Ah, don’t be so hard on us. It’s not like we hit him on purpose or something.”

“Wh—What?! You bastards!! Is that how your mother and father raised you? You wicked bastards!”

“And what the fuck are you doing bringing our families into this, old man?”

A middle school boy who couldn’t stand it anymore frowned and stepped forward.

“Fuck, gramps, do you think we hit him on purpose? Huh!? Besides, we all got our punishment. Because of your son, we're the ones who had to go to court under the pretense of killing someone against our will.”

“W-What…?!”

The old man collapsed to the ground, clutching the back of his neck.

“Gran—Grandpa!!”

A little girl and boy dressed in mourning clothes rushed to help him, but the old man cried and wouldn’t get up.

“My, my God!! What’s the grim reaper doing, not taking people like them?!”

“It’s true that we did hit him…”

A boy walked in leisurely, speaking calmly, and slipped the condolence money into an envelope.

“But the dead must go, and those that are alive have to keep living.”

They were causing a ruckus, but since there was not a single mourner still able, there was no one to stop the boys from going on.

“Wha… What?! The dead must go?! You… You bastards!!”

Unable to bear his anger, the old man approached and struck the boy with his cane. The boy made a grim expression.

“Oh, shit! If you keep hitting us like that, I’m going to have to sue you for assault. Gramps, don’t you know the laws protecting minors?”

“Y-You bastards! Aren’t you afraid of God’s retribution?”

“God? Who gives a fuck? You believe in God, and I’ll love the laws of this country.”

“God damn, haha, I fucking love the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.”

Their audacity eventually caused the old man to lose his mind and fall backward.

“Uh… uh… ugh!!”

“Waaah!”

“Grandpa! Grandpa!”

One of the younger boys looking around smiled while looking down at the crying children and the wailing grandfather,

“Uh… I don’t have much to say, but…” said the boy. For an elementary school boy who was only about thirteen years old, his smile was much too dark.

“I’m sorry for my poor driving skills. I didn’t think it would turn out like that… I’ll be more careful next time,” he said, scratching his head. He then performed a playful bow and stood up.

“I think I’m done. I think I can sleep comfortably now, so let’s get out of here.”

“Alright, Gyeong-Tae.”

As they leisurely walked out, a high school boy took out an envelope and approached the boy who was supporting the old man.

“Hey kiddo, this is what I can give to you. Take this.”

“I… I don’t need this!” the boy shouted angrily with tears in his eyes.

“If you want to do something, then bring my dad back!! Bring him back!”

“Don’t… Don’t be like this and just…”

“Bring him back!! Bring him back!!!”

“I don’t know why you guys are making such a fuss when the law forgave me. I’m giving this to you because my dad told me to give it to you, so just freakin’ take it.”

Slap!!

When he hit the boy across the face with the envelope, the boy opened his eyes wide in shock and collapsed to the floor.

“Spit, this cheapass kid thinks he can talk to me like that. Hey, let's go. Where are the others?”

“They said they were going to fake ID their way into clubs today.”

“Hehe, don’t they fucking look old enough anyway?”

Hyun-Ah clenched her fists as she looked at them giggling and trying to leave.

“When I see things like this… I really hate the laws of this country and wonder what the grim reaper is doing.”

“Don’t worry. I told you that I’m the grim reaper.”

Of course, Kain only started calling him that as a joke.

Davey then appeared in front of the boys as they were about to leave the funeral home, asking, “Isn’t it usually the opposite?”

"Huh?" The boy who noticed him tilted his head.

“Forgiveness isn’t the law, it’s what these people should give, isn’t it?”

“Sigh… What’s going on here? Sorry to ruin it for you, bud, but just because you’re the police doesn’t mean you can arbitrarily pick fights with people. How about you just go?”

“Hmph, I mean kids these days are infamous for being fearless.”

"I know, right? Kids these days are smart and know exactly what we can and can’t get away with. Hey man, you seem like a new cop, so let me give you some advice. With that strong sense of justice, if you get caught up in the wrong thing, you'll be out in no time, got it? I'm here to pay my respects today, so don't step out of line and just get out of my way."

“Even the devil would be at a loss for words seeing you punks. That guy Prince Davey is going to have a lot of fun with this.”

“What right does some bastard foreigner have to tell us to do this and that? Hey police officer, we know everything, you got it? We won’t get punished anymore for shit we do. If you want us to be punished, you better go change the law.”

The boy was incredibly stubborn, responding to everything Davey said with a comeback.

He then smiled and said calmly as they passed him, “Alright, I’ll see you guys later.”

After sending them away, he placed his hand on the old man. Davey could tell his blood pressure was rising due to excessive stress and anger—his condition could possibly lead to a cerebral hemorrhage. He gradually stabilized him by infusing divine power into him, then got the attention of the children who were crying without even knowing that he was using magic while talking.

"Hey, you guys.”

“Sob… Sob…”

“Do you hate those guys?”

"We hate… We hate them!!"

"Dad… Dad…”

“I prayed every night after our dad died to please punish those bastards! But God didn’t say anything or even give them any punishment!”

The girl who was crying ran to Davey and grabbed onto his leg.

“Police officer… Why do I have to endure this pain? Am I supposed to just endure it?” a small child in her primary grades asked while crying.

“...”

"No, you aren’t. Those who do wrong should be punished.”

The girl shed tears as Davey smiled.

“And good people should be rewarded.”

That was how a world with common sense operated. Those who went beyond compassion and abused the system… would pay the price accordingly.

Davey sighed as he looked at the crying children. At the same time, he returned to his original appearance. The children made surprised faces as he had changed before their eyes.

“Davey?”

At the same time, Perserque, whose invisibility wore off, looked at him in surprise.

“I wanted them to reflect on what they did. If they did, then even though they would still be punished, I was willing to consider extenuating circumstances. It feels repetitive to say this, but at the end of the day, they’re still just kids.”

“...”

“But I don’t think there’s any need for sympathy now.”

Davey figured he had no choice but to make those who didn't deserve sympathy pay the price. He knew he had no right to intervene in matters like those boys hitting the children’s father—after all, despite his influence, he was a member of Tionis and not a Korean. However, when it came to Rinne… That was a different story.

“Everyone saw that, right? I have to say, this country of Korea is quite interesting,” Davey said with a grin. Just then, chat messages started popping up on his smartphone.

[I really wasn’t expecting him to drop something this surprising after going live for the first time in so long.]

[For reals.]

[Holy… Even Satan wouldn’t stand a chance against them.]

[I’ve seen all kinds of stuff, but they’re truly one of a kind.]

[It was actually those bastards? I knew something was up with them after they got suspended from school for beating up a kid. I guess some people just can’t be fixed.]

[But I think this video might get taken down because of human rights violations and legal issues. What if you get banned?]

“Oh, don’t worry. Whether I get banned or not, nothing changes.”

Then the chat came back with criticisms.

[But by what authority can a person from Tionis interfere in Korea? Are you going to invade Korea or something?]

[If that happens, won’t everything Prince Davey established go to ashes?]

[I doubt that. That’s taking things way too far.]

“I don’t like to lose things. Isn’t anyone curious about why I’m now trying to intervene?”

There was a hint of murderousness in his smile. Those who noticed remained silent.

“You’ll know why once you see it.”

With that, Davey took out another smartphone. He then crossed through space and arrived at a private park that Hyun-Ah often visited, sitting down on a swing. He then said,

“I respect the laws of this country. Therefore, this country must also respect the laws of the Kingdom of Rowane,” Davey smiled as he tapped his smartphone.

"Tiara, can you prepare for bombardment?”

Then he activated another smartphone. It had a direct line to just one person. Meanwhile, all of this was streaming live.

“President Cho, this is Prince Davey O’Rowane.”

- Ah, Prince Davey, it’s been a while. I already tried to contact you. Thanks to the golems you sent, we’ve been able to significantly recover the area we lost. We should talk properly about this some...

“No, we’ll do that later. Tell me honestly—you’ve been watching the stream, haven’t you?”

At first, President Cho thought Davey was joking on his stream. But at this moment, he realized that it wasn’t just a joke.

“Sigh… But Prince Davey, Korea does have its own Constitution.”

“No, you’re absolutely right. I respect the Constitution of Korea. Not just Korea, but any country. I also respected Russia’s. It just so happened to be that the method I used was a bit extreme.”

As Davey chuckled, question marks began to appear in the chat. Davey truly respected Korea's Constitution, and so there should have been nothing he could do. But since something else had happened in the process, he knew this wasn’t the case.

Davey placed a video stone, containing the video that Rinne was filming in real time during the event, in his hand and fidgeted with it.

“I actually think it’s fortunate that Korea gave them probation and disciplinary measures. ‘Cause I don’t have the patience to wait for them for years.”

- Pardon?

“When their punishment is almost over, don't do anything else and just hand them over to us. The Kingdom of Rowane will punish criminals according to its own laws.”

- W-What?!

“I didn’t bring up Russia as an example for nothing. The person Russia attacked was the Princess of the Kingdom of Rowane.”

Then Davey momentarily paused, his expression hardening into a cold stare.

“Before the guys hit the poor victim, they first hit Rinne, a guard captain under my direct control,” Davey smiled calmly.

“I will give you a choice. Hand them over, or else break off ties with the Kingdom of Rowane and go to war.”

“Now, wait just a minute. Prince Davey…”

“I will give you… half a day.”

He then turned his face toward the camera and made a calm face.

“I know you’re watching. I know you’re listening. Even if you aren’t at this moment, I know you’ll still see this someday.”

He then continued while hovering his finger over the end button.

“I told you that I’d see you again, right? Let’s meet again soon.”

After using magic to briefly change his face back to that of an ordinary young police officer, Davey grinned and cut off the livestream without hesitation.

ChubbyCheeks & FriedNook's Thoughts

Orb's Blorb

Alright, gimme a break author. He laid it on PRETTY THICK in this chapter. I've read other novels where people's limbs are ripped off and brutalized, but somehow our lovely author managed to make these children into characters that piss me off even more than those typical villains. These young double-tapping vehicular manslaughterers just kept elevating "bratty little shit" to a whole other level, again and again. Not only do they come and disrespect the bereaved, but they even SLAP a SMALL CHILD with an ENVELOPE full of SARDONIC CASH. My blood pressure surely suffered while editing this chapter. As the ever-so-wise Lil Yachty once said:

And Davey wants to give them hope before knocking them down? Alternate phrasing: "Just as The Foundations explained in their hit song, it was of the utmost cruelty to build someone up, buttercup, just to knock them down."