The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Chapter 163
In the Shade Palace, there is a saying that goes like this:
“To know the atmosphere of the Shade Royal Family on any given day, just check if Prince Ismail is smiling.”
“The only flame that can melt the Iron-Blooded Queen Fatima is Ismail’s smile.”
“If you want to move the king, give a gift to Prince Ismail.”
Fatima, the Fourth Queen, who is deeply favored by the king, recently gave birth to a late-arriving child. The king’s joy was indescribable. When he first heard that Queen Fatima was pregnant with Ismail, he even ran barefoot to the queen’s palace in excitement.
The king’s love for Ismail continued even after his birth. To celebrate Ismail’s birth, a special amnesty named “Ismail’s Birth Amnesty” was declared, and various taxes were reduced on his first birthday.
The most famous story is from Ismail’s fifth birthday. Originally, the king had planned to complete the “El Tower” on this occasion. The “El” in the name refers to Ismail’s nickname, “El.”
However, an incident occurred.
One day, Ismail cried while clinging to the king.
“Boo hoo… Daddy…”
“Oh, my treasure El. What’s the matter? Why are you crying?”
“Boo hoo… Daddy, my friend is so pitiful.”
Upon investigation, the king learned that Ismail had seen a sick child on TV, likely from a charity advertisement.
“Daddy, I wish there weren’t any sick friends.”
This incident turned the El Tower into the “Shade Royal Hospital,” which later became the world’s leading hospital specializing in rare and intractable diseases.
Additionally, Queen Fatima spent her entire fortune to support the school tuition of all the children born in the same year as Ismail, and Ismail’s elder brother Muhammad gifted him a gold-plated Rolls-Royce when he discovered Ismail’s love for cars.
Despite all this, Ismail lived a life where he got everything he desired and did everything he wanted. Yet, there was one thing Ismail lacked.
Friends.
That’s right. Ismail had no friends. It was impossible for any child to sincerely approach Ismail, who was at the center of power. Even when Ismail tried to reach out first, the formalities of royalty often distanced him from others.
He felt sad and lonely.
“Why does everyone avoid me?”
Ismail cried to his older brother Muhammad, who merely replied with a bitter smile, “That’s the fate of the royal family.”
“I don’t want to become king at all…”
Thus, Ismail grew up in a blessed environment with everything he could wish for, but he also had to endure the consequences of that privilege during his childhood.
One day, an unusual child appeared.
“Let’s try, sister.”
“Nuu… me?”
“Yeah, sure!”
The child smiled in satisfaction, his mouth forming a triangular shape.
It was Park Bom.
—
Park Bom got out of the car, stomping her feet.
“It’s the third day! How is there no tteokbokki place after three whole days?”
This was wrong.
Totally wrong!
“El, I don’t get it. Every village should have a market. So why is there no tteokbokki shop!?”
“Uh…”
Ismail was about to say, “That’s because we’re not in Korea,” but upon seeing the anger in Park Bom’s expression, he shut his mouth.
What is tteokbokki that she reacts like this?
Looking at pictures, it was all red, like boiling lava at the bottom of hell…
Ismail couldn’t understand Park Bom at all.
“El, I’m disappointed in you.”
“Disappointed?”
“Tteokbokki isn’t just food. It’s… it’s… Oh what’s it called? Yes, a soul food!”
If it contains a soul, isn’t it “soul food”?
Once again Ismail kept silent. Truly, this girl possessed boundless wisdom.
“Living without tteokbokki is horrifying… In our country, a single phone call brings it right to your door!”
“Should I order it for delivery?”
“Yeah, deliver… Huh?”
Bom stared at El with wide eyes.
“Is it deliverable?”
“Nothing is impossible.”
“How can it be delivered if there’s no store?”
“This is a royal palace. Anything is possible.”
Ismail had privately investigated the situation. Since Bom kept talking about tteokbokki, he looked into it—how representative tteokbokki was to Koreans and that it wasn’t sold here.
He then asked the royal chef to prepare a recipe he found online.
The only mistake Ismail made here was selecting the spiciest type of tteokbokki from Korea instead of a milder version.
Thus, the result was truly a tteokbokki made from the sulfuric flames of hell itself.
“Wowwww! Tteokbokki! Let’s eat, let’s eat.”
“…This is too red.”
“Originally, tteokbokki is red.”
“It’s way too red. Surely, eating this will result in stomach issues.”
“Don’t worry. Dad said humans don’t d*e easily.”
Bom firmly rolled up her sleeves and picked up the fork.
Ismail thought long and hard but ultimately picked up the fork as well after hearing Bom’s words.
“If we eat this, we will become real ‘friends.'”
“…Alright.”
With a resolute expression, Ismail swallowed the hellish substance.
There was no longer an Ismail who felt lonely even with every material possession. Now, Bom was his friend.
Still, at this point, Ismail lacked certainty.
After all, he had met many children who approached him like this. Scheming ones who concealed their intentions in an attempt to exploit his background.
He worried if Bom wasn’t one of those.
Yet Bom treated Ismail as if mocking these worries.
Ismail had been fond of cars since he was young. His garage, filled with gifts from his brother, was stocked with luxurious hypercars worth billions. But Bom, after taking a look, said:
“Are all these yours?”
“Yeah. How about it? Aren’t they cute?”
“Hmm… there are a lot, but they’re pretty bad. They look like toys.”
“Huh?”
“Cars should be big and sturdy!”
In Bom’s eyes, her standard was set by Park Ki-hyuk. Any car that Park Ki-hyuk wouldn’t have enough room in didn’t count as a car.
Ismail was baffled at first but soon laughed.
She was certainly unique.
Most people would either be discouraged or show greed when shown such a display, but Bom just naturally accepted it all.
Then,
“Oh right, El, isn’t this your house?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, I should greet your parents! I met your mom last time, so now I should greet your dad!”
“Yeah…? You want to meet my dad…?”
“Yeah! Please show me the way!”
“It’s… fine.”
Even though Ismail insisted it was okay, Bom insisted on meeting his father, the king.
She eventually found the king and greeted him.
“Hello. I’m Bom, El’s friend.”
“Ho ho ho. Nice to meet you.”
Bom, bowing deeply at the king’s presence, made the king smile warmly.
Ismail was skeptical. Does she not know my father is the king? Or does she not understand what a king is?
But neither was true. Bom was fully aware.
“Uncle, are you really the king?”
“That’s correct. I am the king.”
“Wow, so you must be very wealthy then.”
“Perhaps.”
“Then, Uncle, please grant me one favor.”
“Speak up, anything. As the friend of a prince, you are a part of our royal family. I will grant any favor.”
Ismail was shocked by this statement. The king never spoke falsely.
“Grant any favor.”
For a regular person, this might seem like a simple promise, but coming from the king, it was equivalent to a blank check.
It meant you could have anything you desired.
Ismail swallowed hard and looked at Bom.
This was a test. A test from the king to see if she could truly be his son’s friend.
Bom, however, showed no regard for such a test. She smiled cutely and made her request.
“Please open a tteokbokki shop.”
“Ho ho ho, tteokbokki?”
“Yes, Uncle, there’s no tteokbokki shop here. You know, friends have a rule: we must eat tteokbokki once a day!”
“Rule… rule. Hahaha. ‘Uncle’ will handle it.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”
Ismail finally understood then.
To Bom, Uncle wasn’t a king, but simply Ismail’s father.
It was touching. Finally, finally, Ismail had a friend who accepted him just the way he was.
But in fact, from Bom’s perspective, this was only natural.
Even in terms of wealth, her grandma had more than enough. She used to say,
“Child, anything that can be solved with money is trivial. The truly important and valuable things cannot be bought with money. Chase what’s valuable, Bom.”
And it wasn’t just grandma; Dad also said,
“Is that person stronger than you, Bom? Yeah, but it’s not just that person. Anyone in the world can be beaten by Dad.”
“Dad is the strongest.”
Always be confident.
Dad has got your back.
For Bom, who had grown up with Park Ki-hyuk as a model, Ismail was just a kid with a bit of special talent, and the king was merely an Uncle with a lot of money.
After a bit of a commotion, a few days later, a store appeared in the downtown area of Riyadh with letters in a strange script.
Its name, “Tteokbokki Heaven,” was named because eating just one bite is said to take you to see the ancestors in heaven.
“Wow! A tteokbokki shop! Berrie, look. Tteokbokki! T… t… t… t… t… HEAVEN TTEOKBOKKI! Amazing. Uncle kept his promise!”
“Meow~.”
“El, let’s go. We’re eating roe tteokbokki today!”
“Again?”
“One tteokbokki a day. Let’s gooo!”
Bom grabbed El’s hand and ran, and El reluctantly followed her into the tteokbokki shop.
Meanwhile, Park Ki-hyuk, watching from a distance, eventually…
SNAP.
…shattered the car door.
He threw the broken car door to the ground.
THUNK!
“…That d*mn kid.”
“Hey, the door fell off. Really… I apologize. I’m sorry. She’s too strong.”
Jin Yu-ri bowed to the royal guard, but right now, this wasn’t important to me.
Bom, my Bom…!
“GRR. What to do with this.”
“What’s to be done? The kids are just friends.”
“Friends should act like friends! Why grab his hand!”
“Why are you overreacting? Bom grabbed his hand first, and what’s so bad about that? Kids at that age do it all the time.”
“Th… this sound!”
“Don’t waste time on nonsense and let’s move on. The kids are busy playing, so don’t interfere.”
“d*mn.”
He climbed into the car, even though the door was missing.
The wind blowing through the broken door did little to cool his seething thoughts.
Jin Yu-ri beside him smirked,
“Really, you’re acting like an eight-armed monster.”
“…”
“The first rule in parenting is seeing things from the child’s perspective. You need to see it through their eyes.”
“Ugh, I get it.”
“No, you don’t. Just shut up and listen.”
Why does this kid keep lecturing me like this? My pride is hurt.
She continued lecturing,
“If she’s making friends, that must mean she’s bored. Too much parental interference distorts the child’s development…”
And on and on it went.
After listening to her lecture for a while, we arrived at the mall, which I looked at with slight curiosity.
Right in the middle of the downtown area, visible to everyone, they were selling artifacts?
It looked different from Korea’s secret “Royal Market.”
One of the royal guards explained,
“It’s all the king’s will.”
To elaborate, “Since everyone already knows, there’s no need to hide any longer.”
From what I had investigated, the current king was described as nice but average in ability. It seems the story might be wrong.
“He’s not just messing around.”
Every king pursues his own virtues. There are those who wield authority like despots and others who rule with compassion. From what I could tell, this king seemed to intentionally neglect some things.
“What’s there for me to worry about, anyway?”
It’s another man’s family drama. Unless it involves Mary or Junwoo, it’s best to stay uninvolved.
Which is why I declined Muhammad’s request for a representative diplomatically.
“By the way, Ki-hyuk.”
“What?”
“Should you help with Muhammad’s representative thing? It seems serious.”
“He’ll handle it on his own.”
Honestly, if he can’t solve this simple issue, perhaps he doesn’t deserve the title of king.
“Well, if it doesn’t work out, Junwoo can step in. With ‘Dragon Armor’ in hand, he can chew up most people.”
“Indeed… good thing you gave it to him before.”
“Seems things worked out well by accident.”
It’s better if Junwoo steps in to help rather than me making a mess.
This is why Jin Yu-ri and I came out shopping, intentionally avoiding the situation.
But…
“They keep acting out.”
Sometimes, there are such people.
You only know whether they’re feces or soy sauce after tasting them. Hopefully, they have some sense.
I scanned the crowd and turned away.
