Chapter 231
“Don’t you want to clock out?”
Halt.
The instant Lloyd spoke, the King of Hell’s pen—darting at the speed of light across thousands of approval documents—executed a full-brake stop.
“What?”
The King of Hell’s cynical gaze shot over and pinned him in place.
If there was such a thing as eyes sharpened from ice, it would be that.
But Lloyd didn’t flinch.
That reaction was exactly what he expected.
‘Of course. He’s been working overtime for 670,000 years. If someone asks whether he wants to clock out, what do you think he’ll say?’
The response was obvious.
“Of course I want to clock out. But why ask something so obvious?”
The King of Hell’s voice turned sharp.
His expression said, Are you making fun of me?
It was a good reaction.
At least it was far better than before, when he hadn’t even spared Lloyd a glance and only buried himself in paperwork. Now there was finally room for demands and negotiation.
Lloyd answered.
“Because I think I can help you with that.”
“Help me? You?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“If you promise to release the soul of the dragon Enticus that you’re holding, I’ll tell you how.”
After saying that, Lloyd snapped his mouth shut.
He looked up at the King of Hell with a pointed stare.
Their eyes tangled in the air.
For a moment, they stayed that way.
“Ha.”
A hollow chuckle curled at the King of Hell’s lips.
“Are you trying to negotiate with me right now?”
“Yes, I am.”
“With what audacity?”
“Because I’ve heard that you’re someone who pursues extreme efficiency and fair compensation in all things.”
“You heard that?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd nodded.
It was true.
He really had heard stories about the King of Hell.
Where?
In the novel ‘Iron Blooded Knight’.
‘There was a line about it. They said the King of Hell is the one who punishes the dead by law. But he’s so busy with the work that he developed a personality obsessed with extreme efficiency. And because of that…’
They also said he demanded fair compensation in everything.
That there was absolutely no such thing as “free” in the King of Hell’s dictionary.
If you wanted something from him?
You had to pay the price.
‘Perfect. I like that style. Isn’t that right? Life is give-and-take.’
No freebies.
No handouts.
In that sense, the King of Hell was oddly similar to him.
That was why.
The entire time he came to meet the King of Hell,
Lloyd put himself in the King of Hell’s shoes.
If he were the King of Hell, how would he react if someone demanded he release a dragon’s soul?
Put yourself in their place.
Try applying your own position.
Thanks to that, the answer came quickly.
‘If it were me, I’d sneer and ask if releasing a dragon’s soul was supposed to be free. And then the one asking would end up as the beggar—“O King of Hell, what should I do in return if you release it?”—clinging desperately. That won’t do. You’d be handing over all the initiative from the start.’
If possible, every negotiation should start by making the other side cling.
That was the secret to beginning the war called negotiation in your favor.
That was the fight for initiative.
That was how Lloyd saw it.
Because of that,
he could craft a tailored strategy.
The King of Hell, who had been suffering under brutal overwork for ages.
The bait of clocking out—something the King of Hell would jump at the moment he heard it.
He dangled it right in front of him and drew out his interest.
Then, at that timing, he casually slipped in his demand.
Release the dragon’s soul, and I’ll tell you how to clock out.
“So? If you just promise, I think I really can tell you the secret.”
“……”
Lloyd smiled faintly.
A crease formed between the King of Hell’s brows.
That human—Lloyd Frontera, no, Kim Suho.
He’d felt it briefly when he watched him take down Hell Knight Georexius last time, but he truly was a vile, sly, underhanded bastard.
At the same time, the more he looked, the more he wanted him.
‘Should I just shove that bastard into my seat?’
At first, he’d thought he might just use him as a speaker for Hell’s broadcast system and make him sing.
He’d expected he could punish the souls in purgatory more efficiently by using that horrific singing of his.
That was why he’d even made time to manifest in the bastard’s dream and reveal his intent.
But now, his thoughts shifted a little.
If possible, he wanted to dump all his work on him.
If he could just sit him down, he looked like the type to do the job brilliantly.
Then he, the King of Hell, could rest for a thousand years—ten thousand years.
But soon, the King of Hell shook his head.
That was unrealistic.
To make that dream(?) come true, he’d have to hand over the throne of the King of Hell.
Or grant the bastard enough authority to act as his substitute.
He didn’t like either option.
‘Well, the dragon’s soul is only worth about as much as some precious ornamental goldfish anyway.’
So releasing it would be only a minor regret.
No real loss.
But if the price was being able to clock out?
If the reward was a life with evenings after work?
Gulp.
The King of Hell swallowed without realizing it.
He could be freed from mountains of paperwork.
He could fling off this suffocating necktie.
He could sink into a steaming lava hot spring and leisurely sip a highly acidic juice.
After loosening up, he could sprawl on his bed and enjoy the countless novels, myths, and assorted legends that had piled up over 670,000 years.
Once he pictured it that far, the answer was decided.
That human, Kim Suho.
He’d cut into his needs with an annoyingly perfect blade,
and it irritated him a little,
but even so, it was an extremely tempting offer.
And so, the King of Hell made his decision(?).
“Fine. I promise.”
“Truly?”
“I do. I promise to release the soul of the dragon Enticus. Now speak. The secret that will let me leave this mountain of work behind and clock out.”
“All you have to do is entrust me with one construction project.”
“Construction?”
“Yes.”
A deep furrow formed between the King of Hell’s brows.
A smile seeped into Lloyd’s lips.
‘Got it.’
He clenched his fist in triumph behind the King of Hell’s back.
Just as expected, the King of Hell had responded positively.
‘I knew this would work. For both of us, it’s a win-win offer.’
The King of Hell could reduce his workload.
He could have a life with evenings after work.
And Lloyd?
He could retrieve the soul of dragon Enticus from Hell.
Then he would gain the patronage of Dragon King Verkis, along with infinite wealth and an extra life.
‘So if I just pull off this one construction job properly, all of that becomes real.’
Lloyd smacked his lips.
The honey pot he’d been stacking up in the Frontera Estate, layer by layer—
it would become unbreakable, backed by infinite wealth.
And he could enjoy it even more thoroughly with two lives.
His dream of being a permanently carefree, perfectly idle freeloader—no, a carefree young lord—no, a landlord for life would become reality.
Holding that solid dream close, he said,
“First, I’d like to ask you something, King of Hell. The work of judgment in Hell can only be carried out by you, correct?”
“It can.”
“Then is the reason you can’t clock out because there are simply too many judgments to make?”
“No.”
The King of Hell shook his head.
“I am the King of Hell and the one who judges the dead. It makes no sense to say I can’t clock out because I’m crushed by judgments. Even if the number of souls I must judge in a single day reaches tens, hundreds, or thousands of trillions.”
It was true.
In fact, the number of souls the King of Hell judged each day was so immense it was hard to grasp.
The souls of humans who died each day?
That was only a fraction.
Not only humans, but all animals and even tiny creatures on the surface had souls in their own way.
And among them, the souls of single-celled organisms and bacteria—those that passed through the King of Hell’s judgment—were truly astronomical in number.
Because every day, roughly 40% of the bacteria living in a planet’s oceans were annihilated by phage viruses.
“Still, judging them is easy. They’re far too simple—beings that carry no karmic wrongdoing. So unlike complicated human souls, there’s no need to ponder over whether to send them to Heaven or selectively imprison them in Hell. You simply take the incalculable number that comes in each day, lump it all together, and shove it through the Gate of Reincarnation at the far edge of Hell. And for that? One judgment is enough. But—”
The King of Hell lifted his pen.
His smile turned bitter.
“The problem is escorting those souls from Hell Castle to the far edge of Hell, where the Gate of Reincarnation is. Did you hear about that issue on the way here?”
“Yes. To be honest, I did.”
Lloyd nodded.
It was true.
Thanks to information he’d gotten from Satan Pagenti—the one he’d beaten into submission(?) to find Hell Castle.
“The number of souls that need escorting is absurd, but the route isn’t properly maintained—that’s what I heard. And that because lava boils up everywhere, you can’t properly pave the roads.”
“Yes. Exactly. That is why I’m shackled to this work.”
“Because road conditions change every day, you’re busy setting escort routes.”
“More precisely, I’m the one overseeing that work.”
The King of Hell let out a heavy sigh.
A road that melted into lava every day.
Escort routes that changed every day under its edge.
He had to monitor and inspect it in real time.
Every day, every hour, his back nearly broke assigning new routes.
Even if he delegated the work to the satans under his command, it was the same.
“Reports come in nearly by the minute from the satans in the field pulling the soul carts. The route is blocked. It melted into lava. The cart can’t pass. Assign a new route. And when I assign one? Minutes later, another report comes in saying the same thing. Then I have to assign yet another route. Do you know how many satans are moving those soul carts? Eight hundred thousand.”
“……”
“A nightmare, isn’t it? Eight hundred thousand satans, each screaming at me with reports and requests by the minute. And the only one who can strongly control that many satans in real time is me—the King of Hell. And if those tasks pile up even a little and the escort gets delayed… do you know what happens? A catastrophe. A certain catastrophe.”
“A catastrophe meaning…?”
“If the souls of those bacteria can’t be put into the Gate of Reincarnation at the far edge of Hell, then most of the bacteria that uphold the planet’s entire ecosystem won’t be able to reincarnate. Cell division stops. They can’t replace the numbers lost to death. The microbial food chain collapses from the roots. Can you imagine the result?”
“I mean… it sounds like a mass extinction event. Across the whole planet.”
“Exactly. And that is why I’ve been chained to work for 670,000 years.”
“Then… what about before 670,000 years ago?”
“What do you mean, what about it. It was the same as now.”
“The same?”
“The previous one was working just like I am.”
“There was a previous King of Hell?”
“Yes. The previous King of Hell. He eventually committed suicide. After failing to clock out for nearly 3.8 billion years, he fell into depression.”
“……”
Lloyd lost his words.
The King of Hell’s smile grew even more bitter.
“And you claim you’ll solve that problem. Fine. What construction project is it? What in the world could possibly resolve this damned escort route problem?”
At the King of Hell’s question—bitter enough to feel like resentment—
Lloyd shook out his shoulders.
‘Hoo. I heard from Pagenti that there was a soul-escort problem, but this is…’
Once he dug into it, the problem ran deeper and carried more burden than he’d expected.
It was an issue tied to deliveries that carried the fate of a planet’s ecosystem(?).
Still, Lloyd thought it didn’t matter.
He’d been thinking about the solution from the moment he anticipated the problem.
He’d come up with an approach and refined it on the way to Hell Castle.
“With your permission, I’ll tell you the answer, King of Hell—”
Lloyd raised his head.
He met the King of Hell’s eyes and said,
“Lay down a railroad while you’re at it.”
“A railroad?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd nodded.
The King of Hell narrowed his eyes.
“A railroad. Something that exists only in Kim Suho’s world, I suppose.”
“……Ah, yes.”
Lloyd flinched.
Every time the King of Hell mentioned the name Kim Suho, he noticed Javier at his side.
What if Javier found it suspicious?
He even felt a twinge of guilt.
But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
He was negotiating to win a construction job from the King of Hell himself.
And the negotiation had reached its decisive moment.
‘Focus. Focus.’
Lloyd took a deep breath.
From here on, it was crucial.
What advantages would a railroad provide?
How would those advantages solve Hell’s soul-escort problem?
He had to explain it properly, effectively, to the King of Hell.
No—he had to practically brainwash him.
‘Hoo. This is a presentation. Yeah. A presentation in front of the professor.’
Every presentation starts by grabbing attention.
To grab attention, you start with a strong, fresh name.
With the key point of victory(?) in hand, Lloyd lifted his head.
With confidence in his eyes,
he faced the King of Hell boldly.
“Then, starting now, I will introduce the ‘Hell Railway 666’ project.”