Welcome to the Demon Bookshop! - Chapter 3

“Eek, what are you doing!”

Paul, who had finished his work, was about to come out after washing up in the bathroom on the second floor. He found Lego and rushed to the fellow. The stupid-looking cat was pushing something off the boss’s desk onto the floor. Thanks to Lego’s constant knocking, the object almost fell to the floor, but Paul threw himself and barely managed to catch it just in time.

“Don’t, Lego!”

‘Meow’

The cat, whose toy was snatched by Paul, meowed regretfully and soon left in search of another prey. Paul took a look at the item in his arms. It was a luxurious black box with a grey ribbon, maybe it was a gift that the boss received. There was also a small card with it, but he couldn’t read it because it was written in demon language.

“…What’s this?”

“The shop opening gift from Pablo.”

“Uwa, that scared me! When did you come?”

The boss came up and replied when Paul was talking to himself. Paul was startled as if he had been caught stealing.

The boss put down the book he went to get on the first floor and said, “Just now. Go ahead and open it.” Paul, who was curious about the contents, opened the box as soon as the boss spoke.

Inside was a glass bottle with a thin and long neck. The body of the bottle was transparent, but the stopper was bright red. Paul, who looked closely at the logo on the bottle, immediately got a hint of what it was.

“Pablo said you’d like it.” The boss sat opposite Paul.

“He said it’s a human drink.”

“This…”

Pablo’s words were true. ‘Alcohol’ is also a drink. What Pablo brought was an apple cider called “Cripple’s wine.” It meant that if you drink it after getting fooled by its sweet and smooth taste, you will not be able to get up like a cripple at some point.

“That’s right. You see the picture of an apple here, right? It’s an apple-flavoured drink, and it tastes pretty good.”

Paul became chatty for no reason, covering the label where the alcohol content label was written with his finger. He wondered what the usually expressionless boss would be like when he got drunk. Maybe even the boss would turn into a dog too? Perhaps he might give Paul a big smile and some pocket money like his dad.

“Really? I’ll try it.”

“Yes~!”

At the boss’s request, Paul quickly brought two glasses from the kitchen. He was careful enough not to prepare side dishes for fear of being caught drinking. As he carefully poured the liquid, the sweet scent of apples stimulated their senses. Paul took a sip of the drink first, trying to act nonchalant. The boss, who saw it, also received the glass without suspicion and drank it all at once.

“How is it, boss?”

The boss wriggled his eyebrows slightly at Paul’s question, making him nervous for no reason.

“It’s good.”

Contrary to Paul’s worries, the boss seemed to like the drink very much. Now the boss was lifting the bottle with a spell and pouring some into his own glass.

“Oh, boss. In the human world, you never pour for yourself. Let me pour some for you!”

The boss, who was savouring the apple cider, never noticed that Paul was secretly laughing.

To be honest, Paul was a light drinker. He didn’t have parents to teach him how to drink, and he didn’t have many friends of his age since he worked at the bookshop all day long. Sometimes, when troublesome customers visited, he would close the shop and gloomily sip some beer alone, that was all.

‘If I knew this was going to happen, I would have brought some snacks earlier.’

Besides, they were now drinking without snacks, so Paul quickly became intoxicated. His face was clearly burning red like a persimmon. In contrast, the boss sitting across from him maintained a relaxed expression, the colour on his face not changing even a little. Unlike Paul, the boss seemed to be a better drinker.

“Let’s stop drinking, boss.”

Paul, who thought he couldn’t drink anymore, took the glass from the boss. The drinks were already gone and the bottom of the glass was visible. Paul stood up intending to clean up while soothing his regret for not seeing the boss’s drunken state. But it was then.

Thump!

It seemed that the boss was trying to get up as well. However, as his legs gave out, he collapsed back into the chair. Perhaps he himself was shocked, too. Paul saw this and realized that the boss was actually drunk.

“What, are you drunk, boss?”

“No, I’m not druunk…”

The boss slowly responded. However, contrary to his claim, even a passing-by Pablo would think he was drunk when seeing his dumb face.

“Puhahahahaha!”

Paul was also drunk and his energy momentarily rose. He began laughing at the boss uncontrollably. The boss pouting his lips as if he was sulking looked funny beyond measure.

“Boss, a drunk person always says he’s not drunk!”

“…Quit it,” the boss whined like a child.

However, Paul, emboldened by the influence of alcohol, laughed his head off. Then a good idea crossed Paul’s mind.

“Shall we play a quiz game, boss?”

“…?”

“I’ll ask you a question, and if you get it wrong, you’ll get a forehead flick. But if you’re right, I’ll get it. What do you think?”

“Okay…!”

“Then here’s the question!”

Paul was confident so he quickly leaned over the chair to sit down.

“Am I trying to stand up right now? Or am I trying to sit down?”

Even Paul thought it was a brilliant problem. If the boss answered ‘get up’, he’d just sit down, and if he answered ‘sit down’, he’d just stand up.

“…You’re going to sit?”

When Paul was about to say ‘Wrong!’ in excitement, the boss used a spell to instantly sit Paul down in the chair. Paul somehow felt wronged. He was trying to cheat and was cheated instead!

“Ah, boss, that’s cheating!”

“Why is that…?!”

There was no point in talking to someone who was heavily drunk in the first place. Soon a flick flew onto Paul’s forehead. The boss might have hit him gently, but to Paul, it felt like he was seeing stars.

Paul, who had been played by the boss, gradually sobered up and felt that things had gone wrong. Anyway, he was Paul’s superior, and they had to face each other every day from now on. What if the boss remembered all this the next day? Ugh, the mere thought of it gave him goosebumps.

Paul decided to help the boss who was unable to move to his bed. Paul had to groan for a while due to the difference in physique between the two.

“Boss, why are you so tall and heavy?”

“…Sorry.”

Paul dragged the boss, who couldn’t move and almost threw him onto his bed.

“Phew… Boss, we’re here, so please sleep right away. No, wait, boss?!”

Paul didn’t even have time to stop him. When the boss who was lying on the bed took off his top, his black clothes fell to the floor in an instant. Thanks to this, a distinctive clean soap scent emanating from the boss’s bare skin wafted over the tip of Paul’s nose.

“B, boss! What are you doing all of a sudden? Are you crazy?”

“I’m hot…”

Paul stared at the boss in fright at the sound of the boss’s pants being unzipped. At that moment, his eyes were immediately drawn to the sight of the boss’s upper body. The exquisite muscles were dense and beautiful like a well-carved statue. As he raised his gaze slightly upward, he could see the boss’s face. Below the thick eyebrows were slightly blurry eyes, a high nose bridge, and thick lips that were redder than usual due to alcohol.

“Paul…?”

He was sitting on the bed and looking up at Paul from below with a defenceless face, quite unlike his usual self.

‘Isn’t it a foul to look handsome even when you’re drunk?’

“Paaul…?” the boss called in a low voice. Now, Paul was so embarrassed that his face was about to burst, so he tried to escape from the spot in a hurry.

“Paaul, Where are you going…?”

Then the boss grabbed Paul’s thin wrist with his large hand and gestured to the pants that couldn’t come off easily because he was drunk. It was like asking Paul to take them off with his hands.

“No, don’t, you can’t!!”

By then, Paul was sober and he struggled to get out of his grasp, but the boss held him firmly with his magic and wouldn’t let go at all.

“Hurry up.”

“Please don’t be like this!”

How long had it been? Soon, the boss’s grip weakened, his magic was released and he fell asleep like a baby. Fortunately, his pants were faithfully fulfilling their role in place. Paul held his pounding chest and hurried down to the basement room for fear that he might wake the boss up.

As Paul lay in his own bed, he was shocked in many ways. For him, who spent a long time alone in the bookshop, it was almost the first time to see someone else’s naked body. Perhaps that was why when he closed his eyes, the boss’s strong body kept lingering around. In the end, Paul stayed up all night, vowing, vowing, and vowing again that he would never drink with the boss again.

“Pablo-nim had to give that kind of gift.”

Paul, who buried his face in the pillow, was now blaming even the innocent Pablo.

“Why are your eyes like that?”

The next day, the boss asked Paul, whose eyes became red because he couldn’t sleep a wink.

“You already know it’s all because of you…”

“What did I do?”

Paul was speechless to see the boss’s expression of ignorance. It was obvious that this Fomor didn’t remember anything from last night. Otherwise, how could he lift his face in front of Paul in the same way as he had been now after causing such a scene?

“Never mind. If I drink with the boss again, I’m a dog, a dog.”

“Was what we drank last night alcohol?”

“…Please don’t talk to me.”

On the other hand, he felt relieved. Paul was also at fault in a way, so he didn’t know whether it was fortunate that the boss didn’t remember or not. However, Paul, who recalled what happened last night again after talking to the boss, could only blame himself and bury his head on the counter.

Then, the boss called out to him, “Paul.”

“I told you not to talk to me.”

“There’s a customer.”

“Welcome, this is Kshatrit!” Paul quickly greeted while raising his head. As the boss said, a red-haired kid was holding a book in front of the checkout counter. Paul hurriedly checked the bill for the book that the kid was carrying. Then he discovered the red horns on her head. Paul felt both glad and puzzled at the same time after seeing the familiar little girl’s face. It was Illumina, the girl who had caused Paul and the boss a hard time for a while.

Paul quickly asked the boss, “What’s going on?”

“You told me not to talk to you.”

The boss crossed his arms and gazed down at Paul.

“…I’m sorry, boss. Please tell me.”

“Illumina has a present for you.”

“A present?”

Illumina gave Paul the book she was holding, saying something in demon language. Paul took the book, surprised. Perhaps because she had cradled it in her arms as if it was something precious, there was a little warmth left.

“She said she wanted to repay the kindness and give you her family heirloom as a gift.”

Paul carefully examined the book Illumina handed him.

It was too old to be called an heirloom. No, was it an heirloom because it was old? The book had a red hardcover cover, just like <A Dog of Flanders> which Illumina had taken last time. The top right corner of the cover was torn as if the book hadn’t been stored well. There was no particular title. Paul turned the pages carefully, afraid of damaging the book. For a moment, his face burst into a smile because it was a book written in human language.

“But you told me it was an heirloom. Is it okay for me to accept it?”

Paul, who carefully closed the book again, looked at the boss with an embarrassed look on his face. The boss immediately relayed the message to Illumina. Then the little girl replied nonchalantly.

“She has a lot of money anyway, and their parents don’t care what she takes.”

“I see…”

Paul stared at the watch on his left wrist. It was clearly broken, but it was a watch that could never be replaced even if he was given tens of billions of gold. It meant a lot to Paul as an heirloom. So he hesitated to receive the gift even though he knew Illumina’s intention. Illumina hastily added, as if she had noticed Paul’s mind.

“ถ้าอย่างนั้นก็อ่านหนังสือให้ข้าฟังแทน.”

“Then read the book for her instead of receiving it, she said.”

***

“Paul, what’s the exact meaning of ‘아릿하다 (to tingle)’?”

“It’s the same as ‘아리다 (to feel tickled)’. That’s what it means.”

“마른하늘에 날벼락 맞는다 (to get hit by lightning in the dry sky), what does it mean?”

“It means experiencing an unexpected misfortune.”

It was of course up to the boss who played an important role in reading the book to Illumina. It was difficult for even the boss who was fluent in both languages to translate the text on the spot, so he asked Paul for assistance when he found words or sentences that were difficult to explain.

Paul answered the boss’s questions and brought out some sweet cakes and drinks that Illumina would like. (Except for green grapes, of course) Then he sat at the counter a little away and watched the two demons. The boss had an indifferent face as usual, but he was reading a book in his unique mellow voice. He was even acting out the characters. While eating the cake, Illumina’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the boss. Paul smiled beamingly at the peaceful scene of the bookstore.

‘Ding-dong’

A joyful face opened the door and came in just in time. It was Pablo that Paul had been waiting for.

“Welcome, Pablo-nim!”

“Hello, Teeter-nim. I brought the books you ordered today.”

Pablo brought a lot of books and put them down. Soon after, looking toward the boss, he opened his eyes wide as if surprised to find the Illumina. However, he soon bowed his head and greeted the two demons politely.

“By the way, did something happen, Teeter-nim? Your eyes are just as red as a rabbit’s.”

Pablo asked, handing Paul the ledger he had brought. Paul tried to avoid his gaze.

“Oh, it’s just that… I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“When you can’t sleep, it’s better to close your eyes and count sheep.”

“…Do wolves like Pablo-nim imagine eating the sheep after counting them?”

Paul, who wasn’t in good condition, asked earnestly, looking at Pablo’s lush grey-white tail. Pablo seemed to understand and chuckled.

“Haha, Teeter-nim. Lamb meat is indeed delicious.”

The conversation flowed like water from there.

“…The lamb skewers at that shop are so delicious that people don’t know they have already eaten one. Plus, the side dishes are also excellent.”

“What’s the name of the shop?”

“It’s Mimi.”

The two talked about lamb skewer shops for a long time.

Then suddenly Pablo asked, “But why has the boss been reading to the young miss for so long?”

“Oh, well.”

Paul briefly explained what happened today. Only after looking at the clock did he realize the time had flown by. Simultaneously, the boss has also pretty much turned all the pages over.

“Is that so? From what I heard, it seemed to be a book about love,” Paul said after watching Pablo’s ears perking up.

“Come to think of it, how come Pablo-nim uses the human language so well?”

“Our Wolf Merchant Guild deals with a wide range of races, and being able to speak various languages is a basic skill of a merchant.”

Paul was a little ashamed by Pablo’s response. This is because Paul himself had never seriously considered learning demon language. For Paul, this bookstore was just a place to leave at some point. He soon changed his mind. Obviously, <Prelude to the Battlefield> was important, but it was also necessary to study the demon language for the sake of the bookstore.

“Pablo-nim, there’s something I’d like to ask you personally. Can you teach me demon language?”

“Demon language? If Teeter-nim doesn’t mind, it isn’t a difficult request.”

“And by any chance, the battlefield…”

Paul then tried to explain the book he was looking for to Pablo. Suddenly, the atmosphere of the bookshop changed. Illumina got up from her seat and let out a scream. Paul didn’t know the exact situation, but it felt as if Illumina was urging the boss to read more.

The moment Paul looked at the two in surprise, he made eye contact with the boss. But the boss quickly turned his head away.

“Pablo, over here,” the boss called, beckoning him over with his finger.

“Will you finish reading this book to Illumina? I think it’s too much for me to translate.”

“Okay.”

Pablo, who was a professional translator, was handed the book that the boss had been reading. The boss then crossed his arms and leaned against the sofa. Pablo’s voice now replaced the boss’s and spread throughout the bookstore. Certainly, the boss’s low voice was good, but Pablo’s clear voice was also pleasant to listen to. However, it didn’t last long either.

“Well, boss, this is, in all respects…” Pablo hesitated, “I don’t think it’s something the little miss can understand.”

“What the heck does it say for you to be like that?”

Paul, who was unable to resist, intervened. He, who couldn’t even look at the contents of the book before, was going crazy with curiosity.

“Would Teeter-nim like to see it for yourself?”

Pablo said while scratching his eyebrows. What the hell was going on since earlier? Paul quickly picked up the book in question and read down the open page.

Where Pablo stopped was the scene where the two men, the protagonists, appeared. He didn’t know the previous circumstances, but the two men were drunk and seemed to be happy. The more they were influenced by alcohol, the more obscure the atmosphere became.

“Puha! You’re completely drunk, Su!”

“Not at all.”

“That’s what all drunk people say.”

Ken giggled and made fun of Su, and then Su flicked Ken’s forehead. However, Su was actually drunk, so he couldn’t control his body. Eventually, Ken dragged him to bed.

“Why is this lump uselessly big only in the body?”

“…Sorry.”

When Su, who was lying on the bed, suddenly took off his top, his naked upper body was revealed. He then tried to take off his pants, but it was not easy for him in his drunken state.

“Ken… Can you take off my pants for me?”

“Me? What, are you crazy?”

“It’s hot.”

Ken’s eyes grew wide as he looked at Su lying on the bed, and his whole body trembled unconsciously. He tried to suppress his pounding heart even when his Adam’s apple bobbed unconsciously.

“Ken…? Ken, Ken, Ken…”

Su called Ken’s name in a low voice. When Ken turned his head, he called out his name several more times as if pleading to look at him. Ken tried to leave but Su grabbed his wrist with his large hand.

“Don’t go.”

“That’s cheating.”

“Take them off with your hand.”

“What am I supposed to do when you look this good even when you’re drunk?”

Ken eventually lost control. Ken’s lips vehemently attacked the defenselessly lying Su, and Su accepted it as if he had been waiting for it.

“Ken, it hurts. Be gentle.”

“You brought it all on yourself.”

The two men began to intertwine their tongues on the creaking bed in an instant.

“Do you know? You smell like soap.”

Ken, who was momentarily gasping for breath, suddenly bit Su’s lip, making him groan. Ken’s urgent hand soon pulled the button on Su’s pants.

“Teeter-nim? Your face is as red as an apple.”

“Ahhhhh!!”

Paul, who was reading the book, suddenly screamed and sat down to his knees, clutching his curly hair with both hands. Pablo’s eyes grew round as he looked at him.

Why is this vulgar book a family treasure?! Paul suddenly remembered that the top right corner of the book’s cover was torn. Even if no one else knew, Paul, who had been working at a bookstore, knew that originally, there should have been a sentence saying ‘Not for minors’. The reason why the book had a blatantly red cover was also for the same reason.

“Are you okay, too, boss? Your ears are red.”

Unlike Paul, the boss maintained a poker face. So Paul would have thought that only his ears became red if it wasn’t for Pablo’s words. Paul looked and saw that the boss’s ears were red like Pablo said.

“Well, I remember I have something to do, so I’ll go out for a while.”

The boss, who was caught, quickly fled. Without giving anyone time to say anything, he grabbed his black coat and ran out of the bookshop like he was trying to flee quickly.

‘Even worse, it’s even the same as what happened together with the boss yesterday. The rest of the story was indeed different… but are you sure you didn’t peek at us and write it?!’

Only then did Paul realize why the boss’s ears turned red. He thought he could see why the boss couldn’t make eye contact with him, and also why he hurriedly left.

It wasn’t that the boss couldn’t remember what happened last night. It was only that until now, he was acting like he couldn’t. It was quite successful in deceiving Paul at first, but unfortunately, he couldn’t have imagined the nature of the red book brought by Illumina.

“Teeter-nim?”

Paul managed to pull himself together.

“Excuse me, Pablo-nim… Would you mind returning this to Illumina-nim and telling her that receiving her goodwill is enough?”

Pablo saw Paul’s subtle expression and responded that he understood. The child, who did not know the adults’ circumstances, received the book back with a bitter look on her face. She left word that she’d come again next time and went out.

Pablo returned from seeing Illumina off, and as he saw Paul who was still out of his mind, he said it was weird.

“But aren’t you and the boss adults? Was this book that stimulating? Why are you all turning red?”

“I know right… Not only mine, why did the boss turn red….”

Paul’s silent screams could only deepen.