Demon King Goes In Highschool chapter 3: Discharge

A soul that took its own life does not easily reincarnate.

Only after spending an eternity in hell does the weight of that sin diminish somewhat—this is the fate of those who commit suicide.

However, Jihak, who had become Demon King after a thousand years in hell, could not find his father’s soul despite his efforts.

This was because his father was never in hell to begin with.

Realizing this, Jihak regretted ever thinking, even for a moment, that his father might have done such a thing.

“Dad would never do that… Of course not.”

Clearing his father’s name.

That was the only thing Jihak could do for his already deceased father.

“Dad, just wait a little longer. I will clear your name. And I will make Mom happy. That’s why… I have returned.”

With firm determination, Jihak watched his mother running towards him with a black bag in her hands from outside.

Though the weather was quite hot and she was sweating profusely, the thought of feeding her newly awakened son filled her with happiness rather than exhaustion.

“Jihak, have you been waiting long? Whew…”

As his mother wiped the sweat from her forehead and returned to the hospital room, Jihak greeted her with a bright smile rather than words.

“No, take your time. It’s hot outside…”

“Mom is fine. Sit here. I’ll wash these for you.”

The black bag revealed some melons and tomatoes, items that were usually quite expensive and not often bought.

Knowing that Jihak liked melons and tomatoes, he felt his mother’s love.

“Melons, huh?”

“Mom bought them because you like them.”

“Geez… You never bought them because they were expensive.”

“I’ll buy them every day from now on. Just tell me whenever you want them.”

“No need.”

Hearing Jihak’s playful voice, his mother felt like she had everything.

Every parent would be willing to sacrifice their life to save their child.

The mother and son ate fruits and caught up on lost time.

***

Over the next few days, Jihak underwent several tests at the hospital.

The hospital called it a miracle that a patient in a vegetative state had awakened perfectly fine.

But they couldn’t just let it go without investigating further.

After days of continuous tests with no clear cause found, and seeing that Jihak was recovering well enough to live a normal life, it was time to prepare for discharge.

“The test results are excellent. You can be discharged tomorrow.”

“Really? Thank you, doctor…”

His mother was overwhelmed with joy at the news of his discharge.

Just a few days ago, she was grateful just to see him breathe.

Now, he could walk out of the hospital on his own two feet, and nothing could be better.

“But you still need to be careful with your broken ribs, as they haven’t fully healed yet. If you feel any pain or something seems off, come back to the hospital immediately.”

“Yes, understood.”

They had checked his broken ribs with an X-ray yesterday.

Nodding at the doctor’s advice to be careful with his not fully healed ribs, Jihak internally mocked him.

“That was yesterday. By now, they’re probably stronger than steel.”

A few days ago, he was still the king of hell.

Though he couldn’t fully use his demonic powers here, his experience in hell was still with him.

He could use some of his power on the mortal plane and control the demonic energy that could negatively affect humans.

Using that power, Jihak had completely healed his body right after the final hospital tests, and now he was healthy enough to roll around outside without any issues.

“Thank goodness. My son… You can go home tomorrow.”

“Yeah, it’s time to go home…”

“The house must be a mess since I haven’t been home properly for over a month. What should I do?”

“Why worry when I’m here? Mom, just relax. I’ll clean everything up.”

Since the day Jihak was hospitalized, his mother had rarely been home.

Even when she did go home, it was only to grab a few clothes and head back to the hospital.

Worrying that the house might be a mess, Jihak reassured her that it didn’t matter.

After all, it had been about 2,000 years since he last went home…

No matter how messy it was, it would still be heaven compared to where he had been living.

Spending his last night in the hospital, Jihak quickly started preparing for discharge the next morning.

“Mom will go to the administrative office, so change your clothes and pack up here. Okay?”

“Okay, go ahead. I’ll handle things here.”

She was probably going to pay the remaining hospital bills.

“By the way, the hospital bill must be pretty high, huh?”

The cost of staying in the ICU is astronomical.

Jihak had been in the ICU for two weeks and had to use a private room after that.

To avoid having her son, already subject to rumors about his father, face more shame, his mother had insisted on a private room, despite the cost.

“Mom always overdoes it like this…”

She wouldn’t have done this for herself.

“Hmm…”

After a moment of thought, Jihak stretched out his left hand and started waving it.

Ziiing—

A hole large enough for a person to enter appeared as the space in the hospital room distorted.

“Should I take something out?”

The hole Jihak created was a door to the space between dimensions.

Even though he had stepped down as Demon King and returned to his unconscious body, he hadn’t given up his demonic power and authority.

Having regained some power, he could now open the door to the space between dimensions.

He had stored his accumulated wealth there.

Inside the dimensional door lay a mountain of gold, jewels, and ornaments collected from hell.

“This one should be enough.”

Taking out a fairly heavy gold bar, Jihak examined it, thinking it would be more than enough to cover the hospital bills.

But there was a problem.

“Damn, I can’t just sell this, can I?”

Unless it was in hell or another world, there was no place here where one could casually sell jewels or gold.

Even the smallest gemstones that fetched a decent price were engraved with serial numbers and managed accordingly.

The same applied to gold bars.

It was a world where carelessly pulling out a gold bar would easily land you in handcuffs.

“What should I do with this?”

If converted into money, it was enough to live off for a lifetime, to eat, use, and even wipe away waste.

However, for now, it was just a useless piece of rock, a fact that made Jihak frown as he tossed the gold bar inside and closed the door to the space.

“I need to find a way to dispose of this.”

In the human world, money is power.

Fame, status, none of that mattered.

With money, you could buy all those things.

Determined to find a way soon, Jihak roughly packed the items he needed into a bag.

Then, he headed to his wardrobe to finally take off the hospital gown after a long time.

Creak—

When he opened the wardrobe door, there were familiar yet unpleasant clothes, neatly washed and folded.

His name, Yoo Jihak, was embroidered on the left chest.

It was the school uniform of Hope High School, which Jihak attended.

“Seeing this makes their faces come to mind.”

While it might have been a little over a month here, for Jihak, it had been 2,000 years.

Having tumbled and rolled through hell, dealing with all sorts of dirty and ugly things, he thought the faces of those guys had become somewhat dull in his memory… but seeing the uniform brought back those memories vividly.

The painful past.

Even the dirty feeling.

“When I go back, brace yourselves. I’ll make it worse than hell. Hehehe…”

Grinding his teeth and thinking about the pain that would befall them made Jihak shiver with delight, his shoulders shaking as he laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

Just then, his mother, who had returned, asked curiously, seeing Jihak laughing madly in front of the uniform.

“Uh… Mom?”

“Tell me too. What’s so funny?”

“Uh… It’s just… I’m happy to go home.”

“Okay, let’s go quickly.”

His mother believed Jihak’s vague explanation that he was happy to go home.

“Did you pay all the hospital bills?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Wasn’t it a lot? I heard I stayed in a single room and even spent some time in the ICU.”

When he asked about the money, his mother’s expression hardened slightly, but she forced a smile and looked at him.

“Son, as long as you’re healthy and discharged, that’s enough for me. Besides, I have money.”

From his mother’s calm demeanor, Jihak immediately understood.

‘We don’t have money. Our family… is broke.’

Yet, she had paid all the hospital bills and he was being discharged.

Where did such a large sum of money come from?

A loan?

Or perhaps… a private loan?

Then he suddenly realized something.

His mother had practically been staying at the hospital recently, so he asked carefully.

“Mom, what about the café? Why are you here every day?”

“Huh? How could I run the café while my son is sick?”

“You didn’t close it down… did you?”

No way.

The café was his mother’s dream.

When she first saved up enough to open it, she cried tears of joy like a young girl.

And now that café was closed?

“Actually, I put it up for sale.”

“Putting it up for sale? But it was your favorite place.”

“It just… turned out that way.”

Jihak could guess the rest without hearing it.

Because his father had been falsely accused of murder, some bad people had thrown stones and scribbled on his mother’s café.

The damn landlord must have told her to leave.

No need to keep noisy tenants, after all.

His mother probably used the café’s deposit to pay Jihak’s hospital bills.

‘She must not have received any compensation.’

She likely didn’t even dream of getting the compensation.

“Son, money can be earned again. The café can be opened again. What matters now is that you’ve woken up healthy. Family… once lost, can never come back.”

“Mom…”

That was true.

Once lost, family could never come back.

Like his father…

‘Yeah. Money can be earned. For now, I should help Mom recover her spirit. Though a long time has passed for me, for Mom…’

He couldn’t lose his mother too.

Back then, he couldn’t do anything, but now he could do anything.

“Son, what’s the first thing you want to do after being discharged?”

When his mother, who was packing the last of their things, asked, Jihak thought for a moment.

“Hmm…”

Then, as he glanced at the uniform that caught his eye, he smiled slyly and answered.

“Go to school. A student’s duty is to study, right?”