“that’s not what i’m saying,” tooru corrects, resisting the urge to laugh at min-chul, “what i meant was, what would i do with your human money, anyway, when i have you around?”
that should make it clear, tooru thinks with a smug air about him, even if the message between the lines was up to interpretation. he wonders which perspective min-chul will take, between tooru saying ‘i won’t leave you’ like a hungry ghost, or ‘i won’t let you leave me’, like a clingy one. neither of the options were untrue, in any case; min-chul was bound to tooru just as much as the demon was bound to the exorcist: for better or for worse, richer or poorer, and all that. this is, after all, the most tied down tooru’s been since his kingdom burned down into metaphorical ash. the restriction is strangely freeing.
it helped that min-chul hadn’t been anything he expected out of someone who was supposed to be his natural enemy. tooru shouldn’t be so endeared to him when the potential power imbalance between them was perfect breeding ground for a toxic relationship if the exorcist ever chose to exert his contractually established power over the demon.
instead of doing that, though, here min-chul was, teaching tooru about economics and humanity. as if tooru didn’t have the experience of ruling over a kingdom in some distant past on some alternate realm. (or maybe this was why min-chul thought he was hopeless, tooru muses thoughtfully. it was an easy assumption to make — and tooru made no effort to dissuade it from being so.)
but what else was tooru to do with that innate sincerity besides trust the one who wielded it?
… oh, who was he kidding. even if it was one, tooru had never met a bad idea he didn’t want to flirt with at least a little bit.
he flashes min-chul a reassuring grin, accompanied by a consoling pat to his head. “don’t worry, i’ll make sure not to eat you out of house and home — i know what that’s like, kinda, zero out of ten would not recommend. that’s about my popularity level back over there, by the way, to answer your question; i’d be hunted down on sight, because they don’t really like me there ever since i tore my kingdom apart, but more likely for my good looks — you know how us demons get jealous when someone else has the things we want. and don’t forget the possessiveness, too! anyway, it’s safe to say i’ve burned that bridge. and some other stuff on the way out, but that’s a topic for another question. my turn now — are you exorcists the sharing type?” the demon accentuates the term with a hum of derision, grin taking on a sharp edge as he leans forward to add in a low voice, as if sharing a secret, “and i’ll say this first: there is a wrong answer.”
