After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 7 - Oh Kang-Woo, Cupid of Love (1)

Oh Kang-Woo woke up in the middle of the day after being squeezed like a rag until dawn and looked around dumbfoundedly. He saw two sleeping women hugging each of his arms. Although they no longer required sleep, they were so mentally exhausted that they did not wake up even after Kang-Woo pulled his arms out of their embrace.

\'I don\'t blame them.\'

Kang-Woo\'s face turned pale after remembering what happened last night. If they were not exhausted after what they did, his Fran?ois would not survive the days to come.

Kang-Woo gently caressed Han Seol-Ah and Lilith\'s hair and smiled.

\'That aside, I\'m glad it all worked out.\'

The complex relationship was resolved so easily that Kang-Woo felt stupid for spending all that time thinking about it. All he needed to do now was to be careful so that Seol-Ah\'s obsession would not go out of control.

\'And Lilith should be able to take care of that.\'

Lilith was better than anyone at coaxing others. Considering they were already treating each other like sisters, Kang-Woo felt it would all work out.

"Urgh," Kang-Woo groaned as he stretched and got out of bed.

He wanted to lay in bed until the two women woke up, but he would be late for his meeting with Si-Hun if he didn\'t start getting ready.

"Hehe, I haven\'t seen his face in a while."

Kang-Woo couldn\'t help but smile at the thought of seeing his little brother after a life of rearing.

"Hngh... Kang-Woo... Are you going somewhere?"

Seol-Ah opened her eyes as she rustled in the bed.

"Yeah. I\'m gonna meet Si-Hun."

"Can\'t you... go a little later?"

"It\'s already 2 PM. I need to get going."

"Haaa," Seol-Ah sighed in disappointment. She placed her hands on Kang-Woo\'s cheeks and carefully pulled him toward her. "Have a safe trip. And..." She lightly kissed him on the lips and smiled. She whispered lovingly in his ear, "Don\'t be too late."

Kang-Woo nodded and kissed Seol-Ah again.

"My, my. Are you leaving me out, my king?"

Lilith woke up before Kang-Woo realized it and hugged him with an alluring smile. Her voluptuous breasts, although nowhere near as large as Seol-Ah\'s, pushed on his arm.

"I was just about to," Kang-Woo remarked.

"Hohoho. Oh, please do it on my tentacles as well..."

"I begged you not to bring those out."

"You\'re so mean," said Lilith in dejection as she excessively dropped her shoulders.

"I\'ll be back by evening," Kang-Woo said as he turned around to firmly ignore her.

\'Come to think of it, what\'s Echidna doing to be out of the house for so long?\'

He slightly opened the door to Echidna\'s room as he headed to the front door but she was nowhere in sight. All that was in the large room were various figures and anime posters.

\'I haven\'t seen her for about three days.\'

Kang-Woo saw Echidna often when he was being reared by Seol-Ah, and she even sometimes fed Kang-Woo in Seol-Ah\'s place. However, he had not seen her for the past three days.

\'I should ask Darling again what kind of job she has.\'

He was planning on hearing it from Echidna herself, but it couldn\'t be helped since she was nowhere in sight. He closed the door to Echidna\'s room and walked toward the front door.

Creak.

The summer sun beamed down on him as soon as he opened the door.

***

"Fuck... It\'s so inconvenient not being able to fly," Kang-Woo cursed as he walked to the coffee shop near Haeundae Station where he promised to meet Si-Hun.

Si-Hun also lived in the same apartment as Kang-Woo, so they would be able to meet with a single elevator ride, but they decided to meet outside because Si-Hun was working at the Korean branch of Guardians near Haeundae today. At first, Kang-Woo thought it would be a nice change of pace to go for a walk outside, but the summer streets of Haeundae were packed with people.

"Fucking hell, why is it so crowded?"

Kang-Woo would have usually flown to his destination using the Authority of the Sky, but most of his Authorities were locked once his reconstruction began. He had been taking his flight ability for granted.

\'I need to regain my powers as soon as possible.\'

Kang-Woo walked as he mumbled various complaints. He arrived at the coffee shop Si-Hun told him about but noticed the sign written Closed.

"Eh?"

Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion but understood as soon as he saw Si-Hun waving at him from inside.

\'The son of a bitch rented the entire coffee shop.\'

He chuckled and opened the coffee shop door.

Riiing.

A bell chime similar to the System notification rang out.

"Hyung-nim!!"

"It\'s been a while, man."

Kang-Woo waved at Si-Hun approaching him with a bright smile.

\'Holy crap, he\'s handsome.\'

Kang-Woo\'s face looked like a mangled squid in comparison.

\'He\'s so fucking handsome.\'

Si-Hun scanned Kang-Woo wide-eyed. "Have you gotten taller? I\'m sure you were 148.2 centimeters last month..."

\'The fuck? Do I have my exact height written on my forehead? Why does everyone know my height by the decimal point?\'

"I\'m in my growth period," Kang-Woo said.

"Hahaha, what a relief. Have you regained some of your powers?"

"Yeah, but a hair\'s breadth."

Kang-Woo had a long way to go before his full power was restored.

\'I wonder if it\'ll be restored once I reach my original height?\'

Kang-Woo was originally about 178 centimeters. Considering he grew taller after receiving help from Balrog, it was highly likely.

\'Then, let\'s see... I was 148.2 centimeters in the beginning, and I grew 4.3 centimeters.\'

He had about 25.5 centimeters to go.

\'I have a long way to go.\'

He needed more time until his Fran?ois returned to his former glory.

"I\'ve gathered some things for the past month for you, hyung-nim."

"Hm? What are they?" Kang-Woo tilted his head as he stared at Si-Hun.

Si-Hun brought out a large sack and took out its contents one by one.

"After hearing you were unwell, I scoured through Aernor and the Gates to gather all sorts of elixirs good for the body."

"Oh."

\'Come to think of it, he thought I was sick.\'

"You shouldn\'t have. I know you\'ve been busy."

"I couldn\'t just do nothing after knowing you were unwell," Si-Hun said firmly.

Kang-Woo couldn\'t help but chuckle.

\'I sure have a wonderful little brother.\'

Kang-Woo wasn\'t unwell, but he felt good after seeing how much Si-Hun cared for him.

Boom.

Si-Hun took out a lump of flesh far bigger than the sack, which was probably enchanted with space expansion magic, and placed it on the ground.

"First of all, this is the testicle of Fire Dragon Kalecgos. He was in a place in Aernor known as the Sun Springs."

"I see, a fire dragon\'s testi— wait, what?"

\'A testicle?\'

"Yes, and this is the reproductive organ of a monster known as Xeno\'jiiva that I found in a Gate. It apparently holds a great deal of mana. This is the seminal vesicle of Changpao, which inhabits Mount Paolis, and this is—"

"Wait, wait. Why are all the elixirs that kind of shit?"

"Pardon? Because... I thought you needed elixirs that raise virility. Was I wrong?"

"What? What does that mean?"

"Well... Seol-Ah said that your illness was caused by a rapid depletion of virility..."

"..."

\'Darling... just how many steps ahead are you thinking?\'

Not only had Seol-Ah separated Si-Hun from Kang-Woo, but she also had him gather elixirs good for raising virility.

"Hah..." Kang-Woo laughed in spite of himself as his Darling grew more and more cunning.

"Alright, dig in, hyung-nim!" shouted Si-Hun as he handed Kang-Woo the dragon\'s testicle.

"Yeah, no way." Kang-Woo swatted away the repulsive-smelling lump of flesh in disgust.

"N-No way...!" Si-Hun dropped his shoulders in dejection.

"Forget that; tell me about the current situation regarding the otherworldly invasions."

Kang-Woo had been absent for three years and stuck at home with Seol-Ah for a month after that, so he had no idea about what had been going on in the outside world.

"As for the otherworldly invasions..." Si-Hun slurred and sighed softly. "They haven\'t stopped. Oh, but they\'re not as active as before."

"I know that."

Kang-Woo nodded. Bael\'s death did not resolve everything he did before that.

\'Earth\'s protection is gone.\'

Earth\'s protection, which was severely damaged as a result of Kang-Woo returning to Earth, was destroyed without a trace by Bael. According to the System, there was no way to restore the protection once it was gone.

\'In other words, the only way is to just stop them by force as they come.\'

That was one of the main reasons why Kang-Woo was trying to regain his powers as soon as possible. After all, not even he knew what from the outer worlds would invade Earth and when.

"Most of the otherworldly beings have been mindless monsters, but... some of them possessed intelligence," Si-Hun continued.

"Like the Parasite King?"

"Yes. We\'ve formed a certain hypothesis using the information we gathered from them."

"What is it?"

"That the outer worlds are... hmm... if we were to make a comparison to novels or comics, in a completely different universe."

"A different universe?"

It was an interesting choice of words.

"Yes. The environment of some of the worlds is similar to that of Earth, and the laws of physics are completely different in others."

"So it\'s kinda like a parallel universe?"

"You could say it\'s similar, but there are too many different points to say that they\'re parallel."

Kang-Woo nodded.

\'A different universe, huh?\'

He more or less had an idea of what it meant. On Earth, there currently existed beings known as Players that grew through levels, but such concepts did not exist in Aernor. The outer worlds likely possessed concepts and laws unique to them as well.

"Fucking hell..."

In short, they would have no choice but to accept whatever absurd and bizarre phenomenon that were to occur from now on.

\'What is this, Nexus[1]?\'

It was not as bad now, but Earth would become a shitstorm if the invasions became more active.

\'Can\'t we just remake Earth\'s protection?\'

Riiing.

[As explained before, the protection of each world is a mechanism belonging to the \'Law of Titans.\' Once destroyed, it cannot be restored.]

\'Fuck.\'

[In the first place, the \'Law of Titans\' has also been damaged by Bael. There is no other way but Player Oh Kang-Woo to stop the invasions himself.]

\'Okay, okay. You don\'t have to repeat yourself.\'

"Shit..."

Kang-Woo sighed as if he were having a headache. In short, the mechanism that automatically blocked the otherworldly invasions was gone, so they had no choice but to block them one by one manually.

"You don\'t have to worry, hyung-nim."

"Huh?"

"Just like you have protected this world until now... I will stop the otherworldly invasions in your place from now on," declared Si-Hun, his eyes filled with determination.

Kang-Woo couldn\'t help but smile in proudness.

"Jeez, you cute son of a bitch."

"H-Hyung-nim?!"

Kang-Woo stood up and placed his hand on Si-Hun\'s shoulder. While Si-Hun was still seated, Kang-Woo ruffled Si-Hun\'s hair with his other hand and snickered.

\'I seriously have a wonderful little brother.\'

He had attacked him and made him his Familiar when they first met, but it didn\'t matter since it worked out in the end.

"K-Kang-Woo hyung!"

"Hehehe. That aside, how are things going with Layla? Hm? Shouldn\'t you be getting ready for marriage soon?"

"Ah..."

Si-Hun\'s expression darkened instantly once Layla was mentioned.

"What\'s wrong?" Kang-Woo\'s eyes widened. "Have things not been going well?"

Si-Hun averted his gaze from Kang-Woo in silence. He hesitated to speak up for a while and then mumbled, "Layla and I... broke up."

\'What?\'

1. This is referring to the Nexus in the game Heroes of the Storm. It is a trans-dimensional storm in which numerous worlds exist in its multiverse. ☜