After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 63 - Demon King\'s Day

Kang-Woo tossed and turned on the bed and slowly opened his eyes.

\'What time is it?\'

He barely slept because Han Seol-Ah and Lilith had been on him all night.

"I slept for... about two hours."

Kang-Woo stretched on the bed after checking the clock. It was nowhere near enough sleep for a normal person to function throughout the day but more than enough for him, who merely used sleep for mental fatigue recovery.

Half a month passed since Seol-Ah and Lilith fervently helped Kang-Woo push out the Light of Akart in his system. He had been busy for a few days after he woke up but soon went back to his regular peaceful days.

\'Though I don\'t know if I can call my days peaceful lately.\'

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly. He was spending his days doing nothing at home and playing with his lovers whenever he had time. His heart felt heavy since he felt like he had become a gigolo or something similar.

\'Why did my life turn out this way?\'

"Well, at least..."

Kang-Woo looked down in satisfaction. He could feel Fran?ois, having arisen in the sunlight like a sunflower.

"He... hehehe."

He couldn\'t help but laugh. Fran?ois, who had shriveled up once the body reconstruction commenced, had somewhat returned to its former glory. It was smaller than what it once was but its current size was acceptable.

Kang-Woo himself had grown as well. Not only had he grown taller but he gained some muscles as well, looking more like a teenager than a child.

\'I\'ve gotten a lot stronger too.\'

Kang-Woo was strong enough to face Balrog without relying on his immortality now. His life must have been endangered significantly during his ten days of unconsciousness. The Light of Akart also ended up being of help in stimulating the Demonic Sea as well.

\'Although Seol-Ah and Lilith cling to me more than before because of it.\'

However, he did not dislike spending time with his lovers since they were both bombshells.

"Kang-Woo? Did you wake up just now?" asked Seol-Ah as she entered the room and into the bed with a smile.

"Yeah," Kang-Woo said gently and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hehe. Kang-Woo~"

"My, is there nothing for me?" asked Lilith who followed behind Seol-Ah as she giggled.

"C\'mere."

Kang-Woo kissed Lilith\'s cheek as well and chatted with them for a bit.

\'Wait, I shouldn\'t be doing this.\'

He couldn\'t spend his days lazing around at home all day.

"I should be getting out of bed."

"Hmm. You can stay in bed for a bit longer, you know?" Lilith suggested.

Kang-Woo was slightly tempted but unfurled the blanket and got out of bed.

"I have work to do. Besides, Echidna is gonna wake up soon and ask for food."

Seol-Ah also got out of bed and answered, "In that case, I\'ll make us something right away. It\'ll only take a few minutes."

"Okay," answered Kang-Woo as he folded the blanket and opened the window to air out the room.

The cool autumn wind pushed out the moist air in the room.

Clack.

Kang-Woo came out of the room.

"Hm! Good morning, Kang-Woo!"

Echidna, who had been gaming on the couch, trotted toward him. Kang-Woo caught Echidna as she jumped toward him and smiled.

"Morning. When did you get up?"

"An hour ago!"

"Come to think of it, are you resuming your idol work anytime soon?"

"Mm. The agency contacted me to schedule a return date."

"That\'s good."

It was good to have something to do in life.

"Seol-Ah! I\'m hungry!" Echidna shouted.

"Hoho. I\'ll make you lunch, so wait just a bit. Is there anything you want to eat?"

"Pork cutlet!"

"Mm, then I guess we\'re having pork cutlet and kimchi stew today."

Kimchi stew was a regular item on the Kang-Woo household menu.

"Then let\'s play games while we wait, Kang-Woo!"

"Okay, okay."

Echidna dragged Kang-Woo to the couch by his arm.

"Kang-Woo! Use your burst! Hurry!"

"Dammit, why aren\'t they hitting? Are you sure this isn\'t a bug?"

The family sat around the table filled with delicious food after Kang-Woo and Echidna played games while the food was being prepared.

"Oh, let me call Yeon-Joo," said Seol-Ah as she pulled out her smartphone and contacted Cha Yeon-Joo.

The front door opened after about five minutes and Yeon-Joo entered.

"It\'s pork cutlet today?" she asked.

"Yeah. Echidna wanted some, so I made it."

"You could\'ve called me earlier. I would\'ve helped out."

"Oh, umm... I-It\'s okay."

Seol-Ah smiled awkwardly and averted her gaze from Yeon-Joo. With that, Kang-Woo and the four women sat around the table like usual.

"Thank you for the meal~"

"Fufu. Dig in, Kang-Woo."

"Dayum, your kimchi stew is the best, Darling!"

"Don\'t you ever get tired of it? You eat it for every meal," Yeon-Joo mentioned.

"How could I when Darling\'s the one making it for me?"

"Sigh, goddamn kimchi stew maniac."

Kang-Woo smiled as he and the others emptied everything that had been prepared on the table. The kimchi stew was naturally delicious but so was the pork cutlet.

"That aside, how\'s the guild been doing?" Kang-Woo asked Yeon-Joo.

"There\'s a bit of an issue, but... it\'s nothing for you to get involved in."

"Really?"

They chatted some more as they enjoyed an after-meal coffee.

Lilith added some sugar to her coffee and asked, "Come to think of it, when are you going to move in with us, Yeon-Joo? It must be annoying for you to keep going back and forth... and you can\'t be with the king."

"I-I\'m just gonna live separately!"

"Hmm. You\'re so stubborn. This won\'t do. I\'m going to move all of your things from your house to here."

"Don\'t, unnie!"

"Hoho. We can only be a true family once we all live under the same roof."

Lilith had been trying to persuade Yeon-Joo to move in with them for a while.

\'I mean, I\'m all for Yeon-Joo moving in with us.\'

Only then would they become even more intimate with each other. Although they only lived an elevator ride away, it was different from living under the same roof.

"Right, I\'m off to work," Yeon-Joo remarked.

"Sure. You\'re coming back for dinner, right?"

"Yup." Yeon-Joo waved as she left to go to her guild.

Kang-Woo felt even more like a gigolo since he was sending her off as he was still in his pajamas.

"Kang-Woo. I\'ll be at the underground training room today," Seol-Ah remarked.

"To practice your magic?"

"Yes."

Seol-Ah was spending time in the training room every day to adapt to her new magic, which had completely changed in quality after she fell from grace.

"Have a safe trip," Kang-Woo said.

"Fufu. I\'ll be back before dinner."

Seol-Ah smiled widely and stuck out her lips, asking for a kiss.

\'Why is my Darling so cute?\'

Kang-Woo smiled like an idiot and kissed her.

"Right then, Lilith. Hand me the documents regarding abnormal Gate phenomena."

"Yes, my king."

Kang-Woo showered after Yeon-Joo and Seol-Ah left and went to his home office to begin today\'s work.

"Any movement from Akart?"

"We... have yet to find traces of him."

"Mm." Kang-Woo nodded. "We probably won\'t be able to find him through established means."

Kang-Woo couldn\'t detect his power with the Authority of Insight. However extraordinary Lilith\'s intelligence organization was, they would likely not be able to detect traces that not even he could.

"In that case..." Lilith slurred.

"The best we can do at the moment is to follow as many abnormal Gate phenomena as possible when they occur."

This was not a perfect plan either; it was realistically impossible to find traces of every unconfirmed Gate phenomena as they happen in real-time throughout the world. Not only that but considering not even the Authority of Insight could detect Akart\'s power, it was also possible Akart could invade Earth even without the Gate phenomena.

"So the best we can do is to twiddle our thumbs and wait."

"Yeah, since we have no way of striking first."

No one knew where the Titan was hiding or what he was doing. Kang-Woo did not like that he was being forced to be passive, but there was no other way at the moment.

"It\'s okay. If his goal is to end the world, he\'s bound to show himself sooner or later."

Once that day came, Kang-Woo would devour him as much as he liked.

"I\'m sorry, my king. I wanted to be of more help..." Lilith lowered her head in sorrow.

Kang-Woo smirked and hugged Lilith. "You\'re already helping more than enough. Akart isn\'t the only thing we should be worrying about, is it?"

Akart was merely the enemy they needed to be on alert the most for; they couldn\'t ignore all the other otherworldly invasions. Lilith was investigating every otherworldly invasion occurring throughout the world, big or small, and giving Kang-Woo reports on them.

\'We could never respond to the otherworldly invasions this quickly if not for Lilith.\'

Thanks to the information network she set up with the help of Guardians, they could dispatch the right forces for the job to promptly deal with the abnormal phenomena.

"Haaa... Jeez, please don\'t say things like that. You\'re making me embarrassed ❤"

"What? What did I say?"

"Fufu. Anyway, I\'m off to have a short meeting with Layla."

"Okay."

Kang-Woo waved at Lilith after receiving the documents.

\'There isn\'t anything particularly out of the ordinary.\'

Kang-Woo got out of the chair and stretched after reading through today\'s report.

"Right, I might as well let loose too."

He called Balrog and Kim Si-Hun and headed down to the underground training room where Seol-Ah was training. He needed to train consistently to get used to the demonic energy of the Abyss, of which the amount available to him had dramatically increased after his growth.

***

Kang-Woo came back home with Seol-Ah after training with Balrog and Si-Hun until evening.

"Welcome back," Yeon-Joo said.

"Thanks. You\'re clocked out already?"

"What do you mean, already? It\'s past eight. Of course, I\'d be off."

"You didn\'t get off work and leave your employees working overtime, did you?"

"Our employees rarely work overtime."

"Bullshit, they were practically living there."

"Those were special circumstances!"

As Kang-Woo was chatting with Yeon-Joo, he and Seol-Ah brought the groceries they bought before coming home into the kitchen. They were carrying an enormous amount since Kang-Woo ate quite a lot.

"You can get some rest, Kang-Woo. I\'ll have dinner ready in a flash," Seol-Ah remarked.

"Anything you need help with?" he asked.

"I\'m fine."

"You sure?"

"Hehe. Cooking for you is one of my joys in life, Kang-Woo."

Kang-Woo groaned after his assistance was firmly declined by Seol-Ah. He nodded and sat on the couch.

"Hey, Oh Kang-Woo. What game are you playing with Echidna these days?"

"I think it was Monster something. Wanna play with us?"

"Hm! I bought another controller just for you, Yeon-Joo!"

"Whoa."

"I even bought another TV so we can play together!"

"Dayum, for real?"

Buying another TV solely to game with more people... tell me you\'re rich without telling me you\'re rich.

"How much was it? I\'ll pay for it."

"Hm! I\'m the unnie, so it\'s my gift to you!"

"What?"

"Come back with bigger breasts if you wanna pay me!"

"The fuck you say, brat?"

The three of them gamed boisterously in the living room. Lilith, who was helping Seol-Ah set the table, giggled.

"Having Yeon-Joo here sure makes the atmosphere more lively."

"I want to play games with Kang-Woo too..." Seol-Ah mumbled.

"Then why don\'t you?"

"Nghh. My mind freezes up for some reason whenever I play games, so I\'m not very good."

"I also tried it last time, but I had no idea what to do. Human culture sure is difficult."

"I\'m human too..."

"Oh? You\'re a fallen angel now, aren\'t you?"

Lilith and Seol-Ah smiled gently as they watched the three people gaming as they trash-talked each other. And with that, another day passed.