After Ten Millennia in Hell

A giant, five-meter-tall door opened, and a muscular giant with red skin entered through it. No, he was far too massive to be called a giant; he was more like a monster.

[Hm?]

Balrog tilted his head. He had just returned from training in the training room specially built for him. There was an unexpected guest.

[What brings you here, Lilith?]

"I\'m borrowing your kitchen. I live next door to the demon king, so there\'s a chance I\'d be found out," Lilith calmly replied.

Balrog frowned at her words.

[To think you\'d modify someone else\'s house as you please.]

The house Kang-Woo had built for Balrog naturally did not have a kitchen. Not only was there no way Balrog would prepare his own food, but a demon didn\'t need to eat in the first place.

Lilith had created a kitchen by modifying his house.

"Hohoho. This is also for our king."

[… What do you mean?]

Balrog\'s eyes shone as she mentioned Kang-Woo.

Lilith moved her knife while clicking her tongue.

Slice, slice.

A liquid as red as blood poured out.

"Have you already forgotten what our king has been telling us all this time?"

[Hmm?]

Lilith made a seductive expression and said, "He always used to say that he wanted to eat kimchi stew."

[K-Kimchi stew!]

Balrog\'s eyes widened.

One had to tear away the skin of a dead beast and rip out its internal organs. After cruelly slaughtering the animal with a knife, one only left behind the meat pieces that were the most comfortable to chew. Then, the meat was boiled in a liquid as red as blood. It was a dish truly worthy of a demon king.

Balrog had eaten it a couple of times after coming to Earth, but he couldn\'t understand its flavor, possibly because he had not yet become as ruthless as his king.

[Lilith, are you…]

Balrog stared at her while trembling.

Lilith licked the red liquid on the knife.

"Fufu. This time, I will make that dish known as kimchi stew and offer it to our king."

[…]

Balrog shuddered.

After swearing to protect his king, he had planned to monopolize the demon king\'s love and affection now that he had awakened the Overlord Armor, but he had never expected Lilith to make such a play.

[Kuh!]

Balrog clenched his fists in frustration.

[Was it not enough to seduce the king with your looks?!]

It was unfair.

Lilith was breathtakingly beautiful, worthy of being called the succubus queen. Even in Hell, she used her appearance to receive his love and affection.

\'All she has going for her is her face!\'

Even if he offered the head of a demon to receive the appreciation of the king, he couldn\'t compare to Lilith. Whenever the demon king saw Lilith, he trembled in excitement.

Lilith turned her head while making a bittersweet smile.

"I don\'t think… our king cares much for looks."

That was easy to see just by seeing how he\'d accepted the feelings of that human girl Han Seol-Ah.

To the king, beauty had no meaning.

The physical shell was not what swayed his heart. To win his heart, she had to go further.

"I\'m going to keep practicing cooking, so you just keep practicing that useless Overlord Armor technique or whatever it\'s called."

[Kuh…]

Balrog clenched his fists while biting his lip. He felt frustration and jealousy.

\'If only I was also beautiful enough to dazzle my king like Lilith does.\'

[Haaa.]

He sighed. Balrog turned around.

\'I will do what I can.\'

What the demon king wanted from him was probably different from Lilith. What he could do was grow strong enough to become the king\'s sword and shield.

[Next time…]

Balrog turned his head.

[Teach me how to make kimchi stew as well,] he said in a very low voice.

Lilith covered her mouth and burst into laughter.

"Fufu. Okay. Stop looking at me like an abandoned dog. But even if I do teach you… would our king like it more than the one I make for him, I wonder?"

[…]

Balrog remained silent at her question.

There was no need to think about it. If they both made the same kimchi stew, he would obviously prefer one that a beautiful woman like Lilith prepared.

[… Shit!]

Balrog cursed and went back into the training room. He picked up the communication device that the demon king had given him and called someone.

There was a limit to training by oneself.

- Hello?

He heard the voice of a human whom he had become rather familiar with through the communication device.

[Human, I have a proposition. I need you to meet with me.]

His red muscles, sensing an approaching battle, swelled as if they were about to burst.

* * *

"Let\'s see…"

Kang-Woo leaned on the couch while reading the report he\'d received from Gaia.

[Report of the Great Russian War.]

[Deceased Players - 3812.]

"… Tsk."

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue as he flipped through the document.

About ten thousand top Players from all around the world had joined Guardians. After one battle, almost half of them had died.

\'I mean, it makes sense, considering the scale of it.\'

He wasn\'t omnipotent, and there was no way he could stop everyone from dying in a large-scale battle. He had expected there to be casualties the moment he began preparing for the war.

\'But still…\'

It was sad to see that almost half of them had died.

It was true that the number of people wanting to join Guardians increased after the war, but selecting standouts from among them and making them grow would take time.

\'But at the very least…\'

There hadn\'t been major losses among the elite force of Guardians, the Sirius Corps, as well as the 1st Corps led by Grace McCubbin.

Most of the casualties came from the Players that had been swept away by the second landslide.

[Names and levels of Deceased Players.]

*Player Name: Kwon Oh-Jin (Level: 78)

*Player Name: Hikigaya Hachiman (Lv: 82)

*Player Name: William Smith (Leve: 76)

…

\'Smith?\'

A certain name in the list of deceased caught his attention.

"Smith, you son of a bitch."

He had passed away without being able to propose to Anna…

Kang-Woo sighed and prayed for Smith.

\'You shouldn\'t have raised that death flag…\'

One could say that it was karma.

Kang-Woo picked up his smartphone while making a bittersweet smile.

- Hello? How can I help you, Kang-Woo?

It was Park Hyun-Woo. He used to be the chief of Human Resource Management in the Red Rose guild, but he had been scouted by Guardians after its establishment when his capabilities had been acknowledged.

He had been placed in charge of sending reparations to the families of the deceased Players as well as managing the money that each country sent them.

"I\'m calling about a Player named William Smith among the list of deceased Players."

- Just a moment, please. Ah, here he is. He is a British Player. Were you acquainted with him?

Hyun-Woo carefully asked.

"No, but I wanted to ask if you could send the reparations to his family sooner."

He\'d died and left behind a woman with whom he\'d pledged to get married to. Kang-Woo wouldn\'t have cared if he didn\'t know who Smith was, but he wanted to do as much as possible since he\'d noticed him.

\'Well, I\'m not usually one to care about things like this.\'

But people often did things they didn\'t frequently do when they were in a good mood. That was how he was feeling right now. The problems regarding Lilith and Satan had been resolved, so he wanted to do things he didn\'t usually do.

- Just a moment. Mm… The reparations have already been taken care of.

"Have they?"

- Yes. Oh, I thought I had heard the name somewhere. A woman named Anna came to the Guardians headquarters and received the money. Smith had written in his will that he would leave everything to her.

"I… see."

For some reason, he felt that something was wrong.

- Yes. To be more precise, she and her husband received the money.

"Pardon?"

Husband?

- It said that Anna and Smith were childhood friends… There wasn\'t anything else in particular written in the will. Is there a problem?

"No. Well… No, it\'s nothing."

Kang-Woo ended the call. He remembered Smith\'s face and how he told his subordinates he would propose to Anna once the war ended.

\'Smiiiiiiiiiith!!!\'

It was the cruel taste of reality. No matter how Kang-Woo thought about it, he couldn\'t help but think that Smith had been deceived by Anna.

\'I guess reality is cruel.\'

Kang-Woo was even glad Smith had died without knowing the truth.

Kang-Woo put away the list of the deceased for a moment and prayed for him.

"Well…"

To be honest, he didn\'t care that much. The chaos in Smith\'s life meant absolutely nothing to him.

\'All that matters is me.\'

Kang-Woo has been looking back at his life a lot lately.

He wanted an ideal life where there was nothing for him to worry about—the life of a wealthy bum who could stay at home and do nothing, without anyone saying otherwise.

Working was fulfilling?

One was the happiest while working?

\'Bullshit.\'

The people who said that were probably the ones who, if they won the lottery, would yeet their resignation letters at their bosses at a moment\'s notice.

"Yawn."

Kang-Woo lay on the couch and stretched.

\'Of course…\'

It was not over yet.

The Demon Cultists had yet to be wiped out, and he needed to investigate the remaining princes of Hell. His relationship with the angels was also in a weird spot. Not only that, the Demon God lying within the Abyss was bothering him.

\'There are also a ton of things I have to do right now.\'

He needed to practice controlling Satan\'s Authority, the Authority of Extinction, as well as improve his demonic energy control.

There were many things he had to do.

"But…"

He needed some time to enjoy leisure every now and then. Kang-Woo lay on the couch and closed his eyes.

Ding, dong.

"… Are they back already?"

Echidna, Seol-Ah, and her mother had gone out to buy some clothes, so he had been left alone. He tilted his head and walked toward the front door. He then opened it.

"I missed you. My king, my lo—"

SLAM!!

He slammed the door shut.

"Huff, huff, huff."

His hand trembled as it hovered over the doorknob.

\'Wh-What\'s up with her all of a sudden?\'

The Lilith in front of him wasn\'t Kurosaki Yurie but the demon with green tentacles and eighteen red eyes.

\'Why… why the fuck is she in that form again?\'

Kang-Woo was sure Lilith had likely realized that he possessed a deep trauma of her true form. If she hadn\'t, there was no way that she would have been so docile lately.

\'Hope…\'

The end of the nightmare should have come.

Squelch.

"Hohoho. You are as shy as always, my king."

A green tentacle entered through the crack in the door.

She unlocked the door and entered the apartment.

"Wh-What brings you here?" Kang-Woo asked while taking a step backward.

Lilith held out the pot in her hands.

"Fufu. I made this myself."

She blushed and smiled brightly. Her smile was so hideous that it wouldn\'t even appear in one\'s worst nightmares.

"This is…"

A familiar scent came from the pot.

Kang-Woo took the pot from her with shining eyes.

"Kimchi stew," Kang-Woo said.

"Hohoho. You always used to say that you wanted to eat it while in Hell, did you not?"

"That\'s true, but…"

After returning to Earth, he\'d been eating it at least once a day.

While twisting her body, Lilith shyly said, "I heard that Seol-Ah cooks well, but… I wanted to make it for you at least once, so I have been practicing."

"Ohh…"

A short exclamation came out of his mouth. He understood why she hadn\'t been contacting him recently. Kang-Woo saw some bandages on her green tentacle fingers.

\'What\'s with that trope setup?\'

He smirked. He didn\'t know where she\'d picked up such a trope, but Kang-Woo knew there was no way kitchen knives could wound her.

"Thanks."

Kang-Woo smiled while taking the pot to the dining table.

Lilith trotted after him.

Seeing her looking at him with shining eyes made him feel bad.

\'I\'m feeling sorry again.\'

He regretted slamming the door in her face as soon as he saw her.

"Alright, thanks for the food."

"Please feel free to let me know if you want more. I have more at home."

"Haha, okay."

Clack.

Kang-Woo brought a bowl of white rice from the kitchen and began eating the kimchi stew.

\'Oh?\'

Kang-Woo\'s eyes shone after having a taste of the kimchi stew.

\'It\'s good.\'

It was on par with the kimchi stew Seol-Ah made.

Kang-Woo looked at Lilith in surprise. For a demon who had almost no sense of taste, she had probably gone through a lot of trouble to make something so delicious.

\'I\'m proud of her.\'

He couldn\'t help but smile.

Mush.

"Hm?"

At that moment, he felt something weird in his mouth. It was as if he were chewing seafood, such as an octopus, instead of meat.

"What did you put in the kimchi stew?"

"Oh, you see…"

Lilith smiled widely.

\'Oh, wait a fucking minute…\'

Kang-Woo\'s expression hardened. For some reason, he felt uneasy.

An ominous chill crept down his back.

"It is my secret recipe."

Wink.

Nine of her eighteen eyes winked.

The ominous chill worsened.

\'No.\'

Kang-Woo\'s hands trembled.

\'There\'s… no way.\'

He looked back at the bandages on Lilith\'s green tentacles.

There was no way a demon could get wounded by a kitchen knife, but… what if she cut them on purpose?

"N-NO!!"

SLAM!

Kang-Woo sprang up and slammed his hands on the table.

No, that was impossible. Even for Lilith, there was no way.

Kang-Woo looked down into the pot.

Inside it, there were…

"Urpp."

He covered his mouth.

He naturally remembered a certain phrase.

\'Reality… is a bitch.\'

"Bleeeeeeeeeeegh."