After Ten Millennia in Hell

Fluff. He unconsciously reached out to touch the softness.

\'It\'s big.\'

It was so big that it was hard to grab with one hand.

"Mmph…!"

As he touched the soft thing, he heard a moan. It flinched, but it did not back off or run away.

\'Ah…\'

He rubbed his head on the soft object and relished it as much as he could. It was a sense of softness that he had never experienced before.

His life had been full of agony. It had been an endless cycle of despair, desperate struggles, and wretched writhing.

\'For what had I tried so hard?\'

He tried to remember. It was a memory of when he used to be in Hell. He had been at risk of death every moment of his life, to the point that it was honestly a mystery why he hadn\'t died.

The thought of committing suicide had crossed his mind thousands of times.

\'So… why did I endure it?\'

He couldn\'t remember. It felt fuzzy, as if part of a drawing had been cut out. The sensation that touched his face was warm. He curled his body up as if he were a child, or a fetus in his mother\'s belly.

"Hngh—"

He heard the sound again, but the soft sensation still did not disappear.

The softness enveloped his body.

\'Ah.\'

He shed tears. It felt as if a castle that he had carefully constructed was crumbling down or an embankment was bursting. An uncontrollable flood of emotions shook him.

"K-Kang-Woo…?"

Someone was calling him, but he ignored it because he wanted to experience this warmth for a little longer.

How long had it been since he\'d felt such peace?

No, that wasn\'t the correct expression. After all, he\'d never felt it before.

"Do you remember what you said to me back then, my king?"

He heard a voice—it was a familiar voice.

"Climb much, much higher."

Keep pushing forward.

"A-Arrgghh."

An unbearable pressure weighed down on him. He walked forward all by himself while shouldering everything. He looked around but couldn\'t see anything.

"I\'m tired… of it all."

Too many had died. He was sick and tired of it. He did not want to shoulder the weight that was deforming him anymore. He couldn\'t take it anymore.

\'I\'m…\'

He wasn\'t perfect. He had never been perfect.

He wasn\'t a superhuman or a god.

He just had struggled desperately and wretchedly.

He wanted to stop and take a breath, but the countless eyes surrounding him and the weight on his shoulders did not allow it. However much he was carved up, exhausted, or dried up, he had to keep pushing forward.

"…"

A warm feeling embraced him.

Tears dripped from his eyes. He began crying like a beast.

He felt a warm hand caress his hair and saw a white light come from that hand and seep into him.

"It\'s okay."

An unbelievably gentle voice spoke to him.

"It\'s okay."

The hands that were patting his head went down his back. The sweetness intoxicated him, making him feel fuzzy, and he let that fuzzy feeling take over his body.

His consciousness died down.

* * *

"Urgh."

Kang-Woo got up.

It\'d been ten days since the rescue operation.

Doing nothing but receiving Seol-Ah\'s care had to end here. He couldn\'t sit around any longer.

"I feel amazing."

He didn\'t understand why, but his body felt as light as a feather.

Kang-Woo tilted his head. If he\'d really been wounded, one would think that he\'d fully recovered, but that had not been the case.

\'I wasn\'t injured in the first place.\'

He\'d spent ten days in bed only to make the rescue operation feel more real. Not only had he not been wounded, but he also didn\'t even have a single scar.

The only damage he\'d received was from the light that had come out of Han Seol-Ah, but since it only lasted briefly, he had managed to heal quickly.

\'What\'s going on?\'

In his confusion, he drew out his demonic energy.

His eyes widened.

"What the hell?"

He felt the demonic energy calmly flowing through his body, and he laughed in disbelief at the completely new sensation.

\'Why is it so calm?\'

The word calm did not suit demonic energy; it was not like the Qi that appeared in martial arts novels.

\'Calm, my ass.\'

Demonic energy was rampant in nature like a college freshman at his first frat party. The flow of demonic energy, which had been like rapids, had become as calm as a peaceful river, so it was obviously very suspicious.

"The output… hasn\'t changed."

Kang-Woo laughed in disbelief. There was only one conclusion that he could draw from the calm demonic energy despite the unchanged output.

\'My demonic energy control has improved.\'

How could that have possibly happened?

Kang-Woo scratched his head due to the unbelievable phenomenon.

"Did I eat an elixir or something in my sleep?"

He couldn\'t help but laugh at what he said, not because eating an elixir was unbelievable but because a mere elixir would not improve his control over demonic energy.

"It\'s a good thing, but…"

He still wasn\'t at a point where he could safely absorb Belphegor\'s demonic energy, but considering how agonizing and dangerous improving one\'s demonic energy control was, the fact that it had improved overnight was very welcome news.

\'I have no idea why.\'

He was tilting his head in confusion when the door opened.

Clack.

"Oh, y-you\'re up, Kang-Woo."

"Oh, yeah. I just got up."

Seol-Ah entered the room.

\'…?\'

His eyes widened when he saw her.

"Is something wrong? Your cheeks are super red."

"Pardon? I-It\'s nothing at all!!"

Seol-Ah frantically shook her head. She took a deep breath and approached him with expectant eyes.

"Th-That aside, you\'re still unwell, right? I will take care of you ag—"

"No, I\'m fine now."

Seol-Ah\'s expression turned grim in an instant.

Kang-Woo smirked.

"Thanks for taking care of me. I\'m all better now."

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yup." Kang-Woo nodded. "I can\'t stay in bed forever. It\'s about time I start to move around."

"…"

"What?"

"N-Nothing."

Seol-Ah lowered her head as if remembering something. Her cheeks were so red that it looked as if steam was about to come up from her head.

"Uhm… Kang-Woo."

"Yeah?"

"You… said that you spent ten millennia in Hell… right?"

"…"

Kang-Woo remained silent. He slowly nodded.

"Could you tell me about what you went through th—"

"No," he said in a bit of a cold manner, causing Seol-Ah to flinch.

Kang-Woo calmly kept talking. To be honest, talking about it wasn\'t hard. He was sure that, if it were Seol-Ah, she\'d understand what he\'d gone through and accept him as he was. Even so—no, because of that…

"I… can\'t," Kang-Woo replied.

"… Why not? I-I also want to know more about you, Kang-Woo."

"Because you\'ll pity me."

"… What?"

"If I tell you, you\'ll pity me."

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly. He wasn\'t trying to act cool. His past, the years he\'d spent in Hell, was like a soap opera.

\'It was an absolute shitshow.\'

It would not lose to any other story in the world in terms of gruesomeness and wretchedness. The memories were far too unsightly and filthy to say out loud.

\'And considering the pity show I\'d pull off while weeping…\'

There was a chance that he would bawl his eyes out while talking about it.

\'That isn\'t something I should do at my age.\'

Age and psychological maturity were not directly proportional to one another; it was easy to find people who didn\'t act their age. That was especially the case for demons.

The endless clashing of desires that came with a demon\'s body interfered with psychological growth. For example, Kang-Woo wasn\'t as knowledgeable as an old man who had gone through many things in his life.

"…"

Seol-Ah made a sad expression.

"Don\'t make that face. It\'s nothing you would find entertaining."

"That\'s not what I—"

"I know what you\'re trying to say, but they\'re just too embarrassing to say out loud, so… I don\'t want to say them for the moment."

Seol-Ah sighed. "If you say so, then I guess it can\'t be helped."

"Thanks."

"But that doesn\'t mean I\'ve given up. I won\'t give up on learning absolutely everything about you, Kang-Woo," Seol-Ah said while looking at him, full of determination.

Kang-Woo scratched his head at her sudden declaration.

"More importantly, how are Halcyon and Echidna?" he asked.

"I heard they\'re being taken care of by Lilith."

He already knew that, but he asked anyway to make his performance more real.

\'They must be a mess by now.\'

Both of them were highly dependent on Kang-Woo. Them being his retainers partly had to do with it, but the biggest reason was their personalities.

He\'d commanded them to stay at Balrog\'s home, so they were likely becoming extremely jittery.

\'They\'ll have to come later.\'

There were other things he had to do first. Kang-Woo began walking.

"Where are you going?" asked Seol-Ah.

"I think I should meet up with the angels."

"…"

Chilling rage appeared in Seol-Ah\'s eyes, likely because the angels had decided not to take part in the rescue operation to save Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and said, "I also heard what happened, but we can\'t deny that they\'re our allies. Besides, thousands of people fearlessly charging into a trap to save just one person is nothing to be proud of."

"Th-that\'s…!"

"But still… thanks." Kang-Woo grabbed Seol-Ah\'s hand. "Thanks to you, I\'m alive."

"I wasn\'t alone. Also… thinking about everything you\'ve done for me, that was nothing."

Seol-Ah looked at him with passionate eyes.

Kang-Woo coughed and turned around.

"I\'ll be back before dinner."

He quickened his steps as if to hide his embarrassment.

Whoom.

He opened a gate on the apartment rooftop and moved to the Hall of Protection. The Hall of Protection had many gates leading to different places worldwide, so using it as a waypoint was quite convenient for transportation.

As soon as he entered the Hall of Protection, he was greeted by Kim Si-Hun.

"H-Hyung-nim?!"

"Long time no see."

"Are you feeling okay?!"

Kang-Woo smirked after seeing his excitement.

"I\'m fine. I\'m all better now."

He couldn\'t understand why, but he was feeling even better than before.

"Fuuu. I was really worried. After I heard you were hurting so much that you couldn\'t even accept visitors, I…"

"…?"

Kang-Woo tilted his head. He had never said something like that.

"I\'m glad to see you\'re fine now, but why are you here? You should rest some more."

"I\'m fully healed, so I thought I should talk about what happened. We also need to prepare for the future."

"…"

Si-Hun remained silent. He had absolutely no way to refute him.

"Call Gaia, too. I\'d rather explain things once."

"I understand. Should I call Yeon-Joo as well?"

"No. Raphael doesn\'t know Yeon-Joo very well, so I think it\'d be best if only the three of us went."

"… You\'re planning on meeting the angels?" Si-Hun asked in displeasure.

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly. Si-Hun had reacted the same way as Seol-Ah.

"I know what you\'re thinking, but the angels are still our allies, and they will always be."

"…"

"Si-Hun."

"Yes… I know."

Si-Hun bit his lip and nodded. He knew it, but…

"Fuuu."

He took a deep breath.

"Let\'s go. I\'ll bring Gaia."

Si-Hun turned around.

Kang-Woo smiled in satisfaction while looking at Si-Hun\'s back.

\'Well, I guess this is just right.\'

This was just the right level of relationship that they should have with the angels.

As long as Kang-Woo was a demon, he could never trust them fully. They needed to work together to a certain extent. Both sides working together for a matching goal while being wary of each other to an extent was just the right level of relationship Kang-Woo wanted with the angels.

"Kang-Woo! A-Are you feeling okay n—"

"Let\'s talk about that as we go."

Kang-Woo smiled when he saw Gaia\'s face full of worry.

* * *

"… The Four Heavenly Kings, you say?"

Raphael placed his hand on his forehead. What they\'d told him was an unexpected development of events.

"I did not realize that the Demon of Prophecy\'s forces would be that powerful. And that has yet to be resolved…"

Raphael bit his lip, his head hurting at the thought of the overwhelming forces of evil.

"Could you tell me what had happened in detail?"

"Of course."

Kang-Woo calmly began talking. He explained how he went to investigate Satan, how he\'d managed to find his traces, and how the Demon of Prophecy had attacked him as if he had been waiting.

The more he talked, the darker Raphael\'s expression became.

\'Good.\'

Kang-Woo smiled.

\'He believed it.\'

It seemed he wasn\'t suspecting Kang-Woo to be the Demon of Prophecy.

\'Fuck yeah! I\'m finally safe from all suspicion!\'

Judging by Raphael\'s expression, the plan had been a success.

Kang-Woo would no longer be suspected as the Demon of Prophecy, and he\'d also created a convenient card known as Fallen Angel Rakiel.

\'Hell yeah! Rakiel Coin, let\'s go!\'

Just thinking about how to use his new cheat code made him smile.

\'Yeah, I should\'ve done this from the start.\'

He had gone through so much because Satan had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Kang-Woo nodded in satisfaction.

Raphael asked, "What was the name of the Heavenly King you came across?"

"Fallen Angel Rakiel," Kang-Woo said without hesitation.

"Rakiel…?"

\'Yup, I\'m sure it\'s your first time hearing the name.\'

After all, he\'d made it up.

Kang-Woo snickered in his mind. Just then…

Slam!

Raphael sprang up with his eyes as wide as saucers.

"R-Rakiel was there?!!"

\'Huh?\'

"H-How?! How could that fallen Constellation be on Earth…?!"

\'What the fuck?\'

"It cannot be…" Raphael\'s expression paled. "H-Has the seal… been undone?"

"…"

Kang-Woo remained silent.

\'For fuck\'s sake.\'

He grabbed his head.

\'Who the fuck is Rakiel…?\'

Something had gone wrong.