After Ten Millennia in Hell

Chapter 409 - I’m Sorry

‘I might as well visit Balrog.’

Since Han Seol-Ah said he had regained consciousness, Kang-Woo should check up on him.

‘I mean, I’m sure he’s fine.’

It was Balrog of all people; there was probably no need for him to worry. But even so...

“Tsk, he’s such a handful.” Kang-Woo turned around while complaining about how weak Balrog was for being unconscious for a few days just from losing a little blood. He grumbled while putting on a coat, “Sheesh, What’s the point of being a giant when you have no backbone?”

Unlike his grumbling, Kang-Woo could not help himself from smiling.

“Grrrk...?” Slushy tilted its head as it looked up at Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo reached out his hand toward Slushy. “You can come too.”

“Grrrk!”

Slushy jumped onto Kang-Woo’s arm and bounced up to his shoulder. They headed to Balrog’s room together. Kang-Woo easily passed through the magic barrier erected to hide Balrog’s demon form and entered the room. An extremely muscular demon was lying in a bed large enough to fill the entire VIP room.

“I guess they had a bed size big enough for you,” Kang-Woo said as he snickered at the sight of Balrog lying in bed.

“Oh, my king!” Balrog exclaimed.

“Just stay in bed, man.”

Kang-Woo lightly flicked his finger at Balrog as he was trying to get up. An invisible pressure weighed down on Balrog.

“Kurgh!”

“Stop being such a baby.”

Kang-Woo walked up to Balrog and playfully punched his shoulder. Lilith giggled as she watched in silence.

“Mmm... What were they called again? Oh, right. You act like what the earthlings call boomers, Master Kang-Woo,” she remarked.

“What?” Kang-Woo stared at Lilith in puzzlement.

‘Me? A boomer? What are you talking about? I’m only a little over ten millennia years old. I’m still in my prime.’

Kang-Woo stared at Lilith as if he had been wrongfully accused.

“Hohoho. More importantly, what is that thing on your shoulder?” Lilith asked.

“Oh.” Kang-Woo lightly shrugged. Slushy fell in surprise and bounced on the ground. “It’s the Demon God’s legacy.”

“... This thing?”

Lilith chuckled as if it was ridiculous. It was a natural response; there was no way that anyone would think of a black slime when they thought about what the Demon God’s legacy would look like.

“Grrrk?” Slushy looked around and then jumped on Lilith’s lap.

“Oh, my. Fufu, what a cute little thing,” Lilith remarked as she patted Slushy’s head.

Slushy squirmed around while extending itself as if stretching its arms. It looked like tentacles had come out of it.

“My, my.” Lilith’s eyes shone. She embraced Slushy while smiling widely. “No wonder it is called the Demon God’s legacy.”

“... What’s the reason?”

‘What convinced you exactly?’

Kang-Woo turned away, not wanting to ask any further, and sat on Balrog’s bed.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked.

“... I am ashamed to be in this condition.” Balrog lowered his head due to the humiliation. His eyes then widened as if something had come to mind. “Come to think of it, how can you move around, my king? I’m sure you opened the Doors this time as well...”

“Oh, the thing is...”

Kang-Woo explained his current condition to Balrog and Lilith. Their expressions hardened.

“That’s...”

“Dangerous.”

Kang-Woo’s body had changed in a way that not even he was aware of. Although the change itself was good, it was not something to be relieved about.

“You should never open the Doors again,” Balrog said as he grabbed Kang-Woo’s arm and stared at him as if to beg him.

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly. “I’ll take care of myself, so don’t worry about me, man.”

“...” Balrog bit his lip and then sighed deeply. “... I will trust that you will.”

“It doesn’t look like you do.”

“Can you blame me, considering what you’ve done thus far?”

Kang-Woo had no way to refute that.

“Well... You look fine,” he said as he looked down at the bedridden Balrog while smiling.

“You know that my constitution is the thing I’m most proud of.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Kang-Woo remarked as he looked at Balrog’s bulging muscles as if he was genuinely impressed.

He turned to Lilith, who was patting Slushy. “Right, Lilith. I have a favor to ask you.”

“Anything for you, my king.”

“Could you gather information about the Church of Splendor?”

“The Church of Splendor?” Lilith’s eyes widened in wonder. “Are you referring to the new religious group that worships you and Si-Hun like gods?”

“Yeah. I want you to gather as much information as possible about its size, who leads the devotees, and stuff like that.”

“I understand, but may I ask why you want to investigate the Church of Splendor all of a sudden?” Lilith tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand.

Kang-Woo had acquired Deific Essence, but its power had no direct correlation to religion. If they were correlated, there was no way that the strongest god of Earth would be Gaia.

“It’s for farming,” Kang-Woo answered.

“Farming...?”

“Something like that.”

Kang-Woo smiled widely, but it felt somewhat creepy.

“Hmm...” Lilith expressed and then nodded.

Kang-Woo stood up from the bed and said to Balrog, “Get some more rest.”

“Are you leaving already?”

“What more do you want than me coming to visit you?” Kang-Woo replied curtly.

Lilith giggled. “I see you’re letting Balrog rest in silence.”

“I’m not.”

“Hoho. Okay, we can just leave it at that.”

Kang-Woo walked away from the giggling Lilith to the door.

“Oh right, Master Kang-Woo,” Lilith called as Kang-Woo was about to leave through the door. “I heard from Seol-Ah earlier. It seems he has woken up.”

“...” Kang-Woo remained silent.

He did not even need to ask who Lilith was referring to.

“Your lies were more precious to me... than any truth.”

The faint voice echoed in Kang-Woo’s head. He felt stifled as if a giant rock was pushing down on his chest. He had no idea what to say when he met Kim Si-Hun. He found the conversation that he would need to have with Si-Hun far more difficult than his battle against Tai Wuji and his confrontation with the Demon God in the Demonic Sea.

“... Okay.”

Lilith asked in worry, “Will you be going?”

“Yeah.” Kang-Woo calmly nodded.

He couldn’t avoid him forever.

“...” Lilith stared at Kang-Woo with sunken eyes. She slowly walked toward him and placed her hands on his cheeks. “Do not be afraid, my king.”

“...”

Him? Afraid? Lilith’s words felt far too unfamiliar to Kang-Woo. His lips quivered as if he was about to refute something, but he shut his mouth. Seeing that, Lilith giggled.

“I’ll be off, then.” Kang-Woo turned around and left the room. Slushy followed after him while bouncing. “Haaa.” He sighed while grabbing Slushy and raised it into the air.

“Grrrk?!” Slushy flinched.

Kang-Woo placed it on his shoulder and walked with heavy steps.

“Shit.”

This was likely how a criminal felt when walking into a courthouse.

‘How did I even get this way?’

He felt stuffy as if he had eaten dozens of sweet potatoes without anything to drink. He would never have felt this way in the past.

‘I must be changing.’

Not only was his physical body changing, but his mind was as well.

“Tsk.”

He had no idea how it would turn out. It might end up being nothing special once it came down to it. However, even so... He had no idea.

‘Fuck it.’

Kang-Woo gave up on thinking; such thoughts did not suit him at all.

Clack. He opened the door.

“Oh, Kang-Woo. I was just about to contact you,” Seol-Ah greeted.

Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead; it seemed like she had been using healing magic on Si-Hun and Layla until just now. Kang-Woo greeted Seol-Ah by lightly nodding and entered the room.

“... Ah,” Si-Hun expressed while lying in bed.

“...”

“...”

Kang-Woo and Si-Hun remained silent, unable to say a word to each other. An awkward air filled the room.

“Did something happen between you two?” Seol-Ah asked while tilting her head, having no idea about what had happened between them.

“Darling. Could you go to Layla’s room for a bit?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Mmm. Okay.”

Seol-Ah was about to ask something but nodded soon after once she saw Kang-Woo’s eyes. She quietly closed the door and left.

“Are you feeling better now?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Oh, yes. I still have some internal injuries, but I’ll be fine,” Si-Hun replied as he touched the area that Tai Wuji had slashed.

The wound had completely disappeared without leaving any scars thanks to the Authority of Regeneration, but the pain remained.

“Urgh.” Si-Hun clenched his chest as he was trying to get up from the bed.

Kang-Woo frowned. “Just stay the hell in bed.”

“...” Si-Hun lightly nodded and laid back down.

Silence filled the room again.

“... Hyung-nim.” Si-Hun broke the silence first. “To be honest, I felt betrayed at first.”

“...”

Si-Hun smiled faintly. “I thought a lot about why you did such a thing and whether my memories of that night were real or not.”

“They were. I did everything that you remember about that night.”

“Haha,” Si-Hun laughed softly and nodded as if he felt refreshed. He slowly looked up and stared blankly at the ceiling. “I won’t ask you why, since... it’s already in the past.”

“...” Kang-Woo was lost for words.

The sin that he had committed on Si-Hun was far too grave to be glossed over in such a way.

‘Fucking moron.’

Kang-Woo got angry at how ridiculous Si-Hun was being. How nice did someone have to be to think something that moronic?

“You god damn pushov—”

“Hyung,” Si-Hun interjected as he turned to Kang-Woo. He smiled as he locked eyes with Kang-Woo. “Thank you... for staying as my older brother.”

“...”

Kang-Woo’s mind turned completely white as if he had been struck on the head with a sledgehammer. Feigned laughter and curses entangled along with countless emotions.

“...”

Silence fell once again. Kang-Woo lowered his head and thought about what to say. Whatever he said and whatever excuses he made, it would be meaningless.

After much thought, he carefully said, “... I’m sorry.”

That was the bittersweet phrase he had come up with.

Si-Hun softly laughed. He looked back up at the ceiling and said, “Hyung-nim. Would you like to go on a trip?”

“What?”

‘What’s with that out of the blue?’

“We haven’t been able to take a break even once after coming to Aernor. I think it would be a good idea for everyone to go on a little trip.”

“Hmm.”

Kang-Woo fell into thought. The war against the Constellations of Evil was over, and Iris had yet to wake up.

‘It’s not a bad idea timing-wise.’

Kang-Woo honestly had a ton of things he needed to do. He needed to test the power of Voracity, which had risen to Top-rank in Deific Essence, and train the new Chaos skill and Flames of Voracity that he had learned. People had not yet forgotten completely about Balrog, who had run wild during the war, and most of all, he needed to put his focus on the Church of Splendor, his new farmland.

‘But...’

Kang-Woo smiled faintly. He had so much to do, but his comrades also needed a break after working restlessly for all this time. Unlike himself, humans were unable to work without rest. Also, this was Si-Hun’s effort to eliminate the awkward air that had formed between them.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Kang-Woo nodded with a smile.

With that, their trip had been decided.