After Ten Millennia in Hell

Chapter 306 - Eh?

"Ah... Uhmm." Han Seol-Ah was left flustered by the unexpected guest.

Uriel looked around and frowned. "Kang-Woo isn't here, right?"

"... Yes."

"Ugh. He said he's on his way, so where the hell is he?" Uriel turned around while complaining.

"P-Please wait!" Seol-Ah called out in a hurry.

"... What?" Uriel looked at her with sharp eyes.

He'd heard a lot about Seol-Ah through Kang-Woo. Of course, Kang-Woo had only said good things about her, but Uriel couldn't help but have an unfavorable opinion of her.

'She doesn't even know what Kang-Woo's going through.'

He felt a strange sense of superiority and a negative sentiment toward her.

"Kang-Woo... seems to be very tired lately. Could you tell me what is going on?"

Uriel clicked his tongue. "It's none of your concern."

"I'm Kang-Woo's lov—"

"Yeah, I know that you two are dating."

"..."

"Hmph, what's the point if you're dating? You don't even know a thing about him." Uriel snorted and turned his head.

Seol-Ah's eyebrows went up.

"What... do you mean?" she said in a low voice.

Uriel found it absurd and laughed at the faint rage he felt in her voice. "What's it to you? You think it'll change anything?"

"I asked you what you meant."

"Don't ask me, ask Kang-Woo. What? Did he not tell you?"

Uriel had hit the mark. Just like he said, all Kang-Woo did when she asked him was smile awkwardly and say that everything was fine.

"Hmph, I knew it."

"... Please tell me. Why are the two of you together so often lately?"

"Kuh."

Uriel glared at Seol-Ah. He was offended by the fact that the woman who considered herself to be Kang-Woo's lover was doing absolutely nothing while Kang-Woo was going through such pain. Of course, he knew that there was nothing she could do even if she did know.

Kang-Woo had told him not to tell her anything so that she wouldn't become worried, but...

'At least stay in your goddamn lane if you can't do anything.'

He was surging with irritation. He felt like he wouldn't be able to calm his rage until he gave her a piece of his mind.

"You want to know why?"

"Yes, I do."

"It's simple." Uriel pointed to her. "You can't protect Kang-Woo..." He then pointed to himself. "... And I can."

"... Pardon?"

Seol-Ah's eyes trembled. She couldn't understand what he meant, but what she knew for certain was that Kang-Woo was currently in a situation where he needed someone's protection.

"I-I can't protect him? What does that..."

"It means exactly how it sounds. You can't do anything for Kang-Woo. You can't protect him or even make him happy."

"Th-That's not true!" Seol-Ah shouted as chilling bloodlust pooled in her eyes. "What are you talking about when you don't even know anything about us?!"

Uriel had only known Kang-Woo for a couple of months. No, the time wasn't important. She was Kang-Woo's lover; they had shared both body and mind, but Uriel was telling her that she couldn't protect Kang-Woo or make him happy.

"Haaa, haaa," she panted heavily.

What drove her crazy the most was that she knew it was true—she didn't have the strength to protect him or make him happy.

"Hmph, I might not have known Kang-Woo for as long as you have," Uriel blurted out. "But I know for a fact that you're of absolutely no help to him."

"..."

Split.

Something in her heart started to crack, and her face paled.

"Ah..." Uriel realized he'd gone too far and said something he shouldn't have.

'Dammit.'

He didn't want to antagonize his friend's lover, but he'd lost his rationality because he had spent so much time seeing his precious friend in immense pain.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to go that f—"

Brrrr.

As Uriel was in the middle of apologizing, something rang from inside his pocket. Uriel quickly took out his smartphone. There was only one person who knew his number.

"Where the hell are you?" Uriel asked in a whiny voice, but his eyes widened from hearing Kang-Woo's voice.

He sounded as if he would die at any moment.

"Shit!"

Uriel quickly turned and jumped through the window frame, spreading his eight wings and quickly flying away.

Seol-Ah blankly stared into the air.

"Ha... haha." A distorted laugh left her mouth.

* * *

"I'm begging you. Before I turn into a monster... kill me."

"Don't fuck with meeeeeeee!!"

The friend, Kang-Woo, was telling the protagonist, Uriel, to kill him while grabbing hold of his hideous tentacle arm. Uriel was crying as he looked at Kang-Woo. The drama that Kang-Woo had been filming with Uriel had entered its climax just like he had wanted, but...

'The hell?'

Even though Kang-Woo was spasming while vomiting blood...

'Why isn't the quest being completed?'

Even though he was pouring out demonic energy while holding onto his tentacle arm...

'Why isn't this son of a bitch falling?'

He had even completed the climax scene of his golden energy powering up and fully chasing out the tentacle arm.

"Sniff. I'm glad. I'm... so glad."

Even after that, Uriel did not fall from grace. He was bawling his eyes out while hugging Kang-Woo, his eight wings as pure-white as ever.

Kang-Woo looked down at Uriel with a hardened expression.

'My plan failed?'

He wasn't entirely unfamiliar with failure; he wasn't some sort of omnipotent god, so he couldn't succeed in everything.

He knew. He understood it, but still...

'I never thought that this one would fail.'

To be honest, he was a bit bewildered.

Ever since he had come to Earth, this was the first time that a plan he had prepared so thoroughly had failed so miserably.

'What happened?'

He couldn't understand it.

'Where did it go wrong?'

He was sure Uriel's target of obsession was him. As evidence of that, Uriel was crying as he was hugging him right now.

It wasn't like the Seed of Corruption had stopped growing either; the message window had clearly said that the quest was close to completion.

'Then what the hell did I miss?'

He couldn't help but feel irritated that the last two weeks had gone to waste.

"Wh-What's wrong? Is the demonic energy still..." Uriel said while looking up at him with worry.

Kang-Woo shook his head. "No, I don't feel any more demonic energy within my body for the time being."

He put his plan on hold for now. If he couldn't make Uriel fall from grace despite pushing him this far, it simply meant that he had gone about it the wrong way from the start. There was no reason for him to fake the demonic energy encroachment anymore.

"Really?"

"Yes. As proof..." Kang-Woo took out a cookie from his pocket and ate it. He smiled brightly. "My sense of taste is back to normal."

"Ah...!" Uriel smiled brightly.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he looked down at Uriel.

'I haven't completely failed yet.'

There was nothing more horrible than being dragged down into the pits of despair after tasting hope. Since the Seed of Corruption hadn't completely disappeared, he would be able to try it as many times as he liked.

'But my pride is a bit hurt.'

Kang-Woo would be able to give Uriel a despairing experience far more shocking than encroachment if he really wanted to.

'I'm a bit worried for the kid, though.'

He wasn't sure if Uriel's mind would be able to handle it.

'You should've just fallen on this run.'

Irritation swept over him again. He even thought about just making him fall by forcing demonic energy into him.

'I would've done it already if I could.'

Unlike humans, angels didn't fall just from demonic energy being forced into them. Only by pushing their obsession to the limit of madness would an angel fall from grace.

"I'm glad. I'm... so glad." Uriel smiled brightly while crying.

Kang-Woo was swept over with huge remorse and fatigue. He felt like an adult picking on a child like his life depended on it. A sense of dejection spread through him.

'Haaa, what the fuck am I doing?'

Kang-Woo shook his head. He decided to think about it more later. He just wanted to go home and rest.

"Let's go back home," he said.

"Okay! You're coming to my place, right?"

"Haha, no. I'm too tired, so I want to rest at home for today."

"Ah..." Uriel's expression darkened, but he nodded. "Okay. I'm going to report this matter to the celestial realm. I also have to hear about what's going on in Aernor through the regular meeting."

"Your subordinates will also be coming to Earth soon, right?"

"Yeah! They're all good guys. I'll introduce them to you when they get here."

Uriel's obsession had alleviated significantly due to the fact that Kang-Woo had been able to escape the demonic energy encroachment.

"Haha, thank you very much."

Kang-Woo and Uriel went their separate ways. Uriel headed not to the house that Kang-Woo had prepared for him but to the fortress in Africa.

"Haaa."

Kang-Woo hadn't expected his plan to fail, so his steps felt very heavy as he returned home.

'But since there was no message saying that the growth was halted, I still have a chance.'

He opened the front door, thinking that he should take a long break before preparing for his next plan.

'It's been a while, so I'll sleep with my darling tonight.'

Just the thought was enough to make him smile and put him in a good mood. He had been waiting so long for this very moment!

"Hm?"

The house was dark.

Echidna and Halcyon would usually come running at this time, but they were nowhere to be seen. Kang-Woo racked his brain and nodded after figuring out why.

'Halcyon and Echidna went to the Grand Canyon with Balrog for special training.'

That meant Seol-Ah was all by herself.

"Darling~?" he carefully called out to her, but there was no answer.

'Is she asleep?'

Kang-Woo looked at her closed bedroom door and tilted his head.

'Mm, I shouldn't wake her up.'

It was too bad, but it seemed like he'd have to sleep alone for tonight.

'Well, I'm gonna be taking a long break anyway.'

He wanted to go on dates with Seol-Ah and relax as much as he could, just the two of them. Traveling was also a nice option.

"I'll just go to sleep tonight."

Leaving his disappointment behind, Kang-Woo went into his room.

He hadn't been able to sleep for the past two weeks because of Uriel, so his eyelids felt heavy.

'Tomorrow, with Seol-Ah...'

Kang-Woo fell asleep as all sorts of thoughts went through his head.

* * *

At dawn the next day...

"Urgh."

Kang-Woo opened his eyes as he felt a ray of sunlight shine through his window. Although he'd been able to sleep only for four hours, that much was enough to wipe away his fatigue.

"I wonder if darling is still sleepi—"

Clank.

"Huh?"

He couldn't move. He turned his head to see white chains wrapped around him.

'Eh?'

What the fuck are these?

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