After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 28 - Rose Time (4)

“Yeon-Joo, there’s a problem,” said Oh Kang-Woo in all seriousness.

“Huh? What problem?” Cha Yeon-Joo asked.

Kang-Woo bit his lip anxiously and replied, “I think... my information was leaked.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, look!” he shouted as he pointed at the chat. “They know I don’t have a mother!”

“...”

“Shit, where was the source of the leak...? It would be bad if members of Echidna’s fan club managed to get hold of it.”

“No, Kang-Woo. This is, uhhh...”

Yeon-Joo shook her head in puzzlement. Kang-Woo chatted with the Player who discovered his identity before Yeon-Joo could continue.

Gimme Kimchi Stew: where did you hear that info?

Throw If Not Vayne: ur fking daddy LMAO

Gimme Kimchi Stew: Bauli...?

Throw If Not Vayne: ?

It was a little weird to call Bauli Kang-Woo’s father, but considering Bauli was his creator, he was the closest thing Kang-Woo had to a father.

“How did Bauli...?”

Kang-Woo did not understand how the Player managed to hear information about him from the Titan who was stuck inside the Abyss of the Demonic Sea.

‘Perhaps...’

He wondered if this had to do with the appearance of Akart. After all, Bauli and Akart were both entities born from the Primordial.

‘The situation is far more serious than I anticipated.’

It had gone far beyond simply worrying about his information being leaked to Echidna’s fan club. He quickly continued chatting.

Gimme Kimchi Stew: are you one of Akart’s subordinates?

Throw If Not Vayne: ???

Throw If Not Vayne: LMFAO fks wrong with u bro

Throw If Not Vayne: u think we’re playing DNF?

Throw If Not Vayne: u must go around telling ppl ur the demon king or something lolololol i knew it from the moment you chose yasuo as support lolol

“...!”

‘Even information that I’m the Demon King was spread?!’

Butterfly Valley: guys plz stop chatting and focus on the match ?? I can’t even get to Gold if I lose this placement ??

Gimme Kimchi Stew: who told you that I’m the Demon King? did Bauli tell you that as well?

Throw If Not Vayne: ?

Gimme Kimchi Stew: no, never mind. I doubt you’d tell me.

Gimme Kimchi Stew: let us talk in detail face to face.

Kang-Woo rolled his chair back and stood up. The kimchi stew instant ramen arrived, but now was not the time. He resisted the mouthwatering scent of instant ramen with all his might.

“Sorry, Yeon-Joo. I’ll be right back.”

“Huh? What? Where are you going?”

“Information that I’m the Demon King was leaked. I don’t know who this bastard is, but I have to capture them no matter what.”

“N-No, this isn’t what you think it is—”

“I’m off.”

Kang-Woo did not even have the time to listen to Yeon-Joo; he needed to capture Akart’s potential subordinate before they could escape. There was no way for him to know where the subordinate was at the moment, but it was a different story for the System that managed the Triad as a whole.

“Eve. Tell me where Throw If Not Vayne is.”

Riiing.

[Wow... you’re just... wow...]

“What?”

[No, I sometimes can’t tell whether you’re smart or a dumbass.]

“...?”

[Anyway, this seems interesting so I will tell you the location.]

Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion due to Eve’s strange behavior but paid it no mind. He did not have the leeway to bother with trivial things like that either at the moment.

[It’s close.]

A map of the area popped up on a blue window as if Kang-Woo was using Google Maps, and the location of the one who figured out Kang-Woo’s true identity was marked on it with a red pin. As Eve said, it was relatively close.

“H-Hey, Oh Kang-Woo! I got that you don’t know shit about gaming culture, so just calm down for a second!”

“I’ll go on ahead so you follow me too, Yeon-Joo. Eve, give Yeon-Joo the location as well,” Kang-Woo said as he leaped.

Bang!

He came out of the PC room in a flash and flew into the sky using the Authority of the Sky.

“Wait! Hey! Oh Kang-Woo!!!”

Kang-Woo heard Yeon-Joo yelling from behind but ignored it.

“YOU FUCKING MOROOOOOOOOOOON!!”

Yeon-Joo’s screams were carried by the sea breeze of Haeundae, echoing throughout the city in the dead of night.

Butterfly Valley: hello? support and top? Why aren’t u guys moving?

Butterfly Valley: please come back. We’re winning.

World’s Best Mid: blue plz

Butterfly Valley: blue isn’t the fucking priority right now dammit.

Butterfly Valley: ah... my placement...

Someone’s desperate screams were echoing from the chat of the two screens in the VIP seats of a certain PC room.

***

“Waaaaaah! I-I really don’t know who this Akart is...”

In a small dark room with a computer monitor being the only light source was a boy with upturned eyes and a trembling young man kneeling in front of the boy.

“My information... wasn’t leaked?” asked Kang-Woo in puzzlement as he turned to Yeon-Joo, who belatedly entered the room after him.

“Huff, huff. Yeah, you crazy bastard!” shouted Yeon-Joo in frustration after swinging across buildings like a certain spider hero to chase after the flying Kang-Woo.

“Then why did he mention my parents out of the blue?” Kang-Woo asked as he tilted his head in confusion. “I could understand if we were losing, but we won a two-on-two!”

No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t find a reason for him to be cursed at.

“I mean, well...”

Yeon-Joo rolled her eyes and averted his gaze. It was none other than her who made Kang-Woo, who did not know anything about the game, troll. She of course did not expect things to get so out of hand, but she was partly responsible.

“I-It’s just because that guy is a weirdo!” she shouted as she pointed at the trembling young man kneeling on the floor.

“What...?” The young man stared at Yeon-Joo wide-eyed. “C-Come on, who wouldn’t curse at someone playing Yasuo as support who kills all the minions and even kill-steals?!”

“Shut it, that’s not reason enough to insult someone’s parents.”

The young man bowed after sensing the immense energy exuding from Yeon-Joo and shouted, “I-I’m so sorry! I will never shit-talk again!!”

“You heard him. He’s just an ill-mannered asshole. You see them a lot when gaming. They’re part of the culture,” said Yeon-Joo to Kang-Woo.

“Is that how it is?” Kang-Woo remarked as he looked down with interest at the crying young man.

He couldn’t believe insulting one’s teammates after they won in a game about teamwork was a part of gaming culture.

“What has this world come to?” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Yeon-Joo chuckled as Kang-Woo acted like an old man criticizing children.

“Oh, right. Come to think of it, your age is...”

She grabbed her forehead as if she were getting a headache. The toxic gaming culture already existed before Kang-Woo was sent to Hell, but he had never experienced it because he had been in extreme poverty.

“You’re so clueless about the weirdest of things.”

Yeon-Joo stared at Kang-Woo in a daze. The usually extraordinarily capable man was occasionally a dork in aspects she could never imagine.

‘Romance, for example.’

Her emotions were boiling over because of none other than Kang-Woo.

‘Well...’

Her dumbfounded expression then turned into one of faint joy. She found the boy, groaning as he scratched his head, lovely.

‘That’s what I like about him.’

If Kang-Woo were as perfect as a machine and cold as ice, she would never have developed feelings for him. His occasional dorky side, as well as his leisure and charisma in crises, was what made the human— no, demon Oh Kang-Woo so charming.

‘He’s foul-mouthed, arrogant, cruel, and merciless, but he somehow makes me want to protect him.’

Various expressions overlapped with Kang-Woo’s current confused face: expressions of joyful laughter, sharply glinting eyes, mouth agape like an idiot, fumbling in panic, smiling bitterly in sorrow, agony due to the weight on his shoulders, and one of determination as he set aside his body and mind on the verge of being crushed. Yeon-Joo recalled the many sides of Kang-Woo that she had seen thus far.

“Ah...”

Yeon-Joo flinched. Her chest hurt as if she had been stabbed by something sharp. After all, Kang-Woo’s countless expressions that she remembered and loved had never been directed at her.

“...”

The sudden storm of emotions smashed into something that she had kept suppressed all this time.

“I swear, I had no idea,” said Kang-Woo after noticing Yeon-Joo’s crumpling expression. “Even I don’t know about things I’ve never experienced.”

He was not omniscient or omnipotent. He did not know about things he had never experienced and was poor at it when doing it for the first time. Even if he had experience in it, there were things he just had no knack for. Hence, he had no idea why Yeon-Joo was staring at him as if she were about to burst into tears.

“I’m really sorry I stormed out in the middle of our game. Next time, we’ll—”

“You moron,” Yeon-Joo interjected in tears. She could no longer suppress the storm of emotions making her dizzy. “That’s not it.”

She walked to Kang-Woo and leaned her head on his chest.

“That’s not why I’m like this.”

Yeon-Joo’s shoulders trembled. She was having trouble breathing, and her head was getting hot. She had never expected her feelings, which she had been suppressing all this time, to burst so suddenly in a place like this.

“Wh-Why don’t you understand?” Yeon-Joo bit her lip and pushed the words out of her mouth. “I... love you. I love you so fucking much.”

“...”

“I thought I was going insane this past month, not being able to see you. No, I was going insane day by day for the last three years you were gone.”

“...”

“You were so cool when you came to the guild to help me. I was so sad when you were about to leave after only having drinks. I was so happy that I was about to cry when you said that I looked good with long hair.”

Tears flowed down her cheeks, falling to the ground.

“I know you love Seol-Ah and that you two are happy together. I do. I fucking know, but...”

She grabbed Kang-Woo’s shoulders.

“I love you so much to death, you son of a bitch.”

Yeon-Joo yanked Kang-Woo toward her, and they kissed.

“...”

The sound of a man and a woman kissing rang throughout the small dark room illuminated only by a computer screen.

“Gurghhh... Waaaaah. Get the fuck out of my house, you bastards...”

The young man kneeling in the corner crouched as he shed tears of blood.

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