Chapter 173 - The Letter She Left

"W-wait. What are you talking about?"

Oh Kang-Woo's vision blurred, his ears heated up, and his head started swimming. He had never expected nor imagined to hear something like that.

"Lilith is already on Earth?"

Balrog nodded.

[Yes. She went around proudly boasting that the demon king had finally called her before going…]

Balrog frowned aggressively. Balrog already looked scary, so his scowl made him look like a character from a horror movie. He anxiously bit his lip and said with sincere concern, [Kuh. That damn girl is so arrogant just because she's beautiful… My king, you mustn't fall for her temptations.]

Kang-Woo coldly replied, "Shut up."

[Pardon?]

"Shut the hell up for a second."

Kang-Woo trembled while grabbing his hair.

'No.'

Squelch.

The sound of dozens of green tentacles wriggling… Sticky mucus flowed down from the tentacles, and thousands of suckers licked his skin. Eighteen eyes and a long tongue similar to a snake's brushed past his lips.

'Oh God, fuck.'

They were memories of the past…

They were his trauma—a stigma that was imprinted in his mind. They were memories, emotions, and feelings he could never free himself from.

'Si-Hun, I'm sorry for calling you stupid.'

He'd thought Kim Si-Hun was stupid for being unable to overcome his past trauma.

But what about him?

'Save me.'

In the dark nights of Hell, every time that Kang-Woo tried to fall asleep in his bed, which he had painstakingly made in Hell where fluffy things were nonexistent… tentacles would enter his blanket. When he hurriedly lifted it, he saw eighteen red eyes looking up at him.

Damp hands lifted his clothes, and mucus dripped over him and trickled down his body while wetting his clothes. As he opened his mouth to scream, a long tongue swiftly shot out and entered his mouth.

"I love you, my king."

'AAAAAAAHHHHH!'

Just like a student who had met his bully… like prey that had come across a predator… he felt chills, and his body started to tremble.

"L-Lilith is… on… E-Earth?"

Fear took control of his body, and memories of those dark nights haunted him.

One could say that if he hated her so much, he could have just prevented her from entering his chambers, but it wasn't that simple.

Sleeping together with Lilith was pretty much impossible to refuse because not only were they in an alliance, but she was also his 'bride,' although in name only.

Take, for instance, a country where the king did not sleep with his queen at all and the people of that country cared deeply for, loved, and worshiped her.

Kang-Woo could not afford for his army to be split when he was already struggling to face the forces of the seven princes of Hell, so he had no other choice but to sleep with her.

"Urp."

He wanted to throw up. He covered his mouth with his hands.

Maybe it was hard to believe from how he had reacted, but it wasn't that he hated Lilith. There was no way that he would hate her when she was so devoted to him while expressing her loyalty and love for him.

'That was the problem.'

If she were an enemy, he would've been able to just kill her. But she was an ally. Not just that, she was one of the five most important figures within his demon army. Not only that, she loved him so much that she'd probably even rip out her own heart to give to him if he wanted it.

Politically and sentimentally, it was hard for him to reject her completely.

'Yeah, for fuck's sake, it's my fault for being a sucker.'

He thought about Balrog and Lilith. If he were asked to choose whether they were important to him or not, he would most definitely choose that they were. After all, they'd spent over a thousand years together and had gone through all sorts of hardships.

Even someone who had just the tiniest bit of humanity left would grow to be attached to someone after going through thick and thin with them.

[Is something the matter?]

"Haaa. No, forget it."

He sighed and shook his head. He'd spent a lot of time with Lilith for numerous reasons, and that had given him trauma that he could never escape from.

"That aside…"

He narrowed his eyes.

'If she came here, it was probably back then.'

He recalled what had happened in Japan—when he'd barely been able to stop Lilith from being summoned.

The battle with Akiyama, the lunatic Demon Cultist, and the events after that… Lilith's body hadn't appeared from the Rift, so there was a chance her soul had entered Kurosaki Yurie's body.

"Ah."

A short exclamation left his mouth.

Kurosaki Yurie… He was finally starting to understand her weird actions.

Kang-Woo's expression paled.

'Yeah. That's why she did it.'

The reason why the granddaughter of the emperor had stood by his side instead of Fujimoto Ryoma's…

How easily she had listened to his requests to the point it was suspicious…

Everything could be explained if Lilith was inside Kurosaki Yurie.

"Huh? Wait."

An exclamation mark appeared above his head, and his eyes widened.

'Isn't this a good thing?'

The only reason he shunned Lilith was because of her appearance. People might criticize him for shunning someone for their looks, but in Lilith's case, her looks were too much.

'Spend a thousand years stuck with her, and let's see if you can still say the same shit.'

It was as if a giant squid stuck itself onto someone twenty-four seven and said it loved them.

Kang-Woo stood up and clenched his fists.

'If Lilith is inside Kurosaki Yurie…!'

The core problem would be solved.

Kurosaki Yurie's beauty was on par with Han Seol-Ah's.

'Well, it's not like I want to do that kind of thing with Lilith after all this time.'

Seol-Ah's face popped up in his head. Kang-Woo nodded while licking his lips.

'Anyway, this is good news.'

He wasn't sure how strong Lilith was after having entered a human's body, but the source of a demon's power was their soul. Even Lucifer had recovered his power thanks to his soul and his Hell Armament, so there was a chance she'd have recovered her old strength.

Balrog and Lilith…

'I hope I'm not creating the demon king army on Earth.'

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

He felt a bit uneasy, but the situation was overall encouraging. He took out his smartphone, searched for Kurosaki Yurie's number, and called her.

Brrrrr.

"Mm."

No matter how long he waited, she did not answer. He called a few more times.

"She isn't answering."

He frowned.

'It can't be helped.'

Kang-Woo turned his body.

[My king?]

"I have to go somewhere, so stay here."

[If you have business to take care of, I will join you,] Balrog said, motivated.

"No, it's fine. It doesn't require many hands. Also, if you go out in your current body, it would just cause chaos."

[Ngh.]

"I'll call you if something happens, so keep this in your ear."

Kang-Woo handed him a communication device that fit Balrog's ear, and Balrog politely accepted it.

[I will wait for your call.]

Kang-Woo did not respond. He walked out of the building, used the Authority of the Sky, and rose into the air.

'Kurosaki Yurie is in Tokyo, I believe.'

He had heard that she lived in the emperor's castle.

He stomped in the air, and his body shot forward at incredible speed.

* * *

Kang-Woo reached Tokyo in less than an hour and was standing atop the luxurious castle. He found the door and entered.

"Wh-Who goes there?!"

The bodyguards guarding the castle's interior quickly surrounded him.

Kang-Woo took out a white mask.

"I am a member of Guardians. I am here because there is something I need to tell Princess Kurosaki Yurie."

"Guardians…?"

"Ah, wait."

Guardians was a secret organization that wasn't publicly known, but the chief executives of each country knew about them and worked together with them. It was only natural that the guards protecting Kurosaki Yurie knew about Guardians.

"Please, step aside."

At that moment, a young man appeared from behind the guards.

"C-Captain Ito."

"I know him. He is indeed a member of Guardians, so you may go back to your positions."

"Yes, sir!"

He was a young man who looked calm and had narrow eyes.

Kang-Woo remembered seeing him in photos.

"Are you Ito Shinji?"

Ito Shinji was a member of Guardians and one of the protectors chosen by Gaia.

"I am. This is our first time meeting in person, Kang-Woo. I've heard a lot about you from Gaia."

"There's something I must tell Princess Kurosaki Yurie."

He didn't have time to make formal introductions, so Kang-Woo told him his reason for coming.

Ito Shinji's expression darkened.

"Could you follow me for a second?"

Kang-Woo followed Ito Shinji into a plain-looking room. There were no traces of someone being inside.

"This is…"

"Princess Kurosaki Yurie's room."

"Is she out at the moment?"

"No."

Ito Shinji shook his head with a grim expression.

Kang-Woo frowned.

'Wait, is she…'

"Princess Kurosaki Yurie has been missing for the past month."

'Fucking hell.'

His uneasy feeling was right.

'Where the hell did she go?'

If it was about a month ago, it was while the world was working together to collect the Rift Seeds.

"Do you know where she went?"

"No. We've searched throughout the entire country, but…" Ito Shinji sighed. He went to Kurosaki Yurie's drawer and took out a white envelope. "This is a letter that Princess Kurosaki Yurie told me to give to Mr. Oh Kang-Woo if you ever came to visit her."

"… What does it say?"

There was no way they hadn't read it. Someone who was like the leader of the country had suddenly disappeared, so Kang-Woo was sure they had already checked the letter.

Ito Shinji shook his head while smiling bitterly.

"It's written in unknown letters. She had probably set it up so that only you could understand it."

"Why didn't you contact me first?"

"She said that if we contacted you first, the letter would burn and disappear. I am not sure how that is possible, but we couldn't take any chances."

"Hmm."

Kang-Woo grabbed the letter.

'What is she planning to do?'

He ripped the envelope open and took out the letter. As soon as he touched the paper, the black letters started to move. The letter was written in Korean.

'When did she learn Korean?'

Leaving his question aside, he started to read the letter.

[To my dear demon king,

If you are reading this letter, you must have figured out my identity. If you hadn't, you would have no reason to come visit 'Kurosaki Yurie.']

'How perceptive.'

She was completely different from Balrog in that sense.

Kang-Woo nodded and started to read the following paragraph.

[First, I would like to apologize for having hidden my identity despite having come to Earth by borrowing the body of this human.]

'Oh yeah. Now that I think about it, why was she hiding her identity?'

[I didn't have the courage to stand before you… with this filthy appearance, my king.]

"What?"

He couldn't help but curse.

"What the hell is she talking about?"

Filthy?

Kurosaki Yurie was a beautiful girl by all standards.

[I have been searching for ways to get out of this filthy appearance to return to the one you used to love.]

"No."

[And while I have been, I finally found a way.]

"Fuck no."

He couldn't say anything but 'no.'

[Fufufu. Are you not already excited? My dear demon king, my heart is already about to burst from the thought of reuniting with you.]

"No, but why…? Why the fuck…"

[There are quite a few humans familiar with controlling demonic energy. They are going to help me recover my original appearance.]

"F-Fucking what?"

[Come to think of it, you said that the Demon Cult dared to serve the likes of Satan as the demon king, did you not? Fufu. I will take this opportunity and make sure they learn who the true demon king is.]

"A-Aaaahhh."

His agape mouth could not close.

[I will join the Demon Cult and spread the identity of the true demon king. And once I recover my original appearance, I will come back to you.]

His hands trembled. He felt like he was about to cry.

[My dear king, please wait a bit longer.]

[Sincerely, your Lilith. Chu ❤]

When he saw the last heart, he couldn't resist anymore.

Rip! Rip!

"ARRRGGGHHH!"

He ripped the letter apart and roared.

"WHY?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!!!"

"Wh-What is the matter?!"

He extended his hand and grabbed Shinji's collar.

"What the fuck? What the fuck did I do wrong?!!"

"I-I beg your pardon?"

"Why me?! Why fucking me?!! What did I do wrong?!!"

'Why am I the only one who can't be happyyyyyyyyy?!!'