Chapter 410 - Kang-Woo, Did You Mate With Seol-Ah?

Bam!

A door burst open early in the morning.

"Hm! Hm!" Echidna snorted in excitement. She burst into Oh Kang-Woo’s room with a huge bag. "Kang-Woo! Kang-Woo! It’s morning! Wake up!"

The party had planned to go on a trip today. Echidna, who was as excited as an elementary schooler on the day of a field trip, had barged into Kang-Woo’s room fully prepared.

"Mmm... What? What time is it?" Kang-Woo woke up while rubbing his eyes. He looked at the clock next to the bed and saw that it was only a little past 6 AM.

"I told you that we were leaving at ten."

"Hm! You need time to get ready!"

"I could even move houses if I have four hours." Kang-Woo chuckled.

Forget four hours, he could even move the entire imperial palace somewhere else in five minutes with his ability.

‘Well, at least it’s nice to see.’

He could tell that he had made the right choice to agree on the trip with how excited Echidna was. As he was about to pull away the blanket and get out of bed, he realized a crucial fact; he was completely naked, and his Fran?ois was pitching a tent underneath the blanket.

‘Oh shit. I’m fu—’

"Urmm. What’s happening?" Han Seol-Ah, who had been sleeping next to him, got up while rubbing her eyes.

Kang-Woo’s expression hardened. Seol-Ah was naturally completely naked as well. After seeing what was going on, Seol-Ah’s eyes widened in pallor.

"Huh?" Echidna tilted her head while staring at the two of them.

She scanned them and then clapped her hands together as if she had figured out what happened.

"Kang-Woo," she called.

"Y-Yeah?" Kang-Woo answered anxiously.

He felt like a parent who had gotten caught by his child in the act.

Echidna, who likely had no idea what that felt like, asked casually, "Did you mate with Seol-Ah?"

‘Whoa there, dear child. What the hell are you saying in an all-ages novel?’

Deathly silence fell.

"Grrrk."

"Mmrp!"

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Slushy jumped up and stuck to Echidna’s face and then looked back at Kang-Woo as if it were saying that it would leave the rest to him.

‘Slushy, you son of a bitch... I love you, man.’

"Now, darling!"

"Okay!"

Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah jumped out of bed and put on their clothes laid on the ground at supersonic speed to the point that sonic booms rang out with each motion.

"Urghh!" Echidna smacked Slushy down on the ground.

Splat.

Slushy flattened on the ground after it had done its job.

"Right, then. Let’s go. Wow, how much did you pack?" said Kang-Woo as he walked over to Echidna, fully clothed.

Echidna stared at Kang-Woo incomprehensibly. "Kang-Woo, why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Mating isn’t a big de—"

"Now, now. Let’s stop talking about that."

‘Any more and we’ll be censored.’

"What’s wrong with showing a p****...?"

‘See? We’re already getting censored.’

Kang-Woo grabbed Echidna by the shoulders, turned her around, and left the room with her.

The flushed Seol-Ah ran past them and shouted, "I-I’ll go prepare breakfast, Kang-Woo!"

Kang-Woo went back into the room with Echidna, dragging her by the arm.

"Alright, alright. Why don’t we take a look at everything you prepared?"

"Hm! I packed a bunch of stuff since you said we were gonna have a barbecue party!"

Echidna began to show off everything in the giant bag, seemingly having forgotten about what had happened a few moments ago. Kang-Woo sighed in relief.

***

"Wow... Like you said, the scenery is to die for, hyung-nim," Kim Si-Hun remarked in astonishment.

They were on top of a massive mountain. The most striking part about the peak was that it was covered in dreamlike flowers that illuminated blue as if they were fireflies. Such a sight did not exist on Earth— no, it was hard to witness even in Aernor.

Kang-Woo had chosen a volcano known as Caldesann as their picnic spot. Although it was restricted to the people of the continent due to its steep terrain and the powerful monsters that inhabited it, none of such things mattered to Kang-Woo.

"It’s awesome, isn’t it?" Kang-Woo smiled as he looked around.

The luminescent flowers containing faint amounts of mana were shining blue, the wind was blowing refreshingly despite it being the peak of a giant mountain, and the weather was so nice that they could even take a nap. Kang-Woo had chosen the perfect place for a picnic if he could say so himself.

"How did you find a place like this?" Si-Hun asked as he nodded.

"I happened to see it while I was flying to Sant’Angelo a while ago."

Kang-Woo had no leeway to enjoy the view at the time due to the incident with Uriel and the Constellation of Agony, but this place naturally came to mind once they decided to go on a trip.

"Haha, it sure is nice." Si-Hun stretched as he laughed.

Seeing that, Kang-Woo also laughed.

"Mm. But it doesn’t seem to be an ordinary place," Balrog mentioned as he got down on one knee and touched the flowers.

He was in his comfortable demon form since only the party members were present.

"Pretty cool, right?" Kang-Woo nodded as if agreeing with Balrog.

A place like this where it was covered in flowers containing mana would be difficult to find even in Aernor. No, it was their first time even seeing flowers like these in Aernor.

"Well, I don’t think it makes a difference," Kang-Woo added.

"That I agree." Balrog nodded.

Whatever dangers existed on this mountain, Kang-Woo couldn’t care less since the possibility of there being something too dangerous for him to handle was nearly nonexistent.

"What do you think, darling? Do you like it?"

"Yes. It’s beautiful."

Seol-Ah looked around as if she was blown away by Caldesann’s scenery. Kang-Woo smiled.

‘I’m glad I left it as a surprise.’

He had kept the picnic location a secret because he was hoping for reactions like this. He had simply told his party members that he had found an amazing place for a picnic.

"Hm?"

Just then, Kang-Woo saw Echidna’s expression as stiff as a rock; it was hard to believe considering she had been so excited this morning. It was as if she was dissatisfied with the picnic spot.

‘What’s going on?’

Echidna, who always smiled wherever she went as long as she was with Kang-Woo, was not smiling at all.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

Kang-Woo was rather surprised by the lukewarm reaction despite having been highly confident in the location.

‘What’s so wrong about this place?’

A scenery like this was extremely difficult to find.

"Haaa..." Cha Yeon-Joo sighed deeply as she stared at Kang-Woo as if he was pathetic. "Do you seriously not know why she’s like that? Tsk, tsk. What do you expect from the ten-millennia virgin?"

‘What’d you call me, bitch?’

"What’s wrong with this place?" Kang-Woo asked in frustration.

Was this not the perfect place to have a picnic? He had even wiped out the monsters in the area the day before so they wouldn’t be interrupted.

"I’m severely disappointed in you, Kang-Woo." Even Layla criticized him.

Kang-Woo stared at the two of them as if he was being wrongfully accused.

"I trusted you... I was so looking forward to the trip..." Layla muttered.

"Wha..."

‘Why are you two doing this to me?’

"What the hell is the problem?"

"Each party member prepared this as soon as you told us about the trip," Layla answered as she rummaged through the bag that she brought and took out...

"A swimsuit?" Kang-Woo asked.

"Yes!" Layla stomped on the ground while glaring at Kang-Woo and shouted, "Wouldn’t the beach be the obvious choice with these members?! Do you even have eyes, Kang-Woo?!"

‘That’s a bit hurtful, Layla.’

"Look at Seol-Ah and Lilith! How could you make a brainless decision like going to a mountain when these two are here? Are you okay in the head?!"

‘That’s extremely hurtful, Layla.’

"Huh? What about me?" Yeon-Joo asked while pointing at herself.

‘You stay out of this.’

"A-Aaaahh," Kang-Woo groaned.

Chills ran down his back. He clenched his fists as if he had been enlightened. He looked at the swimsuit in Layla’s hand; just from the size, he could tell that it was Seol-Ah’s.

‘And... A bikini! Allow me to say it twice because it’s important. A bikini!! To think I made such a blunder...’

Kang-Woo lowered his head. He could not refute Layla’s criticisms in any way. Mystical flowers that glowed blue? Perfect weather? None of that mattered.

‘I’m a moron.’

How could he not have realized the truth when it had been right in front of him this whole time? Kang-Woo bit his lip in anger.

"Haaa. I had high hopes for you, but you’ve disappointed me, Kang-Woo." Layla sighed.

"No." Kang-Woo shook his head. "It’s not too late."

"Pardon?" Layla tilted her head in confusion. "Are you saying that you’ll change locations?"

Kang-Woo shook his head. That was an option, but there was an even easier option.

"I’m going to create a lake here."

"Pardon?"

Kang-Woo walked past the dumbfounded Layla and placed his hands on the ground. Radiant golden light burst from his body.

Rumble—!!!

The earth split and upturned. The entire mountain was split in two, and from there...

Pshhhhhh—!

Hot spring water that had been lying dormant within the volcano was forcibly drawn out through Kang-Woo’s power. An enormous amount of hot spring water filled with sulfur shot upward like a geyser.

‘And now...’

He drew out his Top-rank Deific Essence. He eliminated the sulfur from the hot spring water and lowered the temperature of the water to the point that it was cool. Then, he combined the split mountain.

"Alright."

A perfect lake had been formed. Although it was nothing but a giant pool of water that contained no life, it didn’t matter.

"What do you think, Layla?" Kang-Woo smiled as he turned to Layla.

"..."

Layla simply stared at Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly with her mouth agape, but only for a moment. She slowly walked up to Kang-Woo and raised her right hand.

Clap!

A clear sound rang out as Kang-Woo and Layla clapped their hands together.

"..."

Yeon-Joo looked back and forth at Kang-Woo and the lake that had formed on the peak of the mountain out of nowhere. She covered her face with her hands and recalled a fact that she had tried her hardest to forget.

"Why..." She wept in sorrow. "Why the hell did I... end up falling for this dumbass...?"

Her sobs continued for a while longer.