Side Story Chapter 34 - Troubling Date (5)

Rumble—!!

The Hall of Protection shook. Echidna turned pale from sensing the immense energy pouring out of Balrog.

“Calm down, muscle pig,” said Lilith coldly.

“The king was kidnapped, and you expect me to calm d—”

“What are you going to do, then? We have no idea where Master Kang-Woo is.”

Balrog flinched and bit his lip in frustration. “My apologies, young dragon.”

“Mm. I-It’s okay.” Echidna shook her head as she caught her breath.

It was not difficult to imagine the thoughts going through Balrog’s head.

“Layla,” Lilith called as she gently patted the trembling Echidna’s head. “Please keep the divine realm out of this incid—”

“I’ll make sure of it. Don’t worry.”

Layla nodded, knowing exactly what Lilith was trying to say. Gaia was partly responsible for keeping the gods of the divine realm in check so that they couldn’t manifest into Earth, but the main reason was that they were afraid of the monster Oh Kang-Woo after witnessing his might during his battle against Bael. If the information that Kang-Woo disappeared was to spread throughout the divine realm, the situation would get even more complicated than now.

“I will call an emergency meeting for all of Guardians this instant,” said Kim Si-Hun as he turned around to leave right away, gripping the hilt of his sword.

“No, please wait,” Lilith remarked.

“There is no time to waste!”

“He’s right! That son of a bitch Kang-Woo is gone! What are we doing just standing around here for?!” Yeon-Joo shouted anxiously. “I’ll gather my guild members right now! We’re bound to find a clue or two if Guardians and Red Rose investigate together—”

“Calm down, Yeon-Joo,” Lilith said calmly. “Unleashing a massive number of people to investigate is no different from telling the kidnapper to run away.”

“Th-That’s true, but...”

“Please leave the investigation to me.”

“Y-You have a way to find Kang-Woo?” Yeon-Joo widened her eyes, filled with hope. She then recalled something and shouted, “Oh, right! You’re in charge of managing Kang-Woo’s personal information, right?!”

She recalled hearing something about it when Kang-Woo misunderstood online shit-talking at the PC room as a leak of his personal information.

“Then you have access to his smartphone and stuff like that, right? Can’t you locate him using the GPS on his phone?” Yeon-Joo asked.

Lilith shook her head and answered, “Of course, I tried to locate Master Kang-Woo’s smartphone before calling all of you here, but...” She then sighed and continued, “Seol-Ah once secretly installed a tracking app on Master Kang-Woo’s phone. After that, he has the tracking function turned off at all times because Seol-Ah would keep coming to find him wherever he goes...”

Yeon-Joo’s mouth was left agape in astonishment. “Th-Then there’s no other way?”

Lilith nodded with a heavy expression. “But I’m confident I can find him more effectively compared to having people search for him randomly.”

Yeon-Joo bit her lip and sat back down on her chair. She muttered sorrowfully, “That damn moron... where the hell is he...?”

She pulled on her hair anxiously.

‘After... what he did to me.’

Yeon-Joo felt boiling rage as well as unbearable shame as she looked back on the memory from back then.

Layla, who was looking around the chaos-filled meeting room, turned to Lilith and asked calmly, “You’re thinking of using the private intelligence organization that you have been fostering, correct?”

“Oh? You’ve known about it?”

“You shouldn’t underestimate the intelligence capacity of Guardians.”

The intelligence organization fostered by Lilith was low in number but extraordinarily skilled. In contrast, the intelligence organization under Guardians used their immense numbers and unparalleled authority to gather information.

“In that case...” Lilith slurred.

“Let us have our organizations join forces for today.”

Lilith and Layla exchanged glances. If Guardians, with its unparalleled authority, and the intelligence organization Lilith worked hard to foster, were to join forces, there was no information in the world they couldn’t find.

The others who had practically become useless could only stand and watch.

“First, we have to find where Master Kang-Woo was last spotted.” They needed to figure out where Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah went before they could do anything. Lilith asked Layla, “Could you let me borrow the right to access the surveillance cameras installed throughout Korea—”

“No.” Layla shook her head. “There is a record of Kang-Woo using the Hall of Protection before he disappeared,” she said as she checked the Hall of Protection visit records on her tablet. “They... used the Gate that leads to Los Angeles.”

The Hall of Protection was connected to Gates throughout the world, hence it was often used by executive members as a convenient transportation method.

“America? For what?” asked Yeon-Joo as she tilted her head.

“We’re about to find out.” Lilith took out a communication orb and contacted someone. “Log into Master Kang-Woo’s account and check his search records.”

Her orb lit up soon after.

“Universal Studios was among Master Kang-Woo’s search records.”

“Then... they went to an amusement park together?” wondered Layla.

“Ah! Come to think of it, Seol-Ah once said she wanted to go to an amusement park together with Kang-Woo!” shouted Echidna as she raised her hand.

“Then we should start our investigation from Universal Studios,” Lilith remarked.

“How...? That place is packed with people.”

Yeon-Joo shook her head in despair. It did not matter if Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah went to Universal Studios when the place was massive, and tens of thousands of people visited the amusement park each day.

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I will give you access to all the surveillance cameras installed throughout Universal Studios.”

Lilith and Layla confidently looked at each other. Layla used the immense authority possessed by Guardians to acquire the code necessary to access the Universal Studios surveillance server, and Lilith’s intelligence team combed through the surveillance footage.

“We will get live reports of the situation through this crystal orb,” said Lilith as she placed the orb on a table.

Video footage rose from it like a hologram, searching for Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah by scanning footage containing countless people.

“This feels like... an American spy film.”

Yeon-Joo expressed astonishment as she stared at the screen of countless people’s faces being scanned at extraordinary speed.

“Found them.”

Lilith’s intelligence team found Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah from the footage in less than five minutes and tracked them using that information.

“They last went to... a motel located in Santa Monica. No traces of them for an entire week after that.”

“A motel? Could it be...?” Yeon-Joo frowned. There was nothing wrong with a couple going to a motel but an absurd thought popped into her head. “Nah, there’s no way.”

She erased the thought and stood up.

“Right, let’s give the place a visit.”

***

“Is it here?”

“Yes.”

Yeon-Joo and Lilith anxiously stared at the motel room door.

“What’s there to hesitate for?”

“Ah, wait—”

Balrog in his human form approached the door and kicked open the door before Yeon-Jo and Lilith could stop him.

Wham!!

The door shattered, exposing the situation inside the motel room.

Silence fell outside the room.

“Gurgh, urghhh.”

The room was as hot as a sauna and reeked of sweat. Twelve black wings could be seen as a small amount of light shone into the room. They could also hear someone’s deathly groans.

“Haaa, haaa. How’s this, Kang-Woo? Does it feel good?”

“Stop... stop...”

Seol-Ah’s aroused voice could also be heard inside the room.

“Uhh, mm.”

Lilith tapped Balrog, who was left dumbfounded after witnessing the situation inside the room, on the shoulder.

“Balrog. Could you take everyone outside?”

“This is...”

“Right now.”

Balrog nodded as he took the others to leave the room.

“Oh, you should stay, Yeon-Joo. I suspect... this has something to do with you,” Lilith remarked.

“Oh, okay.” Yeon-Joo nodded blankly.

The others left the motel, leaving just Lilith and Yeon-Joo.

“Huh...?” Seol-Ah’s eyes widened, only now realizing people had entered the room.

“Haaa. Seol-Ah, could you explain what’s going on here?”

“L-Lilith unnie.” Seol-Ah flusteredly stared at Lilith momentarily but bit her lip and glared at Yeon-Joo after noticing her. “Yeon-Joo. I thought you were my friend... I trusted you!”

Yeon-Joo stared at Seol-Ah, who was flapping her black wings, her eyes full of guilt. She more or less understood why Seol-Ah had ended up this way and why Lilith asked her to stay.

“Did you do something like this... because I confessed to Kang-WOo?”

“No!” Seol-Ah shook her head in irritation.

“Eh...? No?”

“I knew you had feelings for Kang-Woo! And that he reciprocated those feelings!”

Seol-Ah had even thought about approving Yeon-Joo like she had done with Lilith when she was ready. After all, Yeon-Joo was the only person whom she could truly consider a friend.

“But... I didn’t think you would do it with Kang-Woo without a word to me!”

This was a clear betrayal. It was important to tell someone before they went and did something. It was a major issue when a certain video game company ended a certain league; there was a massive difference between doing something after telling people about it and saying something after the fact.

“Kang-Woo is mine! I care about him the most! I love him the most! Why, why, why, why?!”

Madness exuded from her gaze.

Yeon-Joo stared at her and tilted her head in confusion. “What... are you talking about?”

“Hm?”

“Huh?”

“I-I mean, you know...”

“I’ve never done it with Kang-Woo.”

Seol-Ah and Yeon-Joo stared at each other, mouths agape as if they couldn’t understand what the other was saying.

“N-No, that can’t be...”

“Seol-Ah. Yeon-Joo is telling the truth.” Lilith smiled as she embraced Yeon-Joo from behind.

“Kyaah! Wh-What are you doing?!”

Lilith caressed every nook and cranny of Yeon-Joo’s body and continued, “My, what a cute response. Fufu. I guarantee it. Yeon-Joo is a virgin with zero experience.”

She was inside a human body at the moment but Lilith was a succubus; she could tell whether someone was a virgin or not just from looking at them.

“Huh...? Huh?” Seol-Ah looked around in confusion. She quickly picked up a rectangular box and shouted, “Th-Then what’s this?!”

“

Gasp!

” Yeon-Joo turned pale after seeing the box. “Th-That’s...”

Yeon-Joo swallowed her humiliation and explained in detail about the time when Kang-Woo teased her.

“So...” Seol-Ah looked down at the box and asked, “You didn’t do it with Kang-Woo?”

“Wh-Why the hell would I do it with that son of a bitch?! I-I mean, uhh... I-I’m not saying I wouldn’t, but... I’m saying... Argh! Whatever, I didn’t do anything with him!!”

Silence fell in the room again.

“Gurghhhhhhhh.

Waaaaaaaaaah!!

” Sorrowful weeping echoed within the deathly silence. “I told you... I used it like a fucking balloon...”