Side Story Chapter 96 - Corridor of Desire (1)

Whoosh—!!

Oh Kang-Woo rapidly flew down with the two women in his arms.

Boom!

A dust cloud formed from where he landed.

"Hmm?" A group of demons exuding wicked demonic energy were searching for something. "Apostles?"

"They're brave to have come here."

There were six demons with varying appearances. One had the head of a lion with goat horns and another had just an eyeball for a head. The only thing similar about them was that they exuded odd demonic energy.

The demons laughed after discovering Kang-Woo and his party.

"Great timing. We were just about getting bored."

"Might as well taste some human meat— GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Kang-Woo charged at the demons without hesitation and split one of the demons' heads open with an ax he created.

He clicked his tongue and remarked, "Sorry about that. Dialogue from extras has been filling up too much page space lately. Let's finish this quickly."

"Wh-What the—?!"

"How could a human possibly—"

"Whoooaaa!! They're trying to fill up more page space!!"

Smash! Splatter!!'

Kang-Woo swung his ax and split another of the demons' heads before they could spout another word.

"Phew. I managed to save some page space. Hehehe."

Kang-Woo chuckled after wiping out five of the six demons in a flash. All he needed to do now was to squeeze out information from the remaining demon.

"E-Eek!" The remaining demon was the one with an eyeball for a head. His eyeball shook as he shouted in fear, "D-Demon!! It's a demon!"

'You're a demon too, dumbass.'

"Now, now, settle down. Let's deal with this nice and sexy, yeah?"

"D-Deal with what?"

"You just have to answer my questions." Kang-Woo poked the demon's giant eyeball and continued, "I've heard there's an ancient dungeon somewhere around here. Do you know anything about it?"

"Ah..." said the demon using the mouth located on his neck.

There was no way he wouldn't know since the demons around this place were all after the ten-star relic hidden here.

"I do."

"I mean,... I doubt you'd know where it is, so just tell me everything you know about—"

"N-No! I know where it is as well!"

"What?"

Kang-Woo's eyes widened.

'It knows where it is?'

He looked down at the demon doubtfully and asked, "Then why have you been lurking around here?"

There was no reason not to go to the ancient dungeon straight away if they knew where it was.

"Well... to enter the C-Corridor of Desire, you have to offer relics to the gatekeeper as a sacrifice, so... w-we've been looking for them first."

The Corridor of Desire seemed to be the name of the ancient dungeon where the ten-star relic lay dormant.

"You have to offer relics? How many?"

"F-Five, and they have to be at least three stars."

"Hmm." Kang-Woo had more than enough for the time being. He grabbed the demon's pumpkin-sized head and said, "Very well. Take us there."

The demon was relatively small except for his massive eyeball of a head, so it was easier to carry him around.

"I-I understand!"

"Dayum, I like how you don't beat around the bush."

Kang-Woo smiled in satisfaction and lightly smacked the eye demon's head. If the demon continued to cooperate, he wouldn't mind sparing his life.

"Urgh... but it looks so fugly," said Yeon-Joo as she looked down at the eye demon and frowned.

The demon's eye was covered in disgusting blood vessels and his body was so thin he looked like rotten twigs. The demon was highly unpleasant to look at.

"How dare a lowly human speak to the great Horos that w—

Peep!

"

'Why do you scream like that?'

"I don't care if you're Horos or Hollow. Just lead the fucking way."

"Urgh. I-I understand." Horos nodded in fear. "Th-That way."

Kang-Woo and the others walked to where Horos pointed.

"Hm?"

Not long after walking, they found an area where the ground was melted as if lava had run over it. Red plants that looked like cabbages were sprouted from place to place on the melted ground.

"What happened here?"

"I wonder if some of the demons fought against each other here?"

"The traces are too big for that to be the case."

The destruction was overwhelming— the vast surroundings were melted as if a natural disaster had occurred.

"Did a volcano erupt or something, then?"

"A-Aaaahh," Horos groaned and trembled as Kang-Woo and the others were thinking about what could have happened. "W-We have to..."

"What?"

"We have to run!!! Right now!!!" Horos screamed in desperation as he struggled. "NOOOOOOOOWWW!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!"

"Shut the hell up."

"Kurgh!"

Kang-Woo smacked Horos' head and frowned.

He asked, "What's got you all riled up?"

"There's only one demon who would destroy Leuconostoc habitats!!" shouted Horos as he pointed at the red plants. "The Demon King! The Demon King must have done this!"

"What?"

'Why me all of a sudden? No, wait.'

After thinking it through, Horos likely wasn't referring to Kang-Woo since he saw Kang-Woo as human.

"By Demon King, do you mean the king of Pandemonium?"

"Y-Yes!"

The giant eye blinked rapidly.

"What the— haaa..."

'Where should I even start? Leuconostoc must be those cabbage-like things. But why would the Demon King go around destroying plant habitats? Does he hate vegetarians?'

Kang-Woo had no idea what was going on.

"Explain to me in more detail," he demanded.

"P-Pardon? Explain?"

"Yeah. Why did the Demon King burn those plants? No, in the first place, what are those plants?"

"Umm..." Horos averted his gaze from Kang-Woo and explained, "Those plants are known as Leuconostoc. They are... the main food source for low-ranking demons of Pandemonium."

"Food?"

Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion. Demons did not need to eat since they extracted nutrients from demonic energy.

"That's correct."

"Why do they need to eat?"

"Pardon? Wh-What do you mean, why...? It's naturally because low-ranking demons can't procure meat, so they just eat Leuconostoc to survive."

"...?"

"...?"

The two demons stared at each other in confusion. Just then, Lilith who was listening in silence nodded with a finger on her lips.

"Hmm, it seems the demons of Pandemonium are fundamentally different from the demons of the Nine Hells."

"Oh," Kang-Woo expressed and nodded.

'Come to think of it, we're not the same demons.'

Their demonic energy felt similar but something was odd about it. It was like the difference between gasoline and diesel.

"I guess the demons here have to eat to survive," Kang-Woo said.

"I-Isn't that obvious? How can a living organism survive without eating?"

'I can.'

"Alright, fine. Let's move on. Why did the Demon King burn these things?"

"The Demon King despises Leuconostoc with a passion for some reason. He is known for burning Leuconostoc habitats with his Purgatory Lava whenever he comes across them."

"..."

'A Demon King who burns plants out of his hatred for them... The fuck? Is he okay in the head?'

Kang-Woo chuckled and asked, "So, you're saying the Demon King passed through here, right?"

"Y-Yes! Forget the Corridor of Desire, we have to get out of here right now!!!"

"No way."

Kang-Woo had no reason to give up on the relic because the Demon King was here first.

'The Demon King of Pandemonium, huh?'

Kang-Woo wanted to meet him and ask why he was burning these plants.

"Y-You're not going to run away?!"

"Of course not."

"Argh! I won't go! I don't think you know how cruel and terrifying the Demon King is, but we're all going to die at this rate!!"

"You're dead anyway if you don't come with us."

"

Peeeeeeeeeeeep!!!

"

The eye demon struggled as he screamed in a way that did not suit him at all.

"Can't you do something about that scream of yours?"

"Urghhh! Y-You humans are blinded by greed!!! Is one relic worth more than your lives?!"

"It's at least worth more than your life."

"

Peep...

Peep...

"

Horos collapsed in tears. It was horrifying to see tears falling from an eye larger than a basketball.

"Alright. Take us to the Corridor of Desire or whatever it was called."

"

Peep...

"

Horos lowered his head as if he had given up on everything.

"But still, I'm pretty curious. Why does he burn those plants?" Yeon-Joo wondered.

"Who knows?"

"Maybe it tastes like shit?" Yeon-Joo stared at the Leuconostoc, unable to hold back her curiosity.

"Should I try some?" Kang-Woo suggested.

He was also curious. There were some Leuconostoc that remained unharmed by the disaster.

"It's too dangerous, Kang-Woo. You don't know what it's made of."

"Don't worry, Darling. I'm physically incapable of getting sick from food now."

Kang-Woo walked past Seol-Ah, who was trying to stop him worryingly, and walked toward the Leuconostoc.

"Let's have a taste."

He ripped off a leaf from the red plant that looked like a cabbage and bit into it.

"Huh...?"

Kang-Woo was shocked by the taste. He ripped off more leaves and shoved them into his mouth. Sweet, spicy, and sour tastes filled his mouth. He was not mistaken.

"This is..." Kang-Woo chuckled nonsensically. "Kimchi?"

'He fucking hates kimchi?'