Side Story Chapter 132 - Thousand-Year War (5)

“That village... doesn’t give off the vibe of Hell,” said Han Seol-Ah as she watched the footage.

Lilith smiled and shrugged. “Places like that do exist in Hell. It’s just that... there aren’t many of them.”

People commonly thought demons were monsters crazed by blood, slaughter, and greed, but they also felt various emotions like humans— especially Halves who were born through reproduction.

“That aside, that son of a bitch Kang-Woo was far more of an asshole back then,” Cha Yeon-Joo said as she chuckled and took a sip of beer.

She couldn’t believe the day when she would see Oh Kang-Woo as a saint had come; that was how harsh and hypersensitive he was.

“Mmm... I don’t know about that,” remarked Seol-Ah.

“You don’t think he’s acting like an asshole?”

Yeon-Joo’s eyes widened, confused by what Seol-Ah was saying. Seol-Ah stared intently at Kang-Woo on the screen and slowly reached out to him. Her fingers went through the holographic screen.

“He... kind of changed from the moment he came to this village.”

“Eh? He’s always irritated and curses every day.”

“He does, but... I can’t really explain it.” Seol-Ah looked at Kang-Woo frowning as he drank the tea that the Succubus named Fel brewed for him. “I think... he’s smiling.”

“...” Yeon-Joo narrowed her eyes in silence. She examined Kang-Woo on the screen intently but he wasn’t even grinning slightly. “I... can’t tell.”

She scratched her head and opened another can of beer. Just then, the footage fast-forwarded extremely quickly.

“Huh? Wh-What’s wrong with this thing?”

Fragments of memories repeatedly appeared and disappeared.

“You’re not the one doing this, right, unnie?” Yeon-Joo asked.

“Yeah... I don’t know why it’s doing this either.”

Lilith narrowed her eyes and tried to stop the video from skipping scenes but the footage continued to be cut as it kept playing.

“Ah...” Seol-Ah expressed as she looked at the portions of footage that appeared piece by piece.

As time passed, Kang-Woo’s expression was slowly changing to one that she was used to. The fast-forwarding footage returned to normal.

“Oh, it’s back to normal,” said Yeon-Joo.

The three women leaned forward and focused on the video again.

***

“— Foolish Halves,” Kang-Woo muttered, standing with his eyes closed at the center of the large cave lined with tidy intricate huts. He continued, “It seems all you know how to do is hide like cockroaches.”

His low and chilling voice echoed throughout the silent cave.

“Kehe, kahahahahahaha!!!” Kang-Woo laughed mockingly as he grabbed his stomach.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, his eyes glinting chillingly.

“Alright, come out, come out, damn weaklings!!!”

Three minutes had passed— it was time for the hunt.

“Wherever the hell you are—!!!”

Kang-Woo sprinted toward the cave wall. There was a little demon hiding in a crevice of a large rock that was barely visible due to the shade. Kang-Woo smiled.

“Gotcha!!”

“Hoeeeeehhh!!” screamed a little demon whose head was covered in dry tree branches. “Why do you always find me first so quickly?!”

“Because your branches stick out wherever you hide.”

Kang-Woo snickered as he patted the little demon’s head.

“Man, this always happens when you join us for hide and seek, Sir Kang-Woo.”

“Don’t worry.” Kang-Woo turned away and looked around. “I’ll find the others just as quickly.”

He could easily find a few brats even without using his Authority. He sprinted through the cave and found little demons hiding under a hut or stuck to a stalactite.

“Urgh! That’s Sir Kang-Woo for you!!”

“I was sure we’d last at least ten minutes!”

The little demons that were caught in an instant pulled on their hair and stomped their feet.

“Hehehe! You’re far too young to be able to hide from me, damn brats!” Kang-Woo burst into laughter. “Oh, come to think of it, where’s Kanile?”

Kanile was a purple-skinned demon with four horns on his forehead; the little demon who had fearlessly suggested Kang-Woo join their hide-and-seek game three years ago despite not having been that long since he started living in the village. He never failed to join a game that Kang-Woo played but he was nowhere to be found today for some reason.

“Kanile said he couldn’t make it because he’s busy with something today!”

“Really? What could a brat who only plays and sleeps possibly be busy with?”

“Mmm. He said it was a secret, so I’m not sure...” The little demon shook his head.

Kang-Woo shrugged and turned to go back to his hut.

“Ah! One more game, Sir Kang-Woo~!”

“We won’t get caught this time for sure!”

“Didn’t you say that earlier as well?” Kang-Woo smirked and shook his head. “I don’t have the time to waste against brats, so I’m off~”

“No fair!!”

“No quitting while you’re ahead!!”

“Hmm~? I can’t hear what a bunch of losers who lost in under five minutes are saying~”

“Arghh!!”

Kang-Woo left the angry little demons behind and went into his hut. He sat on the ground as he trained to raise his demonic energy control when he heard a knock on his door.

“Umm... May I come in, Sir Kang-Woo?”

“Yeah, come in.”

He did not even need to think about who knocked on his door anymore. Fel entered his hut with a cup of tea.

“Hehe, I brewed some bloodlight tea for you again, Sir Kang-Woo.”

“Ngh.”

Kang-Woo grimaced as he saw the red liquid in the cup.

“I-Is it not to your liking?!”

Fel trembled in surprise. Kang-Woo chuckled and patted Fel’s head, his fingers getting wrapped by her light green tentacles.

“I’m just joking.”

It was true that he did not like it but he couldn’t bring himself to be honest to Fel when he saw her dejected face.

“Sir Kang-Woo...” Fel looked up at Kang-Woo and slightly blushed. “Umm... S-Sir Kang-Woo.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Do you have... umm, a demon that you... l-l-like?”

“How could I?”

Demons were extremely hideous by human standards, even more so if they were Succubi.

“Oh! I-I see!! Hehehe.” Fel sprang up with a radiant smile. “E-Enjoy your tea!!”

The blushing Fel turned around and ran out, closing the door behind her. Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and stared at the door.

“You are rather popular among the Halves.”

“GYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHH!!!” Kang-Woo screamed in surprise after hearing the low voice out of nowhere. He pointed at Balrog’s hideous face filling the window frame and shouted, “I TOLD YOU NOT TO COME OUT FROM THERE!!!”

“You say that but I cannot fit in this tiny hut.”

“I mean, you have a point there, but...” Kang-Woo sighed and raised the cup Fel gave him. “I... can never get used to this disgusting flavor.”

He grimaced and downed the red liquid.

“Human,” Balrog called.

“What?”

“How much longer are you planning to stay here?”

“...” Kang-Woo flinched. He clenched his fists with a hardened face. “Once I’m satisfied with the farming resu—”

“No demon even comes anywhere near this territory anymore.”

Balrog was right. Over time as Kang-Woo killed every demon that even came close to the Halves’ village, it had practically become a forbidden area to enter like an ancient beast territory. Only a few demons had entered the territory near the village in the past few months and all of them had entered by accident without knowing the Halves’ village was near. As Balrog said, there was no reason for them to stay in this village anymore.

“...” However, Kang-Woo swallowed the words he was about to say and bit his lip. “I need... time to prepare.”

“What?”

“I gained a lot more demonic energy than I expected. I need more time to stabilize my power.”

“...” Balrog remained silent. He then turned around and said, “Okay. In that case, human. I will leave this place in one week.”

“What? Why all of a sudden?”

“Because I have nothing more to gain by staying here.”

“...” Kang-Woo stayed silent. His eyes glinted with a slight sense of hesitation but he nodded lightly. “Okay, got it.”

“...”

An awkward silence fell between them.

Boom, boom.

Kang-Woo could hear Balrog’s footsteps getting fainter.

“Fuck...” he cursed, all alone in his hut. “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!!”

He pulled on his hair and gritted his teeth. An unknown emotion was surging from inside him.

“...”

No, it was not unknown. He knew better than anyone what emotion this was.

“I...”

Kang-Woo was alone. He was suffering from solitude. Hell was so cold that he felt like he would freeze to death. It hurt so much that he felt like he was going insane. Hence, he decided he would get out one day.

“I want...”

There was no special trigger for it. No event changed his life or shocked him so much that his views changed. Just like a drop of ink that spread throughout the water in a bottle, he simply ended up getting addicted to the emotion that was joy.

“...”

This place was not cold. It was not lonely or painful. It was exactly for those reasons that Kang-Woo ended up thinking—

“I want to...”

He wanted to keep staying here.

Wham!!

Kang-Woo’s door suddenly swung open.

“S-Sir Kang-Woo!!!” shouted Firean in pallor.

“What’s wrong?” asked Kang-Woo as he quickly stood up.

“Umm, th-the thing is... well...”

Tears continued to flow down Firean’s cheeks.

Kang-Woo grabbed Firean’s shoulders and said calmly, “Calm down and tell me what happened.”

Firean’s panicked expression slowly relaxed.

“The ones on patrol duty today...

Sniff!

K-Kanile...”

Tears continued to flow down Firean’s cheeks; the tears of demons were as transparent as those of humans.

“They found Kanile... d-dead.”

“...” Kang-Woo stayed silent. He lowered his hand that was on Firean’s shoulders and stood up. He asked in a deep voice, “Where’s the body?”

Firean pointed outside the door. Kang-Woo opened the hut door and walked outside to see Halves gathered in a circle. He could hear crying from everywhere.

“Move.”

Kang-Woo aggressively pushed the Halves aside and walked forward.

“...”

There, he saw the trampled corpse of a young demon with twisted limbs, neck bent abnormally, the four horns on his forehead pulled out, eyes rolled backward, and tongue out.

“

Sniff...

”

“

Waaaaaahhh!

”

The little demons burst into tears as they looked down at the wretched corpse. They were likely used to the death of others and losing people but it did not mean the loss did not hurt them. Loss was always painful, whether they were humans or demons.

Kang-Woo frowned fiercely and glared at the Halves. “Stop crying and shut up, brats.”

Hiccup!

The surprised Halves stepped backward.

“...”

Kang-Woo slowly extended his arm and touched Kanile’s corpse. The body was cold; a familiar sensation.

“Where?” Kang-Woo asked as he turned to the Halves on today’s patrol duty. “Where did you find him?”

His low tone was as cold as Kanile’s body.