Side Story Chapter 142 - Requiem (3)

“WRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

Oh Kang-Woo sprinted at insane speeds while in a handstand; one wouldn’t think he was on two hands. The sight of a screeching demon sprinting on a handstand was a rarity even in the Ninth Hell bustling with all kinds of demons.

“H-Hyung-nim! What in the world are you doing?!” shouted Kim Si-Hun as he witnessed Kang-Woo and Balrog’s behavior in shock.

It was closer to a cult ritual than an ancestral rite— no, not even a cult ritual would involve a madman sprinting on a handstand.

“Si-Hun,” called Kang-Woo as he looked up at Si-Hun from his handstand position.

“Yes?”

Si-Hun flinched as he stepped backward, having a bad feeling. Kang-Woo smiled.

“You said you would also mourn with us, didn’t you?”

“Th-That’s...” Si-Hun’s expression hardened.

“You did... didn’t you? Si-Hun? You didn’t lie to me, right?”

“I-I did, but...”

“Right? Alright~ then get the hell over here and join us, Si-Hun!!!”

Kang-Woo pointed next to him with his foot.

“Y-You want me to do that?”

“Yeah!”

“...”

Si-Hun’s expression paled. He could bring himself to do a handstand and sprint with his hands.

‘But not that weird screeching...!’

He did not want to throw away his dignity as a human.

“Are you saying... you don’t want to join me?”

Kang-Woo teared up. His tears flowed toward his forehead because he was doing a handstand.

“N-No, that’s not what I’m—”

“Gahahaha! I see that was the extent of your loyalty toward the king!” rebuked Balrog, who was also doing a handstand.

‘Saying that in that kind of position is a bit...’

Si-Hun pulled on his hair as he twisted. He did not want to join such an undignified act.

‘B-But it’s hyung’s request.’

It was none other than Kang-Woo who was asking him. Not only that but Si-Hun himself had said he would mourn for the spirits of the dead together with Kang-Woo. He had no idea how something as insane as this could count as mourning for the dead but Kang-Woo likely knew how to best mourn for the spirits.

‘I’m sure... he knows what he’s doing.’

Si-Hun resolved himself and got into a handstand. Soon after, the apartment rooftop was filled with the screeches of three men.

“Yeah...” Cha Yeon-Joo smiled as she witnessed the madness. “I knew this would happen.”

She knew something deranged would happen when Kang-Woo said he would hold a

jesa

.

“WRYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

‘That motherfucker is my husband...’

She even considered calling off the engagement since it wasn’t too late.

“Seol-Ah,” Yeon-Joo called.

“Y-Yeah?” answered Han Seol-Ah, purposefully averting her gaze from Kang-Woo.

“Are you sure... we can leave our husband like that?”

“U-Umm...” Even Seol-Ah, who usually accepted anything Kang-Woo did with a smile, remained silent when asked such a question. “I-I believe in K-Kang-Woo!”

“I see...” Yeon-Joo put her hand on her forehead as if she were getting a headache.

“Hohoho,” Lilith giggled as she looked at the two women. She then glanced at Satan, on his knees while surrounded by three men doing handstands, and remarked, “Fufu, but at least it’s working.”

“Huh? What’s working?”

“Take a look at Satan.”

Satan, surrounded by the three men screeching like beasts, was expressing tremendous fear.

“Oh,” Yeon-Joo remarked.

It was only natural; Satan had been called out from the Abyss out of nowhere and was met with the reason he was stuck in the Abyss plus his comrades spinning around him on handstands as they screeched like monsters.

“Yeah... I’d be terrified too.”

Yeon-Joo couldn’t accept the method but it was extremely effective.

[P-Please stop,] Satan begged as he curled up into a ball on the ground.

The fear of the unknown took over him. Kang-Woo got back on his feet and looked down at Satan trembling like a heartbroken heroine.

‘This should be enough.’

Kang-Woo succeeded in instilling enough fear into Satan for him to remember this moment as a trauma.

“Right, time for the second step.”

Next up was

chamshin

, the procedure of bowing twice in front of the

jesa

table.

“Hehehehehe.”

[Wh-What are you planning this time?]

Satan flinched as Kang-Woo chuckled menacingly. Kang-Woo reached for Satan who was trembling in fear.

WHAM—!!!

[Kurgh!]

He grabbed the back of Satan’s head and smashed it into the ground. He didn’t forget to reinforce the apartment building with the demonic energy from the Abyss since the building would be destroyed if he didn’t.

Kang-Woo dragged Satan’s face against the ground up, down, left, and right. Black spikes the size of fingernails sprouted from the ground coated with demonic energy from the Abyss, cutting up Satan’s face.

[GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!]

Satan’s cheekbones were shattered and his lips were torn apart. His mangled yellow eyes were dangling from his sockets.

[S-STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!]

“You have to bow twice, my soul friend.”

Kang-Woo couldn’t bear to see his soul friend Satan become a bastard who didn’t know proper etiquette.

Crash!

He smashed Satan’s face into the ground again. Satan’s head exploded, unable to handle the pressure, and splattered all over the ground.

[Grrk... Grrrrk... Krgh.]

The injury would have been fatal even for a prince of Hell but Satan, who had been absorbed by the Demonic Sea and attained an immortal body like Kang-Woo, didn’t die even if his head exploded.

Wriggle.

The black mucus making up Satan’s body gathered to regenerate Satan’s head.

[

Huff, huff!!

] Satan panted heavily as he stared at Kang-Woo with shaking eyes.

He frantically racked his brain to understand this demented situation.

‘Fel and Firean...’

Satan’s memory was fuzzy but he remembered killing a demon with a name like that on the nightmarish day when he met the Demon King for the first time.

[Y-You said a

jesa

is a ritual to comfort the dead, correct?]

“Yeah. It’s a noble cultural ceremony that only exists on Earth.”

Satan more or less understood the situation.

[I-I apologize!!! I was wrong!] Satan shouted as he slammed his head on the ground.

“Your apology doesn’t change anything.”

[Wh-What can I do to satisfy you? I will do anything you ask!!]

Satan looked up at Kang-Woo with desperation. His eyes were filled with deep regret and a desire to repent.

“Satan...” Kang-Woo closed his eyes after reading the emotions in Satan’s eyes. He thought for a while and slowly nodded. “Very well.”

Revenge never solved anything; Kang-Woo recalled the teachings of Neil Druckmann, an authority on Confucianism.

“If you stay true to the proceedings of the

jesa...

I will forgive you, Satan.”

A requiem was not meant to fulfill revenge for the dead; it was to alleviate the spirit’s rage and resentment so they can forgive the target of their emotions. Only that could be called a true requiem.

[U-Understood!]

Satan nodded furiously as his yellow eyes shone.

“Alright, then let us proceed to the third step: beating.”

It was the procedure of mercilessly beating the shit out of someone to the brink of death to comfort a vengeful spirit. It was similar to the burials of pharaohs in ancient Egypt; members of the royal court, servants, or close companions were buried with the pharaoh because they were considered essential to the pharaoh’s journey into the afterlife.

[Wait a second,] Satan interrupted, noticing something strange. [Earth’s ancestral rite includes something like that?]

“Of course.”

[Bullshit!! There is no way!!]

“Bullshit? Did you just say bullshit?”

[N-No, that’s not what I mean!]

“Do you even know what a

jesa

is? Do you know how it’s held?”

[I... do not.]

There was no way a prince of Hell knew about Korean culture. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and glared at Satan.

“How dare someone who doesn’t know what a

jesa

is mock our sacred culture? Do you even want to be forgiven?”

[W-Well...]

“ANSWER!!!”

[i... understand.]

Satan scrunched up in terror.

“Balrog,” Kang-Woo called.

“Hehehe, leave it to me.”

Balrog cracked his knuckles as he approached the crouched Satan. He carried out the third step of

jesa

, beating.

[Kurgh! Gah!! Arghhh!!]

Satan’s screams echoed from the rooftop each time powerful fists and kicks were swung.

[Kurgh... Gurghhh...]

Satan, who had practically become mush, lifelessly collapsed flat on the ground.

“Right, the final step of the ritual!!!”

The fourth step of

jesa

was dismemberment, a procedure that involved cutting off the sacrifice’s limbs and head and placing them on the

jesa

table to offer the spirit a blessed feast. This ritual would eradicate the spirit’s rage and resentment and allow them to rest in peace.

[THAT IS A LOAD OF BULLSHIT—!!! THERE IS NO SUCH RITUAL!!!]

“Nah, man. Koreans do this every national holiday, no cap.”

[NOT EVEN DEMONS PARTAKE IN SUCH BRUTALITY AND YOU SAY HUMANS DO?!]

“Humans are normally more brutal than demons in some aspects.”

Kang-Woo and Balrog smiled as they exchanged glances with each other and approached Satan.

[S-Stay away,] Satan stuttered tremblingly as he crawled on the ground.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be back to normal once we put you back together after the

jesa

is over.”

[Y-You cannot be serious!!]

“Bwehehehehehe!!!”

[AAAAAACKKK!! S-STOOOOOOOOOP!]

Kang-Woo smiled widely as he grabbed and twisted the crawling Satan’s limbs.

***

Satan’s head and limbs were placed on the large plate on the lavishly set

jesa

table.

“Fel, Firean.”

Kang-Woo teared up as he called the two Halves’ names in front of the

jesa

table and bowed twice with a solemn expression.

“May you go in peace.”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

He prayed for the souls of the two Halves, who spent their whole lives in discrimination and oppression, to have gone to a better place.

Clack.

“Huh...?”

Fel and Firean’s tablet suddenly fell backward.

“Fel, Firean...!”

Kang-Woo quickly stood up and raised his head.

“A-Aaaahh.”

Sparkle.

He looked up to see two birds freely soaring through the sky.

“

Sniff...

Hurgh!”

Kang-Woo wiped his tears and smiled as he stared at the two birds flying away. It could have been his imagination but he felt like he saw Fel and Firean where the birds were flying toward.

“I’ll... never forget you.”

They had turned Kang-Woo into the man he was today.

‘I should hold a jesa for them every year.’

Kang-Woo pledged to do so as he collected the pieces of Satan’s body.