Epilogue Chapter 1 - Father (1)

It had been ten years since Oh Kang-Woo defeated Akart and became the Protector of the Law. Time passed as quickly as a flying arrow. It was a moment compared to the ten millennia he had spent in the Nine Hells, but the changes in those ten years were on par if not more than his time in Hell.

So much had changed and far too much was different. For example...

“Wake up, honey.”

The sweet voice that woke him up each morning had changed from

Kang-Woo

to

honey

.

“Mmm.”

Kang-Woo woke up from the voice tickling his ear. It had been a while since his body no longer required sleep to function, but he always slept at least three to four hours a day to recover from mental fatigue. Of course, he did not experience enough mental fatigue each day to sleep three to four hours. He had a different reason he always forced himself to sleep every day.

“Five more minutes...”

Kang-Woo did not get up right away on purpose and curled up into a ball. He slightly opened his eyes and looked around to see a woman looking down at him with a smile as gentle as a spring breeze. She was Han Seol-Ah, the first woman Kang-Woo met after returning from Hell, and his wife.

“Jeez, are you going to be like this again?”

Seol-Ah smiled faintly as she looked down at Kang-Woo squirming under the blanket like a caterpillar, already knowing Kang-Woo was stalling on purpose. She lifted the blanket as always and got on top of Kang-Woo.

“Looks like my sleepyhead honey needs to be punished~”

Seol-Ah smiled and kissed Kang-Woo on the lips. It was not a deep French kiss but similar to a bird peck.

“Isn’t this more like a reward?” asked Kang-Woo.

He opened his eyes immediately and smiled as he wrapped his arms around Seol-Ah’s waist and pulled her close. Seol-Ah’s body pushed down on Kang-Woo— he could feel two unfathomably heavy masses weighing down on his chest.

‘Oh my Jesus.’

Her angelic pockets were already quite large from the moment they met but Kang-Woo felt they were getting even bigger over time.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

‘Is it because she fell from grace? How terrifying... Angelic— no, Fallen Angelic Pockets...!’

“What are you thinking about?” Seol-Ah asked.

“H-Huh? N-Nothing.”

Kang-Woo erased his vulgar thoughts and shook his head. Seol-Ah smiled teasingly as if knowing exactly what Kang-Woo was thinking about. She slightly pulled down her turtleneck sweater.

“...!”

A deep valley revealed itself between Seol-Ah’s nape and sweater collar. Kang-Woo’s heart pounded every time he saw it. He gulped as he stared fixedly at the deep valley.

“My, it looks like my sleepyhead honey is finally up.” Seol-Ah glanced down and smiled. “An obedient honey needs to be rewarded, wouldn’t you say?”

“A reward...?”

Kang-Woo wondered what the reward would be if a kiss was punishment. The corners of Kang-Woo’s mouth gradually rose as he slowly raised his arms around Seol-Ah’s waist—

Whoosh! Slap!

A slipper flew into the room through the slightly open door and smacked Seol-Ah’s thick butt.

“Kyahh!!” Seol-Ah jumped like a frog.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing first thing in the morning?”

“Y-Yeon-Joo?”

Seol-Ah turned around wide-eyed and saw Cha Yeon-Joo, the red-haired woman, at the door. She did not even have the leeway to care about her stinging butt after getting it slapped by a slipper.

She stuttered, “D-Didn’t you say you were leaving e-early because you have a morning guild meeting?”

“It got moved to tomorrow. That aside...” Yeon-Joo sighed as she entered the room and smiled at Seol-Ah on top of Kang-Woo. “What’s this reward you’re going to give your obedient honey?”

“E-Eek!” Seol-Ah shrieked and ran to Yeon-Joo to cover her mouth.

Yeon-Joo pivoted to dodge Seol-Ah easily and giggled.

“What’s wrong? What could the reward possibly be~?”

“Y-You—! Shut your mouth!!”

“Sleepyhead honey... Sheesh, you wouldn’t hear something that cringe even in a nineties romcom.”

“B-Be quiet!” shouted Seol-Ah, her face bright red.

She was so excited about getting some quality alone time with her loving husband after so long that she had said whatever was on her mind. She was even getting teary-eyed from the humiliation.

“Hmm. You say that, Yeon-Joo, but you were just as bold a few mornings ago,” said Kang-Woo as he watched the quarrel between his two wives.

Yeon-Joo flinched and her face froze.

“H-Hey! Oh Kang-Woo, you bastard! Y-You said you would keep that a secret!”

“A few mornings ago... when it was Yeon-Joo’s turn to wake you up,” Seol-Ah muttered.

It was when Lilith and Seol-Ah were away from home for other business. Seol-Ah’s eyes shone like a predator that found its prey.

“Please tell me, Kang-Woo. What happened that day?”

“Well, there was a bunny in the room for some reason when I woke up,” Kang-Woo answered.

“A bunny...?” mumbled Seol-Ah as she tilted her head.

She then remembered something. Around four to five years ago, Lilith had gotten three bunny girl outfits in their sizes for their wedding anniversary. The three had promised never to wear them again after that day because it was too embarrassing.

“Not Lilith unnie, but... Yeon-Joo?”

Not only that but she had worn such a shameful outfit in the morning instead of during a hot night. Although the two were alone in the room, it was hard to imagine considering Yeon-Joo’s usual personality.

“O-Oh Kang-Woo, you bastard! You’re dead!”

Yeon-Joo frowned intensely and ran at Kang-Woo.

“Urgh! S-Say no to domestic violence!”

“Shut the fuck up! You deserve it!”

It had gotten rowdy first thing in the morning.

“Shh.” Lilith appeared out of nowhere and brought her index finger to her lips. She continued with narrowed eyes, “I know our house is big but don’t you know it’ll reach the

kids’ room

if you’re that loud?”

“Oh...”

“S-Sorry, unnie.”

“Haaa, do you have any idea how surprised I was as I was sleeping with them?”

Lilith entered the room and sighed as she placed her hand on her chest.

“Did we wake Kang-Hee?” Seol-Ah asked.

“No, fortunately.”

“Phew,” Seol-Ah sighed in relief.

Chills ran down her back at the possibility of her daughter having heard their conversation.

“You too, my king. Even if it was just a joke you shouldn’t have caused a commotion.”

“Ahem. Sorry.”

Kang-Woo lowered his head in shame at Lilith’s spot-on criticism. As Lilith mentioned, he couldn’t spend his days purely in pursuit of a happy daily life with his wives.

‘Because I... have more responsibilities now.’

He now had children so precious to him that he would lay down his life for them without a second thought. He had become a father.

‘A father, huh?’

The word was so unfamiliar to him. To Kang-Woo who never knew what parents were, the role of a father couldn’t be more unfamiliar and awkward to him. Not only that but he had killed his father with his own hands. It was still ambiguous whether Bauli could be called his father or not but regardless, Kang-Woo had undoubtedly killed and devoured the being who created him.

“Haaa,” he sighed.

Although it had already been nearly ten years since the love between his three wives bore fruit, he was still unsure about whether he could properly fulfill his responsibilities as a father since he had not been given an example of it in his life.

‘It’s funny how I’m stumped over something like this after being alive for ten millennia.’

Even if he had lived for longer, he was sure he would never get used to being someone’s parent.

“Uhh... why don’t we have breakfast?” asked Kang-Woo, embarrassed by causing a fuss.

“O-Okay! I’ll get the kimchi stew ready!” Seol-Ah remarked.

“You’re the best, Darling.”

Kang-Woo smiled brightly just at the mention of kimchi stew. Yeon-Joo sighed as she stared at her giddy husband.

“Man... How are you still not sick of kimchi stew after having it every morning for ten years?”

“I could never get sick of kimchi stew.”

Yeon-Joo expressed disgust and shook her head. “Haaa... okay. Have as much kimchi stew as you like until your last days, man. I’m gonna eat something else.”

She didn’t dislike kimchi stew but after her husband was adamant about eating the same thing for the past decade, she got queasy just from smelling kimchi stew now.

“I’ll make you something too, Yeon-Joo. Wait just a bit,” Seol-Ah said.

“Thanks for doing this every day.”

“It’s fine. I have to make the kids’ breakfast too anyway.”

Seol-Ah trotted to the kitchen with a smile. A delicious smell wafted from the kitchen soon after.

Clack.

Just then, a door opened, and out walked a little girl wearing pink pajamas with cute teddy bears on it.

“My, good morning, Kang-Hee,” Seol-Ah greeted.

“Mmm. Good morning...”

The staggering little girl rubbing her eyes was Oh Kang-Hee, the daughter born between Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah.

“Oh, good morning, my baby!”

Kang-Woo stopped eating his kimchi stew and ran to Kang-Hee. He raised his lovely half-asleep daughter and embraced her.

“Hehe. Good morning, Daddy. Did you sleep well?”

“Of course, I did. What about Kang-Hyun and Lia?”

“Oppa and Lia are still asleep.”

Kang-Hee, fully awake now, smiled like an angel and kissed Kang-Woo’s cheek.

“Kurgh!”

Kang-Woo burst into tears after getting a surprise kiss from his eight-year-old daughter.

‘Yeah, what’s so hard about being a father?!’

Stuff about being unfamiliar with the role, awkward, or uncertain didn’t matter one bit. A morning kiss from his daughter, the cutest creature in the world, blew them all away.

“Oh my God! You’re the cutest, my little princess!”

“Ngh. S-Stop it, Daddy.”

Kang-Hee pulled away in embarrassment from Kang-Woo, intensely rubbing his cheek on hers.

“That aside, how’s school?” Kang-Woo asked.

She had entered elementary school just recently. Unlike

Lilia

who was in the same year as her, Kang-Hee was shy and scared of making new friends. Kang-Woo was worried she might be having a hard time adjusting to the new environment.

“It’s fine. I still haven’t made any friends... b-but it’s fine since Lia is with me.”

“I’m sure you’ll make some friends soon enough,” Kang-Woo stated.

“Are you sure...?” asked Kang-Hee as she pushed the points of her index fingers against each other.

“Of course! Have you ever seen your Daddy lie?”

“Mommy Yeon-Joo said you used to be a huge liar, Daddy...”

“Ah...”

‘What the fuck, bitch?’

“A-Ahem! Wh-When did I ever say that?” Yeon-Joo flinched and turned around.

Kang-Woo decided to give Yeon-Joo a good scolding later.

Just then, Kang-Hee shyly pulled on Kang-Woo’s clothes and asked, “Oh, right. Daddy, can I ask you something I didn’t get during our home economics class?”

“Of course! What didn’t you understand, my princess?”

“Well...”

“Haha! You don’t have to hold back! Ask anything you want! There’s nothing in this world that Daddy doesn’t know!” Kang-Woo shouted as he pounded on his chest.

Although he did not even have a proper middle-school education because he was raised in an orphanage, he was not uneducated enough to be unable to ask a question from a Grade 1 elementary student.

‘Even if I don’t know, I can always ask Eve!’

There was likely nothing the System that governed a world didn't know.

‘As long as I have Eve, I can have an answer to any question in the w—’

“Why do I have three mothers instead of one?”

‘Huh?’