Epilogue Chapter 11 - A Dance with a Dragon (1)

After the rowdy three wedding anniversaries, Oh Kang-Woo returned to his peaceful(?) daily life of closing Rifts worldwide and devouring all those who crossed it with the desire to take over Earth. However, he did not focus only on his work as a guardian deity; he had a role far more important than that.

Kang-Woo was left wide-eyed at Kang-Hyun, who had asked him an unexpected question after returning home from school.

“You want me to help you train?” Kang-Woo asked to clarify.

“Yes, Father.”

“The demonic energy training we did last time... right?”

“Yes.”

Kang-Woo sighed deeply.

“Kang-Hyun.” He slowly raised his hand and patted his son’s head. “Daddy told you before that you don’t have to be bothered by the fact that you can’t use demonic energy yet.”

“But I want to.” Kang-Hyun bit his lip and clenched his fists. “It’s weird... for the son of the Demon King to not be able to use demonic energy.”

“It’s not weird at all. It’s weirder for a nine-year-old brat to be able to use it.”

‘When I was your age, I pretended to be filled with mana as I drank a Powerade from the convenience store.’

“But Lilia and Kang-Hee could control demonic energy and use Authorities when they were four and three!”

“That’s...”

Kang-Hyun was right. Kang-Hee and Lilia could use the demonic energy they were born with as naturally as they could move their limbs before they learned how to make proper sentences. In comparison, Kang-Hyun couldn’t use demonic energy, much less mana, at nine.

“There’s a reason for th—”

“I want to be able to use demonic energy too, Father.”

“Hmm,” Kang-Woo groaned and nodded as if it couldn’t be helped. “Then get changed and come down to the training room.”

The training room was in the basement of their apartment building.

“Th-Thank you very much, Father!”

Kang-Hyun smiled radiantly and ran to his room. Kang-Wo clicked his tongue as he watched his excited son.

“Looks like I’ll be getting another scolding from Yeon-Joo...”

However, it couldn’t be helped since his son wanted it. No parent could refuse their children’s sincere wishes.

***

Kang-Woo had no use for the private training room in the basement since he had become far too strong to no longer require training, but he had built one anyway because he thought his children would need it when they grew up.

‘But I never expected it would be used when my daughters were three and four.’

Kang-Hyun couldn’t use demonic energy yet but Kang-Hee and Lilia had been able to since they were little. Hence, he taught them how to use demonic energy in this training room since demonic energy was far too dangerous for such young children to use without training.

“Are you ready, son?”

“Yes.” Kang-Hyun gulped and nodded nervously.

“Take a seat right here.”

“In the lotus position, correct?”

“No, this isn’t a martial arts novel. Just sit down comfortably.”

“I see...”

Kang-Hyun nodded in slight disappointment. He seemed to have taken a great liking to the martial arts novel Kang Tae-Soo had gotten him as a gift in the past.

“Alright, let’s begin.”

Kang-Woo stabbed the end of his index finger in Kang-Hyun’s chest.

“Kurgh!”

“Endure it.”

Kang-Woo could easily deliver demonic energy to Kang-Hyun without stabbing his finger inside Kang-Hyun. However, this was the best way to control the demonic energy as finely as possible without burdening Kang-Hyun’s body. Although Kang-Hyun inherited the Demon King’s blood, he was no different from a regular nine-year-old boy since he had yet to awaken an Authority.

“Kurgh... Urgh.”

“I’m going to inject small amounts of demonic energy into you now.”

“Understood... Father!”

A minuscule amount of demonic energy flowed into Kang-Hyun’s heart through Kang-Woo’s finger. Kang-Hyun endured the pain in his chest and closed his eyes tightly to feel the demonic energy.

“Don’t rush, take it slow. Feel the power coursing through you.”

“Kurgh... Father’s hot stuff... is flowing inside me.”

“Call it demonic energy, dammit!”

‘You’re making it fucking weird!’

“It’s hot, sticky, and... wild.”

“Yeah. That’s demonic energy.”

“Kuh... F-Father!”

As Kang-Hyun did his best to focus on the demonic energy flowing through him, he suddenly shook violently and grunted in pain. Kang-Woo immediately took his finger out of Kang-Hyun’s chest and withdrew all of the demonic energy he had injected into him.

“Are you okay?” Kang-Woo asked.

“

Huff, huff!

Y-Yes, I’m okay.”

‘You don’t look okay.’

“The demonic energy...”

Kang-Hyun placed his hand over his chest and focused on feeling demonic energy— not the one Kang-Woo injected in him but the energy he had naturally inherited as the son of the Demon King. He focused on his heart where Kang-Woo had said demonic energy resided.

“It’s... not moving.”

Same as before, the demonic energy lying dormant inside his heart did not budge.

“Well, it’s not something you can control that easily.” Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and patted his dejected son’s head. “You’ll be able to use it one day if you keep training as you visualize what you felt today.”

“...” Kang-Woo looked up at Kang-Woo sorrowfully and asked, “Do I... have no talent?”

Kang-Hee and Lilia could use demonic energy at a young age.

‘But I...’

As the eldest and the older brother who needed to protect his little sisters, he couldn’t even use mana, much less demonic energy. It couldn’t be described any other way than lack of talent.

“No, I’d say it’s the opposite,” Kang-Woo mumbled quietly to himself as he looked down at his hand.

“The opposite? What do you mean?”

Kang-Hyun couldn’t understand what talent he could have when he could only feel demonic energy with the help of his father.

Kang-Woo hid the hand he was looking at behind him and smiled. “I mean, you can’t say you have no talent when you’re so smart, can you?”

“I’m... not smart at all.”

“Come on, what are you talking about, Mr. Stock Market Genius?”

“Stuff like that is useless.”

Kang-Hyun bit his lip, his eyes reflecting anxiety as if he were being chased by someone.

“...” Kang-Woo patted his son’s head. “You don’t have to feel rushed.”

“Father...?”

“No matter what anyone says, you are my son— a wonderful son I couldn’t be prouder of. It might not seem like it now, but you have a talent brighter than any other.”

“I do...?”

‘Oh, since you’re half-demon, should I say your talent is darker than any other? Well, whatever.’

“Yeah, so don’t worry so much about it. One day, you’ll become as great as me— no, far greater than I ever could be.”

“I... don’t know about that.”

“At your age, the less you know, the better.”

Kang-Woo smiled and disheveled his son’s hair.

“Father,” Kang-Hyun called.

“Yeah?”

Kang-Hyun placed the few strands of his red hair that fell out from Kang-Woo disheveling his hair.

He cautiously asked as if he were afraid of something, “You love... Mother, right? Oh, I-I mean, my... real mother.”

Kang-Woo easily figured out that Kang-Hyun was referring to Yeon-Joo. However...

“They’re all your real mothers. And of course, I love them all.”

“Right...?”

“But why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“No reason.” Kang-Hyun smiled faintly and shook his head. “Thank you very much, Father.”

“Yeah. Oh, but it’s dangerous for me to directly inject my demonic energy into you, so I can’t do it for you anymore.”

“No, I’m not talking about that.”

“Huh?”

“Thank you for telling me that I have talent.”

Kang-Hyun assumed it was Kang-Woo’s way of cheering up his sad son.

“It’s almost dinnertime. Let’s head up,” he said as he pulled Kang-Woo by the hand toward the elevator.

Kang-Woo peeked at his other hand as he was being pulled by his son.

‘Cheering up... huh?’

The end of his finger which he had stabbed into Kang-Hyun’s chest to help him feel demonic energy better, was mangled as if it had been

gnawed

by something.

‘That wasn’t particularly my intention.’

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and followed his son to the elevator.

“Hm...?”

Just then, they noticed the elevator was moving down toward the basement without them pressing the button.

‘Did Yeon-Joo catch us?’

Since only Kang-Woo’s family lived in the massive apartment building, no one else should be coming down to the basement.

“Urgh...”

Kang-Woo was sure he would be beaten senseless if Yeon-Joo or any of his wives found out he had injected demonic energy into Kang-Hyun, their nine-year-old son.

“Kang-Hyun, if Mommy asks what we were doing down here, make sure to keep it a secret—”

“No, it’s not Mother.”

“Huh?”

“All three of them are supposed to be coming home late because they have business to tend to.”

‘If that’s the case, who’s in that elevator?’

Ding.

The elevator arrived at the basement and opened before Kang-Woo could think of an answer. They were met with a mysterious individual wearing a mask and sunglasses to hide their face but Kang-Woo immediately recognized them.

“Echidna...?”

“KANG-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Echidna ran toward Kang-Woo, throwing aside her mask and sunglasses, and jumped like a frog into his arms. “Kang-Woo! Kang-Woo! Kang-Woo! Kang-Woo! I missed you so much!”

“Yeah, yeah. I missed you too.” Kang-Woo patted Echidna on the back and asked, “More importantly, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be abroad on a world tour?”

He recalled seeing an article about Echidna preparing for a concert in Australia when he was in a PC room with Yeon-Joo.

“A-About that... I’ve come to ask you for a favor, Kang-Woo.”

“A favor?’

“Kang-Woo!” Echidna grabbed Kang-Woo’s hands and shouted, “Become an idol!”

‘What the hell are you talking about?’