Epilogue Chapter 29 - Outing to Hell (6)

“So...”

A wrecked Balrog had his head lowered as he kneeled in the training room located under the Demon King’s castle. He had been beaten senselessly by an enraged Oh Kang-Woo after the matter was resolved.

“You call this

training

?”

“Y-Yes,” Balrog flinched as he nodded.

“HOW THE FUCK IS THIS TRAINING, YOU CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER?!”

“O-Overcoming your fears is the best way to become a true warrior, my king! I’m sure you know that as well!”

“EVEN SO, HOW COULD YOU SHOW THAT DISGUSTING THING TO A KID WHO ISN’T EVEN TEN YET?!”

“Disgusting thing...? Did you just call my wife a disgusting thing?”

“Ah.”

‘Oh, right. Those tentacles belong to my sister-in-law.’

“How could you, my king?!”

“N-No, I mean... I’m sor— Hm?”

‘Wait a second.’

Balrog said he showed the tentacles to Kang-Hyun to instill fear into him.

‘In other words, this son of a bitch Balrog also knows we consider Yurie’s tentacles hideous, right?’

“Ahem. It is hard for me to endure your insult to my wife but I will especially let it slide as your most loyal subordi—”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

Kang-Woo aggressively grabbed Balrog’s horns as he was sneakily about to leave.

“Kurgh! M-My king!!”

“YOU KNEW IT ALL ALONG!”

“I-I apologize! Kurghhh!”

Kang-Woo fiercely shook Balrog’s head via his horns.

“Please calm down, you two,” said Kurosaki Yurie with a faint smile as she approached in her human form.

She had changed into a traditional Japanese kimono before Kang-Woo realized it.

Yurie courteously bowed to Kang-Woo and greeted, “It has been a while.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure has. How have you been?”

Kang-Woo smiled awkwardly and waved at her. He was not close to Yurie so even exchanging simple greetings felt awkward.

‘My relationship with Layla is much better.’

There was no awkwardness between Kang-Woo and Layla since he had known her since his days in Guardians but he rarely had a chance to interact with Yurie.

‘First of all, she rarely comes out.’

She was extremely conservative as one raised by the royal family would be. Hence, she mostly stayed home because she had learned that work outdoors should be done by the husband.

“Uhh... I-I’m sorry about earlier. I acted out of shock.”

“Fufu. It’s okay. I was once human as well so I understand. That aside, is the young master... okay?”

“Kang-Hyun is...” Kang-Woo sighed deeply and turned to Kang-Hyun.

“U-Urgh. N-No more... T-Tentacles are scary.”

His son was curled up in tears into a ball in a corner of the training room.

“Son... Are you okay?” Kang-Woo asked.

“D-Dad!”

Kang-Hyun’s mind was in such disarray that he called Kang-Woo

Dad

instead of

Father

as he ran toward him. Kang-Woo hugged his son and gently patted his back.

“There, there. Were you scared?”

“Sniff. I-I’m fine, Father.”

Kang-Hyun managed to calm down. He wiped his tears with the back of his hand and pulled himself away from Kang-Woo.

“Haaa. Anyway, that’s enough for today’s training. You too, Balrog. Don’t give me that bullshit about fear or whatever and teach him properly.”

“Hmm. Properly...? Are you saying that my teaching method is wrong?” Balrog stared at Kang-Woo with deeply sunken eyes. “I admit my method was rather strong. However... I did not feed the prince any bullshit.”

“Balrog...”

“I know you are aware of it, my king. There is a different reason why the prince cannot control his demonic energy.”

“...”

Kang-Woo knew better than anyone what Kang-Hyun had inherited from him and that the training Balrog put him through was the best way to help him wield that power.

“The opponent the prince must defeat is himself.”

“I know.”

Kang-Woo simply judged it was far too early for his young son to walk down that path.

“Father...” Kang-Hyun clenched his fists and stood up. “I want to train more.”

“After what you just experienced?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Ngh... E-Even so, if I can become stronger with that, I-I can endure it!”

It was obvious to anyone he was forcing himself.

“Haaa. I can’t believe this.”

‘A parent can’t break their child’s obstinance.’

“Fine. I brought you some food so at least eat first.”

“Ah... Th-Thank you very much!”

‘You’ll probably puke it all out, though.’

However, Kang-Woo couldn’t allow his growing son to train without meals.

“Thank you for the food!”

Kang-Hyun must have been famished because he emptied the lunch box in a flash. He gulped down some water and stood up energetically.

He shouted, “Let’s get right back into it, Uncle!”

“Hmm. Are you sure about this?” Balrog asked.

“Yes, I am.”

Balrog stared at Kang-Hyun worryingly. The method may have been ridiculous but the objective to instill fear into Kang-Hyun was successful.

‘This kind of training isn’t one an ordinary child can handle.’

Physical training merely brought physical pain but training to overcome one’s fears ate away at one’s mind, especially if Balrog was the trainer. Even powerful demons of the Ninth Hell gave up shortly after beginning the training but a mere human child who wasn’t even ten years old stood strong.

‘You can’t fool blood.’

Balrog turned to Kang-Woo and smiled bitterly.

“Alright, Yurie! Once again!”

“Yes, my beloved.”

Yurie bowed courteously and squirming tentacles sprouted from her.

“U-Urgh. Ahhh!”

The hellish training resumed as tentacles crawled up the boy’s body.

***

Kang-Woo turned away from the horrendous scenery of the training room and climbed the stairs to the Demon King’s castle. He noticed Cha Yeon-Joo walking staggeringly from afar. She was in tatters, likely from having been made a mess of by Han Seol-Ah.

Yeon-Joo noticed Kang-Woo and ran toward him with fiercely gleaming eyes.

“Y-You asshole! How could you run away without me?!”

“K-Kurgh! I-I can’t breathe...”

“You don’t even need to breathe to stay alive, motherfucker!”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Yeon-Joo shook Kang-Woo as she grabbed him by the neck. Kang-Woo waited for her to calm down and turned to Seol-Ah as he touched the skin of his neck which had become blue.

“Darling... have you calmed down?”

“Yes, I-I’m fine now.”

Seol-Ah averted her gaze from Kang-Woo, her cheeks red from embarrassment because she failed to control her obsession.

She looked around and asked if changing the subject, “That aside, where is Kang-Hyun? It’s almost time for dinner...”

“Oh, the thing is...”

Kang-Woo explained what happened in the underground training room.

“Hah, so he’s still training?” Yeon-Joo asked.

“Yeah. I suggested we stop for today but he was obstinate about continuing.”

“Mmm... he’s still just a little boy. Isn’t he pushing himself too hard?” Seol-Ah wondered.

“I think so too.” Kang-Woo sighed and shook his head. “But it’s what our son wants, so what can we do?”

“Ngh... True. He’s my son but his stubbornness is out of this world.” Yeon-Joo also sighed and clicked his tongue. “But keeping a little kid without proper meals is—”

“Oh, he ate.”

‘Though I bet he’d puke it all out during training.’

“Haaa. I have mixed feelings about this,” Seol-Ah remarked.

“Kang-Hyun is staying because he wants to, so don’t be so anxious.”

Kang-Woo grabbed his worried wives’ hands and toured the Demon King’s castle.

“This is my throne,” he said.

“Sheesh, look at that tacky design. What kind of idiot made this?”

“Lilith did.”

“Now that I take a closer look, I can feel the dignity and power befitting a Demon King from it.”

They went to the bedroom after looking at the Overlord’s Throne.

“Is this your room, Kang-Woo?” asked Seol-Ah.

“It’s not as extravagant as one would expect from a Demon King’s room,” added Yeon-Joo.

“It’s pretty much like this anywhere you go in the Ninth Hell.” Kang-Woo flopped on the bed made of demon leather. “Haaa. That’s enough looking around for today. Let’s get some rest.”

“Thank you for taking us around.”

“Hmph. Thank you, my ass. He ditched us midway.”

The two women lay down on either side of Kang-Woo.

“So, what did you think about Hell?” he asked.

“Hmm... It was worth experiencing once,” Seol-Ah answered.

“I never wanna come back, though.” Yeon-Joo smiled bitterly and looked around the nearly empty room. “I... wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“Huh? Do what?”

“I wouldn’t have been able to endure ten millennia in a place like this.”

“Me neither.”

Kang-Woo’s wives gently caressed Kang-Woo’s head.

“You did so well, my hubby.”

“We’ll fill you only with happy memories from now on.”

“...”

Kang-Woo had not brought them along to be sympathized with.

‘But... it’s not a bad feeling.’

Looking back on it, Kang-Woo had never heard anyone tell him that he did well. It felt like the unpleasant feelings deep in the corner of his mind were melting away. He smiled faintly and stared at his wives.

“Thanks.”

He wished for their promise to fill him with happy memories to apply to them as well.

“Oh, right. I asked Yurie to prepare rooms for you two, so let me show them to you,” said Kang-Woo as he was about to sit up.

However, Yeon-Joo and Seol-Ah pushed his chest back down.

“Huh?” Kang-Woo was left dumbfounded as he was forced back into bed.

“A-Ahem. Come to think of it, Kang-Hyun is probably gonna be with Balrog until late...”

“S-Since it’s just the three of us, it’s a waste to spend the time apart, don’t you think?”

“...”

‘Wait a second. Are we gonna...?’

“You said... you only have bad memories of this place, right?”

“Yeah, and we just promised to fill you with happy memories!”

“W-Wait! Ack! My clothes! You’re ripping them!”

With that, Kang-Woo’s outing to hell ended happily as two starving lionesses pounced at him.