After Ten Millennia in Hell

"Hey, hey, hey!! Thresh just used Flash!"

"Jungleeerrr!!!!"

"Mid M.I.A.! Mid M.I.A.!"

"The enemy top is just living on our side up here, what the fuck is this jungler doing?!!”

Screaming and loud keyboard clicks resounded through the room, and the pungent odor of cigarettes intertwined with the aroma of all sorts of food.

A red-haired girl wearing a white baseball cap and a young man with sharp eyes were sitting in the corner seats partitioned off from the rest of the cafe.

"Hey, blue is mine," said Cha Yeon-Joo, the red-haired girl, while frowning. She was playing a phoenix made of ice.

Oh Kang-Woo, sitting next to her, didn't seem like he could hear her. He attacked the blue golem with a character that shot small venomous darts.

A vein bulged from Yeon-Joo's forehead.

"Son of a bitch! I told you not to take the blue!!!"

"But my mana regen increases if I take this."

"Who the fuck doesn’t know that?! I’m asking why the fuck you’re taking it!!"

"I have to spread more shrooms."

Yeon-Joo clenched the back of her neck as Kang-Woo talked carefreely.

"Urgh, I think I'm gonna die. My blood pressure…"

She held back her tears and pressed the 'tab' key to check Kang-Woo's items.

"Wait, you’re going AD…?"

"Yup."

"Son of a bitch! Why the fuck are you out here trolling when you're the one who called me out to an internet cafe?!"

Yeon-Joo grabbed Kang-Woo's collar and shook him. While she had her hands off the keyboard, an enemy champion killed her character.

"Arrgghh!" she screamed.

Yeon-Joo looked at the screen, which had turned gray, while holding back her tears.

"You… scumbag…"

"Man, this character sucks. Why is the mushroom damage so low?"

"It's your fucking head that sucks!"

The enemies soon reached their base and destroyed their nexus.

Defeat appeared on the screen in red letters.

"…"

Yeon-Joo trembled.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

"We lost again. Ah, I might as well order another portion of instant ramen. Plus a coke, dumplings, and a fish cake bar. You want some too, Yeon-Joo?"

"What did you even come here for?!"

"What do you mean?"

The answer couldn't be any more obvious.

He said, "To eat instant ramen."

"Ah…"

Yeon-Joo collapsed on the chair while grabbing the back of her neck. Intense rage stimulated her.

"Y-You son of a bitch… I ditched a meeting for this…"

It had been ten days since the war ended.

Although the world was going through an unprecedented time of peace since the Day of Calamity, that was not the case for major guilds like Red Rose. They had to deal with the aftermath of the war, the payments for the families of the deceased, and the welfare for the wounded.

Although most of it was handled with the money that was sent to Guardians from all around the world, she was still the master of a guild. She had been busy beyond imagination to make sure that her guild members who participated in the war received the best possible welfare and rewards.

'But…'

She was being treated like this after barely managing to free up some time from her absurdly packed schedule. She couldn't help but tremble from frustration and rage.

Kang-Woo smirked. "I've actually wanted to come here for a while."

"… What, an internet cafe?"

"This is where we first met. Now that I think about it, it was a rough start, but… well, I received a lot of help from you thanks to it, so I wanted to come here with you when I had the chance."

He'd received a lot of help from Yeon-Joo.

In the first few months when he'd become far weaker due to the seal on the Ten Thousand Demon Core, he had been able to become stronger extremely easily and quickly thanks to her during his most vulnerable period.

'Although we both had something to gain out of it, it doesn't change the fact that she was of great help.'

The S-rank Gate entry permit, the Unique-grade equipment, and many other things…

Although Lilith had been his informant as of late, Yeon-Joo had taken on that role before Lilith had come to Earth.

"Ah… U-Uhhh…"

Yeon-Joo was trembling, her mouth hanging open as if he'd said something she had never expected. Her cheeks turned as red as her hair.

"I-I was only trying to make use of you!"

"I knew it."

It was a textbook answer—truly Yeon-Joo-like.

Kang-Woo smirked and turned his gaze back to the computer.

"…"

Yeon-Joo glared at Kang-Woo in displeasure. For some reason, Han Seol-Ah's face popped up in her head.

"Haaa, what am I gonna do with you?"

She sighed deeply. But, surprisingly, she wasn't feeling annoyed. Rather, her heart was beating faster, and the ends of her mouth were trying to curl up.

'I must have lost my mind.'

Yeon-Joo frantically shook her head. She couldn't accept that her heart was beating faster from the words of a forever-virgin like him.

'But…'

A noisy internet cafe… it was a place she often went to enjoy playing games before she had Awakened as a Player. Coming to such a familiar place with Kang-Woo wasn't that unpleasant.

'We… haven't talked much lately either.'

He'd also become too distant; he had risen up to a height that she couldn't even see. When she first met him, she knew that such a day might come someday.

She had expected him to go so far away that she couldn't ever hope to catch up, but she was feeling bittersweet because that day had come sooner than expected—in just a few years. She couldn't even call him whenever she was bored now.

Yeon-Joo looked at Kang-Woo, who was excitedly eating his instant ramen.

'He shoulders… too big of a burden.'

He had to stop the world from being destroyed by the Demon of Prophecy. The scale of the burden was so big that she couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. Her burden was quite heavy in its own right because she was the master of a major guild, but her burden couldn't be compared to Kang-Woo's.

"… I want some instant ramen too."

"Fuuu. Fuuu. Slurp! Right? Instant ramen is a must in an internet cafe!"

"People don't usually come to an internet cafe to eat instant ramen, though."

Yeon-Joo turned to her monitor while making a bittersweet smile. The time she was spending with him cheered her up. She looked at the monitor while trying to hide her blushing cheeks.

On the screen….

[You have been demoted to Bronze II.]

"You motherfucker!!!!" Her voice rang out in the internet cafe. "You fucking asshooooooole!!"

* * *

Clack.

"I'm home."

Kang-Woo opened the front door and entered his apartment.

Seol-Ah, who was sitting in the living room, tilted her head.

"You're early. Didn't you say you were going to hang out with Yeon-Joo?"

"Ah… Well, she suddenly got up and left," Kang-Woo said while scratching his head in confusion.

'She was looking at me as if I'd killed her parents.'

He couldn't understand what the point of rank in a game was. Wasn't the purpose of a game to enjoy playing?

Kang-Woo smirked as he recalled what happened in the internet cafe.

'Still, it was nice.'

Especially the instant ramen—it was delicious. The flavor of the instant ramen eaten while playing couldn't be compared to the flavor of instant ramen eaten at home.

'I guess it's similar to eating popcorn in cinemas.'

He had never been to the cinema, but for some reason, he felt it would be similar.

"… What did you say to Yeon-Joo?"

Seol-Ah looked at him suspiciously.

"I seriously have no idea. She seemed angry just because we lost a game."

"Mm."

Seol-Ah scratched her cheeks as if she found it confusing. She had also never played video games before, so she couldn't understand Yeon-Joo's attitude.

"Kang-Woo, does that mean you're free today?" Echidna asked.

"Oh, yup. We were gonna have dinner together, but she just ditched me."

Since his plans were canceled, he naturally gained some free time.

Echidna snorted in excitement.

"Hm! Hm! Then let's watch anime together!"

She pulled on Kang-Woo's clothes with shining eyes.

Smirking, Kang-Woo patted her head.

"Hm?"

Kang-Woo tilted his head while patting Echidna's head.

"Did you grow?"

Echidna had grown significantly taller. She nodded furiously and said, "I feel like… I've been overflowing with power ever since the war. Because of that, I grew taller, and this place grew too," Echidna said while pointing to her chest.

Was it because she was standing next to Seol-Ah?

'It's just a wall.'

To be honest, he couldn't tell the difference. He wondered if he should use the Authority of Insight to check.

"… Do you like them younger, Kang-Woo?"

"Absolutely not."

He shook his head.

Although he'd become a demon, that didn't mean he'd lost the basic moral values of a human.

'Even for Echidna…'

He couldn't see her as a member of the opposite sex in the slightest.

He knew that she was actually hundreds of years old, but due to her mannerisms and appearance, he couldn't think of her as a member of the opposite sex, which was also why he purposefully did not react to her constant attempts to seduce him.

"Hm! That's a relief."

Echidna snorted in relief and nodded.

'That aside…'

Kang-Woo looked at her.

'It's probably because of me, right?'

Her growth was probably related to him.

"Mm…"

He fell into thought.

According to Echidna's explanation, it would take her a couple hundred more years to grow from a hatchling to a mature dragon.

'Was it accelerated because of me?'

He wasn't sure whether that was good or bad news. After all, he had absolutely no information regarding dragons.

'I should ask Lilith to investigate later.'

Kang-Woo sat down.

As always, Echidna sat on his lap.

He couldn't see in front of him as well as before because she had become a bit taller.

"I'm going to get as fat as Seol-Ah soon!" Echidna said while clenching her fists, causing Seol-Ah's expression to pale.

"F-Fat…"

"Come on, Seol-Ah isn't fat," Kang-Woo said. He smirked as if he thought it was nonsense.

"I'm… fat?" Seol-Ah mumbled in a soulless voice. It seemed she didn't hear him. "C-Come to think of it, I haven't been hunting in Gates much lately…"

"Hello? Seol-Ah?"

"Kang-Woo eats a lot, so I've been eating a lot too…"

"Can you hear me?

"Th-This won't do! Kang-Woo! It's dieting time! There is no kimchi stew tonight! I'm going to have you skip dinners with me!"

"Kurgh!"

Kang-Woo's eyes widened at her words as if he'd been struck by a bolt of lightning. Dripping in cold sweat, he did his best to change her mind.

"…"

After the storm-like incident passed, Kang-Woo sat quietly on the couch and silently looked around the living room. The life he'd always dreamed of was right in front of him.

'I hope days like this continue from now on.'

Kang-Woo smiled and closed his eyes.

* * *

Clack. Clack.

Small sounds echoed out.

Slice.

Lilith cut something with a kitchen knife, and a liquid as red as blood flowed out.

"Fu… Fufu."

She smiled wide while looking at the red dripping liquid.