Chapter 287 - Festering Wound (1)
"In that case, I will help out for an hour or two. I also have some things I have to take care of today."
Actually, Oh Kang-Woo had absolutely nothing to do today. He just wanted to go back home as soon as possible and get all lovey-dovey with Han Seol-Ah.
"R-Really? That's a relief. There are too many Undead for me to wipe out on my own," said Uriel.
'I've seen you wipe out dozens of them with just a wave of your hand.'
"Ahem. It will probably take a couple of months for my army to arrive… You can help me locate Rakiel in the meantime, right?"
'I'm gonna play with my darling, damn pigeon.'
Kang-Woo tried his best to suppress the words from coming out of his mouth. He had been planning on having tons of dates with Seol-Ah after this was over, so this felt like a hammer to the back of the head.
Kang-Woo anxiously bit his lip and said, "Guardians can handle the Rakiel investiga—"
"You said we're allies. I can't just stand around doing nothing."
He was right. Kang-Woo couldn't think of any way to refute him.
"In that case, I will have Kim Si-Hun pair up with y—"
"No, I'm gonna go around with you."
'But fucking why though?'
Kang-Woo looked at Uriel in frustration. Why… why did it have to be him?
'I mean, it's not a bad thing.'
He would be able to gain a lot from helping Uriel purify the base and investigate Rakiel's traces.
First, he could make the angels indebted to him, which would obviously be quite useful for their relationship in the future. He'd be able to make the angels move as he wished at least once. However…
'Fuuuuuck.'
Kang-Woo clenched his hair. He knew it would be useful and that it was necessary, but…
'I wanna plaaaaaaaay!'
If everyone was able to do things because it was useful and necessary, no one would ever fail in dieting. There were countless things that people didn't want to do despite knowing that they had to.
It would be one thing if the real Rakiel had done it, but Kang-Woo did not want to waste time tracking down a Rakiel that didn't actually exist.
'But it doesn't feel right to just reject it.'
Kang-Woo sighed and opened his mouth.
"I also have a lot to do, so I would only be able to help out about two to three days a week… Is that alright with you?"
"Well, if you're busy, then I guess it can't be helped."
Thankfully, Uriel seemed to have common sense.
"In that case, let's just have a light purification session today. I will come tomorrow or the day after to help out with investigating Rakiel's traces."
"Okay!" Uriel energetically nodded, a smile on his face.
"…"
Kang-Woo covered his eyes.
'Fuck…' he inwardly cursed.
* * *
A month passed, and the days had been busy for Kang-Woo. He went on dates with Seol-Ah and also stayed at home, playing with Echidna and Halcyon.
Not only that, but he also went on a trip with Lilith, who had been swamped with work. Lilith had screamed in joy, and Kang-Woo had screamed for other reasons.
Of course, he didn't just play around.
He occasionally took some time to improve his demonic energy control and chased Rakiel's traces with Uriel.
'Though it's completely pointless…'
There was no Rakiel in the first place, so chasing after his traces was pointless. He'd suggested to Uriel that they give up since they hadn't been able to find anything, but Uriel had flatly refused for some reason.
In any case, they began cultivating a friendship from all their time together, and Kang-Woo had more or less achieved his objective.
"Hup."
Kang-Woo got up from bed.
"There's that mark again."
For some reason, whenever he slept with Seol-Ah, he woke up with red marks all over his body. There were also some wet areas.
He had asked a few times, but she never gave him an answer. He also became extremely sleepy whenever he was in Seol-Ah's embrace for some reason, so he couldn't even stay up to check what was happening.
'That's that, but…'
Kang-Woo circulated his demonic energy through his body.
'I knew it.'
When he slept with Seol-Ah, there were times when his demonic energy control improved. He didn't know the exact reason, but when he slept with her, his demonic energy control improved far more than when he trained.
'Could it be Seraph's influence?'
He wasn't sure yet. Whatever the reason, after he had realized it would improve his control, Kang-Woo slept with Seol-Ah more often. As if his life were a fantasy webnovel, he got stronger just by sleeping, so there was no reason for him not to.
'But it kinda feels like my stamina gets reduced each time.'
It hadn't been like that at first, but he'd recently started to feel that his body was stiff when he woke up. It was as if someone had squeezed him dry.
'I wonder if it has something to do with my improved demonic energy control?'
It was a possible explanation. It was nowhere near molting, but training to improve demonic energy control consumed massive amounts of his stamina. If he subconsciously trained while sleeping, it was obvious that his stamina would decrease.
'I'm not sure why it only happens when I sleep with Seol-Ah, though.'
Kang-Woo had become used to it happening, so he soon paid it no mind and turned on his smartphone.
'I'll just read some news.'
He clicked on the news tab.
[The arrival of an era of peace. South America restoration complete.]
[Completion of the construction of the first South American city in Venezuela since the Day of Calamity. Guardians promote living in the city by promising great benefits to its residents.]
[International organization, Guardians. Despite having achieved greatness, concerns over their excessive authority rise…]
[The world enters an economic boom after the collapse of the Demon Cult. Economic growth dwarfs the Industrial Revolution and…]
[The danger is yet to be over. Eras of peace are when one must be most vigilant.]
After the Demon Cult collapsed, the world economy started to improve at an explosive rate with Guardians and the USA at the center.
Of course, there were still dangers like Rakiel, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the Demon of Prophecy. Guardians purposefully did not hide their existence. No, they could not hide it because too many eyewitnesses had seen the Demon of Prophecy appear in the appearance of Oh Kang-Woo.
The entire world had been up in a buzz after the appearance of a great evil that dwarfed the Demon Cult, but as time passed and civilian casualties became nonexistent, public interest slowly faded.
A few people had even claimed that Guardians had spread fake news so they could keep taking money from countries around the world.
'There's nothing that can be done about this.'
That was just how the masses were, after all.
Even if news of a certain country developing nuclear weapons became public, if there was no immediate danger, people's interest in those topics faded, and this was exactly what was happening now.
There had been much fear in the air when the Demon Cult was active since there had been many civilian and Player casualties, but there was no longer any visible threat.
"I might as well leave it like that for the moment."
The enormous authority that Guardians possessed was not yet at risk of being stripped away. If the public wanted to forget, letting them forget was also an option.
Clack.
Echidna opened the door and entered the room.
"Kang-Woo, Seol-Ah says that food is ready."
Kang-Woo nodded and stood up.
"Kang-Woo…" Echidna pulled on his clothes and looked at him in worry. "Are you okay?"
"Hm? About what?"
"… Nothing."
Echidna shook her head and dragged Kang-Woo by his clothes to the living room.
"Ah, good morning, Kang-Woo," said Seol-Ah.
"Morning. But you always wake up earlier than me, Seol-Ah. I don't sleep for very long… Are you okay?"
Kang-Woo usually slept four hours on average. It was quite a long time considering that he did not need sleep, but that was not the case for Seol-Ah. Although Seraph's soul was inside her, she still had a human body, so she needed more sleep.
"Fufu. I'm okay," Seol-Ah said while smiling. Her skin and hair did not look dry at all. Rather, they were shining as if she were taking some good tonic.
'Well, I'm sure it's fine.'
At least it didn't seem like she was lying.
He pulled a chair back and sat down.
The breakfast menu was obviously kimchi stew.
"Hm?"
However, the contents were different.
"Eel and garlic?"
"It's been nothing but pork, so I thought of changing things up a little since you might get sick of it."
"Come on, there's no way I'd get tired of kimchi stew."
"Still, isn't it nice to change things up from time to time?"
"Well, I guess everything goes well with kimchi stew."
Kang-Woo picked up his chopsticks.
While they were in the middle of eating, the front door opened, and Halcyon entered.
Kang-Woo had used an Authority to hide his horn and bat wings, so he looked like a knockout female beauty.
'Although that is still attached.'
Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.
"M-Master Kang-Woo."
"Where have you been?"
"L-Lilith told me to c-call you. Uhmm… Th-The bodies are complete."
Kang-Woo's eyes shone. He recalled the order he'd given to Vaal Zahak.
"Okay, I'll be right there."
Kang-Woo quickly finished his kimchi stew and got up.
"Seol-Ah, Echidna, do you wanna come too?"
He needed the opinions of many people to see if the disguise made for Vaal Zahak and Balrog could fool others.
"Yes, of course."
"I wanna go too. I'm curious."
The two of them nodded.
Kang-Woo got up from his chair.
* * *
The first thing he saw when he arrived at Balrog's house was a black-haired young man. The young man with thick, dark circles under his eyes looked a little sickly and temperamental.
"… Who are you?"
"Huhuhu. What do you think, Master?"
The black-haired young man, Vaal Zahak, bowed as if he were a waiter in a luxurious restaurant. The chain attached to his monocle shook slightly.
"Is it not perfect?" he asked.
"It would be, if it weren't for that goddamn pink apron."
"Huhu. That is not possible."
Vaal Zahak proudly flapped his pink apron.
Kang-Woo frowned.
"I-Is that really Vaal Zahak?" Seol-Ah asked in surprise.
"Yeah. What do you think? It's not weird, is it?" Kang-Woo asked.
"… I would've never guessed it was him based on his appearance."
"Hm! He looks like a butler from an anime!" Echidna also looked at the changed Vaal Zahak with shining eyes.
Vaal Zahak's slick tuxedo under the pink apron and his expensive-looking monocle made him look like a butler from Japanese anime and manga.
'He stands out for a different reason now.'
Kang-Woo feigned laughter but nodded in satisfaction. If he used his Ruler of Demonic Energy on top of this to completely conceal his retainers' demonic energy, no one would be able to tell that Vaal Zahak was a demon.
"A-Are you really Vaal Zahak?" Seol-Ah asked.
"Of course, madam."
Vaal Zahak touched the pendant on his neck. A black light momentarily covered his body, and he returned to his usual skeleton self.
"Whoa, that's pretty convenient!" Kang-Woo said.
"It took us quite a while to develop this magic tool."
Vaal Zahak puffed his chest out with great pride.
Kang-Woo looked around.
"Where's Balrog?"
Clack.
Speak of the devil, a door opened. There, Kang-Woo saw a brown-haired young man walking with Lilith's help.
"…"
"B-Balrog…?" Seol-Ah stuttered.
The man was over 190 cm tall, with toned muscles and a face bursting with masculine beauty. The muscle pig Balrog had turned into a large young man as if he had gone through a metamorphosis.
"B-Balrog?" Kang-Woo looked at him in disbelief.
To be honest, he thought that a human Balrog would look like a professional wrestler, but he had been completely off the mark. Balrog looked like a supermodel who could easily take the front cover of any fashion magazine.
"My king!"
After seeing Kang-Woo, Balrog walked toward him with a smile, but…
Tumble!
"Urgh!"
He tripped. Unlike Vaal Zahak, Balrog was originally five meters tall, so he had a hard time getting used to his shortened legs.
"Are you okay?" Kang-Woo asked.
"Kuh… To think I would have to show such disgrace to my king…"
"I mean, your limbs are shorter now, so of course that would happen."
Kang-Woo helped Balrog up.
Although Balrog had become smaller, he was still quite massive due to his height and wide shoulders.
"My king…"
Kang-Woo looked up at Balrog, who was blushing from being embarrassed that he had shown such a disgraceful side.
Due to the size difference, it looked as if Balrog were on top of him.
"…"
Kang-Woo suddenly felt a chill, so he threw Balrog, whom he had been supporting.
"Kurgh!" Balrog yelped.
'Fuck.'
He even thought that Balrog's usual muscle-pig self looked better.
Kang-Woo organized his thoughts and opened his mouth.
"There doesn't seem to be anything awkward about your disguises. To be honest, you've exceeded my expectations. Good work, Vaal Zahak."
"You flatter me," Vaal Zahak said as he clacked his teeth. "I was able to make it a much better quality thanks to Lady Lilith's help."
"Really?"
Kang-Woo turned his head toward Lilith.
Lilith waved her hands and smiled. She slowly walked toward him.
"I was not able to fulfill your other orders yet, but… I have made some progress on how we can conceal Seol-Ah's energy."
"If you're tired, you can take a short break. I can keep Uriel in check. Seol-Ah won't be in danger of being found out as long as we're careful."
"Fufu. I will do my absolute best in anything as long as you command me to do it."
Lilith made a bright smile.
For some reason, Seol-Ah nodded and even took notes for some reason. It was as if she were a student at a lecture.
Lilith said, "Oh, right. I visited the Hall of Protection for a short moment, and I have a message for you from Gaia."
"A message?"
"Yes." Lilith licked her lips. "She would like you to go to Venezuela with Si-Hun."
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