After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 125 - Engagement Ceremony (3)

“H-Huh...?”

Oh Kang-Woo looked around in confusion again. He could feel gazes as cold as frost from the four women. Their expressions were not of admiration and thrill unlike what he had hoped; only contempt could be seen in their eyes.

‘I’m fucked.’

He could instinctively tell that his wholehearted proposal had gone down the gutter.

“I...! I’ve been wronged!!!”

‘Si-Hun said it would work for sure!!!’

“Oh... Hoho. It’s okay, Kang-Woo. I just couldn’t understand what you were talking about for a moment.”

Han Seol-Ah just barely regained her senses and smiled as she caressed the cheek of Kang-Woo kneeling in front of her. She was like an angel in his eyes like what he had expressed.

“D-Darling.”

“Your line was... moving.”

“R-Right? You were moved by it, right?”

“Hohoho, of course. R-Right, Yeon-Joo?”

“Oh Kang-Woo,” said Cha Yeon-Joo as she approached Kang-Woo. She continued without hesitation, “I want a divorce.”

“We haven’t even gotten married yet!!!” Kang-Woo shouted.

“Hm... Kang-Woo, that was awful.”

“Fufufu. I’m not sure, but it certainly didn’t feel that good to hear.”

Echidna and Lilith also said their pieces.

“No way...”

Kang-Woo lowered his head in despair. The four women giggled.

“Don’t feel so pressured, Kang-Woo,” Seol-Ah consoled. She lightly embraced him and whispered gently, “I want to hear what you feel straight from the heart instead of any cool lines you’ve heard somewhere.”

“...”

“Could you do that for me?”

Kang-Woo was energized by Seol-Ah’s words.

“Haaa,” he sighed and nodded. He got on one knee in front of Seol-Ah again and said, “I’m not sure what to say since I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

He had pulled out the line he had gotten from the emergency meeting but it had failed royally. He grabbed Seol-Ah’s hand and clumsily said his honest thoughts.

“I thought I was the unluckiest person in the world.”

Kang-Woo was an orphan who didn’t even know his parents’ names from the moment of his birth. He worked to survive each day after leaving the orphanage and had to fight for his life for ten millennia after suddenly falling into Hell for some reason.

“My days in Hell... were very hard on me.”

Words couldn’t describe the things he had gone through. The nightmares were wretched, miserable, and horrifying. The despair from surviving day after day without knowing when it would end could never be expressed by language.

He thought every day about why he was the only one who had to suffer through this pain. He wondered what he did that was so wrong. Everyone likely had a few joyful moments in their lives, so why couldn’t he have even one?

He curled up into a ball and cried like a baby. The irresolvable knots bound and suffocated him. He thought he was the unluckiest person in the world.

“But...”

Kang-Woo met her; the kindest, warmest, and most beautiful woman in the world. The woman whom he would never have met if he had not returned to Earth at that very moment.

“Seol-Ah.”

Kang-Woo slowly stood up and pulled out a ring from his pocket. It was made by compressing demonic energy from the Abyss to its absolute limit and even contained the Flames of Voracity. The black ring with golden light shining around it could awe anyone with its beauty.

“Meeting you was...”

He took off the ring he had given her in the past from her ring finger and replaced it with the new ring he made. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw the shining ring on Seol-Ah’s pale finger.

“A fortune greater than all the misfortune in my life combined.”

Kang-Woo lightly pulled Seol-Ah by her hand and kissed her.

“Ah...”

Seol-Ah trembled subtly with her eyes widened after the kiss. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

“Huh? Darling?”

Kang-Woo stared at Seol-Ah in panic. Seol-Ah continued to cry as she stared blankly at him.

‘What’s going on? Did I fuck up again?’

That did not seem to be the case based on the others’ reactions.

“Sniff... Kang-Woo... Waaaaaaah!” Seol-Ah burst into tears and hugged Kang-Woo. “I-I’m so happy that... I-I feel like I’m going crazy.”

She buried her face into Kang-Woo’s shoulder and bawled her eyes out.

“Haaa. Seol-Ah, your makeup’s gonna be ruined.”

“Sniff... B-But... K-Kang-Woo just... He just...!!!”

“Yeah, I was here the whole time. I heard it too. Go to the bathroom and clean yourself up.”

Yeon-Joo gently pushed Seol-Ah by the back. Seol-Ah staggered toward the bathroom.

“For fuck’s sake...” Yeon-Joo glared at Kang-Woo. “You can say something like that but went with her mother being a criminal? That she stole her from heaven?”

“Ack! What?! Why are you hitting me again?!” Kang-Woo shouted.

“Dunno, motherfucker.”

Yeon-Joo stomped on Kang-Woo’s foot. It was only for a moment but she was so envious as well as jealous of the fact that it was not her whom Kang-Woo met the moment he returned to Earth but Seol-Ah.

“Well... Anyway.” Yeon-Joo turned away and dragged the tip of the high heel which she wasn’t used to wearing on the floor. “That was... you know, moving.”

That should have been up to Seol-Ah to say but she was so moved that she could barely speak.

“Whoa.”

Kang-Woo smiled in satisfaction after being unexpectedly complimented by Yeon-Joo.

‘Right, next.’

He turned to Lilith. Since he successfully managed to propose to Seol-Ah, it was Lilith’s turn next.

“Lilith.”

“Oh? Is it my turn this time?”

Lilith smiled alluringly as always. Kang-Woo nodded and walked toward her.

“Hmm.” Lilith caressed her wedding dress which had a backless design. “This reminds me of when we got married in Hell.”

She had not worn a wedding dress like this back then but special clothes made with a material difficult to find in Hell.

“But of course, things have changed so much compared to back then.”

Lilith giggled as she expressed slight sorrow. Kang-Woo, who had declared war against the seven princes of Hell, had a political marriage with Lilith for their forces to unite. She still remembered his face during the wedding ceremony with countless demons attending it.

“Your expression was of... extreme disgust.”

“That’s—”

“I know. You didn’t love me back then.”

“...”

To be more exact, Kang-Woo couldn’t love Lilith, a woman with looks that couldn’t be accepted in terms of human beauty standards. People commonly said that inner beauty was more important than outer beauty but there was a point where that couldn’t apply.

“W-Wait! What the hell does that mean?!”

“H-Hm?! You were married, Kang-Woo?!”

Yeon-Joo and Echidna stared at them in shock. They had lived together for a while but it was their first time hearing that Kang-Woo and Lilith were spouses.

“Hoho. There’s nothing to be shocked about. Our marriage back then was but an empty engagement with no love.”

Kang-Woo and Lilith decided to consider that political marriage never happened. Kang-Woo had never once called Lilith his wife after their marriage.

“B-But still...”

“Shockers! Huge shockers!”

Yeon-Joo and Echidna still couldn’t get over that Kang-Woo and Lilith had already married once. Kang-Woo smirked as he stared at the two shocked women.

“Lilith is right. My marriage with Lilith back then was only for political gain, but now is different.” Kang-Woo got on one knee in front of Lilith as he had done with Seol-Ah. “Lilith.”

“Yes, my king.”

Lilith smiled and brought her left hand forward. Kang-Woo gently reached for her hand and grabbed it. Her hand was clean, free of hideous tentacles and pus.

“I’m sorry.”

“Pardon? For what?” Lilith tilted her head in wonder.

“I made you wait far too long.”

“...” Lilith flinched. She closed her eyes to think and then slowly shook her head. She gently stroked Kang-Woo’s cheek and continued, “No, I am also at fault. I didn’t try to understand you. I was off in my little world and tried to force you into loving what you hated.”

A tear fell on the back of her hand caressing Kang-Woo’s cheek.

“But I’m happy, hehe. It took a long time, but... I’ve gained your true love at last.”

Lilith’s centuries' worth of unrequited love had bore fruit at last.

“Hoho. I wonder why? The tears... won’t stop.”

Lilith wiped her tears with the back of her hand. They did not stop despite her knowing such a sight did not suit her.

“It’s okay to cry,” said Kang-Woo as he took out a ring just for her. It was the same as Seol-Ah’s— a beautiful black ring with golden light mixed in it. “Today is your day.”

He placed the ring on her left ring finger.

“My king... No, h-honey.”

Lilith smiled, her cheeks bright red. She twisted as she gently stroked the ring on her finger. It was Kang-Woo’s first time seeing such a side to Lilith.

“Honey... Mmm. It’s hard to get used to this. I think I should keep calling you my king for the time being.” Lilith sighed softly and shook her head. She softly embraced Kang-Woo and whispered sweetly, “I’ve always wanted to ask you for something. Could you hear me out?”

Kang-Woo nodded without hesitation and answered, “Go ahead.”

Lilith smiled and asked, “Could you... call me honey just once?”

“...”

It seemed she had always wanted Kang-Woo to address her with a title used only by spouses ever since they got married in the Ninth Hell. Kang-Woo smiled and grabbed her by the waist.

“Just once? I’ll call you that as much as you like, honey.”

“Hohoho. My, I’m... so happy that this doesn’t feel real.” Lilith trembled and kissed Kang-Woo. “Fufu. But since you’ll have three honeys from now on, please just call me that only when there’s just the two of us.”

Lilith winked and stepped backward. With this, Kang-Woo’s proposal to Lilith succeeded as well. Just one person remained.

“I-I don’t wanna hear those cringy-ass lines, so just put the ring on my finger already!” Yeon-Joo shouted as she jutted her left arm forward, noticing her turn had arrived.

“No,” Kang-Woo replied.

“Huh? No what?”

Kang-Woo smirked as he stared at Yeon-Joo. “You’re not getting a ring, Yeon-Joo.”

“Hah?”

Yeon-Joo’s expression crumpled.