Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

- You’ve really outdone yourself, huh?

A boy’s voice echoed inside Oh Kang-Woo’s head.

Kang-Woo smiled faintly and answered, "I had plenty of time thanks to a certain dumbass, after all."

- H-Hihi.

A quiet crazed laughter echoed. The corners of Kang-Woo’s mouth lowered and he stared at the red Rift coldly.

"Bael," said the king of demons. "Let’s end this."

Crack!

The red Rift contorted and ripped open further. Kang-Woo heard footsteps from across the Rift and walked out a boy with black hair.

"Yeah, it’s about time we did." Bael took a deep breath after walking out of the Rift. He looked around and cackled. "It’s been a while."

He stretched out his long tongue and licked his lips. The corners of his mouth tore up to his ears, exposing his red gums and the sharp teeth that protruded out from them.

"I don’t think it’s been that long," Kang-Woo responded.

"I wasn’t talking to you."

"... What?"

Kang-Woo frowned.

"Hihihi!" Bael cackled, having no intention of elaborating.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he stared at Bael. "Let me ask you something."

"Hm?" Bael tilted his head.

A question had been on Kang-Woo’s mind ever since his reunion with Bael, and he was unable to find the answer no matter how much he thought about it.

"Why do you have the Authority of Predation?"

The Authority of Predation was what made Kang-Woo what he was now— no, it was pretty much a part of him at this point. However, Bael had it as well.

’There can’t be more than one of the same Authority.’

Kang-Woo could use more than one Authority because he had absorbed the Authorities themselves with the Authority of Predation, but they were ultimately different Authorities; multiple copies of the same Authority couldn’t exist.

"H-Hihi!" Bael snickered in exasperation. "You’re asking… why do I have the Authority of Predation?" He spread his arms widely and continued, "Because… I was first."

"..." Kang-Woo wasn’t following. "What does that mean?"

"H-Hihi!! It means exactly what it sounds like! I… I was before you."

"And I’m asking what that m—"

"I!!!" Bael stomped his foot fiercely. He cried, "I CLIMBED FIRST!! FROM THE FIRST TO THE NINTH HELL!! I CLIMBED TO THE TOP BEFORE YOU!!"

"..."

"H-Hihihi!! I suffered like crazy, you know? To live! TO SURVIVE!! I DESPERATELY STRUGGLED!"

Bael had crawled pathetically, miserably, and desperately.

"I ate, ate, ate, and ate again! And then I reached the Ninth Hell while you were still idling away in the upper floors! But why?! Why were you the one who completed the Demonic Sea?!"

Kang-Woo, a mere amoeba slower and weaker than him, managed to complete the Demonic Sea that Bael couldn’t.

"..."

Kang-Woo’s eyes shook. Bael’s wretched screams etched into his mind.

"So, what you’re saying is…" Kang-Woo stared at Bael as if he had never even considered the possibility. "You were… also a human who fell into Hell on that day."

Kang-Woo was not the only one devoured by the black Rift and fell into Hell.

’Ohhh. I see, so that’s what he meant.’

Kang-Woo chuckled.

- It’s been a while.

Bael had not been referring to Kang-Woo but to Earth, which he was looking around at.

’Yeah, I’ve heard about it.’

Bael was the very first demon to start from the First Hell and reach the Ninth, not Kang-Woo.

’And…’

He was also the first to kill a prince of Hell and take over his seat. Although the history was buried because of Kang-Woo’s miraculous feats after reaching the Ninth Hell, Bael had also undeniably rewritten the history of the Nine Hells.

"Yeah, I was." Bael glared ferociously at Kang-Woo and gritted his teeth. "And I reached the Ninth Hell several times faster than you."

"..."

"You and I…" Bael shook his leg temperamentally and continued, "We are but vessels made to complete the Demonic Sea."

The Demon God had created Bael and Oh Kang-Woo solely for that purpose.

"No, I guess it wasn’t just you and me," Bael mentioned.

"... It wasn’t?"

"Yeah! The Demon God made countless vessels like you and me!" Bael gritted his teeth and mumbled, "And among those who survived, the one closest to completion wasn’t you… but me."

"... Hah," Kang-Woo chuckled.

’So that’s why that son of a bitch called me a puppet.’

Kang-Woo was nothing but a vessel to hold the Demonic Sea, destined for the Demon God to take over once the Demonic Sea was completed.

"Alright… I more or less understand what you’re talking about now, but… so what?"

"... What?"

"You’re making all this sound so fucking grandiose, but it just means you’re nothing but a dumbass who wasn’t able to complete the Demonic Sea, doesn’t it?"

"..."

"If you were the best of us, then you would have completed it."

But the one who did was not Bael but Kang-Woo.

"..." Bael’s eyes shook. He grimaced and temperamentally bit his nail. "H-Hihihi!! I don’t understand… Why was it you and not me? Hm?"

He was the most perfect out of all the vessels the Demon God created, but he had ultimately failed.

"Why? Why? Why? Why?"

Bang, bang, bang.

Bael stomped his foot and shouted, "WHY?! WHY WAS IT YOU AND NOT ME?!!"

Bael glared madly at Kang-Woo. There was only one emotion filling his eyes.

"Sheesh, I can feel your inferiority complex from here, you loser," Kang-Woo mocked.

He couldn’t help but laugh as he felt Bael’s intense sense of inferiority directed at him.

"You wanna know why you weren’t able to complete the Demonic Sea? Isn’t it obvious?" Kang-Woo stared at Bael with deeply sunken eyes. "It’s because you didn’t desire it."

Arakyle was right. Desire was what made demons what they were; only desire could complete them.

"I… didn’t desire?" Bael muttered.

"Exactly."

Kang-Woo recalled the Bael he had met back in the Ninth Hell. He became the most powerful prince of Hell after killing Beelzebub and taking his seat as the Prince of Gluttony.

"But that’s all you amounted to."

"..."

"You killed a prince of Hell and took his seat."

"What’s so wrong about th—"

"And what did you do after that?"

"I…"

"That’s right. You were…" Kang-Woo smiled. "Satisfied with that."

Bael stopped desiring after becoming known as the strongest prince of Hell and realizing that no one was his equal. He had given up.

"Unlike you…"

Kang-Woo took a deep breath. Unlike Bael, who was satisfied with the seat of a prince of Hell, Kang-Woo was never satisfied even after becoming the king of demons and completing the Demonic Sea.

"... How?" Bael stared at Kang-Woo in disbelief. "How can you be like that?"

"Because we desired different things." Kang-Woo chuckled. They were both vessels for the Demonic Sea but had different desires. "That’s probably the difference between you and me."

"H-Hihihi!!" Bael laughed like a maniac. "So, what was it that you wanted? What grandiose thing did you desire so badly that you were able to get your hands on the Demonic Sea?!"

"Mm, well…"

Kang-Woo crossed his arms and thought about what he desired in the Nine Hells so badly to the point that he managed to gain the immense power of the Demonic Sea.

"I wanted… kimchi stew."

"... What?"

"Come on, man, didn’t you miss it too? You’re from Earth, too. I mean, I don’t know if you were Korean, but the spicy soup, the sour kimchi, the white rice, and the thick meat…"

’I had more than enough desire left over even after completing the Demonic Sea, no cap.’

"What the fuck…?"

"I mean, there were some other things as well… No, a lot of other things."

"..."

"Women. Yeah, I wanted to see women, too. Let’s see… Yeah. I wanted to curl up in some warm bed covers and read novels with the air conditioner blasting."

’What a life.’

Bael was left with his mouth agape as he stared at Kang-Woo.

"What?" Kang-Woo snickered. "You think they’re dumbass reasons? You think they’re pathetic?"

Bael remained silent but his fiercely blazing eyes were giving away his answer.

"Okay, then." Kang-Woo smiled and asked, "Would you have been able to do it?"

"What?"

"Would you have been able to make my desires a reality back when you were hailed as the strongest prince of Hell?"

"That’s…" Bael slurred.

Kang-Woo’s desires were impossible to make a reality in the Nine Hells. In other words…

"It would have only been possible by killing the seven princes of Hell, collecting the weapons containing the princes’ souls, and getting the help of a demonic scholar knowledgeable enough to bend space and time."

No, it would have been impossible even with all those factors; Kang-Woo didn’t know about it at the time, but he also needed to break through the defense system known as Earth’s protection with nothing to protect him.

"..."

"Would you have been able to do all those things?"

"Well…" Bael’s voice shook.

It would be a piece of cake for him now since he had the Demon God’s Heart, Deific Essence, and even the privileges to bend the Law of Titans.

’But if it were me back then…’

If it had been the Bael who had taken the seat of the Prince of Gluttony, was satisfied there, and stopped desiring…

"..."

Would he have dared to even think about an absurd goal like going back to Earth? Would he have been able to continue desiring desperately for it and push through to the very end?

"..." Bael gritted his teeth.

"Right, then. You understand why I’m the one with the Demonic Sea now, right?"

Kang-Woo did not want to live as a demon. He did not want to stay in Hell.

"At the very core, I’m not a demon but the human Oh Kang-Woo."

"Human? Human, you say? Hihihi!" Bael grabbed his stomach and crouched. "No."

"..."

"You and I…" Bael pointed at Kang-Woo and then at himself. His eyes glinted with madness as he said, "Yes, we have never once been human."

"..."

Kang-Woo recalled the memory of when he was inside his consciousness.

- Do you remember the face of your mother?

He recalled what Demon God Bauli said to him.

- How could a normal human possess the Authority of Predation? Could a human that is nothing remain sane after absorbing such an enormous amount of demonic energy?

The answer was simple. Kang-Woo was never human from the very beginning. He had been a monster wearing human skin since his days on Earth.

’... I kinda expected that.’

He had expected that he was not normal ever since he used the Authority of Predation when he first fell into Hell.

"So what?" Kang-Woo asked apathetically.

"... You’re not surprised?"

Bael tilted his head, unable to understand. Kang-Woo chuckled at Bael’s reaction, which was the same as that of Bauli.

"What? Do you want me to be shocked? Huh? Do you want me to kneel in despair, saying shit like ’T-To think I was never human!!’ ?"

It didn’t matter whether or not Kang-Woo was human at this point. Even if he was nothing but a monster in human skin…

"Why should I give a shit?"

Whatever he was, he had lived, survived, and desired as a human.

"Can’t I just be classified as a human if I did all that?"

Bael remained silent, completely flabbergasted.

"You’ve been going on with the exposition as you excitedly expose grandiose and dumbass hidden secrets like us being vessels to complete the Demonic Sea, monsters in human skin, but it doesn’t change shit."

Whatever Oh Kang-Woo was, it did not erase the life that he had lived as Oh Kang-Woo. It was as impossible as erasing the world just by closing one’s eyes.

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