After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 27 - Rose Time (3)

An awkward silence fell. Oh Kang-Woo turned around to look at Cha Yeon-Joo, who was grabbing his clothes, not having expected such a development.

“Ngh...”

She was trembling with her eyes shut tightly. Kang-Woo was short at the moment so he could see her face flushed red.

“S-Say something... dammit,” said Yeon-Joo in a voice that sounded as if she were about to burst into tears any second.

She gripped Kang-Woo’s clothes harder with her trembling hand.

“Pfft!” Kang-Woo couldn’t hold in his laughter.

“Wh-What the hell?! Why are you laughing?!” she shouted, her face completely red.

Kang-Woo reached for Yeon-Joo’s head to sweep down her disheveled hair.

“You were just so cute that it just came out.”

“Wh-What?!”

Yeon-Joo stepped backward in surprise.

“Hehehe, gimme a second. I’ll text Darling that I’ll be late.”

Kang-Woo took out his smartphone to text Han Seol-Ah.

[Darling ❤]

Darling ❤: I-It’s already 1 AM and you’re going to be even more late?

Darling ❤: What are you doing with Yeon-Joo?! ?(?`^′?)?

Darling ❤: Where are you right now, Kang-Woo?

Darling ❤: I’m heading to where you are right nodsdjfhaksndbvcu

Incomprehensible messages were sent all of a sudden but only for a moment.

Darling ❤: Hehehe. This is Lilith, my king.

Darling ❤: I’ll calm Seol-Ah down, so have a wonderful time~

Darling ❤: Oh, but you have to promise you’ll tell us everything that happened in detail once you come back ❤

“Looks like... I’ll be in for it once I go back home.” Kang-Woo smiled bitterly as he imagined what was happening from across the phone screen. He turned to the fidgeting Yeon-Joo and asked, “So, where do you want to go?”

“Huh...?”

“You asked me not to go. It’s not because you want to just stand here and do nothing, right?”

“O-Oh! R-Right!” Yeon-Joo quickly nodded, her eyes filled with puzzlement as if she had not thought ahead. “Uhh, th-then...”

The gears turned quickly inside her head.

‘It’s a bit late to go to another bar...’

The bars in the area were about to close now that it was 1 AM. They would be able to find one that closed later if they looked, but Yeon-Joo did not want to waste precious time.

“Ah,” she expressed, having thought of a great idea. She grabbed Kang-Woo’s hand with sparkling eyes and yelled, “PC room!”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go to a PC room!”

“...”

***

Kang-Woo followed Yeon-Joo to an extremely clean and luxurious PC room.

“Oh! Welcome, Miss Cha Yeon-Joo! It’s been a while!”

The owner rushed to Yeon-Joo and bowed, likely because he knew who she was. Yeon-Joo nodded softly and turned to look at one area of the PC room.

“Give us the VIP seats.”

“I understand. However... we do not accept minors...”

“He’s not a minor. I guarantee it.”

“Oh... very well. I will trust you, Miss Cha.”

Kang-Woo looked to be about a middle schooler no matter how one looked at him but the owner smiled awkwardly and guided the two to their seats. The guest was none other than the master of the Red Rose guild; no one could say otherwise even if she were to bring an infant with her into the PC room.

“I’ll give you unlimited hours, so please enjoy!”

The owner quickly turned to leave after guiding the two people to their VIP seats. Kang-Woo looked around the seats with great interest. Either because it was late or because they were in VIP seats, no one else was around.

“Man, it’s been a while since I’ve been to a PC room.”

“Hihihi, me too. I’ve wanted to come here so bad for the past month.”

“But it won’t change the fact that you’re a Bronze.”

“Wh-What did you say?!” Yeon-Joo glared at Kang-Woo. “I-I may be Bronze, but my skills aren’t!”

“Sounds like something a Bronze would say.”

“Urgh! Y-You son of a bitch!” Yeon-Joo glared at him in fury. “Shut up and sit down already! I’ll be teaching you everything I know about this game today!”

“Wait. Before that, there’s one thing we have to do when we’re in a PC room.”

Kang-Woo clicked on the Open Menu button in all seriousness. Yeon-Joo chuckled as Kang-Woo was ordering food before even opening the game.

“You still want to stuff your face more after eating that much?”

Kang-Woo gulped and replied, “However hungry you may be, you can’t just skip out on PC room instant ramen.”

He did not particularly crave instant ramen at home but the cravings amplified exponentially when in a PC room for some reason.

“Whoa, what do we have here? Omori kimchi stew ramen?”

Kang-Woo’s eyes shone once he discovered a certain instant ramen on the menu.

‘A kimchi stew flavored instant ramen!’

He couldn’t believe someone managed to think of such an astoundingly genius idea.

“I can’t believe I never knew a product as great as this existed...”

Kang-Woo never had a chance to eat junk food products because Seol-Ah always made him food.

“Alright, I’ll order five of them to start,” Kang-Woo remarked.

“You won’t even have the space to put them all so just order one, you damn kimchi stew maniac.”

Yeon-Joo stopped Kang-Woo as he was about to complete his order and lowered the quantity to one. Kang-Woo’s eyes turned noticeably sorrowful but it was true that there would be no space to fit five instant ramen cups.

“That aside, are we playing the game we played when we first met? It was... LoL, right?”

“Of course it is. I don’t even consider games other than LoL to be games,” she replied firmly as she turned on the game. There were over a hundred characters to choose from on the list of characters known as champions.

“Let’s see, a character easy for a beginner to use would be...”

Yeon-Joo leaned over to Kang-Woo’s side and moved his mouse. Her long red hair tickled Kang-Woo’s nose along with a fragrant scent.

“Your hair,” Kang-Woo remarked.

“Huh? Oh, did it touch you? Sor—”

“You look good with long hair too.”

“Wh-What?!” Yeon-Joo rolled her chair back with her face flushed. “Wh-What the fuck are you talking about?!”

She cursed as she fanned her flushed face. She placed her hand over her flat chest, took deep breaths, and rolled her chair back to Kang-Woo’s seat.

“Stop talking nonsense and let me recommend you a champion to use. Mm, if you’re a beginner, you’re best off using Sona... Gasp.”

Yeon-Joo’s eyes shone as she thought of something after thinking deeply. The corners of her mouth rose and she snickered.

“What?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Hihihi. Nothing in particular,” she giggled as she chose a champion.

- Death is like the wind— always by my side.

“What a fucking line.” Kang-Woo chuckled.

Yeon-Joo had chosen for him a samurai character commonly seen in anime.

“Hehe. It’s the perfect character for beginners.”

“Mm. He looks difficult to play for a beginner.”

Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion as he read the champion’s ability descriptions but Yeon-Joo pounded his back as if telling him not to worry.

“Just give him a try. Oh, and he’s a support champion.”

“Support?”

“Yeah. Remember when we first met and two people went down the bottom lane? That’s where support champions go.”

“Then I just go with you?”

“Nope.” Yeon-Joo shook her head firmly. “I’m going down the top lane to do my own thing, so you’ll be with someone else.”

“Eh? But that defeats the purpose of playing together...”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Yeon-Joo smiled as she paid for something with her smartphone, and logged into the game.

“Hm? Your ID is different from what I remember,” Kang-Woo said.

“You’re a beginner so I bought a new account,” she said leisurely as she entered the queue with Kang-Woo.

Yeon-Joo cracked her knuckles and warmed up before they were matched into a game.

“First off, the most important thing in LoL is to assert dominance,” she said as she typed numbers in the chat.

No Botlane Teleport: 5

No Botlane Teleport: 4

No Botlane Teleport: 3

No Botlane Teleport: 2

World’s Best Mid: hello ^^

Butterfly Valley: nice to meet you all ^^ I’m in my placement matches... let’s have a good game!

“Alright, this is more like it.”

Yeon-Joo smiled in satisfaction as two people chatted before the unknown countdown ended. She looked like a ruthless troll for some reason.

“...” Kang-Woo stared at the smiling Yeon-Jo in silence.

He could understand more why she was still in a low tier despite possessing superhuman physical prowess.

Throw If Not Vayne: who tf is that lunatic?

No Botlane Teleport: lunatic? Are you talking to me?

Butterfly Valley: haha ^^ let’s not do this before the game even starts... let’s strive for a good match with no swearing involved.

“Mm, I don’t like the ADC’s attitude.” Yeon-Joo stared at the chat in dissatisfaction. With a smile, she grabbed Kang-Woo’s shoulder and said, “Right, now just choose the champion I showed you earlier.”

“Okay.”

Kang-Woo selected the character Yeon-Joo recommended to him.

Throw If Not Vayne: ?

Butterfly Valley: Yasuo support?

World’s Best Mid: tf

“There are a lot of question marks getting typed,” Kang-Woo said.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just ignore all of them!”

Yeon-Joo cackled as she pounded on Kang-Woo’s back. The game then began.

‘Alright, I’ll get serious.’

Kang-Woo’s eyes shone as he purchased a sword that popped up as a recommended item.

‘Both Echidna and Yeon-Joo like this game.’

He could play with them if he took this opportunity to learn how.

“Let’s see... I get gold when I kill those tiny monsters.”

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Hasagi!

Ton!

“This character is pretty fun.” Kang-Woo nodded in satisfaction as he massacred the monsters. “And once I do this...”

Sorye ge ton!

Double Kill!

“Nice!”

Kang-Woo dodged attacks with his godly fast hands and killed two enemies with a flashy combo.

Throw If Not Vayne: ffs

Throw If Not Vayne: y the fk r u killing all the minions and taking all the kills??

“Pfft! Hihihi! Fucking idiot! How do you like it now that you’re on the receiving end?!”

Yeon-Joo burst into laughter, having the time of her life reading the chat.

“...?”

Kang-Woo tilted his head, unable to understand.

‘The hell? Why are they swearing at me when we fought together and won? Was this not a team game?’

Throw If Not Vayne: yo yasuo u don’t have a mommy do ya?

“What...?”

Kang-Woo stared at the screen in shock.

‘This son of a bitch... how does he know that I don’t have a mother? Could it be... my information was leaked?!’

Someone might have gotten access to Kang-Woo’s personal information which Lilith had been keeping classified.

“Shit.”

Kang-Woo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists anxiously.

‘This isn’t good.’

He needed to capture the person who figured out his identity as soon as possible.