Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

“What do we need to do first to hold a jesa?” Balrog asked.

“Let’s see.”

Oh Kang-Woo pulled out his smartphone and searched for preparing food for a jesa table. There were a lot more things to prepare than he had expected.

“Place the rice, soup, and scorched rice water parallel to the shinwi[1]… what the hell is a shinwi? Rice cake soup or half-moon rice cakes during a national holiday… We can skip this since it’s not a national holiday.”

Kang-Woo scrolled down.

“Alcohol, rice cakes, stew, vinegar, sweet rice punch, wild greens, Korean pancakes, soy sauce, grilled fish, dried meat, kimchi, snacks, and fruit?”

‘Why are there so many things to prepare? No wonder the supermarket becomes a battlefield during national holidays.’

However, Kang-Woo’s Confucianist blood was urging him to hold a proper jesa. He was more than willing to go through the trouble to lay Fel and Firean’s souls to rest.

“I’ll get these ready,” Kang-Woo remarked.

“I can get most of these things at the convenience store. If I can’t find them there, I’ll just break into a supermarket.”

He would let Guardians handle the aftermath; the owner wouldn’t complain if he paid them a hundred times what he took was worth.

“Hmm. Take a look at this, my king.”

Balrog brought out a device the size of a computer screen; it was the custom smartphone for the five-meter Balrog. He was not interested in electronic devices but Korosaki Yurie had gotten one custom-made for him.

‘To think I’d see the day when Balrog uses a smartphone.’

A red lump of muscle using modern conveniences was like seeing a gorilla using wooden sticks to eat ants. Kang-Woo couldn’t help but be impressed.

“This came up as I was looking for pictures of jesa.”

Balrog showed Kang-Woo a picture of a table with a pig head on it— something one wouldn’t usually see in a jesa table.

“Oh, this isn’t for a jesa. It’s for a gosa[2].”

“What is a gosa?”

“No idea.”

Kang-Woo remembered hearing the word somewhere but did not know what the difference between jesa and gosa was.

“Anyway, we won’t need that for the jesa.”

“Hmm, I see. I quite liked the idea of beheading a beast and using its head as a ritual sacrifice. What a shame.”

Balrog stared longingly at the picture of the table with a pig head on it, genuinely disappointed. Kang-Woo smirked.

“There’s no need to be disappointed.”

Kang-Woo was planning on preparing something even better than a pig head.

“Hehehe. In that case, what shall I do?”

“I need you to…”

Kang-Woo smiled as he approached Balrog and told him what he needed to do.

***

Morning arrived. One’s breaths were visible in the freezing winter air. On the rooftop of Kang-Woo’s ultraluxury apartment building was a jesa table Kang-Woo had prepared all night.

“What is this, hyung-nim…?”

Kim Si-Hun, who had sped up to the rooftop as soon as Kang-Woo contacted him, expressed confusion as he stared at the imposing jesa table. He had known Kang-Woo for years but did not remember him holding a jesa for anyone.

“Yes, who are you holding a jesa for?”

Layla, who had also been invited along with Si-Hun, tilted her head in wonder.

Kang-Woo shrugged and answered, “Someone I’d forgotten for a long time.”

“...?”

Layla and Si-Hun, still confused, looked at the tile placed on the jesa table. It had the names Fel and Firean written on it.

“Oh…”

“That’s why you wanted us to gather.”

“Fufu, I was wondering where you had gone off to at night, my king. So you were preparing this.”

Unlike the confused Si-Hun and Layla, Kang-Woo’s three wives nodded as if they perfectly understood. Fel and Firean were the names of the two Halves they saw in Kang-Woo’s memories.

“Fel, Firean,” Kang-Woo said as he put his hands together in front of the tile.

The nightmare he had struggled to forget filled his head.

“...”

“...”

Si-Hun and Layla, who were brought here without knowing what was going on, also remained silent. They couldn’t say anything as they saw the intense sorrow in his deeply sunken eyes.

“I’m sorry… I wasn’t able to protect you back then.”

Kang-Woo apologized for the irreversible past but the apology wouldn’t reach them.

“Hyung-nim…” Si-Hun approached. “I don’t know what happened, but…”

He could easily tell from Kang-Woo’s eyes that he was in intense sorrow.

“I will also mourn for these people you’ve mentioned.”

Si-Hun also put his hands together like Kang-Woo. Just then, he noticed something odd.

“Hyung-nim, what is this plate on the jesa table for?”

There was a large empty plate in the middle of the neatly prepared jesa table.

‘Did he forget to put a meat dish or soup in it?’

However, the fundamental dishes one would need for a jesa were already on the table.

“Oh, that?” Kang-Woo smiled and continued, “I was just about to prepare it.”

“...?”

“Just a second.” Kang-Woo walked to the center of the rooftop and pointed his palm toward the ground. “Abyss Summoning.”

Wriggle.

His palm split and black mucus flowed down to the ground. The sticky mucus squirmed like a living thing and began to take form.

[I-I am…]

It was a demon shrouded in darkness. He was no bigger than the average person but the evil energy that exuded from him was suffocating.

“S-Satan?”

Si-Hun’s eyes widened in panic. He knew Kang-Woo could summon Satan but didn’t know why he would summon him during a jesa.

“Balrog.”

“Yes, my king.”

Kang-Woo and Balrog paid no mind to the confused Si-Hun and took action.

[Wh-What?] Satan stuttered as he looked back and forth at Kang-Woo and Balrog who were standing at his front and back.

Kang-Woo did not answer and instead said, “Well, then.” He closed his eyes and continued in a deep voice, “Let us begin the jesa.”

He recalled the sequence of the rite he had memorized.

‘First, kangshin[3].’

It was the procedure of lighting incense to call down the ancestor’s spirit. Fel and Firean were not his ancestors but there was no problem as long as they performed the ritual greeting to call down their spirits.

Fwoosh.

Kang-Woo brought the incense close to the candlelight, creating a stream of smoke. He stared at the smoke with shaking eyes. He could remember Satan looking down at him arrogantly with Fel’s neck in his grasp.

“A-Aaaahh.”

He could see the wretched memories of Fel’s body being split into tiny pieces and Firean’s screams echoed inside his head. They were no mere hallucinations— their spirits had been summoned.

“They’re… crying.”

Kang-Woo could feel it. At this very moment, Firean had risen from the tile and was screaming in agony; Kang-Woo could hear him loud and clear.

“Satan…”

[Wh-What is going on here? Why have you summoned me?] asked Satan, slightly in fear.

He had been traumatized by how he had become a Friend Shield or something like that when he was summoned the last time. He looked around to see if he would go through something similar this time as well but he couldn’t see anyone who seemed to be an enemy.

“Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan, SATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!”

[Wh-What?!]

“You… You can hear them too, can’t you?”

[...?]

“Fel’s screams!!! Firean’s bellows!!! Can you hear them?!”

[What bullshit are you spouting?]

“Bull…shit? Did you just say bullshit…? A-Arghh.”

Kang-Woo pulled on his hair. Intense rage filled his head.

‘Is he saying he can’t hear Fel and Firean’s voices? Their spirits are screaming so loudly! How can he not hear them?!’

“WR—”

If that was the case, he would have to use his mouth to let Satan hear.

“WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY—!!!”

Kang-Woo screamed exactly like how Fel and Firean were screaming. The vengeful spirits entered Kang-Woo’s body. He had become one with the two Halves.

Si-Hun muttered, “That’s not exactly what kangshin means…”

However, Kang-Woo couldn’t hear it.

“Grrrk, guh, urghhh!”

Kang-Woo foamed at the mouth with his eyes rolled back. He was not the only one acting strangely.

“Krrrk!! Arghhh!! Gah!!”

Balrog, standing behind Satan, was also foaming at the mouth with his eyes rolled back behind.

“WRYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!”

“KRRRRRRRRRRRRK!!!”

Kang-Woo and Balrog’s limbs trembled as they screeched monstrously. Kang-Woo stretched his arms forward and Balrog crouched to grab Kang-Woo’s hands, Satan between their arms. They then spun around Satan, who had collapsed to his knees.

“KERERERERERERERERERE!!”

They screeched as they titled their head back and stuck out their tongues.

[Huh…?]

It could no longer be called a jesa. Satan was left wide-eyed as he witnessed something similar to people from ancient civilizations offering a sacrifice to a mad god.

[W-Wait!]

Satan trembled in fear as he looked up at Kang-Woo and Balrog screeching as they spun around him. He couldn’t understand why he had to go through something like this after being awakened from his slumber inside the Abyss.

“KERERERERERERERERERE!!”

“KRARARARARARARARARA!!!”

[Wh-Why are you doing this?!] Satan shouted as he looked up at the two demons spinning crazily around him and screaming monstrously. [Wh-What do you want from me?!!]

“WRYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

[STOP MAKING THOSE WEIRD NOISES!!! I ASKED YOU WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME!!!]

“GYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHH!!!”

[B-Balrog!!! Leaving that demented Demon King aside, you were never like this!!]

“KRARARARARARARARARA!!!”

[STOOOOOOOOOOP!!!]

Balrog did not answer and simply screeched like an alien. Kang-Woo and Balrog let go of each other’s hands and jumped repeatedly with their shaking arms raised high in the air.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground shook each time Balrog landed on it.

[WHY ARE YOU DOING THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS?!!]

His summoner and his subordinate were screaming and spinning around him crazily without a word of explanation as soon as he was summoned. Satan couldn’t understand this situation at all no matter how much he racked his brain.

“WRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!”

Kang-Woo paid no mind to Satan’s questions and continued the jesa.

[Hey.]

He was now doing flips in the air as he spun around Satan.

[E-Excuse me?]

He then sprinted in a handstand.

[Kurgh… Sniff.]

Satan’s yellow eyes inside the shroud of darkness teared up. Fear welled up from inside his soul.

[Why…? You could at least tell me why you are doing this…]

Tears flowed down the cheek of the Prince of Wrath, the demon who used to be one of the seven princes of Hell who ruled the Ninth Hell.

1. It is the “spiritual body that represents the presence of the dead. It can be a photo portrait or a tablet with the ancestor’s name written on it. ☜

2. Gosa is a ceremony to help protect against misfortunes before opening a business, an event, and/or a festival. ☜

3. It means the manifestation of gods or spirits. ☜

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