After Ten Millennia in Hell-Chapter 14Epilogue - Interlude - Backstage Story

“Anyway, I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kang-Woo!”

Echidna smiled brightly as she hugged Oh Kang-Woo’s arm. Kang-Woo could tell from the beads of sweat on her forehead that she was still pumped up from the heat of the performance. Kang-Woo grabbed a clean towel from a nearby table and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Ehehe. You’re so kind, Kang-Woo.”

Echidna smiled and rested her head on Kang-Woo’s shoulder. Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and patted her head in silence.

“Right, I have to undo the Authority of Transformation now, so I’ll head to the changing room.”

“Hm! Just do it here! The performance is over so no one will come to the waiting room!”

“I mean, you’re still here.”

Kang-Woo could change his appearance with the Authority of Transformation but couldn’t create clothes out of thin air. If he undid the Authority of Transformation here, he would become an abyssal creature— a muscular man wearing a short frilly skirt.

“I’m fine with it!” Echidna shouted.

“But I’m not!”

“Then you can just change first, can’t you?”

“That’s why I said I was going to the changing room!”

“Which changing room are you going to?”

“Oh...”

Come to think of it, Kang-Woo couldn’t enter the men’s or women’s changing room since his gender would change once he came back out.

“Urgh. Alright, I’ll change here, so wait outside.”

“Hm! No!”

“Why not?”

“Since the performance is over, you’re going straight home, right?! I wanna stay with you for as long as possible!” shouted Echidna as she aggressively hugged him. She muttered, “Kang-Woo.”

“Haaa. Yeah?”

Kang-Woo sighed deeply as he patted Echidna’s back, unable to refuse. Echidna lowered her head while in his arms to avert her gaze.

“I’ll become a mature dragon in a few years.”

“...”

A deathly silence fell. Kang-Woo could easily figure out why she had brought that up all of a sudden. He had said he would think seriously about accepting her feelings once she became a mature dragon.

‘How does Echidna feel about me?’

He had long since realized she no longer saw him as her master. He had been postponing his answer because Echidna did not know much about this world at the time but knew he would have to answer eventually.

‘Seol-Ah said she was fine with it, but...’

At first, Kang-Woo had nonchalantly thought he wouldn’t mind accepting Echidna’s feelings if Han Seol-Ah was fine with it, but his mind changed over time.

‘I shouldn’t accept her feelings so nonchalantly.’

Just as her feelings for him were genuine, it was only right that he also needed to be genuine. He had come up with an answer after much thought.

“Echidna, I—”

“Don’t,” Echidna interjected and shook her head. “Don’t... say anything right now.”

“...”

Kang-Woo could feel Echidna’s shoulders trembling— she was trembling in fear, not anticipation. She was likely aware of the answer he was about to give her.

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It was not that he had no feelings toward Echidna; she was still young, although not in human years, but she was cute and lovely enough to set the hearts of countless people on fire. He was also a healthy man so he did not want to push away Echidna who was giving him so much love.

‘But not right now.’

Kang-Woo already had three children in elementary school. He already did not know what influence having three mothers would have on his children so adding yet another mother for them would become a problem. Rejecting Echidna because of his children sounded like a poor excuse but those were his honest feelings.

“Hm! It’s okay! You might feel that way now, but your feelings could change in the future, right?” Echidna smiled brightly, knowing exactly what Kang-Woo was thinking. “I can wait as long as it takes.”

“Echidna...”

It was hard for Kang-Woo to turn her down cold when she was going this far for him.

“And... mm,” Echidna slurred.

“And what?”

“Nothing!”

“What? You’re making me curious.”

Kang-Woo stared at Echidna curiously but she simply puffed out her chest and snorted.

“Hm! I’m not one to just wait as I twiddle my thumbs!”

She seemed to have thought of something in that short time.

“What are you thinking of doing...?”

“Hm! That’s a secret!” Echidna smiled deviously and pointed at Kang-Woo to declare, “Just you wait! I’ll become your wife no matter what!”

“...” Kang-Woo chuckled at her prideful declaration. “We’ll see after you become a mature dragon.”

He did not need to think so hard about it right now. Emotions were fickle— they could change at any time. Kang-Woo might become ready to accept her feelings or Echidna might move on to meet someone else.

“Hm! Once I become a mature dragon, my body will become way~ more adult-like!”

The words mature and Echidna were as poorly matched as pineapple and pizza.

“My boobs will get bigger than Yeon-Joo’s!”

“Aren’t they already bigger?”

‘I can’t imagine boobs smaller than Yeon-Joo’s.’

“Th-Then they’ll get bigger than Seol-Ah’s!”

“Come on, how can that be?”

‘You should set your goals to be achievable, Echidna.’

“Anyway, you’d better watch out, Kang-Woo! I’ll eat you up once I become a mature dragon!”

“I’m a little conflicted to hear that from a dragon.”

They spent time chatting up a storm. Then, one of the staff members called Echidna.

“Miss Echidna! You have an interview request from an Australian broadcasting station!”

“I’ll be back in a second, Kang-Woo.”

Echidna left the waiting room without hesitation despite complaining that she didn’t want to separate from Kang-Woo.

“That’s a pro for you...”

Although she wasn’t a mature dragon yet, Kang-Woo couldn’t see her as a child anymore with how responsible and diligent when it came to her job.

“Anyway, I should take this chance to undo my Authority.”

Kang-Woo locked the door and undid the Authority of Transformation, the sudden increase in size ripping his clothes.

“Oh, fuck. I forgot.”

He had forgotten to undress before undoing his Authority because he had been in such a hurry.

‘Don’t you dare look in the mirror.’

Kang-Woo might die from shame if he saw himself in the mirror at this moment.

‘I’ll get changed right away.’

He was at least relieved he had made the mistake when nobody was around. An unfortunate tragedy would have come to pass if anyone had seen him in this state.

“I would... have to kill them. What a relief.”

Kang-Woo took off the cringeworthy dress and turned to look at himself in the mirror. He saw a man with sharp upturned eyes— his usual self.

“Hmm. I should be above average in looks, right?”

Kang-Woo tilted his head at different angles in front of the mirror and smiled in satisfaction.

Ding!

“Hm?”

He checked his phone after hearing the notification bell and saw that Kim Si-Hun had messaged him.

[It’s been a while, hyung-nim. How have you been? Do you have some time this weekend?]

Kang-Woo saw Si-Hun’s profile picture of him smiling with her daughter in his arms.

“Why does this son of a bitch keep getting more handsome?” he grumbled as he looked back into the mirror at himself— he only saw a squirming squid. “N-No! Si-Hun is just an outlier! I’m not as ugly as a squid!”

‘My Darling said I was handsome!’

Kang-Woo denied reality as he quickly left the waiting room. He walked along the chaotic hallway and took a look around the venue. Just then, a woman— no, a girl wearing a hat to hide her face approached him.

“Uhh... U-Um.”

“Huh?”

“Mr. Oh Kang-Woo... right?” The girl asked, taking off her mask.

Kang-Woo recognized the familiar face.

“Th-Thank you very much! Echidna told me everything!”

“Oh, you must be...”

“Yes! My name is Sung Ahri and I’m an idol affiliated with the same agency as Echidna!”

Ahri bowed to Kang-Woo repeatedly, thanking him for performing in her place.

“No problem. Are you feeling better?”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine. I only got off with a scrape on the knees thanks to Echidna protecting me.”

She was physically fine but she had to skip her performance because of mental trauma.

“Are you sure you want to be outside already?”

“I’m... still a little scared.” Ahri smiled faintly as she looked up at Kang-Woo. “But I wanted to thank you myself after watching the live from my hotel room.”

'She has good manners.' Kang-Woo smiled and nodded.

“I’ll try to get myself together so I can perform on stage next time!”

“Yeah, sure.”

Kang-Woo never wanted to be an idol again.

“I-I’m embarrassed to reward you with only this but I will give you what I was paid for performing in—”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“But—”

“In exchange, keep being friends with Echidna.”

“O-Of course! Echidna is my best friend!” Ahri nodded energetically.

“Well, I’ll get going— Oh, right. Tell your agency president this.”

“What do you...?”

“Tell them to do something about their goddamn contracts. Why should you have to pay for breach of contract when you can’t perform because of shock from a monster attack?”

It was absurd even though performances like this cost billions.

“Pay...?” Ahri tilted her head in wonder. “I didn’t have to pay anything because the incident was caused unexpectedly...”

‘Huh...?’

***

Seol-Ah sat in silence in the rental house Kang-Woo had given her as a gift for their tenth anniversary, waiting for something.

Riiing—!

Her smartphone on the table rang.

- Seol-Ah!

“Is that you, Echidna?”

- Yeah!

“How was the live?”

- It was amazing! The fans loved it too!

“Fufu. Is that so?” Seol-Ah smiled and continued, “Then about that video you promised...”

- Just a second!

Echidna sent a video file of Kang-Woo in the idol outfit practicing the choreography the day before.

“Haaaaaaaangh!”

Seol-Ah jumped in joy as she hugged her smartphone.

- And one more!

Echidna sent a picture this time— one of Kang-Woo frowning right after he had undone the Authority of Transformation while in the idol outfit.

“M-My, oh, my! How did you get this?!”

- Hm! I got lucky! I set up a hidden camera near the mirror and he didn’t notice it!

Seol-Ah saved the image to her smartphone immediately and uploaded it to her drive.

“Haaah. I thought I’d be satisfied with just seeing Kang-Woo as an idol, but I even got such a precious photo...”

Seol-Ah twisted around in satisfaction.

- Umm... S-Seol-Ah. I did what you asked, so... uhh...

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep my promise.” Seol-Ah smiled and continued, “I’ll give you my unconditional support... so you can become Kang-Woo’s fourth wife.”

- Th-Thank you, Seol-Ah!

With that, the curtains closed on the backstage story.