After Ten Millennia in Hell

“Hmm?” Zeus raised his eyebrows after hearing Oh Kang-Woo’s statement and turned to Gaia.

It was not just him, but the other gods as well. They were all staring at Gaia and Uranus in confusion as if they were asking why a mere retainer was leading the countermeasure meeting. It was only natural since they did not know that Kang-Woo had acquired Top-rank Deific Essence; although he had been chosen by Gaia, he was but a retainer. Some of the gods were even giving Kang-Woo hostile glares.

“Enough with the disrespect.” Gaia frowned as she stared at the gods. “My child has risked his life to protect Earth while we were restricted by the Law. Are there any of you who know Earth’s situation better than my child?”

“Mm. You are right.” Poseidon nodded.

Although the human was a mere retainer without Deific Essence, his achievements and experience of protecting Earth all this time needed to be acknowledged. As Gaia had mentioned, none of the gods knew about Earth’s situation better than the human.

“In that case, let us continue the meeting,” Kang-Woo said firmly as the gods focused their attention on him. “I am sure all of you have some idea about what is happening on Earth right now.”

A few gods nodded.

Kang-Woo continued calmly, “Bael, the Demon of Prophecy, destroyed Earth’s protection and freed beings possessing Deific Essence from the Law of Titans. Hence, gods like yourselves have been allowed to act freely on Earth along with the commencement of otherworldly invasions. First of all, we can't block these invasions in our current situation.”

As long as the Gaia System, Earth’s protection, was not restored from its completely collapsed state, it would be fundamentally impossible to block the invasions. Not only that but there was no way to restore it at the moment.

“As for the otherworldly invasions, we can only come up with measures to take after the fact. In other words, we have to either chase out or conciliate the otherworldly beings once they arrive through a Rift.”

They needed to make preparations to be able to act at any time as soon as a Rift opened, but they couldn’t do anything else. The outer worlds would always have the initiative in this situation.

“But...”

That was not the case for gods who had been freed from the restriction.

“We can regulate the gods who are likely to cause chaos among the freed ones on our end.”

If they had been freed, they simply needed to be put on a new leash.

“Hah, so you’re suggesting we attack them first?” one of the gods asked as he snorted.

He was covered in muscles like Balrog and was wearing a lion’s head like a helmet.

‘Heracles, was it?’

He was one of the gods who had given Kang-Woo a hostile glare earlier.

“I’m not suggesting we attack them. We would just keep them in check so that they can’t make any reckless moves,” Kang-Woo stated.

“That’s the same thing.” Heracles glared as he argued.

Kang-Woo’s eyebrows slightly flinched. “You are free to think of it that way. We have to act first before they cause chaos.”

“Bullshit. You want to do something like that when we have no idea who will cause chaos and who won’t? Are you planning on antagonizing even the neutral gods as well?” Heracles asked curtly.

His argument was valid; restricting the gods who were trying to enjoy their newfound freedom would surely cause opposition even from gods who had no intention of causing chaos from the beginning.

Kang-Woo chuckled at the trivial objection. “Yes, it doesn’t matter if we antagonize them.”

“What?”

“In the current situation, the gods are like refugees.”

Kang-Woo knew that not every god would have malicious intentions. The majority of the gods would probably manifest into the physical realm simply out of curiosity. Among them, there were likely gods like Gaia who would stand against the Demon of Prophecy to protect the physical realm. However...

“The risk of them causing chaos is more than enough of a reason to restrict their entry,” Kang-Woo stated.

Many on Earth couldn’t live anywhere else, but gods were different; they had no unavoidable reason to manifest in the physical realm. Like demons had the Nine Hells, the gods had the divine realm.

“All gods who manifest into the physical realm must be designated as enemies and cast out,” Kang-Woo declared.

“Hah, then are you telling us to go back to the divine realm?”

“You would have to be sorted. Only the gods permitted by me and Lady Gaia should be allowed to remain in the physical realm.”

The gazes of the gods on him grew even more hostile. The atmosphere in the Hall of Protection turned menacing.

“Hah, we have to get your permission to be in the physical realm?” Heracles glared at Kang-Woo sharply. He grabbed his double-bit ax and asked in a low tone, “Are you insane?”

“A-all of you, calm down.” Gaia hurriedly stood between Heracles and Kang-Woo.

She stared at Kang-Woo in bewilderment, not expecting him to suggest such a radical countermeasure. “My child. It certainly would be an effective countermeasure, but... opposition from the other gods will be too great.”

There were countless gods and just as many factions. Gaia, a Top-rank goddess as well as Earth’s guardian deity until a few moments ago, naturally possessed the largest faction, but it was not large enough to keep all other factions in check. This was especially so now that her privileges as guardian deity had been stripped from her. If Gaia tried to forcibly regulate the other gods, her faction could end up going to war against the other factions.

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Kang-Woo said.

“It is way more than just a risk...” Gaia slurred.

“I am suggesting we set an example of how to avoid a war.”

“That very example is what may cause a war.”

“In that case...”

Kang-Woo stared at Gaia with deeply sunken eyes.

Gaia flinched.

She felt the same chilling terror as back when she saw Kang-Woo after his confrontation with Bael. She could barely breathe as she was overwhelmed by an endless abyss.

“We just have to trample them to the point that they wouldn’t dare to consider war.”

Deathly silence fell. The gods in the Hall of Protection stared at Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly, lost for words.

“M-mmm.” Gaia stared at Kang-Woo, not sure what to do.

Seeing her reaction, Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

‘I knew taking action myself was the right call.’

When Kang-Woo first heard about the gods being freed from their restriction, he considered letting Gaia keep the other gods in check.

‘It’ll be a shitshow if I let Gaia take care of it.’

She did not possess the conviction to make extreme decisions like this.

‘No wonder why the Demon of Prophecy is free to run rampant.’

Kang-Woo stared at Gaia in disappointment.

‘How can she be so incapable?’

No, that was probably the wrong word to use. Kang-Woo could tell from the trust that Uranus and the other gods had in her that she likely possessed the qualities of an excellent benevolent ruler.

‘But you need a tyrant in turbulent times like this.’

The end of the world was right around the corner; nothing would get done if they were to think about the circumstances of others like Gaia wanted. If the other gods did not comply, Kang-Woo just needed to make them comply.

“I-instead of an extreme measure like that, we should try to talk it out... no, finding the Demon of Prophecy and restoring the Law of Titans comes first,” Gaia suggested.

“That would be the most ideal option, but we have no idea where Bael is or what he’s planning, do we?” Kang-Woo refuted.

“That is true, but...”

“Rather than trying to find Bael who knows where, we should resolve the chaos that we can at the moment first.”

“...”

“Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop the search on Bael. You don’t have to worry about that,” Kang-Woo stated and looked around.

As Lilith had feared, glares of hostility were all around him.

‘It’s about time at least one of them loses their patience and steps up.’

He had not expected the gods to take this lying down. Even if the gods of Olympus did not have a strong sense of authority, Kang-Woo’s action had surely crossed the line. After all, even though Gaia treated her retainers like her children, the other gods thought of retainers as slaves who followed their every command.

‘Alright, one of you make a scene.’

Kang-Woo would be the one in a predicament if no one stepped up because Gaia was here. Opposition that was not resolved was toxic for a group; taking their opposition head-on to prove that he had the right to say such things would prevent future troubles.

‘I could reveal that I have Top-rank Deific Essence, but...’

It would not mean much. Not only would they not believe him, they would not obey him even if they did believe him. It was not like Deific Essence was a ranking system; no god would obey another god just because they possessed a higher Deific Essence rank. In such cases, it was much easier to have them experience that Kang-Woo had the power to keep the gods in check.

‘Now, hurry up. It’d be bad for me if none of you stepped up.’

If the meeting ended with no objections, the gods would only consider Kang-Woo as a mere human who was nothing but talk.

‘Hurry the fuck up! Just stand up and say some shit like, “You impertinent human!” ’

Slam!!

“You impertinent human!”

‘Hell yeah! That’s it, Heracles. I knew you had it in you!’

“There is only so much bullshit that I can handle!”

“Listen listen I can’t listen!”[1]

“What?”

“Oh, my apologies. I ended up saying what I was thinking.”

‘Son of a bitch. What a fucking buzzkill.’

“Anyway, you object to this plan?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Hah, that’s the understatement of the era! Keeping all the gods in check? Risking war? We’d be the only ones sacrificed in your insane plan!”

“That is incorrect.”

“What?”

“I will ask for assistance from the gods of Olympus, but I will be taking on the role of persecuting the gods who do not comply with the restriction.”

Heracles and the other gods were dumbfounded by how calm Kang-Woo was. “Hah.”

Boom!

Heracles stomped his feet and raised his ax.

“I will see for myself whether or not you have the power to back up your bullshit,” he said.

“Haha,” Kang-Woo softly laughed. He had been waiting desperately for such a response. “Of course.”

Kang-Woo stared at Heracles as he smiled fiercely.

“Aah, just a second.”

Just then, a handsome middle-aged man with long, wavy blond hair held Heracles back and walked forward. It was Zeus.

“Father?” Heracles looked back at Zeus perplexedly.

Zeus smiled and continued, “I’ll be the one to test that human.”

“Zeus! What do you think you’re doing?! You might hurt my child if you—” Gaia shouted.

Zeus cut her off. “Hahaha. There’s no need to worry, Mother. I’ll go easy on him. In exchange...” He turned to Kang-Woo— no, to be more exact, the two women behind him. “Could you allow me to spend some time with that beautiful lady over there if I deem that you are unworthy?”

Zeus’s eyes shone as he stared at Han Seol-Ah.

“Pardon? M-me?” Seol-Ah asked in bewilderment.

“Ahh, yes! I have never seen a woman as beautiful as you, even in the divine realm!”

“...”

Kang-Woo remained silent. Seol-Ah hid behind Kang-Woo and embraced his arm.

“I...”

‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing, dammit?’ Kang-Woo thought.

“B-belong to Kang-Woo.”

‘You’re making my darling anxious.’

“Grit. Are you... trying to separate me and Kang-Woo?”

‘Uhhh, what are you doing darling? You’re gonna break my arm at that rate.’

Creak.

‘Wait, it’s seriously gonna break.’

“Are you... trying to get in our way?”

‘Hahaha. Calm down, darling. At this rate, you’re gonna rip him into shreds. If you do that, we can kiss the gods’ cooperation goodbye.’

1. This is a Korean meme; it is an extremely literal translation of Heracles’s line above, which is used pretty often in anime/manga/manhwa. ☜

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