BXBX NOVEL Chapter 451 - Aernor Delegation (2)
Chapter 451 - Aernor Delegation (2)
Kang-Woo stopped what he was doing and narrowed his eyes. “Ummm, darling.”
“Haaa, haaa. Yes, K-Kang-Woo?”
“Could you do something about your voice...?”
Kang-Woo stared at her with a sour expression. Seol-Ah’s face turned as red as a tomato. She clenched her clothes and bit her lip.
“B-but...!” she shouted. “I can’t help it when it feels so good!”
“...”
Kang-Woo put his hand on his forehead as if his head hurt and looked down at Seol-Ah’s foot that she stretched out in front of him. Her pale feet had no blemishes whatsoever. They were so beautiful that Kang-Woo couldn’t help but gulp. He slowly massaged them with both hands.
‘Come on, licking feet is a bit much. It’s not even about my pride.’
Kang-Woo cleared his throat and focused back on massaging Seol-Ah’s foot. Seol-Ah was slightly disappointed at first, but she was showing excessively good reactions once the massage began.
“Right, that’s enough,” Kang-Woo said as he took his hands off Seol-Ah’s foot.
“A-already...?” Seol-Ah asked hesitantly in disappointment. Her gaze almost broke Kang-Woo, but he forcibly turned away. “No fair, Kang-Woo. You said that you would do anything...”
Seol-Ah narrowed her eyes and poked Kang-Woo.
“Uhhh, mmm. Well...”
“Hoho. I’m joking.” She smiled and hugged Kang-Woo. She buried her face into his chest and took a deep breath in. “Fuuu, haaa.”
Seol-Ah smiled after relishing in Kang-Woo’s scent and remarked, “I’m glad.”
“About what?”
“Back then... I mean, after you met that demon called Bael, you’ve been acting a little weird, but I think you’re back to normal now.”
“...”
His darling seemed to have noticed it as well. Kang-Woo smiled bitterly.
“Oh right, Kang-Woo.”
“Hm? What?”
“Umm... Iris has decided to come to Earth from Aernor as part of a delegation. She’s planning on participating in the Guardians general assembly as well.”
“Iris?”
Kang-Woo expressed confusion.
‘A delegation from Aernor, huh?’
It was not impossible since a Gate had formed where people could freely go back and forth between Earth and Aernor. Even so, Iris herself would not have been able to decide to bring a delegation to Earth.
“Who pushed for it?” Kang-Woo asked.
He doubted that Iris would have proposed it first.
“Layla asked me to do it,” Seol-Ah answered.
“You, darling?”
“Yes. She said that having me tell her about it would be far more effective...”
“...”
Kang-Woo remained silent. As Layla had said, Seol-Ah would be more effective in convincing Iris considering what happened between them.
‘But Layla shouldn’t know what happened between Darling and Iris.’
Kang-Woo had not told any of his party members about the war of nerves that had taken place between Iris and Seol-Ah— no, he couldn’t.
‘Because Darling almost fell from grace.’
Seol-Ah would have been completely taken over by her angelic instincts if Kang-Woo had not made it in time.
“Did she mention why?” Kang-Woo asked.
“Layla said that it’s because she noticed how cautious Iris is when interacting with me.”
“Mm.”
From what Layla said, it seemed like she did not know what happened between Iris and Seol-Ah.
‘It sounds like she asked Seol-Ah for a favor on a hunch.’
It made sense since Kang-Woo personally considered Layla to be second only to Lilith in terms of capability.
“It would’ve been much better if you or Si-Hun had been the ones to do it, but... You two were both so busy that I contacted Iris myself,” Seol-Ah remarked.
“Good job. When is Iris coming?”
“In three days. She was saying how much she wanted to see you,” Seol-Ah said as she pouted, finding it unpleasant.
Kang-Woo smirked. If Layla had been the one to push for this, he more or less had an idea of why.
“Then it must have been announced to the public already, right? That people from another world will be visiting.”
“Oh? Have you watched the news too?” Seol-Ah asked.
“No,” Kang-Woo replied as he shook his head.
It was an obvious result.
‘Layla must be trying to have the two worlds cooperate.’
This was the most likely reason why Layla had invited a delegation from Aernor to Earth by going as far as to ask Seol-Ah to plan it.
‘That must be the reason for sure considering what will happen in the future.’
Earth was currently in a crisis. They had managed to prevent the gods of Earth from running amok somehow, but that would not stop the otherworldly invasions. It was a wise choice to gain as many allies as possible to prepare for the coming future.
‘Though it’s easier said than done.’
Different nations on Earth were at conflict with one another all the time; the conflict would only be amplified if they were different worlds entirely.
‘But at least the leaders of both worlds aren’t ones to incite discord.’
Layla was practically the leader of Earth and it was Iris for Aernor. Kang-Woo was at least sure that there would not be conflict between them.
‘It’s worth a try.’
The fact that the leaders of the two worlds had every intention to cooperate was a huge plus since those who were under leadership usually tended to follow leadership.
“Things should go smoothly as long as they make a good first impression,” Kang-Woo stated.
“Yes. Iris said not to worry as well.”
It would be Earth’s first time interacting with those of another world. Language barriers could be resolved with magic, but there was nothing that could be done about cultural differences. In such times, first impressions were everything.
‘Likes and dislikes are mostly decided by first impressions, after all.’
People dressed as neatly as possible on a blind date for a reason. There was nothing more important than a first impression when one was trying to impress someone that they had never met before. As long as Aernor left a good first impression on Earth, their chance of cooperation would dramatically increase.
“Mm... wait.” Kang-Woo grabbed his chin and fell into thought.
‘This is a crucial matter for Earth as well.’
Kang-Woo had initially thought that the cooperation between Earth and Aernor was for preparations against otherworldly invasions, but after thinking more deeply about it, it was not that simple.
‘We don’t know which worlds will be linked to Earth from now on.’
They couldn’t just pick fights with every single world that ended up getting connected to Earth. If the beings of the other world possessed enough intelligence for cooperation, it was the right choice to. Meaning, that the delegation from Aernor would be the very first otherworldly beings that Earth would make contact with and would also form a fundamental bias among those of Earth toward every otherworldly beings that they came across. To make a quick comparison, it was like an isolated nation accepting foreign civilizations for the very first time.
‘First impressions are imperative for things like that.’
If a nation went out of its way to open its borders to establish diplomatic relations only for the foreign nations to mess up everything, the nation’s hostile views on foreign nations would naturally grow beyond control.
‘Layla thought this through more than I had expected.’
It was great that the first foreign entity that Earth would interact with was a delegation from Aernor since there was no risk of them coming and making a giant mess of things.
‘Was that also within her calculations?’
Kang-Woo smiled, impressed by Layla’s judgment. He could be at ease leaving things to her.
‘Unlike a certain goddess.’
Kang-Woo frowned. His head hurt just thinking about Gaia.
‘I mean, I was partially at fault for going out of control.’
But it was also partially Gaia’s fault for being so incompetent. He was especially frustrated out of his mind when he was settling things with Gaia after Ragnarok.
‘How are you not even a quarter as capable as your incarnation?’
Kang-Woo shook his head as if not wanting to think any more about Gaia.
“Anyway, thanks, Darling.”
“Not at all.” Seol-Ah smiled gently. She then clapped her hands together as if she had thought of something. “Oh right, Kang-Woo.”
“Yeah?”
Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion and looked at Seol-Ah, wondering what it was about now. Seol-Ah took something out of her pants pocket.
‘A piece of paper?’
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Lilith handed me this a while ago. Just a second.”
“Lilith?”
An uneasy feeling ran down his back.
“Title, Weight of the King.”
“Title?”
“The weight of life crushes my shoulders. How long will I be able to last?”
“...”
“Pain and despair are weighing down on me. The sky filled with sorrow is as hazy as always.”
“W-wai—”
“I cry in her arms.”
“Wait, Darling. What the hell is that?”
‘What the fuck? What the actual fuck?’
“And so... I shed tears once in a while...”
“Kurgh! Urgh!”
Kang-Woo clenched his chest as his entire body trembled. His face paled as he had trouble breathing.
“Lilith said that you love this poem, so I tried reading it,” Seol-Ah said as she smiled. She then looked down at the piece of paper and tilted her head in wonder. “That aside, I wonder what this poem is about. I can at least tell that the person in the poem is having... an extremely hard time.”
“A-aaaahh.”
“What did you like about this poem, Kang-Woo?”
“S-stop...”
‘Stop, please. Any more and my life will...’
“Oh, if... perhaps... you’re having as hard of a time as the person in this poem,” Seol-Ah said as she smiled. “Then I’ll lend you my arms.”
“...”
“Hoho. I’m joking. There’s no way you’d be like that.”
“D-Darling...”
“But...” Seol-Ah swept up Kang-Woo’s hair and kissed his forehead. She continued, “When you are having a hard time... make sure to rely on me, okay?”
Kang-Woo remained silent. “Urgh, urrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhh.”
Between his lips seeped out a horrifying groan that could only exist in Hell. He clenched his hair as the memories came back to him.
“It’s... so heavy.”
“N-no... N-no more...”
Stay...
“I feel like I’m...”
“Stop, s-stop...!”
Stay...
“Getting crushed to death.”
“Stooooooooooooooooop!!” Kang-Woo shouted in despair at his past self within his memories.
“K-Kang-Woo?!” Seol-Ah looked at Kang-Woo in surprise.
Kang-Woo lowered his head as he clenched his hair.
“Ahhh...”
‘I’ll just die. I’ll just fucking die.’
“Hurgh, sniff, fuck my life...”