<h4>Side Story Chapter 44 - Kurosaki Yurie (3)</h4>


    <i>Bash! Bash! Crack!</i>


    Oh Kang-Woo smashed his head into the wall like a wrecking ball. The wall, protected by protection magic, caved in, but it did not leave a scratch on his head, no matter how hard he smashed it in. A wall like this wouldn’t be able to injure him in the first ce.


    “Haaa, haaa,” Kang-Woo panted heavily and turned around as he trembled.


    “Wh-Who... are you?”


    Balrog was staring with shaking eyes at Kurosaki Yurie; his face reddened although his skin was normally red anyway. This was the first time Kang-Woo had seen such an expression on Balrog’s face.


    “My, it seems our muscle pig has an eye for beauty,” said Lilith as she stared at the reddened Balrog and giggled. She pulled Yurie close by her shoulders and continued, “You know this body I use has a former owner, right?”


    “...?”


    “Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know. In any case, the soul of a human wasying dormant inside this body.”


    Lilith concisely told Balrog about Yurie.


    Balrog stared intently at Yurie as he asked, “Then does that mean... you are the former owner of the body Lilith is using right now?”


    “Yes, that’s right. As you can see, I have been given a new body,” Yurie answered.


    “A-Ahem. I-It is a... stunning body.”


    “Hoho. I think so as well.”


    <i>Squelch.</i>


    Yurie smiled as her mold-like purple tentacles squirmed.


    <i>Ba-dump.</i>


    “Kurgh!” Balrog crouched as he clenched his chest.


    “My, oh my~ I wonder what’s wrong with our muscle pig, who always has nothing but the king on his mind~?” Lilith’s eyes shone like a predator that found its prey. “What do you think? She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”


    “Sh-Shut up.”


    “Hohoho! To think I’d live to see such a side of the great Balrog!”


    <i>Squirm, squirm.</i>


    Lilith’s hair turned back into green tentacles and entwined with the purple tentacles.


    She asked teasingly, “Fufu. Who’s prettier, me or her?”


    Balrog grimaced and shouted as if it were obvious, “What is there to evenpare, Lilith? Her tentacles are far more beautiful!”


    “My, that’s a little hurtful.” Lilith slightly frowned and pouted as if her pride was hurt. “I’m only in this form because of the king. Have you forgotten my true form of beauty?”


    <i>Squelch.</i>


    Eighteen eyes appeared on Lilith’s face. Her skin rotted ck and green tentacles surged from her hair.


    “Kuh...” Balrog grunted, overwhelmed by Lilith’s beauty.


    <i>‘As expected of the Subus Queen...!’</i>


    Justying eyes on Lilith was enough for his heart to sway.


    <i>‘But...’</i>


    Balrog bit his lip. Yurie, whose tentacles were squirming awkwardly as if she were not used to them yet, looked cuter and more loving.


    He clenched his fists and said to Lilith, “That woman is so blinding that I can barely even see you.”


    “My, my. You sure have fallen head over heels for her, huh?”


    “Pardon? F-For me?” Yurie asked in surprise and turned to Balrog. “Ah...”


    She flinched from seeing Balrog, covered in bulging muscles.


    She stole nces at Balrog with a flushed face and remarked dejectedly, “B-Butpared to Lilith, I’m just...”


    Yurie lowered her head unconfidently.


    Balrog slowly walked toward the dejected Yurie and remarked, “There is no need for you to lower your head, mydy of amethyst tentacles.” He took one of the purple tentacles and kissed the end of it. “My name is Balrog. I am the most loyal subordinate of the Demon King as well as a demon who walks the path of domination.”


    Balrog flexed his already massive muscles, swelling to the point that they looked hideous.


    “Oh my...!”


    Yurie was left wide-eyed as she witnessed Balrog bulking up to a level that one would wonder if steroids ran through his blood vessels instead of blood. Her cheeks reddened, although it was hard to tell because of her purple skin.


    “Hehe. What do you think?” Balrog asked as he posed like a bodybuilder.


    He made his massive muscles bounce, making them look as if they were alive. They were so big that they would even make an ogre get the fuck out of dodge, propelled by the rocket-level propulsive power of the shit it would take out of fear.


    “M-Magnificent...” mumbled Yurie in embarrassment.


    She and Balrog locked eyes with each other.


    Kang-Woo copsed to his knees as he watched them. “A-Aaaahh.”


    He pulled on his hair. His heart beat erratically, and he felt like his brain was melting. His vision was blurring.


    “Hello, madness... my old friend.”


    He shook his head to deny reality, but the sight he was being forced to behold did not change. The entangled green and purple tentacles, the mountain of muscles, and the reddened purple tentacle monster as itid eyes on the mountain of muscles.


    “Arghhh.”


    <i>‘What am I seeing right now? Is this reality? Is it?’</i>


    “No...” Kang-Woo mumbled. “There’s no way... this is real.”


    He shook his head in terror. There was no way this hellish sight, despairing enough to be a culmination of human sins since the beginning of time, was real.


    “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Kang-Woo screamed as he pulled on his hair.


    <i>‘It’s over! The world is ending! It’s the Apocalypse!’</i>


    Earth was done for; it was toote to help it. The entire world would be engulfed by tentacles and rot from their pus. Tentacles would pour like rain and hit like a tsunami. Human civilization and culture as we know it would vanish. The tentacles would dominate people and turn them into cultists who worshiped tentacles. The world would be engulfed by despair and grief.


    “Ruin hase to our family!!”[1]


    Kang-Woo convulsed as if he were having a seizure and foamed at the mouth.


    “O-Oh no! My king!”


    Lilith approached Kang-Woo in shock— in her green tentacle form, of course.


    “BEGONE, FOUL DEMOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!”


    “Kyaah!!”


    Kang-Woo swung his arm that was getting wrapped in tentacles, pushing Lilith back.


    “<i>Huff, huff, huff.</i>”


    He panted heavily as he tried to calm his rapidly beating heart. Chaos in his head was beginning to die down.


    <i>‘Just... why?’ </i>Kang-Woo thought.


    He could understand Lilith and Balrog, albeit reluctantly. They were born as demons and spent the majority of their lives in the Ninth Hell where values were different from those of Earth.


    <i>‘So what’s wrong with that bitch?’</i>


    Kang-Woo red at Yurie in confusion. She was not a demon but a nobledy raised like a flower in a greenhouse to be the celestial maiden. He couldn’t understand why she was reacting in such unhinged ways despite not having experienced demonic values.


    <i>‘She’s into tentacles and muscles?’</i>


    No, that was impossible; he could understand muscles but not tentacles; it did not make sense even if she had extraordinarily unhinged fetishes. It was not a matter of values, but one of human instinct.


    <i>‘There’s no way a human could ever love tentacles...!’</i>


    Tentacles were a living nightmare; it was uneptable logically and emotionally. No one but people who suffered brain damage from an ident or the most extreme psychopaths could ever love tentacles, but Kurosaki Yurie did not apply to either category.


    “Then why...”


    Kang-Woo forced the gears in his head to turn to find the matching pieces of the puzzle.


    <i>- But if I continue to share this body with her... our consciousness will begin to mix.</i>


    Just then, Kang-Woo recalled Lilith’s words.


    “Ah...”


    He felt as if he were struck by lightning. If two souls existed in one body, the mixing of consciousness was inevitable. And of course, the weaker soul would naturally be more influenced by the stronger soul.


    <i>‘Lilith’s consciousness... has corrupted hers!’</i>


    Kang-Woo felt as if the fog inside his head had cleared. He could more or less understand where her demented fetishes were derived from.


    “Fuuu,” Kang-Woo exhaled.


    He could calm down now that he figured out the cause of the insanity.


    <i>‘It’s okay. It can’t be helped, right?’</i>


    Kang-Woo knew how different the values held by humans and demons were because of the hell he experienced in Hell.


    <i>‘No need to panic.’</i>


    He closed his eyes, his other senses heightening to the extreme once his sense of sight was blocked.


    <i>Squelch, squelch.</i>


    The sound of squirming tentacles echoed inside his head. Kang-Woo clenched his fists and bit his lip.


    <i>‘No one’s in the wrong. It’s simply a matter of difference in values.’</i>


    Just like how humans stayed true to their values, so did demons. Kang-Woo felt bad for Yurie, whose values had be closer to those of demons due to Lilith’s consciousness, but he paid it no mind since it had nothing to do with him.


    <i>‘It’s toote.’</i>


    Once two consciousnesses mixed, it could never be reverted. Kurosaki Yurie would have to live like that for the rest of her life.


    <i>‘So, clear your head and slowly open your eyes. I’ve done nothing wrong. Lilith, Balrog, and Yurie are all innocent.’</i>


    The difference in values between humans and demons was not <i>wrong</i>; it was just <i>different</i>.


    “Yeah.”


    <i>‘As long as we can understand one another...’</i>


    Kang-Woo slowly opened his eyes.


    “We can all be togeth—”


    “Please be my woman,” Balrog confessed.


    “B-But... we’ve only just met...”


    “What does that matter? I’m sure you’ve felt it too. You and I... are meant to be.”


    “Hngh! P-Please wait!”


    “You said you wanted a new body to be free, did you not?”


    “Ah... yes.”


    ‘I, Balrog, will be your wings.”


    “A-Aaaahh.”


    “Come to me, my amethyst.”


    “Mr. Balrog...”


    The mold-purple tentacle monster and a five-meter lump of red muscles kissed.


    “BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGHHHHHHHHH!!!”


    Kang-Woo copsed and convulsed.


    <i>‘Different, not wrong? We can all be together as long as we understand one another?’</i>


    “WHAT A LOAD OF FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!”


    Kang-Woo cursed at himself and aggressively turned around.


    “O-Oh! My king!”


    Lilith quickly reached out to Kang-Woo, but he ignored it. He did not have time to get on the elevator. He ran so quickly up the stairs that he felt like his lungs were about to burst.


    <i>Crack! Boom!</i>


    Kang-Woo ripped open the front door and dived into Han Seol-Ah’s arms.


    “DARLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!”


    “K-Kang-Woo? Wh-What’s wrong?”


    “Gurghhh... <i>Waaaaaaahhh</i>,” he cried sorrowfully as he rubbed his face on Seol-Ah’s voluptuous breasts and hugged her tightly. “I hate tentacles... I like Darling... <i>Sniff</i>, you’re the only one for me... I like you the best...”


    “...?”


    Seol-Ah looked down at Kang-Woo in confusion and then embraced Kang-Woo with a smile as she sprouted her twelve ck wings.


    “You’re the only one for me too, Kang-Woo,” she whispered as she enveloped him with her twelve wings.


    1. This is a line in a cinematic of the game <i>Darkest Dungeon</i>. I believe there are some English memes with this line too. ?