Magical Girl Yuuna (1)
In the conference room inside the Black Tree Guild, the Yuuna Shrine Maiden and Sakura Shrine Maiden, who had come from Japan, sat on the sofa waiting for Hunter Kwon Yong-jin. Kang Hae-bin was brewing tea for the two of them in front.
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
The Yuuna Shrine Maiden bowed her head in gratitude as she received the finished tea, and the Sakura Shrine Maiden did the same to Kang Hae-bin.
"I'm sorry. Yong-jin has some business to attend to today, so he'll be here soon."
"No, it's our fault for making such a sudden appointment."
Yuuna shook her head and took a sip of her tea. After elegantly sipping the tea, her eyes widened.
It's delicious.
It was a flavor completely different from any tea she'd had before. She wasn't sure if it could even be called a flavor. Turning to Sakura with a sense of her body being filled, she saw Sakura staring intently at the tea she held in both hands after taking a sip.
Soon, her eyes sparkled as if she'd noticed something, and she looked at Yuuna.
"Lady Yuuna. This has life force in it."
"Life force?"
"My, to notice it at once like that—you're amazing!"
She had seen countless potions or equipment infused with mana, but this was the first time she'd encountered something handled with life force. Yuuna's expression twisted sharply.
Life force could only be obtained from living beings. It was either extracted from one's own or stolen from others.
Knowing this, Yuuna accidentally let a wisp of killing intent slip toward Kang Hae-bin, who was smiling in front of her.
Kang Hae-bin, aware of why she was emitting killing intent, raised her hand.
"There seems to be a misunderstanding, but Yong-jin will explain when he gets here."
"I understand..."
Since they were in the position of asking for help, she calmed her mind again and straightened her clothes. She didn't touch the tea in front of her anymore.
Screeech.
Hunter Kwon Yong-jin entered the conference room. His entire body except his face was dyed pitch black. He was clearly wearing clothes, but everything but his face was black. Even though the wrinkles and contours of the clothes were visible, they were all dyed black, absorbing all light, making it look like a flat black plane.
"Urk!"
"Sakura?!"
"Lady Sakura?!"
The Yuuna Shrine Maiden, lost in thought while looking at Hunter Kwon Yong-jin, whipped her head around at the sound of retching from beside her. Sakura was vomiting, her body convulsing.
The Yuuna Shrine Maiden and Kang Hae-bin jumped in surprise and rushed to the Sakura Shrine Maiden. Kang Hae-bin quickly checked her condition. Her eyes had rolled back, white foam was coming from her mouth, and her body was shaking violently.
Having seen this phenomenon several times before, Kang Hae-bin quickly raised her hand toward Kwon Yong-jin.
The Yuuna Shrine Maiden looked at Kang Hae-bin, who had suddenly extended her hand toward Hunter Kwon Yong-jin. Kang Hae-bin's hand turned black like Kwon Yong-jin's, and white walls shot out in all directions, enclosing him. Like a seal.
It was an incredibly high-level sealing spell, even by her standards. It surpassed the level she used to restrict S-rank monster movements.
Hunter Kwon Yong-jin let out a short sigh but otherwise made no move despite being sealed.
Only then did the Yuuna Shrine Maiden realize why Kang Hae-bin had sealed Hunter Kwon Yong-jin.
"Does Lady Sakura possess one of the top visualization or detection abilities?"
"...Yes."
"I'm sorry. We should have considered that."
Once Kwon Yong-jin was sealed, Sakura's body calmed, and she was now sleeping soundly, breathing softly.
"No, it's unavoidable since you didn't know her ability. Even when she saw an S-rank monster, she had no reaction. Just what is Hunter Kwon Yong-jin..."
"Yong-jin is... well, very special."
The Yuuna Shrine Maiden held the Sakura Shrine Maiden, who was sleeping so deeply it seemed like the convulsions had all been a dream, in her arms and stroked her hair.
"But is Hunter Kwon Yong-jin alright?"
"He's fine. Ah, it seems the digestion is complete."
As soon as Kang Hae-bin snapped her fingers, the seal vanished. Thanks to that, Hunter Kwon Yong-jin was able to sit on the sofa opposite the Yuuna Shrine Maiden.
The blackness that had enveloped his entire body was gone, and he was back in the ordinary hunter attire they had seen earlier.
The Yuuna Shrine Maiden pondered what Kang Hae-bin had just said.
"Sorry. I should have finished digesting everything before coming."
Digestion...
Thinking about the word "digestion" that had come up again, the Yuuna Shrine Maiden absentmindedly fiddled with the teacup containing the tea she had drunk earlier and realized.
"The misunderstanding you mentioned earlier."
"Ah, the life force? Well, one of Yong-jin's abilities is to create life force and then use it."
"Create life force...? Not absorb it?"
"Hmm... you could call it absorption too."
Kang Hae-bin, who had been pondering for a moment, realized it would be faster to demonstrate and kissed Kwon Yong-jin, who was gazing intently at the Yuuna Shrine Maiden's body beside her.
Mmch, slurp!
"?!"
At the sudden kiss between the man and woman in front of her, the Yuuna Shrine Maiden jumped in surprise and covered her eyes with both hands. But curiously, her golden pupils peeked clearly through the gaps in her spread fingers.
She was so shocked that even after the kiss ended, she kept her hands in place. A long strand of saliva stretched between their parted lips. Kang Hae-bin wiped it with her hand and smeared it onto Kwon Yong-jin's hand. Then she opened her mouth, letting saliva drool out profusely, gathering a lot on Kwon Yong-jin's hand. The moment she closed her mouth and lifted her head, Kwon Yong-jin's hand turned black.
"No way!"
The saliva pooled on his hand gradually turned black, becoming a hand that swallowed everything like Kwon Yong-jin's earlier form. Even without detection abilities, she could feel the energy the moment it transformed. Life force.
What was life force? The energy possessed by living beings. The energy consumed in living. Naturally, it couldn't be replenished. Living beings lived by expending their own life force and met death when it was depleted. Life force could never be created. The only way was to take it from other living beings.
That was what the Yuuna Shrine Maiden had believed.
But right before her eyes, a mere liquid—saliva—had turned into life force. No grand magic, no alchemy, no ability. It just happened in a swipe.
Knowing how immense the energy of life force was, the Yuuna Shrine Maiden understood why Kwon Yong-jin had reached S-rank in such an absurdly short time.
It's a truly ridiculous ability.
An S-rank monster possessed life force equivalent to a human living for about 500 years. Sakura, who had no reaction to such a monster, had a seizure upon seeing Kwon Yong-jin. She couldn't even gauge how much life force he had created.
Wait, Kang Hae-bin the magical girl was just sitting here?
But coming in with his entire body wrapped in that much life force meant... with another woman somewhere else?
Only then did she notice the oddity of this guild.
All the guild members I've seen so far are women. Not a single man.
"Now that you're calmer, could we hear why you've come to our guild?"
"Yes."
Gulp.
No way, all the guild members? No, it can't be. Surely not.
Steeling her mind, she explained the most important matter: the prophecy. The gate opening in Japan. And the worst monster emerging from it.
While listening to the Yuuna Shrine Maiden, Hunter Kwon Yong-jin interrupted.
"So?"
"Pardon?"
"What do you want?"
"Please help us."
"Why?"
"Pardon?"
"Why should I?"
Caught off guard by his unexpectedly negative tone, the Yuuna Shrine Maiden pulled out the rewards she had prepared.
"As compensation..."
She introduced the money and top-grade equipment prepared in advance with the Japanese Magical Girl Association. While explaining diligently, she looked up to check his expression.
It was a face utterly devoid of interest. Stunned, the Yuuna Shrine Maiden faltered. Items that would make any magical girl or hunter marvel held no value to him.
"All boring."
If not for the prophecy from the god, she'd want to leave immediately, but since the god had given the first hint of the prophecy precisely about him, she had to bring him to Japan no matter what.
"I think just having you right in front of me is enough."
At the unexpected words, the Yuuna Shrine Maiden blinked. Realizing the implication, her face flushed red.
"Y-You...!"
Angry at his words, she was about to lash out but steadied her mind. Thinking only of the god. She knew his gaze was lecherously scanning her body, but she couldn't say anything.
As expected, the reason there were no men in the guild was because of this man. Her head spun at how vulgar Kwon Yong-jin was, but she took a deep breath and spoke again.
"That's not possible."
"Then I'm not going."
Crack.
"Is there no other way?"
"Nope."
"I'm sorry, but I am a shrine maiden who has devoted my body to the god. Is there truly no other way?"
"No. If you have no ideas, just leave."
As he picked at his ear with his finger, visually showing his disinterest, she wanted to splash the tea he was touching right then, but he was a representative hunter of a Korean guild.
"Stand up, Sakura."
She could see no path forward, and she had no desire to continue talking to a man who lusted after her body like other hunters or men.
"Lady Yuuna...?"
"Let's return to Japan."
Kang Hae-bin gave a wry smile and guided them out. As they were about to leave the guild, she turned at Kang Hae-bin's voice from behind.
"Lady Yuuna."
"Is there something?"
"I didn't want to say this, but..."
Messing up her hair as if troubled, Kang Hae-bin spoke to her like advice.
"It's just you now, but it might not be next time."
"What do you mean?"
"If you ask now, he might be satisfied with just you, but if the next request requires more than just you alone..."
"Are you telling me to sell my body to that man? Kang Hae-bin—no, Magical Girl Lianna—I know you well. I respect you as a remarkable magical girl. For someone like you to be in such a relationship with that vulgar man... I'm disappointed."
"Ah, so it ends up like this after all."
"I have no more to say."
The Yuuna Shrine Maiden and Sakura Shrine Maiden turned and walked out again. As they walked, swaying their hips, their enormous breasts swayed so much they were visible even from behind, from the side.
==
"Gabriella, reinforce the gate."
—Understood, Yongjin.—