Prologue: Devoured and Discarded
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Haah! Ahh! Hnngh!”
The heated moans mingled with the delightful weight pressing down on his lower abdomen. The slick clash of flesh against flesh felt incredibly good.
“Haa... Heut!”
The woman astride him shook her hips for all she was worth. Her chestnut bob hair swayed with the motion, and her massive breasts—far too much for both hands to hold—jiggled lewdly. Just watching was enough to make his strength surge with raw lust.
“Feels good? Ahhng! Haat! Haak! It feels good, right?”
It did. The scorching tightness made it feel like his cock might melt and fuse with her. Every wrinkle inside gripped him like tentacles, refusing to let go. She was a true quagmire of a woman.
“Hnnngh! Ahhng! Ahh!”
She kept grinding away relentlessly, panting roughly, but soon her strength gave out, and her soft body collapsed fully onto him.
“Haa... Haak.”
Her ragged breaths and pounding heartbeat transmitted through their joined bodies. He reached out, grabbing her plump ass firmly, and her trembling reaction—quivering even from that—was amusingly sensitive.
Her face drew closer. If he kissed her now, sucking and twining their tongues, it would feel even better. But she ignored his expectation, leaning in to brush her lips against his ear instead. In a soft yet chilling whisper, she murmured,
“You like it... because I devour you and toss you away?”
“What a shitty dream...”
Seong Ye-han forced his eyes open, feeling the morning sunlight streaming through the decent-sized window on one side of the room. It had been years already, but this damn dream still smacked him upside the head every now and then.
He shook off the temptation of the cozy blankets and stood, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and chugging it down. A few gulps of cold, tasteless water. Nothing special, but it delivered a light thrill all the same. He put it back, then headed to the small attached bathroom for a quick wash-up.
Desk and computer, fridge, drawers, closet. The two-room setup was lined with unremarkable furniture, kept reasonably tidy. Shaking off the stuffy mood from last night's turbulent dream, he stepped out of the house.
Breakfast was a simple drink from the convenience store out front. There were plenty of stories extolling the virtues of morning meals from ancient times to now and into the future. But the allure of ten extra minutes of sleep would be just as irresistible a hundred years ago or a hundred from now.
He downed the drink in one go, tossed the bottle in the trash, and left the store amid the part-timer's “Come again!”
The cold winter wind, the icy chill seeping into his collar. Even bathed in the faintly warm morning sun, the trudge to work always brought a deep sense of lethargy. Even for an awakener with far superior physical abilities, that inexplicable, crushing gravity pulled at him all the way to the subway.
[The doors are closing]
That gravity vanished as if it had never been, once he passed through the subway doors accompanied by the familiar announcement.
About forty minutes to work. The magic displays in each car droned on with the usual news: monster hordes slamming into military blockades down south, stories of awakener crimes and the cops and hunters who took them down, civilians hurt by mana-awakened wildlife. All routine since the gates opened thirty years ago.
Among them, the hottest topic lately: S-rank hunter Shin Ye-hwa. A beauty with deep, dark black hair tied back in a ponytail and striking purple eyes. Awakened in her third year of middle school, she got an A-rank evaluation right out of the gate with a special ability to boot—a freakish talent. True to it, she hit S-rank at twenty, shocking the world, making Japan apologize, and leaving China green with envy as Korea fielded endless handshake requests, or so the rumors went.
Back then, the whole nation, pumped full of national pride, had chanted her name in unison.
But the girl who'd become Korea's pride plummeted in just a few short years.
Whispers about her prickly personality had circulated, but it was chalked up to the quirks that often came with geniuses, excused by her stunning looks and overwhelming power. In the post-gate world, pure ability was demanded more than ever.
Yet for some reason, her recent hunter evaluation stripped her S-rank status. Exposés poured out proving her history of abuse of power and trash personality, and now this massive scandal of rude remarks splashed across the display had hit the media. Shin Ye-hwa had become public enemy number one, beaten down by the entire nation.
Feeling a vague unease at how the flames had ignited all at once, Seong Ye-han soon tuned it out. It had nothing to do with him anyway.
He was an E-rank awakener, judged to lack any special ability—barely recognized as a real hunter, let alone one who fought monsters.
Even demoted, she was at least A-rank, a top-tier hunter the state showered with benefits to keep on retainer. No matter how much he ranted about her personality or beliefs, nothing would change.
[The doors are opening]
The familiar announcement and opening doors. The familiar stairs. Another ordinary day beginning and ending just like always.
That's what Seong Ye-han thought.