Inner Thoughts
Inner Thoughts
"No...... it's not."
His face drew closer and closer.
The warmth of his breath ghosting over her nose and lips made Claire instinctively try to pull away.
"What."
But Baek Woo-jin's hands were quicker.
Tightening his clasped fingers, he pulled the arm wrapped around her waist, drawing her against his chest so she couldn't pull back.
"What isn't."
"Th-that, uh, ah, um......"
Their foreheads touched.
"Claire."
"No, it's, uhh......"
The tips of their noses brushed.
His scent, seeping in with every breath, made her head swim.
"Do you intend to stay silent?"
"Th-that is...... ngh?!"
The hand that had been gently supporting the small of her back began to drift lower. A dizzying sensation radiated outward from his touch, little by little, in a slow, deliberate caress.
And the moment that dizzying hand slipped past her waist, venturing just a little further down—
"P-Professor......?"
—the same teasing touch that had tormented her in the study and in the bedroom was about to repeat itself right here in the foyer. Flustered beyond reason, Claire broke the promise she had made with him.
"I believe that's not the proper way to address me."
"Ah......"
The murmur he threaded into her ear was sweet as honey.
Claire realized her mistake too late and tried to correct it—
"Woo—"
—but the instant her lips parted, his mouth, hot and soft, descended upon hers as if it had been waiting for that very opening, sealing away any further words.
"Mmmn......"
Claire swallowed the slow trickle that filled her mouth, accepting it like a fledgling obeying its instincts. Each bob of her throat sent her consciousness reeling further and further away.
"Puh-haa, haa......"
Time had lost all meaning.
She exhaled the breath that had risen to the back of her throat, then gulped down air to steady her ragged breathing. Yet every inhale carried his dense scent, its familiarity stoking her feverish body into a deeper, more restless ache.
"Claire."
"......."
All she could do was lie cradled in his arms and struggle for breath. Claire exhaled a hot puff of air and waited for him to continue.
"Is there something you'd like to say?"
He even unlaced their fingers so he could wrap both arms around her waist. The fierce possessiveness radiating from that gesture made Claire's body burn even hotter.
Held so tightly that escape was impossible.
Pressed close, ready to consume her, waiting for the slightest opening.
Under the touch of his hands slowly encroaching inward, Claire carefully moved both of her own hands.
Slide.
The thick glasses that had been obscuring Baek Woo-jin's face were gradually lifted away by Claire's hands.
It was her signal.
"Yes."
That he could savor all of her.
**
[ First-Year Dormitory ]
Pitter. Patter, patter.
Raindrops that had started falling at dusk drummed against the windowpane.
"Is it spring rain, or still winter rain?"
Standing by the window, the girl who had been staring up at the dark evening sky murmured under her breath.
"It's April, so it's spring rain."
"Is it."
"Yeah."
The girl nodded at the answer from behind her. She turned from the evening sky and approached her roommate, who was sprawled on the bed fiddling with her smartphone. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she asked,
"Isn't it about time to make a move?"
"Funny you should ask—the letter arrived today."
The roommate messing with her phone, Park Mi-na, bolted upright. She turned the phone off and handed it to the student sitting on her bed.
The girl took it, got up, set it down in the bathroom, and then returned to sit on the edge of the bed once more.
Flutter.
Park Mi-na sat up, retrieved the notebook and pen she'd stashed under the pillow, and opened it. She started scribbling on a blank page.
[ General Assembly of the Clergy confirmed for Korea. Venue and date to follow in the next letter. ]
"Hm."
The girl took the pen from Park Mi-na.
[ They may not know the date, but the venue will be Arena Academy. After all, that Executor is currently staying here. ]
[ Agreed. Still, no action until the location is confirmed. ]
[ When does the next update come? ]
[ Next Monday at the latest. ]
[ Understood. ]
Smack—!!
As the girl went to return the pen and head to her own bed, Park Mi-na seized her wrist.
[ No activity until direct orders from above. ]
"......."
The girl glared at Park Mi-na for a moment, then nodded.
[ Also, pick up the package off-campus this weekend in my place. ]
The girl's face crumpled again.
Snap!
She yanked the pen roughly from Park Mi-na's hand.
[ Why on earth should I? That's your assignment. ]
[ I'm under scrutiny. ]
"Ha......"
[ You fucking bitch. You told all of us to keep our heads low, and then you go charging around all on your own like a lunatic. ]
The new students who had protested in front of the main building a few weeks back.
Park Mi-na had been the ringleader of those very students.
[ A necessary move to test the other side. ]
[ You and I, same room. The other servants, same rooms too. Absolutely not a coincidence. ]
One or two pairs could have been dismissed as chance. But what were the odds all twenty infiltrators would end up paired off, sharing rooms?
The girl knew that as well, so she stopped glaring at Park Mi-na.
[ I'll be as careful as I can. But I'm not going to stop the others from acting, and I'm not going to report to you on what they do. ]
[ Fine. The core members will lie low. I don't care about the rest. ]
Cultists of the Evil God.
A group commonly known as heretics.
The "core members" Park Mi-na referred to were those who, like her, received direct orders from the higher-ups. Including herself, there were six of them.
Only those six and their direct support knew the full scope of the operation and the identities of everyone who had infiltrated the academy.
In short, the rest were expendable.
[ Let me know when the intel arrives. ]
The girl handed the pen back to Park Mi-na and rose from the bed. She went into the bathroom, carelessly tossed her phone back, and said,
"I'll wash up first."
"Want to shower together? I still haven't had nearly enough."
"...I'd rather wash alone."
"Fine, can't be helped."
Park Mi-na ripped out the page they'd just filled with their silent exchange and tossed the shreds into the wastebasket.
Click.
The bathroom door closed. Left alone, Park Mi-na powered on her smartphone and flopped back onto the bed.
Patter, pat. Tap.
The sound of rain pelting the window filled the room with a gentle hum.
Though there was no discernible pattern to it, Park Mi-na hummed along to the pleasant rhythm while she waited for the screen to brighten.
And the moment light bloomed across the dark display—
"Aahh......"
—Park Mi-na's eyes were filled with rapture.
A man whose image filled the screen edge to edge, no background in sight.
Hair blacker than shadow.
A jawline so sleek and a nose so sharp it looked as though a god had carved it himself.
Broad shoulders and a frame sturdy enough to hold anyone in his arms.
Park Mi-na simply stared at the man on the screen, feeling it would be a sin even to touch the image, let alone the real thing.
'This person, truly.......'
Gazing into those mysterious golden eyes, so deep they threatened to drown her, Park Mi-na let her eyes drift gently shut.
The chilling gaze she had felt on the day of the practical exam.
It had lasted only an instant, but that spine-tingling sensation remained—the feeling that he had seen clean through every facet of her being, down to the core she had never once revealed.
But she hadn't known back then.
Who that gaze belonged to.
Only recently had she finally managed to identify its owner.
The protest she had staged in front of the main building.
She'd told her aide, now in the shower, and the other core members that it was a necessary move to gauge the target's intentions. That was a lie.
The truth: she had genuinely, purely wanted to attend that lecture. That was why she had agitated the students and started the protest. And the protest had been an enormous success, because it had produced tangible results—more spots were opened.
But to her genuine sorrow, Park Mi-na could not submit her application.
That was because, in that fleeting instant, a killing intent so dense it could stop her heart had descended upon her. It had been so brief that she'd managed to hide her reaction and hold steady. If it had lasted even one second longer, she might have collapsed on the spot and committed an unforgivable offense.
Thankfully, nothing so unsightly had occurred. Park Mi-na had hidden her clammy, sweat-drenched hands behind her back and carefully turned her gaze—until she spotted the man directing Professor Kang Han-na.
Alarm bells had started screaming in her head at that very moment.
The instant she registered the presence of a being whose existence she could barely perceive even while looking straight at him, her ability, "Threat Detection," had sent warning signals roaring through her mind. It was telling her to flee—to leave this place, this country, right now.
And in that same moment, she had understood purely by instinct.
The killing intent that had crushed her a moment ago, and the cool, penetrating gaze from the day of the exam—he was the source of both.
And he knew everything about them and their true identities.
That was why she hadn't been able to submit her application.
Because she had no desire to die.
So she had revised her plan.
'Please, just wait a little longer.......'
She would prove her usefulness to him.