62. A Reconciliation Kiss
62. A Reconciliation Kiss
62. A Reconciliation Kiss
"Haa... haa..."
Yu Ha-yeon let out rough breaths.
She had been pressing her lips against mine, saying she was reclaiming the time Ban Ha-na and I had spent together.
I spoke in a small voice.
"...I think that's about enough."
"No. You lied to me, so I get twice the time back."
Revenge must be repaid double.
To reclaim from Ban Ha-na doubly, Yu Ha-yeon had bound me and spent a long, long time stopping my mouth with her own.
Whenever my lips dried, Yu Ha-yeon made them wet again.
With my hands tied, I could do nothing but receive her lips.
In the bright room where this act repeated over and over, Yu Ha-yeon muttered like a patient gripped by paranoia.
"Not yet. Not enough. To make it clean, I need... more..."
She was set on overwriting someone else's traces.
Faced with those frightening words, I gathered my courage and spoke in a serious voice.
"Yu Ha-yeon. I told you, it's not a lie."
"You're still saying that? Does lying make you feel better? What are you, Pinocchio?"
"No. My nose isn't growing..."
"It's a figure of speech!"
Yu Ha-yeon didn't believe a word I said.
'Maybe because I've lied too much?'
So this was how the boy who cried wolf felt. It was the moment I finally understood the heart of the boy who shouted that the wolf had come.
"I'm serious. If I don't kiss women, I die. Are you going to regret it a year from now after I'm dead?"
"...Liar. You're just sick."
"God, this is frustrating..."
The trust I had built over decades had already been trampled into the dirt.
'Guess I have no choice but to tell her.'
The side effect of my ability I'd been hiding from Yu Ha-yeon. She'd thought of my ability as a reinforcement-type power that temporarily generated magic power in my magicless body to enhance it. Things like lifespan or memories— she had no idea I was paying a cost.
"Yu Ha-yeon. Do you know what my ability really is?"
"...? Of course I do. It gives your body a brief flow of magic power and strengthens it, right?"
Still perched on top of me, Yu Ha-yeon tilted her head. Her expression said, 'Why are you stating the obvious?'
"What if it's not that?"
"What are you trying to say, Han Si-jun."
"What if using my ability... requires a price?"
"..."
When I said that much, Yu Ha-yeon looked as though she understood. Paying a price to use the ability. And that price was lifespan.
'If she finds out the details, things will get messy...'
To make the story convincing, I told her about the past.
"The reason my body got weak back then... it wasn't a car accident. It was because of my ability."
Hundreds of A-rank Magic Beasts unofficially exterminated. When I was too young to understand, I'd spent my lifespan to turn them all to dust. When I conveyed that to Yu Ha-yeon, her expression twisted as if to say, 'What kind of nonsense is this?'
"Han Si-jun."
"What."
"Even ten A-rank Magic Beasts are tough for me. How could you possibly do that? Stop talking nonsense."
"...Already?"
Yu Ha-yeon, who mentioned that ten A-rank Magic Beasts were merely tough even as a first-year. At this rate, Lee Seol-ha might not hold on to the top spot in second year. I silently paid my respects to Lee Seol-ha's bank balance loss and continued.
"What if there was a witness?"
"A witness?"
"The Chairwoman you met before. She was with me back then."
The Chairwoman had seen that incident firsthand. Even if Yu Ha-yeon didn't believe me, bringing up the Chairwoman's name was different. The fame of a former S-rank Hero was not something even she could dismiss.
"..."
At those words, Yu Ha-yeon stared intently into my eyes. It was her own way of judging whether I was lying right now.
'Libra.'
I used my ability to properly convince her.
"Han Si-jun, that's not magic— wait..."
Yu Ha-yeon pressed her ear to my chest. That was where the Golem Core now stood in place of a mana core. Yu Ha-yeon only then realized there was a mana core inside my body.
'Raise my Strength enough to break free of this rope.'
—Use 20 percent of Magic Power to raise the user's Strength for one minute. Do you consent?
'I consent.'
Along with the word "contract," power flowed into my body. I strained my arms and immediately freed myself from the bindings Yu Ha-yeon had tied.
"You believe me now? About my ability."
"..."
Yu Ha-yeon stared blankly at me as I undid the ropes without a word. Then she blinked and muttered.
"You..."
"You?"
"You idiot!! Who spends their lifespan on something like that!!"
"Ow... Yu Ha-yeon, that hurts...!"
She clenched her fists and pummeled me indiscriminately. Since her body was smaller now, anyone watching might mistake it for domestic violence. I protested inside. 'I don't even remember it, and I'm still getting beaten up—how is that fair...'
The past where I supposedly wiped out Magic Beasts was one I couldn't remember. Having my lifespan reduced and getting hit by Yu Ha-yeon over something I couldn't even recall was deeply unfair.
***
"...So, that Fenrir thing came into you and said if you seduced women, he would extend your lifespan?"
At Yu Ha-yeon's barely-suppressed-fury tone, I nodded vigorously.
"And you're telling me to..."
"You're free to believe it or not. But if you don't believe me, I'll be dead in a year."
She flinched at my voice. If she didn't believe me and I really did die a year later, how would Yu Ha-yeon live? My guess was she'd probably commit acts that would eclipse Black Dawn. That was my prediction.
I seized the momentum and declared to Yu Ha-yeon boldly.
"So in order to survive, I need to kiss two more people."
I said this while drinking water, having just stood up from the bed. Even after gulping the water down, my mouth still felt like it held traces of Yu Ha-yeon's saliva.
Having heard my specific circumstances, Yu Ha-yeon answered with a half-doubtful air.
"Two... two more people? I hate that... You're mine, Han Si-jun..."
"Since when am I yours?"
"...You're not?"
Of course not. Yu Ha-yeon seemed to regard owning me as the most natural thing. I spoke to her as she bit her nails, projecting anxiety.
"Yu Ha-yeon. I wasn't cheating. I was acting to survive."
"...That's not it, is it. Want to die?"
Busted. If I'd truly kissed someone just to survive, I wouldn't have needed to do it again. Yu Ha-yeon seemed to realize that point because my sophistry didn't work on her. As if a good idea had just occurred to her, her dark eyes opened wide and she spoke.
"Han Si-jun. I have a good idea."
"What."
"Let's just spend one year together without being apart for even a second, and then die."
"Say something that makes sense..."
"I hate the idea of you not being in this world, but I hate the idea of you kissing another woman even more."
Yu Ha-yeon said that and wrapped her arms around me tightly so I couldn't move. As if she never wanted to let go. Inside her, the reason that said she had to let me live and the emotion that wanted to tie me down seemed to be at war.
I loosened Yu Ha-yeon's arms.
"If I die, we can't get married. Are you really okay with that?"
"No, I hate that. You have to marry me. Even if you die, you have to marry me."
"Yu Ha-yeon. You can't get married if you're dead."
"That's a figure of speech."
Yu Ha-yeon said that and turned her head toward me. It looked like she was reluctantly choosing to believe me, but the fact that I had to kiss another woman clearly didn't sit well with her.
"Woman-crazed idiot... This kind of thing only happens to you because that's all you ever think about!"
"What are you talking about? I didn't want to do it either. I had no choice, okay?"
"Rationalizing trash. Die. Just die."
I really might die if she kept this up, you know? I wanted to threaten her with that, but with Yu Ha-yeon, I had a feeling she really would lock me up for a year, so I held it in.
In the end, Yu Ha-yeon asked me, as though she had no other option.
"So. What are you going to do about the other two? Are you going to ask strangers for their number and go hunting?"
"No, not that..."
The other two people. One was Lee Seol-ha; I had to claim her lips in the short time remaining. And the remaining one... 'Mmm...' A candidate was Na Yu-na. But if I kissed her, I'd automatically enter the Na Yu-na route and hard mode would begin.
'Then what about Shin Si-hwa...?'
A forbidden teacher-student relationship. But Shin Si-hwa was only interested in other people's romance and didn't seem to care about her own. She'd probably pass. That was my thought.
'If not her, then Han Yu-wol.'
But if I kissed her, wouldn't all my blood get sucked out? There were many candidates, but all were ambiguous situations. As I agonized, Yu Ha-yeon spoke up as if she'd had a good idea.
"Then, I'll go outside and kidnap a wom—"
"No. The person I kiss has to have romantic feelings for me."
"...What. You didn't say that. Just don't kiss anyone. Live one year and die, Han Si-jun. I'll die with you."
"No thanks, I'd rather not be haunted."
Being stuck together even in death was a bit much. The person I'd recently come to realize I was didn't seem like the type who could settle down anywhere.
"Haa... Han Si-jun, you trash bastard..."
Yu Ha-yeon sighed and looked at me with eyes that gleamed like obsidian.
"How did I end up liking you? It's really so annoying..."
"I know, right."
"What do you mean, 'I know, right'? Do you want to be tied up over there again?"
"Sorry."
Being tied to the bed and subjected to infinite kisses was not an experience I wanted to repeat. Doing it the other way around might be fine, but that was far from my taste.
"Han Si-jun. I'll trust you one last time. Make one promise with me."
"What promise?"
"Just say okay. You don't have veto power."
"...Okay."
I'd racked up too much bad karma; I had no choice but to follow what Yu Ha-yeon said. Honestly, just being alive right now was a miracle.
"Promise me. That if you end up kissing another woman, you'll definitely tell me."
"Okay."
"Swear on your magic power. I'm not trusting your tongue anymore."
Swearing on magic power would bind us like a contract. If I kissed Ban Ha-na and then met Yu Ha-yeon, I'd automatically tell her, 'I kissed Ban Ha-na yesterday.'
Yu Ha-yeon spoke while suppressing the rage boiling inside.
"Han Si-jun. Answer."
"...Alright. I'll swear."
I had no choice but to make a mana oath with Yu Ha-yeon. Because if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to take a single step out of Yu Ha-yeon's dormitory. It was a contract for survival.
"Yu Ha-yeon and Han Si-jun swear upon magic power. If Han Si-jun kisses someone, upon meeting Yu Ha-yeon, he shall convey that fact."
"I swear."
When I spoke the oath, magic power seeped out from Yu Ha-yeon's body and mine. The seeping power twisted together in the air and transformed into the shape of indecipherable letters. And those letters became a singular contract and dispersed into the air. To swear on magic power was to forge a contract. That was how I obtained a consensual pass from Yu Ha-yeon.
I spoke to her playfully.
"Are you really never going to trust my tongue again?"
"...Die, you idiot."
Along with those words, Yu Ha-yeon overlapped her tongue with mine. A reconciliatory kiss. It was something that happened between lovers after a fight, and it meant Yu Ha-yeon was willing to forgive me to some extent.