Chapter 245
"...Hoo..."
Whenever I try to calm my mind and body, I always end up submerging myself. Does that make me a water-affinity succubus? Demons and water are supposed to be polar opposites, so it's a combination I've never heard of before. But right now, the Yoo Seol-ah in front of me looks exactly like one.
Unlike earlier, though, her face isn't flushed from embarrassment—it's from the heat. She seemed to have sorted out her thoughts and spoke up to me.
"...But, Baek Sion."
"Yeah?"
"Have I been accidentally charming people all this time?"
"Not normally, I don't think."
Normally, it's not that I lose my reason—it's more like, even with my reason intact, I just can't hold back when I see Yoo Seol-ah. My body's only just turned twenty, and after three years of battle-fueled adrenaline, if it weren't for her, I might not have been able to handle my own libido. The fact that it's her is key, though.
"It probably only kicks in when your tail comes out, and when the wings appear too..."
"Eung..."
Maybe because it's an unconscious charm spell, hearing the victim's side makes her pretty embarrassed. Is it because her basic mana control is so exceptional? She shakes people's hearts so subtly that they don't even realize they've been enchanted.
But the really weird part is that I'd grown to the point in Astasia where I could shrug off pretty much any mental magic during those "training" sessions disguised as violence. Even half-joking, half-serious comments about her overflowing succubus talent aside, for succubus-type magic to infiltrate my mind so easily...
"But Baek Sion, aren't you basically invincible to mental magic? You always come out fine like you're exploiting a bug."
"...A bug, huh."
The demon king's forces had set up massive mental magic traps using magic circles just to take us out—we were thorns in their side. Everyone had strong resistance, so no major damage, but all three of us got headaches at least. I was the only one unaffected, which made Yoo Seol-ah give me that weird look. Even now, her eyes are narrowing a bit—she's clearly thinking something suspicious.
"Don't tell me you were pretending to be charmed so you could do whatever you wanted..."
"Five times in a row isn't humanly possible..."
"......"
She looked ready to attack, but even Yoo Seol-ah—who's never lived as a guy—realized five in a row was impossible and shut her mouth.
Submerging halfway in the water again, she created an air bubble and pondered some more. A moment later, she slyly surfaced. For some reason, her face looked a little pissed off.
"...My mentors said mental magic works less on people you don't trust much."
"That's usually how it goes."
"So, conversely... maybe I charmed you because you trust me too much?"
Hearing that made the reason for the charm click for me too. Even if charm is inherently negative, when it's from Yoo Seol-ah, my heart just accepts it naturally.
She looked triumphant, but unlike what she intended, I could answer this without hesitation.
"I trust you more than I trust myself."
When we split into teams of two, we were always paired up, leading to plenty of bickering over our clashing styles. But even so, she'd been someone I could trust with my back for so long I couldn't pinpoint when it started. Trusting someone with your back means entrusting them with your life—and vowing to protect theirs with your own. There's no higher level of trust than that.
"...Ugh, ah... if you say it like that, then I..."
It looked like she'd been trying to tease me a little, but now she was the one blushing. ...She's such a lightweight.
But even as her face turned red, she wasn't just embarrassed. She inched closer until she was right up against my side, resting her face on my shoulder. I glanced at her flushed earlobe, smiled, and tossed out a joke.
"There's so much space here."
"I-It's cold, okay? Why, what's your problem?"
She always sets the bath to exactly 41 degrees, yet here she was with the lamest excuse. If I teased her to move to the other side, I'd probably get nagged for the rest of the day—or the week—so I just gently stroked her hair instead.
"...Hng..."
She loves head pats too. Like a cat. Succubus, cat... oh right, she was originally a grand mage.
Even after finishing our bath, it was still early evening. But after rolling around in bed nonstop, it made sense that it felt later than the actual time, given how many rounds we'd gone.
Lying next to the utterly spent Baek Sion, I turned on my phone and saw a few personal messages from Lee Seo-yeon.
I'd only told them we were going on a date, but sharp-as-ever Lee Seo-yeon seemed to have guessed what was up. Especially that considerate tone. I immediately nudged Baek Sion.
If we skipped just because she said it was fine, I'd have to face her smirking eyes next time. (Oh, and that name? Lee Seo-yeon hijacked my phone and changed it herself.)
"Everyone's at the izakaya. Wanna go?"
"Izakaya sounds good. I'm getting hungry anyway."
No way Baek Sion wasn't starving. Roha-unnie's restaurant picks always nailed my tastes perfectly, so I quickly changed into going-out clothes. Luckily, my tail and wings were gone, so no issues there.
They'd said the izakaya was right in the hotel basement. As we walked slowly following the location in the message, I tossed a question at Baek Sion.
"...Hey."
"Yeah?"
"When you think of me, what's the first thing that comes to mind?"
He immediately gave me that suspicious look, like he was wondering if it was a trap. ...Are all assassins this paranoid?
But right now, I really wanted an honest answer. Seeing my expression, he answered quietly.
"...Cat?"
"...And next?"
...Well, cats are cute, so fine. I waited for his next answer, but he hesitated, tilting his head a bit.
"...Succubus?"
"Why the hell does succubus come after that?!"
Lately, I'd been feeling like the "grand mage" part of my image was fading away. And it wasn't just with Baek Sion—Lee Seo-yeon, Yuna-unnie, everyone seemed to see me less as a grand mage these days.
Baek Sion just looked flustered.
"Then what should come up?"
...He's genuinely confused, which pisses me off more.
"Obviously, grand mage!"
"You used to say it was embarrassing and told me not to call you that."
"Compared to succubus, I'd take it a hundred times over...?"
Cat first is okay, but succubus before grand mage? That's serious. Time to reclaim some of that cool, intellectual image from my old self.
"...Here."
Hotel basement level 2. It was reservations-only; mentioning Roha-unnie's name got the staff to guide us to a private room inside.
Everyone was already gathered, so I schooled my expression and opened the wooden door.
"Ah, you two are here."
"How long have you guys been here?"
"Not too long."
I sat down with Baek Sion, surprised they weren't drinking despite it being an izakaya. The other five picked up their conversation right where they left off, ignoring us.
"Straight to incorporation then?"
"Yeah, even for a startup, you have to close the sole proprietorship first before converting. Plus, there are stock issues."
I couldn't follow even concentrating—it was all gibberish. I quietly asked Lee Seo-yeon next to me.
"What's this about?"
"Company stuff."
...The one field where I can't even pretend to be intellectual. As I sat there blankly listening, Yuna-unnie kindly scooted over and explained it all to me.
Somehow, it felt like I was the kid tagging along with the adults.
"Seol-ah, order whatever you want. Want me to do it?"
"...For real?"
"Yeah. We were waiting on you to order slowly."
She even knew I hesitate with menus. Roha-unnie looking out for me too. I was grateful, but one realization hit me.
...Reclaiming that old grand mage image might just be impossible.