Trauma (1)
Trauma (1)
Late afternoon, as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, Nam-woong, having finished all the training and exchanges, brought up that he would be heading back.
"The rain must've stopped. We'll get going now."
"Good work."
"You've worked hard."
Nam-woong gazed at Hoyeon with wistful eyes. Hoyeon cut off that gaze sharply, as if she had no lingering attachments whatsoever.
"Ah, really... Leader, can't I just stay here?"
"If you want to get discharged, then stay."
"Damn it... I can't... I need to receive your seed..."
Ho-yang blamed herself for not receiving Dojin's seed and begged to stay here. But she was a soldier, a body bound to the nation.
She looked at Dojin with longing eyes and a voice that seduced him. Dojin deliberately ignored it, looking away elsewhere.
"Next time! We'll come again next time!"
"Ha, horny bitch. Wagging your tail at a human."
"What'd you say? You, who got knocked out after getting beat by that human."
Sa-young bared his teeth and bickered with Ho-yang, while Nam-woong led those two away slowly.
Dojin watched the three of them, then turned to Hoyeon after they were gone.
"Then we'll be off too."
"Yeah, about this time... thanks. I'll prepare some repayment next time."
"I'll gratefully accept."
The sun was setting. Soon, night would come. Late at night, Mana Lamps lit up one by one, creating another day.
Her dojo was the same. Late at night, disciples started showing up one by one to steal her techniques.
With the gazes of countless disciples at his back, Dojin headed toward the mansion.
"Learn a lot?"
On the way to the mansion, Dojin looked at Eunha and asked. She recalled what she'd learned yesterday and today. Things not quite familiar enough to apply to her body right away.
So she shook her head.
"I need to learn more."
And thus, she needed to grow more. Grow enough to one day be of help to Dojin.
That's how it had to be.
"Yeah."
Dojin nodded quietly upon hearing that. The two arrived at the mansion and dispersed to their rooms. Dojin racked his brains due to the pent-up lust.
'No, what's wrong with this?'
Did the fluids of tiger beastkin have some aphrodisiac effect? Groaning from the uselessly overflowing Tiger Energy, Dojin went to bed.
And the next day.
Dojin looked at his pristine underwear with a ridiculous expression.
Chwarururuk!
Seoyun's ice filled the dungeon. Countless ice particles spread out like wings from behind her.
"...What're you looking at?"
Maybe she felt my piercing stare, because she pushed me away with a curt voice. I slowly shook my head and wandered around picking up Magic Stones.
20th floor, Lizardman nest.
This layer, home to reptile monsters sensitive to temperature changes, was Seoyun's main hunting ground.
They were so sensitive to temperature shifts that they were especially vulnerable to Seoyun's ice. Thanks to that, Seoyun rampaged around here like a fish in water.
Chwarururuk!
Dozens of ice feathers flew beyond the dark curtain. It was a dark curtain that even blocked arrows, but it wasn't enough to stop Seoyun's ability.
What stopped her massacre was the alarm ringing from my wristwatch.
"...Lunchtime already?"
"Yeah."
"Fast."
She withdrew her ability and created a large ice barrier around us. An ice wall of such high intensity that the monsters of this layer couldn't possibly break through.
On top of that, stylish chairs and a table were completed. A perfectly controlled ice throne and round table that didn't leak a single bit of cold air.
The noble queen of the dungeon descends. She enjoyed luxuries other adventurers couldn't even dream of, as if it were the most natural thing.
"What's for lunch today?"
"Minotaur meat."
"...I told you I hate that, so bring something else."
"This is all that's left."
I pulled out the insulated lunchbox from my backpack. She frowned at the contents, displeased, but after that much expenditure, even she couldn't endure without replenishing.
She picked up the meat with ice chopsticks and started chewing the Minotaur meat with a grimace.
The meat of domesticated Minotaurs had excellent survivability and reproductive power as monsters, but the excessive muscle made the meat itself tough.
Watching Seoyun chew the meat with a frown, I took out my lunchbox too. Seoyun stopped chewing upon seeing my lunchbox contents and glared at me intently.
"Why?"
"...What's that?"
"This? Beetle Boar fritters."
"Hand it over."
"Why should I... Ack!"
The moment I flailed to keep her from snatching my lunchbox, the chair I was sitting on melted away. While I fell, she swiftly swapped my lunchbox with hers.
"No, if you wanted to eat it that bad, you should've lined up for it."
"Then you eat on the floor."
"...I'll dig in."
I glanced at the floor, a swampy mess of blood, dust, and sticky mud, then gave thanks and sat on the chair.
Rather than plop down on this floor where annoyance levels exploded just sitting still and eat, it was better to starve. And no matter how much it was just the 20th floor, I couldn't fight while starving...
Minotaur meat was brutally tough. As tough as the salted jerky they say Joseon-era ancestors ate on travels...
As I chewed the meat with a rotten expression, Seoyun, who'd taken my lunchbox, looked at me apologetically.
"...I'm full."
Then she said that and plop, set down the lunchbox she'd been eating from. Sneaking a peek, she'd only eaten one piece of the meat she took.
If that's the case, don't take it in the first place, I thought. But whether Seoyun knew my feelings or not, she lifted a fritter with her chopsticks.
"Hey, eat."
"...Suddenly?"
"I'm full. No point leaving it."
"Then just throw it out."
"...I said eat?"
"I said throw it out?"
She paused for a moment holding the fritter, then slowly set down the chopsticks and asked.
"You saying you won't eat what I give you?"
"That's not it."
"...You know, lately you've been way too much to me, haven't you?"
"What?"
Seoyun's expression hardened rigidly. It was already close to expressionless, but now there wasn't a trace of emotion.
Her nickname, Cold-blooded Princess or whatever, made perfect sense with that ice-cold face.
"You, aren't you my boyfriend? Then shouldn't you be faithful to me?"
"No, what's this all of a sudden..."
"Be honest, you've been fooling around with other girls outside, right?"
"No way... that's not..."
The words slipped out naturally, but caught unconsciously. Immediately, the thing with Ho-yang came to mind. Nothing happened, and we didn't do anything.
But if that counts as fooling around, isn't it fooling around? She touched my thing...
"...Why'd you hesitate?"
And Seoyun didn't miss that reaction.
Druruk, the table between us vanished.
As Seoyun crossed her legs, the distance between us became excessively close.
"No way, for real?"
"...No, it's not."
"You're dumping me and cheating outside? Who? Guild Staff? Or that Guard Force member?"
"I said no..."
"...No way, there's more?"
Seoyun looked at me with a 'no way' expression, staring into my eyes. I met her eyes without avoiding, but the suspicion that had already sprouted once didn't subside.
Seoyun's eyes bored into mine. Piercing through the optic nerve to my heart. My chest started pounding wildly.
"—You."
In a voice colder than anything in the world, a declaration lower than absolute zero fell.
"From now on, don't even think about leaving my side."
Even after leaving the dungeon and returning to the mansion, Seoyun didn't leave my side. It was too persistent to dismiss as just angry words thrown in the heat of the moment.
"...Hey, how far are you gonna follow?"
"What's wrong with it? You've already seen everything there is to see."
She even followed me to the bathroom. She didn't monitor me doing my business, but it was the same—I couldn't escape her line of sight even inside.
I sighed heavily. Was she always this clingy?
'Probably not.'
If she were that clingy, she wouldn't have handed Aram over to me in the first place, nor thought of doing a 3P with her.
So there must be a reason she'd changed like this. A reason she'd suddenly become a yandere...
'What is it?'
I couldn't figure it out. Looking at her as we entered the bath together, I tried to think of the reason. Then it hit me that I was doing something stupid.
'No, why am I even thinking about that?'
I could just read it.
"Seoyun."
"Yeah?"
"Why're you suddenly so clingy?"
"...What?"
I broach the subject. And read her mind. Even she, so stoic without a flicker of expression change, couldn't escape the power of my ability.
"Are you crazy?"
—Are you crazy?
"...No, you weren't like this before."
"Before? When? Back at school?"
—You never even talked to me once back then.
"Not that— I mean when we first got connected."
"......."
—.......
Snap. Her thoughts stopped. Nothing could be read beyond that. Was it because I could only read surface consciousness popping into her head right then, or because after hearing me, she spaced out with no thoughts?
She, who'd been blankly thoughtless, suddenly opened her mouth.
"...Why. Can't I be like this?"
—Lately, it feels like Dojin's been neglecting me.
"Uh, huh?"
"Can't I be clingy?"
—He barely talks to me, treats me like a sex doll just to relieve his urges...
"No, you were always that kind of personality..."
"I've changed. Got a problem?"
—Does he hate me now? Or tired of me? If so, don't hug me at all, why make me misunderstand...
I dunked my head in the bathwater and fell silent. When she'd changed like this, I couldn't even tell anymore.
'We weren't close enough for me to say "your original personality" or whatever...'
When we first fell into the Otherworld, she wasn't like this.
Even when I helped her with her heat from the ability's side effect, she wasn't like this.
She'd changed. Since when? No idea. Could getting close to me change a person this much? No idea.
Everything about her change was unknown. Fear stems from ignorance. Her change right now was pretty damn scary to me.
People's personalities change this fast normally?
"...Sorry."
"For what?"
"Just, everything."
One thing was clear: she was angry at me. And it stemmed from my actions.
So there was one thing to do: soothe her anger. And unfortunately, with my zero dating experience, easing a woman's emotions was extremely difficult.
All I could do was comfort her. And sexually, at that...
"If I'd done well, you wouldn't have changed like this."
"...Right. All your fault."
—Thanks to you.
Her frozen heart melted somewhat.
The love contained within was so hot that I, who'd only seen her as cold, jumped in surprise.
It was something I shouldn't have done, and ended up hurting her because of it.
I cut through the tub like a fish and approached her side. Then sat next to her, resting my head on her shoulder like a lover.
Splash, I took her hand. They say people with cold hearts have warm hands—true to that. Her grip was scorching hot.
"Yun-ah."
"...Don't think this one time forgives you."
"I'm not. Just..."
No more words were needed. I just approached. Slowly, slowly...
Kkiiik.
The bathroom door opened. Our heads turned simultaneously. There stood Ga-hee, covering her body with a towel as she entered.
"Uh, uh... No, I just... thought there'd be women's clothes..."
Rarely flustered, she saw us, apologized loudly, and quickly exited the bathroom.
Seeing that, we burst into snickers, left the bathroom, and went up to the room.
That day, her heart fully melted.
[Frozen Heart]
Proof of a frozen heart.
So cold it even freezes emotions.
But you can't hide the wounds.
Seoyun's ability.
She knew very well what her ability meant.
'My trauma...'
The disposition her life—ignored by her parents—created to avoid getting hurt.
The wound tempered over very long years until that disposition became her personality.
She never thought it would heal in her lifetime. She thought her heart would stay frozen forever, never to melt again.
But Dojin melted her heart.
He succeeded at the impossible.
And the impossible makes humans grow.
'...This.'
Waking from sleep, Seoyun instinctively checked her ability, feeling something had changed.
[Queen of Cold Things]
Only one who has been frozen can reign over them.
Only one not purely cold can dominate them.
That is you.
And so she grew.