The Azure Flame's Embrace
"...What the hell."
Ga-eul's heart felt like it was about to burst. That was me? The vulgar woman choking a man like she wanted to kill him, panting like a dog?
Thump, thump, thump. Her pounding heart showed no signs of calming down.
The long night of passion under the moonlight had been more seductive, mind-blowing, and heartbreaking than any experience Ga-eul had ever had.
Who the hell was he? No matter how hard she tried to remember, nothing came up. All she could recall was the warm embrace of those blue flames. She didn't know the man's face or name.
Just those blue flames lingered in her mind.
"...Ah?! Aah!"
How could I forget this?
Ga-eul jolted upright in shock.
"I'm alive."
She ran her hands over every inch of her body, confirming she was still in one piece. Her fingers touched something soft—a fabric.
"This?"
A translucent turquoise silk veil. Ga-eul clutched the one wrapped around her neck and stood from the sofa.
Instead of her missing high heels, a pair of plush slippers in her exact size sat neatly on the floor.
Who did this?
From the looks of things, someone had clearly saved her and brought her here.
Racking her brain for memories before she lost consciousness, the image of a girl with blue hair surfaced.
She was really beautiful. Even Ga-eul, whose looks turned heads in the entertainment industry, couldn't hold a candle to her stunning appearance. The blue flaming wings on her back had looked like an angel descending to earth.
...Blue flames?
"Ah. So that's what it was."
They said survival and reproductive instincts surged right before death—and for Ga-eul, it had manifested as an erotic dream. Her face burned with embarrassment.
Mistaking a girl for a guy. Ugh, am I into that sort of thing?
She felt confused about her own sexuality. Rubbing her cheeks with her palms, Ga-eul gathered her wits.
As her tangled thoughts cleared, she finally had the leisure to look around.
"Where...?"
A worn sofa, a table with crooked legs. Some basic amenities and faded curtains. It looked familiar.
"The men's lounge?"
She'd never set foot inside as an undergrad, but she'd peeked in briefly for a shoot. The abandoned lounge, thick with dust back then when she had to head back to the van for prep—it was spotless now, not a speck of dirt anywhere. Like a cleaning fairy had waved her wand.
"The dimension gate... it's over now, right?"
She'd heard monster alerts often before entering New Seoul, but this was her first time face-to-face with one.
Ga-eul fished for her smartphone in her coat's inner pocket.
"Broken."
The screen was shattered, and no matter how many times she pressed the power button, it wouldn't turn on. Probably smashed when the monster attacked, she figured. Slipping on the slippers, she cautiously stood.
"You'd better not come out."
"Eek?!"
Ga-eul yelped and flopped back onto the sofa at the sudden voice from beyond the door.
Thud, thud. The hulking figure in a hood ducked his head to enter the lounge. Under the fluorescent light, his skin gleamed a gray like weathered rock.
"Ability user? Hero... candidate?"
"No."
As Jo Deok-bae strode in, Ga-eul scooted back warily.
"Then a hunter?"
"Not that either."
Hiding behind the sofa, Ga-eul scanned for an escape route. An ability user who wasn't a hero or hunter—this guy was a villain.
"Wh-what are you planning to do to me?!"
"Nothing. To you."
Deok-bae plopped down on the sofa opposite her hiding spot, as if utterly uninterested. He closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and leaned his head back—like he was waiting for someone.
"Um... excuse me?"
"What."
Ga-eul peeked over the sofa.
"You're not the one who saved me... right?"
"Nah. It was..."
Deok-bae bit his lip, lowering his head. No fitting word came to mind.
"Phoenix, probably."
"Phoenix?"
Deok-bae glanced at his smartwatch. 7:12 PM.
"That Phoenix person—is she the one with blue hair...?"
"The ability user who wears a high school uniform."
"Ah!"
Ga-eul clapped in surprise. The angel she'd seen before blacking out wasn't a hallucination—she really had wings of blue flame. An ability user.
"Then you're her colleague?"
"......"
Deok-bae just shut his eyes. Ga-eul took it as silent affirmation and came out from behind the sofa to sit across from him.
"Thank you for saving me. I won't forget this debt."
"I didn't save you. But... mind if I ask something?"
Ga-eul swallowed hard at Deok-bae's words.
Should I just tell the truth?
Here it comes—the question she'd dreaded. Her identity would come out anyway, so she decided to own it honestly.
"Sure. I'm actress Cheon Ga-eul—"
"How do you know Phoenix?"
"Huh?"
"What're you to her? That crazy bi—ahem. First time she's ever given anyone special treatment."
Deok-bae had seen Phoenix stroking Ga-eul's hair, then bolting to the bathroom to dry-heave. The look in Phoenix's eyes as she gazed at the sleeping Ga-eul had been almost wistful.
How'd she see me at first? Human trash. A bug not worth touching. Someone who treated everything—herself included—as tools for her goals. What kind of person would be precious to her?
"So how'd a kid like you end up with someone like—"
"I'm not a kid! I'm 28!"
Now Deok-bae was speechless. Ga-eul huffed and shoved her ID at him.
"See! New Seoul resident card!"
"...Forged?"
"New Seoul cards are issued jointly by the government and association! Impossible to forge! See? Certified mana mark!"
"I get that, but your state..."
Her clothes were torn from rough handling, but to Deok-bae, Ga-eul looked like a college kid in her early twenties no matter what.
"You didn't lie about your age?"
"Hmph. I'm famous for not aging. Like a whole carton of eggs."
Ga-eul puffed up proudly at Deok-bae doubting her looks.
"But you don't know me? National sweetheart, child prodigy actress, peak popularity as Hyun Ji-yeon in Last Love?"
"...That Auntie one?"
Cheon Ga-eul clapped and laughed.
"Ah! How'd you know? My debut! It bombed so hard everyone thinks it was something else."
"......Just did."
Deok-bae clammed up. It was the movie the orphanage director had played on loop while abusing him. Watching a kid his age endure cruelty on screen had made him think a lot.
"But you're really Cheon Ga-eul? Why's an actress in Seoul?"
"Right?!"
Tension easing in the conversation, Ga-eul launched into her tale of almost dying unjustly.
"Even for high ratings and historical accuracy, filming a drama in Seoul? Not even Incheon! We could've shot on any campus..."
Deok-bae raised a hand to cut her off. One chatty goblin was enough with Phoenix.
"Enough. Got it. You're Cheon Ga-eul."
He stood and pointed to the door.
"She's waiting."
"Ah."
Ga-eul followed Deok-bae with quick steps, keeping a slight distance—like a wary cat ready to bolt.
Up the stairs, Deok-bae stopped at a second-floor lecture hall and pointed inside. Ga-eul glanced between him and the door, then eased it open.
"Hello...?"
A girl sat cross-legged on a desk, glaring holes into the blackboard. Even with a marker in her mouth and brows furrowed, Ga-eul found her so pretty her heart skipped.
"...? Ah."
Phoenix spotted Ga-eul at the door and snapped her fingers. Blue flames erupted on the blackboard.
"Kyaa!"
Ga-eul recoiled from the sudden blaze. It consumed the scribbled notes. Pop! Phoenix clapped, and the flames vanished. The board gleamed like new.
"Cheon Ga-eul-ssi?"
"Y-yes?"
Phoenix clicked her tongue as Ga-eul answered. Deok-bae shrugged behind her.
"Hoped you weren't."
"She says she is. If it's not who you thought, just kill her yourself."
What? Ga-eul plastered herself to the wall in shock.
Phoenix uncrossed her legs, dropping her feet under the desk.
"Congrats, Cheon Ga-eul-ssi. You lived because you're Cheon Ga-eul."
"What if I wasn't?"
Phoenix gave a hollow laugh and stretched.
"I'd have killed you. Jo Deok-bae would've."
"...!!"
Ga-eul was convinced. These two were villains.
"What's your goal in saving me? Money? My resident card?"
"You've watched too many dramas, Cheon Ga-eul-ssi."
"I'm an actress! Duh! No, that's not the point!"
This won't do. Deok-bae inwardly pitied the increasingly frantic Ga-eul.
"Well... technically, I didn't save you, Cheon Ga-eul-ssi."
Phoenix fiddled with her fingers, frowning.
"Just passing by, saw a monster, killed it. You happened to be dying right then. Brought you here 'cause I thought you might be someone I know."
"...Have we met?"
Ga-eul searched her memories. Entertainment life meant meeting tons of people, over a hundred unforgettable beauties among them. But no 'Phoenix' came to mind.
"Plastic surgery?"
"Natural."
"Then... transition?"
"Could be, could not. Details later when the time's right... kidding. Never met. But."
Phoenix hopped off the desk and approached. Ga-eul pressed against the wall, rising on tiptoes. Already taller by a finger's width, now Phoenix's eyes were at her throat level.
"Um, who the hell are—"
She hugged her. Arms around Ga-eul's waist, face buried in her collarbone.
"?!!?"
The body heat seeping through felt like warm sunlight. Ga-eul's eyes darted, hands raised in surrender, frozen.
"Mmph!"
Deok-bae, already queasy, bolted down the hall dry-heaving.
Alone in the empty building, Ga-eul froze at the faint tremors through their clothes.
"......"
The girl was crying. Or holding back sobs ready to burst.
Ga-eul hesitated, then lowered her arms to hug 'Cheonghwa' back.
"S-sorry. I really can't remember..."
"...Haa."
The deep sigh through her clothes sent shivers down Ga-eul's spine. Relief and longing laced in that breath flushed her face and heated her body.
Thump, thump, thump.
She'd already had that indescribable dream during her nap, and now this sudden intimacy. The demon slumbering in her subconscious awoke and whispered.
Possible.
The demon clacked its scissors, laughing. The angel across from it, pitying the demon, whispered to Ga-eul.
As long as there's love, it'll be fine, right?
"??!?!!?!?!?!"
Her accelerating heartbeat made Ga-eul gulp involuntarily. The sound echoed loudly through the room.
Pfft. A stifled snort somewhere.
Phoenix patted Ga-eul's waist reassuringly and lifted her head.
"Don't think weird. Just checking your mana affinity with mana resonance."
"...Huh?"
"Food, air, water. Mana accumulates in the body bit by bit from nature. The body only absorbs the attribute that best matches its constitution. That's what triggers awakening as an ability user."
A lecture started abruptly. Ga-eul panicked at the barrage of unknown knowledge dumped like a rogue professor.
The explanation didn't stop for her undergrad-level meltdown.
"Everyone's max capacity per attribute differs, so mana has unique qualities. Expressed as 'affinities'—like Fire 17%, Water 72%. No two are the same unless it's a doppelganger."
Phoenix met Ga-eul's eyes and grinned.
"So you have to be Cheon Ga-eul. Fire 2, Water 17, Wind 68, Earth 31, Light 8, Dark 37, Illusion 88. Matches what I remember. Puhuhu."
"Uh... um..."
"Man, too bad. If Fire was over 50%, I could've force-awakened you. But till I de-brainwash the others, awakening's tough. Hmm. More importantly..."
"What are you even saying...?"
Phoenix released the hug, stepping back two paces to scan Ga-eul up and down. Ga-eul instinctively crossed her arms over her chest at the lecherous gaze.
"Nah, just... mana matches, but you seem totally different. Age gap? Body's similar though. Cheon Ga-eul-ssi, mind if I touch your chest?"
"You're insane?!"
Ga-eul shrieked. Phoenix blinked in surprise, then waved it off laughing.
"Ahaha! Sorry. The real you would've dropped a worse sex joke and begged for more. Hehe. Okay then... hold on. First meeting in a while, so..."
Phoenix clasped her hands at her forehead. The shift from flirty to solemn made even Ga-eul revere the moment.
Whoosh. Her uniform dissolved into azure flames swirling around her. Glimpses of pale naked skin between the fire made Ga-eul clutch her chest and swallow.
The azure flames dispersed into mana, reforming as gossamer silk. A priestess robe of sapphire-blue fabric embroidered with luxurious white flame patterns.
Phoenix swept her hair back with spread hands; the flames scattered into powder, becoming a translucent veil to her waist.
"...Ah!"
Ga-eul realized the turquoise veil around her neck was Phoenix's.
Phoenix lightly placed her right hand on her left shoulder and bowed.
"Pleased to meet you, Cheon Ga-eul-ssi."
"Ah, yes! Nice to meet you too. Um..."
"Incarnation of the sun. Eternal unquenchable blue flame. I am Phoenix of the Azure Flame."
"...Uh, yes?"
Bombarded with titles, Ga-eul fidgeted unsure how to respond.
Phoenix approached, took both her hands, and smiled brightly.
"Just call me Phoenix."
"Ah, yes. Nix-ssi."
"Phoenix."
"...Yes."
Ga-eul reversed the grip and bowed to Phoenix.
"Anyway, thank you for saving me. I'd really have died without you."
"No biggie. You're alive, right?"
"Whoa, sexist much?"
Deok-bae returned from the bathroom, face twitching, and entered.
His grayish skin cracked in spots from mana backlash.
"...Who said interrupt when the mood's good? Subordinate No. 2?"
"No, it's ridiculous. A villain who burns people alive, guk!"
A bolt of flame shot like lightning, smacking Deok-bae's mouth. Ga-eul tried to look away but barely stopped her turning head at the grip on her hand.
"Hehe. Perfect timing. That big lug's Jo Deok-bae, my No. 2 subordinate."
"...Subordinate, huh."
Pity stirred for Deok-bae writhing on the floor, azure flame stuck to his face. Regenerating his rock skin with mana, he stood and hurled a grabbed chair to the ground.
"□□!"
Deok-bae yelled something, but no sound came out. Phoenix shrugged and pointed him toward Ga-eul.
"Let me introduce. This is Cheon Ga-eul-ssi."
"Ah, I'll do it. I'm actress—"
"Cheonghwa-dan's new face."
"Yes?"