Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: It Was My First Kiss
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Clang-.
The cheap steel sword slipped from Han Jaewoo's limp hand.
The lump of metal crashed against the cold cave floor, letting out a hollow clang.
The grotesque blood-red beast that had appeared before his eyes.
In front of that alien calamity that could never exist in an F-Rank Slime Dungeon no matter how many times he died and revived, Han Jaewoo froze like a statue, his face drained of color.
He clenched his jaw tight, fearing a pathetic scream would burst out if he opened his mouth.
He even froze his eyeballs to hide the cold sweat trickling down.
Inside, he was desperately sobbing and calling for his mother, but outwardly, he was the epitome of the Northern Grand Duke's icy silence—utterly motionless.
And watching that figure from behind, holding their breath, were two people.
Kang Taesan and Baek Seorin.
Especially Baek Seorin's eyes darted fiercely back and forth between the steel sword on the ground and Han Jaewoo's rigidly upright, broad back.
'He... discarded his weapon?'
Common sense dictated that facing an unknown monster like that, a warrior's instinct would be to immediately grip their weapon and assume combat stance.
Yet her man had done the opposite—he'd thrown away the sword he held.
That arrogant back view showed not a hint of panic or surprise.
For a split second, the words he'd said at the dungeon entrance flashed through Baek Seorin's mind.
[Have you come to enjoy the hunt as well? If you wish, I shall yield a place in my party to you.]
The pieces of misunderstanding clicked perfectly into place in her head.
When she'd first heard those words, she'd thought it was just a casual stroll, a modest date to hunt some slimes.
She'd believed the man who called her his own had deliberately invited her to the safest place to ease her tension.
But no.
She'd been wrong.
An absolute being as lofty and noble as him would never call hunting mere slime trash a "hunt."
He had already seen through to the deepest part of this dungeon, where such an ominous and massive calamity lurked.
Discarding the sword.
It wasn't fear.
It was overwhelming disgust—that filthy blood sludge wasn't even worthy of staining his noble blade.
At the same time, it was a silent command yielding the stage to her, a member of his party.
'Daring to put the Heavenly Demon of the world on his palm and shove her onto the stage. What an insolent, arrogant man.'
Baek Seorin grumbled inwardly, but her cheeks burned red like they were aflame.
That arrogance didn't annoy her. On the contrary, her heart raced wildly at his absolute trust in her and that haughty attitude of casually turning his back.
She tried to hide her flushed cheeks and spoke in a deliberately sharp tone.
"...How insolent. Daring to test this exalted one."
She drew the true sword from her waist.
"But if you've set the stage, then I shall dance upon it gladly."
Her tsundere-like declaration hadn't even finished.
Kang Taesan, who'd been gauging the mood from the side, slung his bone axe over his shoulder and let out a hollow chuckle.
"Heh heh, Brother. You said it was a peaceful picnic to hunt some slimes."
Kang Taesan clicked his tongue toward Han Jaewoo's sturdy (frozen) back.
"But deep down, you prefer these bloody, brutal bastards? As expected, Brother's caliber is beyond my humble grasp!"
Kang Taesan firmly believed this entire situation was the result of Han Jaewoo's discerning eye and grand tastes.
Cracking his knuckles, he stepped toward the blood beast.
"A filthy thing like this doesn't even need Heavenly Demon sis to step up! Brother, I'll clear it first!"
Boom-!
Kang Taesan kicked off the ground and launched forward.
His monstrous strength, honed by S-Rank environmental adaptation, exploded as the telephone pole-sized bone axe mercilessly smashed toward the blood beast's head.
Splat-! Boom-!
The physical destruction was definite.
The beast's upper body burst apart like it had taken a bomb, losing all form.
But the problem came next.
The blood beast wasn't a normal monster.
The moment it was struck, the clumped dark-red blood sprayed everywhere like a waterfall.
Drip drip! Splatter!
The aftermath of Kang Taesan's brutish axe swing sent blood droplets raining down like a shower, covering the cave interior.
And a good portion of that blood poured straight toward Han Jaewoo, who was frozen behind them.
The warm, fishy liquid splattered onto Han Jaewoo's pale cheek.
Red stains dotted even the luxury long coat that Baek Seorin had splurged on for him.
"..."
In that instant, the thread of reason in Han Jaewoo's mind snapped.
'My face! My luxury clothes!'
The noble's delicate mysophobia, cultivated over ten years of the finest treatment in the Rosenstein dimension, reared its head.
He was already on the verge of passing out from the creepy monster, and now this barbarian had swung his axe wildly, drenching him in filthy blood.
Irritation and disgust overpowered his fear.
He furrowed his brow sharply and irritably wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand.
"...Vulgar."
His chilling voice echoed through the cave, piercing the din of battle.
"Don't grovel so cheaply, splattering blood everywhere."
It was clearly a reprimand toward Kang Taesan's rough fighting style that had dirtied everything, and an expression of revulsion toward the blood beast.
Baek Seorin's eyes sharpened at his icy complaint.
She instantly grasped why he was displeased.
Hadn't he personally taught her that during the last S-Rank Gate? That the sword wasn't a crude weapon of murder—it was to lead softly like a waltz.
That barbarian's bloody axe swings must have seemed a vulgar act that marred her man's sublime aesthetic.
"Stand back, you foolish barbarian."
Baek Seorin blocked Kang Taesan's path with a frosty voice.
"Doesn't my man find it displeasing? The sword is not a crude tool. To make it vanish without spilling a single drop of blood, like dancing a waltz—that is the true etiquette of the martial arts."
She drew the true sword from her waist.
Formless energy surged from her dantian, exploding along the blade.
Ultimate yang energy. The Heavenly Demon's sword aura, transcending the Volcanic School's swordsmanship, lit up the cave brilliantly.
Swish-.
With one grand swing of her sword, a massive storm of light engulfed the blood beast trying to reform.
Sizzle-!
It didn't even have time to scream.
The beast's body, which had been spraying blood everywhere, completely evaporated in an instant before the intense heat of the Heavenly Demon's overwhelming sword aura.
In a flash, the stench and blood smell filling the dungeon vanished.
The blood calamity ended in vain, without leaving a single trace.
Confirming the beast had fully evaporated, Han Jaewoo inwardly sighed in relief as if ten years had been shaved off his life, while maintaining his outwardly impassive expression.
'I survived. I nearly died from how gross that was.'
And the next moment, the great instinct of capitalism flashing through the mind of an average citizen.
'Wait, with that size and killing intent, it has to be at least A-Rank, right? Lucky S-Rank mana stone might've dropped!'
Feigning nonchalance, he casually stepped toward where the blood beast had evaporated.
With hands behind his back, he scrutinized the floor, even nudging the dirt with his toe.
But no matter how hard he looked, aside from red bloodstains, not even a glimmer of a mana stone appeared.
'No? Where's the mana stone?'
Han Jaewoo furrowed his brow.
All monsters left behind mana stones, the crystallized essence of their mana, upon death.
That was an absolute law of this world.
No mana stone?
Powerless and materialistic he may be, Han Jaewoo was no fool.
Ten years in the Rosenstein dimension.
The one and only sharpest weapon he'd honed there wasn't swordsmanship.
It was survival instinct—reading situations and staying alive in the muddy quagmire of high society rife with poisonings and schemes every day.
Gears turned rapidly in his head.
'This isn't a naturally spawned monster. Someone deliberately controlled or created it—a summoned beast.'
This aberrant beast that defied the dungeon's ecosystem.
This was a blatant assassination attempt disguised as an accident.
A despicable tactic commonly used even in the Rosenstein dimension.
Send a beast or familiar disguised as a wild monster to secretly eliminate the target, then blame the gruesome death on a natural dungeon mishap—a shallow, classic ploy.
So, who was the target?
The Heavenly Demon had joined on a whim after bumping into her at the association lobby today—no one could've predicted and sent an assassin for her.
That left him and Kang Taesan.
The bear-like guy hadn't been back long enough to make enemies, so unlikely they'd target him specifically.
Which meant.
'Me.'
Currently, the hottest topic in Korea's news. The man drawing all the aggro as the Heavenly Demon's lover, S-Rank solo clearer, and more—himself.
Damn it.
It was the same in the Rosenstein dimension. Because of this plausibility-forged visual, just breathing drew noble ladies and power players, sparking fierce romantic and political intrigues.
Even on Earth, he was now facing assassination threats.
Han Jaewoo pierced the empty air with his gaze.
Convinced of the shadowy mastermind behind the accident-disguised hit, he let out a low, cold scoff like a soliloquy.
"...For a despicable scheme, it's awfully amateurish."
His blue eyes sank coldly like the snow of a northern gale.
"To think you could fool my eyes with such a shallow prank."
'What lunatic sends an assassin to an F-Rank beginner hunting ground!'
The moment his irritated mutter dispersed.
That arrogant, overwhelming gaze locked precisely onto the shadowy figure sharing the beast's vision, piercing through dimensional walls.
At the same time.
In Seoul's tallest luxury penthouse.
The top-grade crystal wine glass swaying between her slender fingers halted dead in midair.
That chilling voice echoing from beyond the beast's view.
For a despicable scheme, it's awfully amateurish. To think you could fool my eyes with such a shallow prank.
His deep blue eyes pierced the beast's empty sockets, stabbing straight at her lounging on the penthouse sofa.
The blood beast she'd sent wasn't meant to truly kill them.
It was merely a red, sultry greeting forged in blood, sent to the man who piqued her interest.
Of course, after rolling through the otherworldly hell for a century and fully awakening as a vampire, her twisted notions clashed severely with normal sensibilities.
Her warped common sense insisted that hurling a killing-intent-filled monster was a polite, sweet invitation.
She had dominated the nights of the otherworld.
No one had ever dared shred her blood invitation so mercilessly and mock it as an amateurish prank.
Crash-!
The crystal wine glass in Ibia's hand cracked and shattered.
Red wine flowed down her pale hand like blood, but she paid it no mind.
"Haa..."
Her shoulders trembled faintly. Not anger. It was a thrilling shiver racing up her spine.
"To tear apart the polite invitation I sent."
Ibia's blood-red lips curved into a deep, alluring arc.
"Such an insolent... maddeningly charming man."
That overwhelming arrogance in curtly rejecting her twisted overture and scoffing it off in soliloquy.
The ecstasy of an absolute predator discovering a higher predator that could finally crush her.
Her red eyes began to gleam with dangerous possessiveness.
Back in the F-Rank Dungeon.
He'd smirked sharply at the shadowy mastermind, but Han Jaewoo's spine remained chillingly cold.
In that hellish high society of poisonings and politics, the one person who'd perfectly protected him with raw power.
'At times like this, that woman was so convenient.'
The mad tyrant who'd drag all his would-be assassins to the guillotine.
His former fiancée, Emperor Edelgart's brutal yet reassuring embrace suddenly felt achingly missed.
Thick nostalgia and bitterness clouded Han Jaewoo's blue eyes.
Then, Baek Seorin sheathed her sword and approached him slowly.
A clean white handkerchief was in her hand.
"...From now on, leave the dirty work to me first."
Standing on tiptoe, she began gently wiping the blood droplet from his cheek.
"Filthy blood on your precious form."
Her soft touch caressing his face.
And her face, now inches away, was flushed bright red.
The sight of the murder demon called the Heavenly Demon blushing while dabbing his cheek with a handkerchief created such an oddly intimate atmosphere that even watching Kang Taesan coughed awkwardly and averted his eyes.
But that pink tension shattered in just three seconds.
As Baek Seorin wiped the blood, her hand brushed his nape, slightly parting the coat collar.
The black, tattered hem of the old garment hidden inside the luxury long coat blatantly entered her view.
"..."
Baek Seorin's hand froze.
Her red eyes rapidly cooled to ice.
This outfit.
It was exactly that rag from the past woman she'd warned him never to wear again in the association lobby days ago.
She'd thought the top-grade luxury clothes she'd bought had perfectly covered those traces.
'This filthy rag... you were still hiding it under my clothes, sweating like a fool.'
And just now, that bitter look in Han Jaewoo's eyes as he gazed at the bloodstains.
Baek Seorin completely misunderstood it—not aimed at the assassin mastermind, but blind longing for the past woman tied to this worn cloth.
That precious? More than me, those traces from that past woman.
Jealousy and betrayal clawed viciously at her heart.
The face that had been shyly blushing moments ago now overlaid with chilling killing intent.
"...This."
Baek Seorin's voice plummeted into the abyss.
"Is unnecessary stubbornness."
Her white hand gripped the hem of the old Mithril Frock Coat inside his coat.
And without a moment's hesitation.
Riiip-!
"...!"
With a gruesome tearing sound, the chest of the absolute Mithril armor split in half like paper.
Before the Heavenly Demon's inner force grip, even S-Rank armor couldn't hold.
"Abandon those lingering attachments now. I'll be the one protecting you."
Throwing the shredded Mithril coat pieces to the floor, Baek Seorin declared arrogantly.
Han Jaewoo stared wide-eyed at his sole lifeline now rolling on the ground.
Outwardly silent, but inwardly, he was shedding bloody tears in desperate screams.
'Nooooo! My armor! My only lifeline! Assassins are after me, and now this crazy woman! Without that, I really die from a graze!'
But whether Han Jaewoo screamed inside or not, the Heavenly Demon's jealousy-blinded rampage didn't end there.
Having torn away the traces of the past woman with her own hands, now it was time to etch her own marks viciously into the void.
Baek Seorin roughly yanked his collar—no, the lapel of the expensive long coat.
And without giving him time to resist, she stood on tiptoe and fiercely claimed his lips.
"...!"
A suffocating silence descended in the cave.
Even Kang Taesan watching from behind gasped and hurriedly covered his eyes at the provocative, powerful kiss.
The Heavenly Demon's possessiveness—to erase the past remnants and make him wholly hers—branded his lips like a hot seal.
It was a first kiss.
Unfortunately, only for the Heavenly Demon.
"...Huh?"