Chapter 6
"Get out of my bed."
"Tonight, until this mark is completely covered... wanna do some advanced studying with sis?"
Click.
The sound of the door locking echoed through the cramped basement room like the clang of a prison gate slamming shut.
On Siu's bed, Hong Yeonhwa straddled his hips, gazing down at him with a bewitching smile. She wore nothing but one of his white dress shirts—loose and gaping at the collar, exposing the taut, elastic curves of an S-rank hunter's body and the deep valley of her cleavage in raw detail. Lingering droplets from her shower trailed down her collarbone, forcibly pinning Siu's gaze in place.
Yeonhwa's eyes locked onto one spot. Her narrowed gaze fixed on the mark at the nape of his neck—the bite from Baek Seol, the Silver Wolf's Fang.
"Hmmm..."
Her brows furrowed in clear displeasure.
"The more I look, the more it pisses me off. I can smell that bitch from here. She's marked her territory good and proper."
Her fingertip brushed his nape like a caress. It was cold. The freezing mana Baek Seol had injected lingered in the wound, chilling his skin. It was no different from a brand stamped right into his flesh: Mine.
A childish war between rivals. Traces of another woman on the toy she'd claimed. Red flames flickered in Yeonhwa's eyes.
"Come on, quick. Time to disinfect it."
"D-disinfect? Mmph?!"
Siu didn't even have time to respond. Yeonhwa leaned down and licked the bite mark with the tip of her tongue.
"Nngh...!"
A stifled groan escaped his lips. A sensation he'd never felt before. Where her tongue touched, a sizzling chiik sound rose with white steam. Baek Seol's 'chill' from the mark clashed with Yeonhwa's injected 'heat,' sparking a mana reaction. Scorching burn like flesh searing and bone-chilling freeze slammed his brain simultaneously.
Too stimulating for pain, too dangerous for pleasure.
"Stay still, baby. I'm overwriting that bitch's trace with my scent."
Yeonhwa mumbled without lifting her lips. She was relentless—licking the wound, sucking with her lips, gnawing with her teeth, layering her red mana over Baek Seol's silver mark.
"Hah... ngh... stop, please..."
Siu's hands flailed in the air, lost. The rational urge to push her away clashed violently with the pheromone haze melting his brain, intoxicating him more fiercely now that his defenses were down.
Yeonhwa's hand slipped under his pajamas. Her hot palm traced his abs upward to grope his chest. This was beyond erasing a mark anymore. She meant to devour him whole, make him forget Baek Seol ever existed.
"How's that? Hot flames feel better than cold ice, right?"
Yeonhwa lifted her head to meet his eyes. Her pupils dilated, cheeks flushed red, saliva smeared on her lips. As she leaned forward, droplets from her wet hair plopped onto his pillow and sheets.
Plip. Plop.
The cold water hit his cheek, snapping Siu's hazy mind awake.
Wait.
His eyes shook wildly. His gaze wasn't on her ample breasts but on the mattress where the droplets seeped in.
Warning: Humidity detected.
Target: Natural Latex 7-Zone Mattress (10 months left on installments).
Siu's brain algorithm switched from 'lust' to 'survival instinct' in an instant.
"H-hey! Hold on a sec!"
"What? Shy now? Too late."
Yeonhwa pursed her lips for a kiss, but Siu desperately shoved her shoulders. Impossible to budge an S-rank's strength with F-rank force, but desperation laced his voice.
"Your hair! You didn't dry it!"
"...What?"
His mood-shattering shout halted her cold.
"What're you talking about? So my hair's wet, big deal..."
"Big deal?! This is a natural latex mattress!"
Siu bellowed, veins bulging.
"This is a basement! Humidity's already at 80% in monsoon season. Lie on latex with wet hair and you know what happens?! Moisture traps in the pores, mold spore growth spikes 300%!"
"..."
Yeonhwa doubted her ears. In this mood? With an S-rank beauty in nothing but a shirt seducing him?
"Crystallization kicks in, it powders up—who's gonna take responsibility?! I splurged on this last month! Get off now, hurry!"
Siu was dead serious. For him, bed comfort was a 'quality of life' issue trumping any S-rank seduction. Especially for a basement dweller—'dampness' was scarier than any monster.
"Ha..."
Yeonhwa let out a hollow laugh. Absurd. Too ridiculous for anger.
Countless men had groveled at her feet, begging for a glance. Yet this guy feared mold over sleeping with her.
"You're... such a riot."
Her eyes shifted. From conquest lust to challenged pride. This rubber slab more precious than me? Let's see how long your hygiene obsession lasts.
"Don't worry then. Sleep on sis instead—she's softer and warmer than any mattress."
Whoosh.
Red mana steamed from her body like haze. Her wet hair dried in seconds. She cranked Seductive Pheromones to max to crush his resistance.
The tiny room filled with thick rose scent and heat.
"Can't... breathe..."
Siu's reason teetered. No winning by force or magic. If she pounced now, he'd be done—and his precious mattress ruined by sweat and damp.
No. Can't let her defile my sanctuary.
His hand fumbled under the pillow for his bedside essential: the basement apartment emergency control remote.
"Words won't work, huh? Fine then."
Siu pulled out the remote with grim resolve and slammed the yellow Post-it on the headboard.
"Home defense system activate! Bedroom isolation and sanitization mode!"
Click. Flash!
The Post-it glowed, wrapping the bed in a transparent blue dome.
'Hydrophobic Barrier' deployed.
Target Area: Latex Mattress and User.
And 0.1 seconds later—
Sizzle—psshhh!!
White gas and liquid poured from ceiling pipes like a waterfall.
"Kyaa?!"
Yeonhwa shrieked, bounced off the barrier, drenched defenselessly.
Composition: High-concentration purification water + Liquid nitrogen cooling gas + Peppermint oil.
Effect: Removes indoor contaminants (pheromones) and forcibly calms arousal.
Siu's custom 'basement fire suppression system'—built to protect his bed from experiment explosions or toxic fumes.
"Pwah! Cough, cough! Hey! Are you insane?!"
Yeonhwa yelled, soaked like a drowned rat. The cold purification water and gas washed away the pheromones and heat in seconds.
Drip drip.
Droplets bounced off the barrier like rain. Inside, Siu and the mattress stayed pristine; outside, Yeonhwa and the floor were flooded.
"Ugh... when'll I finish mopping the floor."
Siu clutched his head inside the barrier. Mattress safe, floor wrecked. Crisis averted.
"You really..."
Yeonhwa swept back her wet hair, glaring. But Siu couldn't look straight at her through the barrier.
"Uwaaah! Clothes! Do something about your clothes!"
Drenched, her thin shirt clung transparently, outlining explosive curves and pink nipples in stark relief. Wet white shirt and sleek legs wrought even deadlier visual havoc.
Siu yanked the blanket over his eyes.
"Just get out already!"
"Pfft!"
Yeonhwa burst out laughing at his panic. A man hosing down an S-rank seduction—ruthless to the point of admirable.
"Ha, fine. You win."
She wrung out her shirt and sauntered to the window. Mood killed; pushing more would just look desperate.
But she wasn't mad. Far from it—harder prey only whetted her appetite.
"I'll let you off tonight. Looks like you need time to cool down."
She hopped onto the windowsill, night breeze fluttering her wet hem.
"But..."
She tapped the shirt collar.
"I'm taking this shirt."
"Huh?"
"Smells like you—love it. Gonna sleep in it tonight."
She winked seductively.
"Ah!! That's my interview shirt... it wasn't cheap!!"
Siu's wail went unheard. Flash! With red flames, she spatial-jumped into the night sky.
Left alone in his wrecked room. Purification water dripped from the ceiling, floor a lake, bed reeking of mystery roses and mint.
"...Ha."
Siu gripped the damp mattress cover, muttering emptily.
"Life really... doesn't cut me any slack."
He rummaged his closet. Early tomorrow, to the used bookstore for rare magic tomes—but no decent clothes left. His one good shirt stolen by the S-rank cat burglar.
"Guess I'll wear a hoodie..."
Mopping the floor, he vowed: Upgrade the defenses. S-rank or not, no one sets foot in my bedroom.
But he didn't know. The bookstore tomorrow held a storm worse than fire or ice: the tempest of capital.
