Sharing

Lee Ha-yeon sent her reply and lifted her gaze to the mirror. The one who had messaged her was none other than Baek Seo-jun.

If she trained under him, she would grow stronger far faster — just as Seomun Ye-jin had. That hope had driven her to ask for his instruction, and he had accepted. Han Se-hee had decided to learn from him as well, so even though their fields were different — Se-hee a healer and support-type, Ha-yeon a combatant — the two of them could grow together.

She might become an extraordinary healer someday.

Ha-yeon had experienced Han Se-hee's power firsthand. She hadn't been able to completely stop the attack that Gye Un-jik, an SSS-class villain, had unleashed — but she had blocked a meaningful portion of it all the same. Considering they were the same age, most people would struggle to believe that a girl of only fifteen had managed to blunt an SSS-class villain's strike to any degree at all. Anyone who wasn't an exception like Baek Seo-jun, known to the world as Kim Ho-jun, would find it nearly impossible to accept.

She has a gift not only for healing, but for defense as well. She has every quality of the finest supporter imaginable.

The thought of growing close to Han Se-hee was something Ha-yeon looked forward to in her own quiet way. As the successor of the Angel Guild, she had always treated good relationships with talented people as a matter of importance — and even if she couldn't quite call Se-hee a savior, they had endured the same ordeal, and that was reason enough to want a genuine friendship. Of course, beyond those practical considerations, she simply wanted to be friends with her on a personal level as well.

I could finally talk to someone about Seo-jun.

She hadn't said a word about Baek Seo-jun even to her father, Lee Jeong-cheon. The investigation she had run on him had been framed, on the surface, as nothing more than a look into the suspicious conduct of the Baekho Guild, which had sent escorts along on that occasion — and no one had thought to question it. Under those circumstances, the only person she could share what she had uncovered about Seo-jun with, the only person she could even talk to about him, was Han Se-hee.

Someone she could offer the information she had found, and receive in return whatever she herself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had missed. That was why Lee Ha-yeon wanted to sit down with Han Se-hee and have a real conversation.

"I can't wait."

All of it filled her with anticipation as she looked into the mirror. The girl reflected there was a beauty of dazzling golden hair and pink eyes — innocent in the overall impression she gave, and yet already possessed of a figure with curves in all the right places, striking enough to hold anyone's gaze. In another two or three years she would radiate a far more intense feminine allure, the kind that would have people reaching for words like a beauty who could topple a nation and still feel they hadn't said enough.

She had always been aware of that face, and every glance in the mirror had usually left her quietly satisfied with what she saw. Today, for some reason, that satisfaction wouldn't come.

If only I were four years older...

She found herself envious of Seomun Ye-jin, who was four years her senior. But why? Why did she envy her?

"Mmm~"

From the moment morning arrived after their first night together, Seomun Ye-jin had been glowing with delight. After the long, burning hours ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they had spent, she kept glancing at my face at every opportunity, grinning like a fool — and meeting those blue eyes, I found I couldn't help smiling either.

"Seo-jun, when are we going to file our marriage papers?"

She was in nothing but her underwear, pressed flush against me, whispering the question against my ear.

"Marriage papers, huh."

I drew her in by the waist without thinking and gathered her into my arms. She wasted no time settling onto my lap, her hips planted firmly across my knees.

"That's right~ Our marriage registration! I'd love to have the wedding soon, too. What kind of wedding dress do you like? I'm thinking of having one tailored however you want it~"

She was already picturing herself as my wife and savoring every second of the thought, and I was looking forward to it just as much. Seomun Ye-jin in a wedding dress, smiling — she would be breathtaking. Not that she wasn't already. I could look at her forever and still find nothing to do but marvel.

"A wedding dress. I do have something in mind."

"Really?! What is it?"

"I'll show you when the time comes. For now, just stay still and look at me."

"Okay!"

She turned at once so that she was facing me. The love and longing burning in those blue eyes pulled the same feeling out of me, and I looked back at her with everything I had. We held each other's gaze like that, unhurried, until neither of us could have said who moved first — and then we were lost in a deep, hungry kiss.

While our mouths moved together, I stroked her hair — that pale, indigo-leaning violet — and let my hand travel down the long fall of it until my fingers found her hip. She was straddling my lap, facing me as we kissed, so I couldn't take a full handful of her, but I could still trace the curve of her. A pleased look crossed her face at the touch, and she slipped her hand beneath my clothes.

We stayed like that, kissing, until I understood exactly what the heat in her eyes was asking for.

"Seo-jun... could we go again? Just for an hour?"

I didn't answer with words. I stood her up and hooked my fingers into the waist of her panties, drawing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them down.

...Two hours had passed, in the end.

"Hah... hah..."

I watched Seomun Ye-jin lying across the bed with a blissful look on her face, catching her breath, and I smiled — then let out a small, wry breath.

"This is a drug all its own."

Happiness really was its own kind of narcotic. There was the warmth that rose in me just from looking at her face, and then there was the time we had just spent — so thoroughly satisfying, so completely good, that I couldn't have asked for more.

And yet, at the same time, the memories of that day were still playing in my head at full force, every feeling intact.

The hell I had lived through after Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong sold me to villains. The pain and the despair I had felt then, and the rage that came after they threw me into the Rift. All of it — the agony, the hopelessness, the fury, the hatred — kept replaying in me exactly as it had been in those moments.

Emotions that violent, cycling over and over, would have driven an ordinary person out of their mind. The only reason I could hold myself in a state of calm was that I kept laying the love and happiness I shared with Seomun Ye-jin over the top of them.

"Lamia."

She answered without taking her eyes off the television.

"This is an important scene. Do not interrupt."

There was something almost funny about it — an Outer God who had once, as The Black Snake That Devours the World, intended to raise this planet up and swallow it whole, now completely absorbed in a TV drama. After four years of watching her like this, though, it had become nothing more than ordinary daily life.

Peaceful enough, I suppose.

I wanted this peace to last. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the same time, there were things I had no choice but to settle. The rage and hatred I carried for Baek Hyeong-won, Kim Yu-jeong, and Baek Seo-jin were still burning hard, even inside all this happiness.

"Ha-yeon and Se-hee are coming for training at two. Try not to do anything that draws too much attention."

"I will quietly watch the television."

"Good. I'll take them outside for the session, so enjoy the TV all you want."

"Understood."

She was so absorbed in the screen that even answering me seemed like a chore, and her clipped replies made me wonder, briefly, what this world would look like once it was truly at peace. After the revenge was finished. After I had brought down The Fox that Devours the World, the thing that had its eyes on this planet. What would that future even look like?

I set the thought aside.

That's a problem for when I get there.

The future was still too far off to waste time on. There were things that needed doing now.

"This training ought to make for a fair enough trade."

The kind of trade I would need to lift Baek Seo-jin up to the highest possible happiness — and then drop him all the way into the ground.

Fifteen minutes before two, they arrived.

"Hello, Seo-jun Oppa."

"Hello, Seo-jun. This is a gift!"

Han Se-hee and Lee Ha-yeon had come to train, greeting me as they stepped inside. Ha-yeon had brought a bottle of wine as a house gift, and Se-hee had picked up a box of donuts. The wine I could drink now that I was of age — and the donuts, Seomun Ye-jin would like. I didn't care much for sweets myself, but she had a quiet fondness for them.

"Come on in."

Seomun Ye-jin greeted them in a thin tank top and denim hot pants, glued to my side as if she had been poured there. Then she went further and wrapped both arms around me entirely — showing off what we were to each other, or flaunting it, depending on how you looked at it.

The way Lee Ha-yeon's and Han Se-hee's faces darkened at the sight was not my imagination.