How to Raise Your Level (2)
The moment he drifted off and stepped into that space — same as yesterday — Sung-jun's face twisted into a scowl.
He wasn't some sex-crazed monkey. His body had merely shrunk — so why was it this ravenous? He hadn't sensed anything of the sort, but had the curse somehow converted his levels straight into lust? If that were the case, Check would have said something when they checked.
"Haa."
A sigh slipped out of him unbidden.
If he'd known it would be like this, he should have taken care of his needs before climbing into bed. The thought crossed his mind with that much force.
It's a dream, after all.
…Thinking about it, that was true enough.
At the whisper-soft voice, Sung-jun found himself nodding without meaning to.
A dream.
The ultimate private space — a place no one else could ever invade.
Physical spaces and lingering traces could be trespassed upon, but a dream belonged to no one but yourself.
Then there's nothing strange about you coveting that woman.
"……"
Sung-jun couldn't bring himself to deny the words that followed. He simply closed his eyes.
He had lived a life in which he had never actively lusted after a woman — or even an object. Even a thought as mild as I want that had only ever arisen as a practical afterthought while looking at something useful: That might come in handy. For him, the desire to possess had always been tethered solely to utility.
But the moment he saw the doll alongside the catalog bearing the name Lee Eun-ha, Sung-jun felt — for the first time — a desire so powerful that reason could never hope to contain it.
It was a blazing possessiveness, a wildfire that would scorch the entire reed field of his heart down to ash.
A hunger like flame, one he had never known in all his life. The reason Sung-jun had always seemed so composed next to other people was simple: nothing had ever been able to shake him.
But Lee Eun-ha was different.
The instant he laid eyes on her, every other thought vanished. Every emotion drained away.
All that remained was a single, searing possessiveness — I want her. An overwhelming need to have her and nothing else, needing nothing more.
…So why hadn't he gone to her?
There had been a reason. He was sure of it…
Does it matter? This is a dream. Reasons like that don't count here.
…Ah. Aah.
That was right.
Sung-jun nodded blankly.
His eyes — normally sharp as a well-honed blade — went hazy and dull as they fixed on the woman beyond the dark.
There on the bed, prepared exactly as she had been yesterday, was Lee Eun-ha.
The bed was an altar, and the woman upon it — Lee Eun-ha — was the offering.
That was precisely the path to corruption the incubus desired.
Here again?
The same enormous bed as yesterday — large enough for five or six people to stretch out with room to spare.
And then, almost at once, she felt someone approaching across the carpet toward the bed.
"Han Sung-jun?"
The demon had insisted it wasn't him. She wasn't naive enough to take that at face value, but…
The man who appeared wearing Han Sung-jun's face carried an atmosphere nothing like the incubus. And yet it wasn't Sung-jun's either — not that tempered-blade presence of his.
Ah. I've seen this look before.
Not on Han Sung-jun.
It was the kind of atmosphere she'd only ever seen on that hunter couple whose nickname was literally "lovebirds."
In writing, you'd call it the look of someone with honey dripping from their eyes.
"We met again today, Eun-ha."
Sung-jun came toward her with a bright, beaming smile. That smile held nothing but pure delight, and the sheer innocence of it proved the feeling was real.
"Y-yeah…"
For her, the atmosphere was a little overwhelming.
He seemed like Han Sung-jun, and yet his reactions felt as though someone had been editing his memories — adding and deleting at will.
As if Lee Eun-ha were purely his lover. Or at the very least, his ideal type.
"You're pretty today, too."
"……"
She was going to lose her mind.
She was going to go completely insane!
It really did seem like the fact that Lee Eun-sung = Lee Eun-ha had been wiped clean from that idiot's brain.
Sung-jun climbed onto the bed. Once he was up, he touched her hair the way someone might handle something precious, then gently brushed aside the strands that had fallen across her forehead.
And then, without hesitation—
Peck. He pressed a kiss to her brow.
"Mm. Pretty."
It felt like watching a friend's most humiliating dark history unfold in real time. If he remembered any of this dream when he woke up tomorrow, he might actually try to kill himself.
I-I have to endure this…!
Honestly, the aversion nearly made her shove his touch away.
But perhaps because she now knew that skinship led to level gains, she couldn't refuse.
It was probably the Geas — the clause about helping him wholeheartedly.
"Will you kiss me?"
…This absolute lunatic!
Ah. Damn it. Too slow on the Geas.
Against her will, her body carefully leaned in toward Sung-jun.
Thanks to that word — wholeheartedly — her body answered his requests on its own. It had never gone this far before, but if he ever issued a truly coercive command, she would have no choice but to obey.
So kissing him right now isn't my will. I'm just following orders…!
Smack.
Carefully, her lips met his.
"Pwah…"
Their mouths touched and parted. It was only the briefest of kisses, but she'd held her breath without realizing it, so it left her a little winded.
She'd hesitated — and yet, perhaps because she had been the one to do the kissing, Sung-jun grinned.
"That was so nice, Eun-ha."
His hand stroked her face.
An impossibly careful touch brushed her ear, then slid softly down to her cheek with a feather-light sensation.
Hot…
Maybe it was because no one had ever touched her ear before in her life. Her face flushed before she could stop it.
Whether Sung-jun noticed or not, he gave her cheek a gentle squeeze.
"You're cute when you're embarrassed."
And with that, he lightly pinched her cheek — so lightly it didn't even hurt. Barely more than playful skinship.
This guy… he was acting like he'd completely forgotten that Lee Eun-ha and Lee Eun-sung were the same person.
Is this what the incubus was talking about?
Had the incubus hijacked his body, then?
No — that wasn't it. The incubus carried a distinct wavelength unique to demons. More likely, the hypothesis held: within the space of this dream, the incubus could exert far greater influence over Sung-jun.
In that case… my role is simply to accept it.
Her logical mind-map had already arrived at the conclusion. Accepting Sung-jun without resistance was the only way to help him wholeheartedly.
Ah.
Once a Geas contract was recognized, there was no way around it. Circumventing a Geas was really just stalling for time — most methods boiled down to abandoning the thought before you reached a conclusion yourself.
Damn it. Her own observational instincts, racing to make sense of the situation, had barreled the logic forward on their own — and before she knew it, she'd stepped straight into the Geas's range.
"Are you that embarrassed?"
"Ah — uh…!"
Her thoughts had wandered all the way into contemplation, and Sung-jun caught her zoning out.
He pushed his face in close again.
"Maybe if we do something even more embarrassing, you'll be fine."
"S-something more embarrassing?"
What the hell was this guy planning?
Unable to read his intentions, she stammered the reply before she could stop herself.
"Like this."
The hand still cupping her cheek slid upward, drawing her head into an embrace. Whether he was being careful not to be rough, the motion was soft — gentle force pulling her in.
Chup.
His lips met hers.
And it wasn't just lips.
A k-kiss…!?
Sung-jun's tongue pushed inside, a little roughly. Her closed mouth opened without the slightest resistance — like a door lock accepting its owner's passcode — and let him in.
The moment his tongue entered, her body answered its movements on its own.
"Chup. Tsuup. Chueup."
So this was what a kiss felt like…
Her face burned so hot that even her vision blurred. The vigilance that had been scanning the surroundings only moments ago, the anxious uncertainty, the mortifying awkwardness of knowing the other person was Sung-jun — all of it melted away like ice cream left in the sun.
All she could see was Sung-jun in front of her. All that reflected in his eyes was herself.
A flushed face. A woman barely more than a girl, with hair and eyes like a galaxy, looking back at her.
"Paha… haa…"
Carefully, Sung-jun broke the kiss and drew back.
A thin, translucent strand of saliva stretched between their lips like a thread before it snapped.
"This is… a kiss?"
The words slipped out before she could stop them, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Because Sung-jun was already kissing her again.