Yuri's Room (1)
“Umm...”
She let out a sleepy groan, then closed her eyes again. For some reason, she pulled me closer, hugging me more tightly.
“Huuu...”
Like tossing and turning in her sleep, she moved her body. Before I knew it, Soso had climbed over me and was covering me.
Soso was in my arms. No, it felt like I was in her arms. In a half-asleep murmur, she whispered.
“Umm... Minsu... good... I won’t let go... like this... keep going with me...”
I couldn’t tell what she meant by keep doing what, but in this close contact, the loose robe revealed more of her skin.
Of course she was wearing underwear, but it was getting too much. Her face was about to touch mine.
If it was still before the end of the day, I remembered that intense kiss from this morning. I hurriedly dodged her approaching face.
Her breath brushed against me, smelling sweet like peaches. The morning kiss had that scent and taste.
‘Was she pretending to sleep?’
I immediately denied the thought that came to mind. I knew Soso had feelings for me, but right now, it was definitely Soso, not the Blood Demon.
In this vulnerable state, I maintained my lower body’s composure as best I could and whispered to Soso beside me.
“Team Leader Yeon! Wake up!”
“Uhm... even if you seduce me with food... No, if it’s macarons like that... I can grant your wish.”
Her sleepy talk was getting more intense. To prevent a dangerous situation, I had no choice but to nibble her earlobe.
“Hyaang!!!”
Soso let out a startled scream, or rather a subtle sound, and sat up. Due to the recoil, Soso’s upper body swayed, but I consciously avoided looking there.
“Uhm? Here...”
Finally, Soso seemed to wake up from sleep. A moment later, Soso, who had been sitting on top of me while lying down, was in an embarrassing position that words couldn’t describe.
“W-what are you doing!!”
Soso was the one who covered me, but she was the one who was startled. Soso hurriedly got off my body. It was literally one step before my lower body reacted. It was a blessing.
Soso wrapped herself in the blanket and looked around belatedly. When our eyes met again, her cheeks turned bright red.
“U-um, Team Leader Yeon. Nothing happened.”
She said it hurriedly. Realizing belatedly that the hotel room was mine, Soso bowed her head to me.
“M-minsu! Sorry! I was lying down and fell asleep without realizing... and... really... really nothing happened!!”
Embarrassed, Soso rambled, but I could roughly understand the situation.
She had used too much mana to catch Jang Gyesin. So, mana overload in the mana roads. To correct the twisted qi and blood, Soso had personally intervened.
“Is your body okay now?”
“Yes. It’s fine. Thanks to you...”
And the fact that both were wearing robes was because, like in Yeon Moon-woo’s hermitage, the mana calming effect increased with skin contact.
According to Soso, it was a healthy process, but she was strangely shy.
“It’s good that you’re okay. I was worried... I worried a lot.”
Seeing Soso’s bright expression when I said I was fine, I felt sorry for relying on her.
I diverted the conversation to hide my feelings.
“Thanks to Team Leader Yeon’s efforts. Ah, speaking of which, what about Wind Cutter...”
“Wind Cutter will be received tomorrow. Because of your contribution in catching the villain, the Wind Cutter’s choice is already decided.”
Dmitri seemed to have given up cleanly. He probably couldn’t sense Wind Cutter’s will, so he didn’t want to be humiliated.
Looking at the time, it was already past midnight. Since it was late, I told Soso.
“Then, Team Leader Yeon. It’s late, so you should sleep in Team Leader Yeon’s room...”
At that, Soso shook her head vigorously.
“That won’t do!”
The absurd remark left me speechless. Soon, she lowered her head shyly and said quietly.
“Seeing that thing that the wicked Jang Gyesin used... I... can’t sleep alone.”
I understood what she meant. Soso had a great fear of ghosts or spirits. Moreover, Jang Gyesin, who had been spewing dark mana to dominate the entire rooftop with the Evil Dragon’s Horn.
Due to that unconscious influence, Soso seemed to be constantly conscious of ghosts. In such a luxurious hotel, it might feel eerie to sleep alone.
“The bed is big, so let’s sleep together? If it’s uncomfortable, I can sleep on the sofa.”
“I don’t need that! Nothing will happen.”
“Is that so.”
There was a momentary silence between us. But it was already late. If I said anything more, the atmosphere would become more awkward, so I lay down keeping some distance from Soso.
“Then I’ll turn off the lights. No, what about the mood light? Is it okay to leave it on?”
“Mood light?!! Then, let’s do that.”
The room darkened.
***
The next day.
I couldn’t sleep for long.
‘How much did I sleep? About three hours.’
I had insomnia from the beginning. And I hadn’t turned off the lights completely, but in the dark night, I couldn’t help but have rising thoughts.
No, it wasn’t just simple thoughts. Those thoughts were like having substance. Behind my eyelids, the horde of ghosts was staring at me intently.
‘This is contradictory.’
Unlike Soso’s fear, thanks to Ruby, no undead or ghost could affect me.
But in the thick darkness that unfolded when I closed my eyes, the ghosts of the Eins Tragedy victims became clearer.
Ultimately, I knew that those ghosts were all made from my guilt.
‘That’s why I can’t forget.’
What I had to do. And why I survived without dying. So I couldn’t fall asleep easily and just lay there with eyes closed.
And Soso, who was behind me, hugged me all night.
Soso, being an A-rank awakened and having learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, probably knew I wasn’t sleeping. But Soso was like when she held my hand on the plane.
And like when she held my hand tightly under the table at the auction, she didn’t seem to want to let go.
‘Now... I won’t let go.’
In that hazy state between sleep and not sleeping, Soso’s whispered words reached me. It was Soso’s voice, not the Blood Demon’s.
And Soso, until I fell asleep, calmed my mana roads again. That’s why I could sleep for three hours.
Just before falling asleep, the touch of Soso’s lips on my hair. That sensation came to mind. Not only that, the soft touch of Soso’s body.
I tried to erase those thoughts. And to receive the Wind Cutter, I left the hotel and headed back to the VIP exchange.
“Welcome. I’ll guide you.”
The leader of the security guard I met yesterday bowed again. He had a bandage on his leg, but his expression looked fine.
And the look in his eyes when looking at me had changed. Yesterday, he seemed to be worried about Soso, the daughter of the Heavenly Demon.
Now, he was clearly worried about me.
‘Because I caught Jang Gyesin.’
I followed him to the place he was guiding. It wasn’t the exchange hall from yesterday. Behind it, a separate restricted access area was prepared.
He guided two people into the place where only staff could enter.
“Since Dmitri gave up, there’s no need to receive it through auction like yesterday.”
Instead, like yesterday, the Wind Cutter was in the sealed metal box as is. The staff standing next to it recognized me and greeted me.
“You’re here. You can receive the Wind Cutter right away. However, when the seal is removed, a large amount of mana will temporarily wrap around you. As an A+ grade gear, it won’t be easy.”
But his gaze wasn’t particularly worried. As a hunter who caught Jang Gyesin, my evaluation in this exchange seemed to have risen significantly.
The staff put his hand on the box. Soon the box opened, and in this indoor space where strong wind couldn’t blow, as he said.
A fierce wind like a typhoon began to blow. I put my hand in the middle of the storm and grabbed the Wind Cutter.
“Respond to the call of the master. Wind Cutter.”
And that storm wrapped me tightly.
***
Yuri Tarkovskaya was at her home.
It was an apartment overlooking the Han River. Her family’s wealth from the Tarkovsky family. And she, the guild master of an S-rank guild. If she wanted, she could live in the penthouse of that apartment.
Yuri didn’t do that.
‘If I had that money, it would be better to put it into the operation of our guild.’
Actually, the current house was also provided by a distant relative of the Tarkovsky family. She hadn’t thought of living in such an expensive house.
But she liked the unusually large river choosing the downtown area. The Han River, named after it.
Especially in cold winter, when the river froze over with extreme cold. But Yuri’s gaze was now directed elsewhere.
“The photo is... too small.”
Now Yuri was looking at an internet article. She was in the process of printing the article. When Yuri saw the printed paper.
Using memo notes and stickers appropriately, she left only the desired parts on the printed paper.
“No matter how much Soso is the daughter of the Five Heavenly Stars, writing such nonsense articles.”
The article was about the villain attack that happened in Pyongyang a few days ago. It was dealing with the robbery incident.
It was the incident where A-rank villain Jang Gyesin infiltrated the famous exchange, tried to steal very expensive items, got caught, and arrested.
========================
「Ghost Step Jang Gyesin, Finally Arrested」
February 20 last year. At the xx exchange in Pyongyang...
... But members of S-rank guild Flame arrested Jang Gyesin and his accomplices.
Especially A-rank hunter and daughter of Heavenly Demon Yeon Se-hwi, Yeon Soso...
========================
Such an internet article. But unlike what Yuri received from the Association and Minsu, the article had only Soso’s photo and her achievements highlighted in large print.
‘It would be good for views.’
Soso is a beauty. And the only daughter of Five Heavenly Stars Yeon Se-hwi. Such an achievement of Soso would guarantee views.
‘Soso didn’t not achieve anything. Still...’
But in the end, the decisive achievement in that incident was Minsu. So, in the very small photo, Minsu’s face appeared.
His collaborator Lee Minsu said.
“Name is wrong too.”
She spat out the cold inner monologue. Thinking about it made her angrier. Soon she calmed down by looking at Minsu’s photo.
Yuri changed the article’s name to Lee Minsu and pasted the article on the side of the wall in her room.
Of course, all of Soso’s photos were covered.
“Good...”
The wall was full of photos. All of them were photos of Lee Minsu.
And on the other side’s decoration cabinet, items Minsu gave her from the Eins days were carefully stored one by one in glass cases.
The other wall was also full of letters Minsu sent to Yuri. Reading the letter before sleeping and after waking was Yuri’s daily routine.
Touching the newly expanded photo of Minsu with her hand, Yuri said.