Chapter 222: Fragment of Emptiness (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 222: Fragment of Emptiness (5)
We kissed like that for ten minutes.
By the end, both my body and Kang A-rin’s were burning up.
It felt as if we’d become balls of fire.
The only sound was the wet slick of our lips meeting, our tongues tangling.
As she tightened her arms around my neck, I glanced at my watch.
The time we’d been allotted was almost up.
I had to summon every last ounce of my reason.
Literally clinging to the last thread of my sanity, I managed to pull away from the ferocious kiss.
“A-rin… just a moment.”
My voice was so strained, it surprised even me.
“Mmm…”
Kang A-rin protested, pressing herself even closer.
“When we get back to the hotel tonight, let’s do everything. For real.”
Only then did she seem to understand what I meant. The strength in her arms, wrapped around my neck, slowly eased.
“……”
I took a step back and looked at the face of the woman who had just thrown herself at me.
It was… soaked with tears.
She must have remembered some incredibly painful trauma.
Without a word, I gently patted her back a few more times, calming her down.
Her ragged breathing began to steady in time with my touch.
After a little more time.
Just as the promised hour arrived.
Vreeem….
The hangar’s massive steel door groaned as it began to open.
I quickly smoothed down Kang A-rin’s disheveled hair, and she hastily wiped her eyes.
The door opened completely, and from beyond, Emily Kim and her team of researchers walked toward us.
Some wore expressions hardened with tension; others seemed to be hoping for some small miracle.
What they wanted was to control and harness the irregular energy emanating from the meteorite.
They were under the misconception that this energy itself was the power of a Fragment.
They had given me the opportunity to obtain a Fragment.
Now, it was my turn to give them what they wanted.
“…Was the research satisfactory?”
Emily Kim approached me cautiously.
Her gaze was fixed on the meteorite.
And then.
“……!”
Her eyes widened.
The blue aura had clearly diminished.
“Please bring the measuring instruments.”
“Yes, yes!”
Emily Kim spun around and shouted urgently.
“—! —!!”
She then ran to a console on the far side and began frantically manipulating something.
A researcher beside her rolled a large piece of equipment over to the meteorite.
With trembling hands, Emily operated the scanner.
Beep… Beep….
The sound indicated the measurement was beginning.
It was then.
Beep, beep, be-be-be-be-be-beep!
The measurement records to date were displayed on the panel.
Every previous record was a flat 0.
Mana had never once been detected.
But now.
The screen of the measuring device was flashing red like crazy.
A moment later, a message appeared.
[ERROR: UNMEASURABLE]
It wasn’t reading zero anymore.
But that didn’t mean it was measurable.
An energy source so immense the machine couldn’t handle it.
That was the true nature of the meteorite that had housed the Fragment.
The Fragment’s power had been madly absorbing and controlling the meteorite’s mana.
With the Fragment gone… that energy was naturally released to the outside.
You could think of it as pulling the plug on a bathtub.
Had more time passed, it would have devoured the remaining mana… but I had extracted the Fragment rather quickly.
That meant the remaining energy would be quite substantial and useful.
“The extraction…”
“You can just treat it like a normal Magic Stone now.”
“Ah…”
Emily nodded.
“How… how on earth…?”
“Trade secret.”
I smiled, helping Kang A-rin to her feet.
Only then did she compose herself, her posture straightening as she replied with crisp precision.
The light was back in her eyes.
“Regarding the ratio of mana generated and the sharing of technology, as stipulated in the contract…”
Kang A-rin began to get down to business with Emily Kim.
From here on out, this was her domain.
I didn’t interfere in their conversation any longer, instead walking over to the hangar’s glass wall.
I watched the meteorite, now just an ordinary source of mana, and waited for the negotiations to conclude.
*
Inside a bustling cafe.
“So, how did it go? Was it okay?”
“It was good. We got… a lot.”
She took a sip of her coffee and let out a satisfied sigh.
“You worked hard.”
All negotiations were finished.
Kang A-rin and I were having coffee at a Lunabucks in the USA.
“You really did work hard.”
It wasn’t just a platitude.
From acquiring the Fragment to the immediate negotiations that followed.
Kang A-rin had shouldered the heaviest burden.
All I’d really done was…
Drag her here and meditate next to her.
The tug-of-war over rights and interests had been all her.
“Well, it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Kang A-rin stretched her arms out as if to relieve stiffness.
As she twisted her body, the lines of her figure were tantalizingly visible through her thin shirt.
I put down my coffee, moved behind her, and placed my hands on her shoulders.
Knead.
My hands gripped her shoulders, pressing firmly into the tense muscles.
“Feeling good, Guild Leader?”
“Ahem, still the Sub-Guild Master. Oh… you’re pretty good at this.”
I kneaded her shoulders playfully.
She, too, seemed to enjoy the release of all the tension, her red eyes narrowing as she purred like a cat, melting into my touch.
“A little to the side… ah, no. A bit lower. Yes. Right there…”
Perhaps because we were in a slightly more secluded booth.
It was a relief I could give her a massage without worrying about prying eyes.
“A little… lower.”
Slide….
My hands slid from her shoulders down her spine.
“A little more. Mmm…”
“……Sub-Guild Master? This isn’t exactly your shoulder…”
“What about it?”
“This is a bit…”
“It’s an order.”
She cut me off languidly without even turning around.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The spot she was referring to was indeed quite a distance from her shoulders.
“They’re so heavy all the time, the muscles around here get tense too.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I didn’t ask any more questions.
Knead, knead.
It was a bit too soft to be a muscle, though.
In any case.
“Ngh…”
I stopped questioning it and, under the pretext of loosening tense muscles, applied pressure with my fingertips, rubbing in gentle circles.
“Huu… Hahh…”
Her back, which had stiffened, soon relaxed completely under my touch.
Just as Kang A-rin’s breathing grew heavier and I could feel her body start to lean subtly against mine.
“That’s enough.”
Snip.
I stopped all movement.
“Why?”
Her voice was brimming with dissatisfaction.
“Let’s continue tonight.”
I whispered into her ear.
No matter how you looked at it, this was still a cafe.
It was a bit awkward.
“Aww.”
Kang A-rin grumbled cutely.
She’d been so endearing all day, it just made me want to dote on her more.
I usually felt that way, but even more so today.
I wrapped my arms around her and sat down.
As if accepting it, Kang A-rin shifted her hips to press her body against mine.
She was the first to speak.
“So, I got the Fragment.”
“Yeah.”
“I think it has a pretty serious side effect.”
“What is it?”
A serious side effect from a Fragment?
Was there something even I didn’t know about?
I sat up straight and focused on her words.
“I can’t control my arousal.”
“……”
“Forget our schedule, I want to go back to the room right now.”
That was a side effect I’d never heard of in my life.
I stared intently at her face.
Her cheeks were flushed red, and her breathing was faintly trembling.
…Was this for real?
She gripped my wrist, harder than before, and whispered.
“So, think you can help me out?”
“Don’t you have dinner with the President…?”
Even so.
“We still have time.”
I looked into her eyes.
Checking again… there was definitely still some time before the banquet with the President.
What should I do?
After a moment of deliberation.
I finally made my decision.
I set down the coffee cup I was holding and took her hand in mine.
“…Alright, let’s do it.”
I led her out of the cafe.
We walked, almost ran, back to the hotel without a word.
Click.
The moment we opened the door to our room, I headed straight for the sub-bathroom without hesitation, while she went into the main one.
There were two bathrooms, after all.
We each washed away the day’s fatigue in our separate spaces.
But the cold stream of water couldn’t cool the heat in my body.
With only a towel wrapped around my waist, I opened the bathroom door.
I couldn’t sense anyone.
The sound of water from the main bathroom had also… stopped.
She showered fast.
With that thought, my heart pounding, I swallowed dryly and headed for the bedroom.
And there…
“You’re here?”
Dressed in black lingerie made of nothing but daring lace, Kang A-rin was waiting for me, lying languidly on the bed.
“……”
Seeing that, I made up my mind in an instant.
The banquet?
The President.
Yeah, let’s just cancel that.
I simply turned off the alarm on my Watch.