Temple of the Sea (1)
Yoo Dahui swallowed hard, her throat clicking audibly. She stared at Kim Jinwoo, who had suddenly become serious, and listened to his answer with bated breath. She had always wondered how he saw her. Of course any woman would wonder such a thing. Sometimes, while chatting with Elysha, they would drift into exactly that territory. Elysha disliked Kim Jinwoo, yet she still cheered for Yoo Dahui’s feelings and never badmouthed him.
“We elves mix saliva before blood,” Elysha had once said in a solemn voice. “We eat together to feel the depth of our bond. Then we confirm each other’s hearts and finally have children.”
“So, Dahui, want to try this?”
“Yummy? It’s surprisingly good, isn’t it? This is the recipe my mother taught me when I was little.”
Elves only mate after confirming each other’s hearts and deciding to have a child. Other races attached meaning to the smallest things.
Yoo Dahui scoffed inwardly. Sharing a single sandwich? What was the big deal?
“Three sandwiches, please.”
One for the boy training nearby. One for herself. The third, the one she would offer Kim Jinwoo if he rejected her.
As she stuffed the sandwiches into her inventory, Yoo Dahui let her thoughts wander. She imagined Kim Jinwoo eating the sandwich she had just bitten into—without thinking twice about it, of course. She pictured him accepting it so naturally, as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
Her fingers trembled ever so slightly as she pulled the sandwich from her inventory.
Yoo Dahui was giving meaning to things that held none.
“We can just share it, right? You don’t mind, do you?”
She offered the sandwich with perfect calm. Kim Jinwoo grumbled under his breath yet obediently took the sandwich and began to chew.
Huh. He’s actually eating it like it’s normal.
‘What if I make it for him myself? How would he react?’
An image flashed through her mind: the ideal woman opposite to her—short, petite, cute, and a fantastic cook. The opposite of the brazen type Kim Jinwoo had once declared as his ideal.
It felt oddly nauseating.
“If you do well enough, I might even let you watch,” Yoo Dahui said, staring straight at him.
Kim Jinwoo’s gaze drifted far beyond the present, into the past.
“Dahui…”
There had been a novel. A story with no readers at all. Kim Jinwoo had read it. The protagonist was a regressor, and the writing was so detailed it felt like it had been written by someone who had actually experienced it. Every laugh, every tear of Yoo Dahui’s had pulled him in completely. When she smiled, he felt happy. When she cried, the day became unbearable. When she finished the story, he had felt both relief and regret—because they could no longer climb the tower together.
Now it was pure joy. And terrifying.
Because eventually they would have to part.
In the epilogue, Yoo Dahui had returned to the original world. The probability that Kim Jinwoo would return there too was very high.
They would have to part. So he had been careless with her feelings.
“Love… is a little like that, isn’t it?”
Like a novel racing toward a single ending, Kim Jinwoo would one day face an ending he didn’t want.
“I like you a lot.”
Even so, it was the truth. Despite all the words and actions that never matched, Yoo Dahui couldn’t finish the sentence.
“U-uh…”
Normally Yoo Dahui would never have used Insight’s Grace on Kim Jinwoo. It felt like mocking someone’s emotions, and she never used it on the man she was regressing with. But [‘Insight’s Grace is activated.’]
Kim Jinwoo’s eyes were far too serious. Yoo Dahui unconsciously triggered the skill. And she collided head-on with an emotion she absolutely could not face.
Truth. More transparent than any truth, it poured into her heart.
Her mind filled with pink.
The only things Yoo Dahui could see were Kim Jinwoo’s face and his lips.
No… I can’t.
“Mmmph—!”
Yoo Dahui grabbed his head and pulled him toward her before he could escape. Their lips crashed together like never before—sticky, wet, desperate.
***
Churp—
“Haah… Jinwoo… that was cheating… right in the middle of everything…”
Yoo Dahui pulled away, a long strand of saliva stretching between their lips before snapping.
“Why so suddenly?! Get off me!”
The sudden pressure toppled her backward. She ended up on top of him, straddling his waist. “Wait—!”
Her lips sealed his again. Both hands clamped over his ears, trapping him completely.
“Haah… haah…”
“Why are you like this… say something…”
Yoo Dahui wiped her lips with the back of her hand, then wiped his around the mouth with the sleeve of her shirt.
“I don’t know. I just can’t hold back… I like you too much.”
“I don’t get it…”
“We can’t do it here, can we? So I guess I have to hold it in…”
Yoo Dahui rubbed her hips against the front of his pants as if they were about to have sex. It was a completely different feeling, yet she couldn’t bear the discomfort.
“Hey, it hurts. It really hurts.”
His genuine complaint finally made her pause. She stood up. “…Sorry.”
She helped him to his feet. The dirt on the ground made the spot they had lain on uncomfortably damp.
“O-oooooh~”
The boy gave them a thumbs-up and sparkled with excitement. He was the very picture of a teenager in his prime.
Yoo Dahui smiled awkwardly at the sight.
“I have a friend back home I really like. I want to be like onee-san and oppa someday.”
The awkwardness hung in the air like a thick curtain. The boy chattered on, but neither of them answered. Not Yoo Dahui, and not Kim Jinwoo. Both were dying to run away right there.
“Here, let’s shake hands.”
Kim Jinwoo extended his hand to the boy.
“Yeah, keep training hard.”
“Why are you suddenly trying to end it? Are you really leaving, oppa?”
“We’ve been here too long. See you next time.”
Kim Jinwoo pulled Yoo Dahui away from the lake.
“Oppa! Onee-san! Where are you going?!”
He ignored the boy’s calls.
On the path back, Yoo Dahui said nothing.
“Say something. Why did you do that?”
“I don’t know either.”
She had no excuse. She had suddenly jumped him and now claimed she didn’t know why.
“That’s your fault for making me feel that way. So that’s my fault?”
Kim Jinwoo replied with the perfect flip of the script. Yoo Dahui lifted her chin proudly.
“What? You have a complaint?”
“…No. Yeah, it’s my fault.”
Since she had been the one who made him feel that way, it was only fair to admit it and move on. She didn’t want to hear any more excuses.
“Then let’s go find the remaining pillars. We only need two more, so it won’t take long.”
Kim Jinwoo knew the locations. Around the Temple of the Sea, the five blue pillars formed a pentagram. With three already found, the remaining two were easy to guess. The lake that hid the final piece was the only one worth checking.
He steered away from the First City instead.
As they moved farther from the First City, monsters began to appear—one by one at first, then in small packs. Knight monsters. Because there were only two of them, the maximum group size was two or three. They earned pitifully little coin.
“An open space…?”
They stepped into a strangely empty clearing surrounded by dense forest. Enormously vast. The Temple of the Sea should be here.
Once the seals were broken, the temple would rise from this very spot. Walking the same path they had come would reveal two more pillars.
They kept walking without stopping.
With just this much left, they were nearly finished.
In the end they found the last two pillars.
The sun was setting.
“Looks like something big is about to happen, doesn’t it?”
“It’s not that dangerous.”
Darkness swallowed the forest whole. Visibility was near zero. Even the ordinary wind now carried an ominous tone.
“Since I know the locations, should we regress and unlock the seals right now?”
“Not a bad idea.”
Regressing was annoying. Restarting felt like more trouble.
So they regressed.
Yoo Dahui collapsed.
[‘Death Return’ is activated.]
They returned to the familiar scene. The only difference was that Elena’s eyes looked unusually sharp.
They gathered their equipment and headed toward the First City.
They met Horin and made a fortune.
After renting the finest hovel…
“Isn’t it strange to go right away?”
“What’s strange?”
Yoo Dahui was about to unlock the seals immediately. But think about it. Fresh players who had just come out of the Academy running to break seals? Anyone would call that suspicious.
“Then what do we do? Sit around doing nothing?”
“We have no choice, right?”
“I hate waiting…”
After a moment of thought, Yoo Dahui offered a solution.
“Let’s just take Elena and find someone in the Second City.”
“And the rest?”
“Leave them here. It’s only one day, and we can break the seals with the Submission Oath in the meantime.”
“Find someone in the Second City? Then why drag Elena along?”
“Uh… you’re right.”
Kim Jinwoo nodded. It made perfect sense—there was no need to bring Elena. Yoo Dahui made her decision.
“Then let’s go by ourselves.”
“Fine.”
Kim Jinwoo preferred not to take Elena. It felt like playing with a toy, and it was fun. But they couldn’t do that. It would slow their growth and kill the tension. Even with his regression, every fight felt boring now; dragging an 8-star player around would make things far worse—he would rather die.
They gave Elysha a reasonable excuse and set off for the Second City.
On the way, the lone werewolf’s throat was cut in a single motion. Why only one? He had no idea.
They arrived at the Second City. Wells dotted the landscape, and the players were sharper and more refined than in the First City.
“The Tower of Struggle is home to many races living together. Upper floors have their own rules and respect one another more than the lower ones.”
Among them were people who needed no laws to survive.
“Elves…”
Non-existent. Elves were so rare they barely existed. But Elysha’s presence had doubled the female elf count. Next came dwarves, nymphs, fairies, elementals—surprisingly many good races.
Dwarves aren’t good so much as insane bastards who never backstab each other. That’s a plus in this cruel world.
Other races were far superior to humans. Beyond that, who knew when someone would betray you? So they were unworthy of discussion.
“Look, there are dwarves.”
“Dwarves? Why bother with dwarves…”
“They’re surprisingly manly.”
Yoo Dahui frowned.
Calling someone a breeding vessel? That wouldn’t be good.
“Let’s just look for other people. Yeah?”
Seeing how much Yoo Dahui really hated dwarves, they could safely cross them off the list.
Because they require 10 levels of mana or higher.
Dwarves focused on body, not mana. Muscular little guys. The perfect word for them was “muscle dwarf.”
Good races with 10+ mana levels. The pool had shrunk dramatically.
So who were they looking for in the Second City…?
“How about them?”
A lizardman and three fairies. A strange party emerged from a hovel. The lizardman lumbered on two legs like a reptile, the fairies fluttered transparent wings like little boys and girls. The lizardman was clearly female, though barely so. The fairies had to be over 10 mana.
“Not bad,” Yoo Dahui said, nodding at the lizardwoman’s head.
The plan was complete. Time to recruit members.
Kim Jinwoo approached the lizardman naturally. Up close, her chest was strangely swollen.
The lizardman was female.
But why a lizardman?
Irritated by her odd shape, he spoke anyway.
“Excuse me.”
Lizardmen had reptilian eyes, so he stayed a polite distance away.
“Shreek—human male? Why did you call me?”
Three fairies clustered around the lizardman, hugging each other tightly. To Kim Jinwoo, the lizardman’s expression was wary. Behind him, Yoo Dahui stared at him with infinite affection.
Shiba’s superficiality.
Yoo Dahui extracted favor from everyone. Of course, that favor usually turned into breeding urges, so she was constantly besieged by every species.
“Do you happen to have time? I have a request I’d like to outsource.”
“What kind of request?”
The lizardman flicked her forked tongue.