Spiritual Energy Absorption (1)
The scream pierced the air.
“Kyaaak!!”
“Hey, stop yelling!”
“N-no! I can’t do this anymore! I feel like I’m going insane!”
How the hell did things end up like this?
“I’m not doing it! No, I can’t!!”
When Baek Seol-hwa started flailing around in a desperate attempt to escape, I panicked and instinctively ordered the two people next to me.
“Jang San, Ha Ye-ryeong, hold her down!”
“Hehe, got it.”
“Se-hwan… doesn’t this look kind of dangerous?”
“…If you don’t think of it that way, then it’s not dangerous.”
I’m trying my best not to dwell on it, so you don’t have to point it out like that.
“L-let go of me!!!”
“Stay still, Baek Seol-hwa. Se-hwan says he’ll finish quickly~.”
“Nooo!!”
Watching Baek Seol-hwa thrash around with both arms firmly gripped by Jang San and Ha Ye-ryeong gave me a very strange feeling. At this rate, I was the one who looked like a total pervert.
“Se-hwan.”
“…?”
“Just do it already.”
Jang San’s mischievous smile stood in stark contrast to Baek Seol-hwa’s tearful expression. Seeing her hate it this much made me wonder if I should stop right now… but I had already asked for permission, and Baek Seol-hwa had agreed. If I pushed through now, things would be much more comfortable going forward. The wall between us would come down, and we wouldn’t have to go through this again.
So…
“…Alright.”
“Uh…”
“Yeah, Se-hwan. Go for it.”
“Just bear with it a little, Baek Seol-hwa.”
“D-don’t come near me, you pervert!!”
"Spiritual Energy Absorption (1)"
To be honest, I was genuinely puzzled why she was this anxious. Did I really look like the kind of guy who would irresponsibly abandon everything?
…No, that didn’t seem right. Given Baek Seol-hwa’s personality, there was no reason for her to see me that way. So why was she so scared?
Her ears and tail drooped limply, perfectly conveying her mood. The fact that her usually swishing tail wasn’t moving at all told me exactly how anxious she was feeling.
First, I needed to reassure her…
“Whoa, Se-hwan. That’s cold~ Even so, you’re abandoning Seol-hwa?”
“…Can you please just shut up?”
When I thought about it, she was the one who had led us into this situation, yet here she was pretending she had nothing to do with it and teasing me. It was ridiculous. When I glared at her, Jang San simply smiled like a little devil, clearly enjoying herself. Of course, Baek Seol-hwa had no idea it was a joke and just flinched at her words.
At this point, I felt a little wronged. Hadn’t I been good to her? Was there really any need for this kind of misunderstanding?
Hmm…
‘…Maybe I haven’t given her enough trust?’
I sighed softly, reflecting on the past for a moment, then looked at Baek Seol-hwa.
“…Who said anything about abandoning you?”
“You’re… not abandoning me…?”
“I never said I would abandon you. If you don’t like gathering spiritual energy, it just means I won’t take you on requests anymore. I never once said I’d stop helping you.”
“Huh…? But can you do both the requests and help me at the same time?”
“I’ll just have to run around as much as possible.”
“…That means you’ll be way too busy.”
Baek Seol-hwa fidgeted for a long time before lowering her head slightly. At the same time, the grip on my forearm grew stronger. It was as if she didn’t want to let go—like if she released me, I would disappear forever.
‘Why is she this anxious?’
It didn’t feel like simple fear that I might stop helping her. And I wasn’t the only one who found it strange. Both Jang San and Ha Ye-ryeong were looking at Baek Seol-hwa with eyes that said they sensed something more.
“Baek Seol-hwa.”
“…Yeah.”
“You can let go now. I told you before, didn’t I? If I say I’ll do something, I take responsibility until the end.”
“……Yeah.”
“…Seriously, let go. My arm feels like it’s about to burst.”
“Ah, s-sorry….”
Only then did Baek Seol-hwa realize she had been squeezing too hard. She quickly released my arm. Her ears and tail shooting straight up in surprise were proof enough.
…The grip strength of a thousand-year-old Gumiho was beyond imagination. If I rolled up my sleeve, I’d probably see bruises. It throbbed pretty badly. But if I showed any sign of pain, she would shrink back again, so I deliberately hid it. Instead, I pressed her to make a decision so she wouldn’t hesitate any longer.
“You choose.”
“……”
“If you don’t want to, I won’t force you to come along. I’ll obviously keep helping you. So just do whatever you want. I’m not going to pressure you.”
Baek Seol-hwa looked at me, then at Jang San beside her, then at Ha Ye-ryeong, and finally back at me.
“…I-I’ll do it.”
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Y-yeah….”
Baek Seol-hwa said it again, as if confirming her own words.
“It’s fine….”
“…This is your decision. Don’t complain later.”
“Yeah….”
She nodded, reaffirming her choice. Before long, her previously rigid tail began swishing gently from side to side again. Exorcism requests must be nothing but a hassle for her, so I didn’t understand why she seemed happy about it. It would’ve been easier for her to refuse the work and just follow me around resolving grudges.
“Then, Se-hwan, how about doing it right now? Strike while the iron is hot, right? What if Baek Seol-hwa changes her mind later?”
“…You’re right.”
“…R-right now?”
“Does it matter? Wouldn’t it actually be less embarrassing with more people around than just the two of you?”
It lowered the chance of the mood turning weird. Baek Seol-hwa seemed to understand the implication and gave a small nod.
“That’s true….”
“Then doing it now makes sense. I can give you the spiritual energy and go straight to sleep.”
“Y-yeah.”
“Then…”
When I looked at Baek Seol-hwa, she flinched and carefully extended one hand. Like she was telling me to take it.
“H-here…”
“Okay.”
“Wait a second.”
Just as I was about to grab her hand, Jang San suddenly stopped us. I wondered what she was up to now, and she said,
“It has to be more efficient to mean anything. What can you even do with just one hand?”
“Huh?”
“Be more proactive, Se-hwan. Like a kiss or something…”
“H-have you lost your mind!? What kiss…!!”
“That’s going too far.”
I joined Baek Seol-hwa in her panic. We weren’t even dating—what kind of kiss was that…?
“Then at least hug her, or hold both hands. Otherwise it won’t do much, right?”
“A h-hug!?”
“That’s…”
It was actually the method I had in mind. Of course, I figured she would freak out if we started with a hug, so I planned to begin slowly by holding hands.
“Am I wrong, Se-hwan?”
“It’s not wrong, but…”
“A h-hug… you’re going to hug me…?”
Baek Seol-hwa’s swishing tail sped up. It was a sign that her emotions were running high. Worried that we wouldn’t get anything done at this rate, I quickly corrected myself.
“Then let’s skip the hug and just hold both hands.”
“B-both hands…?”
Her tail started whipping around again. Her cheeks and ears were dyed bright red, and she looked completely flustered.
…If even that was too much, what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t back down here. Like Jang San said, holding just one hand would be inefficient, and it would take forever to change things from how they were before.
“Give me your hands.”
“W-wait…! Both hands is…!”
“Interlace your fingers, Se-hwan. The more skin contact, the higher the efficiency.”
“Right.”
“I-interlace!?”
I had thought we could just get it over with quickly, but Baek Seol-hwa clearly didn’t see it that way. The moment she heard about interlacing fingers, she scooted backward while still sitting, trying to get away from me.
“…Where are you going?”
“J-just hold hands normally!”
“Hey, you said you wouldn’t complain. This is necessary, so come here quickly.”
“N-nooo…! I thought it was just normal hand-holding!!”
“Sigh… you…”
I thought for a moment before speaking to Baek Seol-hwa.
“If you’re going to be like this, then just don’t do it. I’m not forcing you.”
“…Ugh.”
“Embarrassment is only temporary. Neither of us has any special feelings for each other, so how long do you think that’ll last? Once you start eating delicious spiritual energy, you’ll get used to it quickly because it tastes good.”
“…Your spiritual energy didn’t taste good though.”
…This brat just had to poke at that.
“I don’t drink or smoke and I’m healthy. Why wouldn’t it taste good?”
“I-I don’t know! It just didn’t!”
“But right now it doesn’t really matter for gathering yoki, does it?”
“That’s…”
“Just close your eyes and do it. Okay?”
After hesitating for a while, Baek Seol-hwa finally squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. She spread both hands out toward me, and I did the same. Our palms touched, and I felt the soft warmth of her skin. For a moment, I almost understood why she was so embarrassed, but realizing the owner of those hands was Baek Seol-hwa helped me calm down. Of course…
“U-ugh…, ugh……”
She didn’t seem okay at all. It would be faster if I just finished this quickly. With that thought, I slid my fingers between hers, interlacing them.
Baek Seol-hwa’s eyes flew wide open as she stared at me.
“……”
For a second, even I was taken aback. Her flushed red cheeks and earlobes, slightly trembling lips, and wavering eyes. Combined with her pure expression and unique beauty… the destructive power was immense.
‘…Don’t think weird thoughts.’
I had to stay composed. Only then could Baek Seol-hwa feel at ease…
“Ky…”
“Ky?”
“…Kyaaaaaaaak!!!”
“B-Baek Seol-hwa!”
In the end, Baek Seol-hwa’s face turned beet red and she couldn’t take it anymore. She tried to bolt. That was how we ended up in the current situation.
“Just endure it a little longer.”
“Don’t come near me, you pervert! Yoo Se-hwan, you perverted bastard!!”
Even though she thrashed around begging me not to come closer, she couldn’t overcome the strength of an Imugi and the King of Baekdu. Her hands were forced forward while her arms were held firmly in place. The situation had become so bizarre that I felt truly strange, but I tried to ignore it and grasped her hands again.
The moment I interlaced our fingers and held on tight, Baek Seol-hwa shuddered and screamed.
“Kyaaaaak!!”
“Hey, Jang San. Cover her mouth. The neighbors are really going to come over.”
“Okay~.”
“Mmmph, mmmph!!”
Baek Seol-hwa, who desperately wanted to escape this situation, wasn’t absorbing any spiritual energy at all. It seemed she planned to endure by refusing to take it…
“Hey, absorb the spiritual energy quickly so we can finish. The longer you hold out, the longer we have to keep holding you like this.”
“…Mmmph!”
“I’m not letting go. I could hold these hands for the rest of my life. So just give up and…”
“Mmph…?”
Baek Seol-hwa’s eyes widened into perfect circles. I looked at her in confusion, wondering why she was so surprised, when Jang San chuckled lightly and said,
“Oh my, Se-hwan. Maybe you shouldn’t say that in front of me?”
“What are you talking about now…”
……Ah.
Taken out of context, what I had just said could sound like an incredibly deep expression of affection. The moment I realized it, I hurriedly explained.
“That’s not what I meant! Don’t misunderstand, seriously!”
“……Mmph?”
“I said it’s not!”
When I saw her suspicious gaze, I affirmed it again. Only then did Baek Seol-hwa’s eyes return to normal. Of course, she still looked embarrassed about our interlaced hands…
“Hurry up and take it.”
“……”
She seemed a bit calmer now. Baek Seol-hwa gently closed her eyes. I felt something leaving my hands. It was my spiritual energy. A pure white glow flowed out from my body and settled into hers.
It was incomparably faster than when she had only held one hand before. At the same time, I started feeling incredibly sleepy. When my eyes were half-closed, Baek Seol-hwa tried to pull her hands away. But it wasn’t enough yet. We could do a little more.
“…A bit more.”
“……”
“I can just sleep afterward.”
Baek Seol-hwa seemed to hesitate for a moment before she began absorbing a little more spiritual energy. Watching her, Ha Ye-ryeong spoke briefly.
“Se-hwan, your spiritual energy really is incredibly clean.”
“……I told you I don’t drink or smoke.”
“You must have never committed any evil deeds either.”
“There was never any reason to do something like that… so……”
I was so sleepy that my words weren’t coming out properly. Ah… My head was starting to shut down. I couldn’t even remember why I was doing this right now… I just……
“…Sleepy.”
“Baek Seol-hwa, that’s enough.”
When Jang San spoke, Seol-hwa opened her eyes and stopped absorbing spiritual energy. Then she felt something thump against her chest. It was Se-hwan.
Seeing Se-hwan collapse onto her chest, Seol-hwa couldn’t help but blush furiously.
“Mmph!?”
“Don’t scream, Baek Seol-hwa. Se-hwan is sleeping.”
Jang San removed the hand covering her mouth as she spoke. Seol-hwa blinked a few times, confirmed that Se-hwan really was asleep, and let out a sigh of relief.
“Let’s lay him on the bed.”
“Ah, okay.”
Following Jang San’s suggestion, Seol-hwa carried Se-hwan to the bed. When they came out of the room, Ye-ryeong smiled and said,
“You said it didn’t taste good, but you ate it quite deliciously, Seol-hwa.”
“N-no! It didn’t taste good!”
“How could such clean spiritual energy possibly taste bad?”
Jang San said,
“If you ate it well, you should at least say ‘thank you for the meal.’”
“…When you put it that way, it sounds weird.”
“…You seem to have a talent for thinking in that direction sometimes. Are you actually sexually frustrated?”
“N-no, I’m not!?”
“Anyway, Se-hwan is really something else.”
Ye-ryeong looked at the firmly closed door to Se-hwan’s bedroom.
“He can fall asleep so peacefully with all of us in his house?”
Although the door was tightly shut, all three of them here could crumple a door like this as easily as a sheet of paper. It offered Se-hwan zero protection. Had he at least summoned his shikigami for safety? No, he hadn’t. He had simply fallen asleep without taking any precautions whatsoever.
“If I were in Se-hwan’s position, I could never do that. I would have stopped before falling asleep and sent everyone away.”
“…That’s just how that dummy is.”
Even though he came from an exorcist family that made a living by eliminating yokai, he listened to the stories of spirits and yokai more objectively than most ordinary humans and made judgments accordingly. And once Se-hwan decided there was no problem, he would treat them accordingly. That was simply his way.
“It’s because Se-hwan is so kind.”
“I can’t deny that. There are plenty of humans who show hypocrisy, but someone like him is extremely rare.”
Ye-ryeong chuckled softly.
“It’s interesting.”
“…Ye-ryeong, but don’t get any ideas about claiming him.”
“Huh?”
Jang San lifted the corner of her mouth slightly. Her red eyes fixed on Ye-ryeong as she said,
“That one is mine.”
“……Jang San, don’t provoke me unnecessarily. When you say things like that, it makes me want him even more.”
“W-what are you two even talking about?!”
Seol-hwa grabbed both of their wrists. As she dragged them toward the front door, she said,
“Stop talking nonsense and just leave already. He needs to rest.”
“…It’s rare for you to say something sensible, Baek Seol-hwa.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Seol-hwa sent Jang San and Ye-ryeong out one by one, then glanced back for a moment. Beyond the firmly closed bedroom door, Se-hwan would be sleeping. However, because she had taken his spiritual energy, he wouldn’t wake up no matter what happened for a while.
“…Just in case something dangerous happens while I’m gone.”
Seol-hwa lightly tapped her lips with her index finger. A vivid blue energy flowed from between her lips and formed into a round orb.
“Watch over him for a bit. Just until he wakes up. Then come back to me.”
It was the Fox Bead, practically half of a Gumiho’s very being. When Seol-hwa gently extended her hand, the Fox Bead began circling around Se-hwan’s bedroom door as ordered.
“……”
After confirming that, Seol-hwa opened the front door and stepped outside.
“…Sleep well.”
The front door closed with a heavy thud.