A Night’s Rest, Then the Real Thing
"...Tsk. We’re sleeping here tonight."
"Hah, hah... yes, ma’am."
The city was vast.
Kang Juhyuk ran without stopping, but he still couldn’t keep up with the woman, not even when she was merely walking. And when a giant beast appeared, she could ignore it and keep going, but Juhyuk could not run away. Dealing with those things was always left to her in the end.
Because the giant beasts rarely traveled in large packs, the usual lower-floor strategy—luring them all in at once and then clearing them out before moving on—didn’t work here.
In the end, if it had been just the woman alone, she probably could have reached that towering castle in a few hours. But because Juhyuk was with her, they had burned through half a day and still hadn’t gotten even halfway there.
He had expected to be a burden, but he hadn’t expected to slow them down this much.
Juhyuk, who had almost no gate experience, hadn’t realized he’d become such a hindrance.
The woman noticed his steps gradually growing slower, his stamina draining away, and led him straight into a building that was at least still standing.
The beasts in the upper floors were large and generally disliked climbing up into buildings, so finding a place to rest for a while was actually easier here than in the lower levels.
Of course, since it had been abandoned for a long time, there was no proper bedding to be found.
At best, they gathered dirty curtains and scraps of cloth and spread them out on the floor.
That part, at least, Juhyuk could handle by going around the building and bringing things back.
The woman followed behind him to cover his back in case anything happened.
"We’ll finish it tomorrow. Don’t drag your feet like you did today."
"Yes, ma’am."
"How are your nails?"
"Still fine."
Half a day had passed.
It wasn’t time for the Beastification Factor to have swallowed him yet.
But if he got infected again... this time, she might really leave him behind.
Juhyuk swallowed hard and decided that tomorrow, he had to run for real.
"Phew..."
If he slept quickly and woke quickly, then they could set out quickly too.
Juhyuk put aside his tangled thoughts and lay down at once.
As he lay there, a shadow fell over his head.
"Hey."
"Ah, yes. Hunter."
"You got a cigarette?"
Cigarettes.
Juhyuk immediately rummaged through his pockets.
Did he even have any? The truth was, he didn’t smoke.
Since he’d come along as a porter, he was only checking whether there were any spare cigarettes the team might need in his coat.
Fortunately, he found a thin pack. It was Sia’s. He pulled it out at once and held it out to her.
"Jesus, these are thin. Give them here."
The woman took the cigarettes and moved to the window, then stuffed ten of them into her mouth at once. She raised the heat at her fingertips with magic and lit the ends in one go.
Then, in a single breath, she burned through all ten cigarettes and sucked the smoke deep into her lungs.
It was an incredible waste.
Both the way she generated enough heat to set paper alight through raw mana alone, instead of actual magic, and the way she swallowed ten cigarettes in one go.
She probably wasn’t doing it for the taste.
Maybe the act itself had meaning. In any case, she exhaled all the smoke at once, then spat the stubs out the window along with a little spit.
Without another word, she turned back and lay down on the makeshift bedding opposite Juhyuk’s place.
Then she rolled onto her side, turned her back to him, and seemed to let the strength drain out of her as she closed her eyes.
Her breathing soon evened out.
There was no fear, no tension, no vigilance in it.
Only irritation, perhaps—but enough that she could fall asleep so easily.
It was proof of her strength.
Soft, soft.
Like a small animal sleeping, her breathing was quiet.
Juhyuk hadn’t really looked at her until she lay down, but the moment her breathing evened out with her back turned, he turned his head toward her.
It was a beautiful curve. So they said the beauty of a woman’s body was the beauty of curves.
He agreed one hundred percent. It had to be true.
A small head, shoulders rising up, and then the line of her waist dropping clean and sleek.
Her hips flowed in the opposite direction, and her legs continued long and smooth downward.
Her clingy black spandex pants barely rode up to the curve of her hips, leaving the upper edge of the crease of her butt just faintly visible.
I wasn’t trying to steal a look at even this much...
Thump. Thump.
Honestly, there was no way he could sleep.
The woman didn’t speak to Juhyuk again.
Strictly speaking, she only said what was necessary.
Come here.
Stay behind me.
Hurry up, you’re ridiculously slow.
Take a break.
I’m going to kill it, so stay put.
Tsk. We’re resting here tonight.
We’ll finish tomorrow, so run faster.
You got a cigarette?
That was only eight kinds of things over the course of half a day.
And yet Juhyuk had spent the entire time staring at her.
Well, there wasn’t much else to look at. Inside the gate—this city already ravaged and devoured by beasts—there was nothing else.
Wherever he looked, there were those awful beast cries echoing through the air.
Among all the things he wanted to see and hear least, there was only one thing that stood out, only one thing that was beautiful.
And if that thing was also his lifeline, then of course he couldn’t tear his eyes away, not even to survive.
In ordinary society, someone might call that a visual violation.
But at twenty years old, the woman was anything but ordinary enough that he could look away.
To put it plainly, she was voluptuous. She was a gravure model through and through.
Watching her from behind, he could see the movement of her side breast.
That line wasn’t even fully hidden by her back.
Her hips moved naturally as she walked, and though she wasn’t shaking herself on purpose, that effortless sway alone was enough to steal his gaze.
And when she occasionally turned her head, checking whether he was following properly, the look she gave him was openly annoyed.
Even when she spoke sharply and scowled, that cute face of hers still didn’t look frightening.
What made her terrifying was not her appearance, but only the power she possessed.
...I’m hard again.
His pants felt unbearably tight.
Juhyuk’s cock swelled as though it wanted out.
Hold it in. Hold it in. He turned away from her and lay on his side instead.
He had to sleep somehow. It still wasn’t safe. As long as she was there, he wouldn’t die.
On the other hand, if he offended her too much, he’d die.
She had told him to sleep, so he had to sleep. That was how he survived.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Sleep.
Heart, stay still for once.
That was the hunter he’d met today, okay? Why were you acting so loose? You don’t even know her name.
This is just lust. If you’re human, then you should be able to beat lust. You’ve never been like this in your whole life, so why today?
You can sleep.
Close your eyes. Count numbers.
And wake up early so you can get ready to move.
That’s all.
Swish.
If something strange rustled behind his back, he should stay calm.
If it had been a big deal, she would have woken up.
Empty your mind and sleep.
Swish.
Something was coming closer, but he still mustn’t open his eyes.
Juhyuk. It was time to sleep.
Swish.
"...Hey."
Suddenly, a voice reached his ear.
A girlish voice, full of laughter and mischief.
The woman’s voice.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump!
His heart, which had finally settled down, started pounding again.
The voice came right into his ear.
Before he could even fully open his eyes, a warm hand slid over Juhyuk’s shoulder and down onto his chest.
"Ah, uh, y-yes?"
A dream?
"Juhyuk. Are you asleep?"
Someone had pressed up against his back.
And then, right against him, two soft masses rubbed against his spine.
He could feel each of those masses pushing forward a firm, small nub at their center.
Those things were rubbing against his back, hard enough to scrape along it.
"H-Hunter?"
"Mm-hm. You’re too stiff. Can’t you call me Nuna?"
"A-am I dreaming...?"
No.
No matter how you looked at it, only a few minutes had passed since he’d closed his eyes.
There was no way he’d fallen asleep.
And this reality, this sensation against his back, this touch from the woman pressing herself against him and rubbing against his chest...
"Y-you’re not...!"
"Shhh. Juhyuk, keep quiet. We’re inside a gate, remember? The beasts outside are one thing, but if the one who’s sleeping wakes up, it’ll get annoying again."
Juhyuk froze in shock.
As if trying to loosen him up, the woman brought her face even closer to his ear and whispered softly.
Split personality?
A curse?
He didn’t know what it was, but this was a completely different person.
A mysterious existence hidden inside the aggressive woman.
She had awakened.
While the woman was asleep, this other self had risen and come to Juhyuk’s back.
And now she was rubbing herself against him as if to seduce him.
"Y-you... who are you?"
Even as he swallowed, Juhyuk kept his guard up and asked.
He tried his best not to lose his composure.
The gentle hand stroking him slowly moved from his chest down toward his stomach.
"Does that... matter?"
"Hunter... you seem to hate me, so what are you, exactly?"
"No, no. Juhyuk. That’s not the question you should be asking."
What in the world...
"You should be asking something like: how do I make this woman mine?"
For a man standing this monstrous thing up...♡
As she whispered that, the woman slid her hand down from his stomach and slipped it into Juhyuk’s pants.
Before he could even jolt in surprise, a warm touch began to stroke his cock gently.
He stiffened in shock. His body locked up.
But it was warm. Soft. It felt good.
The stroking soon changed into a grip.
The woman’s other hand began to toy with Juhyuk’s ass.
"Big...? You must’ve been uncomfortable. Is it all right?"
"Pl-please stop. I..."
"Imagine it, Juhyuk. No, you already imagined it, didn’t you? This woman. The woman who can tear those dangerous beasts apart with one hand. You want her to become a docile little housecat only when she’s in your arms, to be stroked by you. You want her to do anything for you, bring home money, spread her legs for you, bring you a house, let you touch her breasts—and even bear your child."
Gulp.
Dangerous temptation.
Just hearing the words made more blood rush to his cock.
And when the woman felt the cock in her hand swell even larger, she laughed in a sweeter voice.
"If you listen only to me, I can make that happen."
Slip, slip.
Her hand working his cock grew more intense.
What had been nothing more than a touch was now real caressing, a proper handjob.
There was no comparison to the awkward groping the original woman had forced on him yesterday.
"So? Like Nuna said... do you want to try it?"
A demon.
That was what Juhyuk decided this thing was.
A demon was seducing him.
Sweet beyond measure, and therefore terrifying.
If he gave in to this temptation, what would happen?
Could he really make her his? This woman?
The one who had treated him like baggage all day, who hadn’t even bothered to look at him properly.
The one who couldn’t be bothered to speak to him, who had given him not a shred of attention.
This woman, in his arms...
