Cheon Yu-hwa (3)

“Wh-what are you doing…?”

“Just wanted to try it. Hurry up and get in.”

As I slid inside, she clung to me.

“It gets lonely inside a gate, you know.”

“…Well, it’s true the internet doesn’t work here.”

“You’ve gotten awfully cool-headed after we did it once, haven’t you?”

“Ah, that’s not it—”

“I’m kidding. Your reactions are cute, Han-gyeol.”

Silence. From outside, the crackling of a campfire. Of course, it wasn’t a campfire but the ring of fire from my spirit standing watch.

Still, it was calming.

“It’s nice having a spirit stand night watch for you. I’m jealous.”

“…It is nice.”

I had just given it 30 Innate Vital Energy on my way here.

The spirit, which had now grown to the height of my navel, was proof that feeding it nothing but Innate Vital Energy had been worthwhile.

“Is it uncomfortable sleeping while holding me like this?”

It was.

But I couldn’t possibly say that—

“It is, isn’t it? Then we’ll just hold hands. Good night.”

“You too, Nuna.”

I mentally lamented my slow reply, recalling my foolish first time.

And with the crackling of the fire, I soon drifted off—

*

The sky was still dark.

That was because a day in Gate 132, the time it took for its sun to make a full rotation, wasn’t 24 hours.

It was said to be around 36 or 37 hours.

My body was conditioned to wake up after seven hours at most, but the sky was still pitch-black. The sun was a long way from rising.

But we couldn’t proceed with the raid while it was dark.

I glanced to my side. Nuna was still asleep.

Her mission was, in fact, the most critical part of this raid.

Flying through the sky to gather information was a vital role. It would be physically demanding, and probably mentally taxing as well.

I slowly let go of her hand so she could sleep a little longer—

“Nngh…?”

“Ah, go back to sleep.”

“‘Go back to sleep’… Isn’t that a little too formal…?”

“Get more sleep, Nuna.”

“I guess I should….”

I stepped out of the tent and went over to my spirit.

As it turned out, if I just approached the closest part of the fiery ring, it would come to me on its own.

‘You’re awake?’

“Yeah. Was everything okay?”

‘Yep!’

“Good work. …But could I ask you to keep watch until everyone else is up?”

‘Sure! That’s nothing!’

“Thanks.”

As I walked toward the center of the campsite, I heard the sound of harsh, ragged breathing.

Yang Geun-tae was doing bodyweight exercises.

“Hey.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. You’re up at this… early? hour.”

“It’s nothing. You should do some too. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mage; if your stamina runs out in a gate, you’re dead. Though you might not know it, since you have a spirit.”

“You need stamina even with a spirit. I work out too—”

…Do I work out?

I was sure I did, but…

Ah.

I did it as a succubus, didn’t I?

But since the succubus and this body share a Strength stat, it probably didn’t matter…

In fact, wouldn’t it be more efficient to raise my Strength by exercising as a succubus?

“You work out?”

His eyes said, ‘I don’t think so.’

“…I should.”

In any case, it was true I hadn’t done it in this body.

“Come over here. I’ll show you a few bodyweight exercises, fix your form.”

“Right now?”

“I’ll just show you the posture. Do them in your spare time when you get out. You’ve gotta keep your lady Yu-hwa satisfied, right?”

Flashes of other men’s bodies—the men who had been with the succubus—passed through my mind.

“…I should.”

“Good. Come here. Oh, right. How was it?”

“What was?”

“With Nuna. How was it? You said you had no experience at the last team dinner…. You don’t have to say if you’re uncomfortable.”

I said I had no experience?

When?

Was I drunker than I thought back then? Did my memory cut out for a bit?

“Well… I was pretty foolish.”

“Hey, everyone’s like that the first time. I couldn’t even get it up. So then—”

“What are you two talking about?”

“Ah, Yu-in. You’re up already?”

“Good morning.”

It was the healing mage, Min Yu-in.

“Good morning. I set a timer. I wanted to make a few potions just in case. But Geun-tae, don’t you get tired doing all that?”

“This much is just my daily routine.”

“Did you get enough sleep?”

“Ah, I don’t need much sleep. You don’t have to worry, Team Leader.”

“Yu-in, you should probably erase those dark circles under your eyes before you say that.”

As I listened to a heated debate over which was more detrimental to the raid—Yang Geun-tae’s fatigue from exercise or Min Yu-in’s fatigue from lack of sleep—the others began to gather one by one at the center of the camp.

“Alright, as announced yesterday, today’s objective is to travel to our target location. Yu-hwa Nuna, please head out for reconnaissance. Geun-tae-hyung and I will form the vanguard and start clearing the way, so the rear guard can follow slowly—”

*

“The golems seem a little different, don’t they?”

“You felt it too? They definitely seem tougher.”

I had to pour in a bit more mana than yesterday.

[Essense: 10,350 / 81,823]

I’d used about 300 Essense since entering the gate, but since I still had over 10,000, it didn’t seem like much. Converted to mana, 300 Essense was 19,500 Mana.

Considering the battles weren’t that long, I was consuming it at a fairly rapid pace.

Of course, I didn’t think I’d drop below 10,000.

If worse came to worst, I could just convert some Innate Vital Energy. I still had over 500 of that left.

I had no intention of converting all of it, but if I did, 500 Innate Vital Energy would become 30,000 Essense.

…Come to think of it, maybe I have more than enough leeway?

No, the others are the problem.

My lack of experience leading a team was definitely causing me to make these kinds of mistakes in my thinking.

The others didn’t have an overflowing supply of mana.

“Hup.”

For now, I was trying to practice my ‘visualization’.

Fortunately, golems weren’t particularly fast monsters, so a mistake wouldn’t immediately put me in danger.

I was practicing the ‘flower’ visualization that Han Na-ri had told me about, but…

It wasn’t going well.

“What, are you practicing something?”

“Yes. I’m trying to—”

Without even waiting for an answer, Yang Geun-tae zipped past me. A moment later, the sound of shattering rock came from the direction he’d gone.

“They’re good practice partners. Keep at it. I’m testing a few things myself.”

Yang Geun-tae zipped away again.

I kept fighting the golems, waiting for the feeling to click.

But before it did, all the golems were wiped out. Damn.

When I made a mistake, a golem would approach with lumbering, unhurried steps.

But even if it was slow, its sheer size—two or three stories tall—made me tense up automatically.

Then I’d accidentally mismanage my firepower.

Sometimes, they’d drop after a single lightning bolt, as if they were weaker to it.

Other times, my spirit, who had been watching me intently, would dive into the flames, stretch out its limbs, and just shatter them with brute force.

…Could you call that ‘blossoming’ too?

Fweee—!

I blew the whistle I had prepared, and from far away, Yu-hwa Nuna came flying over.

“All cleared out?”

“Yes. Did you see anything on your way?”

“Nope. I’ll call the others, then.”

“Okay.”

*

The sun of Gate 132 completes one rotation every 36 hours.

In other words, you could see the sun for roughly 18 hours in Gate 132.

And for us, who were accustomed to Earth’s 12 hours of daylight, it was easy to think, ‘Huh, the sun isn’t setting, not much time must have passed,’ and overexert ourselves.

…It was my mistake as the team leader.

“It happens. It’s your first time. How could you have known to account for the difference in the length of a day?”

“Still….”

“Fortunately, we cleared out all the golems beforehand, so there shouldn’t be any problems. And we were the ones who cleared them out, you and me, right?”

“That’s right, Han-gyeol. The reason we pushed ourselves was because I found a better spot and we moved further, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right, Team Leader. I prepared some fatigue-recovery potions for times like this, so it’ll be fine. We just have to add it to our list of considerations for next time.”

“Then… I’ll count it as a non-issue.”

I was actually feeling pretty down, but I forced some energy into my voice.

“Haha, good. That’s a great mindset. With stuff like this, you just have to think, ‘If you don’t like it, you can be team leader,’ and move on.”

“Geun-tae, stop teaching Han-gyeol weird things.”

“In that case… let’s take a long rest for now and thoroughly explore this area. It’s not well-marked on the map, is it?”

“Sounds good.” “Sure, let’s do that.” “Okay.”

“Alright, that’s it for today… We’ll meet when the next sun rises and decide what to do then. Any questions?”

“None here.” “Nope.”

*

“Looks like I’ll have to work hard again.”

“I’m sorry, Nuna.”

“Hey, don’t be sorry about something like this. This isn’t something to apologize for. It’s things like… what was it? That time you went into that multi-gate rupture, that’s when you apologize.”

That… spider cave? That was—

“That was pretty dangerous.”

“Was it? Sorry. I used a bad example. Anyway! My point is, don’t be so sorry.”

“But you’re the one doing all the hard work.”

“Everyone who came in here is doing hard work. You just—”

Nuna gently cupped my cheeks.

“—have to relieve my fatigue. Got it? Don’t just leave by yourself like you did yesterday.”

“Nuna….”

Mwah.

A light kiss, and our eyes met.

“I wasn’t properly satisfied yesterday. I’ll only go easy on you once because it’s your first time. You know that, right? Today, I’m going to go until I finish.”

In her hand was a box. A box of condoms….

She tore it open, revealing a pile of condoms inside—

“…Are we allowed to bring this many?”

“We brought four boxes of these. Ji-min and Seong-hyeon already took one.”

“Ah… But are these… the condoms made from monsters?”

“Oh, you know about them?”

“I heard they’re really durable and feel good…. But I also heard they’re expensive.”

“They’re essential for Awakeners. You want to use a regular one and have it tear? Once you become an Awakener, you use magic for all sorts of things, so you have to use ones made from monsters.”

“I see….”

“But you, do you even know how to put on a condom?”

“Of course I kn—, um….”

As a succubus, I never used such things, so I wouldn’t know. And before that, well….

Ah, is this what our country’s sex education has come to?

Telling us to use protection but not properly teaching us how…!

“Nuna will teach you.”

“What?”

“Get undressed.”

“What?”

*

In the end, it went on until Nuna was satisfied and fell asleep….

No, it was good for me, too.

The act of pressing our bodies together seemed to bring a strange sense of fulfillment.

Why couldn’t I feel this as a succubus—no, what was important was that Nuna was happy.

When she woke up, she flew off on her reconnaissance mission with a strangely satisfied expression.

But that satisfied look had vanished by the time she returned.

“Um… there’s something unusual.”

In place of satisfaction, her face was filled with bewilderment.

“That moss field we were at… it’s gone.”