Chapter 61

Chapter 61

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 61: Trauma (1)

In the late afternoon, as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, Namwoong, having completed both training and exchange, announced their departure.

“The rain has stopped, so we’ll be heading off now.”

“Good work.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Namwoong looked at Hoyeon with a wistful gaze. Hoyeon, with no lingering attachments, cut off that gaze sharply.

“Ah, really… Boss, can’t I stay?”

“If you want to be treated as a deserter, stay.”

“Damn it… I can’t… I need to receive the seed…”

Hoyang lamented over not being able to receive Dojin’s seed and pleaded to stay. However, she was a soldier, a body bound to the nation.

She looked at Dojin with longing eyes and a voice full of temptation. Dojin pretended not to notice and averted his gaze elsewhere.

“Next time! I’ll come again next time!”

“Ha, you horny bitch. Wagging your tail at a human.”

“What are you saying, when you were knocked out cold by that human?”

Sayeong bared his teeth as he bickered with Hoyang, while Namwoong calmly led the two, guiding them forward at an unhurried pace.

Dojin watched the trio leave, and once they disappeared, he turned to Hoyeon.

“Then we’ll be off as well.”

“Alright, this time… I appreciate it. I’ll prepare a reward for next time.”

“I’ll gratefully accept it.”

The sun had set. Soon, night would arrive. Late at night, magic lamps would light up one by one, creating another day.

Her dojo was no different. Late at night, disciples would begin to increase, coming to learn her techniques.

Leaving behind the gazes of many disciples, Dojin headed towards the mansion.

“Did you learn a lot?”

On the way to the mansion, Dojin looked at Eunha and asked. She recalled the things she learned yesterday and today. Things she wasn’t quite used to applying directly to herself.

So she shook her head.

“I need to learn more.”

Thus, she needed to grow more. To grow so that one day she could be of help to Dojin.

It had to be that way.

“Alright.”

Dojin nodded quietly at her words. Upon arriving at the mansion, the two went to their respective rooms. Dojin was troubled by his pent-up sexual desire.

‘No, what’s going on?’

Did the tiger beastman’s bodily fluids have some kind of aphrodisiac effect? Overwhelmed by the excessive, lingering energy of the tiger, Dojin groaned as he lay down, struggling to sleep.

And the next day.

He stared at his soiled underwear with a dumbfounded expression.

Swish!

Seoyoon’s ice filled the dungeon. Countless ice particles spread like wings behind her.

“…What are you looking at?”

Perhaps feeling my gaze, she pushed me away with a brusque voice. I slowly shook my head and wandered around to pick up mana stones.

20th floor, Lizardman’s Nest.

This layer, inhabited by reptilian monsters sensitive to temperature changes, was Seoyoon’s main hunting ground.

Perhaps because they were so sensitive to temperature changes, they were particularly vulnerable to Seoyoon’s ice. Thanks to this, she rampaged around this layer like a fish in water.

Swish!

Dozens of ice feathers flew beyond the blackout curtain. It was a curtain that could block even arrows, but it was insufficient to stop Seoyoon’s abilities.

What halted her massacre was the alarm ringing from my wristwatch.

“…Is it lunchtime?”

“Yeah.”

“That was quick.”

She withdrew her abilities and created a large barrier of ice around us. A high-strength ice wall that monsters of this tier could never penetrate.

In addition, a splendid chair and dining table were completed. An ice throne and round table were perfectly controlled without a trace of cold air escaping.

A noble queen had descended into the dungeon. She enjoyed the luxury other adventurers could only dream of as if it were the most natural thing.

“What’s for lunch today?”

“Minotaur meat.”

“…I told you I don’t like it, so bring something else.”

“This is all that’s left.”

I took out a thermal lunchbox from my backpack. She frowned at the contents as if she didn’t like it, but even she couldn’t endure without replenishing after such exertion.

With ice chopsticks, she picked up the meat and began to chew the Minotaur meat with a grimace.

The meat of domesticated Minotaurs, once monsters, boasted great survivability and fertility, but due to excessive muscles, the meat itself was tough.

Watching Seoyoon grimace as she chewed the meat, I took out my own lunchbox. Seeing the contents of my lunch, she stopped chewing and glared at me intently.

“What?”

“…What’s that?”

“This? Beetle boar fritters.”

“Give it to me.”

“Why should I– Ah!”

As I struggled to keep her from snatching my lunchbox, the chair I was sitting on melted away. In that moment of falling, she swiftly swapped her lunchbox with mine.

“No, if you want it that much, you should wait your turn.”

“Then you can eat on the floor.”

“…Thank you for the meal.”

I glanced at the swamp-like ground, made up of blood, dust, and sticky mud, before offering my thanks and taking a seat on the chair.

Rather than sitting on this infuriatingly filthy ground to eat, I’d rather just starve. But no matter how much of the 20th floor I had conquered, fighting on an empty stomach wasn’t an option either…

Minotaur meat was incredibly tough. As tough as the salted jerky our ancestors ate while traveling during the Joseon Dynasty…

While I was chewing the meat with a rotten expression, Seoyoon, who had taken my lunchbox, looked at me apologetically.

“…I’m full.”

With that, she put down the lunchbox she was eating. A sneak peek revealed that she had only eaten one piece of the meat she had taken.

If that was the case, she shouldn’t have taken it in the first place—I thought to myself. But whether Seoyoon understood my feelings or not, she simply picked up a piece of fried food with her chopsticks.

“Hey, eat.”

“…Suddenly?”

“I’m full. It’s a shame to waste it.”

“Then you can just throw it away.”

“…I said eat it.”

“I said throw it away.”

She paused for a moment, holding the fried food, then slowly put down her chopsticks and asked.

“Are you saying you can’t eat what I give you?”

“That’s not it.”

“…You know, haven’t you been too harsh on me lately?”

“What?”

Seoyoon’s expression hardened. She was already close to expressionless, but now there was no trace of emotion at all.

Her nickname, Ice Princess or whatever it was, made sense with such a cold expression.

“Aren’t you my boyfriend? Then shouldn’t you be loyal to me?”

“No, all of a sudden, what…?”

“Honestly, tell me, are you fooling around with other women outside?”

“There’s no way… I would.”

The words that naturally slipped out got caught in my subconscious. Immediately, the incident with Hoyang came to mind. It wasn’t that something happened, nor did I do anything.

But if that counted as fooling around with a woman, wasn’t it just the same? Since she fiddled with my thing…

“…Why did you pause?”

And Seoyoon didn’t miss that reaction.

Screech. The table that was blocking us disappeared.

As she crossed her legs, the distance between us became uncomfortably close.

“Could it be… is it true?”

“…No, it’s not.”

“Are you cheating on me outside? Who is it? A guild employee? Or that guard?”

“I told you, it’s not…”

“…Is there more?”

Seoyoon looked at me with a skeptical expression. I met her gaze without avoiding it, but the doubt that had already begun to sprout did not subside.

Her eyes bore into mine. They traveled through the optic nerves, piercing my heart. My chest started to pound violently.

“You.”

With a voice colder than anything in the world, a declaration lower than absolute zero fell.

“From now on, don’t even think about leaving my side.”

Even when I left the dungeon and returned to the mansion, Seoyoon didn’t leave my side. It was too persistent to think it was just words shouted in anger.

“…Hey, how far are you going to follow me?”

“So what? We’ve already seen everything there is to see between us.”

She even followed me to the bathroom. Although she didn’t watch me do my business, it was the same as not being able to escape her sight even in there.

I sighed deeply. I wondered if she was always this obsessive.

‘I don’t think she was.’

If she had such a possessive personality, she wouldn’t have handed Aram over to me in the first place, nor would she have considered a threesome with me.

There had to be a reason for her change. The sudden obsession…

‘What is it?’

I couldn’t figure it out. I tried to recall the reason while watching her join me in the bath. Then, I suddenly realized I was being foolish.

‘Why am I thinking about this?’

I could just read her mind.

“Seoyoon.”

“What?”

“Why are you suddenly so possessive?”

“…What?”

I broached the subject. Then, I read her mind. Even though she was as composed as ever, she couldn’t escape the power of my ability.

“Are you crazy?”

─Are you crazy?

“…No, you weren’t like this before.”

“Before? When? When we were in school?”

─We never even spoke back then.

“Not that. I mean, when we first got involved.”

“…”

─…

Her thoughts came to a halt. I couldn’t read anything beyond that. Was it because I could only read her immediate surface thoughts, or was she just so stunned by my words that she wasn’t thinking anything?

Then, she suddenly spoke without any apparent thought.

“…Why? Am I not allowed to be like this?”

─Lately, it feels like Dojin has been neglecting me.

“H-huh?”

“Am I not allowed to be possessive?”

─He barely talks to me and treats me like a doll just to satisfy his desires…

“No, that’s not your usual personality…”

“I’ve changed. Is there a problem?”

─Does he hate me now? Or is he tired of me? If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have held me at all, making me misunderstand…

I submerged my head in the bathwater, sinking into silence. I couldn’t even tell when she had changed like this.

‘We weren’t close enough to say it was her original personality or anything…’

When I first fell into this other world, she wasn’t like this.

Even when I relieved her of her arousal due to the side effects of her abilities, she wasn’t like this.

She had changed. Since when? I don’t know. Can a person change this much just by getting close to me? I don’t know.

Her change was full of unknowns. Fear stems from ignorance. Her transformation was quite frightening to me now.

Is a person’s personality something that changes so quickly?

“…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Just… everything.”

The only thing I knew for sure was that she was angry with me. And that it stemmed from my actions.

If so, there was only one thing to do. To soothe her anger. Unfortunately, for someone like me with no romantic experience, calming a woman’s emotions was very difficult.

The only thing I could do was comfort her. And even that—was in a sexual way…

“If I had done well, you wouldn’t have changed like that.”

“…Yeah. It’s all your fault.”

─Thanks to you.

Her frozen heart melted to some extent.

The love contained within was so intense that, having only ever seen her as cold and distant, I was utterly taken aback.

It was something I shouldn’t have done, and as a result, I ended up hurting her.

I moved towards her in the bathtub like a fish. Then I sat beside her, resting my head on her shoulder like a lover.

Splash. I held her hand. They say that those with cold hearts have warm hands—just as expected, her grip was incredibly hot.

“Yoon~”

“…Don’t think I’ll forgive you just because of this once.”

“I didn’t think that. Just…”

No more words were needed. We just moved closer. Slowly, slowly…

Creak.

The bathroom door opened. We both turned our heads simultaneously. There stood Gahee, entering while covering her body with a towel.

“Uh, uh… no, I just… saw women’s clothes…”

Unusually flustered, she looked at both of us, apologized profusely, and quickly exited the bathroom.

Seeing that, we let out a small chuckle before leaving the bathroom and heading upstairs to our room.

That day, her heart completely melted away.

[Frozen Heart]

Proof of a frozen heart.

Cold enough to freeze even emotions.

But the scars cannot be hidden.

Seoyoon’s ability.

She knew very well what her ability meant.

‘My trauma…’

The life she lived, ignored by her parents, forged a temperament to avoid getting hurt.

That temperament turned into personality over long years, a scar tempered through time.

She never thought it would heal. She believed her heart would forever remain frozen, never to melt again.

However, Dojin melted her heart.

He succeeded in what seemed impossible.

And impossibility often leads to human growth.

‘…This is.’

Awakening from sleep, Seoyoon felt something different and instinctively checked her ability.

[Queen of the Cold Ones]

Only those who have been frozen can reign over them.

Only those who are not entirely cold can dominate them.

That person is you.

Thus, she grew.